Part 4: Not the afterlife you were looking for

[Debatra]

We can use our 1/round rerolls on anything, right?

Rolled 1d100+7 : 79 + 7, total 86

[MetroMagic]

(click to show/hide)

We can use our 1/round rerolls on anything, right?
Rolled 1d100+7 : 79 + 7, total 86

I went back to the original source material for this ability of Star’s; as I had recalled, it’s really intended for d20 rolls – and not, for example, damage rolls.

Declaring this situation as a percentile roll was fun – but it just as easily could have been a d20 roll, and a DM who was entirely oriented toward 3.5 might well have made it a d20 roll and set a DC. In effect that’s what I did, with 50% as the equivalent of a DC of 10. So… long story short (too late for that, I guess), I’m entirely OK with using the reroll on this.

Therefore: 86 *is* greater than 50, and the Marilith *does* get splashed with Lightning, the details of which we will include in the results post that SirP is putting together.

Nice idea!

Now we’re ready for some description that fits the event.

As Halt takes shape alighting upon the rocky slab of floor, the Lightning splashes down with and around him and a ball of crackling blue laced with ozone washes out across the area, spreading from the point where he suddenly stands an instant later. Flecks of ionizing dust crackle in the air and the crevices of the floor from the burst of energy, and a brief roll of thunder bounces back and forth across the cavern.

[MetroMagic]

(click to show/hide)

11… ah. Oh well… pedestrian.

Gleron realizes that he automatically reached for his spell components case and there it was… didn’t the Mariliths heap everything in a pile? Thinking back, it’s been there all along, ever since his meeting with the Smith.  Ah, the Smith, who put Gleron back together personally, rebuilding Gleron to His need. The Smith is certainly thorough. And the Ring, of course. No important details were missed, apparently. A quick check of the Uruk-Hai’s equipment shows that things Gleron probably won’t need are in the pile, while things he does are probably at hand.

(click to show/hide)

To turn it around based on your roll, anything you want of the Uruk-Hai’s equipment has an 11% chance of being in the pile and 89% at hand, and anything you don’t want has an 89% chance of being in the pile and 11% at hand. With a 2% Luck adjustment from Janis, of course, on your 1d100 roll. Yes, a better initial roll would have resulted in a worse later probability mix… who says bad can’t be good for the player? (Besides, with a better roll, something completely different might have happened.)

[MetroMagic]

(click to show/hide)

True, true. Let's see...


19 ranks
+5 from 20 Int
+2 Luck from Janis
+5 Morale from Ror
+10 Competance from Ror
+2 Synergy to Knowledge (Nature) from my Survival ranks.


So it's actually +41/41/43, plus my rolled 15/20/1 means 56 for the Marauders (Dungeoneering), 61 for the Mariliths (Planes) and 44 for the Uruk-Hai (Nature).

Besides the +5 Insight bonus you’ll be getting for your various rolls against these creatures, you beat the 36 by so much that there is even more IC tactical insight from those Knowledge rolls. A 56 for the Marauders – a big step toward 60 – gets you some deep detail about their situation, beyond what the party has yet realized but not quite into the innermost secrets… but a 61!! for the Mariliths does get you just inside their most hidden secrets, the kind of information they kill to protect… and meawhile a 44 for the Uruk-Hai gets you some plain but still useful information about them too.

Halt stares hard at the Witchlight Marauders, the Mariliths, and the Uruk-Hai, his vast combat experience, meticulous powers of observation, and thousands of stories from travellers in countless inns and ancient tomes, meshing into complex coherent calculations that only a Ranger like him could possibly make, and recognize their significance… and though there were other superb Rangers who he was proud to know, there were none others quite like him.

In the torrents of damage poured through the Witchlight Marauders, and the way their physical forms have responded to the variations in the attacks, and Star’s stories about them, and stray hints he can recall about the effects of the First Age upon such rarest of creatures, Halt has the insight that nothing short of First Age weapons can truly destroy them utterly and recalls precisely who here has them: Darayat’s sword Maegnas, Ror’s axe and shield, Throisar’s little Tiamat-spawn; and… from the Pattern shown by Ptolemaeus’ images of the Witchlight Marauder’s Timelines, which matches no Story that Halt has yet recalled, Halt is also quite sure that… most incredibly… besides having a thread of the First Age in them, these Witchlight Marauders are creatures not entirely from this Multiverse at all; the Pattern is wrong. As to from whence they came… nothing surfaces deeper than that amazing and alarming insight.

From the way the Mariliths move, their body langage in the dance of combat, their positioning, their developing combat roles, and Halt’s careful filing away of every scrap about Lower Planar creatures that has come his way, Halt pieces together quite a complete picture of the typical Marilith, but has the insight that these Mariliths are acting in a manner very subtly untypical for their kind, and are far more dangerous for it. Unlike most Tanar’ri, most Mariliths do not rush in to combat, sizing up the situation and their opponents for tactical advantage as the generals of the Chaotics in Blood War battleground; Halt knows this as many others do; it’s practically common knowledge about the Blood War. And it’s also fairly well known that like most Tanar’ri, most Mariliths nevertheless do not work well together, tending to plot mainly in terms of their own success and by extension the success of the forces beneath them, hoping to depose each other and rise in status by standing on the corpses of their peers. In a flash of insight, Halt realizes that these Mariliths are not acting as individual forces of destruction in loose coordination on the battlefield; instead they are acting far more like a crack combat team than a coven of competing generals, with practiced roles of assault, defense, and support. Whether by fear of their Master, their Master’s force of will, or by their Master’s careful selection and personal training, or likely by all of these possibilities, these Mariliths seem to Halt to have already begun to coordinate in a manner supremely effective together, far more than any one of them could be individually, and in his flash of insight it is plain to him that they absolutely revel in the power they achieve together, far more than they would normally revel in each other’s carefully plotted destruction. What then to do? Halt has the insight that it is essential to take this team of Mariliths down in the most effective manner, focusing on the support casters first, then the defense specialists, then the primary attackers, entirely counterintuitive to the opposite order to take down the attackers first that seems obvious to any observer not as trained and insightful as Halt himself… and he also has the insight that the Mariliths are all acting to promote that obvious approach as part of their tactical advantage, by prepared attack feints early in the game – yes, that near-fatal blast of fire was just a feint, in Halt’s insight – a tactical advantage this Marilith team probably has enjoyed over every other enemy they have ever faced, before they came into the crosshairs of Halt’s trained scrutiny.

About these particular Uruk-Hai, Halt finds that he has heard much less, perhaps due to the remoteness and isolation of their world. Halt can easily recall that Orcs in general are cowards, fighting with much bravado while they have the advantage, but fleeing in terror as soon as they sense their advantage is lost. It is very plain to Halt that these Uruk-Hai are not like the lesser creatures of their kind. As he considers what he has seen of them, force-marching the hordes of Goblin armies that attacked the Rock of Bral heedless of their destruction, Halt’s insight is that these Uruk-Hai seem simply unable to conceive of defeat, even when confronted by superior force; he can be quite certain they will fight to the death without quarter and must be brought down individually or collectively in whatever manner is quickest. Halt also can recall that there is at least one caster among them, and recognizes the particular Uruk-Hai who was assigned by Thrash to buttress the failing Portal archway; that one, who happens to be standing next to Gleron, Halt realizes in his moment of insight, should be an early target before the caster’s Magic becomes a nuisance.

All of this information can be spread on the Link.

(click to show/hide)

Including the linked info about SRD Mariliths as a general basis… but don’t count on it applying perfectly to limit the capabilities of Demogorgon’s hand-picked team!

