From Across the Multiverse to Barovia II

[Jeff the Green]

The Fane is not far, but a half mile from where you waited for Annan. The borders of the forest must have changed since Strahd bound the Fane to his power since you must travel quite a ways into the forest to reach it. There are game trails crisscrossing the forest—you find your way to the FAne on one that Annan finds from the air—as well as indications of something larger than deer. A bear, perhaps, or a wolf as massive as Drifa, for she widens the trail you are on

The ground about the Forest Fane is tainted; that much is obvious. A heavy mist surrounds it that swirls and coils despite the utter lack of wind. The soil is barren, or nearly so, supporting but the thinnest cover of grass and the most noxious of weeds. As if that were not enough, the sheer presence of the Fane presses on you as you breach the tree line. It is an oppressive fear, the kind that wears a man to nothing over years; a skittering of insects on your skin; an indescribable sense of wrongness.

To one side of the clearing lay the remnants of a few low stone walls and, nearby, a stone circle etched with runes, much like the one occupied by that shadowy presence you fought atop Lysaga Hill. In the center of this circle, however, there is a menhir. In runnels down its side are brown and black stains of blood, artifacts of unutterable horror and cruelty.

[TheFallenOne]

"Well then, shall we begin." There wasn't much to do for Aswin expect guard the perimeter while August performed the ritual as they had agreed upon. He could sense the uneasy feeling radiating from the site, something clashing with his very nature, but his mind was steeled to such influences, although he anticipated the effect might get stronger the closer one draws to the center.
"This aura... Perhaps Ashlyn and I should stay close."

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We have a protective aura against fear and compulsions, respectively. If this with time gets strong enough to force saves that would be a useful protection.

[Sallera]

"Indeed, I can feel Strahd's power here, as one might expect." August steps up close to trace a finger across the menhir. "But I shall not be so cruel a steward. Hear me, spirits, and fear not what I will now work."

Sitting cross-legged in front of the altar, August withdraws a pair of silver bells from one pocket - the same spirit-beckoning charm he had been carrying since finding it in Barovia's church. Casting his mind back to the time, long ago, when he had been fortunate enough to hear their use, he closes his eyes and holds them above a cupped hand, sounding them with a gentle motion. Many seconds pass before the chime begins to fade, and in the moment before it ceases entirely, he lets them sound again, the continuous tone filling the air. After several minutes, allowing the clear note of the bells to empty his mind of all but the ritual, he adds the spoken portion of the ritual, imbuing the words with the same steady rhythm. A full day and night he must repeat them, but he has no need of food nor drink, and the bells bring clarity and focus beyond what he could achieve alone. He needs not be a shade to match Strahd in this.

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It occurs to me that August is rather uniquely suited to performing this ritual, what with not needing to eat or drink more than a berry a week.

Anyway, hoarding pays off again! I hoped I'd find a use for those bells eventually. :D

[Mahrke]

Isaac seems uneasy with the place. Magic. He'd approached it scientifically, and oft looked down upon the methods of those like August. Shamans they'd called them in his time; but he could not deny that now August's approach seems the most...appropriate. "Strahd will interfere if he is strong enough after our battle. He would be a fool to not have this place scryed..." His voice is a harsh whisper to Aswin. The old man casts his gaze upon the young magic-user, his lips creased into a frown as he whispers once more. "The young always carry the burden. We must not fail him, Aswin."

[TheFallenOne]

"We will not fail him, just like he will not fail us." Aswin placed a reassuring hand on Isaac's shoulder. "It isn't enough to believe in others. We have to believe in our own strength too, trust that we in turn live up to the expectations of those we put our trust in. Only together can we succeed at our task."

[Jeff the Green]

"Yea, Sir Aswin," Ashlyn cuts in. "Hast thou heard of the story of the bundle of reeds? One may be bent or broken, but a cord of them has strength beyond any of them. We will remain a bulwark for our young friend, though he acts like he needs it not."

The period of meditation progresses at what seems the pace of a particularly lazy snail. Thunder rumbles, and though you are able to pull together a rough shelter of tree branches, a miserable dampness sets in, compounding the undercurrent of fear surrounding the place.

Some three hours into the ritual, something changes. The aura of corruption does not in any way lessen, nor the pattering of rain, but the forest goes still. The occasional bird or skittering creature suddenly disappear, and you begin to feel uneasy.

