Unk conjures a Hound Archon between Snowball and the wall.
"I foresee that your pick will be helpful. Hold this, Snowball." Unk says as he steps over to Snowball and hands her the end of the rope.
He begins floating up, slowly, and the rope extends to Snowball's teeth below him.
As he floats up, he sees his archon growling at the spirits above.
"Oh right, give yourself aid, then guard Mukluk." Unk orders.
Snowball holds on to the rope, grumbling.
The archon casts aid on itself, and waits in a fighting stance.
Rather than throw balls of fire into the midst of enemies and friends, Mukluk will draw his pick and don his shield. It's going to get messy on this here towertop.
Kisaiya leaves the spirit for now, preferring to help her living comrades over chasing after apparitions.
HP: 69/75
AC: 24/13/21 (+4 all vs bbeg)
Saves: F12/R8/W11
Hero Points: 3
Smite Evil Used: 1/3
Lay on Hands Used: 1/6
Divine Bond Used: 0/1
Resolve Used: 0/1
Challenge: 1/1
Second Chance
Spells/Effects Active: Air Walk, Haste, Heroism, Resist Fire 20, FoM, Inspire
[ dice]1d20+15[/dice] to hit;
[ dice]1d8+7+1d6[/dice] damage.
Mukluk draws his pick and shield, readying for melee! Durgan ends the raven haired threat with two solid blows and fells her! Kisaiya descends and swings on red, still climbing. Unk completes his summons and floats up toward the undead. Ameiko begins her assault on orange.
(heroism, inspire, haste, height)
(inspire)
(heroism, inspire, haste, height)
(inspire)
Ameiko hits once.
Blue attacks Ameiko from the top of the wall.
(cold) Fort DC 14 or 1 dex damage, and paralysis
(cold) Fort DC 14 or 1 dex damage, and paralysis
Blue misses!
Green stands up from prone, and climbs up 5', not yet to the grease.
Orange attacks Ameiko from the top of the wall.
(cold) Fort DC 14 or 1 dex damage, and paralysis
(cold) Fort DC 14 or 1 dex damage, and paralysis
Ameiko is hit only once, thanks to the haste.
vs DC 14 avoiding paralysis!
Red makes it to the top of the wall, provoking from Kisaiya, and attacks once - targeting Kisaiya.
(cold) Fort DC 14 or 1 dex damage, and paralysis
Kisaiya is missed as well!
Durgan moves down and attacks Kisaiya's foe, making his weapon Undead-Bane as a swift action (3 of 5 rounds used). He stays a bit above the undead to bring them death from above.
Durgan just hits and steals the kill once again! Red drops off the wall landing, destroyed, at Mukluk's feet before crumbling.
Round 4
Mukluk bashes down at the already dead hoarfroster, making sure it stays down and dead.
coup d' jerk
Moose-Zoomies Round 4/8.
Kisaiya moves along to the next undead in line.
HP: 69/75
AC: 24/13/21 (+4 all vs bbeg)
Saves: F12/R8/W11
Hero Points: 3
Smite Evil Used: 1/3
Lay on Hands Used: 1/6
Divine Bond Used: 0/1
Resolve Used: 0/1
Challenge: 1/1
Second Chance
Spells/Effects Active: Air Walk, Haste, Heroism, Resist Fire 20, FoM, Inspire
[ dice]1d20+15[/dice] to hit;
[ dice]1d8+7+1d6[/dice] damage.
Unk casts True Strike and then floats up 10' more, just over the top of the ice wall.
Spell-like Abilities
. 8/11 Diviner's Fortune
. 1/1 Stabilize
Spells Prepared
. 4th 2+1/day {S} Arcane Eye, Dimension Door, Summon Monster IV, Wall of Ice
. 3rd 3+1/day {S} Tongues, Fly, Haste, Summon Monster III, Tiny Hut
. 2nd 4+1/day {S} See Invisibility, Flaming Sphere (DC 20), Glitterdust (DC 21), Glitterdust (DC 21), Levitate, Summon Monster II
. 1st 6+1/day {S} True Strike, Celestial Healing, Endure Elements, Enlarge Person, Fastidiousness, Grease (DC 20), Magic Missile
. 0 (at will) Acid Splash, Detect Magic, Message, Open/Close
Snowball simply continues biting down on the rope, anchoring it so that it extends as Unk ascends.
The Hound archon, having given himself Aid already, waits with his sword poised to strike.
