tt's The Elsebo Way

Game Master therealthom

"Stupid Hellknights've mucked it all up. Let me see if I can find the backups . . .."

Computers: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (2) + 12 = 14

Facepalm

The Main Party

The party reaches the bottom of the stairs. Zephyr and Never step onto the library floor; Jaeric, trailed by Veda stand on the lowest treads.

Hellknights are still oblivious. Gonna stealth up on them, or kick the door in again?

Tried posting twice over the long weekend. Interrupted and just lost.

it's ya'll's move.

Zephyr moves quietly down the steps and shoots down at the nearby Hellknight in the trench to his south.

Stealth: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16
Artillery Laser Attack: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (2) + 9 = 11
Damage: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13

Lorne starts by trying to secure a path for the team, firing the NE extinguisher toward the fire next to Purple and Purple himself.

After taking the pedestrian route along the perimeter and down the stairs, the team emerges into the raging inferno. Never had worked with a plasma torch and knew heat, but nothing like this. There was no escaping it, no looking away. The intensity of the radiation of energy would be the death of what was left of her eyebrows. She hated the dumb Curators all the more for having to act as their conscripted fire service.

Bravely, or foolishly, she advances and reloads her breath weapon, blasting forth a cone of pure cold at the nearest burning sections of stacks and the pair of hellknight cultists.

1 RP to recharge the wyrmling gland (did this earlier but retconned that action)

Wyrmling Gland, Cold: 3d6 ⇒ (5, 2, 6) = 13 15' cone

Zephyr steps stealthily into the library proper and fires his laser rifle at the nearest hellknight who appears to be oblivious. The knight drops a book from the stack he's carrying, stumbles, and the beam passes over his head.

Lorne gets the fire suppression system online and tries to cool down an alley for the party to traverse safely. Ice-blue foam erupts from the nozzle and creates an icy, fire-free corridor. Gonna need an attack roll please. I laid down some white squares where I think you're aiming.

The Hellknights would have to be dead to overlook that. They, and the burning dogs, turn to look toward the cryo-fire suppression system

Never stops at the entrance and unleashes a freezing blast that knocks down the flames it touches and catches the two hellknights. What was the save DC?
a
Jaeric and Veda may have an action in this surprise round.
Initiative and Status (End of surprise round)
Red Knight
Blue Knight
Purple Hound
Yellow Hound

Jaeric (-1 RP)
Veda (-16 SP)

Loomarch

Zephyr (-2 RP)
Lorne (-8 SP)
Never (-2 RP)

Moved it to what I had in my head.

1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21

21 if Str based (unlikely)
24 if Dex based
25 if Int based

Ref save DC 15 for 1/2

Still waiting on Jaeric and Veda's surprise round action. Thanks, Never. Cool, Lorne. Fire extinguishers attack as a ranged weapon. Nice roll.

Lorne lays down a line of icy fire suppression into a trench. He catches the Hellknight in the spray, and the man twists as if burning. The fires in the trench dim, and begin smouldering.

Never's icy breath also knocks down the flames, even as it makes life painful for the two knights in its span.

Initiative and Status (End of surprise round)
Red Knight (-13)
Blue Knight (-21)
Purple Hound
Yellow Hound

Jaeric (-1 RP)
Veda (-16 SP)

Loomarch

Zephyr (-2 RP)
Lorne (-8 SP)
Never (-2 RP)

Jaeric follows after Never and Zephyr. When the fire suppression nozzle fires from overhead, he takes satisfaction in knowing that Lorne has been successful in getting the systems to reboot. Of course, it alerts everyone to their presence, but that was going to be unavoidable anyway. The main thing was getting the Hellknights taken out.

"There!" He points to Hellknight caught in the freezing spray. "Focus on that one!" he encourages everyone. "Take him out first."

OOC: Jaeric uses his Get'Em envoy improvisation ability to grant his companions a +1 morale bonus on attack rolls against the purple knight.

Veda treads heavily down the stairs behind Jaeric. As she descends she slides her big plasma bolter off her shoulder and swings it around in front of her.
End surprise round.

The Hellknights react quickly. Not bothering to move from the trenches they advance, raise their flamethrower's nozzles create a wall of flame that rushes toward the party. Everyone gets caught in the inferno.

