It's def easier to keep a game going with more down time for the characters so they can bond and all that. I would love to try Poppy again as a lower level character in a different setting. Typing her inner monologue is so much fun!! And thinking of how she would interact with other PCs who aren't so... whimsical.
Sorry guys. I have to bow out graciously. I've been finding this high level of combat too much for me to handle. Waaaaay too many options. I think if I had played another version of Poppy previously and gotten her to a decently high level, then this would work. But, I've never played any version of Poppy before, or an Oracle, or a Summoner, or anything beyond level 9. I know the point of this PBP was to break the game, but it broke my brain. It was fun playing with you guys though!
I wonder what could possibly cause so much fog? Must be some terrible magic. Or maybe it rained earlier. Rained inside? Unlikely. Poppy continues to stay close to Lily, letting her mind wander as the others take care of the worms. Best to save my stuff for later! Who knows what we'll do next? I wonder what they're doing to the worms. I don't like those squishes. Like grubs in the garden. She addresses her companions, all of them except Lily hidden from view. "I'm going to hang out with Lily. Holler if you need something!" she says sweetly. She then fires off another charge of the wand.
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Honestly I'm a bit confused about where everyone is, but I'm just going to stay next to Lily, heal myself and wait until anyone needs some assistance.
Rejuvenate Eidolon:1d10 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7
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Stats:
HP 111/ Temp HP 59/72
AC: 51
Buffs:
Haste 2/12 rounds remaining
Protection from Energy, Fire 119 minutes, 42 seconds remaining
Poppy hears more commotion coming from the next room. She tries to peer around the corner to investigate, but only hears a mighty squish. She cocks her head to one side. Sounds icky! She pokes herself in the flank yet again.
Poppy hears quite a commotion coming from the next room. I hope that means they're taking care of the bad guys! She lets her more deadly companions and Ophelia's army of summons have at the worms. She sticks close to Lily and pokes herself with her wand again. "Heehee!"
Rejuvenate Eidolon:1d10 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Healing myself some more. Wand now has 45/50 charges remaining.
Spoiler:
HP 111/ Temp HP 52/72
AC: 51
Buffs:
Haste 4/12 rounds remaining
Protection from Energy, Fire 119 minutes, 54 seconds remaining
Poppy moseys on down the stairs, happily poking herself in the flank with her wand. "Hee! Woohoo! Teehee!" The sound of hissing steam interrupts her merriment. Her sparkling eyes nearly pop out of head. Not that again! She stops healing herself for the moment. Her giggles subside and she turns her attention to her distant heavenly buddies.
I can't see you right now, but I know you can see me! I'm stuck in this frozen waterfall, but we keep finding all this hot stuff! Can you help me?
IF IT IS NECESSARY, LITTLE ONE. IN PAYMENT, PLEASE SAY TEN HAIL LARRYS BEFORE YOU FALL ASLEEP TONIGHT.
Hey, thanks! Who's Larry?
HEH HEH HEH. I AM JOKING. YOUR ENHANCEMENT IS ON ITS WAY.
Poppy refocuses on the frozen stairwell, and suddenly feels a faint buzzing under her fur. The buzzing subsides, leaving a muted orange glow behind.
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Cast Protection from Energy, Fire. I have immunity from fire damage for the first 120 points of damage I receive. So as of now, I've only used 4 charges of the wand of Rejuvenate Eidolon.
____________________________________________
Stats:
HP 111/ Temp HP 47/72
AC: 51
Buffs:
Haste 5/12 rounds remaining
Protection from Energy, Fire
Poppy puts her wand away and peers around Vega curiously, leaning her head forward to inspect the treasures. "Oooooooooooohhhhhh." She desperately wishes to nudge a pile of luminous purple gemstones with her hoof, but holds back. Don't do it! Maybe it's all cursed! Her eyes widen. Maybe it'll get stuck to my hands! I mean hooves! She blinks. But that wouldn't be a very curse-y curse.
Poppy's tentacle fishes around in her magic saddlebag while Vega looks around the room. It emerges wrapped around a small wooden stick coated in a fine silver shimmer. Poppy snickers as she pokes herself in the thigh repeatedly with the stick. Her eidolon glows calmly as healing magic courses through it.