Mukluk smashes the fallen! Durgan just hits and steals the kill enthusiastically cooperates once again! Kisaiya swats the next one off the wall with two swings, but has no where to put the third. Unk floats a bit higher and prepares for combat! Ameiko slides over 5’, her hair being whipped out the window by the storm. She swings twice on blue.
(heroism, inspire, haste, height)
(inspire)
(heroism, inspire, haste, height)
(inspire)
Ameiko hits twice!
Blue attacks Ameiko from the top of the wall.
(cold) Fort DC 14 or 1 dex damage, and paralysis
(cold) Fort DC 14 or 1 dex damage, and paralysis
vs DC 14 avoiding paralysis!
vs DC 14 avoiding paralysis!
Well... OK then.
Green double moves up the wall, carefully negotiating the grease to get to 15’ up.
vs DC 10 to move 5’ - success
vs DC 21 and it avoids falling but remains 10' up.
Durgan moves up to help out Ameiko.
Round 5
Mukluk readies to stomp some head should any more chillzombies fall down. He's not going up to meet the bad things on the wall so might as well wait on the ground for them. He takes total defense.
Moose-Zoomies Round 5/8.
[ dice=Trepanator]1d20+3[/dice] to hit;
[ dice]1d6[/dice] cold iron piercing damage
[ dice=MuleBite]1d20+5[/dice] touch to hit;
[ dice=Divine]1d4+2[/dice] damage
[ dice=MuleKicks]1d20+5[/dice] touch to hit;
[ dice=Force]1d4[/dice] damage
[ dice=Divine Mule Piss]1d20+5[/dice] touch to hit;
[ dice]1d4+2[/dice] divine fire
touch to hit;
acid
With a spell, Mukluk offers the party 8 rounds of Moose-Zoomies.
AC: 16/12/14 + 1 w/shield +2 ac vs. evil (Hergie) +1 when hasted
Fort/Ref/Will: +5/+6/+14 +2 vs spells, poison/ +2 vs evil (Hergie)
HP: 37/37
Resist 5 cold/acid
Focus: 0/3
Hero Points: 0/3
Speed: 20'
Luck? 0/1 used
MuleFire: 0/9 used
Rod Extend Lsr: 2/3 used (endure elements MM/Moose alt days, mage armor)
Helgarval
Aid once a day.
Daylight as needed (though only once a day).
Detect evil and know direction at will.
“A cassisian has a lesser form of the protective aura possessed by more powerful angels. This protective aura grants the cassisian a +2 deflection bonus to its AC against evil foes, and a +2 resistance bonus on all saving throws made against evil effects or spells cast by evil creatures. This aura extends to a radius of 5 feet, but can only benefit one additional creature other than the cassisian at any one time”
Aid. temp hp. (The morale +1 won't stack with Ameiko's song.) While Hergarval is nearby, Storm gets "+2 deflection bonus to its AC against evil foes, and a +2 resistance bonus on all saving throws made against evil effects or spells cast by evil creatures."
Kisaiya moves to flank the undead battering Ameiko.
HP: 69/75
AC: 24/13/21 (+4 all vs bbeg)
Saves: F12/R8/W11
Hero Points: 3
Smite Evil Used: 1/3
Lay on Hands Used: 1/6
Divine Bond Used: 0/1
Resolve Used: 0/1
Challenge: 1/1
Second Chance
Spells/Effects Active: Air Walk, Haste, Heroism, Resist Fire 20, FoM, Inspire
[ dice]1d20+15[/dice] to hit;
[ dice]1d8+7+1d6[/dice] damage.
Seeing Unk start scrambling along the wall, Snowball says "Unk! Wrong way!"
She flies up to at least tag him with a Bit of Luck
"Just- as- foreseen-" Unk explains haltingly as he struggles to clamber close enough to the spirit at the top of the wall without getting far from the tower's outer wall.
Unk braces himself against the wall as he launches a kick at the spirit.
Mukluk defends himself in case any get by. Durgan slams blue with a solid hit, but it does not quite go down. Kisaiya however follows up with a swing of her own - and she finishes it off. Unk (I’ll say) bombs green, knocking him most assuredly off for . Ameiko steps back and heals a bit of damage.
Green begins again, steadily, to climb. However, there’s no way he makes the top now, not with the whole party arrayed against him and he already wounded from two falls.
The storm continues to rage, and the winds whip through the open tower. Now that you’re not facing imminent threats, you can see six crystals in the walls, constantly channeling energy into the Storm Sphere high above in the tower - another crystal from the look of it but it’s hard to see through the clouds and lightning.
