Magic and Myth, Steam and Steel (or, "The Adventures of the Fey-Team") IC

[DragoonWraith]

Ráwen
Ráwen casts magic on her doll, imbuing it with unnatural speed and strength, and its body grows from vaguely humanoid to a hunched over beast with a long snout filled with fangs. This she sends out to once again attack, while the dire wolf continues to attack the commander.

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Cast Bite of the Werewolf on the doll - it gains +2 Str, +4 Dex, +4 Natural Armor, and a 1d6+1.5xStr Bite attack. Also, the Blind-Fight feat. Also, it would gain +4 Con, but I'm not sure how that affects a Con - creature.

Doll enters the wagon and attacks the Lady; Blind-Fight's not clear on whether or not it helps with locating the correct square to attack, but I'm assuming it is. If not, just choose one at random, I suppose.

Touch Attack - (1d20+11)[14], Trip Attempt - (1d20+8)[23], Attack - (1d20+11)[12], Damage - (1d6+5)[6]

The Dire Wolf continues to attack the Centurion:
Touch Attack - (1d20+11)[24], Trip Attempt - (1d20+11)[28], Attack - (1d20+11)[31], Damage - (1d8+10)[15]

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Fortunately, the soldiers tangled in the vines are far too busy trying to escape them to attack anyone; also fortunately, Owain does not become tangled in the vines as well. This is very fortunate indeed, as the smoldering vines have given rise to a full-fledged bonfire, and several Lions are burning to death, cursing their companions for doing this to them with their last breaths. However, though the vines do not slow his legs, the chill surrounding him does; the aura of cold covering him drops another handful of degrees and his skin starts turning an unhealthy shade of blue.

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Owain is not entangled, but takes 3 fire damage and ((3d6+3)[18])/2 cold damage.

With most of the Lions caught in the vines, only four soldiers remain to press the fight against the fey--make that two, as two of the unlucky legionnaires sent after Tahl dissolve into a fine red mist under her whirling blades. The centurion looks furious, and for good reason; control of the situation is rapidly slipping from his grasp, if he ever had any at all. His head swiveling between the wagon and the trees, he shouts out ineffectual orders. As his eyes once again turn toward Mara, he is about to call for someone, anyone, to apprehend her when golden dust sinks into his eyes. With a few spluttered curses and some vigorous rubbing, he manages to clear his sight, but by that point Mara has long since vanished from sight; the soldiers who had been following her have dutifully sunk to the group and are sitting hunched over with dopey smiles on their faces.

His face reddening with apoplexy, the centurion spins to hack at Tula's unearthly vine, hoping to stop it from attacking him. Just as he turns to do so, Bluebell's music reaches a crescendo, and his shoulders slump. Ignoring his now-feeble attempts at self-defense, the vine slashes at him a second time; once again, one of the heavy infantry surrounding the commander manages to blunt its blow on his shield, but he isn't able to stop the centurion from being lifted into the air and shaken like one of Ráwen's dolls. Between shakes, he manages a steady stream of invective: "You godsdamned--trollbred--freaks of--nature are--going to pay--once I get--down from--here, just--you wait! Arbal--estiers, why--aren't you--firing!?" As the centurion waves around in the air, Ráwen's wolf manages to get a few good bites in, some on the centurion and some on the infantry orc who has been coming to his aid and who appears to be on his last legs.

Meanwhile, Ráwen's doll enters the wagon to find the Duke still coughing from the cloud of noxious vapors. It doesn't see the Lady, though; five snakes the size of a short adult human twist and writhe where she was only short moments ago. Choosing one at random, the doll takes a swing...

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(1d5)[4], a 1 is the Lady

...but alas, one snake falls into two pieces on the floor far too easily to have been the Lady in snake form. The other four snakes wriggle their way toward the hole in the floor, giving the doll a wide berth.

Having reloaded their weapons and whispered words of guidance and accuracy over them, the arbalestiers take aim at the visible fey and let fly.

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Ráwen
Attack: (1d20+32)[46]
Damage: (1d6+4)[6] acid damage, (1d6+5)[9] Str penalty

Owain
Attack: (1d20+30)[46]
Damage: (1d6+2)[6] acid damage, (1d6+5)[8] Str penalty

Tula
Attack: (1d20+32)[46]
Damage: (1d6+4)[8] acid damage, (1d6+5)[11] Str penalty

Bluebell
Attack: (1d20+32)[39]
Damage: (1d6+4)[9] acid damage, (1d6+5)[10] Str penalty

Tahl
Attack: (1d20+28)[39]
Damage: (1d6)[1] acid damage, (1d6+5)[8] Str penalty

Spellcraft 16

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The arbalestiers each spent their last actions casting true strike.

