DMDM's Fingerprints of the Fiend

Game Master Douglas Muir 406

Okay, Brother D can activate his summoned monster(s), and can also act in this round. Then it's back to me.

how close am I to Morvius and his Quiver of Effective Arrows? 5 foot step, or more?

how close am I to Morvius and his Quiver of Effective Arrows? 5 foot step, or more?

Let's see. 25% chance you're within 5'. 1d100 ⇒ 39 Nope. Presumably after two zaps from AoE, you guys are spreading out a little.

I thought we were close enough - if not, Morvius would have 5' stepped as part of his last action to try and close the distance a little

Oh ho, those did full damage. They also caught her attention. That hot mad gaze turns, and fixes on Morvius.

Morvius gives a satisfied smile. "Ah, she might have withstood my honeyed words, but ultimately nobody can resist my dashing good looks."

Attero is granted 1d3 ⇒ 3 Giant Celestial EAGLES!

They appear all around the angry mutated fey and begin striking!

The WarPreist doesn't stay to admire his work, but he's already spinning, moving. After muttering a hurried "Gratitude," to Janeesa, he calls upon Gorum's grace to grant him Divine Favor and then he moves over to Grinceroy and grants him some healing.

Cure Light Wound: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11

Aterro - just FYI, Celestial creatures can smite evil (IIRC), adding Cha to attacks (probably zero, but you never know), adding their HD to damage rolls and - crucially - bypassing DR

Assuming that this thing is evil, of course...

Sure, why not. Or at least I assume so, since I could do it to an unconscious person.

Grinceroy sighs with relief at the healing. "Here, in return let me help you." He pulls out a second vial and quickly feeds it to Brother Dominatus.

Got all 3! Nice rolling. Okay, I assume the eagles smite, which adds +2 to damage. So, one attack connects, bypassing DR and doing 4 points of damage. Not much, but hey, chip chip chip.

Sure, why not. Or at least I assume so, since I could do it to an unconscious person.

Grinceroy sighs with relief at the healing. "Here, in return let me help you." He pulls out a second vial and quickly feeds it to Brother Dominatus.

Handing or tossing someone a potion is a move action, but drinking it -- or pouring it down someone's throat -- is a standard. So, no cure for Brother D this turn.

Okay I think that's everyone? Over to me, then.

[b[Round 3[/b]She's completely ignoring the eagles to shoot hell out of you guys. Since Grinceroy is already injured, and is being a nuisance with his cover magic, she'll start with him.

1d20 ⇒ 18 hits for 1d8 + 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (3) + (6) + 6 = 15 points of damage on Grinceroy. That puts him at -2, taking him out of the fight for now.

Switching to Morvius:

1d20 ⇒ 16 1d8 + 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (6) + (6) + 6 = 18 points of damage.
1d20 ⇒ 20 Ruh roh. 1d20 ⇒ 7 Aww, does not confirm. Okay, that's just another 1d8 + 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (4) + (6) + 6 = 16 points of damage, for a total of 34, which drops Morvius to -11. Right, back to all of you!

I believe shooting a bow while threatened triggers an AoO, so Brother D, your eagles should get one attack each.

Handing or tossing someone a potion is a move action, but drinking it -- or pouring it down someone's throat -- is a standard. So, no cure for Brother D this turn.

Sorry, was in a hurry in my last post, and I should have clarified. WarPriests can spend a Fervor to cast a spell on themselves as a Swift Action, so my standard was the CLW. Does that help clarify things?

Stabilize: 1d20 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (20) + 1 - 2 = 19

Grinceroy get's shot and goes down, collapsing to the ground. Despite his wounds, his breathing seems normal, and somewhat stable.

Hey, at least I've annoyed her. That's better than I thought I could for a minute.

Janeesa, on her action, will do a Channel, hoping she can position herself so that both Grinceroy and Morvius is in the healing range, and anyone else she can include. I believe the creature is out of range, but if it is not, she excludes it using Selective Channel.

Healing:3d6 ⇒ (2, 5, 1) = 8 Crap roll, but hopefully it will help until she can do more healing.

Sorry, was in a hurry in my last post, and I should have clarified. WarPriests can spend a Fervor to cast a spell on themselves as a Swift Action, so my standard was the CLW. Does that help clarify things?

Ah, okay. Mark off the fervor and carry on!

It's over to you, Janeesa and Callinda. What are you doing? (Don't forget your AoOs from your eagles.)

Seeing Morvius hit the ground - the only archer doing significant damage! - Callinda breaks cover to rush over to him. Taking a knee, she begins pulling silver arrows from the downed man's quiver, hoping to stay up long enough to be effective.

shortbow, studied, bless: 1d20 + 9 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 9 + 2 = 22for: 1d6 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 4 + 2 = 9

Stabilise: 1d20 ⇒ 4

Seeing Morvius hit the ground - the only archer doing significant damage! - Callinda breaks cover to rush over to him. Taking a knee, she begins pulling silver arrows from the downed man's quiver, hoping to stay up long enough to be effective.

No, no, don't apply first aid. It's fine. In fact, all those holes let the blood get some much-needed fresh air; and that deathly-pale look matches my cravat...

