!
With yellow paralyzed, Vhane quickly reloads and continues to pepper away at red.
Silviana moves forward past Vhane and slices at one of their opponents with her starknife.
Lt. Vhane and Silviana attack and end Red.
.
Ryn, you are beside Yellow and can act before it breaks free of Axton's spell!
.
Ryn shakes off the poison and chips away at Yellow.
Yellow breaks free of the chains of light and attacks Ryn
.
The party can now act!
Silviana tosses her starknife at the remaining qlippoth.
Axton pulls his wand of acid arrow out of his haversack and fires a bolt at the qlippoth.
One foe was left standing, and it's attention was elsewhere as it tried to defend itself against the Silviana's star knife and Axton's splash of acid. It was a fatal mistake, as Bharak got behind it. His blade flashed towards it, striking just at the neck. The blade went through, causing its head to leave its shoulders. The head fell to the ground, bounced, and rolled off, stopping at the wall.
Bharak & Silviana hit Yellow.
Axton misses.
Yellow recognizes the greater threat and goes all out on Bharak.
Only its sting manages to hit.
.
The party can now act!
Silviana continues throwing her starknife at their enemy.
Vhane continues to launch bolts at the creature. "Why won't this blasted thing just die, for cryin' out loud," he states matter-of-factly, although a tad of irritation can be found within his tone.
What was almost a decapitating strike was stopped just short, as the creature's barbed stinger took the dwarf right in the chest. But-for his prodigious constitution, he would have been staggered by the venom.
"I'm sure it is thinking the same thing." Barak responded, as he tried to hack away at the creature which had him pinned.
Silviana pants a hopeful platitude. "Do not lose heart," she murmurs to the two men on either side of her. "We will eventually cleanse this once-holy place of evil, and these creatures will fade to nothingness again."
"Try hitting it harder!" Axton calls from the back.
He fires another useless acid arrow at it from his wand.
Ryn to act!
Bleeding heavily, Ryn throws everything she has into a full on assault on the vile fiend
.
.
Ryn manages to just barely hurt the thing enough to end it!
Loot:
Scimitar +1 (2).
Silence falls over the halls, you can see the a spy hole in the wall the two Gongorinan were guarding.
What are you doing now? Some wounded and some poisoned to patch up.
"Let's see what I can do to keep us moving," Silviana suggests.
She activates her merciful vambrances (choosing the Poisoned mercy) and lays her hands on Bharak.
When that fails, she casts paragon surge and gains the Expanded Arcana feat for 13m. She chooses neutralize poison as her spell. Then she casts it again.
She then uses her Healing Hands on everyone who is injured (I think that's just Bharak and Ryn), bringing them up to full strength. (Each use heals 4 points of ability damage and 69 hp. She can't fail, but I'll roll anyway.)
"Much obliged." Bharak said, as he rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. "Feel like an untapped vein of gold." He said with a smile. "Can't wait too open this doomsday door." He added. "We're all standing, and none of our foes are. It's a good sign, aye?"
"A very good sign!" Silviana beams. "The forces arrayed against us cannot stand against your puissant abilities. You've got this!" She chuckles. "Let us hope that opening the door is a comparatively easy task."
Silence falls over the halls, you can see the a spy hole in the wall the two Gongorinan were guarding.
Once Axton stops being impressed at Silvana's use of the word "puissant," he looks through the spy hole.
The secret door in the east wall is incredibly well hidden. Beyond the secret door is a tapering alcove that narrows down to a 3-inch-diameter peephole allowing one to look out into the main temple of Groetus below.
E13. TEMPLE OF DOOMSDAY
The interior of this great, forty-foot-high cathedral shimmers with a nauseating pale green light. The room seems even larger for the lack of furnishings, save for a few crumbling pews and four immense pillars.
To the north, a pair of towering wood and metal doors lie closed-it is from the edges of these looming doors that the foul green light emanates, as it seems to leak out along the walls in writhing streams.
Twisted bodies of strange not-quite-humanoid forms lie strewn about the
north end of the room, and a strangely disturbing wind seems to pulse in the very air.
This chamber served the temple of Groetus as its inner sanctum, and the double door to the north is one of the infamous Doomsday Doors of Groetan myth. More of these doors are said to exist elsewhere on the Material Plane.
Groetan dogma holds that as soon as all of the Doomsday Doors are opened, the End of All Worlds will begin, but whether or not opening these doors causes that end or is merely a symptom of the end is unclear.
Axton can see an Elven cleric performing an insanely complex and lengthy ritual before the doors. He is attended by 2 more of the Gongorinan Qlippoth and 4 Sinspawn guards.
.
The ritual is still taking place below you. Ardathanatus has been performing it for days and the door is still only slightly open. What are you doing now?
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Once Axton stops being impressed at Silvana's use of the word "puissant," he looks through the spy hole.
"They haven't seen us, so I'm feeling good about this." Bharak said. "Start off filling that cleric full of crossbow bolts, while Axton sets everything on fire. Or whatever magical effects he deems appropriate. Silviana fills us with divine power, and both me and Ryan charge in like suicidal idiots." Looking at the others, he finished with "Any objections?"
Silviana smiles excitedly. "Yes, that sounds like a good plan. One blessing of fervor coming right up, and I'll call an invocation for Desna to guide our weapons and protect us from evil magic."
She casts blessing of fervor.
• Increase its speed by 30 feet.
• Stand up as a swift action without provoking an attack of opportunity.
• Take one extra attack as part of a full attack action, using its highest base attack bonus.
• Gain a +2 bonus on attack rolls and a +2 dodge bonus to AC and Reflex saves.
• Cast a single spell of 2nd level or lower as if it were an enlarged, extended, silent, or still spell.
