Sigourney is befuddled and baffled by the turn of events. First a weird ritual is taking place, then a weird spell and now Pine is no longer her friend, and there's also a large frog next to her attacking Billy? What is even happening, what is she to do?
Luckily her patron is more decisive than she is and automatically Commands Reginald, making him its Puppet.
She effortlessly tries to think about what she knows about large groups of cultists and what their weakest defense is.
Inspired by her Patron's strategy of "Just kill whatever you see", she decides to pour as many resources as possible to remove this Vorvok creature from the backlines so that at worst, Pine is the only problem the party has to take care of. She speeds through her incantations () and casts a ray of Holy Light at this Vorvok creature.
"Fire Sign - Die!" She hastily yells at the toad thing, a beam of light blasting out of her right hand into it.
Sigourney then turns to the cultists and the flying prophetess and casts a more deliberate, longer spell. From her left hand, a ball of pure cold flies out of there, making contact right below the Prophetess and Eclipse Bursting the whole field!
"You throw fire...and strange mind stuff... at us, I throw the void back at you! Cold Sign - Eclipse Burst!"
Having done as much damage as possible, she joins Reginald in Stridong as far away from the dangerous sprite as possible.
[/ooc]
Earlier in the timeline, just before Sigourney cast the rest of her spells...
Reginald's fear, panic and hyperventilated squeaking is suddenly cut off. He stares at the enemies (but not Pine, not yet anyway) with regal calm and otherworldly hatred in his eyes. He? hastily Strides away from Sigourney to widen the gap between himself, Pine and the Vorvok creature.
He? then does his thing and unravels into magical fibers! A barrage of magical fibers shoot out towards the Vorvok, trying to strangle him or at least hold him in place. Reginald reforms back in his square afterwards, staring daggers at the enemy before his panicked expression returns.
"Wha-where did Sigourney go? I was just on her shoulder..." He thinks to himself as he notices the effects of the spell on the Vorvox. "OH NO! I just made him mad! Sigourney help me!" He squeaks rapidly for help, in sheer terror.
Sigourney recognises the cultists as being servants of Rovagug. Heavily armoured, they are rather clumsy (weakest defence Reflex). She then blasts Vorvok with holy flames, he screams in rage and fury, he most definitely did not like that! She then unleashes freezing cold against the other enemies!
The prophetess and the red troop avoid the worst of it. Blue troop is clearly used to this sort of thing and avoids it completely!
Reginald then most disturbingly unravels himself! Vorvok totally fails to see it coming and is horribly entangled in string, most embarrassing for a senior demon. The prophetess just sighs, shakes her head and mutters, Must I do everything myself
Prophetess (34), Blue (none), Red (49)
, pass, crit pass, pass
, fail
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, 34 damage, 20' in the air
Vorvok 114 damage, immobilised 1 round
Red Troop, 49 damage
Blue Troop
Slick watches in mild surprise and then increasing horror as Pine swoops over to Billy and starts using him as a pin cushion. "Whoa there Pine. What's the meaning of this." But Slick suspects that this is the effect of the spell that the Prophetess just cast. "Pine better snap out of it soon or I'll be forced to make a decision I'd rather not."
He's about to head over to help his friend deal with Pine when the large toad demon appears behind Billy. "Pine will have to wait; this is a bigger and smellier problem." Slick manages to switch to mouth breathing in time to avoid the worst of it.
He pauses momentarily as Sigourney roasts the toad demon in holy fire and while she continues raining destruction on the rest of their enemies, Slick closes with Vorvok. First, he feints in hopes of catching it off-guard, and then slashes into the creature to try and finish the job.
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.
Slick rushes up to Vorvok, rather outfoxing him. He lands three powerful blows, blinding him in the process but somehow he remains standing!
The blue cultists advance a little further and hurl another fireball, catching Sigourney and her strange poppet. Sigourney avoids the worst of it but Reginald is a little too slow this time. Reginal shrieks and flaps around in the flames!
