Wastes of Shello - Group 1

[Agthorr]

Garnup

Garnup quips back to Gornak, "Haven't significantly injured it? Why! If I had been hit by as many spells as Gideon, Etain, and I have just throw at this enormous armored can, I'd be all but dead! And I have a robust Gnomish constitution!"

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

Etain fires forth the blast of raw eldritch energy, colliding with the terrible creature's body and degrading it's metal body further as it belows in pain. Bits and pieces of it are falling off and rageforged continue to roar and bellow while crawling about it's body like parasites. Gornak lets loose and arrow but as last time, it clatters harmlessly against it's armor.
It stands in the shadow almost motionless, the glitter in it's eyes keeping it's head in an odd position, staring at nothing. It's blade grinds on the ground slowly, cutting a pit and sparking slightly but it seems harmless-if at a distance-while encased in shadowstuff.

[Toliudar]

Gideon

Hovering at about 250' above the ground, Gideon simply observes the action below, preparing to step in as required.

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Readying an action to cast Greater Dispel Magic to counterspell if the creature casts a spell.

Caster level check (1d20+27)[36]

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

It opens it's massive metal jaws and bellows, like the sound of metal being twisted and broken for miles around. Rageforged all over begin chanting, a word that barely seems to be a word at all... more a noise superficially similar to the sound the titan made. The titan slams both weapons into the ground, blinding white sparks fly from where metal and stone collide.

[Krezzlar]

Gornak
Init -2, HP 157/157, +9 temp DR 2/- Speed 20ft (Flight 60ft Good)
AC 34, Touch 13, Flat-footed 30, Fort +24, Ref +21, Will +18
Abilities Str 31, Dex 18, Con 22, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 9
Conditions Protection From Evil (already applied), Fell Flight, Telepathic Bond, Control Battlefield, Inspire Courage (+5)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Yes but this armoured can is roughly a 500 times the size of even the most robust gnome. That has to count for something." Gornak retorts with a smile.

Seeing the new commotion being raised by Gashblade, Gornak lets loose a low growl. "It would appear that the Rageforged have their own song. We had better spoil it. Shall we Raj?" With a primal roar, Gornak raises his greathammer and hurls forward at the metallic fiend.

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Charge, Power Attack +5

Attack (1d20+30)[48] Crit (1d20+32)[33]
Damage (6d6+38)[61]

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

Gornak hurls himself through the air, his hammer dragging behind him and his horns forward. As he flies a rageforged holds up a twisted iron crossbow about four feet long with what looks like a normal sized bow on the end and fire. The massive bolt strikes through Gornak's shoulder and out the other side, but does not stop the momentum of the furious minotaur.((12 damage))
More rageforged jump at him with blades ready but the closest they get is roughly ten feet from Gornak. One of them hurls his curved sword, which grazes Gornak's leg, leaving a small trail of blood in the air((2 damage)).
Gornak, at the end of the short period of time reaches the massive iron head of the beast, it's massive red eyes stare deep into the eyes of the minotaur before him. He bellows like a twisted iron god ready to impose his vengeance, but the noble minotaur is not pushed back... He strikes with his mighty hammer! The mighty sound of metal striking metal, all too familiar to Gornak rings out for almost a mile! The flat face of the weapon rips through the iron head on the right side and tears the artificial eye-socket completely out, it's glowing eye shattering in a spark of unholy red light. The spiked, iron titan opens it's massive jaws once again and cries out as if from the bowels of the Abyss in agony...

OOC: God I'm feeling like such a freaking writer right now.

[Toliudar]

Gideon

She hated when he did this. No matter how capable and resilient she knew the big minotaur was, she still hated every time he dove into another mammoth slugging match.

Silently, Gideon maneuvered to a point 60' above Gornak, ready to pull him out if the creature's blows become too much for him.

Quietly, Gideon slips her staff into her bag, pulling out instead a scroll and a rod...just in case.

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She'll simply continue to ready an action to cast greater dispel magic (roll as above) if the titan tries to cast a spell or use a SLA.

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

The creature tries slashing through the blinding glitter in it's one remaining eye at Gornak. It manages to differentiate for a moment between the sky and the minotaur enough to slash at him... The massive adamantine blade swings hard and fast enough to cut through Gornak's defenses and leaves a huge gash across his chest, from shoulder to hip diagonally. ((29 damage))
All the rageforged swarming his body and at his feet roar out for the blood, as if giving a grotesque cheer for their leader's small victory. The titan swings again with his other arm, the massive claw cuts the air as it moves but seems to fall just short of slashing the minotaur open again. It bellows in rage and with it's open jaw lurches at the tauric warrior. His jaws clench shut on Gornak's body, holding him fast... ((17 damage))
As much as Gornak struggles, he's held too tightly in the automaton's steel jaws, the smell of rotting meat and fresh blood welling up from the creature's throat and assaulting Gornak's senses.