The burning dog to the north spins and delivers a gout of flame from its mouth that dwarfs the artificial flames of the knights.

That's 14 points of damage, Ref save DC 13 for half. Status below does not include this damage. I'll adjust your damage after the saving rolls.

The other dog gracefully leaps the trenches as it lopes toward you. It skids to a stop and opens up on Never with a stream of tracers from a machine-gun painfully grafted to its flank. The bullets fly wide.

Status/Initiative Round 1: Bold may go.
Red Knight (-13)
Blue Knight (-21)
Purple Hound
Yellow Hound

Jaeric (-7 SP)(-1 RP)
Veda (-23 SP)

Loomarch

Zephyr (-4 SP) (-2 RP)
Lorne (-8 SP)
Never (-4 SP) (-2 RP)

Zephyr attempts to dodge the incoming inferno.

Reflex: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

Reflex: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22

Tidbit chirps a warning and Never tumbles sideways to avoid some of the flames.

"Thanks! Keep your head down."

Jaeric and Veda are up.

Status/Initiative Round 1: Bold may go.
Red Knight (-13)
Blue Knight (-21)
Purple Hound
Yellow Hound

Jaeric (-7 SP)(-1 RP) (save pending)
Veda (-23 SP) (save pending)

Loomarch

Zephyr (-18 SP) (-2 RP) (failed save accounted for)
Lorne (-8 SP) (no save needed)
Never (-11 SP) (-2 RP) (successful save accounted for)

** spoiler omitted **...

Reflex save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24

With the honed reflexes of a half-elf, Jaeric ducks and rolls as the flames wash across them. Pointing out the obvious, Jaeric gestures at the Hellknight wielding the flamethrower. "Okay...target him!"

OOC: Jaeric uses his Get'Em envoy improvisation to grant his companions a +1 morale bonus on attack rolls against the Hellknight.

He then raises his handgun and squeezes off a round to deter their attacker.

Ranged attack: 1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 3 + 1 = 21
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 1

I'll assume you're still targeting the blue (purple) knight. Veda pushes past Jaeric and moves to flank levels her bolter at the knight in the trench. Plasma blossoms on the knight's chest and swirls upward. The knight clutches his chest and staggers.

Still up though.

A heavily armored figure with flames sprouting from joints in the armor steps into the gap between two stacks and slowly surveys the scene with a sweep of his head. He raises the book in his hand, opens his mouth to reveal an inferno within his helmet and casually fits the book into the opening. The book bursts into flame, breifly casting the angles of his helmet into shadowed relief.

Loomarch turns away, drags another tome from the stack and disappears to the north.

A burst of flame puts the stacks ahead of you into stark momentary silhouette. The control room floor buckles.

Status/Initiative Round 1 middle : Bold may go.
Red Knight (-13)
Blue Knight (-34)
Purple Hound
Yellow Hound

Jaeric (-14 SP)(-1 RP)
Veda (-20 SP) (-10 HP)

Loomarch

Zephyr (-18 SP) (-2 RP)
Lorne (-8 SP)
Never (-11 SP) (-2 RP)

Never observes the arrogance of the Loomarch with disdain. It was pretty bad form to make a big show of eating. Like, some people hardly got to eat at all, and here was this walking incinerator shoving books down its big dumb maw. Time to step up the game.

Guarded step, the 1 RP to immediately recharge the dragon gland.

Wyrmling Gland(cold): 3d6 ⇒ (2, 5, 5) = 12 Ref save DC15 for 1/2 dmg

15' cone aimed south from the lower-right corner will hit blue, red, and yellow.

Never retaliates against the fire with cold. Her icy breath sprays over the knights and burning dog. They twist in pain. The knight to Never's right goes limp, and seems to levitate. His steel clad and spiked form rotates slowly until he's face down, apparently floating on the mist filling the trench.

One down.

Zephyr looks down at the red knight in the trench and shots a duo of laser bolts at him, hoping to catch him off balance from the biting cold Never just coated him with.

Artillery Laser Full Attack: 1d20 + 9 - 4 ⇒ (15) + 9 - 4 = 20
Damage: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12

Artillery Laser Full Attack: 1d20 + 9 - 4 ⇒ (8) + 9 - 4 = 13
Damage: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13

"Well, shi . . .."

