We had a most... surreal game (it's a shame, in fact, one player couldn't make it because of work, as she'd have loved it I think). In the previous game, the group managed to capture Judge Ironbriar alive. After a little bit, they realized that he was charmed (and amusingly enough called the guard in, had the guards wait in the other room to listen to Ironbriar rant while he thought it was just the PCs, and managed to get him to incriminate himself) and removed the charm.
Despite that, Ironbriar managed to do some excellent b%*#~&+@ rolls (rolled real well for Bluff - it's amazing that his Sense Motive roll is abysmal but he apparently was able to BS his way into becoming a judge). He almost had the PCs convinced that his cultists and he had been the victims of Charm spells - at least until someone rolled damn well with Spellcraft and realized that Charm Person won't make you into a mass murderer. So in an attempt to break him and get him to talk? They went with torture.
One of the characters is... well, let's just say that he has a brothel story for every situation. And they get pretty... insane. The first to flee was the Sylph Arcane Trickster. The second was the Irrisen Sorceress (at the insistence of her ninja-maid cohort). And then the Will Saves commenced... and it was 20 minutes later of hilarious stories before finally Ironbriar broke.
The player for the Irrisen Sorceress? Then couldn't remember her character's name! Yes, the whoring stories were so... bizarre and hilarious she blanked on her character's name! ^^;;
(The group then made a deal with Ironbriar to give him 12 hours to get away. The priestess promised not to go after him and said she'd try to keep her companions from doing so. She never mentioned the guards who heard everything. Even so, one Channel Negative Energy almost let Ironbriar escape - fortunately, the head guard knocked Ironbriar unconscious and a Channel Positive Energy from the halfling nun did keep the other guards from dying.)
But the whoring didn't stop there. After finding the Tower, the group decided to talk to locals. They found a couple of drunks who got into a fight over if there was a snake-critter living in the top of the tower? Or a giant in the bottom. Realizing they needed to find a sober witness for the region, the nun told Tongs to find some whores to talk to.
Tong's player nearly had him skipping while saying in a singsong voice "I'm going to visit the whores! I'm going to visit the whores!" (Yes, a lust point was earned.)
Amusingly, the Sorceress player said "I'll ask the bartenders" and got a verification. Sadly she didn't think to bluff about when the tower would fall as she said "what slot is very very soon?" ;) (And naturally when Tongs returned, he'd forgotten to ask the whores any questions. He was all set to seek them out with more money and visit a second time, but the group told him "no.")
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Xanesha wasn't a completely deadly threat. Seems my group is... um... overpowered. Admittedly, it's five players (one absent) and two Cohorts... but Xanesha was built with +4 levels of Sorceress and 3 Mythic Tiers. She did nearly kill the Barbarian (brought him down to 36 HPs raging) and the Cohort Paladin (brought down to 13 HPs), but a combination of being debuffed with a Dispel Magic, the Barbarian's utter nastiness in close combat (not as bad as Xanesha but still doing +20 damage normally when raging) (2-handed weapons), and the Ninja-Maid and Arcane Trickster getting on opposite sides of Xanesha and playing Sneak Damage Ping-Pong proved to be too much.
Think I'll be increasing the stats of the monsters to compensate. Still, it was an absolutely awesome and glorious fight! And Mythic Xanesha was... probably too powerful for most groups! :)
Xanesha build (Mythic):
XP 12800
Female Lamia Matriarch Sorcerer 4/Archmage 3
CE Large monstrous humanoid (shapechanger)
Init +10; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +2
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Defense
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AC 25, touch 16, flat-footed 18 (+1 armor, +7 Dex, -1 size, +8 natural)
hp 155 (12d10+4d6+73)
Fort +10, Ref +17, Will +15; +4 vs. visual effects, +2 resistance bonus vs. poison
Defensive Abilities hard to kill; Immune mind-affecting effects; Resist fire 10; SR 19
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Offense
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Speed 40 ft., climb 40 ft., swim 40 ft.
Melee impaler of thorns +19/+14/+9 (1d8+26/x3)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks mythic power (9/day, surge +1d6), wisdom drain
Spell-Like Abilities
At will—charm monster (DC 17), ventriloquism (DC 15)
7/day—elemental ray
3/day—deep slumber (DC 16), dream, major image (DC 17), mirror image, suggestion (DC 16)
Sorcerer Spells Known (CL 10th; concentration +14):
5th (3/day)—summon monster v
4th (6/day)—stoneskin, lesser globe of invulnerability, mass reduce person (DC 18)
3rd (7/day)—cure serious wounds, dispel magic, fly
2nd (7/day)—spiritual weapon [M], scorching ray, invisibility, acid arrow
1st (7/day)—bane [M] (DC 15), magic missile [M], protection from good, cure light wounds, burning hands (bloodline energy type) (DC 15), feather fall (DC 15)
0 (at will)—acid splash, ray of frost, daze (DC 14), detect magic, bleed (DC 14), message, read magic, flare (DC 14), light
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TACTICS
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Before Combat If she realizes the PCs are near (as is the case if the faceless stalkers drop a bell), Xanesha casts invisibility and mirror image on herself. She also activates her Sihedron medallion’s false life ability.
During Combat Xanesha uses major image to make an illusory flying demon appear in a cloud of smoke that then begins to circle the top of the tower. She then moves to make a sneak attack on the nearest PC. After this attack, she prefers to fight in melee, saving her medusa mask to temporarily petrify any particularly dangerous foe. If she is reduced to fewer than 60 hit points, she casts cure serious wounds on herself.
