Time Bandits

Game Master Monkeygod

Now that the distraction of feeding has subsided, Lehkazeran tosses a glance back to Dymer, picking up on their forgotten conversation from a few minutes prior:

"Power over Death, Power through Death, and the Power of Death. We hold our rightful place over the living, governing and letting the priveledged few feed us their lifeblood--a great honor for them. It is as good to be the predator, as it is bad to be the prey."

Dymer looks skeptical at Lehk's words, "Anybody can promise such power. I would need something a bit more specific before I seriously consider it."

Lehkazeran smiled wickedly at Dymer.

"More, we do not share with the living."

"One advantage you dead have--you don't bleed when you're punched, so you're much more boring to fight," Nephre states.

She's so deadpan it's hard to tell if she's joking or not.

"Sounds like a cult. 'We promise the world. We can't tell you what that entails until you join though.'" Dymer shrugs in indifference, "I learned a lot from the man who created me; I'm sure I could come up with some method to rival your own gifts, if I wanted to spend the time to do so, but I'd rather not make myself comparable to him unless I have no other choice."

"I hate when you bring him up. Completely pisses all over my day." Ozzie waived a hand over at the corpses, "The knife ears over there would probably grovel for a drop of it. At least the megalomaniac who built this place probably didn't plagiarize half his ideas."

Looking around, he switched topics. "I thought this place a bit small, but we already picked up three surprises. If the rest of the place is that busy, it'll be annoying. What do you want to do?

The replica contains various parts and pieces which total are worth about 3,500gp. You can safely disassemble it without setting it off.

The southern door here appears to not open from this side. You'll have to backtrack to the entrance, and go the other way.

In the center of the room(Area 8) is a raised contraption fitted with a dial that shows a single number at a time, from 1 to 20. Above the dial are carved the words: “When I was 35, my son told me, ‘My brother is now twice the age I will be in 1 year; 2 years ago, my sister was twice my age at the time; today, our three ages together equal yours.’ How old was my son when he said this?”

It's obvious you need to input the answer into the dial in order to continue forward.

"This guy really liked his math puzzles. Too bad they're not exactly hard." With that, Dymer looks around to make sure the rest of his team is ready before rotating the dial to display the number 7 and looking up towards the door himself.

"Good thing you're around to do the boring parts," Nephre says, waiting impatiently for the door to open.

Koro looks inquisitively at the trap.

"A Math problem? Really? I mean...okay. At least it's just simple algebra instead of advanced calculus or anything of the sort."

He will allow Dymer to solve the math problem without issue. Didn't really seem worth it to steal his thunder.

"At least it's not poetry. Can we all agree that if we do a mission that involves trying to solve some noble's poor attempts at rhyming couplet we just burn it all down?"

A loud grinding sound is heard as soon as Dymer enters in the right answer, and a large platform rises, allowing the group to cross into the next room.

A half dozen mechanical efreeti attack as soon as the walk extends.

Initiative! 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Init: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11

Nephre grins at the prospect of another fight. Maybe these things would actually put up some resistance!

init: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10

Init: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20 Ozzie was quick to bring up his weapon.

initiative: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (1) + 15 = 16 Dymer sees the newest foes waiting behind the next door and is reflexively grasping for new bomb components before he realizes what he's doing.

Kn(arcana): 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (18) + 21 = 39 To identify potential weaknesses.

Initiative: 1d20 + 26 ⇒ (1) + 26 = 27

Initiative order: Koro, Ozzie, Dymer, Efreeti, Neph, Lehk.

Dymer, you need engineering or planes to find out about them.

Lehkazeran growls low, waiting for someone to make the first move...

I'll slip in my turn while we wait for Koro.

Ozzie leans against the wall and prepares to cast something.

I'm thinking Obscuring Mist or Black Tentacles, to disrupt their next attack spell or regular attacks.