[TheFallenOne]

"I know the same thing with a bundle of arrows. Sadly the whole thing fell apart a bit when I was prompted to snap the lot of them and proceeded to do so before the point of it was explained." The Viking chuckled lightly at the memory; evidently he wasn't a prudent subject for such a demonstration.

He settled into a patient complacency, broken sometime later when a foreboding stillness comes over them. "A change is in the air. Watch out, whatever may come for us it must not reach August." He abandoned their makeshift shelter and with a gesture summoned his mount, scanning their surroundings for whatever may have come to disturb their peace.

[Jeff the Green]

The silence lasts only a few moments, as from the northwest you hear a thunderous crashing and breaking of tree limbs. Soon you can see the limbs being shattered and the sodden earth churned beneath heavy footfall, but not what shattering and churning them. It appears almost as though two blasts of force were charging at you.

Two invisible entities hurtling toward you aren't necessarily your biggest worries, however. A few seconds after the noise begins ice and freezing wind stream at you from above, biting and gnawing on you.

Spoiler: OOC

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Everyone takes 5d6 cold damage. Reflex DC 17 halves.
Isaac: (5d6)[12]
Aswin: (5d6)[17]
Annan: (5d6)[16]
August: (5d6)[23]
Ashlyn: (5d6)[14]

Bother. I forgot Drifa. Would you roll Drifa's damage when you roll your Reflex, TFO?

Whatever's making the crashing is just at the edge of the clearing by the end of the surprise round.

[Mahrke]

A blast of frozen air bears down upon them, and Isaac's whiskers are frosted, tiny ice crystals giving him a beard of white. Isaac is quick to act. He may have been an aged physics professor, but being around the myth and legend of Aswin had rubbed off on him. Hesitations was slowly giving way to heroics in the crotchety old codger. And now? Now he had a duty. Let no harm come to the boy.

"Annan! August! GO!" His voice is commanding, even as it breaks into a cough from the chilled air. His hands move in rapid pace, "Haste!", and the sound of a ticking clocks slows in the thoughts of those affected, keeping time as world around them also seems to decelerate.

Annan and August

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The world cuts like a poorly-edited movie reel. The sting of frozen air is familiar as it cascades down a second time. Deja vu? No. The next few seconds are familiar. Given as a gift by the wizened old professor as he repeats himself again: "Annan! August! GO!"

Actions

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Free Action:Swiftness

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Cost: 3 pp
Target: Annan
Effect: Cast as a free action during initiative. Increase Annan's initiative by 6.

Swift Action: Swiftness

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Cost: 3 pp
Target: August
Effect: Increase August's intiative by 6.

Standard Action: Haste, Linked Opportunity

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Cost: 9 pp, Psionic Focus
Augments: Linked Power, Mass, Enhance I, Enhance II
Targets: Annan, Drifa, Aswin
Effect: Each of the targets gains a +1 bonus to Attack, Reflex, and AC, and a +30' bonus to move speed. In addition, each target may take an additional attack on a full-attack action, and gains an additional move action each turn. Lasts 9 rounds. Aswin will benefit from Opportunity on his next turn.

Move Action: Recover Psionic Focus

[Sallera]

The chill of an icy wind washes over August, but his connection to the spirits of this place is already half-formed, and he barely feels it as warmer air from ground level swirls around him. The sound of his bell overlapping with itself, and Isaac's shout, are sufficient to draw him partially out of his trance, however, and without opening his eyes or interrupting his litany, he bends a finger of the wooden amulet with his free hand, directing a tendril of thought toward the oncoming noise as he focuses on keeping the bell steady with the other.

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Move action to maintain the ritual, Entangle and Quickened Clinging Darkness encompassing the general area of the crashing noise. DC11 Reflex for the former, DC17 for the latter.

Realized I can't actually make enough wind with Control Winds to be useful against Medium or larger targets; unless it's already windy, it's mainly useful for dealing with swarms.

[TheFallenOne]

The freezing wind hit Aswin head-on, but despite the pain it provoked a laugh instead of a cry. It reminded him of the home he so long ago left, years before they even met in this realm of mist and corruption. The icy shores, the violent waves crashing against the prow below while above a gelid wind cut into his exposed face... These were the early journeys in the days before he went east.

"Come and meet my hammer if you dare!!" he called out in challenge, raising his weapon high as he burst into song.

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Inspirational boosted IC, +2 attack and damage for everyone.
Drifa readies an action to block the path of any nonfriendly combatant trying to close on August.

