Arillia Kaenath's page

I had been thinking of playing the Passing the Torch series before looking at Moonscar so I could get 16 first, but I do have a level 15 sorcerer that could play in the module.

Could I get mine with the gold cost removed? I'm still spending the money, but I'll have other costs as well and will need a different gold spent amount.

So many adventures that could be...

GM: if you haven't made up the chronicles yet, I'd like to retrain Additional Traits to Persistent Spell on this one. I need to start working back toward the build I messed up on.

Thanks for running, GM!

A few minutes later, Arillia's band of Pathfinders was in dire straits. Every one of them had fought well, but there were just so many undead. Their withdrawal had bogged down when fighting behind them clogged the stairs with wounded and exhausted Pathfinders trying to force their way out. She could clear the way ahead, but only if she could reach it. And with the chaotic situation in the staircase, that would mean abandoning her small group of fighters.

"Go. They need you. We all do," a dwarf grunted as he cleaved the head off another ghoul with his axe and shoved a zombie aside with his shield. She couldn't remember his name, but she thought he was from the Runeaxe clan.

"Can you hold?" Arillia asked him as she finished the incantation for an attack spell.

"We'll hold a lot better without you than we will if we never get up those stairs. And besides...you are all but done now anyway."

She had hoped he hadn't noticed, but the dwarf was right. She felt a strange aching in her gut that was hard to explain. She wasn't tired and her stomach wasn't troubled. But her magic was low...painfully so. A crazy elf wizard had tried to explain it to her once.

Arillia nodded. If she was going to leave, there was no time to waste. She began reciting her chant for declaring her destination and stepped between worlds into the room above.

Arillia launched another Fireball into a massed crowd of zombies and ghouls, incinerating the weak undead. The smell was atrocious. "Pull back!" she shouted to a motley crew of Pathfinders she had gathered during the escape. These still looked combat-worthy, while the rest she had sent on ahead. "We didn't see that lot of ghouls again yet. They'll attack from another angle."

The fight in the last few rooms had gone well, but she couldn't allow her new crew to get overconfident. This was a fighting withdrawal now, nothing more. There was nothing to win except escape.

Agata and the others had moved off to help other groups of Pathfinders. It's hard to see them go after a hard fight like this, but they can handle themselves.

Relieved by the defeat of their enemies and Tally's revival, Arillia looks up with concern as the stonework above them groans. "If any Pathfinders came this way, they aren't here now. Or...they were those shadows. In any case, it is time to leave."

With the Nightcrawler dealt with, Arillia turns her remaining arcane powers on any shadows that have survived the attacks of her allies.

Empowred Magic Missile: 5d4 + 5 ⇒ (2, 3, 3, 1, 1) + 5 = 15
Quickened Magic Missile: 5d4 + 5 ⇒ (3, 1, 4, 2, 2) + 5 = 17

Boon: 1d20 ⇒ 6

Valeria rolled badly, so I wasn't sure if she was OK.

Did we ever resolve what happened with the Medic Aid mission?

IMO, the healing looks best. It'd be remarkable if 5d8 points of damage made a difference one way or another. I could be missing something if Tally or Marcus needs the flanking though.

Yep. All of her high-level slots are gone now. Didn't want to do that, but none of the things she could do with the L6 would make a difference now.

Arillia had a bit of damage that should be healed by the burst now too.

"Better hope this works..." Arillia says as she summons dragonfire forth again.

I counted it out a number of ways, and it depends on the exact positions of the shadows but I think Arillia can get all of the bad guys in 80'. If not, leave out the furthest shadow. Leave out any non- summoned allies, too.
Spell Penetration: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (6) + 20 = 26
Empowered Fire Snake (Reflex DC 25): 15d6 + 15 ⇒ (1, 2, 4, 4, 3, 3, 5, 3, 4, 4, 2, 1, 3, 1, 2) + 15 = 57

She then casts Quickened Resist Energy (Cold) on herself.

I believe the Bust of Healing would have put Arillia to full HP?

I believe Agata has positioned herself so that if you 5' toward her you will then be inside the shield/safe.