Dymer looks over the newest opponents with a critical eye and informs the rest of the crew, "These things are basically suped-ep efreeti. There's no telling what modifications were made to them at this point. Cold and physical damage are the best places to start. Do NOT use fire." And with that, Dymer cloaks himself in shadows again, as always preferring to strike from the dark, and activates a couple of abilities that he hopes will help give an advantage in this combat.

Swift action - activate Judgement of Resistance (Fire 6), Judgement of Destruction (3).
- Fire resist 6 for the duration of the combat.
- +3 to all damage rolls for the duration of the combat.
Move action - Walk up the wall that the door was set into and in the dim light of the initial room, Stealth.
Stealth: 1d20 + 51 ⇒ (3) + 51 = 54 Hide in plain sight allows me to stealth even while observed if there is a shadow (excluding my own) or darkness within 10 ft.
Standard action - Cast See Invisibility - Duration 8 minutes, 80 rounds.

Bombs remaining: 11
Judgements remaining: 2/day
Inquisitor lvl 2 spells remaining: 4/5

As the massive stone door grinds out of the way, Dymer and the crew can see a platform rise from what appears to be hundreds of feet of open space over a natural ravine. Obviously powered by magic, Dymer is wary of other traps or potential locations for an ambush and takes a moment to check for both.

Perception: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (18) + 21 = 39 to check for traps around the room's entrance

Satisfied that the entrance to the room is not trapped, Dymer walks out of the dim light of the rest of the tomb into the bright light of the next room and can almost feel the sun on his skin breaching sporadically through the clouds above, warm even with the cold shadows trailing off of him and his equipment as he uses the shadows from those same clouds to hide his movements from prying eyes.

Stealth: 1d20 + 49 ⇒ (1) + 49 = 50

Dymer slowly makes his way across the platform, looking for any indication of a trap or ambush, but sees nothing to indicate danger aside from the - admittedly small - chance of falling from the side.

Perception: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (3) + 19 = 22 to look for traps or places for other creatures to attack from.

Shrugging, Dymer walks back to the previous room and informs the crew of his findings.

"Hmm, Seems kind of odd to find two dead ends. I don't know if the old man was trying to funnel us towards something. Even if you didn't find any traps, there guaranteed to be a surprise in that room or the next. You all feel like a jog?"

Nephre growls. "I'm tired of this sneaking around. I'm going ahead."

She stalks angrily into the room, hoping for something to punch.

Koro will spend a spell point in order to top off his momentum pool. He will also make sure to refocus and re-enter the Guardian role, refreshing his temp hp as well.

Afterwards, he will enter the room, and noting the mechanical Efretti, will ready his weapon to attack.

Knowledge Check: 1d20 + 30 ⇒ (15) + 30 = 45

Koro will attempt to identify these creatures, namely if they retain any intelligence, and therefore will not be immune to his Guardian Sphere challenge.

Assuming that they are intelligent, Koro will challenge them all to attack him as a standard action, teleport over to their midst with a swift action via Ghost Step, then punctuate his mass challenge with Stellar Stompers as a move action.

Stellar Stompers Damage: 3d6 ⇒ (6, 6, 2) = 14 Sonic damage, Reflex DC 19 half.

Since Koro realizes through his knowledge check that the Efreeti aren't intelligent, he will instead attack a second time with Stellar Stompers.

Stellar Stompers: 3d6 ⇒ (1, 2, 4) = 7 Sonic damage, DC 19 Reflex half.

AoE is a 15 ft. burst effect, centered on Koro.

The six efreeti swoop in, and being bombarding the group with spells.

One splits the group in half with a wall of fire. The wall will form in between Koro and Lhek(based on their positioning on the map) The side facing the bottom portion of the map is what will deal damage. 2d4 ⇒ (1, 2) = 3 fire to Koro, Nephre and anybody else on their side.

A second drops a ball of flame on Koro's side.10d6 ⇒ (5, 2, 2, 4, 3, 2, 4, 2, 1, 6) = 31 Fire damage. Ref DC 25 for half.

