I : There is a place we're coming to. (Campaign Thread)

[MetroMagic]

Blisss reports the results to the rest of his friends via Illurien.

<<Loptr! It looks like you almost broke through! Maybe one more swing and there will be a big hole. And Flintspark, there are lots of flames too.  The wolfie against the wall on the right, behind that arrowslit… he backed up about 20 feet, he’s not right at the slit to shoot anymore. The other two are still standing right in front of the middle and left slits, though.>>

Then he adds,

<<Illurien, if you come up close to the wall and do something, then right after that I can help you, and Loptr, and Flintspark, and even the Shredstorm, to do something again really quick.

Loptr could hit the wall and make the hole, it will be right in front of the one with the strange head who made the wall. Maybe it will get hit with rocks.

And then Flintspark could burn away more of the web or come through after the wolfies especially that one with the wolfie body and strange head, and Illurien could do something again to it, too. We’d better concentrate on that one, maybe if it is destroyed the other two will surrender. They acted like maybe it’s the leader.

Then everyone else can come through the hole and help.>>

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Blisss will cast Mass Snakes Swiftness, giving all allies within 20 feet an immediate attack on his turn, which is right after Illurien. That should include Loptr, Flintspark, and the Shredstorm, and Illurien too if she moves closer. Then with the hole, everyone else can rush them, if you like.

It’s a plan. Unless anyone else has a different suggestion! But whatever, we’d better take out the spellcaster with the face power.

Next round, once everyone is together, Blisss can defer his action till everyone is in range and then cast Mass Snakes Swiftness again, but if he delays now, there will be no hole for everyone to rush through.

Unless I misunderstood, Quill, and there is a big enough hole in the wall already - my impression is that now it may be big enough for Adhuil, but maybe not for anyone else

[VennDygrem]

Illurien waits a moment before deciding how to act. She moves closer to the exchange, however, wordlessly appraising the situation.

After a moment, she thinks to Blisss, <<I do not believe I have much to contribute that is not currently being handled.>>

Regardless, she forms a tempest lash and holds position to attack.

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Illurien moves 30 ft. forward, closer to the wall. Then she readies an action to throw a tempest lash if she sees one of the creatures described on the other side of the wall, with a preference for the one with the blinding gaze.

Also, I forgot to roll the recharge duration for Sacred Planar Lash last round.
1d4(4) = 4 rounds total; 3 rounds remaining wait time.

[MetroMagic]

Blisss responds at thought speed to everyone via Illurien:

<<Illurien, if you’re waiting till the web and illusion go away, and Adhuil can burn it, should I give Loptr and Flintspark and the Shredstorm another attack now to break the wall and attack them a little, or should I wait till Adhuil moves up and takes care of it, then give everyone close a chance to hit them a lot? What do you all want me to do?>>

Then he adds:

<<The one wolfie on your right behind that slit has backed up, but the other one on the left near me is still in front of the slit and the one in the middle with the horrible head is too. I don’t even know what that thing is, except that it’s not any kind of natural creature I ever heard a story about. Maybe one of you knows, or maybe it’s just been turned into something new by the Reshaping.>>

Blisss repeats the description of the horrible-headed creature, giving even more detail, hoping that someone else can recognize what it is, or recognize what happened to it to make it the way it is.

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So, what do you all think? Should Blisss

(a) cast now, so Loptr can break through the wall and Flintspark can flame the Web that’s holding him, and only the Shredstorm would really get to hit the enemies, or

(b) wait till Adhuil hopefully fries the Web (and maybe the Illusion too) and moves into range to be included – and wait till after El too, who follows Adhuil – to give everyone a second attack when the Web and Illusion go down and LOS/LOE is established?

[VennDygrem]

<<Feel free to grant your boon to the others. It is of no worth to me if I cannot see our foes.>>

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I don't really have any preference one way or the other. Illurien's attacks don't really do much damage; her real power is in her tempest techniques, and it seems I chose poorly as I didn't really factor in that others would take care of the illusion. So now I can't change the Sacred Planar Lash for another 3 rounds.

