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GM Roll!:
As the group travels up the road that winds up the side of the hill, they continue to pass by shattered shrines and ruined temples. Up ahead, the sound of rushing water echoes down the hillside. Around the next corner is a large dammed pond being fed into by a slow-moving waterfall that runs from the hilltop. Thick vines, moss and algae fill the pool along with many lilly pads. The water remains mostly calm, slightly rippled by the rush of water, and exits through two large stylized dragon maws in the stone dam's face. Around the pond is a large stone staging area, another torii gate and a small dilapidated shrine to a lost god. The stone surrounding the pond is wide enough to allow the entire party to stand on either side comfortably. The expanse of the dam that runs from one side to the other is made over like a bridge; it is large enough that Seila and Xon could stand side-by-side to cross it, and runs almost sixty feet to the other side. Perception DC 33:
It's possible to see a ripple in the water, followed by... the movement of a humanoid shape. It seems to be the only one, and is watching the group intently. See Invisibility, Blindsense, etc (We're around the level where this kind of thing becomes pretty common, so...): The humanoid shape is of a shapely and beautiful woman. She appears to be elvish, with long hair, but possesses webbed feet and hands. She wears no clothing and possesses little modesty, assuming that no one can see her.
As the dust settles, the sleet-storm continues on until Calithilon wills its end. Afterwards, the snowstorm's removal reveals the torii gate covered utterly in frost, and a single terracotta warrior with his joints frozen solid lingering deathlessly in the way. At first touch, it shatters to pieces like a brittle sculpture. Beyond the torii gate lies a large swathe of stairs-- they seem to lead up the side of the tall stone hill that Fefrind's shrine sits at. Along the way are several small buildings-- shrines to local gods or masters. It's obvious that they've all been defaced horribly. Wood shapes grow from statue stands and vines claim the scattered rocks of ancient busts of the old gods. Pillars stand along the path as it winds the stone, up and up, towards the summit. Of course, if one wished, it would be simple to fly upwards straight to the peak... but the storm winds may prove an unfortunate issue on the ascent.
After a few moments, a person navigates the boards above the group's head. Coughing loudly, they have a short conversation with one of the members of the group. "Sounds like he's not dead, then," says the petite woman's voice again. "Not every day you get shot with an arrow," a masculine voice replies. "Not every day you get on Brassblood's bad side. Y'think he'll let the cleric even use her holy symbol on him?" This one sounds young. "No way. He dropped the ball, and besides, Brassblood likes scars. Says they build character." The man harrumphs. "I fold." "Already?" "Shove it, Tinni." "Whatever. Give me two." She pauses. "Huh. Didn't think about it. The ship comes in tonight, doesn't it? Means its payday already." The man coughs. "Don't get too excited. It's not payday yet." The woman sighs. "Mood-ruiner. Ready to show, kid?" The boy gulps. "Sure." "I've got two keys and a shield," she proudly exclaims. "Oh-- oh. I only have four sticks. Those are bad, right? Was I supposed to only have four cards?" The man's guffawing laughter echoes into the alley from above, mixed in with the woman's exasperated confusion.
Setting out into the rest of Korvosa, the group quickly finds itself neck-deep in the Shingles. Flooded ankle deep in parts from the rain, the urban decay is visible in all parts of this place. Tracking the Worthless Guttersnipe is simple; follow the trail of bloodied handprints that winds itself through the streets. And eventually, it leads to an alleyway, garbage lining the gutters. Stairs lead up to the rooftops above, and boards cross the gap to a building whose third story wall has been punched out by neglect to reveal a cramped hallway lined with doors. A large painted set of numbers on the wall read "551", and a bent street sign underneath shows "Garamond St." This might just be the place. DM Rolls!:
A shuffle of sound echoes from the rooftop above; voices filter down. "He bled all over the cards," a feminine voice says, and a man sighs in disgust. Chairs shuffle on top of Shingles shingles. The voices continue, but too quiet to hear from this far away now.
In just an instant, the three soldiers are turned to dust-- leaving one outside of the sleet storm remaining, and the other still firmly locked inside of it. Initiative is:
Ah, missed that when I was writing up the post. Either way, the terra-cotta were designed to be pretty effective as a group. Snow-logged and divided, however, they're about as scary as wet ham. The two that approach Arau, Xon and Seila do so through the concealment of sleet storm-- they can take opportunity attacks on them, just remember the 20% concealment for that final square. In other news, I think these guys will be done by the end of the round. We've got a really well-rounded combat group... I don't think a healer is necessary at all with the shock troop style of fighting the group can employ.
