The Slime-Shrouded Master wrote: Faceless Stalker wrote: The Slime-Shrouded Master wrote: Faceless Stalker wrote: In the hidden sanctum of the Slime-Shrouded Master, the panicked faceless stalkers stammer and stutter their report of strange invaders from the Upper World...
Gribble fnargle blib murgh!!
** spoiler omitted **
The Slime-Shrouded Master was startled by this report... This was unacceptable! His minions were merely to return with food and tribute from the shipwreck, not news of fierce and capable explorers approaching the palace!
Telepathic communion with faceless stalkers: WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'FIERCE INVADERS'!? ARE THEY APPROACHING THE PALACE? HAVE THEY FOUND THE BLACK PYRAMID!? In Aklo: Yes!! Yes!! They are coming, master, what do?? What do?? Stay here, my faithful hounds, and protect me until I think of a plan to deal with these intruders from above! In Aklo: Yes, master! We hear and obey!
The Slime-Shrouded Master wrote: Faceless Stalker wrote: In the hidden sanctum of the Slime-Shrouded Master, the panicked faceless stalkers stammer and stutter their report of strange invaders from the Upper World...
Gribble fnargle blib murgh!!
** spoiler omitted **
The Slime-Shrouded Master was startled by this report... This was unacceptable! His minions were merely to return with food and tribute from the shipwreck, not news of fierce and capable explorers approaching the palace!
Telepathic communion with faceless stalkers: WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'FIERCE INVADERS'!? ARE THEY APPROACHING THE PALACE? HAVE THEY FOUND THE BLACK PYRAMID!? In Aklo: Yes!! Yes!! They are coming, master, what do?? What do??
In the hidden sanctum of the Slime-Shrouded Master, the panicked faceless stalkers stammer and stutter their report of strange invaders from the Upper World...
Gribble fnargle blib murgh!!
As the Champions approach the fantastic Palace of Poseidon, a pack of faceless stalkers, slavishly devoted to the Slime-Shrouded Master, cannot help but spot the band's fairy light and unusual parade of airbreathers on magic carpets, magic broom, or clinging to a swimming emperor cobra, their weapons and armor shining with a magical luminosity...
The twelve stalkers fear this mighty band, and dare not assault them directly, for the interlopers looked fierce and formidable, and the stalkers, though loyal, were cowardly... Instead of ambushing the party of dangerous-looking strangers, the stalkers would stealthily report back to their master what they had seen...
The Slime-Shrouded Master wrote: In its lair within a flooded chamber of the royal palace, the ancient Slime-Shrouded Master, an evil aberration that was swimming the primordial sea before even prehistoric Atlantis of the Golden Age, sends out its servitors to hunt down the shipwrecked sailors and bring them back to it, to be enslaved by the Master... Bowing in submission to the Slime-Shrouded Master, a dozen faceless stalkers promise to hunt down fresh slaves for their master...
In Aklo: Oh glorious Slime-Shrouded Master! We shall not fail thee, Oh Secreter of the Viscous Slime!
Rising as one from the orichalcum and pearl floor of the sunken throne room where abides their aboleth master, the dozen faceless stalkers swim out to do their slimy master's bidding!
The faceless stalkers join in the howling applause....
A dozen faceless stalkers sit scattered among the crowd....
Work on fortifying the Silver Tower continues, and much progress is being made. During a break, two members of the workforce, presumably survivors from the group that had been sheltering at the Royal Palms Cinema in downtown Sarasota, quietly slip away from the others and surreptitiously make their way to the causeway that spans Sarasota Bay to Lido Key....
As they reach the midway point, where an exit leads off the causeway to Bird Key, they shuck off their human guise and assume their true shapes!
The Slime-Shrouded Master will not be pleased.... These humans grow too strong and too numerous! How long before they turn their attentions to our island and begin to exterminate us, as they have the Daemon-Lord and others? How can we stand against them if the mighty Daemon-Lord and the Tentacled Terror could not?
The other hisses nervously....
The Slime-Shrouded Master will know what to do.... Be patient, and have faith.... These humans are as fleas to our Great Lord Cthulhu! They will be crushed in due time....
The two figures reach a murky canal and dive into the water, swimming to their Slime-Shrouded Master's underwater lair to make their daily report....
Our Slime-Shrouded Master watches them now, my lord.... The Master has seized the minds of two of their fiercest warriors, my lord, and can now perceive through them.... They shall be as eyes and ears for The Slime-Shrouded Master....
All but our Slime-Shrouded Master have been slain by a band of creatures known as The Fierce Ones, my lord.... They are mighty indeed, strong in battle and magic lore....
The three burnt and battered faceless stalkers that fled from battle against The Fierce Ones swim across Sarasota Bay to the mainland, crawling out dripping and breathless at City Island Park in downtown Sarasota.