[MetroMagic]

After casting. Gleron realizes he feels… different, and as he reflects on the differences, the perfecting handiwork of the Smith in rebuilding him becomes more apparent.

Not that Gleron was changed in ways contrary to his will to suit the Smith’s pleasure; rather, Gleron feels enhanced in ways he had not before contemplated but finds perfectly suited, as if his deepest desires had been met. As Gleron assesses his new capabilities, he notices that some of his former nearly intuitive tactics are still intuitively present as well. The Fireball he just cast was still Fell Frightened; he can sense that his Fireballs will continue to have that property when he wills it and provides the power, even though he has set it aside in favor of other tactics to apply more generally. And his spellcasting was as quick as ever… with a start, Gleron realizes he is perceiving something directly that, before Bral exploded, he was perceiving only through others’ eyes on the Link.

Gleron sees Star’s instances flitting across Time with his own eyes, the brief cascade of blue-grey images she generates whenever she moves. He sees Ptolemaues compress Time out of Space with an outrush of jetting blue-grey clouds as both become naught and Here at the wall becomes There next to Arkesh. And Gleron briefly glimpses a blue-grey misty image of his own self stepping forward as he cast more rapidly than should be possible; that same casting speed enabled before by Celerity, now seems enabled by simply pulling Magic across Time itself more rapidly in a way that feels natural to him even though he might no longer move himself physically so rapidly. Gleron finds the Effect still to be just as potentially dizzying though with even more Magic he can steady himself.

As Gleron quickly catalogs himself anew, he finds he now can add Timesight to the list.

(click to show/hide)

Gleron’s build may have changed, but what he already did, he did – I am not a fan of retros. So apparently Dumathoin’s hammer and anvil beat into His newest Hand some unexpected capabilities.

• Gleron may continue to apply Fell Frightened to Fireball only, in the way he did before; he has given up all other uses of it in favor of other tactics. For the purposes of prerequisites where needed, he still counts as knowing Fell Frightened, since in fact he does, though in a very limited way.
• Gleron may continue to use the Effect of Celerity to create a Spell Effect with Magic via casting or SLA sooner than he would otherwise, but only for that purpose. He suffers the usual consequences of Celerity.
• Since Gleron is now moving himself across Time too, even if limited, he has gained the sensitivity to have TimeSight and can perceive Time Effects directly.

I think that covers it, to square Gleron’s new build with the existing Story; if not, let’s talk more on OOC.

[MetroMagic]

The long-foretold moment of auspicious conjunction has arrived: Friday the 13th. Full Moon. Mercury in Retrograde.

A thousand trumpets sound. A hundred heralds on brave white horses, barding agleam in gold, race into view, holding lavishly decorated scrolls of finest linen. In a singing shout with voices like the Heavenly Chorus, they harmoniously proclaim:

A POST!

For a moment the entire Multiverse pauses, the cartwheeling of galaxies shocked into vast, motionless surprise, and then…

(click to show/hide)

The cavern is at least 80 feet high, 60 wide, and 120 long, approximately. On the map, Ptolemaeus is next to Arkesh, Halfaz is moving along the wall toward The Pile of Stuff, Halt has landed at the Pile of Stuff, and the Margravine is in the air near the center of the chamber. Other characters are where labeled, or otherwise are along the wall to the left of the Pile of Stuff.

As Halt ponders strategy and Lightning Leaps, and as Gleron unleashes a horrifying Fireball, the Uruk-Hai shaman casts too. Where one of the two Mariliths was struck down a moment ago by Ptolemaeus’ river of damage, the swirl of drifting motes suddenly shimmers and forms again; but while her upper half still is much the Marilith with six powerful arms, her lower half is no longer snake-like. Instead she has powerful legs to match, much like the legs of a Uruk-Hai warrior. The body of the altered Marilith lies unmoving on the ground. Those with Spellcraft easily recognize the Shaman’s casting: Polymorph Any Object; this information flashes across Arkesh’s link.

The motes that are what is left of the other Marilith drift apart, unimpeded; she seems truly to be gone.

However, the curl of smoke at the edge of the band of Uruk-Hai, which had been a Uruk-Hai a moment ago until Ptolemaeus demolished him, also re-forms, his body coalescing into a crumpled heap of legs and arms. Then quickly gathering strength, he stands again, glaring triumphantly at Ptolemaeus with a contemptuous sneer.

After Halt bolts down onto the Pile of Stuff, as he quickly gathers his belongings back in hand – and in pouches, and pockets, and wherever else he needs them – checking his position he is quite sure he has landed precisely where the Marilith disappeared into the microworld just moments before, and fortunately NOT where Sable disappeared shortly before that. If she could be affected by the Lightning splash, she surely was.

Halfaz had taken the shape of a mass of sand that simply poured off the wall and – with no time to change back – flows himself down the line of stapled allies looking for someone to help. He discovers they are all breaking free on their own, by one means or another, and so reaches the end of the line, nearly at the Pile of Stuff. Halfaz sees Shimnack, and his bejeweled ship (in its little form), and his other things, in a clump together. Now he does have a way to help as he intended to do, so from Sable’s inventorying, Halfaz is immediately able to help everyone get the things they need, sending items wherever they should go.

(click to show/hide)

From this point onward, assume you have the stuff you need, with a big thankyou to Halfaz for getting it all there.

(click to show/hide)

Halfaz –

Read this spoiler but before you decide anything – or even react to it much – please finish reading the post to see what happens when Halfaz is… oop, no spoiler in the spoiler! You’ll see.

First, though you may not have time to change back this round, you still don’t need to spend an entire Standard Action on changing to sand to escape the staples. You and I originally looked at the standard Monster Manual III version of Harssaf, but there is a Harssaf in Oslecamo’s Monster Classes, supplied by VennDygrem. That version does much better with the speed of changing to sand. “At 8 HD, they may assume Sand Form as a move Action. At 11 HD, they may assume this form as a Swift action, and at 14 HD, they may assume it as an Immediate Action. At 10 HD, they may fly as normal for the spell.” So you can fly in sand form, and you can change as a Swift or Immediate Action if you choose to do so, which leaves you a Move Action and a Standard Action to move down the row and still have an Action left over to help get the stuff where it needs to go. Next round you can change back, if you choose, as an Immediate Action at the top of the round or on your turn as a Swift Action, and still have both a Move and Standard Action left to attack – even a Full Attack, which is your usual blade combat style – or whatever else you’d like to do. Check out the rest of the class features in the writeup; see if you like them, and feel free to use them. Anything in Oslecamo’s Monster Classes is fine here.

Second, I don’t want to play your character for you, so I just stuck with the direction you were taking with your actions for this round, which was to spend the round helping everyone else after you freed yourself from the wall – a great and selfless purpose, sounds just like Halfaz, and maybe the most useful thing you could do for the party in general (with the bonus that you get your own stuff too). However, if you’d like your actions in the round to go some other way (after all, you didn’t know you would have a Move and Standard Action left over after turning to sand), let me know and we’ll find a way to make it happen without a retro. Also, for the same reason I didn’t post exactly HOW you would get everyone their stuff while in sand form… that’s up to you; feel free to post it, if you’d like to stick with this plan. If you need some ideas, let’s talk, but I’m sure it’s do-able with the abilities and resources Halfaz has.

The two remaining Mariliths exchange glances; from Halt’s information on the Link, they communicate Telepathically. Then just before Gleron’s Fireball blossoms, one of them simply… disappears. She drops out of Tanatou’s Detect Evil, and even Truesight finds nothing where she was, or anywhere else nearby. She is gone from Star’s combat map too, Star reports (apparently she is keeping it in her head, even if she can’t share it on Arkesh’s link); the Marilith’s position is unknown. Star begins scanning the room carefully to see if she can pick up the Marilith’s Aura anywhere in sight range and get the creature back into her mapping calculations.

