Sigourney flies around Absalom on a mount. She hopes that this stunt attracts attention and is pleased to receive the message from the Pathfinders a few days later. She prepares her healing (and condition removing) spells and arrives at the chamber, leaving her mount outside. She is surprised that Arodeth would receive such an honour from the Pathfinders.
She bows respectfully to Arodeth and makes her case to her. "Thank you for having me, Lady Arodeth. Our party has defeated Drustan and Endlo - I personally fried Drustan with a spear of lightning. They will bother you no more. That deed should be worthy of your consideration. Besides, I did promise that I can provide spellcasting services for you if I could have access to your knowledge. If nothing else - I have knowledge of a few uncommon spells and rituals that may be of interest to you. For the opportunity to access my knowledge, I seek only the opportunity to access yours. A fair trade, is it not?"
Sigourney joins Slick on his quest and summons up some 6th rank Marvelous Mounts (which look like giant flying constructs) for them to speedily travel around Harrowheart on.
Lady Arodeth leans forward and steeples her fingers. I see, perhaps, I will consider your offer. Perhaps you can provide a list of those spells you are willing to provide access to. I shall do likewise and then we can discuss a fair exchange. For now though, there are matters I must attend to...Thank you for your visit.
Later, Sigourney will receive a note indicating that she is willing to provide access to the following spells, subject to an equivalent trade.
Prying Survey
Spell Turning
Teleport
Meanwhile, Sigourney recognises that Arodeth is a noble woman originally of Cheliax. She has spent most of her recent time in Absalom, in and around the Grand Lodge. She clearly has some strong attachment to the Pathfinder Society. She is a highly trained Magus, specialising in staff magic.
The group complete their various tasks and all in Harrowheart seems to be going well. About a month later you are all sat around the breakfast table when a small cough from the doorway draws your attention. Baines is standing there looking slightly worried.
Masters, and Mistress, you have a visitor in the Great Hall. She is a rather...unusual...individual who has asked for you by name. I hesitate to interrupt your breakfast but it does seem like it might be important.
Decamping to the Great Hall, possibly with plates of egg and sausage in hand, you find a most unusual sight. A woman stands in the middle of the Hall but she is no ordinary woman. Human from the waist up she has the lower body of a massive green snake. Even more surprisingly you recognise her human body. You last saw her lying in a pool of her own blood in her shop in Absalom. She had been murdered by a pair of fiends who were looting the shop looking for something. This is clearly All Seeing Hajek, albeit a rather transformed individual.
She appears to be a Lamia Matriarch, generally cruel and evil creatures that delight in ruling over others. If there is something specific you want to know let me know.
As you enter she addresses you, Friends, I’ve come from beyond, drawn to this place like a moth to the proverbial flame. I bring a warning if you would heed it?
Sigourney tilts her head thoughtfully and considers Arodeth's offer. No, she can't use any of the spells Arodeth offers. Yes, she'll offer access to Heatvision in return for just being able to sit with Arodeth and hear her tales of adventuring. In the meantime, while she's at the Pathfinder's Grand Archives, she might as well help herself to their spellbooks.
After a quick and extremely rushed bender around the Grand Archive's library, Sigourney is out 80 minutes and 504 GP poorer. However, she is now multiple spells richer.
Sigourney decides to spend her downtime using her new found Crafting prowess and her access to the clockwork dwarf made of brass in one of Harrowheart’s workshops to Craft goods for the market. Inspired by her latest adventures, she Crafts collectible action figures of the party.
At first, demand for the collectible action figures were not the best, but when Sigourney started including drawn depictions of the party's heroic deeds, they started getting really popular all of a sudden. Sigourney found that she was making back near half of her expenditure on spells. Getting too cocky, Sigourney flooded the market with all kinds of derivative side characters and hackneyed plots and sales suddenly dried up, forcing her to stop producing due to low returns.
Meanwhile, back in the present day...
Sigourney moves to the Great Hall with Reginald, Reginald holding plates of food for herself and himself. As Sigourney chews on a piece of buttered toast, she eyes the snake woman up and down, examining her with both her Biological Eye and her arcane knowledge...
Sigourney is quite alright with dealing with people of morally dubious natures, so long as there's possibly magic involved at the end of the relationship. She says to the snake-woman after swallowing her toast:
"I apologise, but you have me in particular at a disadvantage. I do not know who you are - could you introduce yourself first before giving us your warning?"
Slick goes with the others to the Great Hall and is surprised by what he finds there waiting for them. It looked like the head of the woman they found dead in that shop in Absalom when the Harrow cards first showed up in their lives, but...
...the rest of her was a Lamia Matriarch, not a creature known for caring about others or handing out warnings. "Excuse our surprise, m'lady, but the last time we laid eyes on your countenance, you were quite dead in a pool of your own blood. uh..." He pauses, not quite sure how to continue. He then waves to indicate her lower extremities. "Um... but you were quite human then, yet you now you appear to be a Lamia Matriarch. Might you care to explain how this wonderous transformation came about and why we should trust anything you say to us in your new guise?" He awaits an answer and examines her closely to determine the verity of what she says.
Billy is enjoying his breakfast with the others when Baines mentions a visitor. "A visitor? Here in Harrowheart? How interesting! Let's see who it is." He jumps up and leads the way to the Great Hall.
Apparently stunned to see her alive, Billy is slower to react than the others. But he recovers. "Greetings, madam. I'm Billy. But perhaps you already know of us?" He studies her. "I must say you're looking quite well for someone who died. I'm ... sorry we didn't find you in time." Billy seems genuinely saddened.