OK, looking at damaging options. GM, If Arillia takes a 5' step to the north, will she be both inside of Agata's shell and safe from opportunity attacks?

On a 2D plane it looks like Agata would give the Nightcrawler cover from her. It's often easier to target big things, though. How tall is the door between us and the Nightcrawler? Would it allow Arillia to target the Nightcrawler's upper squares and bypass cover concerns? I'd like to think that she would be able to hit touch AC fine, but we've had problems with that...

I vote we use the healing resource right away. HP damage is only coming from the Nightcrawler, and it comes in massive chunks. It isn't enough to recover from a hit, but it is enough to top us off and help make sure that we can survive one.

Edit: Also considering a Fire Snake. It isn't 100% clear which squares the shadows are in though. Can we clear that up?

One other idea: We could also just leave. We went down this way to find other Pathfinders that needed rescuing, right? I'm not seeing them, and we're decently close to needing a rescue ourselves.

We probably have enough Dimension Door and similar tricks to get out of the fight if we want to do that.

I think Arillia needs to get Geatan out of his current position. I looked at his feats and he can fire without provoking, but there's no apparent end to the number of shadows. Even if there were we can't assume that his Strength will hold out.

If Agata is going to stay up (and I'm not 100% sure about that...the GM seemed to put you REALLY deep in the negatives) we could retreat back into the anti-incorporeal shell. That's a position of high risk from the Nightcrawler, but we should be safe from the Shadows at least.

The other option we could take regardless of Agata's status is just to bail on the current room. Looking at Arillia's likely line of sight, I think she can get herself and Geatan far enough away from the Shadows that they wouldn't be able to attack us for at least one turn. The Nightcrawler is another matter, but with luck we might be able to take one hit.

That second option leaves the rest of the group deep in trouble from the Shadows, but I'm not sure that Arillia has a way to fix that.

She could also try to go for a maximum burn plan, but I'm not confident that would be effective. Her high-tier slots are limited, and her maximum output right now is probably Empowered Fire Snake into Quickened Scorching Ray (which she could do exactly once). The ray requires ranged attacks, though, and I'm not sure she can afford to take this many opportunity attacks from the Shadows (although her incorporeal touch AC isn't awful). If the Fire Snake was at all likely to clear out the shadows it might be worth it, but since it will clock in at half damage I'm skeptical of that.

One possible benefit of running far away from the group is that it's possible the Nightcrawler might come after us and maybe not be all that effective for one round, giving the rest of the group a break from that guy for a turn.

Regarding the Control Undead plan, this thing might be even higher CR than the reaper. I'm skeptical that Arillia's DC will be high enough, with or without misfortune. It certainly would be one way to try to win the fight in one go, though.

Reflex vs Cone of Cold: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (19) + 17 = 36

Arillia flinches at the blast of frigid air and ice as it strikes her, stripping away her protective ward. Takes 2 damage after the cone is halved, I believe.

"There are no end to these shadows. We have to kill their master!" Arillia shouts through the swarm of shadows.

Lots of provoking would be a bad idea, but Arillia is next to Geatan. Should she Dimension Door him across the way to get a good shooting position on the Nightcrawler and away from the shadows?

While waiting for Marcus to do his work, Arillia uses her Wand of Infernal Healing on herself.

Only assuming one use/10 hp back, so Arillia would start this down 10 hp. She will also cast False Life. She's having to use 3rd level slots for those now.

False Life, Empowered by rod: 1d10 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18 - so 27 temp hp

Arillia's buffs other than Haste would all still be up, so no need to recast anything early. It doesn't look like Arillia will get a chance to do anything between the approach of enemies becoming apparent and their turn.

I did another pass on Arillia's spell usage since the last update before the demons. Her current spell slots available are: 1/0/1/5/3/1/1. She has both of her fire breaths remaining, so hopefully those will prove to be of some use.

FYI for the group, Arillia is running very low on top tier slots now.

I think we still haven't used the Aid Token, right? We should, if only to pass it on.

I guess I didn't read closely enough! Let's go back to a counterspell attempt, but under the prior trigger conditions (threatening stuff) without reserving for the big guy. Too much chance of not getting anything.