Morale If she’s reduced to 20 hit points or fewer, Xanesha attempts to flee Magnimar, abandoning her plot and the scroll hidden in her nest. Simply slithering off the side of the tower and using feather fall to descend to the ground below is her easiest method of escape. If she escapes, she cuts ties with her kin and Mokmurian, afraid of the punishment for failure. She grows obsessed with the PCs, however, seeing their capture as the only way she can redeem herself to Mokmurian—in this case, she becomes a recurring villain who might ally with any number of foes the PCs find themselves up against in the next adventure—although she specifically tries to avoid any situation that would reveal her failure to her sister Lucrecia.
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Statistics
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Str 20, Dex 25, Con 19, Int 18, Wis 14, Cha 18
Base Atk +14; CMB +20; CMD 37 (can't be tripped)
Feats Combat Casting, Combat Reflexes, Eschew Materials, Expanded Arcana, Extend Spell, Improved Critical (spear), Power Attack, Power Attack [M], Silent Spell, Vital Strike, Vital Strike [M]
Skills Acrobatics +25 (+29 jump, +29 when jumping), Appraise +8, Bluff +25, Climb +30, Diplomacy +13, Escape Artist +10, Fly +5, Knowledge (arcana) +21, Knowledge (local) +18, Sense Motive +16, Spellcraft +21, Stealth +3, Swim +29; Racial Modifiers +4 Acrobatics, +4 Acrobatics when jumping, +4 Bluff
Languages Abyssal, Common, Draconic, Giant, Thassilonian
SQ amazing initiative, bloodlines (elemental [fire]), change shape, recuperation, undersized weapons
Combat Gear Medusa mask (1/day); Other Gear Impaler of Thorns (1/day), Sihedron Medallion, Snakeskin tunic
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Special Abilities
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Amazing Initiative (1/round) (Ex) As a free action, use 1 power to gain an extra standard action (can't be used to cast a spell).
Change Shape (fixed Medium humanoid form, alter self) (Su) You can change your form.
Climbing (40 feet) You have a Climb speed.
Combat Casting +4 to Concentration checks to cast while on the defensive.
Combat Reflexes (8 AoO/round) Can make extra attacks of opportunity/rd, and even when flat-footed.
Damage Resistance, Fire (10) You have the specified Damage Resistance against Fire attacks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Elemental (Fire) You may change any energy spell to use [Fire] energy.
Elemental Ray (7/day) (Sp) Ranged touch attack deals 1d6+2 Fire damage.
Eschew Materials Cast spells without materials, if component cost is 1 gp or less.
Extend Spell Spell duration lasts twice as normal. +1 Level.
Hard to Kill (Ex) Automatically stabilize when dying, and only die at neg Con x 2.
Immunity to Mind-Affecting effects You are immune to Mind-Affecting effects.
Impaler of Thorns (1/day) On hit creatures in 30 ft take -2 to att/dam/saves/ability & skill checks for 6 min (DC16 Will neg)
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Medusa mask (1/day) +4 save vs. visual effects, petrify 1/day
Mirror Dodge (Su) When hit by an attack, spend 1 power to teleport 30 ft, leaving behind illusiory duplicate.
Mythic Power (9/day, Surge +1d6) Use this power to perform your mythic abilities.
Power Attack -0/+12 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Power Attack [Mythic] Use 1 power to eliminate attack penalties of Power attack for 1 min.
Recuperation (Ex) Fully heal after 8 hrs rest, use 1 power and 1 hr to heal half and restore all non-mythic abilities.
Sihedron Medallion Allows a runelord to scry on you and speak to you.
Silent Spell Cast a spell with no verbal components. +1 Level.
Snakeskin tunic +2 save vs. poison
Speedy Summons (Su) Summon spells are standard actions. Use 1 power for swift or to summon eidolon as full-rd.
Spell Resistance (19) You have Spell Resistance.
Surge (1d6) (Su) Use 1 power to increase any d20 roll by the listed amount.
Swimming (40 feet) You have a Swim speed.
Vital Strike Standard action: x2 weapon damage dice.
Vital Strike [Mythic] Vital Strike multiplies dam bonus by number of extra weapon dice rolled.
Wild Arcana (Su) Use 1 power, cast an arcane spell from your class list at +2 CL (doesn't need to be known/mem).
Wisdom Drain (DC 20) (Su) A lamia matriarch drains 1d4 points of Wisdom each time she hits with her melee touch attack. The first time each round that she strikes a foe with a melee weapon, she also drains 1 point of Wisdom. A DC 21 Will save negates the Wisdom drain. Unlike
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Xanesha has claimed this area as her lair, both for the unparalleled view of Magnimar’s poorest district and for the isolation afforded by its remote location. She comes and goes via climbing down the tower’s exterior (she automatically makes the DC 25 Climb check to do so), usually making sure to become invisible first to prevent curious eyes from noticing her. She often spends her nights in other parts of the city, in her human guise and in the arms of charmed lovers who strike her fancy during her walks among the enemy. Many of these “lovers” pine for her company for weeks or months after she abandons them, but they are the lucky ones who aren’t murdered and brought back here to serve as food. In many ways, Xanesha is a predator living hidden among her prey. She has grown fond of her position in Magnimar over the years and is content to leave the actual work of harvesting greedy souls to the Skinsaw Cult. Recently, she’s been contacted with recurring frequency by Mokmurian or his agents—she realizes the time of Karzoug’s return is close at hand and has decided to spur on the cult in its work. Recruiting Aldern was actually Ironbriar’s idea, but Xanesha prefers to think of it as her own.
Although powerful, Xanesha is also careful. When the PCs invade her home, she likely notices soon (if not from the sound of a fight against the lumbering Scarecrow, then certainly as a result of a falling bell). She prepares as detailed in her Tactics section, but does not seek out the PCs out—instead, she watches and waits for them to come to her. If her minions can take care of the problem, all the better, but at least this way she’ll have an idea of the PCs’ tactics if they do survive long enough to confront her.
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