Chark, Þóðᛞrekkr, and Tiny all fail in their attempts to connect as the fiend easily handles the incoming attacks.
Round 3:
Charlie: Go
Haldan: Go
Tiny: Miss
Chark: Miss
Dendillion: Go
???: TBD
Babau: 82
Haldan summersaults forward and pops up with a flourish and launches a card with a smile.
"Let's go ladies and gents, we've got this."
The fiend continues to dodge most of what the party throws at it!
Round 3:
Charlie: Go
Haldan: Miss
Tiny: Miss
Chark: Miss
Dendillion: Go
???: TBD
Babau: 82
Charlie redirects Goliath into he fiend. "Th.that way!" He fires an arrow to mark the new target for Goliath.
HP 68/68
AC 22 (24 w/ shield)
Wooden Shield 12/12; [AC Bonus +2: [Hardness 3] [HP/BT 12(6)]
Snarecraft Snares Used: Biting Snare x3
Focus 1/1
Hero Points 1/3
Goliath
HP 48/48
AC 20
Action 1: Inspire Courage
Action 2-3: Hideous Laughter
Dendillion once more strikes up an inspirational tune, each note building up the courage of the group. He lets the notes ring out.
Success. Inspire Courage is up for 3 rounds.
He then adds a layer of music that... seems surprisingly funny. He channels that conjured emotion magically, letting it wash over the demon!
Critical Success The target is unaffected.
Success The target is plagued with uncontrollable laugher. It can’t use reactions.
Failure The target is slowed 1 and can’t use reactions.
Critical Failure The target falls prone and can’t use actions or reactions for 1 round. It then suffers the failure effects.
The party conintues to be flummoxed by the fiend's combat prowess as neither Charlie nor Goliath connect.
Dendillion lets his song linger as he turns to magic: It's almost as terrifying to the party to hear it, but the fiend begins to cackle manically.
It interrupts his flow, but not so much that it can't swing that glaive once at Tiny before moving:
for and
Round 4:
Charlie: Go
Haldan: Go
Tiny: Go
Chark: Go
Dendillion: Go
???: TBD
Babau: 82
"Oy! You suck!"
Haldan's professionally trained snark gets through to fiend, and it's immediately followed up with a solid smack of some rubble to the face!
Round 4:
Charlie: Go
Haldan: Smack
Tiny: Go
Chark: Go
Dendillion: Go
???: TBD
Babau: 99
Chark sustains her spell...
...then follows up with another spell, this one sending a spear of red flame at the fiend!
Tiny reels from the continued assault as he steps back and draws his heavy crossbow, sending Þóðᛞrekkr into the breach
While Chark's new magic does little, the existing power strikes true.
When Þóðᛞrekkr gets his teeth on the fiend the bite is horrendous! The fiend teeters, then caresses the wound before falling to the ground, motionless.
Charlie lowers his bow. "Now th..th..that wasn't so bad." he looks around the room, quite surprised Goliath hasn't been injured more lately as the bear seemed quite prone to it.
Tiny roughly sits "I don't feel so well."
After a just a few seconds, Tiny regains his composure. It was the unholy artistry of the jagged wound that made his nauseated. He's better once the shock is over.
Chark simply nods and sets to work on patching up Tiny and Dendillion.
Tiny calms down and clears his head "I don't know what I'd do without you Chark, probably break my head getting fired out of a cannon."
Wounds healed, and nerves settled, the party finds themselves in a strange location indeed.
This palatial chamber’s domed ceiling rises twenty feet above the stone floor. Stained‑glass windows portray a radiant human figure raising two islands from a tumultuous sea. Though the artwork is breathtaking, jagged cracks disrupt the images, and shards of colorful glass litter the floor. Heavy ebony doors stand in the east and west walls. The atrium’s alabaster walls are marred with crude paintings of humanoid figures, demons, and profane symbols drawn in blood. An unpleasant, coppery odor lingers in the air.
Charlie looks up at the radiant figure in the stained glass. "Who is that, raising the i..i..islands?"
That is Aroden, the Last Azlanti, Chark says, pointing to the massive eye on the floor. This is — or rather, was — his symbol. This once-holy place has been defiled.
Dendillion agrees with Chark. "The presence of a demon is all the proof you need to know that this place is no longer consecrated to a god."
He gently strums his lute while his wounds are addressed. Feeling better, he looks to Tiny and Charlie. "Do one of you want to take a look at the door to the left, up the northern hallway? Or perhaps we try these double doors before us? I'm easy here, but if it's all the same I'd like to be careful. That demon was an unpleasant surprise."
Charlie takes a listen at the double doors. "Last Azlanti huh?" He muses on it all as he looks back at the mural once more before pushing the doors open.