(click to show/hide)

Ptolemaeus – an opposed KOATB check to pick up where the Marilith went, Or you can choose to use the Silver Key, though you know it’s inherently less precise since it depends on your sight anyway, which has a smaller modifier than your KOATB modifier.

Anyone with Mindsight: You can make an opposed check too, using Spot.

A few reminders about Skill check buffs:

+5 Morale (from Ror), +10 Competence (from Ror), +2 Luck (from Janis)

The Morale and Competence bonuses from Star are less than Ror’s, and don’t stack, so you can ignore them.

For Skill checks there is no Time buff from Star, and roll once only – unless you choose to spend your one extra generally applicable d20 per round (from Star) on this particular roll.

Then Gleron’s Fell Frighten Fireball does blossom. With a dull roar, a ball of horrific flame engulfs the five… well, used to be five, a moment ago… Mariliths in a cluster roughly midway between where Ptolemaeus and Arkesh are standing, and where Gleron is casting. One Marilith finshed casting the flood of lava. Two were turned to dust by Ptolemaeus’ attack, but one of those was just reconstructed by the shaman. One has just disappeared. The fifth has not yet acted.

(click to show/hide)

There were seven Mariliths altogether, plus the Sheerak-faced Marilith. The sixth is singing two melodies, simultaneously somehow!!, in grating discord, standing against the wall and out of range, removing herself from the direct fray. The seventh has descended into Sable’s micro-world in The Pile of Stuff underneath Halt’s feet, where the nano-arms race, apparently, is on.

Not horrified, the Mariliths don’t seem even taken aback by the Fireball, though it does get the attention of the Marilith who brought forth the lava flood; she turns to face Gleron, with an evaluating gaze. The attention of the other Marilith standing is focused on the Witchlight Marauders twitching on the floor.

(click to show/hide)

Gleron rolled 1d20+15: 4 + 15, total 19, +2 Luck (from Janis… you may have forgotten about her after all this time but she hasn’t forgotten about you ) = 21

Apparently Gleron’s Spell Penetration of 21 for the Fireball didn’t have enough punch to force its way through the Mariliths’ Spell Resistance.

Then the emerald green whirlpool of enraged Dwarven spirits forms around the Mariliths: desecrators of Dumathoin’s temple; enthrallers of Dumathoin’s arch-clerics; and servants of Dumathoin’s maniacal Enemy; and its intensity grows as more and more spirits swarm into it. At first, all are Dwarves dressed like those from Bral, but soon Dwarven spirits in dress from many worlds and times add their rage and anguish to the whirlpool.

(click to show/hide)

Gleron’s Spell Penetration of 35 was far more than enough to get through to the Mariliths, and an N20 to boot. Hot stuff. Then Gleron’s percentile roll: a 58. Not truly spectacular, but still, better than average, so...

The faces of the two Mariliths still standing in the center of the emerald maelstrom seem like chiseled adamant, as they harden themselves against the emotional power raging around them. The circle of Dwarven spirits swells, its intensity growing. Soon it bursts the bounds that Gleron had set for it, expanding to fill the chamber and engulf every Marilith there, but none of the spirits claw at the party members or any others who have felt the Smith’s anvil.

However, when the swirling spirits reach Darayat, he feels a wrenching, and with a brilliant blue flash, a new flood of Dwarven spirits bursts forth from within the circle of his Ring, dressed in ancient but well-worked raiment, with fine Mithril axes and broad notched swords, mailed brimmed caps and steel shouldered long coats, tufted leggings and leatherbound shields. Darayat immediately recognizes them as Naugrim, Dwarves from the Uruk-Hais’ world, which he can send on the link. Fierce, or shamed, or resolute, or shattered, these Dwarves’ expressions vary, but all share in the rage of times long oppressed by Evil, and they join the circle too, a fresh impact upon the senses. Though the Naugrim are showering hateful glances on the Uruk-Hai, Gleron’s Spell is holding them focused on the Mariliths.

Though the two Mariliths ignore the swirling cloud of emerald Dwarven spirits, the spirits assail them, and a thousand pinpricks of bright green fade to inky blackness on their long, sinuous torsos. Star reports the damage on the link: pinpoints of Negative Energy.

(click to show/hide)

Gleron, roll 1d4 Negative Energy damage, which will apply to each of the Mariliths this round. Yes, this is stronger than the Ghost Storm you thought you cast, but… you sensed that anyway, by now, in channeling a Spell directly from the Smith. As Gleron well knows already, Dumathoin does not approve of others using the Dwarven dead, or of his clerics using Negative Energy, but does not hesitate to use them Himself, especially in guarding a stronghold.

And you can feel the Storm accelerating.

The third Marliith in the ghastly green cloud of spirits, the one formed and transformed by the Shaman, reacts quite differently. She stands up jerkily, wheels away from Ptolemaeus, and heedless of the Dwarven spirits who are likewise heedless of her, begins to lumber forward, first at a lurch, then at a run, straight toward Gleron and the shaman.

Now the Marliths take a turn at horror of their own... The fifth Marilith in the center of Gleron’s fading Fireball stares downward in intense concentration, and with a brief gesture, the downed Witchlight Marauders turn hale and whole. Then just before the renewed Witchlight Marauders begin to stand and focus their resumed attack, the Marilith gestures again, more broadly, her thirty fingers flickering in all directions, and… almost every member of the party, and every member of the band of Uruk-Hai, looking at each other, can see that they all look like… Elves!!

On the link, those with True Seeing can perceive the falseness, and Spellcraft can identify the effect as an incredibly talented, twinned casting of Illusion magic, Deceptive Façade, somehow expanded to affect nearly everyone across the cavern. In the whole party, besides Arkesh and Star, who already look like Elves, only Sable seems unaffected, which he can report on the link.

The Uruk-Hai roar in confusion at their sudden change in appearance as well as everyone else’s, but one of them barks attack orders, and he and three others leap forward, regardless of what they look like. As Gleron can tell from his host body’s knowledge of the language, the commander has taken quick stock of his own troops’ appearance, and sends them after the other Elves that the party has just become to his eyes; that’s what they came to this world to do – kill the Elves here, not each other (at least for now). Gleron can relay on the link that the commander ordered a strike on the two Elves at the Pile of Stuff, to keep them from getting their weapons… a bit too late… and a strike on the Margravine in the air, and on Ptolemaeus as a secondary, more distant target, to prevent them from unleashing a flood of damage again.

The first two Uruk-Hai race toward their intended victims, Halt the Elf, and Halfaz the Elf, who no longer looks like a pile of sand!

The Uruk-Hai charging Halt has an immensely outsized, craggy forehead, for an Elf, and rushes to head-butt Halt into the wall. Halt has prepared Arrow Mind to fire his bow as the charging Uruk-Hai closes with him, but finds that the warrior’s subtle shifts of weight and irregular stutter-step motions make it impossible to get off a clean shot. The Uruk-Hai ducks under the bow without missing a step and slams into Halt with enough force to send him through the wall into the next chamber beyond... or out into Wildspace.

(click to show/hide)

No AOO. The Uruk-Hai is high enough Level in his class to be unhittable with AOOs when he uses his Charge Attack with features special to the class, sorry. To anticipate the question, so is the one attacking Halfaz; no AOO there either.

(click to show/hide)

It’s a single attack which hits AC54 and does 150HP damage up front from the initial impact plus some further effects and more damage. Before we describe the outcome in a post, though, we want to check in with Halt about what special defenses, contingencies, or whatever else he might have, that could prevent events from taking their apparent course… so let’s discuss in the OOC.