After thinking back, he says, "When we originally found your body, you had a Harrow deck that led us to an elf named Dieral, owner of the Harrow Barrow." Billy pauses and muses aloud, "I wonder how he's doing. I do hope he's okay."
Addressing her once again, Billy asks, "You say you have a warning?" He assures her with a smile, "I make it a point to heed warnings."
Sure, sure. Who doesn't know about Lamias?
With the others already doing the talking, Pine hangs back and hides in the doorway to watch. It doesn't seem likely that she'll attack them, but it's better safe than sorry when things get strange.
Sigourney thinks tht she is being quite genuine. She has the shape of a Matriarch but not the personality. Why remains something of a mystery. When she was alive she was a Harrow reader based in Absalom. Now, she is something really very different.
Hajek nods at your various questions. Of course, please, let me explain. As you know when I was alive I was a student of the Harrow based in Absalom. One of these wondrous new cards came to me and I was murdered because of it. However, I had a connection to the Deck and, as a result, this place. My soul entered the River of Souls and I was awaiting my judgment from Pharasma. I sensed the creation of Harrowheart and could feel it forming and growing. However, lately I sensed the approach of others. They forced me in to a decision, do nothing and let them descend on you or force myself to return here, to this place. I chose and the Deck or Fate or maybe Pharasma herself gave me this form...
She pauses and takes a deep breath. I saw a vast pack of wolves approaching with fire in their eyes and death in their jaws. Among them, a sleek wolf with golden fur exhales pestilence, an enormous lumbering wolf leads a howling horde, and winged wolves come leaping down from the skies. A giant wolf, with gray fur and scales, lunges for your throats. In a glowing doorway behind them all stands their leader. He seeks to crush you and be reborn from your ruin. Even now they gather at this world’s edge.
This grim nightmare breaks at a dawning, but others have noticed as well. A four-armed herald watches. They bear cards in three hands and an offer of friendship in the fourth. The door they open leads to warmth and plenty, like an ocean breeze. But there, too, I hear a gathered host, roaring in victory. Allies, I think. Friends we’ll need. But they will not arrive until after the wolves invade.
The wolf symbolism is likely representing one of the harrow’s most infamous bits of apocrypha: the “lost” harrow card called the Prince of Wolves, which typically depicts an armored man lording over six wolves. The card represents duality, along with hidden, otherworldly, or sinister allies that seek to reclaim heritage or something lost. Whoever has taken her mantle in this vision has done so with no subtlety.
The four-armed figure is perhaps one of the mysterious four-armed alien merchants known as witchwyrds.
Billy listens to Hajek's story, deep in thought. "Very interesting ... thanks for your effort in warning us." He pours some honey mead from his jug and offers drinks around. "So we should prepare for wolves then. Lots and lots of wolves..." He considers her tale.
With his extensive knowledge of the harrow, the fortune-teller snaps his fingers and says, "The wolves may refer to a largely unaccepted bit of harrow lore -- a mythical lost card called: The Prince of Wolves." With the help of his musical accompaniment, he pauses for dramatic effect, before continuing, "It depicts an armored man with six wolves -- representing secret, sinister, otherworld allies seeking to reclaim their lost heritage."
After the grim description, he forces a smile and adds, "On the plus side, we'll be making new friends afterward!" He drains his mug.
"Okay, so you look like a lamia but aren't actually a lamia." Sigourney says with absolutely no tact between mouthfuls of food and honey mead. "So what are you, actually?" She asks Hajek.
"It seems that our potential future friend is a four-armed alien merchant known as witchwyrds. Strange, but I'm talking to a lamia that is not a lamia, so I've accepted weirdness as part of my life." Sigourney speculates.
"Do you have any idea what the otherworldly allies are? Are they, perhaps, fiends? Also, do you have any magic?" She asks Hajek, again. "Here, have some toast. This stuff is pretty good." At Sigourney's word, Reginald offers out a plate of food to Hajek.
Slick looks a little confused. "So... You're saying that we're going to be attacked here? in Harrowheart? And that the lead attackers are four wolves being commanded by a mysterious unknown figure? Is that right?"
When Billy chimes in with talk of The Prince of Wolves lost Harrow card and how maybe the attackers might not actually be wolves, Slick is even more confused. "So... which is it, six wolves, or no wolves? Maybe just a bunch of guys who want to take our Harrow cards being led by someone in armor?" When Sigourney adds her knowledge, he gives out a short snort of amusement. "And, the guy in the armor is a witchwyrd with four arms? Well, this is getting stranger and yet more interesting by the second."
After trying to make sense of everything, he gives up and shrugs. "We'll deal with whatever shows up at our gates, be they wolves or multi-armed attackers or both. I better go put Harrowheart's defenses on high alert." Slick then races off to pass on the bad news of the coming assault to Captain Cirillo so that she can prepare her paladins. Returning to the Great Hall, he turns to the Lamia. "Any idea of when the bad guys will be showing up?"
Hajek gives a bit of a shrug. I am afraid I cannot really explain more than what I have seen. Invaders approach the demiplane through the void between planes. They will arrive tomorrow and you must be prepared to face them. The Prince of Wolves seeks your cards and control of this place. Who they are, how they know of this place and how they can reach here are all unknowns. As for magic, my translation into this form has cost me much of my previous powers. I possess a few spells but I fear little that is likely to be of much help.
Slick nods when he hears that the assault will begin tomorrow. "Very well. That should give us time to prepare. I will go discuss strategy with Captain Cirillo. My guess is that an approach similar to the one we used against Drustan's troops on the Storval Stairs will work here as well. We first blast as many of them to smithereens as we can from a distance, and then finish off the stragglers in person."
