"Ryli! Turn into something small and then get right next to Jeevika!" Elthariel shouts, realizing that the druid might be a tantalizing target for Karzoug's counterattack.
Her mind numb from all the death, Elthariel fires another targeted volley at Karzoug. He again seems to be just out the natural range of her bow, but she takes aim and fires anyway. However, at this point, Elthariel just plans to continue firing like an automaton until the bitter end.
As Olympus latches onto the rune giant, Elthariel sees an opening and fires another calculated volley. After what he did to Lorthan and Eugeni, she would much rather turn Karzoug into a pin cushion, but this gigantic enemy is proving to be major hindrance. Hopefully, her arrows do enough damage for Ameiko and Zoli to finish off Karzoug's last minion.
Upon seeing Lorthan die, Elthariel's eyes go blank. She glances at Karzoug... and then takes a step to get a perfect line of fire on him. The Runelord of Greed is just outside the regular reach of her bow, but she doesn't care; the lost Edasseril has made more difficult shots before.
Somehow ignoring everything else in the way between her and the Runelord, Elthariel fires a targeted volley at Karzoug...
Thanks to Improved Precise Shot, Ellie's shots ignore AC bonuses and miss chance from anything less than total cover/concealment. The Blade Barrier only offers regular cover.
Seeing that she has a wide open path to fire thanks to Jeevika's ward suppressing the thick fog, Elthariel steps forward and drops the Staff of Healing. While useful, the device is almost out of charges, and she needs both her hands free now. She casts a spell, which focuses all of her latent fury on this one enemy.
She knocks an arrow and takes a deep breath.
The lost Edasseril silently prays to whatever gods who will listen that Jeevika's magics will protect her from Karzoug's wrath.
With far more care than usual, Elthariel fires a volley...
Free Actions: 5-foot step and drop the Staff of Healing.
Swift Action: Ellie declares the Blue Warden of Thunder her Instant Enemy. Her Favored Enemy bonus gets bumped up to +6. No Save. SR need not apply.
Full-Round Attack: Ellie fires a volley into the Blue Warden of Thunder!
"I know you have your own Celestial Armor, but if you wait a second, I can get us both over the wall," says Lady Jeevika.
Elthariel nods in understanding. While the Holy Vindicator prepares to cast her spell, the long lost Edasseril taps her friend with the Staff of Healing she was still carrying. While Elthariel herself was more injured, she felt that keeping Jeevika up and active would ultimately be more... advantageous in their final fight against Karzoug.
Elthariel waits until the spell was cast. Once it was done, she began slowly walking up into the air. Knowing that it will take some time for her and Jeevika to ramp up, the ancient ranger finds herself hoping the others are alright...
Standard: Elthariel casts Cure Serious Wounds on Jeevika via the Staff of Healing (4/10 Charges Remaining).
Move: Elthariel waits until Jeevika casts Communal Air Walk on them both. Once the spell goes off, she and Jeevika walk upwards fifteen feet in the air.
While Jeevika tries to figure out how the golden sphere works, Elthariel takes a moment to heal Ameiko with the Staff of Healing. She briefly borrows the Orange Prism for this endeavor.
Elthariel casually hops aboard Olympus and then fires another volley of arrows; she tries to finish off the hungerer and then focuses all other shots on Ceoptra.
Free action to hop abroad Olympus via Fast Mount and then full-round attack. Firing on Hungerer until it dies and then everything else on Ceoptra.
Ellie's Rolls - DR Only Applies Once - +6 vs. Evil Outsiders:
As Elthariel steps downward and prepares to fire her unlimited arrows into the Hungerer, she notices Lady Jeevika trot up right next to her.
"How about some good luck?" asks the Holy Vindicator.
"...Sure," Elthariel replies, realizing where Jeevika is going.
"Good luck, Elthariel," says Jeevika nonchalantly as she very lightly pats Elthariel on her shoulder.
Elthariel promptly begins turning her quarry into a pin cushion.
Jeevika relocates next to Ellie as move action and uses Bit of Luck on her as a standard. For the next round, Elthariel rolls twice for all d20 rolls and takes the better of the two results. 7/9 Uses Remaining.
Elthariel takes a 5-foot step downward and briefly pauses when she notices Jeevika trot up to her. After their little exchange, Ellie makes a full-round attack against the Hungerer.
Ellie's Rolls v. Hungerer - DR Only Applies Once - +6 on all Rolls (and +12 on Critical Damage) vs. Evil Outsiders:
Elthariel quickly moves to retrieve her arrows, which are all luckily intact. They appear to be crafted to be extremely durable. It's probably a little odd to actually see her retrieving her ammo as well; up until now, she has always used that spell that gave her unlimited shots.