Another also launches a fireball on Lhek's side 10d6 ⇒ (1, 3, 6, 1, 1, 1, 3, 3, 6, 1) = 26 Fire damage, DC 25

The other three hang back, and wait.

While in the Guardian role, Koro has resistance to all elements and DR equal to half his level, or 5.

This negates the damage from the wall of fire.

As for the two fireballs...

Reflex save: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (11) + 21 = 32
Reflex save: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (5) + 21 = 26

If these succeed, then Koro Jigen takes no damage due to having Evasion.

On his turn, Koro will 5 ft step towards the southern robotic efreeti, and use the extended reach of his Guardian blade to full attack it.

Before full attacking it, however, he'll mark the efreeti with his Defender's Oath as a swift action, causing it to take a -3 penalty to attacks and DCs that don't also target Koro, while empowering his own attacks against the beast.

Attack 1: 1d20 + 27 ⇒ (15) + 27 = 42
Damage: 3d6 + 7 + 4 + 5 ⇒ (5, 5, 1) + 7 + 4 + 5 = 27

Attack 2: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (17) + 22 = 39
Damage: 3d6 + 7 + 4 + 5 ⇒ (1, 3, 4) + 7 + 4 + 5 = 24

Note that Koro Jigen's weapon is +4 and thus bypasses DR/Adamantine

Reflex: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (16) + 15 = 31
Knowing a little fire can't hurt him, Lehkazeran dodges most of the explosion and allows some of the fire to wash over him and the body of the goblin he still carries.

"You can't hurt me. But I can hurt you."

Also have evasion. And a little fire resistance, to let me be cool about it.

Reflex: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (13) + 14 = 27

Nephre has Evasion and Fire Resist 10

Nephre laughs as she nimbly evades the ball of flames, unbothered by the heat of the wall of fire near her.

"I hope you're better entertainment than the last ones!" she says as she leaps forward and aims a punch at one of the efreet. A matching pair of red tatoos glow on her upper arms as she does.

Swift action to boost her strength, spending 5 tension on boosting attack. If the attack hits, target is battered and suffers a -3 to attack and damage rolls.

Attack: 1d20 + 26 ⇒ (11) + 26 = 37
Damage: 1d8 + 19 ⇒ (4) + 19 = 23

Reflex: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (3) + 20 = 23
Reflex: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (4) + 20 = 24
60 fire damage eats into Ozzie's protection from element(fire).

Ozzie dusts off some of soot as the flames wash over him and vanish.

A glance at Nephre and the look on her face convinces Lehkazeran to leave her with the Efreeti on her side of the platform, and instead focus on the one closest to him. He flaps five feet towards his prey, and unleashes a blindingly faery series of blows.

5' step, swift to activate the 'Greed' Sin Strike to count as adamantine, full attack. If I need to move more than 5 feet up, consider it a Flying Kick style strike instead, shouldn't change anything.

atk1: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (20) + 21 = 41
atk2: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (13) + 21 = 34
atk3: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (9) + 15 = 24

Crit confirm?: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (20) + 21 = 41

dmg1: 2d6 + 15 ⇒ (2, 2) + 15 = 19
extra crit damage if needed, dmg1: 2d6 + 15 ⇒ (6, 1) + 15 = 22
dmg2: 2d6 + 12 ⇒ (3, 6) + 12 = 21
dmg3: 2d6 + 12 ⇒ (3, 5) + 12 = 20

Dymer, perched above the doorway still, quickly splits his attention between mixing a single bomb using one of his non-elemental catalysts and focusing the adrenaline of another combat into anger and infusing that into his bomb. Satisfied with its power, Dymer takes a quick shuffle step over the frame of the doorway and chucks it at the closest efreeti he can see on the other side of the walkway before immediately halting his movements, letting any who would look his way gaze over him without ever really noticing his presence.