He smiles at the thought of the coming battle. "It's been too quiet around here. It will be good to get back into the swing of things. I have a few new tricks I want to try out and this coming battle seems like the perfect opportunity to do so."
He turns to Hajek. "Thank you for your offer to join us in the defense. Whatever help you can provide us will be greatly appreciated." Slick is not completely certain of Hajek's good intentions here, especially given her transformation into a Lamia. But, he has yet to discern any ill intent in the woman, and he's pretty sure that they'll need as much help as possible in the coming days.
Billy nods to Hajek and clarifies, "So the Prince of Wolves is not a lost harrow card after all, but the leader of the wolven army coming for us?"
After their talk, Billy packs his things and says, "It's always a fine day to visit the Carnival!" The halfling heads out.
Upon his return in the evening, Billy hears Sigourney talking about visiting the new tavern, The Publican. After learning the Heroes' Feast ritual from Cy, the bartender, Billy leads the ritual with Sigourney's support.
As part of his morning preparation, Billy shuffles his harrow deck and draws a card.
Hoping to never be in a position to actually strike anything, it doesn't take the harrower long to choose the Keys suit.
While waiting for the unwanted visitors , Billy will idly cast his Musical Accompaniment every ten minutes.
This is along with False Life (10 temp hp) and Tailwind (+10 speed).
"All right then, Hajek. Thanks for letting us know. If there's anything you need - such as a room or food or like a mount so you don't have to slither around in the hotter areas of Harrowheart - just let me know and I can work something out." Sigourney finishes her toast and convenes with Billy as to what to do next.
Not knowing what to do, Sigourney walks around Harrowheart. She considers summoning and binding a Planar Ally to help but realises she doesn't have the funds to persuade a good or neutral extraplanar entity - and she'll be damned in more than one way if she summons a fiend. Out of ideas, she hits up The Publican and starts drinking and talking to the barkeep.
"Eh? Heroes' Feast? For 25 gold and the effort of either myself or Billy, we can give ourselves extra vitality and extra strength against disease, fear and poison for the invasion?" Sigourney can hardly believe her ears. "Sign me up! Let me drag the party in here...and Captain Cirillo, some of her guards, and our new snake friend, if any of them are willing."
Sigourney does her best to schmooze and rub shoulders with the mysterious supernatural beings Billy summons. She does her best to be extremely polite and gracious as possible, invoking Desnan customs with every action she takes. She thinks that she did an outstanding job.
With her remaining time, Sigourney shows up at the Grand Archive's library and learns just one more spell she forgot to learn during her cramming session - Wooden Double. She hopes that being able to Step and take 25 hit points off a Critical Hit would take save her from taking some real damage.
Having expended 10 minutes of her time, she quickly leaves the library and readies her spell preparation for the next day.
Reginald fills his belly with the food provided. He still doesn't feel very heroic...but he hopes he won't be seeing too much action.
"I'm so nervous that I can't think of doing anything else but eat...but all these nerves are making me hungry...gotta eat more..." He squeaks to himself.
For a moment, Pinebrush plans to seek out the tall, dark-haired footman Rufus with the deep grey eyes to warn him about the coming danger. But he decides to find Mrs. Prendeghast instead and asks her to alert the non-combatant castle staff to make themselves scarce.
He's heard Billy and Slick talk about how the people of Harrowheart don't seem to be complete people, and that doesn't feel entirely wrong--but he still thinks it's probably best to keep them out of harm's way as they're able.
He then retrieves the two cards nobody is using, The Rabbit Prince and The Rakshasa. Checking in with Billy and Sigourney first, noting that none of the three of them have a full hand yet, to see if either of them want either card. If not, he'll add The Rabbit Prince to his own hand (it can't hurt!) and then find Baines.
"Baines!" he yells, knowing the man has trouble hearing, flitting around his face (he'll definitely like that) to show off his impressive new wings to make a point about how good a guardian he is. "I know our job is to find all the cards, but it's even more important to stop the bad guys from doing it, right? What if I take this one and hide it someplace safe, far away, so that the bad guys can't take all of our cards even if they beat us? Will something bad happen if I take it outside of Harrowheart and leave it there?"
If Baines says there will be, Pine will hide The Rakshasa in Harrowheart instead. Otherwise, he'll seek suggestions from the others. Regardless of the location he chooses, the specific hiding place will be someplace meaningless where nobody ever looks by chance, where only somebody of his size could even get to it--behind a loose brick, in a hole high up in a tree, under a shingle on a rooftop... He'll report the hiding place to Reginald. He can't remember how he managed to speak to him before (that was, like, months ago!) when he can usually only do that with bugs. But that's okay, he doesn't need an answer. It's better if Reginald can't tell anyone, really. The important part is more than one person will know.
Also he casts water breathing on the party. Mostly to show off how cool and powerful his magic spells are.
Billy visits the Carnival and is drawn into a performance in the big top. A beautiful woman dressed in blood red leathers and twirling a red sash about herself leads a troop of snarling and yipping dogs through a series of hoops, ladders and ramps.
Billy and Sigourney work together to prepare a mighty feast for the group. It is a roaring success although Baines complains about people using magic to handle simple household tasks and what if everyone did that soon enough all of them would be out of a job, thrown on the streets and all of the staff would starve and then where would everyone be!
Pine spends his time warning the staff. They seem worried but are confident that the group has the strength to protect the castle. They are also reassured by the presence of the Paladins on the walls.
