Circle of Life's Boss Rush IC Thread

[Circle of Life]

It's been a long, strange road that brought you to this point. One moment you were going about your business in a small town along the way to your final destination, and the next thing you knew the town's speaker had you cornered and was pleading for your help dealing with some local arsons. Looking back, you're not quite sure if it was the offered gold or something in the way the man asked, but one thing lead to another and you found yourself traveling with two others, one and all tasked with the job one might think better handled by the local militia.

It didn't take a detective to figure out that the arsons had a root cause. Happening upon a band of red-robed cultists armed with flaming staves that spoke of the "day of ruin" certainly didn't hurt things either. Being the self-appointed adventurers you are, this seemed the perfect reason to broaden your horizons. One questioned cultist later and you had a name behind the arsons: Ember, supposedly a knight perpetually clad in plate, obsessed with fire in all forms. The first and only tenet of the faith of Ember is, apparently, burn everything.

And so here you are, high atop the peaks of a nearby mountain, a trail of thoroughly disillusioned cultists behind you. While Ember scores no points for originality, his terraforming efforts are another matter entirely; before you lies a large swath of mountain path transformed into a pit of swirling magma. The skeleton of a keep rises from within the magma pit, though whether the structure is in the process of being built or destroyed is unclear.

Everything you've learned thus far points to this being Ember's lair. Advancing carefully, you pick your way along the thin paths spiderwebbing the magma pit. After a bit of fancy footwork to keep yourselves from becoming crispy-fried adventurers, you enter the keep proper through what appears to have been intended as a front gate...

[stack]

"Right, well this is it. Stay close. Let's get his over with." Peter raises his shield and draws his sword, adopting a threatening stance and he moves. He walks directly forward, keeping his head on a swivel to check the rooms as he passes.

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stance- iron guard's glare, threatened enemies take -4 to attacks against anyone but Peter

spot (1d20+4)[18]
listen (1d20+2)[18]

Moving straight, then turning right to check the big room there before going on to the other end of the hall.

initiative (1d20+1)[9]

[HearTheRequiem]

"Agreed. Keeping warm is one thing, but this is just too much. Watch your step."
Keeping close to Peter, Uriah sweeps his gaze along their path, looking out for any kind of magic, out of habit.

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Arcane Attunement: Using Detect Magic to scan for auras. 5 uses left, in case it comes up.
Spot: (1d20-1)[12]
Listen: (1d20-1)[7]
Initiative: (1d20-1)[2]

[Ernir]

"What kind of a fanatic must one be to turn to this?", Arzew says with a dismissive tone.

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The psicrystal has locomotion enabled, and is sitting on my shoulder.

Initiative: (1d20+4)[24]

Arzew spot: (1d20+1)[17]
Arzew listen: (1d20+1)[13]
Wezra spot: (1d20+6)[13]
Wezra listen: (1d20+6)[9]

[Ernir]

Arzew briefly glows with a shimmering energy field as he finishes his sentence.

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Vigor and Inertial Armor now active, and shared with the crystal.

[Circle of Life]

The party advances slowly, heads swiveling to scan each passing room. Even to Uriah's magically-enhanced vision however, each of the rooms appears to be utterly empty, and entirely mundane.

All that changes as Peter steps into the doorway leading to one of the keep's larger chambers. A massive throne of carved bone and firestones rests near the center of the room, a shard of adamantine vaguely shaped like a blade thrust into the floor near the throne's right arm. An equally large suit of armor is seated on the throne, the entire thing darkened by ash until it appears nearly black, though the light bluish tinge of adamantine can be faintly seen through the grime. The visor of the plate helm is propped open, revealing an empty space where the face of the wearer should be - empty, that is, until two glowing orange motes abruptly flare to life, hovering freely within the confines of the helm in an approximation of eyes.

"You trespass in things that are not your concern." The voice seems to come from everywhere at once, resonating out of the walls and floor all around you. "Your previous exploits amused me, but your interference ends here. Prepare to join the blaze eternal."

With a single fluid motion, the suit of armor stands and draws the shard of adamantine into a double-gauntleted grip. Tendrils of flame erupt from the armor's back, four streamers whipping wildly in every direction. More fire drips from the ember eyes, streaming down the front of the armor to encircle its waist in a roiling belt of flame. Ember's gauntlets begin to glow with an inner heat, the blue-black of the soot-stained adamantine becoming white with scorching heat barely contained.

Ember whips its blade about in a dizzying array of martial skill, tip of the shard scoring a deep gash in the floor for each rotation of the blade. With inhuman strength Ember stops the blade mid-arc, leaving it pointing level with Peter's face. Shifting the grip briefly to one hand, Ember raises the free gauntlet and beckons - two quick flicks of the fingertips before returning to the hilt of the adamantine shard.