[Lateral]

Immediately detecting the intruders, Anann wordlessly sends telepathic directions to the rest of the party, before flying swiftly upwards.

<Two brutes about fifteen feet past Drifa at the circle's edge, but I'm more worried about the one that just attacked us from about twenty feet above me.>

Even here, in this bizarre and distant land, the woman once called Mireann feels no diminishment in her connection to the ancestral spirits of the Éireannaigh. Indeed, the oppression of this curséd place seems only to have expanded the powers of the Phantom Queen, as a fire which seems to burn more hotly when cloaked in the chill of winter. And so, as she ascends, Anann is able to draw out a power that once belonged solely to the eldest of the Morrígna: the black howl of the Badb Catha, War Crow of Erin, whose battle-shrieks afflict the minds of warriors with paralyzing dread.

Having inflicted this terrible keen upon her foe, she continues flying, ending to hover over one of the invisible brutes. With the unearthly speed granted to her by Isaac's strange magic, she opens her haversack and pulls out a bladder of glowing paste, which she allows to drop from her hands and burst upon the ground.

Spoiler: OOC

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First move action: moving to H5, 50ft up, passing by the flying giant out of reach but within 30 feet. As part of that movement, she uses Flyby Attack with her shiny new Howl, forcing the flying giant to make a DC 20 Fort save or be dazed for (1d4)[2] round(s). Second move action: pull bladder out of haversack. Free action: drop the bladder.

[Jeff the Green]

The rustling noise in the forest is quickly cut in half as one of the forces headed toward you is stopped by one of August's spells. From above, however, you hear a snarled word and in a circle about the two August's fire is suddenly doused and the freed creature hares off to the south, apparently to encircle Drifa.

The other one is splattered with the luminous fluid dropped by Annan, revealing a hulking shape with four arms. This leaps upon Drifa, tearing at her with claws at the end of each arm and howling in bloodlust. Upon this attack whatever magic shrouded it from view dissipates and you faced with a particularly brutish creature, with a jutting lower jaw filled with sharp teeth, a pug nose, and almost feline ears, and wearing armor of black horsehide.

Spoiler: OOC

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Sallera, you didn't give a precise position for entangle and black fire. The latter was dispelled in a 20-foot radius encompassing both giants. If you want it to still remain relevant I'll put it up, but you'll need to give me location.

Attacks on Drifa: (1d20+15)[19] (1d4+8)[9], (1d20+15)[16] (1d4+8)[10], (1d20+15)[17] (1d4+8)[12], and (1d20+15)[24] (1d4+8)[10]; if two or more hit she takes an additional (2d4+12)[19]. Edit: Except he's charging, so those are all at an additional +2.

Spoiler: Knowledge (nature) DC 14, made at a -2 penalty

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The revealed giant is an ogre, albeit one with an extra pair of arms.

Spoiler: Annan

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The caster is now at P14/Q15. The other giant is at F16/G17

[Lateral]

Anann sends out a quick tactical message to the group.

Spoiler: TEAM RAVENLOFT

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<invisible 2- ~40' s of prev pos; flyer- 15' ssw of prev pos>

[Sallera]

Although he is careful to keep the ritual in motion, a glimpse of gold is visible under August's eyelids as he steals a peek at the battle. Moving too much would certainly offend the spirits he had already put so much time into charming, but just once, he could probably get away with it. His free hand gestures as the bell's tone begins to fade for the ten thousandth time, and in the unnoticeable gap when one chime is being replaced by the next, earth and air alike seem to rebel against their oversized foes, instantly encompassing them within a dense, clinging wall across one side of the clearing.

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It was Clinging Darkness, not Black Fire; the latter is a damage spell. Anyway, I don't know where precisely they were centred; they were targeted by ear at an invisible enemy, so you tell me. I don't have the enemy locations for that round; throw a dart or something?

This round, maintain the ritual, and Shadow Conjuration (Wall of Sand), 15ft thick, 10ft high, from G5-I5 to F17-H17. (39/40 squares, so with the CL boost from Path Focus the length just fits.) Will DC19 gives an 80% chance to ignore, otherwise Strength check as a full-round action, DC15, to move 5ft (DC20 for 10ft, etc.). Blind, deaf, can't speak or breathe while inside.

[Mahrke]

Isaac gestures to the revealed four-armed foe, intoning "Stop." A single finger is outstretched as the magic takes hold. In his free hand, gnarled fingers close, and he looks around, gathering energy readied for another spell to twist reality.