Consulting with Baines he gives a shrug, I am afraid I really could not say sir. I am no mage, perhaps Mistress Sigourney might know although given that many of the cards are not here and are, I understand, scattered around the world I dont see how taking one of them away would matter. After all, you have been taking them off with you when you go adventuring and it doesnt seem to have done anything.
That night the tension in the castle is palpable. Baines is even more sarcastic than normal and gets into a massive argument with the cook. He disappears into the wine cellar. Several of the grooms get into a squabble and even the castle cats seem to be driven to distraction.
The following morning dawns with heavy black clouds blotting out the sun. They are cut through with crackling lightning strikes and the air is oppressive and thick with the smell of sulphur. In the Great Hall two of the portals are active, one shows an area of the swamp to the south east, another an area of desert to the north west. Meanwhile, from out of the clouds comes hordes of howling winged wolves, descending on the town below the castle!
Upon seeing the 3-pronged home invasion, Billy thinks back to his Carnival visit. He explains, "A woman in red was leading a bunch of demon dogs. We should save my fans...I mean, the people in the village first." Considering further, he adds, "Then best to focus on the swamp, and lastly the desert."
As he follows the others through the gate to the village, Billy grips his Staff of Final Rest to face the demons.
"Oh loosen up Baines. This costs 25 Gold to do every attempt and I have to entertain people for 4 hours. That's quite exhausting. I have better things to do with my time, especially when you all are so good at your jobs." Sigourney says between bites of delicious food.
The following morning, Sigourney watches the sky. As the sky darkens, so does Sigourney's mood. She sees what are clearly demons invade the realm. Reginald hisses in both well-founded fear and unfounded aggression. Seeing him like this, Sigourney decides to keep him out of her sleeve...for now. The frost-covered lizard in the Hexing Jar pounds at the glass, as if trying to break free and get at the demons.
Sigourney closes the Tome of Scintillating Sleet she was reading with finality, puts it away and draws a chunk of cold iron.
"Look alive, everyone. We've got demons to kill." She gestures with her staff towards the portals and then to the demons attacking the village. "Let's go to the village and be heroes."
Watching Pine flying around trying to find a hiding place for The Rakshasa, Slick smiles. "I wouldn't worry too much about losing a card, Pinebrush. They radiate a very strong magical field and wouldn't stay long hidden regardless of where you stashed them. If you're that worried about it, I'll be more than happy to hold onto any loose cards that no one is using. They'll be safe with me." He taps his metal breastplate to indicate how secure such a card would be on his person.
Looking over the ramparts as the sun rises, he sees the horde of flying demon wolves descending on the town. The doors in Harrowheart showed that two of the missing Harrow cards were now in the swamp and desert; he assumed that they were in possession of the leaders of the attack. He was sorely tempted to leave the town to its own defense while they went after those cards, but Billy brings him back to his senses. "Yes. I suppose we should protect the town first, even if its residents are mere simulacra. But let's not waste any time in destroying those demons; I fear we have greater battles ahead of us in the swamp and desert."
Freeing his shinning greatsword from its baldric, he gives Captain Cirillo a salute as he leaves the defense of Harrowheart in her hands, then heads down to the town with the others.
The group rushes out of the castle and down the hill towards the village. You fight your way through town, cutting down swathes of lesser demons as you do so. For their part they seem to be more interested in ripping apart the buildings and fighting over the villagers. Several hapless locals have been dragged screaming into the sky and then torn apart, their blood and entrails liberally scattered across the town!
Bursting into the town square you find yourself surrounded. Quickly a large group of demons gathers together into a mass of enemies, seemingly possessed of a more powerful controlling mind perhaps. Co-ordinated in this way they pose a much more significant threat!
Initiative
, +2 if hearing
, nothing in range
, +2 item visual, +2 circ scout
, stealth with +2 item, Perception +23, +1 circ if visual, +2 circ scout
, +2 circ scout
Buffs
+2 to saves version poison, disease and fear [4 hours]
Turn Order
Slick
-----------------------------------
Demonic Throng
-----------------------------------
Pine
Sigourney
Billy
Billy
Slick
Pinebrush
Sigourney
Bold to act.
Combat status
Slick 238/218
Billy 180/160, tailwind, see invisibile
Pinebrush 194/174
Sigourney 168/148
Reginald 118/98
Demonic Throng, 30 damage, 40' in the air
With no time to spare, Slick leads his friends in the charge down the hill and into town. Along the way, he smashes away smaller demons as if swatting at pesky flies. He cringes as the unfortunate townsfolk get carried away and torn apart; fabricated from thin air they may be, but no innocent deserves to suffer through that. He hopes that the Harrow Court can reconstitute them once the battle is over.
As they arrive at the center of town, he spots the large mass of demons approaching. He points them out. "Over there! Blast away!" Not wanting to get out of range of his friends' friendly spells, nor in the way of their unfriendly ones, he decides to let the horde come to him. With a "defend,", the space around him shimmers for a moment as a magical shield surrounds him. He then mentally reaches for the Phantasmal Doorknob hanging from his sword's pommel and activates its powers.
Critical Success The target is unaffected.
Success The target takes half damage and is frightened 1.
Failure The target takes full damage and is frightened 2.
Critical Failure The target takes double damage, is frightened 4, and is fleeing for as long as it's frightened.
Reactive Strike (↺)
Trigger A creature within your reach uses a manipulate action or a move action, makes a ranged attack, or leaves a square during a move action it’s using.