All of our heavy hitters (Cho, Dori, Gror, Vega, and Sapphira) are still with the dragon. We need to put it out of its misery. Ignore the wall.
I'm not going to be using Haste, sorry. I'll only have two level 2 summoner spells left, and I've already cast it once this combat. I'd be hasting the Archons to destroy the wall and the dragon will probably be dead by the time we can get to it.
I'd like to bring up again my suggestion I made before we even started gameplay, that we start rotating Haste casting before each combat. We all have it available to us. I don't know if everybody took it as a spell, but whoever did, we need to start rotating the casting. I know Poppy has more summoner spells per day than everyone else because of her high charisma, but we still need to share the load on spells everyone can have. I'd prefer not to cast it next combat, so we need to figure out who can do it if we want it.
Poppy breathes heavily as the last zaps of lightning under her hooves subside. She glances quickly behind her and giving Lucero a weak smile. A real couatl, don't forget! You're so lucky! She turns back to face the action, but immediately wishes she hadn't as she sees the dragon's terrible jaw clamping down on Sapphira's jade shoulder. Her smile contorts into an expression of sheer panic. Poppy whimpers and lowers her ears. She stares at the ground as her tail hangs limply. She sees the body language of several of her companions change under the effect of the same terror.
She watches Cho instantly appear in the room, the druid now an impossible mass of snow and wind. The extraordinary sight jolts Poppy back into her right mind. Help them, silly! She takes a few steps toward the action and begins to whip her tentacle-tail around in circles. Instead of saying a prayer, she starts to giggle. Her tail whirls around faster and faster as her giggles grow louder. She shrieks with laughter as a soothing silvery purple mist floats out of her horn. Her laughter ends as the mist settles around the heads of several of her comrades, then disappears.
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Move five feet southwest and cast Remove Fear on Gror, Sapphira, Cho, and Ophelia. If Gror makes his second save, cast on Sapphira, Cho, Ophelia, and Lily instead.
I can remove fear from 4 people if I five foot step diagonally southwest. Sapphira, Cho, Gror, and Ophelia will be my targets. Cho needs to move into the room to be within 30 feet of everybody else. Cho, you were planning to move into the room and attack, right? I can just cast remove fear after you take your turn this round. Ophelia, if you're planning to move further away from the dragon, just wait until after me to take your turn. If Gror makes his save, I can cast it on Sapphira, Cho, Ophelia, and Lily instead.
Poppy recoils in pain as blistering steam blasts her eidolon. "OOOOOWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAHHHHHH!" she wails. She glares menacingly at the sparkles near the ceiling through her burning eyelids. "HOW RUDE!" she bellows. She retreats behind Vega, avoiding a strong urge to burst into tears. She collects her emotions, then scrunches up her boiling muzzle and begins to stomp her hooves aggressively. She snarls a quick prayer. "Snap, sizzle, fizzle, fry, thanks for the lightning, friends from the sky!" Electricity begins to crackle up from the ground under her. She stomps more and more furiously, and the electricity forms into little lightning bolts. With each, stomp, the bolts grow progressively larger. Finally, she leaps three feat in the air, and slams her hooves down on the ground as hard as she can. As her rainbow hooves connect with the icy floor, massive bolts of blazing white lighting slam into the dragon's glittering form.
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Move 40 feet north, then cast Chain Lightning. Using my Metamagic Rod of Piercing to get +5 against its spell resistance. I have two more uses of the Metamagic Rod remaining for the day.
Roll against spell resistance:1d20 + 9 + 12 ⇒ (5) + 9 + 12 = 26 against DC 26
Dragon Reflex save:1d20 + 19 ⇒ (14) + 19 = 33 against DC 26
"Worm??? Poppy peers upward, dumbfounded. "Up THERE???" Realization dawns on her face. "Oh. That wyrm." Her fuschia eyes nearly pop out of her head. "A DRAGON??? AN INVISIBLE DRAGON???
Poppy flits over the heads of her companions and lands next to Gror. She wiggles her bottom and scrunches her nose, then whispers a nonsensical poem. "Windy wind goes up the hill, windy wind on the windowsill! Faster faster bluster and blow, windy wind on the patio!" A conical blast of energy rushes out of her horn and quickly spreads out, encircling the rest of the party before disappearing with a PHOOM.