STATUS: -4 hit points

It's over to you, Janeesa and Callinda. What are you doing? (Don't forget your AoOs from your eagles.)

My action is posted right above the post quoted above. Channel, see said post for die roll.

Two quick things: 1) Do I get a turn now? I and my Eagles went, then the bad guy went. Seems I should go now? 2) If my healing did indeed go off, shouldn't Grinceroy have 9 hit points and an action?

Your healing actually saved me from an instant death, but no. I still went unconscious. Janeesa bright me back, but technically I rolled higher initiative than her, so I probably shouldn't get an action this turn, but could if the gm ruled it.

Oh! Okay, that actually makes me feel really good. =) As much as I built this character to go toe-to-toe with any monster, it's a point of pride that as a cleric-derivative the WarPriest is also useful to other characters. (Unlike a plain fighter. ^_^)

I assume people will creatively delay actions, so Grinceroy could get an action -- but note that he's prone.

Once Grinceroy is done, it's back to me, correct?

Grinceroy wakes and instinctively pulls his hands up, pulling a walk into existence in front of himself before standing.

I assume that's a "wall"?

Ah, and I think Brother Attero hasn't taken a round 3 action. Gets a little confusing, with the Fervor and the AoOs, but I don't see one above. So, the Brother goes, then I go.

Satisfied that his allies have found saftey, and seeing that the battlefield is ready, he LAUNCHES into the air, screaming his battlecrty. "Now DIE as you deserve to!"

The armored saint CHARGES through the air at his foe while his celestial eagles nip at her flanks.

Okay, that got her attention!

Your fist is not a magical weapon, right? Or is it? Checking to see whether you bypass DR. It's still enough damage to get her riled up even if you don't.

Meanwhile, she takes a 5' step (puts her out of reach of you and 1 eagle; two eagles still get AoOs), raises her hand, and speaks.

"Terror is only true justice: prompt, severe and inflexible." Straight up save-or-suck: DC 19 Will save for the good Father!

And they shall know no fear: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25
Yes, both gauntlets are magical.

Dang! That would have taken your right out of the combat.

But it failed, so now everybody gets to go again!

Yes, wall, sorry.

Grinceroy moves out from behind his own wall and charges forward. He stops part way, throwing up a third wall next to Callinda.

Hopefully now you can make a full round and then have cover, though that might not be at issue now with Brother Dominatus up there!

On her action, Janessa will run up to Morvius and throw a Cure Serious Wounds, hopefully bringing him to the point where he's not likely to drop any time soon.

3d8 + 6 ⇒ (5, 4, 4) + 6 = 19

Brother Attero crosses his two spiked gauntlets, Righteousness and Zeal, in front of him and the foul Xeno curse washes over him like the tide upon the ever-lasting rock.

Nonplussed, Attero floats forward, his mighty Eagles obeying his silent commands and moving again to keep the vile occultist in the Tactical Cross.

They stand still for a moment, allowing the totality of the devil's impotence to subsume her fully. Then Attero speaks.

"Suffer not the witch to live."

And they fall upon her.

Morvius regains consciousness with a start, before composing himself and offering a nod of his head to Janeesa: "Thank you, my dear. That was most timely."

Move action to stand; standard action to shoot

Drawing himself to his full height, he reaches back for another silver arrow, before aiming and firing in one practiced move.

bow: 1d20 + 6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 6 + 2 + 1 = 29
Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

He gives a wry smile on noticing that Callinda is helping herself rather liberally to his arrows: you can take the girl out of the streets, but you can't take the streets out of the girl. (Yes, I'm aware that he invited her to. Irrelevant.) "If you're going to take my arrows, you owe me a dinner. I seem to recall the most exclusive little bistro the last time we were in Oppara - I wonder if they still do those gorgeous, gorgeous, little stuffed... things."

(Oppara was - as Callinda will no doubt recall - an absolute fiasco, a total bloody shambles of a mission... but they survived. It's a code, of sorts: Where there's life, there's hope. But you still owe me dinner.)

STATUS: 15 hit points, room for improvement

"Oppara -- I recall needing a lot of wine after Oppara. And I will happily buy both the arrows and the wine once we're done here!" Callinda agrees.

She plucks two more arrows from her companion's quiver and squints into the mass of feathers and fists, trying to find her target.

shortbow, studied, bless, firing into melee: 1d20 + 9 + 2 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (3) + 9 + 2 + 1 - 4 = 11for: 1d6 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 2 + 4 = 10
shortbow, studied, bless, firing into melee: 1d20 + 9 + 2 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (18) + 9 + 2 + 1 - 4 = 26for: 1d6 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 2 + 4 = 9

Memories of Oppara flash through your mind: candlelight glinting on a handful of red gems, the thick scent of incense around a woman slowly turning cards on a table, the lingering taste of the tawny wine of Bildesh, the distinctive sibilant hiss of the blade-scarf of a Lion-Dancer. And the mad old man, giggling as he stroked his long-haired cat.

But of course, the two of you may remember Oppara very differently.