They trudge wearily across Tamiami Trail to One Sarasota Tower, a high-rise commercial office building thirteen floors high, a sleek, silver tower at the heart of Sarasota, with a monstrous chimera for a door guard. The chimera's lion head snarls at the trio as they enter through the double glass doors.
They shamble through the darkened lobby to the stairwell, climb thirteen stories to the penthouse, recently consecrated as a temple of Cthulhu and furnished with the vilest trappings.
There they fall to their knees before The Daemon-Lord of the Silver Tower and pay worship and obeisance to their overlord.
Oh great and powerful Daemon-Lord of the Silver Tower, we bring woeful tidings from The Slime-Shrouded Master....
The piscodaemon they address sits enthroned upon a chair fashioned from human skulls and bones.
The island the humans call Lido Key has been lost!
After Dr Grimm:
Pain!! The terrible pain!! These Fierce Ones are unstoppable! Why won't they just die like all the others!?
In Aklo: We must retreat, Slime-Shrouded Master! The Fierce Ones burn us with fire! We must escape the burning flames, Master!
One of the more badly burnt faceless stalker can endure the searing pain no more! It breaks from the line, complete withdraw from a square directly in front of Koran to leap southeastward into the canal, drawing an AoO from Koran as it passes through a square at 10-ft reach with his enlarged earth breaker!
No sooner does this first stalker break than the other two still standing make a break for it as well, complete withdraws, and dive into the canal behind their Slime-Shrouded Master....
Two rays of arcane fire scorch a black, crackling hole in one of the wounded faceless stalkers, and it drops ablaze on the pavement!
AoO with reach, longsword 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12
AoO with reach, longsword 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6 to confirm 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27 crit 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12 Derrik is struck a vicious blow for 18 slashing damage! .... But wait.... Doesn't a swift action not provoke an attack of opportunity, even if it is a spell?
The other two stalkers continue their assault on the menacing giant in front of them (Koran)....
Longsword 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11 misses thanks to protection from evil!
Slam 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4 hits for 4 bludgeoning....
Longsword 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6 to confirm 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10 a deep slice for 16 slashing!
Slam 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4 hits for another 4 bludgeoning....
A devastating barrage of cuts and slams on Koran! Is he able to withstand it?....
After Grimm:
The two north-most stalkers turn their fury on Derrik, sensing and hating his holy aura....
Longsword 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10
Slam 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
Longsword 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
Slam 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
The monsters flail vainly against the divinely-gifted bulwark that is the armor of Derrik the Stubborn!
AoO on Krar as he dashes away from the line of monsters blocking the bridge....1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11 a deep cut across Krar's back for 11 slashing damage!
Dwayne Lee Hooker DM substitute wrote: Dwayne Lee winks at Kate and strides 30 ft closer to the bridge, aiming at a faceless stalker engaging Koran....
AR-15 at Point Blank Shot range with Precise Shot 1d20+10 1d10+1
Eat lead, you dick-faced, Gumby m%&!@!-f+%&~&!!
One of the faceless stalkers slashing at Koran jerks as DL's bullet rips into its shoulder!
OWW!!....Dick-faced? That's mean....
Krar the Panther wrote: AoO[dice=temple sword]1d20+9[dice=damage]1d8+5 The faceless stalker parries with its sword....
After Grimm:
The four faceless stalkers rush across the bridge, two stepping over the headless bodies of the two skum Koran just dropped to fill the gap, the other two pushing through the line to engage, and drawing AoOs from Koran and Krar....
The two filling the gap strike out at Koran with longswords wielded by disproportionately long, gangly arms....
1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7 A deep gash is opened on Koran's thigh for 7 slashing damage!
1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7 to confirm 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10 The second stalker slices open the other thigh, close to the femoral artery! Another 17 slashing damage to Koran!
The two stalkers that pushed through, provoking attacks from Koran and Krar, both turn their attentions to Krar, raising their longswords and closing the last ten ft of distance (double moved)....
(After Grimm) the faceless stalkers hiding inside the nearest couple of abandoned cars parked along John Ringling Blvd suddenly throw open the car doors and emerge from hiding! Four faceless stalkers, all in their true, disgustingly worm-like forms, and all armed with long swords, approach the bridge from the far side, getting to about 15 ft east of the canal....
Initiative 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22
(In Aklo) We are bested by these man-things!.... We must retreat or fall before them!
The faceless stalker that was Bob Rauh carefully withdraws from the melee, cleaver stretched out defensively, and when it gets a safe distance from giant Dawnbringer and giant earth breaker, it turns and runs, diving over the guardrail of the bridge into the canal with a great splash!
(In Aklo) Agreed! Let us report the might of The Fierce Ones to The Slime-Shrouded Master! The faceless stalker that wore the guise of Cindy Rauh also withdraws to the canal, diving into the water near The Chuul's Folly!