The Prophetess flies forward and takes aim at Sigourney with her hand crossbow. The bolt slices across her cheek and Sigourney feels a burning sensation of venom entering her system. She shrugs it off, this time. The Prophetess calmly reloads her crossbow.
Reflex Saves
Prophetess
Buffs
+2 saves against poison, disease and fear
Inspire 2/4
Haste 2/10
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 93/148
Reginald 54/98
Prophetess, 34 damage, 20' in the air
Vorvok 241 damage, immobilised 1 round, blinded 1 round
Red Troop, 49 damage
Blue Troop
Actively burning, while being battered and beaten by friend and foe, Billy bravely runs away.
He then tries to dispel whatever is affecting Pinebrush.
♫"Pine, you're acting strange. You really just attacked me?
Your attitude must change. A spell to counteract thee."♫
Billy ducks out of the way and tries to help Pine. Sadly it seems to have no effect. The second group of cultists launch another fireball, this time hitting Billy and Sigourney! Billy ducks but Sigourney freezes the flames before they even reach her.
Pine, standing next to Slick, steps into his space and stabs him repeatedly!
Vorvok, immobilised and blind, lashes out at Slick. He lands a lucky bite, tearing chunks from Slicks shoulder but his claw swipes go wide.
Reflex Saves
, pass
, crit pass
, crit
x2 + for 39, the fire cannot get past Slicks 14 resist
, hit
for 14
, miss
, possible hit
, possible hit
, miss
, crit
, miss
doubled for 68
Buffs
+2 saves against poison, disease and fear
Inspire 2/4
Haste 2/10
Turn Order
Red Cultists
Prophetess
-------------------------------
Billy
-------------------------------
Blue Cultists
-------------------------------
Pinebrush
-------------------------------
Vorvok
-------------------------------
Sigourney
Slick
Bold to act.
Combat status
Slick 93/218
Billy 33/160, tailwind, see invisibile, 1d10 fire
Pinebrush 173/173
Sigourney 93/148
Reginald 68/98
Prophetess, 34 damage, 20' in the air
Vorvok 241 damage
Red Troop, 49 damage
Blue Troop
Vorvok bleeds
But does not fall down!
Slick sees his wounded friend take off at a run and is glad Billy has removed himself from immediate danger. Unfortunately, that means Slick now becomes the target of Vorvok and, even more unfortunately, Pinebrush. He takes his opponents' lucky hits in stride while he considers his options.
First up, Vorvok had to be taken off the board. Slick slices through the creature with his sword.
It is a clean slice through the toad demon's neck and its head goes flying. As its bloated corpse slumps to the ground, what's left of Vorvok's putrescent soul returns to the fetid corner of the Abyss from which it came. He then turns to deal with the pesky Pinebrush buzzing around him. "This is going to hurt me more than you little buddy, but it's got to be done." He headbutts the sprite...
...and misses as Pinebrush dives down low... into Slick's rising boot...
"It's Outta Here!"
While he waits to see if that snaps Pine out of his confusion, Slick once again requests Gorum's help in keeping himself standing.
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.
Slick swiftly decapitates Vorvok and kicks Pine in the face. Sadly, nothing changes.
Buffs
+2 saves against poison, disease and fear
Inspire 2/4
Haste 2/10
Turn Order
Red Cultists
Prophetess
-------------------------------
Billy
-------------------------------
Blue Cultists
-------------------------------
Pinebrush
-------------------------------
Sigourney
Slick
Bold to act.
Combat status
Slick 135/218
Billy 33/160, tailwind, see invisibile, 1d10 fire
Pinebrush 155/173
Sigourney 93/148
Reginald 68/98
Prophetess, 34 damage, 20' in the air
Vorvok Dead
Red Troop, 49 damage
Blue Troop
Earlier in the timeline, just as Pine digs his toothpick into Slick...
Sigourney sees Slick getting tag-teamed by Pine and the Vorvok. She quickly mutters out a quick incantation and points a finger towards Slick. As soon as the words leave her mouth, Slick's skin erupts into a rash of thick, cold draconic scales. These scales block a bit of the damage Slick takes from Pine and the Vorvkok.