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Triggered Action: Linked Opportunity

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Effect: Aswin may make a basic attack.

Standard Action: Stop

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Cost: 9pp, Psionic Focus
Augment: Greater Psionic Endowment, Enhance
Target: The revealed four-armed giant.
Effect: If the target fails a DC 25 Will Save, it is Paralyzed (if the target is immune to Paralysis, they are Stunned instead, if they are immune to Stun, they are Dazed instead). It may make a new Will save at the end of each of its turns to free itself from the effects of this spell. A successful save ends the entire spell. Upon successfully saving against this spell, the target is affected by a 2 round duration Slow (Enhance) spell with no saving throw (-1 attack, AC, ref, halved speed, staggered).

Move Action: Recover Psionic Focus
Set Trigger: Cast Flicker

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Trigger: A giant makes an attack against an ally during the giant's turn.
Effect: Cast Flicker (Quicken), removing the targeted ally from existence until the end of the giant's action.

[TheFallenOne]

The direwolf hunched low and with a feral growl answered her assailant's leap with one of her own, meeting the giant midair. Suddenly inside his reach the claws are deflected harmlessly off her platearmored body and the unequal pair, four arms against four legs, rolled over the ground with the wolf finally ending up on top, fangs firmly lodged in one of the hulk's extra appendages. No reprieve was granted to the giant as suddenly the Viking paladin was standing over him after his feet crossed the distance with uncharacteristic swiftness. The Viking song was soon joined by the percussion of a hammer striking down with brutal force as Aswin put all his phyiscal strength into the blows while his bolstering song seemed to call out to August in particular, calling the battle into sharper focus.

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Tripped, charging penalty... Let's go all out. Full Power Attack ahead!

attack - (1d20+11)[14] damage - (2d6+17)[24]
attack - (1d20+11)[19] damage - (2d6+17)[23]
attack - (1d20+6)[20] damage - (2d6+17)[22]

Delay to initiative 17, which puts me after August but before everyone else. WRT August.

[Sallera]

The flow of Aswin's music envelops August just as he is finishing his working, and for a moment it is as though he can do two things at once, the endless possibilities of the void-that-is-not almost visible before his eyes. The hint of gold visible under his eyelids expands to a crescent, and his head tilts upward but a fraction; in the same motion that completed the wall, he draws the air tight about the floating giant Truth's eyes revealed, banishing the falsely summoned potential that tells it its feet are not bound to the ground.

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Swift for the 1 round of True Seeing, Shadow Evocation (Wingbind) on the flying one. DC19 Will for an 80% chance to ignore it, DC19 Reflex negates; otherwise, immediately falls to the ground, takes falling damage, is entangled. DC19 Escape Artist to get out afterward.

[Jeff the Green]

August's will must be stronger than the caster's, for there is a great roar of anger and a violent impact moments later. The unparalyzed fighter too suffers a minor setback, for, though it recognizes the swirling sand about it as the figment it really is, it is revealed by Annan dropping another sack of glowing paste upon it and then firing an arrow at it. There's also the shining sword aimed at its gizzard, with Ashlyn throwing her weight behind it.

From the space where the mage crashed, though, comes a sinister voice. It chants in the same brutish dialect it used to counter August's spells before, and a globule of pure blackness streaks from where the mage must be at Annan. It continues talking, but now in a language you can understand: "Gon' eatcha, little magelings. Gon' roast your bones. Gon' crunch 'em up. Gon' slurp the marrow. Gon' magic you to stay alive while I eatcha. You gon' scream and scream."

The mage's more brutish associate likewise counterattacks. It swings its massive sword at Ashlyn but misses as Isaac suddenly shunts her out of time and space. It recovers and lumbers forward to loom over the professor who's been vexing them so.

Spoiler: OOC

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Ashlyn's charging smite: (1d20+14)[25] (1d8+27)[32]

Annan's attack: (1d20+15)[35] (1d8+2)[9] plus (5d6)[12]

Giant's attack:
(1d20+18)[35] (3d6+16)[29] plus Improved Grab (1d20+19)[31] vs Ashlyn's (1d20+12)[17]
(1d20+13)[14] He's now grappling Ashlyn and so deals the damage on a successful grapple check. (3d6+16)[22] plus Improved Grab (1d20+19)[37] vs Ashlyn's (1d20+12)[16]

Attack on Annan (autosucceeds the Concentration check): (1d20+6)[17] ranged touch, (4d6)[16] damage (half cold, half no type), plus Fort DC 18 or stunned a round.

