Predators of Xendrik [IC]

[true_shinken]

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Wow, a crit and a 20 on the confirmation roll, I never got one of those

[Chambers]

As Van's blades strike out, slicing into the drow, it cries out in a shriek of pain. Burned from the fire blasts and cut from the swords, the drow seems to barely be conscious. It slaps something on it's chest and a dark blue button seems to fall for a moment before exploding in a small cloud of half-translucen smoke.

The smoke clears within seconds but the drow has gone, vanished from sight.

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FYI, both the scorching rays hit but the second failed the SR check. The first 4 attacks hit.

You all can make Listen & Spot checks to see where they went. You will have some range penalties.

Hide (1d20+32)[45]
Move Silently (1d20+32)[52]

Hide (1d20+12)[14]
Move Silently [roll]1d20+12[roll]

Grant and Garret have a -5 on their checks.
Jorden, Denaru, Van, & Sollux have a -8 on their checks.

If you beat the DC's...

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You hear and/or see either one drow or both (depending on whether you beat both sets) hiding out in the high branches of the tree marked 1.

[Grendus]

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Spot: (1d20+12)[24]
Listen: (1d20+12)[30]

If I can spot the wounded one, I'll stand up and throw a single javelin at him. Accursed action economy.

Attack: (1d20+15)[31], Damage: (1d4+3)[6]+(1d6)[4]

"Nice shot," Garret says, standing up and briefly surveying the furrow gouged in the earth next to him. He chuckles. "Panicked drow couldn't hit the broadside of a half giant. They act tough, right up until they start getting hit."

Spotting one of the drow in the tree, he reflexively conjures another javelin. "Not over yet boys. Up there!", he yells, pointing at the drow he can see. "Choke on this!"

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

The image before you is an illusion. Concern yourself not with their meer trickery. The brute is hiding in the trees over there. Denaru points in the direction the drow fled to.

[Ladorak]

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Spellcraft: (1d20+3)[14]
Charge to a11, incorparating a high jump to get up the tree
Jump check: (1d20+32)[47] (speed of 40, leaping dragon stance)
Assuming I make that using Combat rhythum to make three touch attacks that don't do damage:
(1d20+12)[22](1d20+12)[24](1d20+7)[22]
And using a swift action to activate my great reach bracers

Despite the pain Stalker grins like a hungry tiger 'My thanks to you two.' He bursts forward with a blood thirsty scream issued from the very core of his long standing hurt and rage. As red mist fringes the corners of his vision the Drow blurs in his mind, becoming the faceless wizard that he is so sure brought fair Cyre to ruin.
The actions are so practised, the anger so pure and the sense of righteous justice so overbearing he doesn't even realise he has jumped until he lands beside the Drow with murder in his eyes. Rather than attacking instantly he twirls and slashes testing the Drow's defences and building up a deadly rhythm, pin pointing his foes weaknesses.
Knowing that all wizards are cowards by nature and having already witnessed this one's willingness to flee he issues a mental command through the fog of war that crowds his rational thoughts. As he comes to a stop, posed perfectly as his hands and blades continue to twist and twirl the magic of his bracers takes effect, stretching his limbs to inhuman lengths, extending his killing range.

[Chambers]

Garret's force javelin finds it's mark again, while Grant leaps into the air and lightly touches the wounded drow, setting up a powerful attack for later.

The quori bound within Soolux rages as the drow's boomerang stuns Sollux's body. Incompetent fool! Allow me control and we will dance in the shower of our enemies blood! Your mortal frame is too weak to resist even a simple blow, yet you think to constrain me?

"Hrnngh!" Shaking his head as the paralysis wears off, Sollux scans the field of battle. Ugh, make yourself useful. Why didn't I smell them before they ambushed us?

Dashing across the field towards the tree Sollux seems to gain a burst of energy halfway there. Heading straight at the tree he puts one foot on its trunk and continues runing up it, drawing his crystal scimitar and slashing at the drow that Grant pointed out and attacked.

Unfortunately the poison coursing through his veins weakens his arm and his blow misses, slicing instead through a tree branch. The wounded drow laughs as Sollux drops from the tree, floating to the ground under the power of his ring.

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Sollux uses Hustle for an extra move action, then runs up the tree with Up the Walls, and attacks (and misses) with his crystal scimitar, using Psionic Weapon.