Swift action: Activate Bane vs Outsider (extraplanar)
Full attack (charging hurler):
Move 10ft west along the wall above the door
Ranged attack +2 (-2 AC until the start of my next turn), +2 Bane
attack vs flat footed (breaking stealth) and touch (Thorny bomb): 1d20 + 17 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 17 + 2 + 2 = 31
damage: 5d6 + 10 + 3 + 3d6 + 1d8 + 2d6 ⇒ (3, 4, 2, 6, 1) + 10 + 3 + (5, 5, 2) + (1) + (5, 5) = 52 1d6+10+3 Piercing damage, 3d6+1d8 precision damage, 2d6 Bane (untyped or precision?)
No action: Snipe to return to Stealth: 1d20 + 48 - 10 ⇒ (3) + 48 - 10 = 41

Fire resist 6 for the duration of the combat
+3 to all damage rolls for the duration of the combat
See Invisibility: 79/80 rounds remaining
Bane remaining: 9/10
Bombs remaining: 10
Judgements remaining: 2/day
Inquisitor lvl 2 spells remaining: 4/5

Ozzie takes flips down a pair of goggles, and takes aim.

From total concealment, casting stone discus. 2x ranged attacks vs flat footed if they can't see me, at the two nearest ones. Fog gives me no issues.
Attack 1: 1d20 + 20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 20 + 2 = 39
Damage: 4d6 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (5, 3, 6, 2) + 2 + 2 = 20
Sneak attack: 2d6 ⇒ (6, 6) = 12

Attack 2: 1d20 + 20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 20 + 2 = 35
Damage: 4d6 + 2 ⇒ (2, 1, 6, 4) + 2 = 15
Sneak attack: 2d6 ⇒ (6, 3) = 9
Counts as bludgeoning, magic, silver, and cold iron. No SR.
Targets take -2 to AC + additional -2 AC vs me for a round.

Stealth: 1d20 + 30 ⇒ (11) + 30 = 41

A couple spinning stone frisbees hurl towards a couple of the efreets

One of the Efreet who has yet to act drops a fireball into the middle of the interlopers, burning away the protective mist. 10d6 ⇒ (1, 5, 1, 2, 5, 3, 2, 1, 6, 2) = 28 Ref DC 25. Hits Koro, Ozzie and Lehk. It then disappears from view.

The other two Efreeti then each launch a trio of fiery blasts, one targeting Dymer, one at Ozzie.

Total fire damage= 55

Total fire damage= 37

Both also disappear.

The Efreeti attacked by Nephre responds in kind, slashing a flurry of strikes at lioness. With a pair of them landing.

It then turns, and fires a trio fiery rays at Dymer.

I will post for Efreeti 2 and 3 tomorrow.

The genie facing Koro unleashes multiple attacks at the old warrior, then blasts him with fire.

However, Koro's defenses prove too tough for the elemental robot to pierce.

The efreet that was attacked by Lehk retaliates with a trio of strikes from it's deadly blade.

It then blasts Ozzie with flame.

Ozzie takes 44 fire damage.

Nephre grins as the 'efreet' strikes her. "Not bad, but you'll have to hit harder if you really want me to feel it!"

A series of tattoos across her body flash green, and her wounds nearly disappear. Healing: 5d8 + 50 ⇒ (5, 8, 2, 4, 8) + 50 = 77

As this happens, she lashes out with a fist, then kicks with a paw at its leg.

Punch: 1d20 + 20 + 3 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 20 + 3 + 2 + 2 = 41
Damage: 1d8 + 9 + 3 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 9 + 3 + 2 + 2 = 21
Kick: 1d20 + 15 + 3 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 15 + 3 + 2 + 2 = 34
Damage: 1d8 + 9 + 3 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 9 + 3 + 2 + 2 = 24

Ref save: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (8) + 15 = 23

Lehkazeran dodges some of the second fireball that comes his way, and trusts his scales to absorb the brunt of the rest. He similarly floats between most of the blows aimed at him, taking only a glancing blow.

