Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

[Debbie_D]

Its pound on the bad guys time as Dot's flame ball burns each one in turn. Still stunned, the men are unable to avoid its firey touch and take damage. But they arent down yet, not by a long shot, it will take more than that to stop them.
Melinda up, Warriors unable to act, Atareth to follow.

[Kalirren]

"May lust consume them all...!" Melinda curses in fluent Abyssal, cradling her bruises. Not quite believing that the entire group's mental efforts had come to naught, Lil's calm reactions had served as a reminder of good charming technique. She herself had remembered before to dispel the pimp's protections in Sigil. In her haste to interdict them, she'd forgotten to take that precaution.

Melinda vengefully chooses to follow Lil's suit. "You!" she shouts, throwing her will like a hammer behind her voice at the one who had taunted the group with her plight. "Are you mine yet?!"

[Dominate person - Will @ 28 negates.]

[Debbie_D]

Melinda casts her Dominate spell and finally, one of the party's enchantment spells works. Either the fighters had just gotten lucky before or Lil's spell worked in at least one case, but this fighter is now under Melinda's control.
The fighters attempt to re-oriente themselves, they seem to be somewhat successful, but they are still not able to attack.

Atareth up, Taleira to follow

[Debbie_D]

Continuing to summon up the power of Tishtina, Atareth channels the divine power of her goddess and smites the 2 warriors at the door. They reel in pain from the blast of divine might, but are still up.

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(5d8)[19] smite

Taleira up, Tallesin to follow

[Kalirren]

"I've taken hold of the talkative one," tepes Melinda. "Focus the other two."

Unless someone else announces that they've taken hold of the other doorman, when the two of them start to get up, in that moment of vulnerability, hers will try to knock his nearby comrade into the blade barrier.

[Telasi]

Taleira Ulharvyth

Got it. The fighter launches herself at the indicated pair, delivering a series of vicious strikes in quick succession.

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Full Round: Dervish Dance (+5/+5), full attack. Power Attack -10/+20 Karmic Strike active (AC 44). Wraithstrike still up due to being extended. Hasted, if I recall correctly.

If Tali drops one, continue to the next. Dervish dance lets her move to do so.

Attack 1
Hit: (1d20+27)[7](34) vs. Touch AC, threat range 15-20.
Damage: (2d4+40)[48] (adamantine) + (1d6)[3] Vampiric
Critical: (1d20+21)[34], (2d4+40)[45] extra damage.
Attack 2 (Haste)
Hit: (1d20+27)[17](44) vs. Touch AC, threat range 15-20.
Damage: (2d4+40)[46] (adamantine) + (1d6)[5] Vampiric
Critical: (1d20+27)[30], (2d4+40)[45] extra damage.
Attack 3
Hit: (1d20+22)[18](40) vs. Touch AC, threat range 15-20.
Damage: (2d4+40)[45] (adamantine) + (1d6)[2] Vampiric
Critical: (1d20+22)[36], (2d4+40)[43] extra damage.
Attack 4
Hit: (1d20+17)[10](27) vs. Touch AC, threat range 15-20.
Damage: (2d4+40)[42] (adamantine) + (1d6)[5] Vampiric
Critical: (1d20+17)[32], (2d4+40)[47] extra damage.
Attack 5
Hit: (1d20+12)[18](30) vs. Touch AC, threat range 15-20.
Damage: (2d4+40)[46] (adamantine) + (1d6)[5] Vampiric
Critical: (1d20+12)[26], (2d4+40)[47] extra damage.

[Debbie_D]

Once again, aided by her spells, Taleira is an unstoppable combat machine. Her first two blows finish off the first of the engaged warriors, and spinning her way to the second one in her usual dervish style, her wraithstrike enhanced weapon is easily able to penetrate his armour, and she finishes him off in fine fashion.
EDIT: But even with all that, shes not finished, as she dances her way to the last warrior still fighting and stabs him once. Its not enough to kill him, but he doesnt look at all healthy.

Tallesin up.

Tactical situation: Two warriors that were deeper in the room are now dead.
Two warriors at the Blade Barrier, one dominated, the other blinded, stunned and prone

[Ason]

Trying to conclude the fight but still stuck behind the blade barrier, Tallesin flies up for a clear target and then fires a thin, green ray at the non-dominated warrior.