The Uruk-Hai Elf attacking Halfaz races up onto the wall while sprouting tentacles from his back and, brandishing two shortswords, springs down onto Halfaz the Elf Pile of Sand. Despite the Uruk-Hai’s obvious bewilderment from landing on sand instead of an Elf, the shortswords and tentacles rise and fall so rapidly they are a blur of motion. For every slash and slap, the Uruk-Hai rocks with pain himself, and soon begins smoldering from the blazingly hot sand that is Halfaz. Partway through the attack, a silent explosion of Mirror shards in glorious rainbow colors blows outward from the combat, leaving the Uruk-Hai reeling in surprise, though he returns grimly to the attack again, much more effectively. Then at last the badly burned Uruk-Hai leaps away, back to the wall, becoming a blur himself.

(click to show/hide)

There were 10 attacks, hitting a variety of ACs; we think two missed. We have Halfaz’s AC as 30 on his Character Sheet, +6 Deflection (from Star), total 36. Is this correct?

Halfaz also has DR 10/Magic, DR 5/Bludgeon, and has the Wall of Mirror from Star which reflects the first 120HP of damage back on his attacker. The DR 10/Magic has no effect because the tentacles and weapons are Magical. The DR 5/Bludgeon does apply because none of the attacks were bludgeoning.

We have a total of 214HP damage, minus 40 from the DR 5/Bludgeoning for the 8 attacks that hit, minus 120HP from the Wall of Mirror that Star painted onto Halfaz (which were reflected back onto the Uruk-Hai instead); a net total of 54HP damage to Halfaz came through the defenses.

Meanwhile, the Uruk-Hai took 120HP reflected from the Mirror, plus 3d6 each time he touched Halfaz, from your Flaming Aura, correct? For 8 hits, this amounts to 24d6 Fire Damage. You almost always have the Flaminhg Aura up during combat (correct?), and can raise it as a Free Action, so your limit on Actions at this time is not relevant. I took the 3d6 from the Harssaf in Oslecamo’s Monster Classes, where each 5HD increases the damage by 1d6. If this is all correct, you can roll 24d6 damage on the Uruk-Hai.

Did we miss anything? Again, before we describe the outcome in a post we want to check in with Halfaz about what special defenses, contingencies, or whatever else he might have, that could prevent events from taking their apparent course… so let’s discuss in the OOC.

Suddenly, six of the stacked Proto-Emerald plates pick themselves up and launch toward Ptolemaeus the Elf in a flying leap of an attack, as if they will try to slam him into a smear on the Proto-Emerald floor. On the way, they begin dripping fire and vibrating to the discordant beats in the cacophonous Marilith’s song, just like the other weapons the Mariliths are wielding.

Two more of the Uruk-Hai leap into battle.

One has a headdress of vulture feathers and a sharp beak-like snout, much longer and sharper than usually found on an Elf. He takes to the air, and rushes toward the Margravine. A boulder-size gray globe appears in his hand; he flings it at the Margravine as he closes, and then circles her as he manifests and throws five more. Each of them vanishes on impact with a chilling moan of pain.

(click to show/hide)

There were 6 attacks, hitting a variety of ACs; we think two missed. We have the Margravine’s AC as 33 on the Character Sheet, +6 Deflection (from Star), total 39. Is this correct?

We have a total of 73HP damage, for the 4 attacks that hit.

The attack routine requires a single Save as long as at least one globe hit. Make a DC32 WILL Save vs. Fear. We have the Margravine as +5 vs Fear. There are also a lot of party buffs in operation:

+5 Morale (from Ror), +2 Luck (from Janis), +2 Time from Star, +6 Resistance (from Star), total +15… plus your own bonuses.

Also: 1 is not an automatic failure; and roll twice, take the better result; and finally, once per round you may roll a third time if necessary to make a Save.

Once again, before we describe the outcome in a post, we want to check in with the Margravine about what special defenses, contingencies, or whatever else she might have, that could prevent events from taking their apparent course… so let’s discuss in the OOC.

The fourth Uruk-Hai Elf also launches into the air; on the way up, he changes into a Dragon-Elf, an inky black shape of roiling viscous liquid in the shape of a Dragon… Elf. True Seeing, as reported on the link, shows the change to be true! (the Dragon part, not the Elf part) He first veers toward Ptolemaeus, but seeing the Proto-Emerald plates about to come crashing down, he decides to stay far away from Ptolemaeus and heads toward the wall instead, where Throisar the Elf is still hanging, the biggest target there. A tiny Elf is buzzing around Throisar, its cute little face in a fury. The liquid black form sails gracefully in, raking, biting, clawing at Throisar, helplessly stapled in place. Acid from the rain of attacks splashes all over the rocks, sizzling and smoking. When the vapors clear, the rocky face is pitted and scarred, largely melted away, and the staples are loosely clinging to Throisar’s neck, legs, and wherever else he was pinned. Throisar himself seems absolutely unharmed; the Uruk-Hai’s inky black Elf-face shows extreme agitation and dismay as he wheels away from his attack run.

(click to show/hide)

Ror, Darayat, you’re up next.

And Ror, you were about to summon an opponent to fight the Mariliths? A Balor? Or maybe a Pit Fiend who would be on the other side of the Blood War… or did I forget something? Whatever; have fun!

Initiative-related FYI to Ptolemaeus – For clarity: Those plates are not hitting till next round, in case we created a more imminent impression.


Initiative:
61 – Star
37 – Arkesh, Sable
36 – The Margravine
34 – Mariliths 3 & 5
33 – Ptolemaeus
32 – Uruk-Hai 2
29 – Marilith 4
28 – Halfaz
23 – Uruk-Hai Shaman
20 – Halt
19 – Gabriel, Marilith 1
18 – Marilith 2, Uruk-Hai 4 & 5
17 – Uruk-Hai 3, 1
16 – Ror
10 – Darayat

Also, for this round we’re going to add our missing players’ PCs to the end of the Initiative sequence, for others to play. You need all the help you can get. I’ll try PMing the players, though, to find out if they’d like to come back to the game now.

We have some time to deal with who will play them; not the DMs – they should be played by players until we retire them soon, at the end of this adventure segment, unless their original players return to the game.

To put them in some kind of order for this round, here are whatever numbers I could find. Next round we can put them in place.
23 – Vir (as most recently rolled by player)
17 – Throisar
17 – Throisar’s Tiamat-spawn, on the same Init
16 – Tanatou (as most recently rolled by player)
6 – Sheerak (as most recently rolled by player)
? – Sheerak-faced Marilith (Sable, your roll)

[MetroMagic]

The Vulture Uruk-Hai Elf circles around the Margravine Elf, having lobbed his exploding grey globes of pain and fear, and turns floating in midair to relish her panic.

Instead to his dismay he sees her defiance, despite the considerable damage he caused.

He turns again to wing his way back to the rest of his Uruk-Hai Elf troops still standing near Gleron the Elf, who are staring hard into the battle chaos seeking their opportunity to strike.

(click to show/hide)

Margravine, feel free to post your own flavor text reaction to the situation; I’m sure it will be delicate

It appears you’ve taken the full 73HP damage, at least until all of the Healing kicks in, that is floating around.  However, you are immune to the Fear effect the Uruk-Hai would normally cause.

From Ror, I count 5 Regeneration within 50 feet and 5 Fast Healing within 30 feet.

Within 40 feet from Star I count 2HP of damage conversion from Lethal to half as much Non-Lethal for each ally nearby, which is everyone except Gleron who is at the far end of the chamber: the Margravine herself, plus Arkesh, Ptolemaeus, Star, Halt, Halfaz, Darayat, Ror, Sheerak, Vir, Tanatou, Throisar, Tiamat-spawn, makes 13 (how appropriate), which equals 26HP of lethal damage turned to 13HP non-lethal.