Pretty sure I got it right. I don't play psionic characters...well, ever.


Round 3

Jorden is up, then the drow, then the rest of the party.

So far no one has spotted the other, non-wounded drow.

Map

[PairO'Dice Lost]

"Wonderful. Nothing I like more than a nice game of hide-and-seek in a frigging jungle." Jorden relaxes his mental grasp on his walls of sand--they have served their purpose--and takes a few steps closer to the tree. Shading his eyes with his right hand, he moves his left hand through arcane gestures and ends up pointing at the tree Denaru indicated. A huge chunk of stone wrenches itself from the ground behind him and shatters into a multitude of rock shards which launch themselves up into the air, streaking toward the area where the drow are hiding.

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The walls are gone now. Jorden takes a 5-foot step northeast.

Rolls vs. second drow (can't possibly detect the first one)
Spot: (1d20+13)[19]
Listen: (1d20+15)[16]

If he spots the drow, Jorden casts hail of stone on him in such a way to hit him without endangering his teammates; if he doesn't spot the drow, he casts hail of stone on the a10-b11 area and hopes for the best. The spell has a 1-round casting time, so if the drow move on their turn I'll post again retargeting the spell appropriately to the best of Jorden's abilities.

Either way, it deals (5d4)[10] untyped damage, no save; CL check vs. SR is (1d20+9)[16].

EDIT: Goddamn SR. Why does a no-save rock shower even allow SR, anyway?

[Chambers]

The drow recoils from Grants touches, but laughs at Sollux as he misses. He makes a strange motion with his hand and says a word in drow, then vanishes from sight.

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Round 3

Jorden [casting a spell]
Drow [disappeared]
Rest of Party [acting now]

To clarify: Neither of the drow are visible, unless you beat their Hide/Move Silently checks. If you can see through invisibility, subtract 20 from the Hide check.

Spellcraft DC 17

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You identify two separate uses of the Walk Unseen invocation.

[Ladorak]

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I've got mageslayer so he can't cast defensively, does that make any difference?

[true_shinken]

Van looks around helplessly. Where the hell did they go to?! I... I can't find them! Damn it! Frustrated, he assumes a defensive stance. [total defense]

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Eh, sounds like as good a time for this as any...

Denaru casts another spell, then moves closer to the tree.

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Casting Invisibility Purge DSP - (1d20+9)[11]

CL10, so thats a 50' radius.

[Chambers]

Denaru's spell radiates around him while Grant waits at the tree for the drow to appear. Nothing happens.

The tree limb that Sollux cut slowly bends and finally snaps, falling to the ground.

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For OOC purposes we can drop out of rounds. Go ahead and act freely. If something you do would trigger something, I'll pop in.

That went pretty well for you guys. I expected at least one person to die.

[Ladorak]

Breathing heavily Grant mades his way down the tree with considerably more care then he showed in getting up it.
When he reaches the floor he stumbles and suddenly the fatigue and blood loss took their toll. His skin had gone ashen pale and his movements are pained as he makes his way toward Denaru 'Sir Priest, I am badly in need of healing...'

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Eh, you'll live.

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Lesser Vigor, 15 HP over 15 rounds, then drawing a Pearl of Power and recovering the spell.

[Grendus]

Garret brushes the dirt off his clothing, nonchalantly joining the others. "Well d***, I was hoping we'd at least get one of them. I could do a lot with one of those boomerangs."

[true_shinken]

Guys, correct if I'm wrong. I spent half my spells on an illusion, right? I feel kind of stupid.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Jorden rubs his hands together in a job-well-done motion and says, "That's not a problem, Van; I spent one of my spells on an illusion, after all." He grins cheekily and continues, "Or did you mean you wasted them attacking an illusion?" More seriously, he looks around at the group and says "We did well in that fight, think, considering we just met, what, less that half a day ago? Van, you did fine, drow are tricky like that and expending resources on illusions and traps are to be expected. Good job, everyone; I just hope we have the same luck the next time we run into them, 'cause I'm positive there will be a 'next time'."

[true_shinken]

Tricky and they also pack quite of a punch. Van sighs. So, Jorden. What's the plan?