Sigourney nods in approval as Pine comes back to his senses. "By Nethys' numerous never-ending nightmares, you sure did a number on Billy and Slick. And you call me vicious." She snidely says to Pine.
"Rovagug cultists, huh...I don't like that they're getting so close to us. Do I remember something nasty they can do if they get close to us?" Sigourney thinks to herself.
She spends a moment to Recall Knowledge about the Prophetess. She has wings, a crossbow with some kind of poison on it and potent mind powers. Sigourney is torn between finding out if the Prophetess has more mind powers or just defaulting to finding her weakest defense. Ultimately, she decides to think about the latter, assuming that it's quite obvious that she has more mind powers that she can cast on the party.
Unexpectedly, she feels The Fiend boosting her ability to think!
She relays all the info she has to the party.
She looks at Billy. Not only is he getting real close to death, but more concerningly, his near-constant smile and optimism is slowly draining away from him. She tries to remedy that by pumping vitality back into him.
"The healing is not as rewarding as the hurting, but it looks like Billy needs more healing so he can keep up the hurting." She says as vitality is pumped into Billy's form.
With haste in her step, she moves right next to Slick and the now friendly Pine so she has the option to cast any buffs on them next turn.
Reginald squeaks sighs of relief as Pine comes back to his senses and Slick cuts down the Vorvok. As soon as he sees Sigourney come within Striding distance, he hastily Strides towards the nearest sturdy tree, cowering behind the Cover it provides.
EDIT: Just reread Sleeves of Storing. Technically, Reginald can't take the action to get into the sleeve. He'll Take Cover behind a tree instead
Sigourney realises that as a massed group of greataxe wielding Rovagug cultists if they get into your face they can chop you t0 pieces with their axes!
As for the Prophetess, as for her being some sort of demon she doesnt really have a clue.
She then brings some relief to Billy and runs to the safety of the group, and the now clear Pine.
The southern group of cultists begin moving around the blocking tree and launch another fireball into the group, hitting Sigourney, Slick and Reginald.
Reflex Saves
, Bulwark +2, crit fail
, Improved Evasion, crit pass
, crit pass
, pass, no damage
Slick has barely finished patching himself up with Gorum's help than a massive fireball explodes directly above his head. Just as it seems he's about to be carbonized, some autonomic instinct rising from deep within his cerebellum takes over and he dodges to one side in an effort to avoid the column of fiery destruction descending on him...
... and miraculously avoids so much as a single scintilla of the blast furnace now exploding beside him. "Wow! The gods truly are looking out for me."
Slick does indeed avoid the entirety of the blast, meaning no-one is harmed at all. The Prophetess rolls her eyes at all of you.
The Prophetess swoops down towards Billy and smiles at him, Now now dear, stop being silly, why dont you work for me. You know you want to.
Billy feels the woman's words burrowing into his mind but he easily shrugs off her influence.
Very well, be like that, you will just all have to die instead!
Buffs
+2 saves against poison, disease and fear
Inspire 3/4
Haste 3/10
Turn Order
Red Cultists
Prophetess
-------------------------------
Billy
-------------------------------
Blue Cultists
-------------------------------
Pinebrush
Sigourney
Slick
Bold to act.
Combat status
Slick 150/218
Billy 98/160, tailwind, see invisibile, 1d10 fire
Pinebrush 155/173
Sigourney 93/148
Reginald 68/98
Prophetess, 47 damage, 10' in the air
Vorvok Dead
Red Troop, 49 damage
Blue Troop
Billy feels the warmth of healing course through his body ... much different from the warmth of the flames that continue to burn. Knowing this is the witch's handiwork, he calls out brightly, "Thanks Sigourney. Feeling much more like myself."
Seeing bad guys getting way too close for comfort, Billy once again bravely repositions himself further into the swamp. He then sings out,
♫"Enemies are nearer. Still I just keep burning.
Destruction and sheer terror. The tide will soon be turning."♫
The flames manage to die out before Billy does.