The glass spheres fly true, striking their targets and releasing a potent greenish acidic concoction. Where it touches skin, it burns right through, searing muscle and sinew and inflicting great pain

While the battle rages on, the Eagles look on with a mixture of puzzlement, horror, and embarrassment. With the way the Lions centurion seems to be taking leave of his senses, the Eagles centurion once or twice looks like she might step in and attempt to turn things around, but every time she stops and motions her troops back, waiting to see the result.

[Dreamshifter]

Bluebell

The song, so carefully sung, ends abruptly, as Bluebell falls to the ground with a scream. She makes no effort to get up, and indeed, may not even be conscious.

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Now at -2 Str, Bluebell is helpless. Bard Song bonuses and penalties last for 5 more rounds (everyone has been remembering to add +1 to attack and damage, right?). Ah, well. At least she got off a few spells...

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Map--Round 3

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All the soldiers in the flaming vines are dying painfully and the centurion is being grappled by Tula's vine.

[DragoonWraith]

Ráwen
Ráwen too collapses under the poison, unable to move. Her doll, however, stands strong, and ready to carry her, if need be. For now, however, she sends him off to see if he can't catch the Lady-snakes.

The wolf breaks off its attack on the commander to charge down the nearest arbalestier.

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If the doll can find the snakes, it full-attacks them. (If it kills the first one it attacks, it will try to attack the second if it can reach it).
Bite Attack - (1d20+10)[30], Bite Damage - (1d4+6)[9]
Guisarme Attack - (1d20+10)[15], Guisarme Damage - (1d6+5)[7]

Wolf attacks Arbalestier down and over 2 from him.
Bite Attack - (1d20+11)[15], Bite Damage - (1d8+10)[12], Trip Attempt - (1d20+11)[30]

[Eurus]

Noting that the arbalestiers need to reload again, Mara soars down from her post to get within range of the commander, who she zaps with a bolt of dark energy.


(Not sure exactly where I am, so I'll just say that I'm flying as far as I need to to be within 60 feet of the commander and also at least 20 feet above the ground, then targeting him with an Eldritch Blast.

Touch attack - (1d20+8)[26]
Damage - (2d6)[9]
Sneak attack - (2d6)[4], if it applies.

And Child of Shadow activates for 20% concealment.)

[userpay]

The screaming hiss that came from Tahl wasn't from the acid eating at her exoskeleton, it was thick after all, but from the sudden weakness in her limbs. She takes off at two of the offending arbalestiers, coming at them from the side in a crackling spin.

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Flying south and east so that I'm next to the two arbalestiers that are next to each other. Split attacks between each of them, good thing I've weapon finesse.
attacks
(1d20+8)[25]
(1d20+3)[6]
(1d20+8)[25]
(1d20+3)[23]

(1d20+8)[16]
(1d20+3)[7]
(1d20+8)[13]
(1d20+3)[20]
(1d20+4)[24]

damage
(1d8-1)[0]
(1d8-1)[4]
(1d8-1)[1]
(1d8-1)[5]
(2d6)[5]
(2d6)[11]
(2d6)[8]
(2d6)[6]

(1d8-1)[3]
(1d8-1)[0]
(1d8-1)[2]
(1d8-1)[0]
(1d4-2)[2]
(2d6)[5]
(2d6)[8]
(2d6)[7]
(2d6)[4]
(2d6)[10]

[Demons_eye]

Owain looks at the wagon and back to the fiery vines. His face is contorted with anger and whipping some frost from his check he spits on the ground. It was not spouse to be this way. Simply a get in and out mission that they could save a few friends and maybe gain a better relationship with the empire. But these traitors had to ruin everything and get half the people here killed. If he had to chase them down to the corners of the Earth he would but for now others needed his help.

He tapes his staff two times and Rocky appears from the ground staring blankly at his master. Owain turns to him and mutters in a sad voice "Sorry but I need your help. I can heal you afterwords."

With Rocky's help Owain pulls as many people as he can from the fire.

[Fishy]

Tula tightens her grip on the commander and slams his body face-down into the dirt. With him out of the way and hopefully unable to give orders, she can focus her attention back on... Oh. That's not going well.

