Peeking into the open space past the hallway, the manor's receiving hall, shows a scene of massacre. Upon the marble floor and heaped in the corners lie more than a dozen corpses, each clad in garish outfits of sequined velvet, revealing silk, and colorful feathers. Masks of all shapes and sizes - each competing with the last in terms of elaborate exquisiteness - adorn the dead. In several cases, though, these fanciful adornments have fallen away, revealing withered flesh covered in the telltale blisters of blood veil. Most horrifyingly, upon a blood-slick space cleared at the room’s center sway three couples, jerking like hellish dancers, all obviously dead.
Male human ranger (ilsurian archer, sable company marine) 6| HP 62/62 | AC 18/12/16, CMD 21 | F +8, R +8, W +6 | Init +2*, Perc. +11* (* +2 in urban terrain) | Ammo: regular arrows (40), silver blanched (40), blunt (20), cold iron (20) | Harrow Points: 3 |Status: N/A
As soon as he spots the zombies, Elric unleashes another flurry of arrows. Each shot finds its mark with deadly accuracy, slamming into the head of the undead dancers.
While the arrows themselves inflict less damage than they would have against living targets, the holy balm coating their tips sizzle and issue a sickly odor of incense and embalming fluids as it burns the necrotic flesh.
Attacking Blue until dead, then switching to Orange. Don't think I have LoS to anyone else.
Audria pushes the horror and grief she feels out of her mind as she sees the undead mockery. Those she will have to face later. For now, she focuses on dealing with the threat they face now. Her first strike is devastatingly powerful while her follow up is a bit clumsy.
Attacking Yellow. If Yellow dies, Audria will shift her grip so that she can reach Purple. Attack 1 (Glaive, Power Attack):1d20 + 11 - 2 ⇒ (19) + 11 - 2 = 28 Damage:1d10 + 4 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 4 + 6 = 19
CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 (+10 v. disease) Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Daredevil Boots 8/10 rounds | Harrow Points: 8
Shrike cannot help but to scan the masked and silent dead for a moment, looking vainly for familiarity in the shapes of bodies and limbs. What she would do if she found Ruan here, she doesn't know. After half a breath in which a flight of Elric's holy arrows mercifully end the unlives of two 'dancers' simultaneously and Audria's glaive lashes out in a shorter and then a longer lunge, she surges forward with more haste than before. The movement takes her ducking under its haft and whirling directly past the blond undead nobleman, close enough to smell the fading remnants of the fougère pomade he had used in his hair three days ago under all the blood and rot. Her blade flashes out for his neck almost as an afterthought, and then sweeps down and around for the third noblewoman.
Acrobatics to move through Purple's square, acrobat's pillar, daredevil softpaw boots:1d20 + 13 + 2 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 13 + 2 + 5 = 22 Mwk elven curve blade v. Purple, daredevil boots:1d20 + 9 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 9 + 2 = 19 Slashing damage, Lethal Grace, Hidden Strike:1d10 + 3 + 3 + 3d8 ⇒ (2) + 3 + 3 + (4, 5, 2) = 19
Free action to activate boots for a round, move action to take her through Purple's square with an Acrobatics check to use Up Close and Personal as a swift action, standard action to attack Red if Purple goes down. If Purple does not go down, applying attack to Purple instead. This time I am remembering to apply full Hidden Strike damage to Up Close and Personal and lesser Hidden Strike to the second attack for flatfooted. (Last time I made a mistake by applying lesser Hidden Strike to both, when it should be full on the UCAP attack if she succeeds at the Acrobatics check. And I also forgot to add the +2 to her attack roll against the zombie whose space she successfully moved through with the daredevil boots.)
I think that even a result of 22 will make the DC of CMD+5 to move through the space of a regular zombie. However, if I'm wrong, that changes the Hidden Strike damage on her UCAP attack to the lesser (3d4) version and stops her movement at the square before his. Normally, failing such an Acrobatics check would provoke an attack of opportunity, but since the zombies have not acted in combat, they are probably flat-footed, meaning no AoOs for them. And I'm assuming here that Blue, Orange and Yellow are down already and she can move freely through Audria's space.
ED: Pava, you could probably apply that crit to Green, since the boots of striding and springing make you extra fast and you'd have the movement to get to him.
Nonbinary (They/them) Shoanti Rogue (Unchained, Scout, Thug)/Brawler (Snakebite Striker) 3/3 | HP 47/54 | AC 21, T 15, FF 16 CMD 18 | F +6, R +11, W +4 | Init +7 | Perc +7 | SM +6 | Long-term buffs:
Pava weaves through the room, faster than the undead can react. Planting themself in the center of the room, they beckon their foes on while the zombie they carved up along the way collapses behind them.
Suddenly, a small bolt zips from somewhere high up to strike Elric, finding a gap in his armor and sinking deep into his flesh.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. I spent so long posing them just so and look what you've done."