The Prophetess shudders as imagines of wholesome family life tear through her mind. The cultists shriek and wail, who can tell what they are seeing! A group of them break and flee!
Meanwhile the Blue cultists push further forward and launch yet another fireball into the group. This time they hit you all! Reginald gets badly singed and squeaks loudly at Sigourney!
, fail
, fail
Reflex Saves
, Bulwark +2, pass, 1 damage
, pass, 15 damage
, Improved Evasion, crit pass, none
, crit pass, none
, crit fail, 62 damage
Buffs
+2 saves against poison, disease and fear
Inspire 3/4
Haste 3/10
Turn Order
Red Cultists
Prophetess
-------------------------------
Billy
-------------------------------
Blue Cultists
-------------------------------
Pinebrush
Sigourney
Slick
Bold to act.
Combat status
Slick 149/218
Billy 78/160, tailwind, see invisible
Pinebrush 155/173
Sigourney 93/148
Reginald 6/98
Prophetess, 94 damage, 10' in the air
Vorvok Dead
Red Troop, 111 damage
Blue Troop
Reginald hastily runs into Sigourney's square.
Sigourney casts Air Walk on Slick.
Sigourney drops the Cold Iron Chunk to free up a hand.
Sigourney interacts to put Reginald in sleeve.
"Owie! Ugh... wha happen? Oh no, Slick you're hurt! It's like somebody poked you a bunch of times with a needle..."
Letting his shortsword fall, Pine whips out his medical tools to do some quick patching. More like scratching, really.
He moves closer to the prophet, plucking one of the final beads from his necklace as he does. He hurls it behind her, towards the group of cultists there.
So inured is Slick to the continuous series of exploding fireballs around him that he barely registers the latest salvo. He nods to Sigourney as his feet become lighter and shrugs when Pinebrush fumbles trying to get to his healer's toolkit. "Better luck next time Pinebrush. Oh! and sorry for the whack on the head I gave you earlier, but you weren't acting yourself."
Turning his attentions on the remaining enemy, he decides to leave the cultists to his friends and deal with the Prophetess directly. With his newly acquired lightness of step, he air walks up to the demon and starts trimming her down to size.
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.
Sigourney gets Slick into the air while Reginald exits stage left.
Pine tries to patch up Slick but instead ends up stabbing him in the knee. He may have to retire! He then lobs a fireball at the enemy. The Prophetess twists away, avoiding the blast, but the cultists take the full force of the blast. The front rank melts away.
Slick rushes the Prophetess. He swings hard at her and as he does so there is a flash of light from what looks like a Harrow card hanging from her belt. Somehow she avoids the powerful blow and Slick finds himself dazzled by the light! His second blow goes wide and while his third looks like it should connect it fails to do so due to the light shining in his eyes!
The cultists form up and begin moving around the big tree. They chant in unison and launch and magical rock at Slick! They then form up again, marching closer to the squishies!
The Prophetess smiles at Slick and seems rather overconfident given he failed to land a blow on her. She reaches out on long, pale, arm and wraps it around his neck.
She then goes in for a passionate kiss and Slick feels his vitality draining from him!
, crit pass
, fail
Buffs
+2 saves against poison, disease and fear
Inspire 4/4
Haste 4/10
Turn Order
Red Cultists
Prophetess - Mid turn
-------------------------------
Billy
-------------------------------
Blue Cultists
-------------------------------
Pinebrush
Sigourney
Slick
Bold to act.
Combat status
Slick 116/203, drained 1, 10' in the air
Billy 78/160, tailwind, see invisible
Pinebrush 155/173
Sigourney 93/148
Reginald 6/98
Prophetess, 94 damage, 10' in the air
Vorvok Dead
Red Troop, 154 damage
Blue Troop
Slick cannot believe his bad luck. What trickery was this that she'd literally pulled from her belt? And where did all those lights come from? Though the more pressing question is, where was she now?