Make a melee Strike against the triggering creature. If your attack is a critical hit and the trigger was a manipulate action, you disrupt that action. This Strike doesn’t count toward your multiple attack penalty, and your multiple attack penalty doesn’t apply to this Strike.
Protector's Sacrifice (↺)
Trigger An ally within 30 feet takes damage
Reduce the damage the ally would take by 21. You redirect this damage to yourself, but your immunities, weaknesses, resistances and so on do not apply.
Warding Tattoo (Fiend) (↺) (1/day)
Trigger An enemy, hazard, or the environment makes an attack against your AC, requires you to attempt a saving throw, or causes you to take damage automatically
Until the end of the current turn, against the triggering effect, you gain a +1 status bonus to AC and saving throws and gain resistance 2 to damage.
The Paladin (↺) (1/day)
Trigger You fail or critically fail a saving throw
Adjust the result of your saving throw up by one degree of success.
Talisman: Snapleaf (↺)
Trigger You begin to fall.
This small, crystalline carving takes the shape of a tree leaf and attaches to armor or clothing with a simple strap. When you activate the snapleaf, you gain the benefits of feather fall and a 2nd-level invisibility spell for 1 minute or until you stop falling, whichever comes first.
Skeptic's Defense (↺) (1/day)
Trigger You are targeted by or are in the area of a mental spell or effect.
You don't believe in any mental twaddle, and you're certainly not afraid of it. You scoff and verbally refute the triggering effect, attempting a counteract check using your Intimidation modifier with a counteract level of half your level rounded up. If you succeed, you ignore the triggering effect, though any other creatures that were also targeted or in the area are still affected. If the source of the effect you successfully counteracted understands your language and has an Intelligence modifier of –3 or higher, that creature becomes stupefied for 1 round.
Blessed Denial (↺)
Trigger An ally within 30 feet would become Frightened, Drained, Enfeebled, Sickened, or Stupefied.
You exude peace and protection, lessening a harmful condition as it falls upon an ally. Reduce the value of the condition your ally would take by 1 (to a minimum of 0). If the ally takes more than one condition at the same time, choose one to reduce.
Shield Block (↺) (extra reaction from The Paladin)
Trigger While you have your shield raised, you would take damage from a physical attack.
You snap your shield in place to ward off a blow. Your shield prevents you from taking an amount of damage up to the shield’s Hardness. You and the shield each take any remaining damage, possibly breaking or destroying the shield.
The mass of demons shrieks and howls and shrugs off most of the effects of the magic.
They swoop forward, shrieking and howling as they rush forward. Pine and Sigourney are both rather perturbed by the rush. Reginald goes white and starts shivering.
The demons then tear, claw and snap at the group! It then becomes apparent that the demons are surrounded by a swirling mass of hideous spores which start burrowing into your skin!
Will Saves
, Bravery, Crit
, Resolve, Crit
, Pass, frightened 1
, Pass, frightened 1
, Fail, frightened 2
Reflex Saves
, Bulwark +2, fail
, pass
, Improved Evasion, pass
, fail
, pass, no damage
slashing + spirit[/dice]
Buffs
+2 status bonus to saves version poison, disease and fear [4 hours]
Turn Order
Slick
-----------------------------------
Demonic Throng
-----------------------------------
Pine
Sigourney
Billy
Bold to act.
Combat status
Slick 187/218
Billy 142/160, tailwind, see invisibile
Pinebrush 171/174, frightened 1
Sigourney 114/148, frighteend 1
Reginald 95/98, frightened 2
Demonic Throng, 46 damage, 5' in the air
Gripping his staff, Billy shrugs off the worst of the poisonous spores and sings to inspire the troops.
♫"Demons attacking our city!
The scene: it is not very pretty.
.....They're flying around.
.....Let's take them all down.
Their attitude: really is shi... a pity!"♫
As always, he sings to provide the group with Haste .
♫"Some demons causing trouble. Maybe they're controlled?
Let's move it! On the double! I'm Billy -- quick and bold."♫
Sigourney is caught off guard by the assault and before she has time to cast a spell, gets hit by a swarm of howling, snapping demons. This wasn't how she hoped the encounter would go. Mentally searching through her options, she finds most of them to run the risk of hitting her allies. She decides to follow her initial plan anyways and entrap the horde within a Field of Razors.
"I'm not trapped here with you, you're trapped here with me! Metal Sign - Field of Razors!" She cries out as she crushes the Cold Iron chunk into bits and sends the storm of sharp Cold Iron Chunks into the horde, 30 feet above the party but catching the horde in the burst (assuming the horse is at least 10 feet tall, otherwise make that 25 feet over the party).
Sigourney then runs for her life to get some distance from the throng.
[/ooc]
Reginald hisses in pain as he feels the spores dig into him, drawing blood. He clings onto Sigourney for dear life as they run away. He uses his hasted action to move behind a wall.
Reginald yelps in pain as the thorns dig into him...
In response, his body's naturally cold temperatures drop drastically, killing off the plants on his body.
"Eep!"
Pine disappears.
Logically, it might not be a very effective defense here, but... well.
Something stabs at the demons. Pinebrush wouldn't know what. He's not here.
If the enemy is five feet away, use whip and replace piercing damage with , disregard deadly.
If hit, Debilitating Strike adds 3d6 persistent bleed.
If crit, Leave an Opening makes enemy provoke Slick's RS, if applicable.
Slick glances towards Pine and sees the fear in his eyes as the demons descend on them. He calls over to the sprite to boost his spirits. "Don't worry about these guys, Pinebrush. They look a lot scarier than they are. We'll finish them off in no time."