Durgan heals Ameiko.
Then he channels the power of Abadar to heal.
Unk lands, eventually.
Rather than waiting for the wall of ice to fade, he begins producing enough rope to make it to the gray platform.
He looks at the crystals and tries to figure out what they're doing and if they're like the ones the scorpions were messing around with.
"We could just wait around, or Unk and Mukluk can climb out of this pit Unk has dug for them. Any volunteers to hold on to this end of the rope?" Snowball explains before grabbing one end of the rope and flying up to the platform with it.
"Ha! I'll get us through this wall in no time, don't you worry," Mukluk spits on his hands, raises his pick and begins to work on the wall while he has the Moose-zoomies to spare.
Piercing damage
Piercing damage
Piercing damage
Piercing damage
Piercing damage
Piercing damage
"Take that you icy wall! You know that 'icy' is easy to spell! I see why!"
"I wouldn't walk through the hole in the wall your making, it's cold enough to hurt me if I'm not quick enough." Snowball explains while pinning the rope with one paw.
Ameiko smiles as her wounds are healed, ”Thanks for the healing Durgan. Always appreciated.”
You have a trio of air walkers, so the party can be hauled over the wall with a little effort.
Unk isn’t as confused by these crystals as he was by the ones on the second floor. It seems clear to him that the lower six crystals are feeding the large upper one. If they could be shut off somehow or better, broken, the upper would fail as well and the storms would abate naturally.
However, he foresees great danger in doing so for the crystals contain a a lot of electrical power. That said, you do have resist energy electricity going still. I think? Durgan, is that still up?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Ameiko smiles as her wounds are healed, ”Thanks for the healing Durgan. Always appreciated.”
You have a trio of air walkers, so the party can be hauled over the wall with a little effort.
Unk isn’t as confused by these crystals as he was by the ones on the second floor. It seems clear to him that the lower six crystals are feeding the large upper one. If they could be shut off somehow or better, broken, the upper would fail as well and the storms would abate naturally.
However, he foresees great danger in doing so for the crystals contain a a lot of electrical power. That said, you do have resist energy electricity going still. I think? Durgan, is that still up?
Durgan cast Communal Resist Energy (Electricity) just before this encounter, and it lasts 2 encounters, so yes it is still up. Resist 20.
Mukluk wonders about the big crystal in the sky, but as a purely land-grounded dwarf, he would have to continue to wonder about it rather than being able to do something about it.
He will, however, think about the big crystal and how it might relate to the smaller crystals.
Know (Arcana)
"Lemmesee here. I'm not the crystal expert. That's Moose, but I might know something about something."
Mukluk knows what Unk knows about the crystals and can confirm his hypothesis.
Durgan looks to the crystals.
"I don't love the idea of destroying that which I do not understand, but if Unk says that we must destroy these crystals to end the unnatural storms then that is what I will do.
Let's see how bad this is, how long it takes, and how much my protections against lightning can help."
He will Air Walk up to one of the lower six crystals and attack it with his morningstar.
Four stone platforms jut from the walls 50’ above the floor and the ceiling tops out over 100' up. Above these platforms, a pair of open windows in each wall look out over the icy landscape outside. Six large crystals are embedded in the walls between the windows, glowing with a blue radiance. High above, a wide hexagonal opening pierces the ceiling. Beyond this opening, a massive sphere of blue light sheds a dazzling radiance. Bolts of crackling electricity join the crystals in the walls with the ball of energy.
Durgan will attempt to attack the crystal from the side, so that he is not directly in the path of the electricity connecting it to the sphere. That might not make any difference.
Durgan finds the crystals remarkably hard (hardness 10), but he is chipping away with each strike. It's slow going though, the crystals seem to have a robust constitution...
A minute later and he's broken a bit but it's still sending power to the sphere above. Lightning does indeed arc to him with each blow, but his resistance is enough to dampen the effect for now.
Does anyone help him?
Kisaiya takes to the task as well. Whatever this villain was up to, it couldn’t have been good, and removing the storms will make travel that much easier as well.
The electrical charge builds as you hack away at the crystal until you’re sure it’s going to overcome your protections. At last, the crystal shatters under the dual blows - and does indeed overcome your protections with explosive force!
Durgan and Kisaiya suffer Reflex 23 for half, then apply resist 20
One crystal of six is destroyed and the storms above slightly lessen in intensity. Just five more to go!