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Note: When I said reward good storytelling, I half meant with more epicness..... Don't let this deter you, though.

[namo]

Paran

Paran cheers for the minotaur's brave charge and his evident physical power... right up until he gets caught in the maw. He hisses, angry that the foolish warrior is making the next move he had planned much more difficult : his bursts of destructive energy could end up on the wrong target.

Noticing the other half of the statue that got thrown at them, Paran grins as a new plan forms in his mind. He flies up, noting the positions of the other statues of deities nearby. They do say the gods help those who help themselves. A convenient excuse, but I'm about to lend it some truth. He throws his arm out, launching a single spark of shadow towards each of them.

The sparks penetrate the bronze and seem to vanish. But the statues start to rock, slowly then more and more urgently. Dust rains down. They all seem older now, as if time had left a dark patina on them. From the center of his black cloud, Paran's command rings out clearly : "Seize the titan !!"

The statues begin to march towards the Ragelord, creaking as the metal gets forced into submission by the shadow magic.

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Tsk, he got himself grappled. I missed the window of opportunity : no blasting for me.

Also, I wasn't aware there were swarms of rageforged. A Control Winds would have done some cleaning, but I guess it's not epic to have a tornado twice in short succession.

Anyway, Paran is using Feign Life, i.e. Animate Objects but the animated statues also get concealment. He'll try to animate statues as big as possible : so only 1 Gargantuan statue if possible (I used the plural because I assumed he would not find a Gargantuan one), if not then 2 Huge, then 4 Large...
The statues will approach the Ragelord and attempt to Grapple it if Huge or Gargantuan, or just attack it if Large (but Large animate objects are fairly useless).

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

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...Forgot about those winds. Uh, let's just say it's for flavor and they just clung on... Eheh... And the statues would be Huge in size, so two of them. Edit: They have slashing weapons, so let's just replace the bludgeoning damage of the slam with the slashing damage of their 'natural weapon' swords. The elf god statue should still only get one attack.

The statues of the gods Devek the Harrower, god of chaos and war rises from his base, sword in hand. Opposite him moves the statue of Lamess'el Du'ruilen, elven god of the hunt, a smaller sword in each hand, both moving toward the massive metal beast and draped in shadow.

[namo]

Paran

Paran has never given much thought to the gods. He cares little for them, and he suspects their opponents today feel the same. So he does not even know their names - but who needs to know the name of a weapon ?

Hovering nearby, Malicorne snickers then proceeds to scan the titan for any sign of magical possessions. The reward was good for that annoying Horncaller - perhaps this one will have some treats too.

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No problem with the adaptation - tell me if I should do the rolls (and whether they reach the titan in the 1st round).

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

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They can reach and attack him in the first round, and I'll let you do the rolls.

[namo]

Paran

The two statues rush to embrace the titan as if it was an old friend, in a grotesque parody of life. The blessing of shadow turns away the blows of the lesser rageforged, who scurry away to avoid getting stomped by the bronze feet.

One of them tries to stick his weapons into the titan's massive maw, to pry it open and let Gornak loose, while the other hammers at its back, sparks flying as the bronze blade skids over the metallic carapace.

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They avoid AoOs since they have cover. Their defensive stats are :
AC 17, cover, concealment

edit: I forgot flanking -> add +2 to attacks.
Touch attack - (1d20+6)[20]
Grapple - (1d20+19)[28]

Touch attack - (1d20+6)[12]
Grapple - (1d20+19)[26]

Their chances are not good, but Paran wouldn't know much about melee techniques. And I don't know the rules about extracting someone from a grapple, now that I think about it.

[Agthorr]

Garnup

Observing Gornak being trapped in the titan's fearsome jaws, Garnup curses silently to himself, "Damn fool. All bravery and no sense!".

Coming to a decision, Garnup telepathically sends to the minotaur, "I am going to try sniping at the titan again. Regretfully, there is some chance I may hit you by mistake. However, my attack is partly illusionary. If you know this, even if you are hit, it will not hurt. Or at least not as much."

Standing firmly on the ground, with a simple flick of his wrist, Garnup conjures another glowing orb. The orb comes easily, as if the muscle memory of the last few castings make this one easier to conjure. Garnup and launches the orb at the behemoth, hoping he does not hit Gornak by mistake.

As the orb careens toward the titan, Garnup advances 65' toward the titan, preparing for a daring rescue if Gornak is unable to extract himself from the grapple...