[PairO'Dice Lost]

"Plan? I don't know; I don't want to be in charge here." Jorden shrugs. "We were heading somewhere, and got attacked on the way; no reason we can't keep going to where we were going. Unless anyone has any better ideas."

[Ladorak]

'Thank you Denaru.' Stalker tried to keep the begrudging nature of his thanks clear of his tone, and succeed admirably 'Although I fear your words are poorly chosen...'

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Have faith. I have work to do in the name of the Silver Flame. If I died now, I'd be unable to complete that work. We will perservere. Now, lets get going while my spells are still active.

[Grendus]

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Hide, Move Silently, Spot, and Listen checks, for scouting ahead of the party.
Hide: (1d20+20)[35]
Move Silently: (1d20+20)[25]
Spot: (1d20+12)[31]
Listen: (1d20+12)[13]

"If you want my opinion, we should get going." Garret says, conjuring a force javelin and leaning on it calmly. "Same direction. They probably have a way to track us, and if they don't, those two... whatever those things were will let them know in an hour, two tops. Our best bet is to get out of here, or at least get somewhere where the terrain doesn't favor them."

He disappears into the brush, heading towards their previous destination. Worst case, if they don't hurry up maybe the drow will miscount and I can escape in peace.

[Chambers]

The trees thin out as you move closer to the canyon until finally there are none at all. A wide swath of grass runs along the edge of the canyon and you feel as if you were naked, standing there in the open sun without the protection of the canopy. About thirty paces to your right is an old rope and wood bridge. The thick vines holding the slats of wood together appear to be sturdy, though some of the slats are missing or broken.

The vines wrap themselves around two large stone pillars on your side; looking across the canyon you can see similar pillars on the other side. On the other side of the canyon the jungle waits, thick and silent. Below the bridge at the bottom of the canyon is a fast rushing river. The drop appears to be at least a few hundred feet.

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The bridge is about a hundred paces long. You can cross it at half-movement speed with no problem. To move faster (full movement or run) you need to make a DC 15 Balance check. No taking 10 on this.

I don't mean that you have to run across it, just saying what moving on the bridge would entail.

Also, Sollux has 5 Strength damage and Van has 3 Strength damage from the poisons.

Garret

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Your keen eyes spot the top of some stone structure through the tops of the trees on the other side of the canyon. You can't really make out what it would be but you can tell it's not that far from the canyon.

[true_shinken]

Van looks at the bridge and sighs. This smells of a trap. He turns toward Denaru. Master flameite, I feel a bit weak from the poison. Is there something you could do about this?

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Unfortunately, I was expecting a raid on a Dragon Below cult hideout today, not a forest full of Drow will no desire to do us good. I believe at this point, Sollux would better benefit my magic. If we can find solice to rest, I will no doubt be of more use.

Denaru chants for a couple rounds, waving his holy symbol at Sollux before touching him with a glowing hand.

Lesser Restoration for (1d4)[4] Str.

[Grendus]

Garret draws his wand of invisibility and begins to sneak across the bridge, walking briskly but not so fast that he would risk falling. "If it is a trap, might as well see if we can get an opportunity to set our own."

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Use one charge from my wand of Invisibility (no need for UMD, it's a class spell for Assassins), then cross the bridge at normal move speed.

Not sure if I can hide while invisible, or how that would work, but I'll make the check anyways.

Hide: (1d20+20)[40]
Move Silently: (1d20+20)[30]
Listen: (1d20+12)[18]
Spot: (1d20+12)[25]

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Jorden looks down, down, down into the canyon and quickly backs away. "Would it be a bad time to mention that I'm afraid of heights? Walking across a rickety bridge a long, long way above the ground is not exactly my idea of a fun time. Comes from working with nice, solid, reliable, solid earth all the time. I'll stay right here until I know it's not going to break and send me to my doom, if that's all right with you."

[Ladorak]

Grant sighs heavily as he surveys the bridge 'Best we cross one at a time.' He leaves the rest unsaid That way only one of us falls if it's a trap.

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

There just is't any good way to do this, is there...

[Chambers]

Garret

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You cross the bridge successfully, noting along the way that although a few boards are missing here and there, the bridge itself appears to be sound. Arriving at the other side you also notice that the vines that anchor the bridge to the huge stones are sturdy as well, showing no sign of fraying or damage.