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Tula is paralysed, but she directs the Spiritvine to make a pin-and-silence attempt. Grapple - (1d20+12)[13]

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Outside the wagon, the soldiers are in chaos--any of them not surrounding the centurion or holding one of the spherethrowers is currently doing a very good impression of a campfire. Until, that is, Owain and Rocky begin shoving them out of the fire and untangling them from the vines; though they are confused by this turn of events, they don't resist the help, all saying something along the lines of "Godsthepainitburnsitburns--whatinHadesareyoudoing?" while they stumble out of the conflagration. He can't reach all of them, unfortunately; by the time he has saved half of them, the other half have perished. While the fire's heat is almost unbearable, the unbearable cold surrounding Owain chills him to the point that it's nothing in comparison.

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Everyone on the left side of the wagon is rescued; those on the right plus Rocky take 4 fire damage. Owain takes ((3d6+3)[14])/2 cold damage.

EDIT: Whoops, that should have been 4d6+4; add 2 cold damage to that total after halving the rest of it.

The arbalestiers may not be on fire, but they have troubles of their own. As Mara whizzes overhead, they turn their heads to follow her in hopes she stays in sight while they finish reloading. As they do so, they take their eyes off the battle for a split second, a fatal mistake. Ráwen's wolf manages to leap on one of them from behind, tearing his neck out; two more are sliced and diced by Tahl's ferocious assault. The commander, waving around in the air in the grasp of Tula's vine, rants and raves: "Godsdamn four-armed freak! I'll tear you limb from limb! I'll crush you like the bug you are!" Noticing Mara, he turns his hatred on her: "And you, you duplicitous hag! I'll pin your wings on my wall, you ugly bi--!" He is cut off mid-invective as Mara's shadowy bolt sears through his skull. The vine, no longer needing to crush the centurion, flops over to the side, scratching up and crushing one of the heavy infantry as it does so.

Inside the wagon, the doll manages to crush the skull of one snake and bisect another, but the rest escape through the bottom of the wagon and down the hole through which you came. Now, the doll's only companion is the Duke, who has spent the entire battle retching and wheezing, trying to clear his lungs. As he catches sight of the snakes' tails disappearing into the putrid fog, he stretches out a hand as if to stop it, but slumps back against the wall as his coughing fit intensifies.

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A 1 hits the Lady:
(1d5)[2]
(1d5)[2]

Back outside the wagon, the Lions are in no position to press the attack against the fey under the wagon; none of them look enthusiastic about heading through the flames to reach them, though the heavy infantry and arbalestiers look like they want to avenge their comrades or die trying (the light infantry, not so much). The Eagles are still staying back on the sidelines, though a shout goes up at the death of the centurion...probably a shout of anger and alarm, but there might be a hint of satisfaction in the Eagles' centurion's shout.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Map--Round 4

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[userpay]

As soon as the arbalestiers fall Tahl is up in the air again, flying above the wagon level briefly. Looking about she spots the arbalestier near Owain, an opportune target indeed with their fiery comrades nearby, and dives. Thoughts turning over the meaning of Owain's actions.

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Flying to end up in the southwest square next to the lower arbalestier, and doing nonlethal attacks this time around. And for once without the lightning damage though I assume that the skirmish damage can count as nonlethal.

attacks (nonlethal)
(1d20+4)[11]
(1d20-1)[6]
(1d20+4)[16]
(1d20-1)[8]
(1d20+4)[17]
(1d20-1)[16]
(1d20+4)[6]
(1d20-1)[9]

damage
(1d8-1)[1]
(1d8-1)[5]
(1d8-1)[1]
(1d8-1)[4]
(1d8-1)[4]
(1d8-1)[3]
(1d8-1)[5]
(1d8-1)[0]
(1d6)[2]
(1d6)[5]
(1d6)[4]
(1d6)[4]
(1d6)[6]
(1d6)[1]
(1d6)[1]
(1d6)[3]

[Fishy]

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Oh, duh. Chastise Spirits is (Su), isn't it?

Tula's fractured consciousness continues to waver. Parts of her that aren't supposed to be on fire are on fire. Parts of her that she ought to be able to move, can't move. Or at least, not up or down or left or right.

Tula moves sideways, throwing her body against the barrier between the Real World and the Other World: not hard enough to poke through, but hard enough to leave a dent- and a shockwave.

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Chastise! All enemy Fae (and Elementals and Incorporeal Undead) in 30' take (5d6+1)[18] damage, Will save DC 18 for half. I could have done another one of those last round, but I just plain forgot. Whoops.

[DragoonWraith]

Ráwen
Ráwen sends the wolf hunting for those two snakes, while the doll starts pummeling the duke, but trying to take him alive.