[stack]

Peter wastes no time, rushing forward with his blade held high, trying to shove the eldritch armor back with his shield as he strikes. "Your reign of ruin ends here!"

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using charging minotaur, moving adjacent to the target

rolled in dice thread:
attack (1d20+6)[21] (4+2 charge) (+1 if wounded before the attack)
damage (1d8+3)[8] (+1 if wounded before the attack)
bullrush check for charging minotaur (1d20+5)[24] (3 str, 2 from charge, no AOO provoked)
maneuver damage (2d6+3)[9]

AC 17 (19-2 from charge), HP 13, delayed damage 0)

edit - stance is iron guards glare, attacks by threatened enemies take -4 penalty unless against Peter

[HearTheRequiem]

Uriah furrows his brow, his grip tightening on the haft of his guisarme, muttering under his breath as he slowly advances.

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Casting True Strike, which I believe is being ruled as a full-round action, and then five-foot stepping into the square where Peter was, so directly in front of where Uriah is now.
AC 13, HP 10.

[Ernir]

Arzew carefully rounds the corner, giving the fiery figure a taste of a steel bolt.

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Move to the square that is to the left of Peter on the map.

Shoot crossbow at Ember, see roll thread.

(Total) HP 11, AC 16.

[Circle of Life]

Peter charges into Ember with all the force of a landslide - and is stopped dead by the impossible sturdiness of the animated armor. A heartbeat later Arzew's bolt plinks harmlessly off one of Ember's shoulderplates. A deep rumbling resonates from within the keep, almost like laughter.

Ember's counterattack is a furious meld of blade and fiery lashes, all directed at Peter. The dragonborn manages to bring his shield to bear in time to turn aside the great adamantine shard, at the cost of a bruised arm and a slightly lighter shield, the shard carving its way through the wood with effortless ease. Unfortunately, Peter is less successful at avoiding the lashes of fire that strike from Ember's back; one takes him square across the face, searing scales and flesh beneath with equal ease even as another buffets him from the opposite direction. The thick scales of his body protect him from the other two lashes, though the pungent smell of burnt scales fills the air.

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Ember is immune to bull rushes presently. Arzew's attack fails to strike true. Peter takes a total of 14 fire damage from the combined lashes, though 5 of this damage goes into his delayed damage pool before it can drop him.

[HearTheRequiem]

Uriah winces as the acrid stench fills the air, rushing forward and around Peter, and grips his guisarme tightly, thrusting at the armour, trying to catch it off-guard.

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Moving four squares up and one square to the right, on a diagonal towards Ember.
Employing Power Attack (-1 to Attack rolls, +2 to damage) and True Strike (+20 to Attack rolls), which will be factored into my rolls by the Dice Roller.
Rolls will be copied here after I make them.
EDIT: Rolls are here.
Attack Roll (+20 for True Strike, -1 from Power Attack, factored in): (1d20+24)[35]
Damage: (+2 for Power Attack, factored in) (2d4+8)[11]

[Ernir]

Arzew, seeing that something as mundane as a crossbow isn't going to be of much use in this fight, drops it, and proceeds to assist his more skilled companions in melee.

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Drop crossbow.
Move one square up, four squares right, take up quarterstaff as part of the movement.
Successful Aid Another on Peter's next attack.

[stack]

Peter presses on through the searing pain, his sword lashing out in hopes of creating an opening for his allies, his last stroke of defiance as his vision darkens.

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vanguard strike in hopes buffing the others

(1d20+7)[20] (includes aid another +2, +1 from furious counterstrike)
damage (1d8+4)[7] (includes+1 from furious counterstrike)

if hits, allies get +4 on attacks till start of next turn. Iron guard's glare ends when he goes unconscious. Wish I had taken the healing stance.

Then dropping into negatives.

[Circle of Life]

Uriah's blade, guided by flows of magic, sinks deeply into a chink in Ember's form. While there is no visible sign of damage, the way Ember stumbles backward speaks of all too human pain. Caught off guard, Ember is unable to avoid Peter's desperate counterattack, which finds another gap in the armored body and elicits another stumbling step backward. The success of his attack spurs Peter onward, allowing him to remain conscious where lesser warriors would have succumbed to their wounds, though the severity of his injuries remains obvious to all.

The entire keep rumbles furiously as Ember strikes back, lashes of fire streaking forth to sear Peter again and again. As the dragonborn falls, Ember brings its adamantine shard down, cleaving through Peter's skull with almost careless ease.

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Both Peter and Uriah's attacks were reduced by damage reduction. Peter's Vanguard Strike is replaced with Crusader Strike, as requested.

No photoshop at current location, but Ember isn't moving anyway. Ember lashes Peter for 11 fire damage, then finishes him off with the greatsword for another 10 damage.