[Harald]

If the Uruk was expecting to succour on fear, to glut itself on terror and the delicate fumes of dread... Well, to say the least, the result was unexpected.
Its target, the strange flying elf with her bow-less crossbow, the charred robes and the bloodied lips, thanks to a direct hilt from its boulders, was.... eerily calm. She should have  cowered in fear, or at least flinch from pain, from surprise, from the very fact that even nivisible and hidden she was spotted and hit so easily.
And she was still standing there. her hands dancing a perfect danse over her weapon, unscrewing the butt,  pulling out a black leathery bag, taking out of her quiver an other one, screwing the butt back, reloading.
She was...
Undeterred.
Somehow, through the eldritch means the creature used to perceive her prey, it felled her gaze , falling upon it, judging it. The Urük could feel in its guts a strange feeling , a quick shivering climbing back along its neck.
A strange, familiar feeling for any warrior, for any soldier, for any fighter worth its salt, the one you get when danger step close, especially when you know a warmachine is pointing in your general direction... yes, the same bad feeling when you know a ballista bolt is on the way of your general direction.

At the very same moment, the cold, precise thoughts of the Margravine wer inexorably grinding at a clockwork, regular implacability, sharing any information of note she was perceiving from the ever changing chaos of the battlefield.
<Damage report: nothing debilitating, I am still fully operationnal and battle ready. Going back to return in all-clear situation in a few seconds.
Hypothesis : this forced elvish disguised is a decoy. I do think, knowing that Marauders were created to fight Elves, it is a ploy to sick them on us now that their handler is annihilated.
information of note : these orks seem to be able to spot invisible  and/or hidden opponents. Some of them at least try to wield Fear as a an auxillary weapon.
They tried to scare me, the miserable fools.I will show them the true meaning of Terror.
I am Nightmare.
I am... DEATH ! ">

[MetroMagic]

(click to show/hide)

                       

[sirpercival]

The thick-headed Uruk-Hai races toward Halt with the force of a charging bull. He has set up a direct line between himself, Halt, and Throisar pinned to the wall. However, at the last moment, the colossal dragon which had been another Uruk-Hai flies in the same direction, and the running Uruk-Hai adjusts his angle with a grunt of frustration.

Then he slams into Halt, the impact echoing through the chamber and eliciting a grunt of pain from the archer. However, strangely considering how fast the Uruk-Hai was running, the blow doesn't seem to break any of Halt's ribs or limbs.  Halt does, however, soar across the room in a graceful arc, the Uruk-Hai's momentum transferred entirely into his motion.

At first it seems like Halt will crash into the tangle of scaled limbs and claws that is Throisar and the transformed Uruk-Hai, but he drifts to the side and hits the stone wall, hard, between Darayat and Ror. Rubbles goes flying as a section of the chamber wall is destroyed.

When the dust clears, Ror is standing free, and the rock to which he had been stapled almost entirely pulverized. Darayat stands as well, a little unsteadily - staples still hold his arms and legs to four misshapen lumps of stone that threaten to overbalance him with their weight.

Meanwhile, Halt and the majority of the rubble continue on their path through the wall of the chamber. The space outside is black, lit by the twinkle of countless stars; in their soft glow, the wreck of the Rock of Bral spins lazily in a widening sphere of debris. Halt's unconscious form glides gracefully between chunks of asteroid the size of buildings, miraculously escaping further harm.

The dust cloud from the giant explosion has expanded to define an oblate ellipsoid around the ruins. Halt slows as he nears the edge, where fist-sized pieces of rock drift over the border and float away. Just before reaching the boundary, he sinks towards an invisible plane, then begins to curve back toward the underside of the battle chamber.

Halt's eyes remain closed.

(click to show/hide)

So, Halt takes 150 and then 54 nonlethal damage. Yay for regeneration! However, once he crashes through the wall, he's out of range of Ror's ritual, so he doesn't heal it at the sped-up rate. That leaves him unconscious... and also in another place, which MM will continue on Halt's character thread.

(If you were wondering, the 66 was pretty good, and let Halt not hit anything else on the way out, and not go out past the edge of the gravity & air envelope.)

Ror is free just in time to act. Darayat has a few initiative counts to figure out if he wants to try and lose the staples & rock, or just deal with them...

MM and I had a discussion about how 3.5 regeneration works; the upshot is that the regeneration provided by Ror's ritual is only bypassed by First Age damage sources. Ror knows this; I'm not sure if he's shared the information with the good party (he certainly hasn't said anything about it to the evil party...).

[phaedrusxy]

(click to show/hide)

So he's out of our sight now? Gabriel should still be able to sense that he's alive via Magic Jar, right? (unless he's too far away, range 250') If he's not out of sight, Gabriel will grab him via Telekinesis on his turn.

Edit: Gabriel will use the once/round free action to rid himself of that pesky "Dazed" condition from using Celerity.

[MetroMagic]

Gabriel senses for Halt's location as he drops from view, and quickly discovers that Halt is swinging around to pass underneath the cavern in a very flat elliptical path; he should be directly below shortly. Apparently Halt is orbiting the cavern's flat gravity plane! The info can go on the link.

Edit: tpyo

[FireInTheSky]

As the dust clears, Ror, who had been merged with his companion into a 25' tall winged behemoth wreathed in purple flame, grows again, this time to nearly 60' tall! His pure emerald armor is unscathed by the flames covering him, but his now-gigantic axe burns purple as well. His wings flap, and he lifts into the air, moving to a position in the middle of the cavern, where he can physically reach as many of the witchlights, mariliths, and uruk-hai as possible - but above all, making sure all of the witchlights are within reach. (EDIT: For clarity, target  priority is: Witchlights > Anyone we've seen cast > Other Mariliths > Other Uruk-hai)

His face set with grim determination, Ror explodes in a flurry of motion, his axe striking at every enemy within his enormous reach, purple flames flying everywhere, interspersed with more flame bursts of brilliant emerald.

(click to show/hide)

Increased two size categories from Huge to Colossal due to Ritual of Size.
Used extra move action from Ritual of Speed to move into position.
Full Attack = 3 attacks from BAB + 2 additional attacks from Ritual of Mastery
Discharge an Advanced Time Vortex, and use the extra full-round action on another Full Attack
Due to the Saint ability "Fair Fight," every melee attack hits every enemy I can reach (for each attack, roll once and compare to all ACs)

Attack Rolls
Notes:
  *If I hit a Marilith, use the "Saint Alignment Damage: Outsider" roll, otherwise (Uruk-hai / Witchlight) use the "Non-Outsider" roll.
  *The waraxe is x3 crit, so if R1A1, R2A1 confirmed, and R2A2 and R2A4 hit and were confirmed, then...


Also... no nat20s.