When the horde starts tearing at them, Slick puts up his magical shield, which takes the brunt of the attack before collapsing and letting the demons through.
(extra reaction from The Paladin)
Slick doesn't know what evil abyssal spores the horde is carrying around with it, but he's definitely not a fan. In an effort to stop the itching and burning sensation, he tries to scrape the spores off and ...
...and succeeds admirably; the spores fly off him, hopefully never to return.
With Billy's spell of quickening accelerating all his movements, Slick gets to work on the mass of demons attacking them.
Reactive Strike (↺)
Trigger A creature within your reach uses a manipulate action or a move action, makes a ranged attack, or leaves a square during a move action it’s using.
Make a melee Strike against the triggering creature. If your attack is a critical hit and the trigger was a manipulate action, you disrupt that action. This Strike doesn’t count toward your multiple attack penalty, and your multiple attack penalty doesn’t apply to this Strike.
Protector's Sacrifice (↺)
Trigger An ally within 30 feet takes damage
Reduce the damage the ally would take by 21. You redirect this damage to yourself, but your immunities, weaknesses, resistances and so on do not apply.
Warding Tattoo (Fiend) (↺) (1/day)
Trigger An enemy, hazard, or the environment makes an attack against your AC, requires you to attempt a saving throw, or causes you to take damage automatically
Until the end of the current turn, against the triggering effect, you gain a +1 status bonus to AC and saving throws and gain resistance 2 to damage.
The Paladin (↺) (1/day)
Trigger You fail or critically fail a saving throw
Adjust the result of your saving throw up by one degree of success.
Talisman: Snapleaf (↺)
Trigger You begin to fall.
This small, crystalline carving takes the shape of a tree leaf and attaches to armor or clothing with a simple strap. When you activate the snapleaf, you gain the benefits of feather fall and a 2nd-level invisibility spell for 1 minute or until you stop falling, whichever comes first.
Skeptic's Defense (↺) (1/day)
Trigger You are targeted by or are in the area of a mental spell or effect.
You don't believe in any mental twaddle, and you're certainly not afraid of it. You scoff and verbally refute the triggering effect, attempting a counteract check using your Intimidation modifier with a counteract level of half your level rounded up. If you succeed, you ignore the triggering effect, though any other creatures that were also targeted or in the area are still affected. If the source of the effect you successfully counteracted understands your language and has an Intelligence modifier of –3 or higher, that creature becomes stupefied for 1 round.
Blessed Denial (↺)
Trigger An ally within 30 feet would become Frightened, Drained, Enfeebled, Sickened, or Stupefied.
You exude peace and protection, lessening a harmful condition as it falls upon an ally. Reduce the value of the condition your ally would take by 1 (to a minimum of 0). If the ally takes more than one condition at the same time, choose one to reduce.
Billy inspires his companions and speeds them up!
Sigourney conjures a mass of deadly, cold iron razors and then wisely gets out of there. Reginald is briefly discommoded by some unpleasant poisonous vines.
Pine vanishes and flies up into the midst of the demons however, even invisible he fails to connect. Poisonous vines begin to eat into him.
Slick easily shrugs off the poison and lands two solid blows on the mass of enemies but Pines opening fails to land.
The demons begin to cackle and cavort, spinning around and generating a powerful charge of energy surrounding them. All of your hair begins to stand on end! It then explodes with electrical energy, shattering the surrounding area! Then, having failed to fly it drops down to the ground.
Reflex Saves
, Bulwark +2
, Improved Evasion
Well, that's deeply disappointing, three crit passes.
Buffs
+2 status bonus to saves version poison, disease and fear [4 hours]
Inspire 1/4
Haste 1/10
Turn Order
Slick
-----------------------------------
Demonic Throng
-----------------------------------
Pine
Sigourney
Billy
Bold to act.
Combat status
Slick 207/218
Billy 106/160, tailwind, see invisibile
Pinebrush 163/174, 2d8 persistent
Sigourney 114/148
Reginald 89/98, frightened 1
Demonic Throng, 114 damage, 1d6 bleed
Sigourney shakes her head with annoyance as the metal wires seemingly do nothing but exhales a sigh of relief as the demons charge of electricity seemingly does nothing. Lots of nothing going around these days. She'll see if Reginald has any better luck doing something.
"Reginald, now! Show them your new trick!" She Commands the rat.
Gathering a bunch of magical acid in her hand, she tosses it at the centre of the horde, narrowly missing Slick and Pine.
With her hasted action, she Strides towards her familiar.
Billy is way too close to the action, not at all in his comfort zone. He moves to a strategic position ... quickly. From there, he sings,
♫"A swarm ... or is it a throng? These demons invading my space.
I must be moving along. My magic all up in your face."♫
The bard then brings up a magical force field.
Upon hearing the Command, Reginald squeaks his acknowledgement. He hastily Strides towards the the throng, hesitantly leaving the safety of the wall so he gets line of sight on the throng. He then performs his special technique - a Stitching Strike. He quickly unravels into long, magical fibers that fly at the demonic throng, wrapping them all up and cutting into them! After he has done his work, he reforms back into his original space, leaving the demons hopefully wrapped up.
Reginald finally calms down from the fright of being so close to combat.
Oh hey. Turns out they're completely harmless. That's something, at least. Other than these little.. vine.. bites.. things.
Good defenses, though. Pine drops down with a spin, jabbing with his rapier and slicing with his shortsword as he tests their defenses (and probes any weak points).
