GM ShadowLord's Tyrant's Grasp - Group 2 (Inactive)

Game Master The Rising Phoenix

Aralah frustrated at the feys resistance to her magic continue to loose arrows, with nothing else she can do. She thinks to herself When we get back I am definitely going to need to get some more arrows made of different materials...

Attack, PBS, Bless: 1d20 + 1 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 1 + 1 + 1 = 17
Damage, PBS: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8
Flurry: 1d20 + 1 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 + 1 + 1 = 7
Damage, PBS: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Sarela - I think if it confirms it should double the effect like a normal critical hit would. I'll roll it here to keep it moving.

Ray of Enfeeblement, firing into melee: 1d20 + 3 - 4 ⇒ (11) + 3 - 4 = 10
Strength Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Mith and Rose both miss their attacks, Aralah landing a single shot which damaged the royal fey only partially. Sarela's spell seems to sap the strength from the flying monarch however, much to his dismay. He curses at all of you and then tries to attack Mithralline. She dodges his scepter but he is able to lean forward and bite her forearm. 4 damage + DC14 Fort or be paralyzed for 1d4 ⇒ 2 rounds.

He screams "Get out of my way!" at the woman blocking the door.

Rose, does the Prince's glitterness wear off after this round?

Fortitude: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18

"Surrender!" Mithralline challenges back, jabbing again with her trident.

Trident (Power Attack): 1d20 + 5 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 5 - 1 + 1 = 22
Damage: 1d8 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 3 + 2 = 7

Rose, does the Prince's glitterness wear off after this round?

I do believe so - each casting lasted 1 round and its been two rounds now I think.

Sam looks frustrated at the evil prince and keeps trying to help.

Guidance on Laurel. Mith, it's hard to tell how hurt you are. Do you need a CLW?

mithralline's trident barely pierces the skin of the fey, inflicting minor damage.

He shouts back "I'll surrender if you kill my mother! Otherwise you leave me no choice!"

Sarela sees how they've barely been able to hurt the Prince, then says, "Maybe we should just kill his mother?"

I post my stats every round of combat. I'm at full health.

"Is your mother going to be as hard to kill as you? If so, you may need to give us something to help," Mithralline says.

She's not willing to make any agreements to kill the mother, but maybe seeing what happens with her is worth the effort.

Flustered he quips "And what guarnetees do I have you won't use it on me! How can I trust you when you're lying to me and then trying to kill me!"

"How can we trust you when you want us to go kill your mother?" Mithralline replies. "I'm willing to promise I won't use whatever you give us against you, though I'm no one's assassin, either."

The Prince argues "I never said I wanted to kill you, I said I wanted you to kill her!. Lower your weapons and I will return to my desk and we can discuss this peacefully."

Mithralline grunts and slings her trident back on her back as she goes to pick up her lance again.

Though it feels like we're right back where we started, she thinks. I still don't see any need to kill this monster's mother...

Aralah holds from firing anymore arrows for the time being, she doesn't not put away her bow but removes the arrow from the string holds it by her side.

Rose will pause but takes out her remaining bag of ink drying powder and if he disappears she'll throw it immediately.

Sarela slings her crossbow over her shoulder and waits for more negotiations to occur.

With the combat temporarily paused, the prince lowers his scepter and flies back to regain his seat at his desk. He reaches into a drawer and downs a potion, healing some of his wounds. Straightening his crown, he clears his throat. "Now then." he begins.

"I will provide you an item to help you eliminate my mother. I require something from you in return however to ensure you will keep your word and not turn on me. What do you propose is a valid trade?"

"My word," Mithralline declares in a ringing voice. "We have given you teeth and you have done nothing but demand more. Then you attacked us when we finally said enough. We will go talk to your mother and see if she's a threat, but I'm not guaranteeing a damn thing more than that!"

The probe sighs ”Not good enough. If you don’t get rid of her, I won’t help you obtain what you seek. Talking to her accomplished nothing. You have come here asking for my assistance, do not find fault in my actions. I have not entered your home, you are in mine. Oh l, and if you don’t agree to kill her then I forbid you from being here and you must leave here immediately, never to return.”

Aralah interjects before Mithralline manages to get them into a fight again. "Look, you've got a problem with your mother right? You said she tried to kill you and you locked her up. That she can't take care of her subjects? What is it you really want her dead, or her gone? Maybe we end up having to kill her, but maybe we can figure out a way to just get her to leave instead? What's the harm in letting us try?"