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Move 20 feet West (that might have to be adjusted slightly depending on where Cho is). Cast Haste. That should hit all of our allies except Vega.
Poppy whips her head around, utterly bewildered. She shoots Cho a confused glance, then gives the same look to Vega. Who's up there? An invisible monster? She shivers, but not from the cold.
Poppy peeks out of the hole in astonishment as they seem to have moved without even moving. That's on the shopping wish list! She follows the others up the stairs and stops just before the entrance to the great icy room. Her ears perk up as Sapphira speaks, but she scrunches her forehead in consternation when she can't understand her. I should have gotten those extra brains.
Hmmm... maybe someone needs to cast Tongues on Poppy if our secret code language is Celestial. I almost kept Tongues on my list but switched it out at the last second >_<
"I'm immune to the cold, but I wouldn't mind riding in a portable hole anyway! Sounds squishy!" Poppy chirps. She approaches the hole and, avoiding eye contact with Sapphira, sticks a hoof inside. "Teehee!" She hops the rest of the way inside and hides just out of view from the entrance. She snorts, chuckling heartily. "I don't exist!" her now disembodied voice calls from inside the hole. A moment later, she muses, "Whoooo, it's roomy in here!"
Poppy starts to giggle uncontrollably as Cho lifts one of his heads. Is he three times as smart as I am because he has three brains? Her giggles subside and she looks introspective. Maybe I should have gotten more brains from Josiah.
"I guess I forget some beings are really old and have heard all the stupid questions there are to be asked!" she says to Sapphira as she moves away to join Vega and Gror. Poppy beams. "She called me exuberant!"
Poppy is overwhelmed but touched by Ophelia and Lucero's concern. They must be worried I'm going to have a nervous breakdown! But how would I even know? Would I be especially nervous? Or break down? What does that even mean? She suddenly feels a bit embarrassed to have had such a strong reaction to the planetar's manner of speaking. She grins sheepishly at Ophelia in thanks for her apologies, hoping the wizard isn't too worried about her. When Lucero settles down next to her, her comportment changes from that of a scolded puppy to a curious cat. She looks utterly delighted as all traces of the fear she felt of the planetar disappear. THIS IS SO. GREAT. A REAL COUATL."Oh, I don't mind if anyone calls me 'gay,' she is just... abrupt in her manner of speaking!" she whispers to Lucero.
Poppy's going to stay back while Gror, Vega and Sapphira check stuff out. So that's five rounds of sitting there chatting and keeping an eye on them.
Popppy's eyes grow wide in surprise and she cowers as though she were a naughty puppy that had just been smacked on the bottom. "My...my...my mom named me Poppy because of my hair! You can't see it now but it's actually red! Really red!" She keeps babbling. "Maybe you can see it because you can see lots of stuff!"Josiah is so nice but SHE'S mean!
Poppy eyes the frozen bodies warily and speaks out loud for the first time since Sapphira's arrival. "Do we want to break them free? What if they're mean?" she asks timidly. Then, her nose starts to twitch with what is obviously an incredible effort. Don't ask don't ask don't ask"If you're name is Sapphira then why are you green?" Poppy blurts out.
Poppy breathes an enormous sigh of relief, but forces herself not to butt into the conversation. Josiah's girlfriend? I wonder how they met? Maybe at a club for extraplanar beings? I wonder what it was called? That's a big orphanage to have 400 orphans! I wonder what they're going to eat? I'd give them rice and pork and cabbage. And milk of course! Her eyes grow wide with concern. I hope Ophelia didn't pee her pants! Luckily I can't pee my pants anymore, I'm not wearing any and I don't think they make pants for ponies. She snorts. Pony pants!
Poppy listens carefully to the others as they discuss tactics and muse about nature. She cuts in to the conversation briefly to answer Gror's question. "I will detect magical auras!"
Her focus wanes as she finds herself preoccupied with their snowy surroundings. Now that they have some time to relax, she stares, spellbound and open-mouthed, at the incredible frozen waterfall. Good thing it's so cold up here or the evil ice cave would melt! She chastises herself. Always stating the obvious!