He feels the hand wrap itself around his neck. "<Urkkk!>"
"Whoa there lady. This is no time for those sorts of games." He then feels her lips on his. "Then again, maybe I can spare a quick kiss." He feels the energy draining from him. "<Uuughhh!>" "Then again, maybe not." He struggles mentally against her vitality draining kiss...
Slick manages to pull away from the kiss at the last moment. Her eyes blaze with fury and Slick realises that if he taunts her with this rejection he may cause her further mental pain!
Never mind lover boy, you just hang around here with me she whispers into Slicks ear.
Buffs
+2 saves against poison, disease and fear
Inspire 4/4
Haste 4/10
Turn Order
Red Cultists
Prophetess
-------------------------------
Billy
-------------------------------
Blue Cultists
-------------------------------
Pinebrush
Sigourney
Slick
Bold to act.
Combat status
Slick 141/218, grabbed, 10' in the air
Billy 78/160, tailwind, see invisible
Pinebrush 155/173
Sigourney 93/148
Reginald 6/98
Prophetess, 101 damage, 10' in the air, stupefied 1
Vorvok Dead
Red Troop, 154 damage
Blue Troop
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After weighing his options, Billy decides he likes his position in the swamp. With his musical inspiration still lingering, he focuses to cast his next spell from long range , and sings,
♫"The prophetess' days are few. Let's try to make this quick.
A color ray! Wait ... ewww! Did she just make out with Slick?"♫
Electricity Damage + Dangerous Sorcery: (50) + 4 = 54
Billy blasts the Prophetess who flinches in pain. The second group of cultists form up, throw a magical rock and Sigourney and then form up again, advancing with menace on our Witch! Unfortunately the rock goes flying off into the swamp!
Buffs
+2 saves against poison, disease and fear
Inspire 4/4
Haste 4/10
Turn Order
Red Cultists
Prophetess
-------------------------------
Billy
-------------------------------
Blue Cultists
-------------------------------
Pinebrush
Sigourney
Slick
Bold to act.
Combat status
Slick 141/218, grabbed, 10' in the air
Billy 78/160, tailwind, see invisible
Pinebrush 155/173
Sigourney 93/148
Reginald 6/98
Prophetess, 155 damage, 10' in the air
Vorvok Dead
Red Troop, 154 damage
Blue Troop
As the prophetesses whispered words fade in his ear, Slick's eyesight clears and he finally gets a good look at her. She was a voluptuous thing drenched in sexuality, but overlaying this were the attributes of her kind: The demon's horns; the tattered wings; the lurid tattoos; the blood red lips and eyes; the strange prehensile arm wrapped around his neck. His features involuntarily curl in disgust. Her eyes flash angrily and Slick realizes he's hit a nerve. He presses his advantage. In a voice dripping with disdain, he says, "My lady, your attentions are unwelcome. You may be the belle of the ball back in the abyss, but up here, your countenance only serves to curdle milk."
Not wasting any more time with further chitchat, he returns to his attempts at sending her back to whence she came. Deciding to ignore the arm wrapped around his neck, Slick slashes away at the demon.
After that devastating blow, Slick decides that calling on Gorum for more healing is the best way to go.
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.
Slick sneers into the demons face and she hisses angrily at him.
Despite that his first blow still goes wide. Correcting his stance his second blow cuts bloodily into her side before he applies a little healing to himself!
Buffs
+2 saves against poison, disease and fear
Inspire 4/4
Haste 4/10
Turn Order
Red Cultists
Prophetess
-------------------------------
Billy
-------------------------------
Blue Cultists
-------------------------------
Pinebrush
Sigourney
Slick
Bold to act.
Combat status
Slick 183/218, grabbed, 10' in the air
Billy 78/160, tailwind, see invisible
Pinebrush 155/173
Sigourney 93/148
Reginald 6/98
Prophetess, 233 damage, 10' in the air, stupefied 1, frightened 2, 1d12 bleed, blind, ff Slick turn 5
Vorvok Dead
Red Troop, 154 damage
Blue Troop
Oh. The groups of cultists are so close together. Pine could throw a fireball right between them... But he only has one left, and Sigourney can probably do that too.
