GM Cellion's Dawn of Flame AP

Game Master Cellion

I will be traveling for a conference on Wednesday, the 11th, and will not be home until the afternoon of Sunday the 15th.

Thanks for the heads up.

@Cellion, Losonti/Mari has left for their flight as of this morning so will probably need to be botted.

@Cellion, Losonti/Mari has left for their flight as of this morning so will probably need to be botted.

Yep. Totally remembered after I woke up this morning. I blame running multiple games in parallel.

Flint is doing the best he can, but the Reflex saves are breaking against him and he goes down. Sometimes the dice algorithm can be cruel…

Did Sammad get to Flint before his action last round? If so, Flint should wake up in time to take his action from last round instead of using a RP to stabilize.

Yep, you can take last round's actions

That would have been a lot more badass if it actually did some decent damage.

Waiting to see if that AoO drops him before proceeding with more...

Hey everyone. This last week I had multiple exposures to covid and, while my rapid test came back negative, I am definitely sick with something and have very little energy. I am waiting on a PCR test to let me know for sure what I do or don't have.

Here's to hoping your recovery is quick, whatever it is. Want me to bot you in the mean time?

Seconded! Get well soon and stay safe!

Get well soon!

Yes, get well soon!

That was stone cold badass, Ordyt! ;)

Sorry for dropping off the face of the earth. I do indeed have covid, but am slowly getting back to feeling like a human being again. I'll try and get back up to speed again soon.

Oh shoot, I'm so sorry Marisol!

Thanks Bel! Though I feel like the dice roller is either apologizing or setting me up...

Thanks Bel! Though I feel like the dice roller is either apologizing or setting me up...

I confess, I mostly wrote that post for the pun, Mr. Oread. :P

Glad to hear you're on the mend Mari! Take your time, I'll bot you in the mean time.

So it seems I have to report in to my hospital because of Hurricane Ida tomorrow morning. I'll probably be there through Monday evening, but might be as long as Tuesday before I'm allowed to go home. Cellion, bot me well please.

If anyone else is in Ida's path, please stay safe!

Be safe, Sammad!

Agreed! After seeing the news, seems like it'll be rough down there for a while. Thanks for the heads up about botting too.

So Ordyt hasn't had time to process but is player is feeling very suspicious about how this ambush went down. This is a lot of mooks and a giant snake-monster to have snuck into the building--and Taeress says there are more upstairs? This screams "Otlo was bait" to me, whether he was in on it or not (and I'm inclined to believe 'not' at the moment)

There's also the question of how this cult figured out where the tablet was so quickly. Maybe they always new but just didn't have a ship that could sun-dive?

Yeah, Flint is torn between chasing after the tablet and going back to defend the scientists, though that is already decided as he shut the door on the eel before he learned about more footsteps upstairs.

If you guys want, you can have a moment to drop combat and regroup - discuss in or out of character how to approach things. There's no other visible way off the building externally, short of jumping, so your quarry is somewhat bottled up.

A good thought, but I don’t see Flint slowing down until the tablet is recovered and the scientists are safe…I wouldn’t rule out a door to the roof with other foes upstairs, or a ship or hovercraft getaway vehicle for them (or jump jets, fly spells, etc)…

Barring further shenanigans I think Ordyt can catch up to the saboteur with the tablet pretty quickly; those cybernetic legs are really paying dividends now :) At risk of further splitting the party, he and Mari could run down the tablet while someone(s) else gets our NPCs out of the building?

Both my and Ordyt's instinct is to get some distance once we have the tablet, and they can chase us instead of us going to them. Assuming we get the tablet back + NPCs clear, is there any reason to press the fight against whoever's upstairs now?

As of now, the eel is between us and the scientists. Selfishly, there appears to also be loot in the building we might be able to use…both on the downed foes and in several of the building’s rooms.