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Orb of force via shadow and Residual Magic.
Ranged touch attack: (1d20+16)[14](30)
CL 21
Force Damage: (10d6)[38]
Firing into a grapple: (1d100)[62] (1-50: titan, 51-100: Gornak)

Will DC 26 to recognize the illusion and take only half damage. One could argue that the titan gets a penalty on the save, as he was hit by a 100% real orb of force quite recently. :-) If Gornak is hit, he automatically makes the save (assuming being informed by the spellcaster is "proof").

Hide after sniping: (1d20+27)[45]
Hide after flying 65': (1d20+27)[34]

I'm completely lost as far as initiative order goes. Was Garnup supposed to go before Gornak got himself into a grapple?

[Agthorr]

Garnup

Garnup winces as he as sees the orb of force smack Gornak in the head as he's trapped in the titan's maw. "Oh dear! I do apologize! We'll have you out of there in just a moment!

[Krezzlar]

Gornak
Init -2, HP 114/157 DR 2/- Speed 20ft (Flight 60ft Good)
AC 34, Touch 13, Flat-footed 30, Fort +24, Ref +21, Will +18
Abilities Str 31, Dex 18, Con 22, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 9
Conditions Protection From Evil (already applied), Fell Flight, Telepathic Bond, Control Battlefield, Inspire Courage (+5), Grappled
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Not sure if you applied DR or not in your damage listings. I've thrown it into my damage calculations.

Also, going to roll Wall of Blades (ToB pg 70) now for the grapple attack roll. If it succeeds, I don't mind saying that the power helps Gornak break free rather than stopping the grapple attack. It brings up a good point about how you want us to handle these kind of counter powers in the future though.

Wall of Blades (1d20+33)[44]

Twisting as Gashblade's jaws slam shut, Gornak manages to get one foot pressed against the roof of the metal titan's mouth even as his teeth dig sharply into the minotaurs back. The black fur along his chest is staining red with blood as the blacksmith pushes hard with his hooved foot to keep the crushing maw from closing even tighter.

"Well, at least he's not howling anymore."

Rotating his greathammer, Gornak tries to use the adamantine weapon to pry the Gashblade's jaw open. The smell of putrid flesh is near overwhelming but the minotaur is able to put it out of his mind as he focused on the monumental task at hand. "Hungry are you? Well chew on this!"

Tilting his head upwards, Gornak summons the strength to drive his horns into the roof of the metallic titan's mouth.

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Gore attack, -13 Power Attack.
Attack -4 for grapple, -13 for Power Attack, +20 for Truestrike Bracers, +5 morale
(1d20+41)[61] Crit (1d20+43)[50]

Damage
+39 Power Attack (Combat Brute), +5 morale
(1d8+54)[59]

Vampiric Torc to heal half of damage dealt

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

The statue of Devek swings it's massive blade at the titan, it slashes the side of it's metal neck open and it lets out a grunt of pain. His head turns to the opposite side and suddenly the statue of the elven god swings it's blade into his face, narrowly missing Gornak. It's face now cloven open there's a rush of cool air hitting Gornak.
The titan resists against Gornak's struggling in his jaw but keeps his metal grip on the minotaur. When he rams his massive horns into the upper jaw of the titan it's jaws suddenly open wide as it roars in agony, a strange magical fluid falling out of the holes punched into it, you can only presume you've pierced it's "brain". It staggers and after a moment of dead silence, the massive creature falls onto the swarm of it's people before it.

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Gornak, make a Reflex save.

[WhiteKnight777]

Raj

Seeing the minotaur in trouble, Raj let loose a roar and moved to assist, but before he could reach the massive metal behemoth, the minotaur send the hell-born metal monstrosity to whatever nether pit awaited it. Shrugging his shoulders, he looked around with a fierce gleam in his eyes. Spotting a few warforged who had managed to avoid the falling corpse of their rusting god, he dashed forward, axes singing as he severed metallic heads from iron shoulders, singing a loud victory chant in his own tongue.

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

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Almost forgot, 3,600 XP all around. You guys are monsters and should not be allowed to do this well. Damn your winning strategy and epic roleplaying.

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

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Almost forgot, 3,600 XP all around. You guys are monsters and should not be allowed to do this well. Damn your winning strategy and epic roleplaying.

[Agthorr]

Garnup

Garnup and Gwen advance on the fallen titan. Gwen focuses her vision on the toppeled construct, locating and gathering any magic items for later identification.

Garnup says to the group, "Anyone have any skill with tracking? I'd like to know from where these rabid tin cans are originating. The titan's rather large footprints should be relatively easy to follow back to their most recent point of origin."

[Krezzlar]

Gornak
Init -2, HP 156/157 DR 2/- Speed 20ft (Flight 60ft Good)
AC 36, Touch 13, Flat-footed 30, Fort +21, Ref +18, Will +15
Abilities Str 31, Dex 18, Con 22, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 9
Conditions Protection From Evil (already applied), Fell Flight, Telepathic Bond, Control Battlefield, Inspire Courage (+5)
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Reflex (1d20+18)[23] (and Evasion in case it matters)

[namo]

Paran

"It would be a shame to let it go to waste" muses Paran as he looks at the now inanimate machine.