Acrobatics to Move in Sleet Storm
The terra-cotta soldiers march on through the snow, mindlessly moving forward to attack. Do they remember why? Perhaps not. To the silent beat of a war drum, they move forward.
The two harrying Nawarld let out silent battle cries and strike!
They try-- which is almost pitiable. Their inborn skill, taught through rote magic and sorcery, baked into the clay that makes up their body, cannot hope to match with a living, breathing warrior like Nawarld. Initiative is:
Put a link in the "Short Description" section of the Campaign Info. [url=] and blah blah blah and you've got one up there. I bold mine too so it's easier to see.
As Nawarld lays the mounted soldier to rest in hundreds of tiny, broken pieces, Seila and Xon strike-- eliminating the soldier savaged by Arau and striking a clean blow into the chest of another. The creatures are resilient-- Nawarld's hammer or Xon's rampaging claws are clearly better fighting instruments than Seila's naginata. Melisai takes the moment to cheer the others forward, seeing no one in need of her assistance. The sleet storm continues to blow-- and the enemies are all but neutralized. Initiative is:
As the soldiers move forward, Arau drags one to the ground, biting it viciously. As its ally moves to intercept and help, B'auw cuts it down under Thak's rain of arrows. As the soldier fights, attempting to stand, Arau brutally rips at it with her teeth. The next warrior steps out of the snow, and B'auw meets him with his falcata...
Initiative is:
The soldier sees the arrows coming and, surprisingly, dodges a pair before three sneak up on him. The last one is knocked out of the air by the soldier standing beside him, leaving two of the five arrows struck true-- jutting from the soldier's chest. Initiative is:
The dead thieves and their re-dead skeletal allies are carrying few items. The skeletons' five cutlasses are in pristine condition. Examining them reveals they look like they may have been purchased recently, as the blades aren't dulled at all. They each have a small vial of dim blue liquid that shimmers despite the low light of the alleyway. For anyone magically inclined or inclined to be injured, it's easy to recognize the potions of cure light wounds. Their armor, while blooded and ruined, could be patched together with a few hours time. The master craftsmanship of the studded leather is apparent-- each one seemed to be able to afford very nice armor. Among the three of them, they have twelve daggers. Two sickles, a short sword, and two katars-- Garundi punching daggers. Two sets of thieves tools, and one masterwork set. Digging in the leader's pocket, a bag of gold can be found containing, of all things, fifteen platinum pieces. In the same pocket, a piece of paper, wet crimson, is a scribbled list-- difficult to read due to the blood stain, yet it is easy to see that it describes Uriel and Percivel, from their height to their dress. Underneath, this address is written.
The terra-cotta soldiers, lacking intelligence of their own, attempt to make their way through the snow... Left to right, top to bottom to top to horse--
... They do so ploddingly. Initiative is:
B'auw and Arau move to intercept, as Seila and Xon ascend into the air. With a loud pop-pop-BOOM the vials Phynn throws explode upon the horseman... and he doesn't flinch as the fire scorches over his stone-covered exterior. The soldiers, undeterred, prepare to charge! They glow a fiery red under the influence of the svirfneblin's bombs... but seem unharmed otherwise!
Melisai pauses amongst the heroes. "Didn't think we'd be getting this kind of welcome, eh?" she says, blanching away from the combat-- as her allies seem to have things under control, she stays her spellcasting for now. Initiative is:
As Lantana strikes the creature, it rattles loudly-- but without half of its body. Taking a lunging step forward, Raikdar and Rhiannon put it down with a volley of spell and arrow, leaving the creature in shambles on the stone of Korvosa. As combat ends, it is like the weather grows in accordance. Blood drips down onto the street, and the city is silent save for the whoosh of wind and rain. You have each other now-- and perhaps goals to attend to. What do you do?
The tall grass is enough to stealth while moving forward cautiously, but people standing are out of it completely. It's about waist height, so just over three feet tall. Nothing for higher ground at the moment-- but the tall grass wouldn't do much to hamper a charge in my opinion. The arch is roughly 80 feet tall. There are trees-- the odd greenerie on the sides of the map are intended to be rising undergrowth into trees. Not a lot of terrain variance here since I wanted to see how people flow in combat without odd stuff going on.
The first arrow lodges in the creature's mask's eye-- the second splits it down the middle, shattering the stone. Losing coherency in shape, the elemental explodes into a massive gout of water, splashing down onto the ground and quickly surging over the feet and knees of all present.