Since she used durable arrows, Ellie should be able to retrieve them without trouble.
"Please use that spell the instant you see Karzoug, Lord Silva," the lost Edasseril says nonchalantly. Elthariel pauses before adding, "In fact, perhaps you might follow it up with a Quickened double tap?"
Seeing that Jeevika was a bit... distant at the moment, Elthariel decides to speak on her behalf.
"According to Eugeni, they were building the Runelord of Greed some sort of... doomsday machine, and they refused to cease their work. All of Karzoug's minions and allies have proven to be terrible individuals. Ordikon. Khalib. The Red Wizards. Leaving these creatures to their own devices just wasn't an option," says Elthariel as she recharges her Abundant Ammo spells with her Pearls of Power.
Seeing that Jeevika's mind is now set in stone, Elthariel quickly casts another Abundant Ammo spell and prepares herself to offer ranged support. While her friend's sudden fury is quite startling and intense, the ancient ranger sees no reason not to support the Holy Vindicator in her efforts to foil Karzoug's plans. After all, Elthariel and Lorthan had lost much beloved friends to the Greedy Runelord and his associates...
Being rather hesitant to fight a powerful angel, Elthariel instead decides to relocate herself to avoid being in the apparent celestial's potential line of attack. She finds herself wondering if this whole thing is a trick. Regardless, the ancient ranger holds her fire for the moment...
Not wanting to ruin Zoli's diplomatic efforts, Ellie moves to the western wall and holds her fire for now.
Elthariel scurries into the hallway and easily fires an arrow into the eye of the spider fiend. It seems that she knows how to really hurt these creatures. The ancient ranger then prepares to fire a finishing volley.
After contemplating her options, Elthariel finally settles on casting Abundant Ammunition; she has four uses of that spell today, so she can worry about running low when she actually starts running low! Moreover, the odds are good that the group will be attacked before the first casting times out.
"Don't panic over the Feeblemind Aura; it's only temporary!" Elthariel hears Lady Jeevika say. Realizing that must be what's affecting poor Lorthan, the ancient ranger utters a small sigh of relief.
Ellie casts Abundant Ammunition as a standard action and stays put.
@Zoli: For the record, I haven't cast Air Walk yet; since we split the spell, its duration is much more limited, and it would time out if we ever took an extended break. I've only got two prepared.
Not liking her current position, Elthariel carefully withdraws to a safer spot.
"...How about we just let the melee folks handle these creatures?" she proposes to Lorthan as she quickly takes cover to avoid being targeted by any of her foes' exotic abilities. "Seriously, I just saw Zoli turn one of them into cold cuts."
Elthariel swiftly declares Ghlorofaex her Instant Enemy and rapidly the fires an intense volley of arrows at him. Thanks to years of practice, she at least manages to sink one arrow in a weak spot in his blue scales! Elthariel then quickly urges Lorthan to get some distance between them and the Death on the Wind.
From her perch atop Lorthan's back, slightly scared about the battle ahead, Elthariel nonetheless gets her Abundant Ammo and Gravity spells up. She briefly contemplates Barkskin but ultimately decides that it is unlikely to matter.
"One second, Lorthan," Elthariel asks politely, clearly wanting him to stay grounded until she gets her shots fired.
She is asking him to delay for a few seconds so she can fire her arrows without all the crazy penalties of mounted archery combat.
Seeing that the nearby frost giants greatly weakened by their own allies, the fastest archer in Varisia decides to finish them off. She focuses everything on Blue before moving on to Green should her first foe drop. Once her volley is done, Elthariel lets Lorthan know that she is ready for flight.
Elthariel quickly finds herself getting very, very nervous about the approaching mob of giants. Unlike Jeevika, she lacks the layers upon layers of protective armor and magic. However, when Lorthan lands next to her, Elthariel quickly sees an out. She rapidly fires several shots at the blue rune giant and then scrambles aboard Lorthan.
Thanks to decades of mounted combat training and experience with Fenrir, despite having no saddle to help her, Elthariel manages to skillfully settle on Lorthan's back in less than a second.
Full-round attack against the blue rune giant and then Fast Mounting Lorthan as a free action. Lorthan lacks a saddle, so Ellie takes a -5 penalty, but she still made the check, so it only takes a free action!
@Thron: What do you think about Elthariel giving Shiloh her Celestial Armor after the archer retires from adventuring? After Rise, I see Ellie and Lorthan settling down for good somewhere in Kyonin. Alternatively, in the event Elthariel perished in Xin-Shalast, she left the armor to Jeeves, who eventually gave it to Shiloh.