[Ernir]

"Peter, no!", Arzew shouts, before ineffectually trying to distract Ember long enough to give Uriah a better chance.

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5' to the right. Aid another failed.

[HearTheRequiem]

Gritting his teeth, Uriah steps to the side, tightens his grip on the haft of his guisarme, and stabs out at Ember.

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5` Step to the right.
Attack: (1d20+5 +4 from Peter's Vanguard Strike) (1d20+9)[21]
Damage: (2d4+6)[9]

EDIT: I missed about Vanguard Strike not going off, but am now flanking, which would make the attack roll a [19].

[Circle of Life]

Uriah's blade catches in an opening between Ember's shoulderplate and helm; for a moment, it seems Ember's impossible strength will snap the weapon, then Uriah shifts his grip slightly and thrusts the blade home with a resounding clang of steel on adamantine. Ember's entire body seems to ... shudder ... somehow, the fiery lashes dimming briefly as the armor sags forward on the brink of collapse. Then Ember rights itself and closes with Uriah, bringing fiery death with its blows.

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Still no photoshop, sorry. Ember 5-ft steps toward Uriah and gives him a full attack.

Uriah is lashed for 12 fire damage, and then executed with the greatsword for another 12 slashing damage.

[Ernir]

"Looks like it is just you and me, then.", Arzew spits with the determination of the doomed, dons his shield, and enters the melee.

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Getting my shield out (AC up to 18), then 5' step towards Ember, and attack. Attack hits AC 8!

[Ernir]

Arzew does what he does best. He calculates.

"Based on my observations, you have only a 55% chance of killing me before I strike again. Do you feel lucky, Ember?"

[Circle of Life]

Ember returns the blow with five of its own, though it is clearly damaged from the way its attacks seem more flailing in Arzew's general direction than any real martial skill. Still, two of the fiery tendrils manage to strike Arzew, the impacts lessened somewhat by his earlier defensive measures.

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Arzrew takes 10 fire damage from the two tendrils that hit.

[Ernir]

Arzew grunts when struck, the pain too great to register just yet. He keeps up his desperate quarterstaff assault.

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Anything more than 0 HP means I'm ready for action.

Hits AC 17 for 6 damage.

[Circle of Life]

The keep rumbles. It has the sound of laughter and of triumph.

Ember draws its massive blade back, then rams it forward, impaling Arzew with such force that two feet of the shard bursts free of the psion's back.

Everything fades to black.

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Steely Strike for more damage than you have hitpoints. Game over man, game over!

[Ernir]

With his dying breath, Arzew whispers something incoherent about probability variables.

[Circle of Life]

You pause mid-step as you enter the keep in the middle of the lake of lava. The place seems familiar somehow, though certainly you would remember being here before. Still, you can't shake the feeling that you know what lies around the next bend, nor the vivid memories of being seared by fire and struck down by a great shard of adamantine. It is a curious, chilling sensation, enough to make you wary and alert - and perhaps more than a little frightened.

[Ernir]

"It is clearly a case of Déjà vu. There are perfectly valid explanations for this, no need to look into paranormal ones. Let us continue."

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Wait for the others to go first, and follow 10' behind.

Initiative: (1d20+4)[24]

[HearTheRequiem]

"Probably just some kind of spell to try and unnerve us. If I were leading a crazy doomsday cult, it's what I'd go with, try and throw people off-guard so they wouldn't put up a fight. Makes sense, right?"

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Guisarme in hand, walking slowly down the corridor and scanning with Detect Magic.
If my uses got replenished, that's 5 left! If not, 4.
Initiative: (1d20-1)[10]

[stack]

Peter takes point, brooding silently over the strange feeling.
His scaled fingers flex around the hilt of his sword and grip of his shield.

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iron guard's glare stance, will roll maneuvers when battle starts

init (1d20+1)[12]

[Circle of Life]

The sensation that all this has happened before continues as you advance, every scanning turn of the head and flick of the eye, every step. Indeed, as Peter rounds the corner, the figure seated in the great throne elicits a sharp intake of breath, the memory of dying at the creature's hand vivid in the dragonborn's mind. That small sign is all the warning Arzew needs, the psion plunging into action before Ember can so much as rise from his throne or draw the great adamantine shard from its place next to the seat.

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Initiative:
Arzew
Ember
Uriah or Peter in whichever order you like.

[Ernir]

"No, wait, this is real!" Arzew suddenly realizes, the air starting to hum as he bolts forward and launches a small missile of cold at Ember.

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Move five squares to the left, shoot Energy Ray [Cold] at Ember. Hits (flat-footed?) touch AC 8 for 4 cold damage.

Drop the quarterstaff if necessary.

[HearTheRequiem]

Closing his eyes, Uriah focuses, sparks of magic dancing along his blade.

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Full-round action: Casting True Strike.