"She has refused to acknowledge my honor as the rightful ruler, so she must die. Her time has passed and she refused to let go of rule as tradition dictates. She tried to kill me, so no, there will not be a peaceful end to this."

He sighs "I'll save you the trouble. If you try to parlay with her, she'll insist you kill me before she will help you. There you have it. You tried that already and it wasn't going so well. So there you are. Kill her or be gone."

Sam looks somewhat relieved when they stop fighting the prince but she shrugs when they decide to fight the mother instead of the prince. "Well this isn't great..." She sighs and turns to the prince. "What kind of guarantee do you want from us?"

Aralah waits for the fey to answer Sam, but she is ready to agree to the Prince's terms just so they can get out of here. They need to get back to the mortal realm and figure out what happened, maybe find a way to save people, she was willing to kill some old fey Queen if that is what needed to be done for them to leave.

The prince shrugs "I'm not sure. More teeth perhaps? What do you propose. Do you have items of value you could perhaps trade me for it?"

"We will kill you, given time. It would be a long fight, admittedly, but one we would undoubtedly win. You should take that into consideration."

Aralah rolls her eyes at Laurel's words "Look, we need some sort of stamp from you, why don't we do this. You give us whatever weapon you have as a loan, we kill your mother like you asked, return the weapon, then you give us the stamp we need and we go on our way? Win-win."

As the other negotiated with the Prince, Sarela went over to the tooth fairies that had pulled teeth from Mithralline and Laurel, and then picks them up and hands them to them. "Here, put these back in your mouth."

"Ah, thank you." He works on shoving them back into place.

The prince nods. "You kill my mother and bring me her scepter and I will agree to loan you this item which you give me your word you will not use on me. Bring me both items back and I will stamp you."

Assuming you agree, he moves to a long chest in the room and unlocks it with a key that is hanging around his neck. Opening it up, he says "Here you go, try that." he says, motioning to the masterwork cold iron longsword.

He takes the key off his neck and hands it over as well. "You'll need this too."

Aralah nods her agreement ready to get out of this place and return to the land of the living, at this point she doesn't care what monsters she has to kill as long as it gets her out of this place.

She will move toward Laurel and Mithralline and hand over the sword to who ever wants it.

Mithralline looks unhappy, but looks at the sword and Laurel. She's happy to take it, though swords aren't her strongest suit. That's mostly color; she has nothing that makes any weapon better or worse right now.

"I guess we'll see if mom is any worse than son," she says as they move away from the prince out of his hearing, and she tests the blade's balance. "If not..."

I'll take it for the moment, since Laurel's AFK. I'll try to check out his character sheet when I get a chance to see if it makes more sense for him to have it.

Sam sighs as the solution involves more killing and shakes her head. "Well I'll stay with the rest of you if that's what we have to do." Then she adds in a low tone. "But if it's going to be killing, it shouldn't be betrayal as well..."

With the new weapon in hand, the Prince wishes you good luck and bids you farewell. He tells you to return to the ground floor to the locked door on the other side of the stables and to follow that upwards, across the bridge then to the east to where his mother is being kept. He adds "Please kill that fat ass and bring me back the gear as we agreed."

Taking your leave, your go back down the grand staircase and return to the courtyard again. The lock that previously was unable to be opened opens easily with the key you were given by the prince. Swininging it open reveals a 5'x 10' corridor with a ladder on the far side. Arahlah takes four steps in before a creature in the darkness jumps out at her and bites her! Aralah takes Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8 damage plus a DC 13 Fortitude save or be paralyzed for 1d4 ⇒ 2 rounds.

Taking a look at the thing that bit her she sees the soft scrape of bone reveals the long, sinuous skeleton of a large snake, its head a humanoid skull with a snake’s jaws.

GM, I don't see the initiative order. It may be under the GM Spoiler. Are we up?

Oops, yes thank you! Apparently I spoiler-errored and put init order in the GM tag by accident;) You guys are up!

R1: Snake, Sam, Laurel, Rose, Aralah, Mith, Sarela

Laurel's face furrows in concern. So many threats here, and this one likely poisonous. I never asked for any of this. He again attempts to set up Mith for an attack.

Assist DC 10 (FL, TR): 1d20 + 3 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 3 + 1 + 1 = 19

Mith gets a +2 on her next attack. I don't see her in initiative though?

She's before Sarela, second to last.

Sarela jumped back as the snake-thing bit at Aralah.

Knowledge (arcana): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28

Focusing on it, she tried to hex it, saying, "Fate be fickle, and unkind to you!" She then giggled.