(click to show/hide)

(click to show/hide)

Str 22 (+6) = 16 normal + 6 ritual
Dex 20 (+5) = 8 normal +6 bloodfusion +6 ritual
Con 29 (+9) = 19 normal +4 bloodfusion +6 ritual
Int 26 (+8) = 26 normal -2 bloodfusion +2 ritual
Wis 18 (+4) = 16 normal +2 ritual
Cha 11 (0) = 9 normal +2 ritual

(click to show/hide)

HD: 17d8+68 (max) +80 bloodfusion +34 BF Con +51 Ritual Con
HP: 369

(click to show/hide)

• Regeneration 5 (bypassed by 1st age damage sources)
• Fast Healing 5
• DR 2/-
• DR/Good OR Evil OR Axiomatic OR Anarchic = 8 (1/2 HD)
• Immune to [Cold]
• Fire Resistance: 17
• Acid/Electricity/Sonic Resistance: 5

Saves:

• Fortitude +34 = +21 normal +2 BF Con +3 Rit Con +6 Resistance Rit +2 Competence Rit
  
• Reflex +24 = +10 normal +3 BF Dex +3 Rit Dex +6 Resistance Rit +2 Competence Rit
  
• Will +28 = +21 normal +1 Rit Wis +6 Resistance Rit

(click to show/hide)

• +2 vs. Spells and SLAs
• Immune to Sleep effects
• -2 to saves vs. [Water] subtype
• Don't auto-fail on a 1
• 1/rd roll a save twice and choose the better result
• 1/rd remove one of the following conditions from yourself: blinded, dazed, dazzled, deafened, exhausted, fatigued, frightened, nauseated, shaken, sickened, stunned.
• Immunity to curses, disease, and poison.
• Immune to mind-affecting effects to which you are not willing.
• The source suffers 1d4+2 Int, Wis, and Cha damage and 1 point of Int, Wis, and Cha burn.
Immune to energy drain and negative levels.

Armor Class:

• Normal = 47 (+9 armor +6 shield -1 Dex -1 Trait +5 Ring +4 Black Leather)(+3 BF Dex +3 Rit Dex +5 BF Nat -8 size +6 Rit Nat +6 Rit Deflection)
  
• Touch = 21 (+4 Ghost Ward -1 Dex -1 Trait +5 Ring)(+3 BF Dex +3 Rit Dex -8 size +6 Rit Deflection)
  
• Flat-footed = N/A (Can't be caught flat-footed)

(click to show/hide)

• 75% chance to negate critical hits or precision damage
• 75% miss chance (from displacement-like effect)
  
  • Any opponent who misses due to this is stunned for one round.
• Snatch Arrows feat
• Whenever any creature deals damage to me, that creature takes the same type and amount of damage.
• Any time I’m hit in melee by a natural or non-reach weapon, the attacker takes Bloodfire damage (pure arcane energy, not subject to Damage Reduction/Resistance/Immunity): 7d10, Fort Save for 1/2  (DC 29)

Initiative: +14 (-1 Dex, +2 Trait)(+3 BF Dex +3 Rit Dex +3 Rit Enhancement +4 Rit Competence)
Senses: Low-light Vision, Darkvision 60’, Touchsight 120'
Speed: 130’, Fly 50' (avg)
BAB/Grapple: +14 / +40 (17 normal +3 Rit Str +20 size)
Attacks:  see here

(click to show/hide)

Size: Colossal (-8 to AC/attack); For grapple checks, count as Colossal+
Skills: +3 to Str-based, +6 to Dex-based, +5 to Con-based, +1 to Wis-based, +1 to Cha based; +10 competence to all
Rituals Save DC:+5 to Bloodfire Seeker
Action Economy Breakage

• Extra move action per round on my turn
• 8x Least Time Vortex
• 3x Advanced Time Vortex
• 4x Lesser Time Vortex
• 8x Least Time Vortex

Full Round = 3 2
Move = 3
Swift = 11

Other Good Stuff!!!

• 1/rd, +5 insight bonus to a single d20 roll as an immediate action, and treat the die roll as a natural 20.
• +4 competence bonus on all opposed checks and rolls. This bonus cannot increase your modifier to greater than the highest modifier of all others participating in the opposed check.

[MetroMagic]

(click to show/hide)

I'm titling this post:

Saint Ror The Axe of Dumathoin: Just How Far Does His Axe Reach?

The cavern is at least 80 feet high, 60 wide, and 120 long.

Not disputing Ror's description of being 60 feet in height (because he is, he's that cool), I think we worked out that for a battle approximation using the d20SRD RAW stats for Colossal, Ror's reach is 90 feet in diameter, a 30 foot center plus 30 in all directions; since he's flying, it's a sphere with a 45 foot radius.

The sphere intersects with the plane of the floor, producing a circle. The closer the center of the sphere is to the floor, the bigger the circle, meaning the more reach to enemies on the floor. We could factor in how tall they are, but that's too much bother; besides, what if they duck?

So, I calculate like this:

The radius of the sphere of Ror's reach is 45 feet, forming the hypotenuse of a right triangle at any point where the sphere intersects the plane of the floor (which is bigger than the actual floor - infinite, in fact). The perpendicular from the center of the sphere to the floor forms one side of that right triangle; it's also Ror's altitude above the floor, measured from his center. The other side of the right triangle is the radius of the circle on the floor, which we can solve for with A**2 + B**2 = C**2, given any particular altitude.

An altitude of 15 feet seems kind of small, for someone Ror's size to get a good swing, and it also puts him unnecessarily close to his enemies, lying on them in fact, since he occupies 30 feet at this size (crushing damage, anyone?). The resulting circle has a radius of 42.4 feet , if I did my arithmetic correctly.

An altitude of 20 feet seems about right for a minimum, keeping Ror a standard 5 foot distance above enemies, again intentionally ignoring their height, and results in a circle with a radius of 40.3 feet - it doesn't give away much reach. For those uncomfortable with ignoring the enemies' height, note that Ror's 30 foot approximate size curves away from the floor; in this geometric model, Ror is 5 feet above the floor only at a single point that lies on the aforementioned perpendicular, and then curves upward to be further and further away. So much for spherical approximations of characters. 

If my 4:00am geometry and arithmetic are right, and Ror and SirP both like this choice, I suggest we go with a circle of just over 80 feet in diameter for Ror's reach to ground locations, measured from the middle of the chamber directly below him (from the aforementioned perpendicular).

Since the chamber is 60 feet across, Ror can cover it more than wall to wall at the center, and for some distance out from the center. How far out? I think it's another right triangle projected on the floor, with therefore a 40 foot radius, 30 foot side (half the distance across the chamber, which is the length of the chord across the floor-level circle); and solving for the other side gives 26.5 feet. Ror covers the chamber side to side for 26.5 feet along the wall in each direction, or 53 feet of wall out of about 120 (pretending the chamber is more or less rectangular, which it's not, but these are estimates anyway despite the exacting arithmetic). Beyond 53 feet, the circle of Ror's reach, as projected onto the floor, curves away from the wall.

So:

Ror reaches all the Witchlights, since they are near enough to the center of the room.

Ror reaches all the Mariliths near the center of the room, and we have these exceptions: except the one singing against the wall partway down since she's more than 26.5 feet, she was staying away from the center on purpose; and the one under the pile of stuff since Ror doesn't know where she is; and the one who disappeared because Ror doesn't know where she is either. And the Marilith who grew legs and is running toward the shaman and Gleron started moving a while ago; she's probably just out of range. Given the weirdness that results in resolving what ought to be continuous overlapping action in 3.5, she would be.

Since the chamber is 120 feet long, and the Uruk-Hai who have not yet moved are near one end - including Gleron and the shaman - they are about 60 feet away, or at mimimum, likely greater than 40 feet, and therefore a little out of range. However, the 4 Uruk-Hai who moved up to attack Halt, Halfaz, the Margravine, and Throisar, are well within range of Ror; he reaches them.

I'll leave it to SirP to calculate damage results, based on the enemies' characteristics.

And to check my geometry and arithmetic. Ror, or anyone, feel free to chime in on that too. I have rough sketches I just did for my own clarity; I could scan and post if necessary. Or you can have fun drawing your own, following my logic to test if it holds up under scrutiny.

