Neillos looks to Asani "Nah, they won't be complaining to badly. Most of their flesh is in tact rather well.... Well, except that one." He motions to the decapitated one.
"Well... What's our next move? Me? I'm unimpressed this far."
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Neillos looks to Asani "Nah, they won't be complaining to badly. Most of their flesh is in tact rather well.... Well, except that one." He motions to the decapitated one.
"Well... What's our next move? Me? I'm unimpressed this far."
Cage coughs a bit and spits a mouthful of blood onto the ground and takes a deep breath. Much better, thank you. I often wonder why I bother wearing armor at all. Well Hiram, you're running the show here. Where should we start? There's got to be hundreds of thousands if not millions of souls to sift through.
"You're getting just a bit ahead of yourself now, lad. We've got to reach the city before we can begin sifting. Speaking of which, let's get moving. Being in the city means we'll have to sift through a lot of souls to find our mark, but with any luck the angels'll have to do some sifting to find us, too." With a nod to the others, Hiram begins trudging towards the city on the mountain in the distance.
SpoilerFrom here on out Hiram is keeping both minor/major auras active and is using Bolstering Voice stance; everybody gets +1 to attack, +5 damage on flank attacks, +2 on Will saves (+4 vs. fear).
Toryn looks down to the defeated angels and says, "One last thing... You said th' gate 'claimed' a couple of our mates on th' way through... There anythin' we can do for 'em at this point?"
After getting that answer, he looks up to Hiram. "Sounds 'bout right. Lets get movin'."
As they start moving, he looks to Asani and says, "By-th'-by, I got a bit of a scratch in that scuffle... You still got that healy-stick? Might be a good idea t' keep in top shape for when more of 'em come 'round."
Asani nods at Toryn, smiling. "Of course." She pulls out a Wand of Cure Light Wounds. Holding it to the halfling's forhead, a soft glow spreads from it into him. "How's that?"
Spoiler
Wand of CLW
[roll0]
"I doubt much can be done for them now," the angel replies, "Even if you could retrieve them, chances are they would be... changed by now..."
SpoilerUnless, of course, either of their players returns, in which case the character will have miraculously survived. Hooray!
You set off through the heavenly orchard towards the distant Golden City. You see celestial animals of all sorts frolicking in the woods, but none of them make any aggressive moves towards you unless you provoke them. For expediency's sake, I'll assume you don't provoke them.
Your path turns into an humble but neatly kept dirt track as you move deeper into the celestial forest. At the same time you enter a band of flowering trees. Their unearthly beauty is magnificent, and the scent which surrounds you is sweeter than the finest perfume your noses have ever sniffed. The wildlife here continues to behave in a perfectly benign manner.
As you travel on you leave behind the flowering trees and enter a stand of supernaturally large and strong cedars. The dense canopy over your heads doesn't block the plane's heavenly radiance, however, and the underbrush here is, if anything, even denser than before. Even the great trees themselves are swathed in mosses and ivy. About five minutes or so after you enter the cedar forest the dirt track you have been traveling on fades into the forest floor.
It is then that the plants under your feet spring to unexpected life. Hiram is completely entangled by a roadside bush. Only Toryn and Cage notice the motion of the vines which hang from the two towering trees on either side of the path before they strike.
The lowdown:
SpoilerThe entire map, and a bit more, is affected by Entangle, as the spell. Only Hiram failed his reflex save, but movement speeds are still halved.
Only Toryn, Cage, and the Celestial Assassin Vines will act during the surprise round.
Surprise round initiative is as follows:
17 Toryn
11 Cage
3 Vines
Subsequent rounds will go in this order:
20 Zurktz
17 Toryn
17 Hiram
13 Neillos and Friends
11 Cage
11 Asani
3 Vines
The map:
Cage
As the vines creep and crawl around, Cage's back in quickly enveloped in shadow, and sprouts the wings of his beast...but thats it. he gets himself off the ground and draws his sword.
Toryn growls at the sudden appearance of the vines. "So now even th' decorations are after us? This whole trip's gonna suck, innit?" He takes a quick step forward and gathers shadows into his body, before launching a quick kick at the vines, forcing the shadows into them, draining them of their strength. He also shifts his stance to a more defensive posture.
SpoilerSTATUSSpoilerHP: 65/67, AC: 26 (Touch 20, FF 20)
Effects: Child of Shadow
Actions:
Free: 5 foot step west
Swift: Shift to Child of Shadow stance (20% concealment after 10 feet of movement)
Standard: Strength Draining StrikeSpoilerStrength Draining Strike attack/damage: (1d20+16=18, 1d4+6=9)
If it hits, the creatures take 4 strength damage, fort save DC 15 for half.
Your blow connects, but it glances off the vine's thick skin. The plant still seems undamaged.
Map:
Since manifesting those wings was a standard action for Cage, it's time for the vines to strike.
The vine to the right lashes out at Zurktz, while the vine to the left attempts to ensnare the halfling who attacked it.
SpoilerR Vine:
Att: [roll0]
Dam: [roll1]
Grap. Check (Imp. Grab): [roll2]
L Vine:
Att: [roll3]
Dam: [roll4]
Grap. Check (Imp. Grab): [roll5]
I knew using two of these was a bad idea. I should have stuck to one. Like I said, don't be too surprised if they begin to get weaker in proportion to how hard a time you're having with them.
