Gear braces to rush down the steps, Paragon lighting the stairs with golden light.
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Gear pauses at Fash's mental whisper.
Gear follows the others, staying back with the non-sneaky bulk of the group.
Unbeknownst to the others and even himself, Gear silently echoes Fash's thoughts on not intending to give his life in exchange for a short delay in the enemy's plans. He frowns at the soldier's news, though. "How can they support such a large force down there in the tunnels? Food, water, supplies- where's their support train? Where are they getting their weapons and equipment from? This is a crazy plan."
Gear nods at Morrow. "That's a good point, there might be other ways out of there. I don't think we have any other choice but to go down, now that you mention that."
"What are they made of? If I have time to pray on it I could break them if they're made of stone and summon a wall of stone to make the floor there solid."
Gear leaves Fash to interrogate their prisoner and goes around collecting the more valuable looking items, stuffing them into his magical backpack. "Does anybody need some rope or some of this other gear?"
Regaining control of his big blade, Gear focuses and attacks more effectively.
Gear swings his huge blade wildly about.
Gear lashes out with Paragon .
Gear takes the wounds stoically, continuing to attack his target.
Gear continues moving up behind the ghostly illusion of bats.
Gear moves up with the rest of the meat wall.
Gear moves up behind the illusion as well.
Gear shrugs at Morrow's question. "I have a few smokesticks. They don't last long but we could pop them to make a smokescreen for a few seconds."
Gear goes over to Sobek and Morrow. "Where did she get human guards from? How did they get down here?" To Fash, he Messages "Are they carrying any magic? Do they seem like they will be a problem for us?"
Gear nods at Morrow. "It sounds like you had the most trouble with the archers. We need to get to them and clear them out as quickly as we can. Once they're gone we can surround the cleric and beat her unconscious." He looks at the others. "I have a scroll you might be able to use- it turns you into mist. But if you already know her game plan from last time, we just need to get in there before she can buff herself and the demons up and start killing them."
"Sorry, was anyone hurt? I didn't realize she hit anyone. Let me see that," says the big man as he walks over to the wounded.
Gear nods. "Yes, though the bodies of powerful evil beings are known to resist." He looks over at the recently executed demoness, no regret on his face. "I haven't asked for that particular blessing today. If you want to ask her about the hostage I will have to pray on it."
"The life of a single mortal seems a fair trade to rid the world of the presence of a demon who may kill dozens or hundreds of others," says the big man. Gear doesn't immediately move to attack but he hadn't spoken up to agree to the succubus's terms, either.
Gear continues to stand to one side of the demon, Paragon's tip grounded and the golden glowing blade simply awaiting the end of the rest of the group's questioning. The big man looks like he could wait til the end of the world and still be ready to end the succubus's existence on this plane.
Gear lowers Paragon but doesn't move away from the demon as she responds to the others.
Gear spins around and rushes after the demoness, charging across the open air as easily as a smooth grass practice ground.
Gear swings Paragon through the air in a well-practiced attack pattern.
Gear rushes the succubi, his feet rising off the ground as he strides closer and closer, glowing greatsword lighting the chamber in pure, wholesome golden light akin to sunlight as he rushes toward the demon.
"I am a follower of Boccob, god of magic. What sort of enchantment binds you? Who was this spellcaster who bound you here?" Gear speaks up for the first time, his words nothing but the truth.
Gear moves forward with Morrow, remaining silent.
Gear also moves into the room, apparently determined to be the anvil monsters break themselves on, but doesn't say anything.
Meaning to be a target, Gear still looks like a big, threatening warrior with a greatsword but his obvious magical effects and items are suppressed. He waits for Cora and Fash to give the go ahead before entering the room.
Gear buys 4 scrolls of Shield. Before the succubus room: Fly on self, Air Walk on Sobok or Morrow (only have 1 casting of it), Divine Favor on self. Plus his always cast daily/long duration spells that are already calculated into his stats (Divine Power, Magic Vestment, Greater Magic Weapon).
Yeah, 300 gp. Sounds good, a miss chance is always useful. I might as well use my gold to get the Shield scrolls too. They'll only be good for 1 minute though (considered cast at lvl 1) so they'll have to be the last buff we throw on before we go in the arrow demon room.
Sounds good for the succubus. Do we know if the arrow demons can see invisible? Also is there a door that has to be opened to get into the room with the demons? I assume Fash is our scout? Cora's mephits could also scout for us, assuming Cora can speak elemental languages? Arcane Eye is a nice spell but 4th level is too high to spend when we have scouts available.