Reflex Save DC 16: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19

The dwarf manages to bounce off the top of a bookcase, following on to the floor, preventing himself from having the full height of the drop punish him.

He climbs up to his feet and pulls his pistol, wishing he had a fire extinguisher instead. Then he stops for a second and considers, maybe there are extinguishers in the room? He begins scanning to see if he can spot one . . ..

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

There are no manual fire extinguishers in the lower room, just the large, formerly remote-controlled ones on the ceiling. Lorne will stand and draw his weapon as a single move action, I presume. Leaves Lorne with his standard action for this round.

The last knight ducks into the mist, but Never's breath freezes him anyway. Zephyr fires down on the beleaguered knight in the trench. One beam catches the knight squarely in the back, but the other just flashes over his shoulder.

In the other trench, the dead knight swirls on the mist, like a body caught in a vortex.

Loomarch speaks in a booming voice that echoes through the chamber. "The texts here are demonic, evil. They've already been the bane of thousands or millions of sentients. If you knew what they say you would join us in destroying them. Just let us complete our mission and we don't need to fight."

Mist is not thick enough to have game effect.

Status/Initiative Round 1 middle : Lorne has a standard action left.
Red Knight (-37)
Purple Hound
Yellow Hound

Jaeric (-14 SP)(-1 RP)
Veda (-20 SP) (-10 HP)

Loomarch

Zephyr (-18 SP) (-2 RP)
Lorne (-8 SP)
Never (-11 SP) (-2 RP)

”Destroying knowledge about demons only lessens our ability to fight them. Stop your destruction of knowledge and instead petition to use it to better combat this evil!” shoots back Zephyr, looking for his next target.

Ignoring the banter being used to slow the team's interference in the destruction, Lorne quickly decides that his best bet will be to try to grab direct control of one of the extinguishers. So he decides to try to get to the one in the corner opposite his companion's arrival. He positions himself to attempt a running leap across the trench without putting himself in the fire . . ..

Never empathized with Loomarch. The Curators own words revealed them to be exactly the terrorists Loomarch described. She joined the Starfinders to tear down ivory towers, and now she was forced to save one so that her cheap-ass organization could save a few bucks. The Hellknights tactics were s&%&ty, but she understood why they felt compelled to act in such extremes. She hated being put in this position.

"Stand down, Loomarch!" Never shouts. "You've done enough for one day. Live to fight another. We're not your enemy - don't make it that way."

What does the lever do that Never is standing next to?

"The documents' destruction is commanded. It shall be done!" Loomrch's voice reverberates through the library.

Avoiding hot-spots, good. The extinguishers are on the ceiling 20' up.

The Hellknight in the trench unleashes another gout of flame from his flamethrower. The stream of fire plays over you all, with painful results.
4 damage, not Lorne

The burning dog to the west leaps the trench gracefully to rush Never. Teeth laced jaws snap at her legs with boen crunching force and she can feel the heat of its breath through her armor. But its teeth close on empty air.

The other dog waits a beat, then breathes flame on all of you.
11 damage. Ref save DC 13 for half. Not Lorne.

Status/Initiative Round 2 begin : Jaeric and Veda are up.
Red Knight (-37)
Purple Hound
Yellow Hound

Jaeric (-18 SP)(-1 RP) (save req'd)
Veda (-20 SP) (-14 HP) (save req'd)

Loomarch

Zephyr (-22 SP) (-2 RP) (save req'd)
Lorne (-8 SP)
Never (-15 SP) (-2 RP) (save req'd)

Are the hounds impervious to cold? Yellow should have taken damage from Never's attacks. If they are, then I'll need to retcon this action.

Ref Save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

Never scowls. "Suit yourself. If there's one thing I hate more than terrorists, its some idiot who obeys politics like its his religion. Now you gotta bite it."

Guarded step, then 1 RP to immediately recharge the dragon gland. abusing this in multiple campaigns right now...

Wyrmling Gland(cold): 3d6 ⇒ (1, 4, 6) = 11 Ref save DC15 for 1/2 dmg

15' cone aimed south from the lower-right corner will hit both hounds.

Sorry. Brain fart. Yes. Hounds can be hurt by cold. Will reflect that innext update.