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Disintegrate at non-dominated warrior
Ranged Touch Attack: (1d20+20)[31]
Fort Saving Throw DC (Partial): 25
Full Damage: (34d6)[107]
In Case of Partial Damage: (5d6)[16]

[Debbie_D]

And as Tallesin's green ray hits the fighter, he explodes into a pile of dust, as his weapons and armour clatter to the floor. The one remaining warrior, under the control of Melinda's domination just stands there, looking at the whole situation with a look of hatred at the fact that his body no longer responds to his wishes.

[Toliudar]

Dot glances into the room beyond, using all of her senses to confirm that they've taken care of all of their opponents.

"Melinda, do you think that you can get him to talk about who else is here, and what's beyond that door?"

[Kalirren]

"Thank you, Tallesin," says Melinda. "I appreciate what you did for me. I will be more alert in the future." She gives him a kiss on his chest before wading up through the party towards the room.

"As for you..." She mentally orders the remaining warrior to stand. Once Atareth takes down her blade barrier, Melinda steps again into the training room, wincing as she crosses its threshold. Turning, she looks up into his eyes, and in that exchange of stares sees his hatred matching her own.

The Triune's first dual priestess reaches up and caresses her thrall lightly on the chin, in sincere yet dispassionate acknowledgment of the depth of that feeling. "I promise you, one way or another," she begins, "you'll have plenty of chances to express your frustration with me later. It will be more intimate next time, whichever of us is in control. Set aside those feelings for now, and tell me your name." Indeed, she had little intention of ever letting him go. But upon his or their departure from the demiplane, her control would lapse. "Tell me about the layout of this place, and its guardians and security. Start with whatever's behind that door," she gestures. "Where are the Master's sanctum and study? Do not say His name."

[Debbie_D]

As a spell, Dominate Person is very efficient, once established, the caster need not fear her instructions being twisted or resisted, someone dominated simply cannot attack them, because their body is totally under the control of the other person. Unfortunately, its a physical control of the body, and not a control of the thoughts, which is what charm spells provide.
If the dominated warrior could spit in Melinda's face at her questions, he would, but he cant, since Melinda controls his body. But she doesnt control his mind, at least in the fashion she wants, and he simply refuses to answer her questions.

[lostsole31]

Lildorrinene winks to Melinda as she walks up to the warrior. She looks right into his eyes, but says to Melinda, "Allow me."

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Feel free to choose from a variety of options on our menu, though the special of the house is the SLA charm monster, complete with cloaked casting for a Will DC 33. There are other options (please choose), and if all else fails ... dominate is far too operator-intensive for the caster, so if Melinda doesn't want to deal with it, Lildorrinene - and hey, she doesn't mind sharing, Taleira as well - might feel a little peckish for some soul.

[Telasi]

Taleira Ulharvyth

With the battle over, Taleira wanders over to Melinda. "You alright?"

[Kalirren]

"No, not really," comes Melinda's answer with bitterness in her voice. "But I'll manage. Lil? I appreciate the offer. But he's mine. I'm sure you understand."

She narrows her eyes at the guard, annoyed but not surprised at his defiance. "Do you know why we're here?" She makes him look at the jade orchid she wears on her neck. "Just over a thousand years ago, a budding prophetess, a flower of our faith, an innocent girl half my age, was killed on pilgrimage to our holy city by agents of your faith. That event would have lain forgotten, except for the fact that her soul never did find its way to Arborea, you know. That's because it's -still- being held here. As a man of faith, I'm sure you understand the repugnance of this. Even the high priest of Rohdan thought that was disgusting." She lets that sink in for a second. "You also understand that since we have come so far, we will be defeated before we are denied. Now, I shall repeat my questions. Either you will give me the answers I seek, or in breaking your despicable faith entirely, my sisters and I shall show as much mercy to your mind and soul as you would have offered to my body."

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And that is the (more-than) one-full-round tirade on the righteousness of her beliefs required by Convert the Infidel. Will DC 32 or be charmed and converted for...the duration of the spell? But it's not a spell...the only spell referenced in the ability description is Charm Person, so may I suggest an identical duration of 1 hour/level?

"Tell me about the layout of this place, and its guardians and security. What's behind that door? How can we best avoid your Master?"

[Debbie_D]

Melinda's powers of persuasion are too much for the warrior to resist, and he eventually becomes ameniable to her questions.

