The sudden movement of swirling metal surprises none of you, and you prepare to engage whatever this thing is. Neither Helgash nor Tristan can tell anything about what it might be other than a blur of blades approximately 15 feet wide.
Surprise Round (everyone acts, you may take a move action or a standard action, but not both.)
Khoran Groff Tristan Grimm Helgash
Enemy
I'm putting this fight in the Maps and Handouts rather than Roll 20 to see how that goes.
Khoran gathers his will and watches the creature, preparing to hex it if it closes.
Ready a standard action - Use a Silkstring Snare hex (DC 17 Reflex or be entangled and anchored in place) on it when(if) it gets within 30' of Khoran then take a 5' step away from it.
Fighter 7 | AC 27 FF 24 T14 | HP 66/66 | Fort +8 Ref +5 Wis +4 | CMD 26 |Per +11 | Init +2
Funny, I looked everything up to make sure I had all the numbers right, and at the start had the charge in mind. Heck, I even listed it, but forgot it when calculating. I thought only my joints were supposed to make me feel old. Anyway, didn't think a 6 would cut it.
10:55 AM on Sistersdag, the sixth of Eostre, 3517 I.R.
You make your preparations and attacks as the whirlwind of blades finishes rising up from the dusty ground, Groff even charging up to take a swing at it which misses anything of substance. In retaliation the thing sends a dagger flying out to hack at the dwarf.
"I gotta remember that Groff's gonna charge whatever he sees...", Khoran grumbles as he moves forward to support Groff, trying to snare the thing with a hex.
move - move forward 20'
standard - Use a Silkstring Snare hex (DC 17 Reflex or be entangled and anchored in place)
There is a satisfying crunch as Groff's first attack hits something he can see metal bits inside the thing smashing. His next two attacks however fail to find purchase and Tristan's starknife tosses also glance off the whirl of blades with no effect.
Round One
Khoran
Groff
Tristan
Grimm Helgash
Enemy
@Groff, don't forget you've got DR 3/-, so that last hit should only do 10 damage to you.
@Helgash, wands are spell-trigger items and shield appears on your formulae list so you do not need to roll UMD to use it. You wouldn't be able to use a scroll without UMD, but wands with spells on your list don't need the check.
Unfortunately, I don't think outrun the dwarf is going to work - "drifts forward" implies flying... Worse, given it was K Arcana checks, this is a construct, and a lot of my stuff doesn't work...
Khoran looks at the blood spurting from Groff, shakes his head, and mutters an incantation, conjuring mud to impede the storm of blades. Then he steps towards the dwarf, unslinging his shield as he goes! "Helgash, buy me time!"
standard Action - Cast Slowing Mud, (Slow and Blind) DC 18 Fort Negates. Let's hope for a poor saving throw...
Move action - unsling shield
Takes a 5' step forward so I can 5' next you next round and full action treat wounds...
Unfortunately, using Healing Hands is a full round action and I need to be next to you. Thus why I'm moving towards you and asking Helgash to buy me time...
Roll20 / Male half-orc investigator (empiricist) 1/swashbuckler (inspired blade) 1 // Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +7 / AC 19, touch 14, flat-footed 15 (+5 armor, +3 Dex, +1 dodge) / hp 22/22 / Fort +5, Ref +10, Will +6
Groff the glib wrote:
Hits look correct. Looks like a nice early TPK, though the 'outrun the dwarf' escape method might just work.
If we go head on against adversaries which survive in this harsh environment, and about which we know absolutely nothing... Will get us dead real quick :P
---
Thanks for clarifying Zorblag ;)
Helgash positively boggles at Khoran's words, but then just chuckles it away, speaking calmly to Coal who squeaks in fear on his shoulder - "Calm now, we've got this".
Then he advances fearlessly at the maelstrom, and attacks - "Of course Khoran, take as much as you need"
Swift action to study his opponent. Using Combat Expertise.
Fighter 7 | AC 27 FF 24 T14 | HP 66/66 | Fort +8 Ref +5 Wis +4 | CMD 26 |Per +11 | Init +2
Now let me recall, who wanted to explore the random areas and not just go straight the the objective? Investigating this made it a combat, and as you might notice it flies so is probably faster than us. Investigating got us killed, not trying to fight since we never had the option of that not happening. It was roll for surprise then initiative. I'm seen enough from this gaming company that in a metagaming sense I know you don't screw around with extraneous stuff as it will very often be way over your head and get you killed. However I don't metagame, so I acceded the notion of exploration non goal sites. My metagaming impression merely gets confirmed. Generally Frog God won't screw you if you do just what you need to do. If you try for more, it's likely your end.
Roll20 / Male half-orc investigator (empiricist) 1/swashbuckler (inspired blade) 1 // Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +7 / AC 19, touch 14, flat-footed 15 (+5 armor, +3 Dex, +1 dodge) / hp 22/22 / Fort +5, Ref +10, Will +6
Exploring does not mean charging at anything that moves - so I disagree with you Groff, and I think there may be other options. You do not know if we couldn't have ran away. And you cannot simply assume we have to fight because 'we never had the option of that not happening'
That being said, opinions are what they are, and they vary. You think exploring will get us dead real quick. I think charging at a presumed foe without knowing anything about it will get us dead real quick ;)
Fighter 7 | AC 27 FF 24 T14 | HP 66/66 | Fort +8 Ref +5 Wis +4 | CMD 26 |Per +11 | Init +2
What part of 'roll for initiative' is unclear from how this started? We are below the level of teleport, and we don't have the means to outrun a flying creature. My visible options were fight and hope to win or die, or run and definitely die. Arguing won't do anything here, but blaming this on me is rubbish.
