The Invasion of Toril

[Medic!]

Krgg

Krgg strides over the dead ant-bodies and unleashes another powerful blow against the last remaining Big-Ant.

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Move action to the space between Bleerie and Noru, then initiate Elder Mountain Hammer against #6!

Attack - (1d20+23)[38] - threat!
Critical Confirmation - (1d20+23)[37]
Slashing Damage - (2d4+16)[21]
Critical Damage - (2d4+16)[20]
Vicious Damage - (2d6)[6]
Elder Mountain Hammer - (6d6)[21]
Vicious Damage to Krgg - (1d6)[5]

And Krgg will heal 2hp

[Archmage1]

Gale, looking around, gathers her energies for another strike at the Formians.

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So, use another chained beshadowed blast(dc 18 fort or be blind for a round), targeting 12
attack(1d20+11)[29] damage(7d6+3)[34]
2 (1d20+11)[13] 17 dam
3 (1d20+11)[19] 17dam

[Tharione]

Noru unleashes his furious combination of claws and teeth upon the foolish taskmaster who just broke through the wall.

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5' steps if he needs to despite 10' reach.

(1d20+16)[17] claw 1 attack
(2d6+12)[20] claw 1 damage
(1d20+16)[22] claw 2 attack
(2d6+12)[19] claw 2 damage

(4d6+16)[26] rend if both claws hit
fort save DC: 24 or be dazed if both claws hit

(1d20+11)[20] bite attack
(1d8+7)[9] bite damage

(1d20+17)[23] grapple on bite hit

(1d20+16)[26] rake 1 if grappled
(2d6+7)[17] rake 1 damage
(1d20+16)[28] rake 2 if grappled
(2d6+7)[13] rake 2 damage

His skeleton attacks the nearest formian!

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(1d20+11)[18] attack (+2 if it needs to charge)
(2d6+7)[18] damage

[mucco]

Bleerie steps a bit back again and casts a simple spell to heal herself. She is quite happy with the outcome of the battle, although she knows she has to be ready for surprises. Domination is dangerous.

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Free action: 5-foot step up right, left to where Z is on the map.
Standard action: assuming I am not being threatened in this position. If so, cast Lesser Vigor on self. If I am threatened, total defense instead.

[Zman]

"Death is Life!" Zaavariel screams at the now deceased Formian as he spits the blood of the blink dog out inbetween graceful steps which bring him near the fallen Blink Dog.

Zaavariel steps down to finish off the prone Blink Dog swingng wildly as he works his way closer to the last remaining Formian...

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5' step

Attack 1
Power Attack(-7/+14)(d20+9)[16]
Damage(2d6+28)[39]

Attack 2
Power Attack(-7/+14)(d20+9)[22]
Damage(2d6+28)[30]

Attack 3
Power Attack(-7/+14)(d20+4)[8]
Damage(2d6+28)[32]

Attack 4-Bite
Power Attack(-7/+14)(d20+4)[11]
Damage(d6+16)[18]

[Allyzedl]

Krgg strikes at full force at the remaining myrmarch, cutting off one of its legs. Gale fires off an eldritch chain at the taskmaster that broke through the wall, killing it, then it bounces to the myrmarch, damaging it, then hits and hurts the warrior.

The standing blink dog runs away as Noru attacks and kills the warrior behind him. His skeleton attacks the myrmarch but misses. Zaavariel then finished off the blink dog that is no longer the taskmaster's control, just for good measure as he moves towards the myrmarch.

Bailey then walks over to the myrmarch and stabs it several times as it falls to the ground, dead.

[Tharione]

"Well, off runs my hope of an easy location." Noru troll looks off in the direction the blink dog fled then kicks the nearest dead one across the chamber.

"I have roughly 8 minutes left in this form and now the hive knows where we are, both adequate impetus to begin moving at a quicker pace."

He reaches down, picks up a dead worg and slings it over the back of his phantasmal horse.

[Archmage1]

"Nothing quite like winning a fight against ants, is there? Perhaps there is some magic barring our way, or some magical trail we can follow. Or there may be items left among the dead. I will check."


Gale casts detect magic, and looks around.(ignore magic on allies, for simplicity)

[Zman]

Zaavariel follows Gales lead and aids in the search after muttering a few words in Draconic...