Mukluk will offer his wand of CLW to handle any electrical burns that occur when people put swords inside of electrical outlets.
"I'll guard your backs, I will."
"Okay, so no need for multiple people to get exposed to the same one bursting. Kisaiya, do you mind tackling those two over there while I get these ones? Then we can see about dealing with the last crystal."
Durgan heals himself and moves on to another crystal
Eventually, he destroys it.
This time, his spells absorb nearly all of the blast.
He moves on to another.
If Kisaiya is injured in destroying #4 and #5, he will take this opportunity to Channel or cast Path of Glory (healing both of them) before moving on to the last crystal.
Kisaiya does indeed take out the other two crystals.
Durgan and Kisaiya smash their way through the next four crystals. Ameiko heals Kisaiya a bit, saving one cure for emergencies.
One crystal left! The storm above is faltering, clearly unstable…
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Durgan Channels to Heal.
Then he goes to smash the last crystal.
"A bit of an inelegant solution, but the job is done."
The final crystal shatters, and the lighting stops streaming to the storm above.
Somewhere deep within the storm, another crystal focus shatters - unable to persevere with the drop in energy. Crystal shards rain down on the party a hundred feet below and some minor injuries occur.
The storm above continues to rumble, but the power has been taken out of it. The lighting storm fizzles, and the winds begin to die down. It’ll take some time for the storm to dissipate fully, but there’s nothing further you need do to make that happen. The tower has been neutralized!
Far off on the wind, you hear the wailing of a ghost separated from her power… but not destroyed.
Durgan casts Extended Path of Glory.
The ground around him begins to glow, the glowing area spreads, and all are healed of their minor wounds over the next minute.
Then he goes to check on the remains of the cultist to see what gear she might have had.
She didn’t have much, but Durgan finds some of it is useful to the party for sure.
Scroll of cleanse
Breastplate +2
Headband of mental superiority +2 (use magic device)
Ameiko eyes the headband, but waits for others who may be in need of it first.
Mukluk will help identify the magics, then try to move down out of the wind.
"Let's get down from here. We can decide what to do next. Sounds like we might have a ghost issue downstairs, but I don't know much about that."
"I foresee a long walk back to the caravan." Unk explains as he looks for things to tie rope onto.
You make your way to the ground floor (the air walkers carrying the others no doubt), but no ghost is there to greet you.
However, remember that the tower is surrounded by undead. Fields of them. The air walk will last to get beyond them, but I'm less sure the others can be carried all that distance. I dunno, maybe? There are three air walkers, so someone can carry gear to lighten the load. Might work.
You could rest the night in the tower too - refresh your spells. I'm sure there are other ideas too. What do you propose to do?
"I don't think we've done our job completely if we stopped the storms but then left the undead to fester, that don't make sense. Of course, I don't make sense that them zombies don't freeze up all good and solid. Nope, don't make sense at all. Where did the undead come from way up in these here mountains and why are there so many of them? Nope, don't make no sense at all," Mukluk opines on the current situation but not having a lot of solutions.
"Might be we rest up and try to kill as many as we can on the way out, that way it might be safe for other caravans and whatnot."
Any other votes?
Remember, this is not along any trade route. No one goes up here but crazed archaeology expeditions...
Kisaiya rocks her head idly back-and-forth as she considers what the best option would be. ”I am sworn to protect the natural world from undead, so I do not think that I can in good faith simply walk away from this. However, I am also sworn to serve my sovereign and recognize the importance of our quest as well, so should she instruct me that she would rather move swiftly, I would do as she instructs.”
"Well, it seems to me we gotta fight our way through if we leave this afternoon because we're not all flying. Tomorrow, we can all be airborn, taking them from above." She grins, "I think cutting a swath through an undead hoard on our way back to the caravan sounds like a lovely morning."
"I am not sure how many caravans come this way, but I am happy to help clear the way."
Durgan's plan is to wreck things.
Three castings of Extended Deadly Juggernaut, each time ramping up on weaker undead until he reaches DR 10/- and +5 luck bonus to hit and damage, lasting for 16 minutes at a time.
Supplemented with Bull's Strength, Resist Energy (Cold), Prayer, and hopefully Enlarge Person from Unk. And of course Shield and Barkskin.
With 48 minutes of clerical wrath, he should be able to carve a path back to our caravan while taking minimal damage.
"Uh, Ameiko, do you mind if I take that headband?