On the other hand, Zurktz, look at your good fortune there! Critical miss!
While the vine to the left succeeds in striking the halfling, the right vine somehow manages to miss the flat-footed orc.
SpoilerIt's Zurktz's turn, then. I need a grapple check from Toryn, too, though I can't really imagine it going well. Sorry, man.
SpoilerSince I have the Easy Escape skill trick, I get a +4 for each size catagory it is bigger than medium. It looks like that's 3, so +12.
Escape from grapple: (1d20+31=41) Unless it rolling a 1 means it gets some penalties to that check, that means it STILL wins.
Also, attack bonus of +25? Excluding fumbles, that hits everyone on the party on a 1. If you wanted to kill us, you should have just used rocks man; it's more subtle. <<
Disregard almost everything that's happened so far. I'm recalculating these guys' stats. Then we'll have another go at this.
The situation now:
Initiative remains as previously listed.
Hiram is still entangled... Sorry, man, the CR 3 Assassin Vine could've done it to you.
Toryn's strike breaks through the outermost layer of the vine's fleshy stem, and a bead of sap wells up from within the plant. Injured, it mindlessly lashes out at its attacker with full holy force.
Attack: [roll0]
Damage (Smite): [roll1]
Imp. Grab: [roll2]
CAV2 still makes an attempt at grabbing Zurktz.
Attack: [roll3]
Damage: [roll4]
Imp. Grab: [roll5]
I need grapple checks from anyone who gets hit.
Map:
SpoilerHow INCREDIBLY ironic that by lowering these creature's stats, I end up taking more damage and end up with a considerably more difficult grapple check to win... Although, Toryn isn't actually evil... Why would the smite evil work on him? Still, this time it's because the dice have turned against me in a significant way.
Anyway. 2 sizes above medium, so that's a +8 from Easy Escape.
Escape Artist: (1d20+27=33) *Sigh* Good thing I've got a teleport. Sorry guys, but plant means no sneak attack, so I'm pretty worthless here.
SpoilerAgain, I'm not using alignment. Smite works on anyone the wielder thinks of as evil, and since these plants are mindless they just instinctively smite the first thing that hurts them each day.
On the other hand, yes, it does suck that you end up taking more damage because I made a stupid mistake the first time. I suppose if you'd like me to I could reduce it as an apology for throwing those original beasts at you in the first place.
SpoilerAh, I forgot about the alignment thing. Nevermind about that then.
As for flubbing, please don't. I'mma bitch about things like this. Just ignore that. This is a perfectly legitimate result; the dice just aren't favoring me right now. I may complain, but in the end I'm not going to contest the results. This just isn't a fight where a character like Toryn is going to be able to contribute much. Anyone who's relying on sneak attack for damage and is small is going to run into that; it's just part of the territory.
SpoilerOkay, fine by me.
So Toryn is grappled (for now) and it's Zurktz's turn.
Zurktz swears low in his throat as he's struck, snarling like a wounded animal as the vine strikes him. The Orc moves to grapple against the vine in return, his eyes narrowed.
Spoiler
[roll0]
SpoilerYou also add your BAB to your grapple checks, so that should be 10+12=22. Still not enough, unfortunately.
Okay, so CAV1 is grappling with Toryn and CAV2 is grappling with Zurktz. Since RelentlessImp said he'd be out, and that check was just his response to CAV2's initial strike, that means it falls to me to act for him this turn.
He's not got too much chance of winning a grapple with the vine now, but Fist of Stone would give him +6 to strength...
I don't have CArc, could someone tell me if Fist of Stone has a somatic component and/or a material component? Material we can do, though it'll take a bit longer, but somatic would shut this down completely.
I think it's safe to say he won't be escaping the grapple this round, though, so Toryn can go ahead and take his turn.
Toryn cries out in pain as the vines wrap around him. Not wanting to take any more chances at managing to squeeze out of the vine's grip, he calls shadows around himself--and is suddenly gone. He reappears behind the large, undead dragon. "Plants ain't got any soft spots t' hit... I ain' gonna be much help here guys."
SpoilerSTATUSSpoilerHP: 37/67, AC: 26 (Touch 20, FF 20)
Effects: Child of Shadow
Action: Shadow Jaunt to end up behind the zombies.
When the halfling suddenly disappears from their grasp, the vines lash around uselessly for a moment before settling down.
New Map:
Hiram's turn!
Hiram fights against the plants binding him, trying his best to break out of their grip.
SpoilerStrength Check: [roll0]
Neillos and Friends are up!
"Attack!"
Neillos dismounts, and follows behind Kor as she stumbles up and attacks the Assassin vine on her left (using her as cover).
Spoiler
Kor - Bite - Attack [roll0], Damage [roll1] (The last d6 is Cold Damage).
Kor easily makes contact, but his bite does not wound the plant very deeply.
New Map:
Cage's turn.
Cain flies over the group and takes a swing at CAV1.
Spoiler[roll0]
[roll1]
His blade slices handily through the vine.
New Map (The f on Cage is to indicate he's flying.):
Asani's turn.