There's a lady kissing people over there. Clearly they have to put a stop to that!
Taking to the air, he flies over the heads of the cultists to go help Slick (and take advantage of the punishment he's just inflicted). And then stabs the Prophetess.
Sigourney stares dismissively as the cultists fail to land a rock on her, even at point blank range. Such rank amateurs. Failures at the magical arts, she thinks to herself. Sigourney makes her displeasure known...just after she picks up her Cold Iron Chunk so these cultists dont't destroy it. She hastily moves away from the enemy too.
"Fools, all of you. Following the Rough Beast will be the last mistake you make, as was coming to this realm. For what you've done - and for Reginald's wounds - Die for me! Thunder Sign - Chain Lightning!"
Pine flies up to the succubus. Busy dealing with Slick she does not see him coming and he stabs her in the back of the knee with his toothpick. She gives a brief, despairing, scream and falls out of the air, crashing to the ground and lying very still.
Sigourney sends electrical energy coursing into the remaining enemies. One group of cultists promptly collapses, the remnants fleeing into the swamp never to be seen again.
, pass
, crit fail
Buffs
+2 saves against poison, disease and fear
Inspire Expired
Haste 5/10
Turn Order
Billy
-------------------------------
Blue Cultists
-------------------------------
Pinebrush
Sigourney
Slick
Bold to act.
Combat status
Slick 183/218, 10' in the air
Billy 78/160, tailwind, see invisible
Pinebrush 155/173
Sigourney 93/148
Reginald 6/98
Prophetess, dead
Vorvok Dead
Red Troop, dispersed
Blue Troop, 50 damage
The bard belts out a new verse:
♫"The prophetess' kiss was her last.
Hope Slick can get over her fast.
.....But cultists keep coming.
.....So I'll keep on humming.
Antagonists will soon be re-cast."♫
In an attempt to conserve spell energy, Billy flings some swamp debris at the remaining cultists.
♫"The cultists causing trouble. I'm trying to rehearse here!
Some rocks and lots of rubble! Why don't you just disperse here?"♫
Billy prudently moves south to maintain a healthy distance between him and the bad men.
Billy smashes the last remaining troop and the front rank dissolves.
The remaining cultists advance on Sigourney and swing wildly at her with their axes! However, she is too nimble for them.
, crit pass
Round 5
Buffs
+2 saves against poison, disease and fear
Inspire Expired
Haste 5/10
Turn Order
Billy
-------------------------------
Blue Cultists
-------------------------------
Pinebrush
Sigourney
Slick
Bold to act.
Combat status
Slick 183/218, 10' in the air
Billy 78/160, tailwind, see invisible
Pinebrush 155/173
Sigourney 93/148
Reginald 6/98
Prophetess, dead
Vorvok Dead
Red Troop, dispersed
Blue Troop, 82 damage
Cornered but confident that the combined efforts of the party will kill the cultists, Sigourney lashes out.
"With this ice, I bind you to your spot." Sigourney says as she casts Clinging Ice.
"With this acid, I cut through your ranks." Sigourney intones as she casts Caustic Blast.
"And with this fist...I'm just doing this because I'm frustrated and need to blow off some steam. Nethys forgive me for this." Sigourney yells as she punches the nearest cultist with a fist.
That task complete, Pinebrush moves back towards the remaining enemies, touching back on the ground.
Slick was beginning to notice a pattern. He'd be the one to pummel the bad guys to within an inch of their lives, and Pinebrush would swoop in out of nowhere and snip off that last inch. He shrugs mentally. As long as the bad guys died, he didn't really care how that came about.
He looks down at the now decomposing body of the Prophetess with only a slight tinge of regret. Under different circumstances he might have enjoyed the company of a strong confident woman like her; too bad she was an irredeemably evil demon intent on utterly destroying them. Maybe he'd have better luck next time.
