Took me a second to remember that Ehren only reported one army on its way to Silvershore. Boy are we going to be surprised. :P
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"We should hurry to Silvershore," Sosiel suggests from atop Captain Cobelen's horse. "The enemy force that Ehren mentioned should have arrived there by now. Our help might be needed."
Nothing to add here. Ready to move on, unless the fire is actually gonna be a problem. :P
That's a relief. I was worried that the sun exposure would just cause her to explode into dust. :P
Seeing that all of the cultists but their apparent leader have fallen, Sosiel gives Aron a glance before heading off in the direction of their commander.
Sosiel smiles more genuinely in light of the cavalry's impeccable timing, and steps forward to meet the cultist attacking Aron. Skipping the fanciful spinning, he brings his blade's glaive up in a skyward slash.
"Don't you worry about that, dear," Sosiel replies, forcing a smile as he grips his glaive in both hands. Help was coming, but all things considered, their odds were still terrible. "The cavalry is on its way."
It looks like Kiora forgot the confirmation roll. She edited it in and it failed, so Aron ended up only taking 6 points of damage instead of 22.
Sosiel wades through the wall of fire, gritting his teeth as the flames scorch him. He glances about when he comes out the other side, confused to see that most of the others were nowhere in sight - he could swear that he heard Markus just a moment ago. Without the distraction however, his eyes are drawn to his love, surrounded by enemies, and to Annabelle, unmistakably dead. His face is solemn as he places a hand over his chest and recites a quiet prayer to Shelyn, evoking another pulse of positive energy. He knew that it would affect the enemy as well, but as Markus said, staying alive was their priority at the moment.
Only one side of the wall is supposed to radiate heat, right? Also, it's a good thing Markus had that scroll. :O Not sure how it works if everyone within the sphere attacks, though.
Next Action: As Sosiel helps move the dead and wounded, the first thing that grabs his attention is the receding stench. A quick glance to the sky confirms that his friends had been successful in their endeavor - perhaps Shelyn had watched over them after all. He lets out a sigh of relief, but does not relax just yet.
"You all keep on going from here. I am going to assist the commander," Sosiel says to one of the nearby medics, passing a gravely wounded crusader over to him. He then breaks out into a full run, trying to catch up to the others.
Unfortunately, it would take at least two rounds for Sosiel to reach the rest of you, more to get into position to heal. Unless he channels, but that would probably be a bad idea. I have to admit, this is really making me appreciate the mobility that Ehren has. :P
Sosiel is left behind as one by one, his love, their lieutenant, and their chief medic all run straight through the curtain of fire. "Shelyn, please let them prevail," he murmurs, briefly placing a hand over his chest. The cleric then moves to help with the wounded, as Irabeth ordered.
To think we were just talking about her outliving Markus and becoming emo(er) and/or evil. ;P I think we'll be all right, though. If Sosiel channels again where he's standing, is he in much danger of getting some bad dudes well enough to fight us again?
I'd tag Markus with protection from fire, but Sosiel is too danged slow to get to him. :(
The bum rush is probably your best bet. You still have shield other on you so it might not even graze you. At most it'd be (2d6+11)/2 points of damage.
Oh, you know the smell all right. But it could always be something worse. :P I am going to go ahead and guess that even if the archers could fire blindly through the wall of fire (it provides concealment but not cover), that the arrows probably wouldn't survive passing through the flames.
Ehren: The whole "horrible stench of doom" thing was specifically put to let us know that Hezrous are coming. The other portal will follow the same pattern as this one. 1st Round it opens, nothing, second movement, third Hezrou pops out. The other one just opened, so this mass combat round we'll see movement, and next round a Hezrou will pop out. The stench is more an indication of "where" (the Undersump) than a specific "what." Don't get me wrong, whatever comes out of these portals is gonna be bad, hezrous or not. We have a pretty good chance of shutting down one portal this round - the other one should not be that much worse to deal with.
"Not very long, judging by the smell," Sosiel offers in his not-so-expert opinion.
I don't know whether this counts as optimistic or pessimistic, but it might not even be a hezrou. Just something that can tolerate living somewhere just as stinky. :P I also just had a mental image of Ary shield slamming someone right into the portal. That would be sooo gross. Honestly, I think we have a pretty decent chance of closing the flickering portal this round. Nothing has started to move around in the other portal just yet, so if we're lucky we have another round or two, though I'm not counting on it. I can get protection from fire on someone next round, and they can just run all the way to the summoning site. That might have been a safer bet to begin with, but oh well. :(
Well, that was anticlimactic. :P
Sosiel unfurls the scroll and starts to read the magical text inscribed on it, murmuring the words under his breath. His eyes flick back and forth between the scroll and wall of fire, designating it as the target of his spell. The words on the scroll shed golden light, before abruptly vanishing from the parchment. A wave of abjuration magic washes over the flaming barrier... and accomplishes absolutely nothing. "I'm afraid there's a problem with your order, Lieutenant," Sosiel says to Irabeth humorlessly, a frown tugging at his mouth. "We're going to need to find another way around it. Or through."
His character sheet says he has a scroll on him. I assume he still has it, anyway.
Seeing that Markus' cold spell was not quite enough to snuff out the flames, Sosiel reaches for the rolled-up scroll at his belt. "I'm going to try to dispel the lot of it!" he shouts to the others over the sound of roaring flames. "The rest of you need to get through there!"
If someone IDs the spell on Sosiel's behalf, does that give him the information he needs to dispel it? Or is "wall of fire" = wall of fire enough information for him to make the attempt?