Mage uses Never Outnumbered, affecting Isaac, August, and Annan (if she's stunned and falls). Intimidate: (1d20+15)[27]. I'll let you all roll the level checks.

Spoiler: Annan

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The mage is now at O12-P13.

[Mahrke]

The brutish mage might've been spouting idle threats...but for Isaac, they hit closer to his heart. He'd seen those threats made real when he closed his eyes. He'd seen the deaths of every single one of his companions since he'd come to this place. Every single one except his own. And so the fear that grips him isn't fear for his own, but fear for these brothers in arms as the nightmares play in his thoughts, sped up.

"NO!" The shout is a denial of the threat...but the words aren't merely soundwaves carried through foggy air, but magic. The primal root of Isaac's powers. He used calculations and formulae to make the magic into something more controllable...but now it is wielded with emotion. He didn't double check the math...didn't even do it -once-. He just unleashes it at the giant running towards him.

His blood freezes when it doesn't work. When the ogre continues its charge towards him, Isaac shows his true colors. Not a warrior, but a scholar. He throws up his arms in a feeble defense, and closes his eyes, leaping backwards. "Help me!" His floating automaton replies with a cheery chirp, and the air around it is illuminated with a yellowish energy that lights up the ogre's weapon with friction.

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Standard Action: Stop, Casting Defensively

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Target: The giant adjacent to Isaac
Augments: Psionic Concentration, Enhance
Cost: 9pp, Psionic Focus
Effect: If the target fails its Will save (DC 25), it is Paralyzed (if the target is immune to Paralysis, they are Stunned instead, if they are immune to Stun, they are Dazed instead). It may make a new Will save at the end of each of its turns to free itself from the effects of this spell. A successful save ends the entire spell. Upon successfully saving against this spell, the target is affected by a 2 round duration Slow spell with the Enhance augment with no saving throw.
Cast Defensively: Take 15 (28).

Move Action: Recover Psionic Focus
Free Action: 5' step to M11.
Vesper's Immediate Action: Protection Devotion

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Effect: Allies within 30' gain a +4 Sacred bonus to AC.

[Sallera]

Closing his eyes again, August lets his thoughts return to the ritual, focusing on the bell to chase the giant's words from his mind. He would trust in his brave companions, for he had already stolen the potential for victory from their opponents. The arrogant one might yet steal it back... but for now, that was not his concern. The spirits would not forgive him easily if he strayed.

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Meditating away. Out of the fancy one-shot spells, and I think you lot can handle this from here.

[Lateral]

The mage's attack fazes Anann only momentarily, and as she senses its mind relocate itself to the ground, a wicked grin spreads across her face. "I have ye now, ye bastard..."

She swiftly pulls another bladder of paste out of her bag and drops it; it falls to the ground and bursts, splashing the paste all over a third ogre. She then unleashes a full barrage of arrows on the freshly-pasted giant.

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Move action: pull another bladder. Drop it.
Rapid shot full attack, bow power attacking -3 (remember, Woodland Archer gives +4 after every miss):

(1d20+11)[16]
(1d8+8)[11] + (5d6)[23]
(1d20+11)[27]
(1d8+8)[16] + (5d6)[19]
(1d20+6)[9]
(1d8+8)[16] + (5d6)[18]

[TheFallenOne]

The footfalls of the giant advancing on Isaac and August seemed unnaturally slow, the dirt thrown up by the ponderous steps lingering in the air longer than it should. But it wasn't their enemies who were defying the normal order, it was his own perception. 'I'm moving faster. Isaac...'

The Viking song was supplanted by a scream of primal fury as Aswin recklessly charged into the breach, standing right between the two giants to demand their attention with a succession of powerful blows from within their guard. He couldn't see the crashlanded mage, but before his unerring strike guided by faith instead of vision such matters were meaningless. The glowing hammer went for the unseen flesh without fail and continued its arc into a full swing to strike at the chest of the other giant with a thunderous crack to topple the ancient foe of gods and men. He would not let them pass he swore with silent determination. They would have to cut him apart inch by inch before he yields any ground.