If there is a path to the roof from the upper floor, we may be able to use that as a way to get back down, but who knows…Flint was somewhat comfortable that the eel going through a closed and barricaded door to the scientists as a very remote possibility, but people walking around upstairs—that could be a different story…

If someone can run with the tablet and lure away the hostile s upstairs, though, that could work.

Update: I'm back home and safe, but restricted to phone-posting for the foreseeable future. My place is on generator power only right now. Hoping we get power restored in the next couple days.

Glad to hear you're safe and sound Sammad. Fingers crossed for you to get your power back soon.

I think Mari could cast Fly and then get altitude from where she is,, perhaps getting eyes on the saboteur before he dissapears.

Of COURSE there's a door back inside on the damn roof. <_<

Turns out I was not feeling as well as I thought I was, and getting caught up on 2 weeks of posts in all my games (not to mention the work that piled up at my job) is a process. But I really am feeling better this time, lol.

Yeah the posts and work just keep piling up until you clear them out. Glad to hear you're back in action!

I should have power back by the 8th, according to our utility company. Hoping for sooner, though.

A cult of Azathoth and Efreeti Blackwater (and some mafia casino goons I guess). If you can judge someone by their enemies, then I deem us to be AWESOME.

Well our combat banter is on point, but we can’t roll for s**t!

Since Ordyt didn't accept that serum Belmarniss tossed him, did he toss it back to her? Trying to decide if I should get Ordyt back in the fight to do more healing magic or just charge at the elf...

He didn't take an action to grab it, so the serum's still in your hand after drawing it.

I agree with that, Ordyt went in to heal Flint and hopefully get everyone to be able to gang up. Obviously that...hasn't worked out thus far.

It would help if our dice would stop going cold every time we face a boss encounter :p

It would help if our dice would stop going cold every time we face a boss encounter :p

For SURE.

Well team, I think it's time to throw in the towel on another boss fight and retreat with Flint if we can. We haven't been able to so much as touch this guy, and he has apparently a bunch of free dispels at his disposal and never misses.

Given the beatings we took already in this big rolling encounter I think we're risking a TPK if we stick around.

The fact that this has happened twice now is...troubling.

My best guess is that we got lured to the cult's hideout, since I don't understand how they could have set this up otherwise. And once they got hands on the tablet we were trying to get it back and didn't have time to heal up. Just a messy situation all around.

And there's still than damn eel downstairs.

Is there anything WE can do to be better prepared for these encounters, or is it just that the dice hate us? We'd have enough HP to power through it if I hadn't rolled a Nat 1 on that Perception check so we could have taken cover before they set off that bomb!

I feel like this is all my fault, both in and out of character. :(

I argued against stopping and regrouping instead of chasing the dude with the tablet, because that is what I think Flint would do. Why stop in the middle of a chase and let what might be the key to the safety of the whole Archipelago disappear with some insane god cultist?

That being said, it does seem the foes are rather powerful compared to our capabilities, but at least some of that is due to my ability choices (low dex so lower AC). Still, I have maximized his to hit with a full BAB of +7, weapon focus +1, and Strength +4 for a total of +12 to hit, but that doesn’t seem to be getting the job done if I can’t roll in double digits to hit…

By the way, please move out of Flint’s charge lane when you act, Ordyt. He is planning to stellar rush that creep and hope for a nat 20….

By the way, please move out of Flint’s charge lane when you act, Ordyt. He is planning to stellar rush that creep and hope for a nat 20….

I'm confused, aren't you unconscious at the moment?

I wouldn't beat yourselves up too much on character builds and the like - you did just power through three pretty challenging fights (and with a split party for the first two!) without resting. Not getting a rest in between and therefore coming in with low HP/SP definitely makes this a very spicy boss that can easily go either way. And of course, cold dice didn't help.

Don't forget that fighting and running aren't your only options when you're in a tight spot, especially against foes whose goals are something other than just murder.

@Belmarniss...

Spending an RP to "stay in the fight" is a thing. Standing is a move action, and Stellar Rush means he can charge as a standard action.