Brother D, your eagles have limited effectiveness -- even with flanking, it's quite hard for the to hit her. But you're doing some real damage. So: she's using her AoO attack again, but centered on herself. DC 19 Will save for you and your eagles. Failure takes 5d6 ⇒ (3, 4, 1, 2, 6) = 16 damage and is shaken (-2 to everything) which will make it pretty much impossible for the eagles to hit her; success is half damage or 8 damage.

Ah wait, that's 5d8. So 5d8 ⇒ (3, 8, 1, 1, 5) = 18 points of damage, or 9 on a save. (Pffft -- not rolling much damage with this AoO.) And the shaken condition would last 1d4 ⇒ 2 rounds.

Heh. One of the great movie lines - I was going to quote it if nobody else got there first!

Morvius raises an eyebrow at the mention of wine - "It was brandy, actually." My brandy, if we're being really exact. "We were just drinking it like it was wine."

Father D, you're doing some damage to her -- and she wasn't expecting a second flier. So, she's trying to debuff you (and shut down your eagles entirely). Next round she'll take a 5' step and FRA you.

Well played. However, since she did not take a 5' step before casting her spell, that means AOOs for everybody!

Alas, even on a save, all valiant Eagles fall to the vile attack.

"Pain is an illusion of the senses, despair an illusion of the mind," Brother Dominatus spits back defiantly before continuing his onslaught of STEEL!

Fist of Zeal!: 1d20 + 3 + 2 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 3 + 2 + 8 = 18
Zeal damage!: 1d8 + 7 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 7 + 3 + 2 = 20
Fist of Righteousness!: 1d20 + 3 + 2 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 3 + 2 + 8 = 24
Righteousness damage!: 1d8 + 7 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 7 + 3 + 2 = 18

'Is he really flirting while there is glorious combat going on?' Attero thinks as Morvius seems to be furiously chatting up Callinda.

I'm guessing Attero and Morvius haven't worked together before if that surprises him :)

On another note, I just realised I rolled a Natural 20 on my attack! I'm really sorry for not rolling the confirm sooner, I was too busy posting in-character to notice...

Confirm Critical: 1d20 + 6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 6 + 2 + 1 = 21

Critical damage: 3d6 + 12 ⇒ (5, 1, 2) + 12 = 20

I don't know if a 21 hits, but I do know that a 23 hits because it did last time. I'm therefore going to spend 2 points of Combat Stamina to make the 21 into a 23, thereby hopefully confirming the crit.

STATUS: 15/46 hit points, 6/8 Stamina

Whoa, she's down to a handful of hits!

Her beautiful, terrible face contorts in hatred, and then... with a shriek that scrapes something raw inside your head, she disappears, literally in a flash, leaving nothing but a coil of bitter-smelling smoke.

WOO YOU WON THIS ONE

this one.

(Teleport, Plane Shift, Dimension Door, something else? Or maybe she just went invisible? Hey, a simple roll on Knowledge [Arcana] or Spellcraft should clear that right up.)

Once it's obvious she's not going to become visible and start lobbing attacks at a group, Janeesa will gather everyone who's injured together and do a Channel.

3d6 ⇒ (5, 6, 2) = 13

"We finished that looking like we know what we're doing, at least. Anybody know what that thing was? Other than an sign that somebody doesn't want us here, so we're definitely in the right place?"

Callinda will scan the top of the rock as she speaks and try to figure out whether the distant settlement looks actively hostile.

Attero floats back down to the ground. "Unsatisfying. A combat that does not yield even one corpse is unsatisfying. But consistent with that foe's cowardly tactics.

Are we to start our investigation at that settlement?"

Grinceroy sighs, relaxing back down to the ground leaning up against one of the vine walls. "Thank you Janeesa and Brother Attero. Without the two of you, I believe I would be dead. I am glad I could help in some way." Grinceroy grimaces, then shakes his head and stands up again, a large smile returning to his face. "Well, at least we can say, that was definitely bracing."

Grinceroy looks back toward the pillar of smoke and the settlement he had seen earlier. "I believe so. That must be where they are working here." His smile slips again for a moment as he looks out at the bare land between here and there, but he brings it back quickly. "Yes, let's go."

Hit points are updated. Definitely could use some more.

"There are some structures a few hundred yards away, towards the center of the island, with smoke rising from them. You glimpse people moving around. They're like 300 yards away, though, so unless they can fly or cast long-range magic they won't be an issue for at least the next few rounds."

As noted, the top of the plateau is pretty flat and coverless. So, good chance the people over there have seen you.

Hit points are updated. Definitely could use some more.

"No problem, it is part of my purpose; there can be no freedom unless first there is life."

Cure Light Wounds to Grinceroy:

1d8 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

Grinceroy sighs, looking at Janeesa with gratitude on his face. "Well, then let's go. It's likely they already know we're here. The longer we give them to prepare, the worse it'll be for us."

Grinceroy starts out, moving quickly along the barren ground towards the smoke, watching for more trouble.

Perception: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (14) + 14 = 28

Anyone who has Knowledge [local] or the Freedom Fighter trait, roll a DC 15 Knowledge check. If you have both, roll at +4.