Next Action: Hearing Markus' call, Sosiel grasps his glaive in both hands and charges at the defensive line. He is not fast enough to break past it, so he would just have to fight his way through with the rest of the army. The cleric meets the cultists with a spinning slash, emphasizing form over power.
Delaying until after Markus is always an option, though that would let the mass combat round happen. Which may or may not be the end of the line. :P
All that's really left to do is to break through the enemy lines and disrupt the summoning, I think. Every other notable threat has been taken care of.
"I'm going to tend to our wounded," Sosiel remarks to Aron and Irabeth, already grasping for his holy symbol. "Be on your guard - the the enemy's wounded will be affected as well." The cleric promptly offers a prayer to Shelyn, invoking a burst of positive energy that envelops the crusaders, both those in the charge and the wounded that were left behind.
With this group, I'm pretty sure that goes without saying. :P My next action will probably be a channel and then a move toward the center of the encampment, but I won't preroll just yet.
Sosiel charges forward to join Annabelle, sweeping his own glaive at the armored cultists in a wide arc.
Hm. I've been contemplating doing a Clarifying Channel for the last two rounds now, but channeling in the middle of a mass combat seems horrendously impractical. How many people would that hit, exactly?
Sosiel eyes the levitating psychic, apparently among those bewildering the crusaders of the Sunrise Sword. Amid the ongoing battle against the schir, the cleric removes one hand from his glaive and points its palm skyward. "Oh Rose, purify this wicked being!" he invokes, unleashing a ray of blinding light from his palm.
Sosiel catches up to the crusaders of the Sunrise Sword, finding the bulk of them acting in a rather bizarre manner. Seeing as his allies were in no shape to properly defend themselves, he engages the schir, whirling his glaive once more. All the while, he tries to keep his distance from the confused crusaders' frantic swings.
In the midst of his attack, the Shelynite is momentarily distracted by the swirling clouds in the sky, his nose wrinkling up slightly as the foul stench assails it.
Uh. It said my post went through, but I couldn't see it. When I tried reposting it, the dice results were different, but I still couldn't see it. Same for the one or two after that. So, uh, my bad if it shows me posting the same thing five times in a row. :P
Sosiel finally reaches the battle, glaive in hand. As he eyes his prospective opponents, he allows the weapon to spin in his hand, already building momentum for an imminent strike. The vrock was clearly the greatest threat present, but he could hardly overlook the danger that their lesser foes posed. Trusting his spell to keep his love safe for the time being, he follows after the crusaders of the Sunrise Sword, intent on joining their assault against the schir demons. "For the Crusade!" he calls out, lashing out with his whirling glaive.
Having fallen rather far behind, Sosiel breaks out into a full run, intent on joining the battle.
I can't imagine why it would matter, but can a magical stave be used as a quarterstaff? I've seen a few statblocks listing them being used as such, but I can't find anything in the rules to actually justify it.
"Of course, dear," Sosiel says to Aron just before he rides off for the front lines. The Shelynite could not quite keep up with someone on horseback, but he could at least stay in range of his own spell. He grimaces at the sight of the acid explosion, his first impulse being to heal those wounded by the blast... until he sees the culprit floating right above them. It seemed more pragmatic to eliminate him, first. Sosiel did not know what sorcery was keeping the tiefling aloft, but he was all but certain that it was a spell of some sort. The cleric murmurs and waves a hand at the alchemist, intent on stripping away whatever magic is affecting him.
Was Sosiel among those that burnt their channels to remove troop fatigue?
Sosiel lets out a hearty chuckle. "So our chief medic is also a walking siege engine." "Right," he in response to Aron's statement, before giving his lover a smile. "But first thing's first." His platinum ring glows faintly, emblazoned by tiny, intricate rose vine patterns. Likewise, the very same pattern appears on the matching ring around Aron's own finger.
Well, *cough*, I figure that since the possibility was mentioned, we'd might as well play it safe. With the locusts, Kiora has already proven that she's more than willing to try to make the army starve to death. ;P Random Edit: Oh hey, Alase actually has official artwork now. It only took like, three years. :P
"If the brimorak did warn them as Captain Vica suggested, then it might well be there, waiting for us," Sosiel says, nodding at Nurah. "Even a single fireball could devastate our supply wagons." "We should focus on disrupting the ritual altogether. If it is completed within the next hour, then we will have prepared the catapults for nothing. In which case, we might be able to lure out the vrock, ruinous things that they are, but the rest of their army will have little reason to engage us directly."
I'll sum up my considerations and suggestions here... otherwise we could go back and forth in character forever. :P
"If anything is going to attack our food supply, it stands to reason that it will be the vrock. It is the only adversary we know of that can teleport, yes? It would have no trouble reaching the wagons. "And of course, if it notices our army approaching soon enough, it is more than likely that we will have two to deal with."
Sosiel chuckles slightly at the conversation, having accompanied the chief of medical staff. With it being apparent that their next battle is imminent, he gives the commander a nod. "I'd better get Annabelle ready," he announces, looking from Ary to Markus. "I'm sure she is eager for another chance to ride." The cleric makes his way over to the wagon, rapping its wooden frame once before climbing on board. He flashes Ledsa a smile, but his expression turns more serious when he looks to Annabelle - but not too much so. "It looks like we will be engaging the enemy soon," Sosiel says, giving the cavalier a quick rundown of their situation. Casting the spell he had prepared with the vampire in mind, he reaches out and gently touches her shoulder. "I'd say it's about time for your moment in the sun." |