"Let's end this," Arillia growled as the undead continued their onslaught. She allowed the Nemhain's spell to pass by her and Agata paid the price. These creatures were resistant to many of her attacks, but perhaps her most basic spells would see results.

Spell Penetration: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (20) + 20 = 40
Empowered Magic Missile vs Nemhain: 5d4 + 5 ⇒ (2, 2, 2, 2, 3) + 5 = 16 - +50%, to 24 total

Spell Penetration: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (18) + 20 = 38
Quickened Magic Missile vs Nemhain: 5d4 + 5 ⇒ (1, 4, 1, 4, 4) + 5 = 19

Shaken by the Tzitzimitl's attempt to use a death spell, Arillia prepares again to defeat enemy spellcasting.

This time only counterspell the Nemhain if it uses an attack that could bring down multiple people. Harm is scary, but Wail of the Banshee is too big a threat to not reserve for.

Edit: I forgot that I offered to let Marcus fly, so let's quicken that on him as well.

Going to pass on that. The Nemhains aren't much of a threat if the big guy is using Wail.

Thanks for the taxi Zadeh. Arillia can cast Fly on Marcus if he's still wanting it on her turn. Possibly Quickened if that still feels like a good idea. I liked stopping a Harm last round, so it might.

Just realized that Arillia is likely to have her readied action go off soon and she won't go again until after the big guy. Zadeh might want to take taxi duty. At your option.

Just let me know if you want to go with. Arillia already took a big hit from that thing & isn't in condition to find out what a full attack feels like.

I'd consider going for all the marbles if my chances of landing Control Undead were better, but a 30% shot seems low to risk this kind of retaliation.

Too bad I wasn't able to get to L16. Access to Quickened Dimension Door would change a lot of calculations.

It isn't unbeatable, but that's a high will save. I might taxi us out of there rather than staying to fight in melee range with that thing, Agata. Any thoughts?

Valeria Aid Mission: 4d6 ⇒ (3, 2, 1, 2) = 8

Since Agata has the light situation covered, Arillia would like to take a different action.

Arillia readies to counterspell the first creature that casts a threatening attack spell. She has to recognize it anyway, so let's say she ignores anything minor like 3rd level spells and below...not that we're likely to see those.

"Agata, shall we try to hack the big one next?"

During the hunt, Arillia will use two charges of her Wand of Infernal Healing to recover her health and restore her False Life.
False Life: 1d10 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14

If memory serves, another hour and a half would put us past the limit of our original 10/minute spells, wouldn't it? If that's the case, Arillia restores Heroism, See Invisibility and Shield on herself before the encounter starts. She likely won't have Barkskin, so her basic AC will be down to 30 for now, but her incorporeal touch will be up to 26.

"Someone really got themselves a way out here," she says as the group hunts for the lost Pathfinders.

As the enemies appear and the group recognizes the nature of their enemies, Arillia calls a command word to retrieve a vial from her haversack. "That thing likes it dark, does it? Let's see how bright we can make things." She uses her Oil of Daylight on her wayfinder, hopefully negating any darkness tricks.

"If we need to come up with some electricity to finish off those ghostly creatures, I can get it. There won't be a lot though."

It's been really slow. Are we just waiting for the House to catch up?

I'm assuming that my unspectacular Disintegrate went wide and pulped up some part of the room.

Wounded by the Reaper's attack, Arillia grits her teeth as she drops her altitude. "You can't stop me that easily."

5' step downward to get out of the Reaper's reach, then Disintegrate on whatever pillar Agata didn't shoot and Marcus isn't working on, casting defensively (autopass). If that set of actions isn't allowed or would provoke, see below.

Spell Resistance, if needed: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (5) + 20 = 25
Spell Resistance Unlucky: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (13) + 20 = 33

Ranged Touch: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (17) + 13 = 30
Ranged Touch Unlucky: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (1) + 13 = 14 - Ugh. Nevermind.