The master is not here right now, but I am sure he is aware of all that transpires, and will deal with it eventually. Whenever we did anything wrong, there was rarely immediate retribution, but he always knew.
As for guardians, there are some fire giants, some of those despicable barbed devils, myself and my fellows, and one other guardian, a demon. I believe the term for her is marilith, and let me tell you, if you look past all her blades, she is smoking hot. Of course, that only means something if she is in the mood to be nice, which is rare.
Behind that door is a hallway, it turns after 20-30 feet and heads toward a conservatory. Of course, theres also an entrance to the masters private sanctum, which Ive never been in, and is in fact off limits to all of us, save the demon. Its even locked, and since I know I cant be in there, I havent bothered with trying to figure it out. If he has something of value to you, I would imagine its there.
And as for the high priest of Rohdan not liking what we do, what do I care about their views.

[Toliudar]

Once the blade barrier goes away, the elemental lifts Dot into the training room so that she can complete her examination of the room. Dot settles to the ground, the air elemental vanishes, and an earth elemental appears. It starts to clumsily pull weapons, armour and other doodads from the dead.

"Again, brilliant work. I wonder how much he knows about this 'master'.

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Under Dot's direction, the elemental will set about removing things with magical auras and setting them aside, and Dot will start identifying magical things in the room. If the magical thing is not a personal belonging, she'll first make sure it isn't a trap of some kind (Search: (1d20+42)[46] or Spellcraft (1d20+37)[43]. Dot will mentally report her findings to the group.

[Kalirren]

"A marilith?"

Now that was suspicious. Many a magically savvy client had crowed to her before that the first rule of dealing with the Lower Planes was that you never dealt with a demon when you could instead deal with a devil. The God of Evil Magic had the resources to deal with any thing he wished. Why should a marilith be his final gatekeeper?

"Did she ever give you a name to call her by?" ventures Melinda.

[Debbie_D]

Her name is Ka'Rishta. I dont suppose thats her real name....or maybe it is. What I do know for sure is that shes got 6 identical magical swords and shes really, really good with them.

[Kalirren]

"This Ka'Rishta must be one very special marilith," tepes Melinda. "Lil, I hesitate to suggest this, but would you see what you can do? One demon to another might be able to get farther than the seven of us together. You're also an influential Nocticulan - you might be able to offer her something."

"Thank you," says Melinda. "What is your name?" she asks, beginning to truly draw upon the depths of her ruby's magic.

"Listen, _____, when next you find yourself on the Prime after the chewing out the Master is going to give you, you will go gambling and whoring to blow off some steam. There are only a few establishments in the world that can really cater to a man of your tastes. This is from one of them." She takes out a gambling chip of least value from the Grand Villa Hotel in Kroy, and palms it to him in such a way that he doesn't see it. "Don't look at it. You will go to your room and hide this among your personal things, then come back to me with a similarly-sized trinket of yours that you could easily have misplaced. Go now."

"Done? Good. Now, you will forget everything that has occurred since you first succumbed to my will, and immediately lose consciousness."

[Hypnotism - Modify memory.]

"I'm done here."

[Toliudar]

As Melinda completes her manipulation of the mental, Dot finishes her analysis of the material.

"Well, well. The warriors' gear must have been customized for them - all four had remarkably similar enchantments and workmanship in their equipment. Their plate armour, swords and shields are all enchanted heavily, and their belts and necklaces are similarly ensorceled to provide protection and prowess in battle. Powerful enough to win battles, in more skilled hands than theirs. Valuable enough to build an entire temple, when we get back."

She lifts one of the longswords and one of the belts experimentally. She gestures to the significant pile of gleaming stuff.

"I, um, I don't suppose anyone has room to carry all this. It's rather more than I can handle on my own."

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Dot's taking a sword and a belt for now, unless others can use them immediately. Can Sword take the rest, or does anybody else have room?

[Telasi]

Taleira Ulharvyth

Taleira nods in response to Dot's question. "I've got a bag of holding with some space left over for the carrying part. A belt and amulet wouldn't go wrong for me, either; they're a touch better than what I'm using now."

[Debbie_D]

Can Sword take the rest

SWORD
(connected through her telepathic link to Atareth to the rest of the "circle")

(in feigned mock outrage) Carry the rest? Carry the rest? I, ma'am, am a highly trained thoroughbred stallion, not some silly pack mule.
(more normally) Actually, I dont think either the armour or the shields can fit into the saddle packs I have. The rest is fine.

[Toliudar]

Dot is happy to turn the weapons and armour over to Taleira.

"My deepest apologies, Sword. I stand corrected."

She conjures another air elemental, and gestures towards the door just beyond Tallesin's wall.

"Well, we should keep moving."