Ripping his thoughts away of what might have been, he turns to focus on the last of the cultists. They were apparently still intent on trying to finish what they'd started despite the odds having turned badly against them with the loss of their leader. "Extremist idiots."
"Hey, boys! Why don't you pick on someone your own size... like me!" He charges over, and with Sigourney's help distracting the enemy, tears into them like a scythe through blades of wheat.
[/smaller]
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.
Clearly having had enough of their nonsense Sigourney freezes and melts last numbers of the remaining cultists, causing the group to break and flee. A few scattered survivors manage to disappear into the murk but they wont trouble anyone any more.
COMBAT OVER
With the forces dispersed and the ritual disrupted our heroes are able to take stock of their situation and consider their next actions.
Slick 183/218
Billy 78/160, tailwind, see invisible
Pinebrush 155/173
Sigourney 93/148
Reginald 6/98
As the rag-tag remnants of the cultists disperse into the forest, Slick moves quickly. He pulls The Demon's Lantern from the Prophetess's belt where he'd seen her use it earlier and pockets it. "We don't want this one falling into the wrong hands again now, do we."
Once everyone has pulled themselves together, he says, "No time to waste. There's at least one more bit of funny business that we need to take are of, as well as another Harrow Card to recover. Back to Harrowheart we go."
Once back in the castle, he hurries over to the remaining door showing an area of desert to the north west. "Everyone ready? Good. Let's go!"
Billy waves goodbye to the fleeing cultists. He calls after them, "Don't worry ... I'll write glorious songs about our encounter." He shrugs as they run off.
When Sigourney gathers everyone around for healing, Billy, still holding his staff, activates it for some quick self-help.
While the witch treats wounds, the bard strums his lute and refocuses.
After everyone is reasonably healthy, Billy follows the group through the final portal to the desert.
Sigourney chases off the remaining cultists and is just about to punch the last person standing in the jaw before they started fleeing from her.
"Don't come back!" She yells at them.
"I don't treat wounds..." Sigourney says to Billy. "But while we are waiting for Pine to treat our wounds...Might as well use up a charge in this wand."
She Swaps her Cold Iron Chunk for her Knifewand of Heal. Raising it in the air, she waits for Reginald to come out of her sleeve before letting out an emanation of Vitality around her.
Sigourney then strokes Reginald, getting the burn marks out of his fur while also using him as a conduit to her patron. What secrets are exchanged during this process, only Sigourney knows.
Sigourney swaps the Knifewand in favour for the Cold Iron chunk and follows the party into the next portal. Reginald reluctantly rides on her shoulder, not looking forward to getting hurt again.
"Okay sure, but we gotta hurry because there was still one more attack. Oh, Reginald what happened!"
Pinebrush treats the others. He pushes himself, trying something a little riskier that calls for more precision when working on Reginald, who was already smaller. But so is Pine, so it works out okay.
(He also retrieves his discarded shortsword.
Slick doesn't really need Expert level, but Risky Surgery guarantees success at Trained, and at that point I might as well do Expert, which also can't fail, for the increased HP. Billy and Sigourney only need Expert, but I'll use Risky Surgery for guaranteed success and increased chance of crit. Reginal needs the best Pine can do, so Master-level Risky Surgery.
Reginald squeaks his thanks to Pinebrush and Sigourney for the TLC they are giving him.
When Sigourney reminds Billy that Pine handles the treating of wounds, Billy slaps his forehead. "Seeing Slick with his new girlfriend has my mind all muddled." Grinning to his friend, he adds, "This relationship lasted longer than the last one!"
While walking back to the portal, Billy sees that the adorable Reginald still has a few scratches on him. He hums,
♫"Reginald's appealing. And brave as he can be.
Have a bit more healing. Stay safe (and far) like me."♫
Patching everyone up the group quicky returns to the Castle. The demiplane has clearly come under significant attack. Parts of the town have been destroyed, several buildings are on fire. The Castle is also showing damage, the recently repaired drawbridge is down and a number of the guards have been injured or killed. A makeshift hospital has been set up in the courtyard and Baines can be seen directing the defenders, dressed in an ancient set of chainmail that dangles down past his knees.