Disintegrate Damage (failed Save DC 25): 32d6 ⇒ (5, 3, 1, 2, 5, 3, 5, 1, 5, 3, 3, 2, 5, 2, 6, 6, 1, 4, 6, 2, 2, 1, 2, 3, 2, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2) = 99
Disintegrate Damage (successful Save): 5d6 ⇒ (2, 5, 5, 3, 3) = 18

Will Save vs Whispers: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (18) + 18 = 36
Fort Save vs Dazed: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (3) + 22 = 25 - let's Paizo reroll that one
Fort Save vs Dazed Unfortunate: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (13) + 22 = 35

Paizo Reroll Fort Save #1: 1d20 + 22 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 22 + 4 = 46

OK: I think that means I've saved out of the dazed this time. Is it in my square, or am I able to 5' step away from this thing? I think it doesn't have reach?

Also, just to check: does Arillia's constant Freedom of Movement help with the daze?

Edit: Also, do I know whether Marcus's disable worked? Whether there are two or three pillars left matters. A sorcerer's decision tree can be a beast on important rounds.

Agata, I think our GM said that the skill checks were a full round action, so if you are planning on doing one of those, I'll avoid blasting pillars that you fly next to.

GM: do we know whether the main column can be skill-checked? I could possibly blast through its base, but I don't know that we have enough time for that.

Does anyone know who that Venture Captain that just died was? 'Shevar' doesn't ring a bell to me.

Agata, I do believe that skill checks were an option. I'm not sure that 'skill checks mixed with massive pillar destruction' was an option, but you could find out. The DCs sounded high-ish to me, but Agata might be able to make them where Arillia wouldn't.

I haven't been doing area damage since elemental damage like fire is usually really bad on objects. They'd have to be pretty fragile to break under a Fire Snake even if I went all-out.

Agata! We did something that did something!

*highfives*

Let's do more of that.

Geatan might have other ideas, but I'd personally rather be WAY out of point-blank range from that thing.

Will Save vs Whispers: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (5) + 18 = 23

Distracted by the whispers teasing her of her death, Arillia shouts "Get out of my head!" She flies about the room, staying out of the crashing melee and casts Disintegrate on the column she had been next to.

Spell Penetration just in case: 1d20 + 20 - 1 ⇒ (7) + 20 - 1 = 26
Ranged Touch Attack: 1d20 + 14 - 1 ⇒ (5) + 14 - 1 = 18
Disintegrate Damage (Fort DC 24 with Whispers): 32d6 ⇒ (3, 6, 4, 5, 2, 2, 1, 6, 2, 5, 3, 4, 1, 6, 4, 4, 4, 1, 3, 1, 4, 4, 3, 2, 5, 1, 5, 6, 5, 6, 6, 4) = 118
Disintegrate Damage on successful Fort Save: 5d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 4, 1, 4) = 18

Well, now we know what this thing's saving throws are like. I'm planning to try Disintegrate on the pillars next.

Will Save: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (14) + 18 = 32

"Agata, we don't have time for this. Let's try to put him away for now. I can seal him up, but he might be able to dodge it."

Suggesting a combination of Misfortune hex and then Forcecage. Arillia will hold her action until Agata goes, and then try Forcecage whether or not Agata does her hex after flying forward to one of the stones.

So possibly after a Misfortune hex, Reflex DC 26. My preference is for the solid box version, but I'm willing to take objections if people really want to fight this thing. Hopefully it can't just teleport out.

Is this the sort of encounter that we can make ritual checks against the stones during combat? Or do we need to clear out the Grim Reaper first?

Is there any super obvious reason why Forcecage wouldn't work on this guy? Besides probable high Reflex...

I'm not thinking of one. I don't mind taking a lowish percentage shot here, as long as it has upside.

Zadeh, Arillia can cast the Haste if you want. Maybe you could put Death Ward on someone else with the second turn? Take her scroll of it either way. She's not extremely likely to make the DC on her own.

She will cast Shield on herself for the second turn regardless.

Arillia will take a Death Ward scroll.

She is going to run out of top-tier slots if we take on the big boss, I expect, but we didn't come to not play ball. I'm in for it and Champion.