She spends the next hour staring at her hooves and doodling in the snow. When Ophelia returns from Varisia, Poppy looks relieved to be getting on with the mission. She watches the little elf with interest as she summons the angel. She nearly faints when the enormous green woman emerges from the rift. Don't say anything don't say anything don't say anything. Poppy bites her tongue and refrains from staring the planetar up and down repeatedly. But she's so GREEN! She lets out a barely audible squeak as the planetar threatens Ophelia, but her curiosity overcomes her fear as she settles down to watch the ensuing exchange.
@Everyone: Miss P votes that we take the time to sell the stuff and buy awesome scrolls. If we can send an NPC to do it, then they should take on the task. But, she votes that we don't rest.
Question, since I have a Ring of Sustenance, does that mean if the selling and buying takes two hours and I rest while that is going on, then all my spells are back?
Poppy's eyes glaze over and stare just past Ophelia's shoulder as she speaks in Celestial. She silently thanks Gror for asking for a translation. "Depends on how fast you can sell everything!" she chirps in response to the chatty elf's suggestions. "But I'd like to be on the move soon!"
"Let me see that," she says to Gror. She sniffs the bottle of wine and her entire muzzle crinkles in distaste. "Too dry!"
Poppy floats down to the ground and her hooves settle softly in the snow. "I'm covered in blood!" she moans. She wriggles her nose and wags her bottom, and an invisible force instantly wipes her white fur and rainbow horn and hooves clean.
Cast Prestidigitation spell-like ability.
"That's better!" she squeaks, the blood of her enemies now removed from her head, neck, shoulders, and legs. She shakes herself one more time, and turns to face the remaining giant. She sidles up to him slowly and placidly. When she reaches the giant, she sees him quivering with fear and her heart fills with genuine pity. A look of empathy settles across her face as she approaches. She stands next to him and tentatively places a rainbow hoof near his own foot. Hopefully he'll overlook the fact that I just use this to stomp his friend's head.
"Hi there!" she says, calmly and brightly. "You poor dear. We didn't mean to make such an unpleasant entrance. It's just, we have a bone to pick with some guys behind the waterfall. Not with you!" she shakes her head gently. She lowers her forelock and wills her horn to look as unthreatening as possible. "What's your name, anyway? My name's Poppy." She shakes her tail genially, then opens her eyes widely. She blinks twice. "Do you have any more friends in the frozen waterfall that I can meet?" she asks, with a tone of innocent curiosity.
@Dori, I don't have Speak with Dead. It didn't make the 3rd level spell cut, unfortunately.
@Everyone: So, the plan is to kill everyone but one of the frost giants, then try to get information out of him, then kill him (or send him to another dimension)?
Poppy finds herself mesmerized by the magnificent dire tiger destroying her enemy directly below her. But it's so fluffy! I wonder where it really lives? She is seized by a strange thought and her eyes grow wide. Maybe it lives with Lucero! She lets her thoughts wander back to the battle, and figures she might as well do something useful with herself as the chaos winds down.
Poppy joins the dire tiger in finishing off the frost giant. She rears up her resplendent head and snaps at the giant's neck. The bite sinks into his skin and she tastes thick, dark blood. She pulls back her head and stabs him in the shoulder with her rainbow horn, which goes deep enough to hit an important artery. When she pulls her horn out, nasty blood spurts out all over her nose. YUCK! She doesn't let up despite her disgust and attempts to stomp on his face with her right hoof, but her aim is wild and she misses. But, her left hoof connects with his skull shortly after and she hears a light cracking sound. She turns around swiftly and tries to slap him across the face with her tail, but it whooshes past, the rainbow hair barely brushing his charred flesh.
I am so excited by the prospect of rainbow unicorn/large stone gargoyle good cop/bad cop!
To chime in on the dealings-with-the-enemy discussion, Poppy's eyes would probably glaze over and she would start daydreaming if the discussion went on for very long. She doesn't see morals as totally black and white, but she also doesn't understand how other beings can be so introspective and contemplative. She would just be plain confused by the prospect that Josiah wouldn't want the group to get as much information about their enemy as they possibly could, including through interrogation. She's really nice to everybody, so she would just be nice to the giant anyway if required to speak to him, and if those are "dealings," then Josiah can banish her to a plane where everything is neutral colored and extremely boring, or whatever Poppy's worst nightmare would be!