Heading inside you reach the Great Hall where a portal still hangs, glowing. This one clearly leads to the arid deserts of the the north east. Stepping through you find yourself in the middle of a set of crumbling ruins. Unfortunately you are not alone and a host of demons confronts you!
Their leader, a massive twelve foot tall horned demon laughs as you appear, Aah, the one time rulers of the pathetic realm, bow before me, Torgral, and surrender your cards to the Prince of Wolves! Or dont, I care not, I shall take them from your cold dead hands!
Initiative
, +2 item
, +2 item
, Perception +23, +2 item
, +2 item
Turn Order
Billy
Slick
-----------------------------------
Torgal
-----------------------------------
Sigourney
Pine
-----------------------------------
Demons
Bold to act.
Combat status
Slick 218/218
Billy 160/160, tailwind, see invisible
Pinebrush 173/173
Sigourney 148/148
Reginald 98/98
Slick looks over the heads of the demons arrayed before him and spots Torgral in the distance behind them. He listens to the big fellow rant on about bowing and cold dead hands, but he's heard it all before. "This Torgal guy sounds quite confident for someone who's just lost a couple of legions of his fiends to us." He looks over the situation and decides to attack the host before him and leave the big guy for the spellcasters to deal with right now.
He waits for Billy to do his thing, then springs into action. He charges straight into the front line of the demon host and starts slashing left and right.
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.
Upon entering the battlefield, Billy hears Torgral make a bunch of demands. As requested, Billy bows. Then he responds, "Nice to meet you Torgral. I'm Billy. Interesting proposal. May we counter-offer?" The halfling smiles and says, "How about you stop invading our home and we won't kill you and your friends?" While waiting for a response, Billy sings,
♫"Harrowheart under attack!
The walls are beginning to crack.
.....Lives are depending.
.....On us for defending.
Ya think they'll award us a plaque?"♫
While his inspiration lingers, Billy chants,
♫"He calls himself a prince? Of what ... we can't be sure.
He has no evidence. Make haste, we'll be a blur."♫
Billy does what Billy does and Slick promptly takes full advantage, ploughing into the horde of demons.
His first blow cuts down several fiends and the backswing cuts down another before he raises a magical shield around himself. A whole section of the enemy collapses and flees in the face of his fury!
Torgral flies forward, above his minions and hovers over you. His mind reaches out to you telepathically, insinuating its way into your thoughts. Return to Harrowheart and remain there to await further instructions from the Prince of Wolves.
Unfortunately Sigourney doesnt recognise the spell, not being that familiar with divine magics.
Will Saves
, Bravery, Crit Fail
, Resolve, Fail
, Pass
, Pass
, Fail
Turn Order
Inspire 1/4
Haste 1/10
Billy
Slick
-----------------------------------
Torgal - dealing with saves
-----------------------------------
Sigourney
Pine
-----------------------------------
Demons
Bold to act.
Combat status
Slick 218/218
Billy 160/160, tailwind, see invisible
Pinebrush 173/173
Sigourney 148/148
Reginald 98/98
Torgal 33 damage, 10' up
Demons 107 damage, 1d12 bleed
Billy tries to shake off the command using Chaotic Destiny.
Billy thinks it's a fine idea to return to Harrowheart.
Slick is well on his way to being coated in demon entrails when the honeyed words of Torgal sound in his ear. He pauses his fiend fighting momentarily in confusion. Returning to Harrowheart for a long rest sound oddly like an excellent idea. He shakes his head to clear it...
...but the suggestion burrows even deeper into his head. "This can't be right." A small pocket of rationality in the back of his mind reaches out for a life preserver and triggers The Paladin.
... "Wait up, Billy. Let's walk back to Harrowheart together. I could use a short rest."
Billy and Slick both find themselves changing their minds about what they should be doing.
As Sigourney resists the enchantment Torgal glares at her, You will not resist me foolish mortal!
Sigourney finds her mind becoming somewhat clouded.