Thak gives two shots to the soldiers-- curved arrows that would have missed if not for his expertise. The first arrow slaps the leftmost soldier, then, again, splits it down the middle, heaving a mighty crack through its shoulder. It seems... unimpressed. The final shambling mound swings its arms at Nawarld and B'auw weakly, retreating from B'auw's cleaving falcata as if it were... perhaps, afraid?
The first strike is slow, but it sets up for the second-- an explosive lunge that would have caught Nawarld if not for... As Seila mutters, the sky above the group cracks and shudders with lightning, as if to remind her that if they fail... the clouds actually will be firing down at them. Not arrows-- deadly lightning. Melisai, realizing that Calithilon is supported by what's essentially necromancy, chooses instead to channel energy-- leaving out the shambling mound.
Initiative is:
Initiative is:
The water elemental forming across from the party in the pond surges upwards and then into its kin's back-- it hardly seems to effect it at all. But then, Athaniel gives it a taste of thunder-- the magic missiles firing forth blow chunks off of its mask, and it staggers down, its body losing coherency as its obvious that it begins to near death. From the north, the marching grows louder-- and then, what looks like a bevy of soldiers sprints from the stairs, carrying longswords. But they seem heavy-- and at second glance, they're caked in mud. And they don't seem to be speaking. Statues. And the one in the center is riding a statue of a horse. The rider shouts out "None shall pass! Our lord Zuhuran shall not cast eyes upon the likes of you, now or in eternity! Soldiers-- phalanx!" The soldiers lift their weaponry and shields, letting out a single crunching thud as they slam one foot forward. "Advance!" Knowledge (arcana) or (engineering), DC 21:
These are terra-cotta soldiers-- constructs. Unlike other constructs that mindlessly carry out tasks and become inert when not commanded, the terra-cotta have a spark of intelligence that allows them to take on more complex tasks and, in some cases, think out strategy and tactics on their own merit. Adjacent to eachother, they're much more formidable than split apart. You'd also know that their weapons are known to be dangerously sharp-- caked over with dirt for now, after the first round of usage, the dirt comes off and they'll become magically enchanted to be keen for the rest of the skirmish. The water elemental takes a moment to be massively irritated and then slams a fist down on Xon and a fist down on Thak simultaneously in enormous pillars of water. It seems like it will fight until the end!
The first blow is lazy, and Thak dodges easily. The second blow, Xon simply catches, cutting through with rending claws to return back to what he was doing-- killing this elemental. Initiative is:
Phynn peppers the shambling mounds with explosive vials-- and one swiftly combusts from the inside out, burning into a screeching pile of quickly decaying organic matter. The other stands yet-- angry, almost, at the perceived insult.
From the north, where the forest gives way to a tall, rocky shrine jacknifed by narrow stairs, footsteps are heard-- loud marching, followed by grinding. Something is no doubt approaching from the north, towards the torii gate and the group. With the elemental on its last legs and two dead shambling mounds, the first six seconds of combat have swung wildly in both directions until settling firmly on the side of the wanderers. Hopefully, it will stay that way-- even after whatever is coming bursts out of the brush. Melisai, the cleric, stands motionless in the center of the group-- brandishing her holy symbol, she prepares to heal Calithilon if the threat of the water elemental is ended.
Onwards to victory! Initiative is:
Thak has Point-Blank Master; no AOOs provoked for shooting. Good stuff! It's going to be really, really bumpy for a bit. I'd love to commit 6 characters to memory, but that's sadly not going to happen-- remind me on these things as they come up so I can look smart by not taking AoOs that don't exist.
B'auw takes a mighty swing into the heart of one of the shambling mounds-- and the weighted blade of the falcata carries through, dismembering it and splitting it open like a stubborn treasure chest. The creature almost instantly dies, flying in pieces across the battlefield-- Nawarld deftly avoids a long line of putrescent oil that comes flying for him.
Arau leaps forward and bites a sizeable chunk of water from the creature's thighs. It is the picture of ambivalence about the act, casting the hyena a questioning look before pounding a fist down on Thak almost as an afterthought-- like it forgot to when it should have. Returning its gaze to the group, it bats at Seila and Xon, trying to ward off their assault. Again, it speaks in some bubble language-- almost pleading, yet veiled in anger. Initiative is:
Important:
damage to Xon,
Xon and Seila rally forward-- and both are met with a massive wash of freezing water. A giant dolphin formed from chaotic elemental water slams into Xon, but he shrugs it off long enough to land across the elemental's face and begin to draw its stone from its body-- it shatters in parts, but remains strong. With a foot, he kicks it into the body, and Seila pierces through it to reach it with her naginata.