[MetroMagic]

At your command, Flintspark rushes forward toward the web, reaching out to set it alight. With but a touch of his short claws, flames lick the entrapping strands. Then he dives in, and soon the flames are larger than his body.
A mighty blow of Loptrs hammer follows, leaving the rock where it struck cracked and holed, if not gone.
((the wall has had 45 hp/5ft square))

Bliss sees the enemy nearest the wall flinch as the web catches fire and let loose it's own chilling howl before retreating from the wall, trembling.

Blisss again responds at thought speed to everyone via Illurien:

<<I can see flames and smoke now coming through the slit nearest to me, the one on your left, so there is where Flintspark must be on the other side of the slit. I can even almost see to where Loptr’s big left arm would be, the web gets in the way because he stepped up to smash the wall. The wolfie for that slit on your left is standing right behind it. Adhuil, maybe you could get that wolfie through the slit, if you move up enough to see around Flintspark.

El, the Shredstorm is stuck in the web almost inside the slit on your right, where the wolfie backed up about 20 feet. Adhuil, maybe you could burn away the web on that side instead, so El can see the Shredstorm and then it could go to the other side of the wall and get the wolfie who backed up, or maybe better, El, could you tell it to turn to the left when it comes through the slit, and get the hideous head creature before it casts another spell at us? That hideous head creature was just about looking out the slit in the middle where Loptr almost broke through the wall. If you can move up too, then when you and Adhuil are done, I could cast my spell that brings out another attack from everyone.>>

Blisss goes on to relay more exacting distances, angles, and sight lines that he sees, or anticipates, so that Adhuil and El can decide what to do.

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So putting together the info that one square is burned, with the map and text above from Quill’s IC post, I think what we have is the following happening at each slit and the squares around them, which is most of what Blisss is passing along in greater detail than what I wrote.



The enemy nearest the wall who retreated is the one at the top, with the Shredstorm at the topmost slit in front of the creature. That’s the slit on the party’s right, from their perspective. However, according to the map that enemy is not the one where Flintspark is in the web, so that enemy must have seen the flame and smoke from the other slit and decided to back up before the fire spread to the slit in front of him.

The square with no illusion or web, where the party can see the wall, is the one where Flintspark is, the lowest slit. It’s the one nearest to Blisss, who should be able to see the flaming web directly, looking  through the slit. That square is to the party’s left, from their perspective. They may now be able to see the enemy creature directly behind that slit, so if Adhuil can get a shot past Flintspark he could theoretically send a holomancer attack through the slit at the enemy creature. If Adhuil moves up close and into position, he may be able to see around Flintspark to the slit. At the same time Adhuil could try to make sure he’s in range of the spell Blisss will cast.

The square with the damaged wall is the one in front of Loptr, which is also where the center slit is. The horrible-headed creature is directly behind that slit. Blisss may  be able to see the cracks, dust, and beginnings of rubble, as well as hear the sound of Loptr’s strike, so he may know where Loptr hit. Blisss might have line of sight to where Loptr’s left side is, at an angle through the slit nearest to Blisss.

On El’s turn, the Shredstorm may be able to stretch itself out to cover the enemy’s square. If not, another option for Adhuil on his turn is to burn away the web holding the Shredstorm so it can launch itself against the enemies on the other side of the wall. Adhuil knows where the Shredstorm went into the illusion, and – if it’s really right at the slit – may be able to get confirmation from Blisss based on what Blisss can actually see.

[Quillwraith]

A dark-furred hand with a dark-bladed dagger reaches out through the wall and web, and slashes to the side, and Flintspark falls to the floor, dark blood pouring from his chest. A moment later, it thrusts a spear at Loptr, but misses thanks to Adhuil's camouflaging illusion.

[FireInTheSky]

Adhuil raises his hand and two quick blasts of firelight streak from his hand toward the hole Flintspark's attacker just used.