Roll20 / Male half-orc investigator (empiricist) 1/swashbuckler (inspired blade) 1 // Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +7 / AC 19, touch 14, flat-footed 15 (+5 armor, +3 Dex, +1 dodge) / hp 22/22 / Fort +5, Ref +10, Will +6
'Roll for initiative' has no ingame relevance - it is ooc. And nothing hinted at the fact it could move faster than us. Or that it would be interested in chasing us. Rolling initiative is not automatically a fight you cannot run from.
I am not blaming anything on you Groff, I am just stating that 'If we go head on against adversaries which survive in this harsh environment, and about which we know absolutely nothing... Will get us dead real quick'
Groff's first and third swings again make satisfying contact with whatever this is, though the second sails through a space between blades, not doing anything of note.
Khoran's spell has no noticeable effect on whatever this is, but he moves forward to assist Groff nonetheless.
DC 19 Reflex Save:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18
Grimm's flaming sphere and magic missile both continue to whittle away at your foe.
As Helgash moves towards the whirling blades one bit of metal lashes out at him.
@Zorblag, what suggest to you that being coated with sticky mud won't work on objects? Constructs are immune to Fort effects that require biology to work.
@Khoran, the spell specifies creatures as it's target. From the Contract traits we've got : Immunity to any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects, or is harmless).
Basically, just like I didn't try to reason through how silkstring snare would make any sense to work on something like this (it seems likely it wouldn't; webs aren't going to have any reasonable way to latch onto sharp whirling bits of metal in a way that would slow it down) I didn't try to reason through the Slowing Mud would work beyond following what the rules say. It's also perhaps worth pointing out that you've decided that this is likely a Construct via the knowledge checks being arcana checks which Khoran wouldn't have any access to.
HP 59/59 AC 21/ T 21/ FF 10/ F+8/ R+12 (EVASION)/ W+7 (IRREPRESIBLE)/CMD 22, Init +10, Perc +11,+1vsTraps, +4 in Surprise Rds Performance rds 14/14, Oracle 1rst 5/5, Bard 1: 5/5
frog god is famous for tpk's so running into one is always a possibility especially when exploring for random encounters. Meh.. It's what we signed up for
Inspire 11/14
Tristan takes another 5ft forward and tosses more blades
Khoran takes 11 of his 13 damage on his false life spell. Well Khoran goes before Groff, and by my math, Groff started at 66, took 10, took 47, and then 17, is thus is at -8. I guess we are going to find out if he's auto-dropped his weapon; hopefully he's going down with it clenched hard in hand...
Khoran steps up behind Groff as he starts to fall and catches him, putting forth the fullest arts of his healing...
5' step
full round action, Heal using Healing Hands feat, healing satchel (2 uses). Uses the 17 from his Thriceborn Charm...
Heal check:17 + 7 + 4 + 3 + 4 = 35 vs dc 20 (25& 30 for extra benefits).
7 ranks +4 wis +3 trained +4 healing satchel
Effects: Heal 7 (groffs hd)*2 + 4 (wis from satchel) +4 wis (from satchel for making a DC 25) + 4 wis (from Heal skill making DC 25 )+ 7 (ranks planes from making DC 30), for a total of 33 HP. Groff should be at 25 HP. Hope you can make them count Groff
Groff does drop his weapon when he falls unconscious (much like Gurg did both when he fell in the hole and when we fell asleep in the last fight.)
If you want to use the Charm of the Thriceborn you don't get to choose which of the rolls you take, but you roll randomly to see which one gets used.
Edit: I'm also not sure why you're doubling the Level healed with Treat Deadly Wounds. Is there some effect that is causing that? Normally it heals hp equal to the level. The +4 to the check from the healing satchel also applies when you're using First Aid or Treating Poison, neither of which applies here, though it would still give a +2 as a standard healer's kit.
Heal (Treat Deadly Wounds):"Treating deadly wounds restores 1 hit point per level of the creature."
Signature Skill (Heal) gets you the skill unlock for (Heal):
"5 Ranks: When you treat deadly wounds, the target recovers hit points and ability damage as if it had rested for a full day." (This is 2hp/lvl +2 pts of ability damage. This overrides the 1 HP/level of the basic skill)
Heal (Treat Deadly Wounds): "If you exceed the DC by 5 or more, add your Wisdom modifier (if positive) to this amount." (thus +4 if I make a DC 25)
Healer's Satchel : "When the wielder expends 2 uses from a healer’s satchel to treat deadly wounds with the Heal skill, she adds her Wisdom bonus to the amount of hit points restored, and if she exceeds the DC by 5 or more, she adds 2 × her Wisdom bonus to the amount restored." (+4 if I make DC 20 and +4 again if I make DC 25)
Healing Hands: "When treating deadly wounds this way, if your result exceeds the DC by 10 or more, add your ranks in Knowledge (planes) to the damage healed." (thus +7 if I make a DC 30)
Critical hits and precision damage both work on this one, so I'll count that one as a crit and it's confirmation roll in case you have inspiration that needs refilling (I don't think you do, but in case I'm wrong.) Even without doubling the precision damage on the critical that hit does the job.
As Helgash lunges his rapier connects with something inside the creature before you that seemed to be holding it together. The shards of metal instantly stop spinning in the air and fall to the ground, intert and dull, many shattered and melted by your various attacks.
Combat is over and the silence of the Desolation surrounds you once more.
10:55 AM on Sistersdag, the sixth of Eostre, 3517 I.R.
For what it's worth, that was the highest possible CR on a random encounter you could have rolled in the Ashen Waste during the day, so nice work dealing with it!