Initiative is:
Nawarld cuts into the beast strongly, leaving enormous gouges in its form with his greatsword. It bleeds sap and foul spores onto the ground, but yet still lives. Initiative is:
Struck by the elemental and still yet summoning, Calithilon holds his ground-- and his spell. Thak launches a volley of arrows that scatter against the elemental's massive stone face-- and then, one after another, strike the exact same point, shattering it in the center. Just as it seems about to fall, it regains its balance. It doesn't take a genius to see that it's mad-- it glowers at Thak, bubble-roaring and posturizing to intimidate. The spore mounds lunge forward, bellowing, reaching for anything to consume.
It's actually impressive-- the level of skill that Nawarld demonstrates, standing almost completely still, as the creatures each uncoil enormous arms and attempt to crush him into the ground. After the assault, he stands completely untouched. On the flip side, Arau takes a solid blow to the side of her body, but completely ignores it, rolling with the blow. The spore mounds seem confused. They share an odd, incomprehensible look amongst each other, almost as if trying to assign blame. Initiative is:
As the skeleton waves its weapon, it turns to Raikdar. Staring at him imperiously, it takes a long step forward and then explodes into bone dust and shards as Rhiannon appears behind it-- the arrow piercing its skull shimmering into being a second later. Black onyx crumbles from its pierced skull. Hania and Lantana attack the final skeleton, throwing caution to the wind, but it seems to yet survive. Hissing a last challenge, it throws itself at Percivel.
Its claws swish by and the cutlass is ducked. Retreating for an instant, it seems to realize it's cornered and backs towards the wall, swinging defensively.
Initiative is now:
Percivel rushes forward-- but the skeleton proves too nimble, ducking to the side to avoid a fatal blow. Hania pauses as the skeleton in front of them swings wild to try to catch Rhiannon. Above, on the rooftop, the bushwhacker runs.
Within seconds, he's leapt a barrier and an alley, and disappears, rounding a corner. Initiative is now:
Calithilon cast haste, and did not use the Foretell aura.
The gargantuan water elemental separates itself from the pond, stepping forward on awesome limbs. Raising its body up, it transforms momentarily into a crashing wave full of drowning horses, slamming into the group.
As the horses pass through, slamming with intense force with hooves and crushing bodies, a pleased chortle emits from the center of the elemental-- bubbles rising to the top. It reforms itself, prepared for another heavy-handed strike. Initiative is:
Uriel crushes one of the skeletons with his axe, leaving two remaining. Overhead, the ambushee laughs, preparing to escape along the rooftops. Initiative is now:
Thak pulls back and fires an arrow at the large skull-like mask on the surging pond-- it growls loudly in response, immense bubbles forming in its chest. The stone mask seems chipped. That's when the brush explodes-- and then charges outward. Massive, thick creatures move forward, anger in their eyes. Humanoid in shape but melded from horrid fungus and rot, they bristle with strange strands of mucousy decay swinging in the wind. Charging forward, they emit a foul stench. Initiative is:
Knowledge (planes) DC 26:
The surging pond is a water elemental-- grown to immense size. The mask that it wears is a druidic binding stone that allows it to form corporeally in this world. As long as you stay on land, it should be safe-- but, not spreading apart would be worse, as the creature is imbued with powerful magic and was only barely unsuccessful in crushing the entire group just a moment ago. Knowledge (nature) DC 24: The dread plant beasts are fetid spore mounds, a distant cousin of the shambling mound. An intelligent colony of living plants, the fetid spore mound is characterized by swathes of yellow mold that live within its body. In the sunlight, however, the deadly mold should be dormant-- leaving that the lumbering creatures are known to grapple and crush their prey to death as a "comforting" alternative.
The pond finishes rising, wide waves rippling across its formerly still shape. Words pour forth in a bubbling language: one that no one understands. But when they cease, the risen water has taken the shape of an immense man, almost thirty feet tall. It stares down at the group for an instant before its entire form lashes out in a massive tidal wave.
As the tidal wave swoops in, prepared to crash and crush and drown you all Nawarld reflexively slashes at it. With a whimpering cry much like a dog, it retreats entirely. Initiative is:
So you get one standard or a move... And you take two standards, a move and a standard. :P Foretell is a standard:
Your familiar isn't a diviner wizard, but I'm fine with them drawing a wand as their action that turn. Choose between Foretell and Haste for your action: Choose! On with the show! |