Poppy's Oracle curse forces her to keep her word to people, but in her mind, getting information isn't breaking her word to Josiah. It's helping Josiah's cause. Now, if we let the giant live/stay in the current plane after getting the information, then she'd think that's breaking her word.
Well, the only sentient one in the scouting party was the frost giant, right? And all he saw was the camp being destroyed, he didn't see who the attackers were, how many of them there were, anything. I say we let the scouts go, save our resources and capture one of the remaining frost giants in the camp. Poppy can try to sweet-talk one of them into giving us information or we can use Vega or Gror's crazy intimidate bonuses to scare him into giving us info.
Poppy admires her work for a moment, watching the swirling colors as they surround the jarl and the dire tiger administering his doom. A particularly good effort! I'm going to have to use that obnoxious shade of green again the next time! When the jarl falls, she turns her attention to the stragglers attempting to escape. She soars over to the frost giant near the fetchling's pit. She attempts to clear her mind of pity and charges directly at him, hoping to wedge her horn into a vital organ. As she approaches, the fleeing giant attempts to swat her away with his greataxe, but his blow whooshes past her left flank, meeting only frosty air. Poppy's own attack is a bit sloppy. Her pity for the giants appears to have affected her ability to focus as the giant manages to deflect her rainbow horn.
Poppy surveys the battlefield, wincing with pity as their foes surrender and attempt to flee. She heeds Ophelia's warning and decides to leave the lesser enemies alone and focus on the leader. I'll take him out of the fight for good!
She soars over to the leader's position, giddy with anticipation for her next move. As she floats above him, she silently recites the opening lines of a sentimental children's story. Her horn radiates a heavenly glow, and with each word spoken, it glows more and more brightly. Finally, all the light in her horn surges to the tip and explodes outward toward the leader's face in a cacophonous array of retina-searing colors.
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Move five feet down and to C31, so now I'm 20 feet up. Blast the leader in the face with Color Spray. Using Awesome Display to treat him as though he has 10 fewer hit dice.
Leader's will save:1d20 + 11 ⇒ (1) + 11 = 12 against DC 25
Roll against spell resistance:1d20 + 12 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 12 + 4 = 23 against SR 16
2 HD or less: The creature is unconscious, blinded, and stunned for 2d4 rounds, then blinded and stunned for 1d4 rounds, and then stunned for 1 round. (Only living creatures are knocked unconscious.)
Unconscious, blinded, and stunned:2d4 ⇒ (2, 3) = 5 Blinded and stunned:1d4 ⇒ 1
3 or 4 HD: The creature is blinded and stunned for 1d4 rounds, then stunned for 1 round.
Blinded and stunned:1d4 ⇒ 3
5 or more HD: The creature is stunned for 1 round.
8 Rounds remaining for my Wall of Fire.
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Stats:
HP 111/111 Temp HP 72/72
AC: 56 (+1 Haste and +5 Barkskin)
Buffs:
Barkskin
Entropic Shield (20% miss chance for ranged attacks)
Haste 6/12 rounds remaining
Hide from Animals
Poppy shakes her radiant head and the ogre's dark blood flies off her horn. Any disgust she feels is quickly replaced with delight when she notices the Sapphire Summoner's magnificent dire tiger. She grins gleefully and exclaims, "Wooooooow!" She desperately wants to forget about the battle and go pet the kitty, but changes her mind when she sees what he did to the giants' leader. Oooh. He's a mean tiger! Her thoughts start to drift to baskets of kittens and cuddly orange cats. Not now! Focus! She clears her head and quickly surveys the current state of the battlefield. "I think you two have this side of the wall covered!" she shouts through the chaos to the wintry wolf and the mighty monk. She flies ten feet up in the air, then soars over Cho's wall of fire to the group of giants on the other side. She floats above one of the tents, just ten feet away from the invisible elf. She neighs at the giants and shakes her lustrous mane, hoping to draw all of their attention with her dazzling appearance. Poor things.
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Double move to G24. I'm now 25 feet in the air.
________________________
Stats:
HP 111/111 Temp HP 72/72
AC: 56 (+1 Haste and +5 Barkskin)
Buffs:
Barkskin
Entropic Shield (20% miss chance for ranged attacks)
Haste 7/12 rounds remaining
Hide from Animals