EDIT: d20SRD link

[MetroMagic]

(click to show/hide)

Ptolemaeus’ KoATB roll for the Lost Marilith:
Rolled 1d20+55 : 10 + 55, total 65

Woo Hoo! The Marilith has a GREAT Hide check, but she’s no 65!!! Take that, you pile of… well, read on, you’ll find out what she is a pile of

PS. With a 65, you have crossed over into the edge of the deep secrets, which by now you probably have guessed must start around 60.

You have not only located her, you have cracked the even more deeply hidden information about how she came to be where she is, and hidden so well; you know how she did it. I'll leave it to SirP to post some info IC about Ptolemaeus' Knowledge drawn from the Marilith's character build. She's secretly totally awesome, and you have just found her out, at least in part.

When the Marilith disappears completely, even to Truesight, and Star’s warning comes on the link that the creature has dropped off her sight as well, Ptolemaeus too begins scanning the area looking for the telltale threads of Time that few others can see… Gleron, on the link, can hear this, but hasn’t yet had the practice with his newly found Timesight to be able to follow someone so subtle that even Star has lost track.

It quickly becomes evident that the Marilith’s Timeline has been obscured by… something, whether Magic or some other ability. Star has already abandoned a Timeline search, and the wild gyre of snapping Timelines from the explosion vortex aftermath is still producing so much flux that it’s near impossible for Ptolemaeus to get a clear view of anything, much less an obscured Timeline.

Star has switched to a completely different approach, she has told the link; she is searching for the telltale Aura of the Marilith’s energy pattern.

Ptolemaeus switches tactics too. Almost every creature is bound to Time in some way, and so information about them is present to access from anywhere in Time, for those who can sense it. He no longer is looking for the Marilith directly, in Time or otherwise, nor is he using Divination Magic to try to locate her, as Truesight does. Instead, he settles his mind into Time itself, sifting for the information that must be there which will reveal her whereabouts, if she is anywhere Time touches.

The stack of ProtoEmerald plates rises into the air above Ptolemaeus, poised to crush him, and just after the impacts of Saint Ror’s axe blows shake the cavern, Ptolemaeus has it; the knowledge from Time floods into his mind. Of course, there the Marilith is, hiding in the plates themselves!

At nearly the same instant, Star spots the telltale Aura; the movement of the plates drew Star’s attention too, and Star adds that the Marilith has bound her Aura into the plates; the deformation of the Aura matches a Possession. The Marilith somehow has taken Possession of the plates, though they have no Soul. This is no mere animation. The Marilith has *become* the plates…

…and ProtoEmerald is indestructible.

[phaedrusxy]

Gleron thinks across the link <Well... if she got in there, maybe I can kick her out and replace her...> and searches for the signature of her soul in the plates... so he can move his own into them (and eat hers).

[MetroMagic]

This draws a chuckle from Star on the link. < You know I don’t approve of your methods, but I appreciate the irony... I don’t approve of everything Janis does either, but I’ve been friends with her for nearly as long as I’ve known Winston.

You’ll need all of Janis’ luck and more, though, to eat this one.

An interesting experiment!! >

The crackles of light cascading from Star’s hair take on an extra frenzy of anticipation, her excitement passing beyond mere battle exhilaration... Both of them.

As Star places the image of the Marilith’s Aura pattern on the link, carefully so that she does not overload Arkesh, she highlights the twisting, gripping compression that is quite familiar to Gleron which is the telltale of a Possession; the Aura looks stuffed into the plates even while entwined and gripping them tightly, just as his own must look, stuffed inside the Uruk-Hai and taking hold of the creature so strongly for complete control.

Gleron can see that the Marilith is spread across the six plates, holding them as if to form a single six-limbed creature ready to attack with all six, fitting the nature of its own Aura better than another configuration.

The image is like a tiny section of the Combat Map, showing just the Proto-Emerald plates with the Marilith’s Aura, projected into an overlay of their location in the chamber. The Aura looks much like what is visible from a casting of Know Alignment, but without the interpretive information the Spell provides; this is just its raw, pure energy.

Star does not attempt to refresh the image continuously in realtime (or ahead of realtime); instead she provides an update every few moments so that Arkesh as the relay point can think about other things in the meanwhile.

The movement of the Marilith’s Aura across the Possessed plates takes on a slow stroboscopic effect for anyone who is merging the two visuals, the one they can see and the one on the link, as the plates move in visual realtime to any observer’s eyes, with the Marilth’s Aura flash, flash, flashing within and across them every few moments.

< There she is, for all of us to see, and attack… I doubt she’s expecting to be so visible. > Star chuckles again, more grimly.

< She’s invulnerable to physical damage, so we’ll have to try other methods. > Star’s eyes are dancing, and her floating feet dance a bit too, as she awaits the outcome of Gleron’s ‘experiment’.

[sirpercival]

Hovering in the air just above his enemies, St. Ror The Axe Of Dumathoin brings his axe down in a pulverizing smash on the nearest Witchlight Marauder directly below him. The axe strike shatters the air in a thunderous peal, and a brilliant emerald wave spreads out, trailing purple flame, in a circle that washes across everyone within striking distance, foe and friend, an eighty foot globe of destruction.

Nearly every single enemy in Ror’s sight is devastated by the blow, though it washes harmlessly across everyone else.

One of the Mariliths is suddenly gone, and as Gleron and Ptolemaeus see her step across Time in a burst of Celerity trailing blue-gray smoky afterimages, she reappears not far from her singing companion at the far end of the chamber, and very near to the Uruk-Hai who are readying their rush to attack.

The other Marilith within the eighty foot globe is ripped and shredded, beginning to come apart. A flood of dark green ichorous blood washes across the floor and spreads into a deadly lake around her, but incredibly she seems to ignore her destruction and glares up at him with renewed malevolence, clearly plotting her next move.

The fifteen Tertiary Witchlight Marauders stagger in their tracks, deflected from launching themselves toward all the Elves they now apparently see. As the wave of emerald violence and purple bloodfire rips into them, rending skin to the bone, every single one of them erupts in an answering wave of purple fire of their own that races back up the emerald wave and blasts into St. Ror; then races back down the wave in a wild, chaotic oscillation and blasts the Witchlight Marauders anew, sending them reeling in surprise. The Mirror finish painted onto Ror crazes into thousands of tiny cracks, then shatters spectacularly, a glitter of rainbow shards billowing across the chamber in every direction. St. Ror feels the pain of bloodfire sear his flesh as the tail end of the entire ball of purple sinks in, with the majority reflecting back from the shattering Mirror onto the Witchlight Marauders who sent it.

The four Uruk-Hai within the globe are blasted toward the ceiling, floor, walls, whatever is nearest, by the shattering force of the emerald wave spreading out from the axe, and are singed to the bone by purple bloodfire. They stagger, but hold their positions in the gale of destruction.

Then St. Ror raises his axe again, and it comes down for a second terrible smash, another emerald wave with purple flame racing out from the point of impact. Again there is an echoing burst of purple flame from the Witchlight Marauders in a backlash along the wave, contracting into a ball of brilliant purple to immolate Ror. The pain of the bloodfire is much stronger this time, but as St. Ror burns, yet another roar of purple flame bursts from emerald sigils in the air around him and blasts the Witchlight Marauders in turn.

They all still stand.

Three of the Uruk-Hai are tossed helplessly against the walls and ceiling behind them, falling into crumpled heaps, but in a moment they stand again, contorting their faces into defiant sneers and pointing at Ror in mockery. The fourth Uruk-Hai shrugs off the blow again.

And again St. Ror raises his axe, and again it comes down in a wash of emerald and purple destruction, feeding back to the Witchlight Marauders once more. The bloodfire cloud contracts against St. Ror, burning him to the bone and once again races back into the Witchlight Marauders; St. Ror feels nearly spent, and still they stand, torn flesh hanging from scorched bones. It's clear that lesser creatures would have perished, but the Marauders are beings of pure destruction, designed to withstand even the most punishing circumstances.