Reflex Save versus fire: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19

Reflex save versus fire: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

Jaeric catches a blast of fire in his face and has to turn away from the inferno to save his eyes...or eyebrows...or both. "We need to spread out!" he suggests, "They'll just concentrate fire on the lot of us if we stay together."

He then focuses his attention on the remaining Hellknight, calling upon the mystic power of Desna to attack the mind of their opponent.

OOC: Jaeric uses mind thrust I on the red knight.

Damage: 2d10 ⇒ (10, 4) = 14 (DC 12 Will save for half damage)

The Hellknight clutches at his head, then falls backward. His arms splay wide and he floats on top of the mist.

Two down.

Behind you, Veda groans and you hear her armor clatter against the wall behind you. Her bolter goes off, sending charged plasma into the ceiling.

Loomarch's voice thunders again. "If the cause of safety for the galaxy doesn't sway you, what blandishments might? "

Never sprays the hounds with cold again.

Status/Initiative Round 2 begin : Bold are up.

Purple Hound
Yellow Hound

Jaeric (-21 SP) (-8 HP) (-1 RP)
Veda (-20 SP) (-19 HP)

Loomarch

Zephyr (-27 SP) (-2 RP)
Lorne (-8 SP)
Never (-20 SP) (-3 RP)

Scalded once again, Zephyr nods and moves out to try and stay out of the hounds overlapping fields of fire. Stabbing at the yellow hellhound, Zephyr hopes to take at least one down before they all are burned to death.

Bayonet Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17
Piercing Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

Are the hounds reacting at all to Never's cold breath weapon? Do they seem to be affected by it?

The dwarf starts moving quickly, going for a running leap over the walkway.

Athletics DC 5: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (1) - 1 = 0

And as he reaches the ledge and goes to put his foot down to propel him across, he misses, and falls into the walkway instead.

Okay. Now I can't make the gimmies.

Are the hounds reacting at all to Never's cold breath weapon? Do they seem to be affected by it?

I must be subconsciously convinced that the battle would be more fun for me if they were immune. Updated status for them is below. Really this time.

And what lever are you referring to in your Dec 12 post?

[spoiler= GM rolls]

Save, blue: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8
Save, yellow: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

Status/Initiative Round 2 end : Bold are up.

Purple Hound (-11)
Yellow Hound (-17)

Jaeric (-21 SP) (-8 HP) (-1 RP)
Veda (-20 SP) (-19 HP)

Loomarch

Zephyr (-27 SP) (-2 RP)
Lorne (-8 SP)
Never (-20 SP) (-3 RP)

Never sprays the hounds with cold again. The dogs don't like it a and mournfully.

Zephyr stabs at the nearest, but a nimble dodge and the hound just barely avoids being skewered.

Perhaps Lorne's fall is cushioned by the mist, but the impact at the bottom of the trench could have been far more painful. Lying on his back, the dwarf looks up and notices small blackened fragments of parchment dancing on currents of the fog.

The west-most (blue)hound skips back while trying to avoid Never's breath. It responds with a fiery blast of its own at the trio lined up against the wall.

21 damage Ref Save DC 13 for half. Never, Jaeric and Veda.

The other hounbd bites at Zephyr.

Status/Initiative Round 2 middle : Bold are up.

Purple Hound (-11)
Yellow Hound (-17)

Jaeric (-21 SP) (-8 HP) (-1 RP) save pending
Veda (-20 SP) (-19 HP) save pending

Loomarch

Zephyr (-27 SP) (-8 HP) (-2 RP)
Lorne (-8 SP)
Never (-20 SP) (-3 RP) save pending

Ref Save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23

there are 3 gray things on the map around the room that look like they could be levers or something.

As a reaction upon taking hit point damage. Zephyr spends 1 RP to activate his nanite upgrade, invoking Fast Healing 1 for one minute. He then sets his feet and tries to stab more accurately this time with the bayonet at the yellow beast, pretty sure that his laser will have no effect on the fiery hounds.

Bayonet Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21
Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

Zephyr (-27 SP) (-7 HP) (-3 RP) (Fast Healing 1, 1/10)

there are 3 gray things on the map around the room that look like they could be levers or something.

Those are the fire extinguishers that USED to be controlled from the system upstairs. GM said they are 20' off the ground.