Reflex save against Rad's burning hands 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23....
The faceless stalker ducks low, so only its backside is burnt by the cone of flame, taking 5 fire damage....
(After Radsworth finishes round 2) the faceless stalkers concentrate their attacks on the imposing, heavily armored giant Derrik, forgetting the far-less-imposing Radsworth to deal with this more obvious threat....
Cleaver 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7, slam 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
Cleaver 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5, slam 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8
Their attacks fall on the enlarged paladin's armor like rain on a tin roof, to no effect, save for a cleaver slash that finds a gap between shoulder pauldron and breastplate, dealing 5 slashing damage!
The faceless stalker that almost struck Radsworth down swings its cleaver at Derrik.... 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10 ....but his armor protects him! It slams at him with its free hand.... 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6 ....to no effect.
The other stalker slashes at the armored giant's leg.... 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7 .... Again, the armor protects him.... And it slams.... 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8 ....but the armored giant is unharmed!
Radsworth wrote: Radsworth maintains as defensive a posture as he can, retrieving one of the two healing draughts from his pack and drinking it down. By also taking a 5-ft step back to Derrik's right side, he can minimize the danger, drawing only one AoO from a faceless stalker.... He takes full defensive posture (-4 on attacks for +2 to AC) and goes for his potion....
AoO on Radsworth 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9
Radsworth is nearly struck unconscious by a blow to his head before he can even uncork the vial!
9 slashing dmg....
He manages to quaff the potion just before all goes dark, and feels its healing magic restore life and senses....
The faceless stalkers lunge at Radsworth with cleavers upraised, flanking him and slashing simultaneously!
1d20 + 10 ⇒ (11) + 10 = 21 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9 plus sneak attack 2d6 ⇒ (3, 1) = 4 One cleaver opens a bloody gash on Rad's left shoulder for 13 slashing dmg!
1d20 + 10 ⇒ (17) + 10 = 27 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8 plus sneak attack 2d6 ⇒ (4, 5) = 9 The other slashes his side for 17 slashing dmg!
Initiative 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27
Why, yes! We're absolutely telling you the truth! Why don't you come inside Kilwin's and have some ice cream?
The woman's voice takes on the sound of twisting steel as her face melts into a wormlike monster's face, void of features save for an awful hole in the center!
The man similarly transforms! Both draw long cleavers, such as might be used to cut fudge....
Stealth checks at +3 for distance 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (17) + 14 = 31, 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (12) + 14 = 26
Perception checks vs DCs 31 and 26, with following modifiers for distance:
Koran -6
Derrik, Kate, and anyone else at 20 ft from The SAT -4
Anyone just within LoS or 60 ft of The SAT at no penalty
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We shall not fail you, Master! We shall return at once, and play the part of pitiful slave.... Until we have found out what you seek to know, Master!
What would you have us do, Master?
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The Crawler Between Dimensions and The Thing Under the Balcony have been slain, my lord. We saw strange humanoids....heroes....Come to the Helmsley Sandcastle.... They used magic to find The Crawler Between Dimensions.... They returned carrying its head!.... They brought the head to The Thing Under the Balcony.... It seems The Thing had set these heroes after The Crawler.... But 'twas its own undoing as well.... The heroes hurt The Thing badly in front of its slaves.... The slaves were laughing, and cheering, as they pierced The Thing with their bullets and burnt it with fire!.... The Thing tried to flee, but it was caught in its own lair and torn to bloody ribbons by its own slaves!
The faceless stalkers stop on the bridge over the canal and look down into the warm, dark water, and wait....
After a long silence, the dark waters begin to bubble and churn as something huge stirs beneath the surface....
Oh wise and all-powerful Slime-Shrouded Master! We, your humble eyes and ears, bring thee tidings of a most alarming nature..... says one of the faceless stalkers to its terrible master....
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The man and woman who broke away from the celebration hurry up Ben Franklin Drive.
As the laughter and music grow more distant, the man turns to the woman and speaks, in a voice that does not match his appearance.... It is a voice that sounds like a swarm of bees buzzing in such a way that words are perceived....
The Slime-Shrouded Master will not like this. It will be vexed. There will be pain.
The woman glares at the man and replies in a voice that sounds like steel being twisted....
Why should it not please The Master to know that two of his hated rivals have been exterminated?
The man's face suddenly melts like wax exposed to a furious heat, shriveling, worm-like, a swirl of protoplasmic chaos. The woman transforms as well. Both assume their true shapes with moans of ecstasy.... Faceless, worm-like monsters, only vaguely bipedal, with rippling, clay-like flesh undulating....
Because they were exterminated by their own slaves. That does not bode well.
The faceless stalkers quicken their pace, gamboling up the paved street that becomes a bridge over a man-made canal....
Laurefindel has not participated in any online campaigns.
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