Neat! Spinning threw them off.
for , , and On a crit add 1d10 persistent fire and
If the enemy is five feet away, use whip and replace piercing damage with and disregard deadly.
If hit, Debilitating Strike adds Enfeebled 1
If crit, Leave an Opening makes enemy provoke Slick's RS, if applicable.
With his armor grounding all the demons' electrical attack, followed by the demons themselves being grounded around him, Slick continues his relentless attacks on the throng. Slashing left and right, he hacks down any demon stupid enough to get within reach of his greatsword.
Reactive Strike (↺)
Trigger A creature within your reach uses a manipulate action or a move action, makes a ranged attack, or leaves a square during a move action it’s using.
Make a melee Strike against the triggering creature. If your attack is a critical hit and the trigger was a manipulate action, you disrupt that action. This Strike doesn’t count toward your multiple attack penalty, and your multiple attack penalty doesn’t apply to this Strike.
Protector's Sacrifice (↺)
Trigger An ally within 30 feet takes damage
Reduce the damage the ally would take by 21. You redirect this damage to yourself, but your immunities, weaknesses, resistances and so on do not apply.
Warding Tattoo (Fiend) (↺) (1/day)
Trigger An enemy, hazard, or the environment makes an attack against your AC, requires you to attempt a saving throw, or causes you to take damage automatically
Until the end of the current turn, against the triggering effect, you gain a +1 status bonus to AC and saving throws and gain resistance 2 to damage.
The Paladin (↺) (1/day)
Trigger You fail or critically fail a saving throw
Adjust the result of your saving throw up by one degree of success.
Talisman: Snapleaf (↺)
Trigger You begin to fall.
This small, crystalline carving takes the shape of a tree leaf and attaches to armor or clothing with a simple strap. When you activate the snapleaf, you gain the benefits of feather fall and a 2nd-level invisibility spell for 1 minute or until you stop falling, whichever comes first.
Skeptic's Defense (↺) (1/day)
Trigger You are targeted by or are in the area of a mental spell or effect.
You don't believe in any mental twaddle, and you're certainly not afraid of it. You scoff and verbally refute the triggering effect, attempting a counteract check using your Intimidation modifier with a counteract level of half your level rounded up. If you succeed, you ignore the triggering effect, though any other creatures that were also targeted or in the area are still affected. If the source of the effect you successfully counteracted understands your language and has an Intelligence modifier of –3 or higher, that creature becomes stupefied for 1 round.
Blessed Denial (↺)
Trigger An ally within 30 feet would become Frightened, Drained, Enfeebled, Sickened, or Stupefied.
You exude peace and protection, lessening a harmful condition as it falls upon an ally. Reduce the value of the condition your ally would take by 1 (to a minimum of 0). If the ally takes more than one condition at the same time, choose one to reduce.
Between them Sigourney and Reginald blast away at the demons. Several melt in the acid and a number are pulled down by Reginald and throttled. The troop shrinks!
Pine flies down and jabs at them and then Slick wades in, scattering the horde and forcing them to disperse.
Fort saves versus persistent
, Juggernaut, crit pass
, fail
, fail
, pass
, pass
, fail
Combat status
Slick 192/218
Billy 111/160, tailwind, see invisibile
Pinebrush 148/173
Sigourney 114/148
Reginald 89/98
"Ick, ick, ick!" Pinebrush shudders, though only Billy sees it. "That was gross! But it wasn't that tough."
He moves around the others, checking their injuries. "Okay, let me just take a moment..."
It's masterful work on Billy and Sigourney. For himself and Slick, less injured, he takes a less risky approach--but preoccupied with the more injured patients, still manages to cut a little deeper than necessary. It's still a help!
. Total of 49 damage healed!
Sigourney... Expert wouldn't fully heal her, but Master has a failure chance... I'll go with Master Risky Surgery again.
Total of 50 damage healed.
Slick... an Expert crit will almost fully heal him, and I have a 0% failure chance with Risky Surgery. Let's go with that. DC 20, 2d8+10 on a success or 4d8+10 on a crit.
Total of 21 damage healed. Wrong choice there, since I would have crit anyway and rolled so high on damage.
Self. Also Expert Risky Surgery.
20 damage healed. Wrong choice again, but probably good enough.
As the throng disperses, Billy pulls out a mirror and checks his hair. Liking what he sees, the halfling looks around and asks Slick, "What? No harrow card?" He shrugs.
While Pinebrush tends to the group, the bard strums his lute praying to Desna to refocus. "Excellent work, Pine! Thanks! I feel as good as new."
When the group is ready, Billy suggests, "My vision suggested we defend the swamp next." He looks for consensus, grips his Staff tightly, and follows the group.
Slick sees the spores coming off the demons again, but knows how to deal with them now and they do not get a hold of him. He sees that Pine is not so lucky, so with a quick thought to Gorum, he vacuums away all the pain and takes it upon himself.
Slick finishes off the last of the demons with a few well-placed strikes from his greatsword. Seeing that Pine is taking care of healing the rest of the crew, Slick once again imposes on Gorum for some self-healing.
As they quickly head back to Harrowheart and through the portal to the swamps, the blood of battle sings in his veins as the spirit of Gorum suffuses him in preparation for the next encounter with the enemy.
Sigourney looks sadly at the still pristine field of razors and sighs.
"Well that was disappointing. Hey, can one of you walk into the burst so I can say the spell did something?" She says."Please...don't actually do that. She quickly adds.
She takes some time to brush the fur of the still scared Reginald, murmuring a few words (Life Boost) as she does so. Reginald's wounds completely heal up (14x4 = 56 HP healed).