Fireball half damage, and resist 5:
28/2=14; 14-5=9 fire damage.
*
Efreeti attack
26 damage.
*
35 total, leaves me at 125/180

"I think I've had enough of fire for now. Begone, useless thing."

Lehkazeran steels himself and then flaps his wings with a mighty snap, hurling a gust at the Efreeti to try and disorient him.

Std action to spend 2 cruor and pick up Combat Stamina and Getting Teeth via Blood Memory. Swift to activate Going Teeth for 17 Fire Resistance. Move action attack to trip him via Sweep.

Trip Attempt: 1d20 + 21 - 2 ⇒ (2) + 21 - 2 = 21

I forgot to make stealth checks for Efreeti 4, 5, & 6. Will include them in their individual posts. 1d20 + 35 ⇒ (1) + 35 = 36 Stealth, with Invisibility.

The efreet moves into a flanking position behind Nephre and attempts to deliver a series of devastating sneak attacks.

Nephre takes 127 HP, 9 of which is fire.

It then turns and blasts Dymer with a trio of rays of fire.

Dymer takes 43 fire damage

I'll slip in my turn to go after Koro

All three scorching rays seem to hit Ozzie square on but his magically enhanced skin is impervious to the flames.

99 fire damage eaten

"Eh, you stupid cogs, that's the worst you can do?"

Ozzie quickly guzzles one drink, pulls out another and dashes behind a wall.

All six caster level checks succeed

Miscalculated damage and missed a Reflex save 60+14+99
Reflex: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (12) + 20 = 32

Those last few rays of burning fire finally pierce Ozzie's protections and leave some scorches. The flashe of pain still sends the little goblin to hide behind cover.

120 fire absorbed, 53 fire damage taken directly.

Koro Jigen will continue to full attack the Efreeti in front of him.

Attack 1: 1d20 + 27 ⇒ (1) + 27 = 28
Damage: 3d6 + 7 + 4 + 5 ⇒ (2, 3, 5) + 7 + 4 + 5 = 26

Attack 2: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (7) + 22 = 29
Damage: 3d6 + 7 + 4 + 5 ⇒ (6, 2, 4) + 7 + 4 + 5 = 28

One of the invisible efreet flies unseen into a somewhat better position, and blasts first Koro and then Lehk with fire.

Lehk takes 52 fire damage

Total damage taken: 113 fire reduced to 59 fire.
49/108 hp remaining

Dymer's fire resistance soaked up a lot of the energy from the attacks levied against him, but it's not something he wants to continue to put to the test. With that in mind, Dymer drops from the wall onto the platform and moves out of the corridor into the previous room and taking advantage of all the dim light a shadow could want to hide in.
From the shadows, a small alchemical vial soars across the room to splash against the construct in front of Lehk, and Dymer uses the shadows to mask the rest of his movements as he hides behind the dais that allowed entrance into the efreeti's room.

Full round action: Shot on the Run - When attacking with a ranged weapon, you can move - attack - move.
Stealth: 1d20 + 51 ⇒ (6) + 51 = 57
Attack vs flat footed (breaking stealth) and touch (Thorny bomb) #3: 1d20 + 17 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 17 + 2 = 36
Damage: 5d6 + 10 + 3 + 3d6 + 1d8 + 2d6 ⇒ (3, 6, 1, 6, 2) + 10 + 3 + (3, 6, 1) + (8) + (1, 5) = 55 5d6+10+3 Piercing damage, 3d6+1d8 precision damage, 2d6 Bane
splash damage does not affect Lehk's square
Stealth: 1d20 + 51 ⇒ (13) + 51 = 64

Fire resist 6 for the duration of the combat
+3 to all damage rolls for the duration of the combat
See Invisibility: 78/80 rounds remaining
Bane remaining: 9/10
Bombs remaining: 9
Judgements remaining: 2/day
Inquisitor lvl 2 spells remaining: 4/5

The third and final invisible efreet moves into a flanking position behind the dragon warrior and slashes out at him with it's deadly blade.

Total damage= 53, 5 fire