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Cast Detect Magic
Aid another Search (d20+7)[20]
Aid (If allowed) (d20+5)[21]

[mucco]

"Agreed", says Bleerie. She helps out with the searches.

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Loot ALL the corpses!
Check if needed: (1d20)[7]

[Medic!]

Krgg

Just once, I'd like to be the one setting the traps and ambushes... With a growl Krgg makes a quick round of the battlefield kicking corpses, looking for any that might still be alive.

He wipes the gore off of his falchion and sheathes it, then moves to the head of the tunnel to keep an eye out while everyone else does their magical nonsense.

As he peers down the passage he calls back non-chalantly, Great job of leading us into a readied nest Bailey.

[Tharione]

"Setting a trap is also my preferred method of operation... Most likely scenario seems to me to be sentries that detected us through an alarm and converged on our position."

Noru troll examines the condition of his skeletal minion

"The large Formians are myrmarchs, elite warriors. Not precisely forward scouts. They would only be away from the hive itself for a task of dire importance or tactical necessity. If they were guarding anything it would be very important and, considering formians relative lack of mobility, fairly nearby. If anyone can follow tracks i suggest following theirs backwards, and soon."

He takes a moment to inhale after the long-winded speech.

"Of course this could also simply be an atypically strong hive, but I prefer my assumptions to be optimistic when I am forced to make them." he shrugs.

[Allyzedl]

Bailey addresses the party, "I have never seen so many formian gathered in one place before. If we stay here more are likely to show up. We can either move on, to the merchant district or explore the sewers a bit more, just let me know and I am more than willing to assist you, since you are making Waterdeep a safer place."

Gale and Zaavariel detect a few magical auras coming from within a bag that is around one of the now headless formian myrmarch’s shoulders. Zaavariel searches around, but doesn't find anything else. He goes over and pulls the bag off the headless myrmarch's shoulder.

Opening the bag, Zaavariel detects auras coming from 2 different potions, one dark green, the other white, 5 different scrolls, and a necklace. Inside the bag is also a string of small pink pearls, a gold dragon comb in which the dragon has red garnet eyes, and nearly 4 thousand gold coins.

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3,803 gold coins

[Archmage1]

"Well, if the set an ambush this powerful here, there is a reason for it. I suspect that if we continue on, we can find the queen fairly close to here. However, if we are going to attempt the more complicated part of persuading the two groups to kill each other, we should probably go and kill some planars, as we will need their corpses."

Gale descends from the top of the chamber, and has a look at the stuff recovered from the formian's.

"An odd assortment of items. We should probably look into them in more depth later. Zaavariel, do you want to carry them, or do you want me to?"

[Dramiscius]

We shouldn't tarry, an let ourselves be ambushed again, onward to the merchants! Unless of course, there's a yearning to find and exterminate the rest of these formorians.

[Zman]

In response to Gale, "I can carry them, my back is strongn and my load light."

Zaavariel proceeds to stow the items now collected.

[Tharione]

"I find it highly unlikely the upper planars will fall for that plan."

Noru starts walking forward.

"If you're done searching we can talk while walking."

[Archmage1]

"All right then. Either way, we need to move on. I want to squash these ants."

Gale flys along.

[Allyzedl]

Bailey yells at the party, "The Merchant District is this way!" as he signals for everyone to follow him you hear something coming from the three other directions other than the one that Bailey is leading you down. As the sounds get louder you see more formian coming at the party.

You rush to gather yourselves as you run, following Bailey down a long sewer tunnel into another room. In front of you is a large unnatural looking hole, that is quite steep, but you can see the outside light coming into the sewers from it. To your right and left are two more unnatural looking tunnels, which look like they have been dug out by something.

Bailey addresses the group again as he comes to a halt in the middle of this room and says, "This is wrong, these tunnels shouldn't be here. Also, the exit out of the sewers is supposed to be a ladder that leads to a grate above. Yet, it is a large carved out sloping tunnel."

You then head the formian that you ran away from, approaching from the tunnel that you just went through. You also then begin to hear sounds coming from the carved out tunnels on your left and right.

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Since the party is now in a rush to make a decision, each PC will have 1 post IC to make their decision on what to do now and explain why if they want. The party will do whatever is the most popular decision.

[Archmage1]

Gale flys out, heading up the large hole(15 feet up), and looks around.