A blonde elf woman is lying on the floor of the upper gallery, leisurely reloading her hand crossbow. She is wearing a red and gold harlequin costume matching her long braid and garish lipstick that makes her mouth look unsettlingly wide as she grins.
She finishes reloading, narrowing her eyes thoughtfully as she points her finger at everyone in turn. "One little piggy, two little piggies..."
1d3 ⇒ 1
Attack vs. Audria:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (1) + 12 = 13
The bolt strikes Audria's breastplate and shatters. "Ack!" The elven woman springs to her feet with an impressive display of acrobatic agility. "Oh well, more fun this way. I was getting so. BORED!"
Elric takes 4 bleed damage at the start of his turn, every turn, until something is done to stop the bleeding. In addition, he is bewildered (-2 AC, -4 against the elf), disoriented (-2 to attack rolls, -4 against the elf), and hampered (base speed reduced by half, cannot take 5-foot step). Everyone is up! Note that the elf is on the second floor (separate map).
CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 (+10 v. disease) Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Daredevil Boots 8/10 rounds | Harrow Points: 8
Shrike's head jerks up at the sound of the crossbow bolt's impact, her eyes scanning for its source. Blonde. Braid. Dressed like a child or a cracknob—
"You." The croak drops to a grating hiss. "Where's your puppetmaster."
She surges up the stairs to the second floor two at a time, sheathing the long curved sword and spinning the spear out of its sling into her grip as she goes.
I can't see locations on the second floor balcony, but I'm guessing Shrike needs a double move? Sheathing elven curve blade as part of one and drawing branch spear as part of the next. If she can do so with 60' of movement, she'll Acrobatics past the elf and try for an Up Close and Personal swift-action attack with Thorn (held as a double weapon, where it remains until she spends a swift action to change it back to reach.) Otherwise she'll just get as close as she can, including by long jumping from one side of the balcony to another (modifier of +13); if it's clear she can't quite reach Josie this turn and it makes a difference to whether she would threaten, then she'll switch the spear to be reach instead with her swift action.
If 'Josie' is within 55 feet of total distance:
Shrike seems to be charging straight down the gallery at the murderous woman. At the last second she slides sideways, stabbing out as she does so.
Acrobatics, acrobat's pillar, daredevil boots:1d20 + 13 + 2 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 13 + 2 + 5 = 22 Thorn v. Josie, possibly daredevil softpaw boots:1d20 + 10 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 10 + 2 = 22Discount +2 if Acro check fails. Damage, Thorn, Lethal Grace, Hidden Strike:1d8 + 4 + 3 + 3d8 ⇒ (6) + 4 + 3 + (7, 7, 4) = 313d4 instead if Acro check fails. As with the zombies, if this Acrobatics check fails, Shrike has to stop moving and normally would provoke an attack of opportunity. To take an AoO, though, you typically must be threatening the target with a melee weapon or attack. (There are feats that let you do it with ranged weapons.) But also, it seems she might not have reloaded the hand crossbow yet, since she stood up instead.
Male human ranger (ilsurian archer, sable company marine) 6| HP 62/62 | AC 18/12/16, CMD 21 | F +8, R +8, W +6 | Init +2*, Perc. +11* (* +2 in urban terrain) | Ammo: regular arrows (40), silver blanched (40), blunt (20), cold iron (20) | Harrow Points: 3 |Status: N/A
"Ugh...I'm hit...Bad...Should have take your advice, Kandru....I'm...that was no ordinary bolt." Elric mutters, as he stumbles backwards, obviously injured and in distress.
In a daze, he examines the bolt sticking out of his armor, just below the armpit. The shot slipped under his raised bow arm, and he can feel the shaft vibrate in time with his heartbeat. This is indeed bad.
He barely registers Shrike's outburst as the masked vigilante springs forward. "Friend of yours, Shrike?" he mutters, as he tries to stop the room from spinning.
Status: hp 42/62, 4 bleed, bewildered (-2 AC, -4 against the elf), disoriented (-2 to attack rolls, -4 against the elf), and hampered (base speed reduced by half, cannot take 5-foot step)
Okay, assuming that things line up like I think they do, Audria should be able to get there with a double move.
Seeing Elric take a grievous wound and hearing the elven woman take credit for the gruesome desecration of the dead and the blasphemy against her goddess ignites the flames of fury within Audria's eyes. Holy fire smolders as she races past Shrike and up onto the balcony and calls out to Kandru.
"Kandru, patch him up! I'll make sure she has something else to worry about," she says, her voice cold and hard.
As Audria starts to round the last corner between her and the woman who's responsible for this horror, she undoes the clasp on her cloak and lets it fall to the ground so that her holy symbol is clear to see, glittering as it hangs from her neck. She holds her glaive out in one hand, the blade aimed at the elf's heart.
"For this blasphemy that you have committed, The Eternal Rose has judged you and found you wanting," she says as celestial runes begin to burn over her armor and along the head and haft of her glaive. Her hair turns white and shimmers with holy fire as her eyes blaze with brilliant iridescence. "Surrender or face Shelyn's wrath!"