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Full attack action - Coherent Light Blast, using Crimson Ray prismatic essence, which turns it into fire damage, and deals +1 damage / die (rolls, I forgot to add the +1/die to the damage). Also using Super Shiny feat to attempt to daze this guy.

Attack 1 vs. touch AC: 1d20+7=14,2d6+2=9, if attack is successful, Will Save DC 20 or be dazed for 1 round.
Attack 2 vs. touch AC: 1d20+2=12,2d6+2=7, if he was dazed with the previous attack, then 2d6+2=9 more points of damage, otherwise, make another Will save (same DC) or be dazed.

If the attacks miss, then perhaps they hit the wall instead and burn away more of the web, and even if they hit, perhaps they still manage to light some of it as they shoot past... 

[samnemath]

Canceled

[Quillwraith]

The burning light misses the arrowslit, but the web around it begins to burn, revealing the stone wall behind.
((that's another square of web gone))

[Quillwraith]

Bliss sees the creature nearest to the fallen salamander recoil from the smoldering web, retreating toward it's companion and readying it's crossbow.
Miyella gazes intently at the battle with blind eyes, waiting.

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[phaedrusxy]

Loptr swings his massive hammer again, trying to smash as much of a hole in the wall as possible, then moves through it right up to the odd creature with the blinding gaze. He keeps his eyes closed, but his ears are so in tune with the sounds around him that he basically doesn't need them.

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Not sure who is what on the map. If I don't have enough movement speed to get within 10 feet of the nymph-thing, let me know.
attack 24, damage 35 against the wall

[MetroMagic]

Blisss sees the hand and dagger reach through the slit, and then the flaming sparks of charred web surrounding the camouflaged Flintspark collapse to the floor.

Moments later Adhuil’s blast sears away another section of web, and Loptr raises his hammer for another strike, but now Blisss can wait no longer.

Blisss dives below the floor again, with Earthglide still active, and coming up just beyond Flintspark from beneath the floor, pushes Healing into him. Then Blisss releases the wash of Magic he had been saving, and a wave of urgency rushes out to engulf Loptr, Adhuil, Illurien, even Flintspark if he is revived as Blisss hopes, and all other friends in range, an urgency strong enough to push out yet another attack on our enemies. With the burst of Magic suddenly behind it, Loptr’s descending hammer receives a jolt to drive through the wall with even more urgency!

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Move Action with Earthglide already running as a Blue Mage ability for 6 rounds, to get next to Flintspark and into the midst of the nearby party, surfacing to get LOS/LOE.

Swift Action to push Positive Energy into Flintspark, the equivalent of a Cure Light Wounds at CL4 as an at-will SU ability from Planeswalker Attunement to the Positive Plane. DC15 check with 1d20+6 or the healing is half. The result was not so good; missed the DC15 and an average Cure Light Wounds roll, with a net result of 4 HP healed for Flintspark.  Incidentally, I won’t be surprised – and neither will Blisss – if the Healing does no good; that dark blade looked extra-nasty and Flintspark’s problems may not be as simple as bloodletting. Also, your call, Quill, as to whether Healing in the same round immediately following the damage is sufficient to prevent Flintspark from dying if he received sufficient damage to kill him. Or maybe he didn’t but is poisoned… or worse, who knows with these creatures. But Blisss feels that he has to try to save Flintspark.

Standard Action to cast Mass Snakes Swiftness; all allies within 20 feet of the most advantageous nearby point get an immediate attack action – the 20 foot burst doesn’t have to be centered on Blisss, but it’s going to be very nearby anyway considering where the party is.

[Quillwraith]

The wall cracks open almost from floor to ceiling, and Loptr steps over the fallen salamander, ignoring the traces of singed webbing, and clambers though, trailing rock-dust. Seeing him, one of the jackal-creatures loads another bolt to it’s crossbow, but, unwilling to aim or look too near it’s blinding ally, it refrains from firing.

The gash in Flintspark’s neck seems almost to repel healing, but you force positive energy into him until, at last, it stops bleeding. Still badly injured, he whispers "She hasn't claimed me yet… Thank you..."

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