Ráwen, meanwhile, summons (1d3)[3] Fiendish Constrictors to start carrying her stricken teammates back down the hole.

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Constrictors chosen because they seem to have the highest Strength score of all of the Medium options from SM 3 - if the hole is large enough for a Large creature, or if Constrictors cannot carry people (seems like they should be able to), I'll change that, though.

The wolf has Scent and Track, so it might have a prayer of finding the remaining snakes. Point of interest, rolling 1d5 twice would be inaccurate; it should have been 1d5, 1d4, since the second time there were fewer snakes to choose from. Actually, since I killed one earlier, wouldn't it be 1d4, 1d3? Or do they come back?

If the wolf finds one,
Attack - (1d20+11)[26] Damage - (1d8+10)[18]

And the Doll:
Touch Attack - (1d20+10)[20] Trip Attempt - (1d20+8)[22] Attack - (1d20+6)[15] Damage - (1d6+5)[11]

[PairO'Dice Lost]

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The hole is big enough for a Large snake, since it was made to be able to fit a Medium quadruped, so those are fine. As to whether they can carry people...sure, why not.

The 1d5/1d5 was a mistake on my part, it should have been 1d4/1d3; I copy-pasted and forgot to change it.

[DragoonWraith]

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Well, I would appreciate getting my 25% and 33% chances; those substantially better odds than the 20% on a 1d5...

[Fishy]

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Me and my big mouth, but how is Ráwen summoning those snakes? She's at -1 STR, and can't move.

[DragoonWraith]

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I assumed that that meant she cannot physically lift her body, not that she can't manage a few gestures. I mean, she can still talk, so she's not entirely immobile.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

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Picky, picky...

(1d4)[2]
(1d3)[3]

Happy now?

Also, Str 0 means you can't lift your body while Dex 0 means you can't move your body; the latter means you're paralyzed, while the former is more vague. I think it's plausible that you'd be able to move your body enough to make somatic components, though I think I'll assess a 10% spell failure chance. If you wouldn't mind rolling that?

[DragoonWraith]

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Not at all.

Arcane Spell Failure Fail on a 1 - (1d10)[2]

Jesus, close.

And well, I really don't want to lose the Lady and 1 in 4 and 1 in 3 are dramatically better odds. For all it didn't help.

[Eurus]

Mara grins as the commander goes down, thinking that the fight seemed to be finally going their way - from what she could see, at least. With a quick 180 degree aerial flip, she fires another blast at one of the heavy infantrymen and soars back to the trees before the arbalestiers can fire again.

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Attack - (1d20+9)[19]
Damage - (2d6+1)[8]

Flying 80 feet north to hide out in the trees again.

[Demons_eye]

Owain, seething in frost and flame, becomes even angrier. He walks in the wagon while pulling out his glass cuffs. Each of his steps threatening to unleash another earthquake. Finally he jumps into the wagon points at the duke and yells "YOU! Release this spell and I might not kill you!"

Then with Rockys help Owain handcuffs the the duke and jumps down the hole.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

It seems the Lions' ambush has turned into a crushing defeat. Tahl easily drops the arbalestier with a flurry of slaps to the head with the flat of her blades, and one of the heavy infantry dies painlessly as Mara's bolt sears a hole through his armor and chest. Trading looks across the breadth of the battlefield and seeing that the Eagles don't plan to intervene, the remaining Lions throw down their weapons and call out their surrender.

Inside the wagon, things are going just as badly for the Duke. No sooner does he finally clear his lungs of the noxious vapors than the doll slams him in the gut with an ironwood fist, shoving him to the floor and knocking the wind out of him. Before he can rise, you all feel an uncomfortable tingle wash over you as Tula sends an ethereal shockwave heading in the Duke's direction; he screams in pain, an unearthly wail like a blizzard's howling winds, and seems to waver for an instant as if seen through double vision. Reeling in pain and confusion, he barely has time to stammer "I--I cannot dismiss the spell, it--" in response to Owain's demand before the glassteel cuffs encircle his wrists. He screams once again, but this time his scream trails off down through the bass register and down past even a fey's wide hearing range; he slumps to the floor, unmoving. Outside the wagon, the remaining Lions stare in panic at the wagon--for all they know, whatever caused those screams might be used on them next!