The thick doors muffle any sound the party may have made, but it works both ways. As Charlie opens the door, he interrupts some strange ritual...
Rows of splintered wooden pews face an oval marble dais three feet high. Wide marble steps lead up to the dais, and a polished mahogany pulpit stands at its center. A glorious fresco on the curved wall behind the dais depicts Aroden engaging in several tasks: battling an imperious necromancer, raising a pair of islands from the sea, and standing atop a mountain with his hands outstretched, wreathed in blue flames.
Hideous images scrawled in tar and old blood painted over the fresco tell a vastly different story. A reptilian humanoid climbs a tunnel from the depths to the surface in one scene. In the next, he reaches out to snatch an orb from a tower drawn on one of the islands, then crushes the orb in his fist. This image repeats four times in slightly different‑looking towers, followed by a final scene of dead trees and skulls around the mountain.
A slight and tight-skinned xulgath seems to be anointing three hulking xulgaths with a mixture of blood and foul‑smelling fungus. She wears a delicate circlet perched incongruously atop her head.
They move quickly at the interruption!
Round 1:
Haldan: Go
Hulking Xulgaths: TBD
Charlie: TBD
Leader Hostile: TBD
Tiny: TBD
Chark :TBD
Dendillion: TBD
Charlie is Scouting
(Scout)
(Search)
(Detect Magic)
(Seek, Keen Eyes)
(Search)
Haldan holds his action until one of the monsters moves forward.
Also, I would have refocused during the healing.
Haldan takes a breath as the hulking xulgaths rush forward with a cacophonous warcry! They are DEFINITELY the smelliest xulgaths you've ever encountered.
Failure: sickened 1
Critical failure: the creature also takes a –5-foot status penalty to its Speeds for 1 round. While within the aura, the creature takes a –2 circumstance penalty to saves to recover from the sickened condition.
A creature that succeeds at its save is temporarily immune to all xulgaths’ stench for 1 minute.
Each, armed with a maul, tries to break through into the main room, first by shoving the frontline out of the way:
Pushed 5'
Pushed 5'
for
for
Round 1:
Hulking Xulgaths: TBD
Haldan: Go
Charlie: Go
Leader Hostile: TBD
Tiny: TBD
Chark :TBD
Dendillion: TBD
Charlie turns green as Goliath seems to have not caught the pungent scent quite yet. This gives the xulgaths an opening as both he and the large bear are shoved to the sides.
He tactically retreats as Goliath holds firm ground while Charlie tries to settle his stomach.
HP 49/68
AC 22 (24 w/ shield)
Wooden Shield 12/12; [AC Bonus +2: [Hardness 3] [HP/BT 12(6)]
Snarecraft Snares Used: Biting Snare x3
Focus 1/1
Hero Points 1/3
Goliath
HP 36/48
AC 20
Haldan moves forward and casts Grease (see yellow 4 squares on the map).
DC 21 Reflex for all 3.
"This spell is so potent, it slipped my mind that I even had it."
...
Full pun-dog face...
"Get it?"
Looking around and completely oblivious if the Xulgath's were even affected.
"Right?!"
Despite it being mid-combat, the joke lands so badly that the sounds of combat have even been silenced.
"Oh, whatever. At least it'll smell like butter for a little bit instead of smelling like these stinkerbells."
Haldan's spell is masterfully placed and executed as all three spine-snapping xulgaths fall right after they push the front line.
Goliath scores a big bite out of one them!
The xulgath in the back summons forth a spiritual dagger and attacks Goliath with it!
but completely misses!
Round 1:
Hulking Xulgaths: TBD
Haldan: Megagrease
Charlie: Hit
Leader Hostile: MWHA
Tiny: Go
Chark :Go
Dendillion: Go
White: 16
With a clear shot at Black, Chark spins about and takes it, sending a ray of bluish flame blasting toward it.
She then moves a bit closer to the fray.
Tiny moves up, drops into his stance and claws at white.
Þóðᛞrekkr independently takes a bite.
Action 1: Inspire Courage
Action 2-3: Telekinetic Projectile
Dendillion fills the air with music again, layering in an inspirational tune that, though a clever series of chords, reverberates through the air.
He plays a lick over top the lingering sounds, each note filled with magic. Spotting a bit of debris nearby, he flings it at the closest xulgath!
Chark and Dendillion's's attacks actually sail over the prone xulgath, but Tiny and Þóðᛞrekkr connect easily.
The two on the flanks stand and move away. The injured xulgath in the thick of it simply, and savagely attacks from its current position.
for
for
for
Round 2:
Hulking Xulgaths: TBD
Haldan: Go
Charlie: Go
Leader Hostile: TBD
Tiny: TBD
Chark :TBD
Dendillion: TBD
White: 44
Goliath barely remains standing after what the Xulgath's do to the smaller bear. Rearing back the sun bear isn't going to go down without a fight as Charlie helps keep Goliath standing awhile longer.