Misfortune Hex (DC 15 Will negates), Cackle.

Fort: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

Aralah is surprised when the snake like creature bites her, but even worse she feels the sting of poison and suddenly can't move as her muscles constrict and lock up.

Earlier
Once they're out of the prince's earshot, Mithralline turns to the others.

"So what do we want to do? Killing that little bugger obviously isn't as easy as it looks, and who knows if his mother would be any easier. I don't like the idea of just being sent to kill something by a monster like that, though if she's just as bad ... ? Do we want to try to talk to her and see if we can get a stamp from her, or just go in and try to get this all over with?"

Later

"Damned little ... thing," Mithralline curses and jabs at the creature with her lance. "What the hell is that?"

As usual, can't see the map.

Thinking the bony thing looks like it might not be as easy to hit with her lance or trident, and figuring she should get used to the new blade, she steps in close and brings the sword to bear.

MW cold iron longsword: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 6 + 2 = 16
Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

As they walk, Sam shrugs sadly. "I don't think switching sides again will help us any..."

When the snake jumps out, she yelps in alarm and tries to help her friends.

Casting bless again.

If Sam acts first, that would bump my attack roll to 17. I feel like there's a chance this could eventually hit with enough help. :)

Aralah Attack, PBS, Bless: 1d20 + 1 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 + 1 + 1 = 12
Aralah Damage, PBS: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Aralah Flurry: 1d20 + 1 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 + 1 + 1 = 6
Aralah Damage, PBS: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Sarela identifies the creature, its strengths and abilities as she lands her hex on the creature, instilling a bit of bad luck. Aralah takes a step back and fires two arrows at the snake, but misses both. Mithralline moves up and lands a solid strike on the snake, but as seemingly is becoming common around these parts, the creature resists most of the damage she should have inflicted and it only barely injures the snake.

The snake retaliates and lunges forward and clamps its bone jaws around Mithralline's forearm, shredding her skin and ripping a tremendous gash along her arm. While this happens, it also injects a burning fluid into her body. Mith Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12 damage + a DC 13 Fortitude save or be paralyzed for 1d4 ⇒ 2 rounds.

R2: Snake, Sam, Laurel, Rose, Aralah, Mith, Sarela

Quick weekend post. I assume Sam will handle any emergency healing on Mith.

Assist Mith to hit (bless, reclaimer, ferocious loyalty): 1d20 + 3 + 1 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 3 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 15

Fortitude: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

"Damned thing!" Mithralline curses as it nearly takes her entire arm off -- her shield likely being the only thing that prevented just that. She goes to swing again, but her muscles seize and she finds she can't move at all!

Sam reaches out and heals some of Mithralline's wounds.

Heal Mith: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

"This is a necrophidius! It is a magical construct built out of the skeleton of a giant snake and mounted with a humanoid skull. It's poison can paralyze. Beware if it begins to sway back and forth. It uses this motion to lull its foes into a daze and then strike to paralyze them. It resists all damage except bludgeoning - use a club or mace or similar weapon to damage it."

Having warned her friends of the necrophidius's bite and vulnerability - although too late for Mithralline, unfortunately, Sarela cackled to extend her ill fate upon the necrophidius. She also racked her brain to try and figure out what she could do to support them - none of her magic was particularly useful, nor were her weapons.

I am so freaking useless in this fight it isn't even funny. GM, is the necrophidius immune to mind-affecting effects?

Sarela - Yep. It immune to death effects, disease, mind-affecting effects. necromancy effects, paralysis, poison, sleep, stun, and any effect that requires a Fortitude save and is not subject to nonlethal damage, ability damage, ability drain, fatigue, exhaustion, or energy drain.

Sam - If you are moving there and casting CLW, that will provoke. Was that the plan?

Aralah switches ammunition after Sarela's instruction and fires two more arrows, these time the bludgeoning type. The first hits but the second misses.

Aralah Attack, PBS, Bless: 1d20 + 1 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 1 + 1 + 1 = 19
Aralah Damage, PBS: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Aralah Flurry: 1d20 + 1 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 + 1 + 1 = 4
Aralah Damage, PBS: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

All her options considered, Sarela settled for casting a spell to help Aralah with her aim.

I'll use the standard action to cast Guidance on Aralah and the move action to cackle, then.

I can cast then move up and discharge once I reach touch range, which doesn't provoke. That was my plan.

Gotcha, thanks Sam. Rose is up!