"You, the one with the big sword, impale it !" After several tries, Devrek's sword pierces the metal, running the carcass through. The god of war heaves it upward slowly - almost losing balance at one point - until its body is kneeling in front of the statue, the sword coming out visibly on the opposite side. "Now, go back to your pedestal !" The statue begin a slow jog towards its usual spot, dragging the titan behind in a metallic cacophony. Once there, it resumes the triumphal pose as ordered by Paran.

He exclaims mentally : "<< A gift for the future generations !" Then he sobers a bit - capering does not suit him. "<< And a symbol. May it be heeded. >>"

Satisfied, the shadowcaster rubs his hand together and dusts his robe briefly. He lets the other statue handle the remaining rageforged : its slowness makes Rajahtar even more feral by comparison.

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

Gornak attempts to get out of the open jaw in time, but as the titan dies he isn't quick enough to escape it's jaws. They close around him, but narrowly miss cutting his head off. He is now somewhat ...trapped in the dead, carrion-smelling jaws of a rageforged titan.
The grim creature is now something of it's own statue in some right... Standing between the gods of war and the hunt, as if a strange trio of battle-gods;War, Hunt and Slaughter.

[Toliudar]

Gideon

As the titan falls, and Gideon watches her friend extricate himself from the very jaws of death, she casts her eyes over the battlefield. So much death. So much more death.

Nicely done. Bold, if quixotic.

They continue to congregate around the jewelry shops. Anyone care to join me in discovering what they're after there?

[Agthorr]

Garnup

Seeing Gornak become trapped inside the jaws of the now-statue, Garnup and Gwen fly up to just outside the statue's mouth, peaking in at Gornak through the small gaps between the teeth of the creature's cruel smile. Gwen says to Gornak, "Fear not, brave minotaur." Gwen produces a small wand and with a flick of her wrist and a small bamf, Gornak is floating outside the statue and Gwen is inside. She changes form from a tiny pixie-like creature into a tiny glowing ball of light. She passes easily through the creatures teeth, joining Gornak and Garnup outside the statue.

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Wand of Benign Transposition.

Hope it's OK that I'm ad-libbing the gaps between the teeth. :-)

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

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Wand of Benign Transposition.

Hope it's OK that I'm ad-libbing the gaps between the teeth. :-)

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No problem, they were there in my head anyway.

[Krezzlar]

Gornak

Gornak was pleasantly surprised by the speed with which he was extricated from Gashblade's maw. He gives his head a good shake, letting fly some of the viscous fluid that had poured from the metal titan's skull. Seeing the Garnup standing beside him, he gives the gnome a smile.

"Many thanks little master. But don't think this means I've forgotten about those errant spells you were hurling. Was he not a big enough target?" teases the minotaur.

He is startled by the loud crashing sound as the animated statue of Devek impales Gashbalde's corpse and drags him through the city. With a regretful sigh, he watches as the metal titan is laid to rest at the statue's feet. While the destruction of Gashblade was essential, he had seen much of his fellow smith's work while fighting the tormented creature. An armor plate from the elven metalworkers, a gem eye from the fey jewelers, hinges from the gnome masters. Those works were all twisted and deformed now but still a testament to what was once the skill of the crafters of Shello. Now it was just another mistake erased.

Lifting his head, the minotaur turned his attention back to the battle. "I believe they were attacking the jeweler's shop to get at the silver there Gideon. Is there any sign that the Rageforged are turning back now with the defeat of Gashblade?"

[The_Snark]

Etain

Etain blows a sharp victory note on the horn, letting it ring out across the city, and lets invisible winds whip her nearer to the ground near some of the fallen titan's smaller brethren. Her free hand points again, and another wide shimmer projects forth in a wave, the metal of the rageforged bodies screaming and deforming as if in sympathy for Gashblade's corpse as it passes over them.

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She's going to continue to attack the rageforged and maintain her Inspire Courage effect for now, while the others loot the corpses or keep fighting. She'll keep out of melee range, of course.

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

Something seems to catch your eye, just out of the corner of it. There's a dull cracking sound as someone suddenly appears standing on the shoulder of the now motionless statue of Devek the Harrower. He holds himself very upright and appears very calm, despite the rageforged invasion. He has a silver cane, which seems to glow with warm, silver light, giving you a good look at him.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of Shelloen lands. I am here to speak some sense into you." He looks around at the rageforged sacking the city with ease. "There are no more survivors... this land has been cleaned... you must escape with me. It is your only hope of survival." He takes a deep breath. "My name is Jarran Moonshadow, and I am your ally."