HP 49/68
AC 22 (24 w/ shield)
Wooden Shield 12/12; [AC Bonus +2: [Hardness 3] [HP/BT 12(6)]
Snarecraft Snares Used: Biting Snare x3
Focus 0/1
Hero Points 1/3
Goliath
HP 39/48
AC 20
Goliath fights on, despite the wounds. Thankfully Charlie provides much needed healing!
Round 2:
Hulking Xulgaths: TBD
Haldan: Go
Charlie: Heal
Leader Hostile: TBD
Tiny: TBD
Chark :TBD
Dendillion: TBD
White: 44
3 actions to summon an Azer into the flanking position.
The Azer, mildly disoriented, quickly strikes into action and thanks he luck that this summons didn’t come slightly earlier when she was in the bathroom.
Haldan brings some help to the fight, but unfortunately the azer's opening swing misses!
The leader tries to dispel Haldan's help, but fails! It then moves away for safety.
Round 2:
Hulking Xulgaths: TBD
Haldan: Summon
Charlie: Heal
Leader Hostile: Dispel Magic
Tiny: Go
Chark :Go
Dendillion: Go
White: 44
Action 1: Stride
Action 2-3: Telekinetic Projectile
Dendillion moves a few steps closer to the door. He continues to weave melodies that hurl objects with enough force to kill!
Tiny commands Þóðᛞrekkr to circle around and take a bite.
Before raising his shield and unleashing his own flurry.
While his wolf companion misses with a bite, Tiny scores a devastating hit. The xulgath is surely to die in a matter of moments if the bleed doesn't stop.
Round 2:
Hulking Xulgaths: TBD
Haldan: Summon
Charlie: Heal
Leader Hostile: Dispel Magic
Tiny: Crit!
Chark :Go
Dendillion: Clarification
White: 92 (1d4 Persistent Bleed)
Dendillion's aim is good, and it's enough to kill the prone xulgath!
Round 2:
Hulking Xulgaths: ATK
Haldan: Summon
Charlie: Heal
Leader Hostile: Dispel Magic
Tiny: Crit!
Chark :Go
Dendillion: Kill
At her angle, Chark espies Green and lets fly another ray of bluish flame.
This time it blasts the floor in front of the beast, to no effect. Chark frowns, moving slightly closer to allow for using some of her other spells.
Chark's ray misses this time as the lead xulgath orders the hulks to a different tactic:
Each steps a bit and attacks the azer:
for
for
for
for
and when they're done, the creature is no more!
Round 3:
Hulking Xulgaths: ATK
Haldan: Go
Charlie: Go
Leader Hostile: TBD
Tiny: TBD
Chark: TBD
Dendillion: TBD
Sending an intimidating glare at yellow, and then following up with a card.
Haldan draws first blood on a second xulgath spinesnapper!
Hulking Xulgaths: ATK
Haldan: Hit
Charlie: Go
Leader Hostile: TBD
Tiny: TBD
Chark: TBD
Dendillion: TBD
Green: 13
Seeing another enemy Goliath blindly charges into the grease in pure animalistic fashion.
Goliath slips and slides right onto his side as he snarls and snaps at the Xulgath. "Crap, no!" Charlie raises his bow and snaps off an arrow at the Xulgath to try and keep it distracted long enough to get Goliath out of there.
HP 49/68
AC 22 (24 w/ shield)
Wooden Shield 12/12; [AC Bonus +2: [Hardness 3] [HP/BT 12(6)]
Snarecraft Snares Used: Biting Snare x3
Focus 0/1
Hero Points 1/3
Goliath
HP 39/48
AC 20
Even though he fell, Goliath's bite is bloody and effective. Charlie's arrow barely scrapes it, but it's better than nothing.
The leader weaves a spell, when a spectral spiked gauntlet appears over Dendillion's head and attacks him! for
Round 3:
Hulking Xulgaths: ATK
Haldan: Hit
Charlie: Hits
Leader Hostile: ATK
Tiny: Go
Chark: Go
Dendillion: Go
Green: 33
Chark lets fly with another ray of bluish flame, hoping this one is more successful than her last one.
It is not, however, much to her consternation. With a sigh, she conjures up a disk of force.
Chark's spell goes wide, and she bolsters her defense for the incoming counter.
Round 3:
Hulking Xulgaths: ATK
Haldan: Hit
Charlie: Hits
Leader Hostile: ATK
Tiny: Go
Chark: Miss
Dendillion: Go
Green: 33