As the group make their way to the swamp (and after having retrieved the cold iron chunk), Sigourney considers the lessons her patron has taught her and feels a surge of energy come back to her. Vengeance...shall be delivered onto these fiends.
"Where next? I think the fastest way is to return to the castle and take the portal, so distance doesn't really matter."
"Well, Slick and Billy seemt to want to go towards the swamp, so swamp it is. The smell and swampwater is going to get into my robes...really wish I had wings right now."
The group quickly head back to the castle. Taking the portal you find yourselves in the midst of the southern swamp. Normally the swamp is a strange, fey, magical place, full of drifting lights, distracting and alluring scents and shy fauns of all kinds. Now it is a stinking morass of abyss tainted waters, hanging clinging vines and mutated creatures.
It is also currently playing host to a strange ritual. Two demonic entities stand on a small hump of ground while surrounding them are large numbers of shrieking, dancing, whirling cultists armed with greataxes!
Battle is quickly joined.
Initiative
, +2 if hearing
, +2 item visual, +2 circ scout
, +1 item if visual, +2 circ scout
, +2 circ scout
The cultists to the south, seeing the group approaching and risking disrupting their ritual preparations, unleash hellfire on the group, engulfing you all in a massive ball of flames. They then advance up behind the tree.
The Prophetess takes to the air. I see we have company, never mind, it wont take long to dispose of you. Unless of course you would prefer to surrender. No? Oh well. Wit that she flies forward and upwards and casts a spell at Pine!
, Bulwark +2, pass, 17
, fail, 35
, Improved Evasion, crit pass, none
, pass, 17
, pass, none
I have applied the full damage, if anyone has resist let me know and I will amend
, fail
. fail
Buffs
+2 saves against poison, disease and fear
Turn Order
Red Cultists
Prophetess
-------------------------------
Billy
-------------------------------
Vorvok
Blue Cultists
-------------------------------
Slick
Pinebrush
Sigourney
Bold to act.
Combat status
Slick 201/218
Billy 125/160, tailwind, see invisibile
Pinebrush 173/173
Sigourney 131/148
Reginald 98/98
Prophetess, 20' in the air
Shocked at the demonic ritual taking place in the normally peaceful and magical swamp, Billy sings out inspiration.
♫"The swamp full of magic and fey.
I come here to sing and to play.
.....But now there are demons.
.....And cultists: they're mean ones.
For Harrowheart! Let's save the day!!!"♫
He follows up his bardsong with a speedsong.
♫"This ugly swamp invasion -- we cannot let it last.
We must kill each mutation. And do it really fast."♫
Billy does what Billy does!
The second group of cultists shriek and wail and unleash another fireball at the group. This time they seem to avoid targeting Pine. They then advance a little further.
Reflex Saves
, Bulwark +2,pass, 2 damage
, pass 14 damage
, pass, 16 damage
, pass, no damage
fire
Buffs
+2 saves against poison, disease and fear
Inspire 1/4
Haste 1/10
Turn Order
Red Cultists
Prophetess
-------------------------------
Billy
-------------------------------
Blue Cultists
Vorvok [delay]
-------------------------------
Slick
-------------------------------
Pinebrush
Sigourney
Bold to act.
Combat status
Slick 213/218
Billy 111/160, tailwind, see invisibile
Pinebrush 173/173
Sigourney 115/148
Reginald 98/98
Prophetess, 20' in the air
Slick is caught off-guard by how suddenly they come upon the fiends in the swamp and is a little slow to react. In the meantime, two fireballs blow up around them which barely singe his hair due to the protection afforded by his armor and The Brass Dwarf in his pocket. He also watches as the fiendish Prophetess casts a spell on Pine without any tangible effect and how the second fireball somehow managed to avoid the sprite completely. "I have a bad feeling about this."
With Billy's sweet music in his ears and extra pep in his step, Slick is eager to close with the enemy. But, he also knows that Sigourney is lining up a big bang of a spell, so he decides to wait on her before doing anything.
Pine swoops down to Billy, probably to thank him for the Haste spell. He then stabs him repeatedly!
The toad like demon casts a spell. He vanishes, appearing behind Billy. It is very smelly.
, crit
, miss
, miss
+ fire and 1d10 persistent
Fort Saves
, Juggernaut, pass
, pass
, pass becomes crit, crit fail
, pass
, pass
Buffs
+2 saves against poison, disease and fear
Inspire 1/4
Haste 1/10
Turn Order
Red Cultists
Prophetess
-------------------------------
Billy
-------------------------------
Blue Cultists
-------------------------------
Pinebrush
-------------------------------
Vorvok - mid turn
-------------------------------
Sigourney
Slick
Bold to act.
Combat status
Slick 213/218
Billy 82/160, tailwind, see invisibile, 1d10 fire
Pinebrush 173/173
Sigourney 115/148
Reginald 98/98
Prophetess, 20' in the air
Pine manages to hold down the contents of his stomach!
The demon promptly bites Billy, taking a chunk out of his shoulder!
, hit
+ spirit
Buffs
+2 saves against poison, disease and fear
Inspire 1/4
Haste 1/10
Turn Order
Red Cultists
Prophetess
-------------------------------
Billy
-------------------------------
Blue Cultists
-------------------------------
Pinebrush
-------------------------------
Vorvok
-------------------------------
Sigourney
Slick
Bold to act.
Combat status
Slick 213/218
Billy 52/160, tailwind, see invisibile, 1d10 fire
Pinebrush 173/173
Sigourney 115/148
Reginald 98/98
Prophetess, 20' in the air