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Drifa goes in first, drawing an AoO from greatsword dude and attacking the same
(1d20+18)[26] (1d8+14)[22] Trip - (1d20+12)[31]
(1d20+18)[29] (1d8+14)[21] Trip - (1d20+12)[18]

Aswin will take the AoO from Launchpad. PA 4 and Defensive Rebuke
attack on caster - (1d20+18)[31] (2d6+20)[25] ignores miss chance
attack on greatsword - (1d20+18)[27] (2d6+20)[26] Trip - (1d20+14)[29] (if Drifa already tripped him or the first attack missed this too will go to the caster, again ignoring miss chance)
attack on greatsword - (1d20+10)[21] (2d6+12)[15]

edit: if the AoO hits Aswin his Furious Counterstrike will ad +1 to attack and damage

[Jeff the Green]

The onslaught from Aswin and Drifa is devastating. Though both suffer a counterattack (the mage, curiously, strikes Aswin with a fist rather than the ungainly weapon it carries), the wolf lays the sword-wielding giant flat on his back and tears at him savagely, while Aswin finishes him off, caving in his chest with one mighty blow of his hammer. Attacks on the mage, however, are somewhat less effective, seeming only to annoy it. It responds with a laugh that would be a cackle were it not so deep, and raises his arms to the heavens. Again it chants in a hideous tongue, and a wind stronger than you've experienced before flattens you to the ground.

Only Ashlyn manages to escape the gale, and she moves in to attack the mage, though her blow glances off its armor.

The four-armed giant, on the other hand, seems to be struggling mightily against the half-real sand enveloping it, hampered somewhat by the temporal dysfunction Isaac has layed on it

Spoiler: OOC

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AoOs:
On Drifa: (1d20+17)[29] (3d6+18)[32]
On Aswin: (1d20+14)[23] (1d4+9)[10]

Spoiler: Spellcraft DC 18

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The mage cast downdraft

Everyone on the ground must make a DC 19 Reflex save or fall prone (remember the bonus from haste). Annan falls to the ground prone, no save, and takes (5d6)[12] falling damage.

August must make a DC 19 Concentration check or lose the ritual.

Ashlyn's attack: (1d20+11)[17] (1d8+3)[11]

[Sallera]

The wind knocks August back out of his seated position, but fortunately it strikes in between chimes of the bell, and he is able to keep both rhythm and litany intact as he pulls himself up again. Thoughts of seizing control of the winds for himself come easily to him, partly connected to the land's spirits as he is, but it is less important than completing the bond, and at any rate it seems disrespectful to channel the connection he is forming in that manner.

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Move action to return to sitting, move action to continue the ritual.

[Mahrke]

The whipping wind is met by the professor. He leans into it, and drops to a crouch. One hand grips his cane, digging one end into the ground, the other dipping low, almost brushing fingertips against the dirt as he slides backwards nearly three feet, labcoat whipping wildly about him. But he remains on his feet, and reacts by pointing at the ogre mage with his cane, and sweeping it towards the ogre behind them. "Again!" Even as he shouts, he tries to spring behind Aswin, but ends up staggering, nearly losing his balance.

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Standard Action: Deja Vu, Linked Deja Vu

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Cost: 3 pp, Issac's Psionic Focus, Vesper's Psionic Focus
Augments: Linked Power, Greater Psionic Endowment, Mass x1
Target: Ogre Mage, Other Ogre
Effect: The targets must repeat the actions it took on the previous round during its next turn unless they make a DC 22 Will Save. If it has no legal targets for those actions, or cannot take them again, they instead must do nothing that turn. (Repeating actions includes types, but not targets. For instance, a fighter that moved and made a standard attack with their greatsword must again use a move action to move, and a standard action to make an attack with their greatsword in that order, but may choose different targets, and different directions of movement.) At the beginning of the next turn, the Ogre Mage is affected by this spell again.

Free Action: 5' Step to L12
Move Action: Recover Psionic Focus
Vesper's Move Action: Recover Psionic Focus

[TheFallenOne]

The sudden burst of wind forces Aswin down on the ground, but the Norseman stood up again without hesitation, daring the giantkin mage to strike at him. His wounds from the initial blast of cold had already closed and started to knit as his body was reinvigorated from the righteous punishment his blows dealt to the giantkin. But he was not the one in the most dire danger, so he directed the soothing energy to August and Isaac instead while their foe was still at large. The mockery of the mage laughing off his attacks only deepened the lines of anger drawn on his face that now devoid of the friendly smile masking his intimidating stature was a promise of pain and death etched into human flesh. He hadn't felt such fury since the moment Arthros had died and it was obvious to anyone who had previously seen the Viking fight that for some reason this here had deeper and more personal meaning to him. He unleashed his full power without hesitation, the thunderous hammer trailing lightning striking with all the force he could muster.