These effects are not cumulative with similar effects, such as those provided by haste or a speed weapon, nor do they actually grant an extra action, so you can't use it to cast a second spell or otherwise take an extra action in the round. Blessing of fervor does not stack with haste.
"Hmm. I love the enthusiasm! If they know we are here, they are likely expecting us to take the stairs down to where they are, which will probably give them some warning that we are on our way.
"However! Now that I've seen the temple room below, I don't see why I can't just use my dimension door spell to take us right into the middle of them! We could disrupt the cleric's ritual immediately instead of allowing for a dramatic buildup where we disrupt the ritual at the last minute!"
Axton flips his Whispering Coin to ask if he will be able to successfully teleport the party into the cathedral below.
Axton gets a 'Yes' from his Whispering coin.
Ok, make your preparations. Use the Doomsday temple map up top for the battle. Let me know when and how you're attacking
”Brilliant!” Bharak said, meaning it. He lifted his blade, ready to go.
Nodding, "Works for me."
Double-checking his crossbow, just to make sure it's locked and loaded, Vhane looks back to the others, "I'm ready."
Axton casts invisibility on himself. Then, when everyone is ready, Axton casts dimension door, bringing the group as close as possible to the cleric below.
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Taking her shield in hand and nodding her readiness, Ryn focuses, launching into an unrelenting assault on the ritual caster, the moment she appears withing 5ft of them.
Silviana activates her invocation before she steps through the portal, bringing down the holy discernment of Desna upon her teammates. She looks around for a likely target at which to throw her goddess's starknife.
• Increase its speed by 30 feet.
• Stand up as a swift action without provoking an attack of opportunity.
• Take one extra attack as part of a full attack action, using its highest base attack bonus.
• Gain a +2 bonus on attack rolls and a +2 dodge bonus to AC and Reflex saves.
• Cast a single spell of 2nd level or lower as if it were an enlarged, extended, silent, or still spell.
These effects are not cumulative with similar effects, such as those provided by haste or a speed weapon, nor do they actually grant an extra action, so you can't use it to cast a second spell or otherwise take an extra action in the round. Blessing of fervor does not stack with haste.
An omdura can call forth the power of her deity to improve her allies’ abilities as a standard action.
When the omdura calls upon this power, she must select one type of invocation from those listed below to grant the benefits to her allies within 30 feet. A called invocation cannot be disrupted, but it ends immediately if the omdura is killed, paralyzed, stunned, or knocked unconscious.
The omdura can use this ability for a number of minutes per day equal to her level. This duration does not need to be consecutive, but it must be spent in 1-minute increments. The omdura can change her chosen invocation to another type as a swift action, but doing so expends a 1-minute increment of her invocations.
At 7th level, an omdura can call an invocation as a move action instead of a standard action. At 13th level, an omdura can call an invocation as a swift action.
• Destruction: The omdura’s allies are filled with divine wrath, gaining a +1 sacred bonus on weapon damage rolls. This bonus increases by 1 for every 3 class levels the omdura has.
• Healing: The omdura radiates a healing light, granting fast healing 1. This causes the omdura’s allies to recover 1 hit point each round (up to their maximum hit points). The amount of fast healing increases by 1 for every 3 class levels the omdura has.
• Justice: This invocation spurs the omdura’s allies to seek justice, granting a +1 sacred bonus on attack rolls. This bonus increases by 1 for every 5 class levels the omdura has. At 10th level, this bonus is doubled on attack rolls to confirm critical hits.
• Piercing: This invocation gives the omdura’s allies great focus and makes their spells more potent. This benefit grants a +1 sacred bonus on concentration checks and caster level checks to overcome a target’s spell resistance. This bonus increases by 1 for every 3 class levels the omdura has.
• Protection: The omdura radiates a protective aura, granting a +1 sacred bonus to Armor Class. This bonus increases by 1 for every 5 class levels the omdura has. At 10th level, this bonus is doubled against attack rolls to confirm critical hits against the omdura’s allies.
• Purify: The omdura’s allies are protected from the vile taint of her foes, gaining a +1 sacred bonus on all saving throws. This bonus increases by 1 for every 5 class levels the omdura has. At 10th level, the bonus is doubled against curses, diseases, and poisons.
• Resiliency: This invocation makes the omdura’s allies resistant to harm, granting DR 1/magic. This DR increases by 1 for every 5 class levels the omdura has. At 10th level, this DR changes from magic to an alignment (chaotic, evil, good, or lawful) that is opposite the omdura’s. If she is neutral, the type of DR doesn’t change.
• Resistance: The omdura’s allies are shielded by a flickering aura, gaining 2 points of energy resistance against one energy type (acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic)chosen when the omdura calls this invocation. The protection increases by 2 for every 3 class levels the omdura has.
• Smiting: This invocation bathes the weapons of the omdura’s allies in a divine light. These weapons count as magic for the purpose of bypassing damage reduction. At 6th level, the allies’ weapons also count as one alignment type (chaotic, evil, good, or lawful) for the purpose of bypassing damage reduction. The type selected must match one of the omdura’s alignments. If the omdura is neutral, she does not grant this bonus. At 10th level, the allies’ weapons also count as adamantine for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction (but not for reducing hardness).
At 11th level, when using her invocation class ability, the omdura chooses two invocations to grant her allies. In addition, the omdura also benefits from any one invocation she calls, but she receives only half the invocation’s granted bonus.
Appearing out of nowhere, the dwarf immediately turned into a whirlwind of flashing blades. Swinging with both skill and strength, and with both aim and speed enhanced by divine power, his weapon was everywhere at once. The cleric, focused on his ritual, was surely caught flat footed by the sudden appearance. And that was a most ill-fated position to be in.