[Ason]

Smiling as Melinda kisses him, surveys the scene with the others. Declining the warriors' gear, he does at least offer, "I have this haversack handy if it will ease your load with the spoils, Taleira. Otherwise, once Melinda's wounds are sufficiently tended, I am ready to move out. I assume if my lady Lildorrinene's conversation with the demoness turns sour, the rest of us will simply be waiting in the wings with, erm, 'alternate' means of persuasion?"

Once the party is ready to resume travelling, Tallesin will dismiss his Wall of Force and resume his position in line. Before departing, he casts Bull's Strength on himself and whomever else wants it.

[PSinger]

Atareth says, "Oh, the fashion accessories (belt and amulet) suit me fine."

Lildorrinene says, "As with me, the belt and amulet will do me well, especially the latter in keeping me alive longer when I am hit.

"Melinda, I can try .... but as both succubus and Nocticulan, I will have worse problems than yourself. Mariliths are proud generals of the Abyssal armies. They hate our kind and everything we stand for, except when succubi make useful pawns."

[Debbie_D]

TALBOT

Actually Lil has the worst chance of anyone to convince the marilith to talk...with the possible exception of Taleira.
This is something Lil probably doesnt know, or doesnt admit knowing, because Nocticulans dont even acknowledge history before Nocticula became queen of the succubi. You see, the Ka at the beginning of that mariliths name isnt a part of the name, its a title. The term Ka refers to a member of the personal guard of Malcanthet when she was the queen of the succubi. The queen, of course, that Nocticula deposed and destroyed. So Ka'Rishta isnt going to be interested in talking to the whole group, and she'll be even less likely when she sees Lil and Taleira....and seeing as Tishtina helped Nocticula in that little plot, the rest of you will just tick her off even more.
If he could smirk, he would.
About the only one she would listen to would be Tallesin, and thats just not going to work out.

[Kalirren]

"...Oh," is about all that Melinda can muster as her elders school her in the lore of ancient, tangled hatreds. "Oh. So if I understand you correctly, the marilith who has access to that room was likely hand-picked by the Master of this place for her ancient and personal hatred of two of the three Goddesses whose union we seek to achieve. If we survive this ordeal, please tell me some time, Talbot, how you came to have mined this vein of Abyssal political history. You were clearly a very resourceful man," she requests flatteringly, genuinely impressed. That vein might yet yield more gems of understanding in the future.

The bardess was so ready to call it a lost cause and prepare for a bloody, bloody fight. Yet some perverse hope deep down inside her psyche sensed an opportunity, and simply wouldn't let her let go of her worse judgment. She couldn't believe what she was thinking, and yet between doubt and faith there lay the razor's edge of possibility, of truth and folly. Fools rushed in where angels feared to tread, after all. And Melinda was one lucky, lucky fool.

What little motion shows is the twitching on the left side of her nose and the gritting of her teeth. "Lil, give me your odds of her destroying me on sight," she asks rhetorically. "I think I'm going to give talking a shot and see what I might accomplish." She looks to her comrades. "Will you at least try to avenge me if she kills me?"

Melinda casts upon herself a few protective spells before opening the door and venturing forth.

[1x Heal, 1x Death Ward. Her Inflame evangelist ability is subsonically active.]

[Vulaas]

Ireth

"Would you like for me to help you, Melinda? I'm not exactly a slouch when it comes to negotiating, and even though Talbot seems to think we have no chance, I may as well come in to help. I'd just like a minute or two to prepare myself before we enter the room. Also, if there is yet one unspoken for, I think I'd rather have one of the warrior's amulets for the upcoming battles."

With that, she pulls out another 8 berries to infuse with the same fire she did the first, praying that they won't have to be used. After casting another fire seeds spell, she covers herself in an Energy Immunity: Fire and Freedom of Movement, followed by Owl's Insight grant her greater insight for the coming battle.

Preparations made, she nods at Melinda. "Are you ready, m'lady Bardess?"

[Toliudar]

Dot rubs her forehead for a moment.

"Please understand, Melinda, Ireth, that I admire your courage and respect the goal of getting as much information out of this ancient demon as possible. But, frankly, you're too valuable as assets to this quest to lose on the off chance that the marilith is going to be willing to impart some information to a sworn enemy. Even one with an unparalleled gift for persuasiveness.

"May I counterpropose that we go in together. We have, among us, eight or nine ways to incapacitate someone. We start by trying those techniques with her, and only use lethal force as a last resort."

She spreads her hands.

"Or is there some nuance to your plan that I'm missing?"

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Since we seem to be buffing up, Dot will cast Greater Mirror Image on herself, Haste on the entire group, and then pull out her rod of Quicken Metamagic.