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Drifa
(1d20+18)[28] (1d8+14)[16] Trip - (1d20+12)[25]
(1d20+18)[28] (1d8+14)[19] Trip - (1d20+12)[21]

Aswin: full PA, Devastating Smite on second attack
Smite - (1d20+13)[17] (2d6+25)[28] Trip - (1d20+14)[32]
Smite - (1d20+13)[27] (2d6+33)[40] Trip - (1d20+14)[31]
(1d20+5)[20] (2d6+17)[23]

[Lateral]

The burst of wind sends Anann careening to the ground, and as she looks up at the freshly-pasted spellcaster, her face twists in disgust. She quickly informs her allies about the threat facing them, before teleporting herself away, springing to her feet, and firing a blast of raw life-energy at the caster.

Spoiler: Party

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<I recognize the caster. Back home, they tended te live among the Fomorians, usin' their magic te make like kings. In the common tongue, ye'd call them somethin' te the effect of 'ogre mages.' Obviously, they can fly, but they're also really tough te kill- they're like trolls, ye need fire or acid te put 'em down for good. This one also seems unusually powerful- I've hunted down a few, but this one's got magic way stronger than the usual tricks.>

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Move action: teleport to Q20.
Second move action: stand up.
Standard: use healbomb, making sure to only catch the ogre mage. Reflex DC 20 to halve (9d6)[36] damage.

[Jeff the Green]

The ogre mage takes a serious pummeling from Drifa and Aswin, and then has holes seared in it by the blast of life energy. It seems about to respond with a blow from its strange weapon when the mist seems to congeal about you almost instantly.

It clears what seems an eternity later, to reveal a scene unlike any you have ever seen. A massive creature is being attacked by what appear to be golems. You would call it a dragon, but for the fact that its face is less reptile than abomination. It is a mass of tentacles writhing about a vast mouth lined with spirals of jagged teeth. It smashes and tears at its assailants with tooth and claw, and periodically a cone of pale light erupts from its horrible maw to consume them. Tattered wings, spikes at their wrists, strive to lift it into the air before a team of golems fires massive chains in arcs across it to weight it down. Here and there around it smaller, but no less horrible creatures are battled by somewhat less impressive constructs. It is something of a mercy that you are not only a good mile away but also seemingly unable to approach.

Eventually, the mist closes around you again and you are returned to the grove from which you came, but there have been hitchhikers. One of the golems, a great black monstrosity, appears nearly on top of the ogre mage, and the giant nearly falls before he says a word and shunts several feet to one side. Opposite Isaac appears a mass of lambent slime, oscillating and shining. One pseudopod lashes out at the professor, and the ogre mage lashes out at Aswin with its ungainly weapon before retreating a bit, apparently assessing the situation.

Spoiler: OOC

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And Red joins us! Unseenmage, make a DC 10 Fortitude or gain 1 corruption and a DC 10 Will or gain 1 depravity. Red is flatfooted until she acts and thus can't AoO the ogre mage.

If my description of the lunar dragon isn't evocative enough, here's a good picture.

Ooze's attack on Isaac: (1d20+8)[19]. Deals (1d6+3)[7] plus (1d8+4)[6] damage. In addition, he takes (1d4)[3] Strength damage (DC 16 Fortitude halves), must make a DC 13 Will save or be fascinated for 8 rounds (success reduces to dazzled), and must succeed on DC 10 + damage dealt + power level Concentration check to manifest next round.

Ogre mage's attack on Aswin: (1d20+14)[18]. Deals (4d8+14)[40] damage, plus touch of idiocy, giving a penalty to all mental scores equal to (1d6)[1].

Spoiler: DC 18 Knowlege (dungeoneering)

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It's a moon ooze (i.e. living spell of moon bolt, moon blade, and moon lust.

[Sallera]

August feels the mists rush in, the disruption as the spirits shift around him, but the ground he is seated on remains solid, the bell still chimes, and he does not cease his litany nor open his eyes, trusting that his brave companions will call upon him again should the improbable happen and they be overwhelmed. In his semi-aware state, the connection between the previous incidents and this one quite eludes him, and he has been using too much faerie magic to pay it any mind.