The ripped Marilith curses from what is left of her throat, a deep guttural sound from the depths of the Abyss. Gleron could translate, but knows it’s best not to repeat it, on the link or anywhere else in the hearing of living mortals.

All four of the Uruk-Hai in the emerald globe, and the rest of them still alive in the room, gape in horror. In their shock they barely notice the fresh damage they have taken, though the bleeding wounds and burning flesh look near-fatal on several.

And once again St. Ror raises his axe. The purple-emerald flash seems to slice like the reaper's scythe, threshing the life from Dumathoin's enemies with an inevitable finality. This time, at last, the Witchlight Marauders explode in purple fire. This time, at least, the Witchlight Marauders are… gone!... their substance unwinding into blinding emerald tracery, then fading like spent embers spiraling away in a breath of wind.

But the final blow has taken its toll on St. Ror, as the fourth cloud of bloodfire from the expiring Witchlights engulfs him in purple flame. The enormous dwarf crashes to the ground with a groundshaking thud, and lies still, though he continues to breathe.

All four of the Uruk-Hai who had been in range of the deadly Axe remain standing, in various states of disrepair. Three seem to be on their last legs, while the fourth (who had knocked Halt out of the cavern) seems not much worse for the wear. The Marilith, on the other hand, is shredded nearly beyond recognition, her skeletal remains holding bits of tattered flesh in place and the lake of ichor around her baked to dust by bloodfire, but she still stands, seeming more annoyed than pained, eyeing the fallen St. Ror with the only eye she still has.

The remaining Mariliths and Uruk-Hai seem momentarily stunned by the sudden, near-instantaneous destruction of the Witchlight Marauders, and a hush settles on the chamber as the echoes of emerald thunder dampen to silence.

(click to show/hide)

St. Ror took 404 damage from the Witchlight's bloodfire (including the effects of reflection from the Mirror spell, and an automatic save for half damage, since he can't miss the DC and doesn't fail on a 1). Half of it was lethal damage -- seems that the Witchlight's bloodfire carries some measure of the First Age through their veins, but the effect is not total.

We just did average damage for the bloodfire, since that would have been ridiculous to roll that many dice, even via the Dice Rolling thread.

Also note that Ror has not yet used his full-round action from whichever Time Vortex that was from.

The lull is short-lived, however. The escaping Marilith, momentarily distracted by St. Ror's vortex of destruction, has placed herself near to the cluster of Uruk-Hai which have not yet acted. There's a shout which to Gleron's ear resolves as a military-style order, and then three of the creatures separate from the group. They are slightly shorter than the others, with long arms and legs corded with ropy muscle. They move in lockstep, bounding across the cracked cavern floor to take up position around the isolated Marilith, and brandish two squat, wide-bladed knives apiece.

Moving with incredible coordination, the Uruk-Hai systematically tear into the Marilith. One lashes out with its knife in a brutal arc, drawing a line of ichor across the Marilith's torso, and flinging it backwards into the paired blades of the other two. The Marilith spins to face another, and the sequence is repeated over and over again, soon accompanied by cries of pain and alarm from the six-armed demon.

After 5 full revolutions, the Uruk-Hai show no signs of slowing, but the Marilith is in very bad shape. She curses in a guttural tongue and concentrates, and a number of wounds stop bleeding and close… but the Uruk-Hai simply redouble their efforts, and in short order the Marilith is lying in pieces on the ground.

The remaining Mariliths seem shocked into silence by the almost clinical way in which the Uruk-Hai dismantled their companion, and another momentary hush fills the cavern.

(click to show/hide)

Quick roll call.

There are 4 Mariliths remaining, all of whom have acted. There are 9 Uruk-Hai remaining, of whom 7 have acted; three are very beat up.

There are no Witchlight Marauders remaining.

Demogorgon is… somewhere.

Darayat, you're up.

[MetroMagic]

As Halt passes through the wall, and falls below the gravity plane into orbit, Star is looking through the wall and reporting Halt’s welfare on the link.

However, Star sees Halt drop out of sight suddenly; as everyone now knows, she was tracking him for her Combat Map even if she’s not broadcasting the map, so Star knows Halt vanished from all sight… or at least from all of *her* sight, which she also passes onto the link.

Ptolemaeus also finds that Halt is unknown to KOATB and his Timeline has vanished, of course, and Ptolemaeus can infer that Halt must be unbound from Time, from a certain point forward, with uncertainty after.

Immediately following with Astral Sight, Star does not see any spiritual entity or path forming to an Outer Plane at the point where Halt vanished; he isn’t simply dead, for then his spiritual energy Aura would be visible; nor did Halt’s Life Energy look too low for him to survive, just before he vanished from her various Sights.

All the information can go on the link.

[Bozwevial]

Darayat's mind whirls as fragments of memories that aren't his clamor for attention. Pinpricks of inspiration sear images of vast, intricate contraptions into his mind- but as the echo of Ror's attack starts to fade, he pushes them aside for another cast-off soul. Calmer but no less inspiring, it murmurs wordless encouragement as he grasps the oddly familiar grip of a bulky handgun and slots one of his wands into a groove along the top.

Stepping just so, Darayat reaches Ror's side in a few steps, flickering through the intervening space without actually crossing most of it. (The question of how, exactly, he just walked through some higher-dimensional space is one for later.) Raising his newfound firearm, he snaps off a flurry of shots toward the Uruk-Hai. Large silver orbs erupt from the gun barrel as he mutters a few hurried incantations and mentally commands the short, ornate staff in his other hand. The device whines as he pushes its energy past any safety limits it might have had, but despite the faint wisps of smoke trailing off the end, the light that emerges sinks into Ror's body and starts to attack the burns the saint received from the Marauders.

Not waiting to see the results of his healing, Darayat turns back to the Uruk-Hai and fires again, every fiber of his will bent on seeing these creatures answer for what they've done.

(click to show/hide)

It's only fitting that now my power's back on, I should try to light up the Uruk-Hai as well.

Burning my first swift action on a full Belt of Battle so I can move over to Ror. With 70' move speed and Blink up, that should easily be doable without provoking any AoOs.

Using Hawthorne Flurry gets me a full attack action worth of spells, so that's 4 from one of my wands there. Spare the Rod stance lets me trigger the staff in my off-hand as part of the same action, and I'll burn an inspiration point to change that to a CL 15 Heal for Ror. Meanwhile, I'm using those 4 wand casts for 4 Orbs of Force, starting with the weakest looking Uruk-Hai and moving on as they drop. (If they drop.) Each one of those gets an inspiration point pushed toward attack rolls just to be safe.

Finally, with the other standard action from the belt and my second swift action (thank you, Dungeonjammer!), I'll fire off one last Orb of Force alongside Scarlet Battle Mandala, beefed up with Cunning Aim. That one automatically hits and threatens a critical hit, so let me roll all these dice now that I've totaled up all the miscellaneous bonuses and see where that leaves me.

...well, no criticals to speak of in the initial barrage, but those are all touch attacks so here's hoping they hit! The dice thread says the following: 55 attack/49 damage, 50 attack/42 damage, 62 attack/44 damage, 51 attack/62 damage, and then the Scarlet Battle Orb has a confirmation roll of 66 and 69+47=116 damage. That's all force damage, and the extra damage on the last one should apply regardless of any immunity to critical hits they might have.

Total resources expended: 4 wand charges, 3 staff charges, 6 inspiration points, the last of my fraying sanity, Hawthorne Flurry, and Scarlet Battle Mandala. Darayat awaaaaaaaay