Lorne has it right. Fire extinguishers: Swiveling, pressurized drums of fire-suppressant foam that's shot through rifle-like nozzles.

Reflex save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20

Jaeric rolls once again to avoid the flames, but can feel the heat sapping his energy regardless. He glances beside him and sees Veda has fallen, starting to fear the team may be in over its head. 'Time for some divine intervention.' He closes his eyes and touches the butterfly pendant on his necklace. 'We could use your help, Lady of Luck. Let the Song of the Spheres be heard in this place...even amidst the flames of Hell.'

OOC: Jaeric spends a Resolve point to do a Healing Channel as a full-round action. Every ally within 30 feet receives...

Healing: 2d8 ⇒ (2, 5) = 7 hit points back

At the back of the party, Veda slumps to the floor overcome by the hound's flaming breath.

With a quiet plea to Desna, Jaeric rallies the party, restoring health and vigor.

Veda struggles to a knee, scoops her bolter off the floor, and rises shakily to her feet. She levels the longarm at the hound near Zephyr and plants a plasma bolt squarely in its chest. The hound jerks and snarls.

Zephyr succeeds in skewering the hound, but it squirms and twists on the blade, quite alive. The android can feel the heat from the flames roiling its back. As he yanks the rifle back, the hound snaps at the bayonet.

Status/Initiative Round 2 end : Never is still up I think. A lot going on in that round. Check my stats calcs for your PC, please.

Purple Hound (-11)
Yellow Hound (-29)

Jaeric (-21 SP) (-11 HP) (-2 RP)
Veda (+0 SP) (+7 HP)

Loomarch

Zephyr (-27 SP) (-0 HP) (-3 RP) fast healing 1/10
Lorne (-8 SP)
Never (-20 SP) (-6 RP)

Was waiting for Loomarch. Sorry for this, on a phone...

Never sees no reason not to keep doing what works.

RP to recharge breath weapon. Same cone as last time will hit both hounds.

3d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 6) = 15

Never's icy breath washes over the hounds again, eliciting the same mournful bays from their mouths and frantic attempts to evade.

Flames extinguished, the one next to Zephyr staggers back and falls into the trench. Or would have fallen, except it too floats on the mist.

The last hound seems to have had enough. It spins and flees behind the stacks.

Status/Initiative Round 4 middle : A lot going on last round. Check my stats calcs for your PC, please.

Purple Hound (-27)
Yellow Hound (dead)

Jaeric (-21 SP) (-11 HP) (-2 RP)
Veda (+0 SP) (+7 HP)

Loomarch

Zephyr (-27 SP) (-0 HP) (-3 RP) fast healing 1/10
Lorne (-8 SP)
Never (-20 SP) (-4 RP)

Calcs look good for me. Are the fire extinguishers totally offline now? Is there any other obvious way to stop the fire?

There's no way to control the extinguishers. They're just big pressurized transparent jugs of blue cryo-foam hanging off the ceiling.

Enough damage to destroy the containers should loose the foam at least in the area below them . . ..

I think I got skipped . . .. All I would have done was try to get to the extinguisher we were just told I can't do anything with even if I could get up there, though, so . . .. Oh, and I think I'm at -12 SP, not -8. I know I should be no better than -10 SP, as I took 2 from falling out of the control room you didn't add in.

I do believe you're right about being skipped. Pretty sure I never said you couldn't do anything with them, just that you have no means to control them. Throw Lorne's action in now.

What are the trenches? Can we cross them with an Athletics or Acrobatics check or will we get burned?

Lorne tired jumping a trench and failed horribly. The mist buoyed him and he took no damage from the fall. There are fires in the trenches, but they are otherwise just corridors, if you will, though this library. I think. I have no idea how deep they are, which matters to me suddenly.
Both Jump and Climb are Athletics checks.

Looking to either side and seeing flames down in the trench with him, Lorne decides to try to scramble up the wall, once, before picking a direction and trying to just run through the flames, which he assumes is gonna hurt. Failing to make any progress up the wall, he decides to follow the path on to his original goal . . ..

Athletics to climb: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (4) - 1 = 3

Two move actions. Will scramble through the flames on the left side of Lorne for his next action, unless something stops me.