Beneath the wagon, however, events take a turn for the better. The searing pain from the greenish spheres suddenly disappears, as if by magic--or rather, as if by the lack of magic. The scattered acid burns remain where the sphere's contents struck, but the pain is no longer so unbearable as to immobilize at more than the slightest motion. Ráwen's wolf has had some luck tracking down one of the snakes, pouncing on and eating it as it tried to slither through the less intensely-hot portions of the flaming vines, though the last two snakes are nowhere in sight.

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The Str penalty goes away at the start of Round 5, though since the rest of the enemies surrendered we're out of combat mode for now.

For a few hearbeats, the only sound in the clearing is the crackling of the fires and a few crickets chirping. Then, the Eagles' centurion calls out in a bold, if wary, voice: "Okay...people, no one's attacking you any more, and I for one have no desire to throw my men at you to die as well. What happens now?"

[Eurus]

Mara remains hidden in the trees, nursing her wounds while she listens carefully. She continues to look around for any sigh of the fae that they were supposed to rescue, growing increasingly worried every minute.

[Dreamshifter]

Bluebell

With a low (well, relatively speaking) moan, Bluebell crawls out of the dirt she landed in, and starts dusting herself off. Seeing the futility of it, though, she chants briefly, and with a wave of her hand, the dust falls away. A quick look tells her that one of the two is captive, the other no where to be seen.

She flutters back into the air, heading slowly toward the Eagle's centurion. "We have no fight with you. We were sent to rescue the two Fey captives held here, not knowing that they had made a deal with your supposed allies. Weeds one and all. We had intended to try to get in and out without attacking, but that all got buried in a pile of manure when they captives attacked us..."

Then, scatterbrain that she is, she looks over at Owain, realizing he's hurting. "Oh, dear. Lets see about fixing you up." She sings again, briefly, working her magic.

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Casting Prestidigitation, and cleaning herself off. (1d20+8)[25] potential Diplomacy check. Then casting Cure Moderate Wounds on Owain, for (2d8+6)[13].

[PairO'Dice Lost]

The centurion's voice softens, and she smiles briefly, her posture becoming less tense (as best you can see through the flickering flames just now starting to die down). She approaches with a few of the orcs, all hands conspicuously held away from sheathes and quivers, and places her hands on her hips. "Well, I'm glad to hear you weren't just planning to come in bowstrings a-twanging. But why didn't you attempt a prisoner exchange or something like that first? I mean, we don't know of any lost soldiers that we can verify were captured by fey, but I'm sure there must have been some; your leaders could have at least tried a diplomatic solution."

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Bluebell's healing takes effect, then Owain takes ((11d6+11)[49])/2 cold damage over the next two rounds and the spell ends.

[Eurus]

Mara's eyes widen in shock, not that anyone can see it, as Bluebell's words sink in, and she quickly leaves the safety of hiding and flies over to join the rest of her allies. "What do you mean they 'had a deal?' They're traitors?!"

[DragoonWraith]

Ráwen
Ráwen crawls out from under the wagon (assuming the fires are out? If not she's just calling out from underneath). "Oohh, yes, yes indeed. Owain's in quite a lot of pain cuz of the one we have trussed up in the wagon, and the Lady seems to have escaped - she seems to have shapeshifted into a snake while summoning four as decoys; between the doll and the wolf I got four, but I'm pretty sure those were only the decoys. But we got the Duke.

"As for a diplomatic solution, well that wouldn't have been any fun. In all honesty, our superiors left the methods up to us, and we simply did not believe that diplomacy would have worked - considering your comrades' attempted ambush, it probably wouldn't have. We have a prisoner - you can have him back if you like - but trading him for all of the Fey we were sent to rescue seemed astonishingly unlikely. We also, obviously, did not expect a trap, and had a pretty good plan for getting the prisoners out were it not for the trap, if I do say so myself..." she sighs. "For what it's worth, you weren't even supposed to know, much less die for this... Anyway, we're keeping the Duke, and we're taking the other prisoners. You can have the Halfling back though."

[Eurus]

Mara just sighs. "So we couldn't even catch them both. Great. What a fiasco... I'm ready to leave when the rest of you are, I guess."

[PairO'Dice Lost]

You hear some rustling in the woods as several creatures approach the camp. Voices filter softly through the trees: "...for the last time, dammit, there wasn't anything there! I don't know why the hole was there, but it certainly wasn't Wyldfae who did it! And on top of that--" Seven Eagles soldiers enter the clearing, one of whom is the halfling scout from before. As they come into view, the other six stop and stare at the carnage; the halfling turns beet-red and waves sheepishly at Ráwen. "Uh, hi there...sooo...does this mean I can talk about you now without dying?"