Oh Wind Wall is a great idea, Cora! That's a great way to shut down archers. Probably only half of them, though, since we'll need to get to melee with them to take them down so I'd assume the placement will be across half the room to allow us to hit them?
As for the arrow demons. We need some way to diminish their damage capability. Obscuring mist so they can't see us? Prayer to increase our to hit and damage and reduce theirs? Blur so they have a miss chance? Others? They take 4 shots with pretty high amounts of damage, just about one-shotting me each time. Whoa they hit that hard? That's tough! How about potions of Blur to give us a miss chance? Scrolls of Shield might help, too, though the miss chance is probably more useful than +4 AC. Gear has ~150gp left over so he could buy a few Shield scrolls but doesn't have enough for a Blur potion. I assume their bows are magic, or else Protection from Arrows might help. I was thinking the melee fighters could take them 1v1 so they couldn't concentrate fire on a single PC but if they hit that hard maybe we should gang up on them 3v1 to take them out faster individually.
Gear nods at Cora, smiling at the suggestion. "You're right, that's probably a better idea." He looks seriously at Morrow. "With magic and the blessings of my god, we should be able to get to the succubus and take her down. Enough whacks will take away her mirrors and her brimstone blasts won't mean much with the three of us right in her face."
We might want to think about conserving resources. A single succubus should be an easy fight for us if Morrow, Sobok, and Gear can all Fly or Air Walk. 3 heavy melee-ers against 1 succubus should be a 1 round encounter. Unless she was doing anything really out of the ordinary for a succubus? 4 arrow demons and a cleric sounds like the encounter that needs serious planning, mainly dealing with the demons dimension door and their ability to still shoot even in melee while watching out for a potential full caster to enter the fight. Flying melee types are going to have a hard time keeping up with teleporting enemies, especially if they port then shoot and we have to chase them all over the place. Or am I missing something?
OK I'm going to put the shield, wands, and non-magical gear from Verdan in Gear's pack. GM, my plan is to get the shield enchanted into an Animated Shield once Gear has the 3000gp to spare. Is that cool?
"I am not sure there will be more arrow demons. We will see. After our first attack the cleric did not bring in more long term assistance. But we did not kill any of the demons in our first meeting." Sobok says. Gear nods. "So they didn't do anything but summon the demons? That will make the fight easier, though taking on a prepared cleric after we've fought a succubus and 4 arrow demons might be a challenge."
The new cleric purses his lips. "Oh, you said those shadow hounds are summoned? If you think they're evil I can lay a blessing on all of us that would repel them and keep them from touching any of us until we decided to attack them." Gear looks at Cora. "Do you think the beasts are fundamentally, elementally evil creatures?"
Gear nods. "I can light up a room, sure. I can fly, as well, at least once or twice in a day. I can also lock down a demon's ability to teleport, but it doesn't seem that helpful to do it to one when there are four of them." "Either way, if the succubus is alone she shouldn't be too hard to take down. The real trouble sounds like the cleric and the arrow demons." The big man looks around the group. "What was the cleric doing while the arrow demons were shooting you? Casting or fighting?"
I mean, negative HP is still alive as long as we stabilize her. We don't necessarily have to try to non-lethal her to 0hp.
"Oh, so the succubus is by herself? And the cleric has the arrow demons? Okay, that changes things. We should be able to settle a succubus pretty easily." Gear nods, looking directly at the gnome with a thoughtful look on his face. "Is there just one way in and out of both these rooms?
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So what's the most effective way (or, for a start, A way-) to change acid arrows to ice arrows, fireballs to iceballs, lightning bolts into bolts of cold, etc in society play? Feats, items, boons? My dragon blooded sorcerer gets a damage bonus on cold but the only spell it will apply to for a long, long time is Ray of Frost-- which is ok, since it never runs out, but in the meantime does anyone have any suggestions on how to expand on it?
Usually, I'm told, between levels 8 and 12.
I heard a rumor that between 8 and 12 the mechanics start to collapse as insane to-hit bonuses become commonplace and the delightful chess-like game becomes checkersish, and combat becomes a question of simply who can dish out the most damage the fastest. I'd like to hear more about the problem... ...Because I bet there are some resourceful types out there who have found solutions on the elegant side. And I'd love to hear some of those, as well. |