"If we are running, you should get moving up the slopes now. If we are fighting, you should get ready for a fight. Either way, I will fight from here. If you flee, I will cover the rear, before teleporting out. If we can fight, and win, however, that will make killing the queen much simpler."

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spot[roll[1d20[/roll] listen(1d20)[12]
just take 10 on the spot then.

[Tharione]

Noru pipes up

"It seems very much like we are cattle being herded into a corral. Regardless, I much prefer our odds on the surface. I currently plan to seal the tunnel behind us if we're heading up."

He moves toward the exit tunnel and readies a spell.

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ready to fill the tunnel intersection with a solid fog if/once everyone moves for the surface tunnel.

[mucco]

"I don't like this. We don't know how many of them there are, we don't know where they are, and apparently you aren't up to date with the tunnel layout Bailey. This is a very dangerous thing to do - who here can safely get away by teleportation, or hiding? Everyone else should stick close to me or Gale, if she can bring others with her. I think we won't be able to last long at all in here."

So this is why I didn't like adventurers under me... ill-prepared, underequipped, we don't know the layout of the battlefield, the location of the enemy and the strength of the enemy. No battle can be won under such premises... Bleerie checks her extradimensional haversack to make sure the sewers are not dimensionally locked.

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Unlike my character, I'm ready to fight!

I'll assume at least a couple minutes passed from the end of the last combat.

[Zman]

Zaavariel crosses his arms in a defensive posture renewing his arcane defenses...

Rats in a tunnel...

Turning to the group, "We should go back. I'd rather move backwards among the human crafted tunnels then fleeing forward into unknown, even if it appears safe and to lead to the surfaces that is no guarantee. We have already weakened the enemy with no loss to ourselves and gained information. It is foolish to always fight on their terms."

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Renew shield if more than a minute or two been expended. Waiting for my blind senses to ping.

[Medic!]

Krgg

Krgg draws his falchion. They're coming from every direction except the one that they've altered...I agree, we're being herded. I don't care where we fight, but if we fight here, at least we can make our way up this slope instead of having to step over their bodies. If we collapse the tunnel we will cut off some of our ability to move about Waterdeep, I don't advise it. The wicked grin on the orc's face shows that he obviously doesn't care so much about losing an access point as he does losing the opportunity to cram his sword into an ant-gullet.

[Allyzedl]

The party makes their way up the sloped tunnel, and find themselves on the surface of Waterdeep, surrounded by crumbled buildings and a large ruined courtyard with a broken fountain in the middle of it.

As they make their way up they see formian swarm into the room that they were just in. Bailey reaches into his pocket and throws out a large amount of caltrops behind him as they run up the tunnel.

While you are standing at the top of the tunnel, you see that the formian are just holding their ground and are not following you up the tunnel.

The surface of the merchant district seems abandoned as you look around, surprisingly there aren't any formian up there.

Bailey speaks to the party, "Well this isn't suspicious at all...They are just standing there watching us."

[Archmage1]

"It would seem that they are waiting for something to happen, like an ambush. Probably by the planars. If not, I can hit them from here. Seems like a fireball would be fun as well."

Gale casts detect magic, and looks around, seeking signs of invisible attackers

[Allyzedl]

@Gale

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You don't see anything magical around you, other than the auras radiating from the items of the people near you.

@Zaavariel & Zipxap

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As you look around, you see a building on the other side of the courtyard that doesn't seem to match the others. First of all, it is still standing. And even more, it seems to be made of some kind of black metal and not wood or bricks like the other buildings around. It also has smoke coming out of its chimney.

The building is tall enough to be a 2 story building, doesn't have any windows that you can see, but you can only see part of it, as it is behind other buildings.

[mucco]

Bleerie looks around, worried. "Things are going to get bad. Always be suspicious when the enemy refuses to fight."

She casts a quick incantation, for future use. She also looks around, to see if she can spot anything interesting. Particularly by the strange building.

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Standard action: cast Divine Insight (SpC).
Move action: Spot check (1d20+6)[8]

[Dramiscius]

Still invisible with the borrowed shape of a harpy, Zipxap flys up 20 feet above the center of the area these Formorians seems to be reluctant to enter, scanning around for threats.

[Archmage1]

"Well, I don't see anything unusual, but that may not mean much. There are a lot of formians down there. More powerful ones than I thought a nest had. Does anyone see anything interesting, like a reason for them to force us out here?"