Generally speaking, Shiloh is a high "Dex" AC character, so she would really like some armor with a high maximum "Dexterity" bonus. Celestial Armor is the best armor in the game for these sorts of characters; both Zoli and Elthariel wear it for that reason. In terms of cost, it's only 99 gp more than the Sadist's Lash Kallie wants.
Anyway, that's my general request: good armor (e.g. height armor bonus) with a good maximum Dex bonus. My specific request is Celestial Armor. The second best option would be a +Something Mirthal Agile Breastplate, but the Varisian Rangers actually have a storied history with Celestial Armor. If she doesn't have a set now, Shiloh will eventually just buy her own after the first few treasure divisions. We're already pretty close to the level where such armor would become fairly accessible.
Raising her buckler to guard against the wicked plant's attacks, Jeevika briefly pauses her chopping and gives Ryli a thumbs up of approval. Her appreciative grin is a little... intense. It's almost as if Jeevika wants to monster tree to burn for its sins...
Meanwhile, Elthariel finally notices the commotion. As usual, she quickly casts Abundant Ammo on her quiver. As the huntress starts moving into position for a volley, she glances at Lorthan, silently asking him to go help her sister elf.
As a wilderness warrior and huntress herself, Elthariel is clearly unamused by the idea of being denied her life's profession and being stuck doing domestic chores and hard labor.
"I agree with Lorthan. That sounds very... demeaning."
Seeing Jeevika being slowly roasted alive, Elthariel finds herself tearing up. Not sure what else she can do, she starts firing arrows like there's no tomorrow into the purple golem. The Kyoni Ranger also has Fenrir attack the construct, though the dire wolf seems too distracted by the approaching lava to really help.
Ethariel has Clustered Shots, which means that you basically add up all her damage together and then subtract the DR from it just once. Thanks to Point Blank Mastery, her attacks do not provoke.
Elthariel steers Fenrir to a vintage point and starts firing a volley of arrows.
[dice=+1 adaptive holy composite longbow (RS, DA, FE, GH, Haste, "It's over, Cyclops! I have the high ground!")]1d20+20-2-4+2+2+1+1[/dice]
Manyshot Damage (FE, GH):2d8 + 20 + 4 + 4 ⇒ (7, 4) + 20 + 4 + 4 = 39plusIf Evil:2d6 ⇒ (1, 5) = 6
[dice=Haste +1 adaptive holy composite longbow (RS, DA, FE, GH, Haste, "It's over, Cyclops! I have the high ground!")]1d20+20-2-4+2+2+1+1[/dice]
Manyshot Damage (FE, GH):1d8 + 10 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 10 + 2 = 19plusIf Evil:2d6 ⇒ (6, 4) = 10
[dice=+1 adaptive holy composite longbow (RS, DA, FE, GH, Haste, "It's over, Cyclops! I have the high ground!")]1d20+20-2-4+2+2+1+1[/dice]
Manyshot Damage (FE, GH):1d8 + 10 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 10 + 2 = 20plusIf Evil:2d6 ⇒ (2, 3) = 5
[dice=+1 adaptive holy composite longbow (RS, DA, FE, GH, Haste, "It's over, Cyclops! I have the high ground!")]1d20+15-2-4+2+2+1+1[/dice]
Manyshot Damage (FE, GH):1d8 + 10 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 10 + 2 + 2 = 18plusIf Evil:2d6 ⇒ (2, 2) = 4
[dice=+1 adaptive holy composite longbow (RS, DA, FE, GH, Haste, "It's over, Cyclops! I have the high ground!")]1d20+10-2-4+2+2+1+1[/dice]
Manyshot Damage (FE, GH):1d8 + 10 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 10 + 2 + 2 = 19plusIf Evil:2d6 ⇒ (2, 3) = 5
-2 to attack and damage rolls if the cyclops is out of combat; since Elthariel has Favored Enemy: Undead, he was her first target. -1 if she does not have the high ground.
It appears that she is still rather rusty after all those years as a goldfish.
Ethariel has Clustered Shots, which means that you basically add up all her damage together and then subtract the DR from it just once.
Shortly after arrival, Elthariel reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small stone statue of a wolf. She gently places it on the ground and utters a soft word. Much like Olympus, the object rapidly expands into a real, breathing creature.
"It's been too long, Fenrir," Elthariel whispers as she hugs the wolf's giant head. She turns to the others and explains, "I didn't want him scaring the locals. A giant wolf would probably be the final straw..."
After uttering a lazy yawn, Fenrir promptly trots over to Lorthan and affectionately licks the draconic man's cheek.
