[Hourglass of Zihaja D&D 4e] Heroes on a Sea of Swords IC

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Amirah, Living Swarm

Amirah sends forth dozens of small insects into the darkened hold of the ship, and a few seconds later they scurry back and rejoin the swarm. Anyone paying attention can see the returned individuals performing small dances as they retell what they have found.

"There is a funny smell down there," she transmits to the group, "kinda... earthy. It seems to start in those big boxes at the bottom of the stairs, but it fills the air. The beetles quite liked it, though" (several of the beetles do indeed perform a happy dance at this point)

"There is also funny-looking floor. Tiles. Very badly set in the ship floor. Duh, it shouldn't be on the ship at all. They look like they will sink as soon as we step on them. Oh, oh, oh, some funny holes are in the wall next to the weird floor."

Amirah goes quiet for a few seconds while the buzzing activity continues in the swarm. Then, she finishes, "The flees tell me that the corridor to our left has a big pool of blood. The rats, it seems, were very excited about it. Just before an open door. The other corridor's door is closed."

Spoiler

As before, working off a PM from Shadow Elf. What you see is what I got.

OOC, I suspect the "funny tiles" are a trap, so anyone that knows anything about that might want to step forward (feel free to ask for clarification IC, but there is a set in each corridor - "corridor" refers to a 10-foot length on either side of the stairs as we get down, going 'west'). The 'north' corridor is the one with blood+open door. Cardinal directions assume the convention of the top of the map being "North".

[A'den]

Teshiq moves towards what Amirah referred to the room with the blood perhaps some aid could be lent to whatever soul was there or the balance could be redressed in one hand he holds his holy symbol the tether wrapped around his wrist and tied off the other holds his sword he holds cautious before him in a guard and advances.

[Scylfing]

Medinah

"So there was no indication of the man they sent, other than the pool of blood? Then it is likely the pirates left more than just traps, and the crates may indicate what that is," she replies in a low voice so as not to be overheard by the passengers, before heading down below decks to investigate the boxes, keeping clear of the corridors so as to avoid setting off a trap.

Spoiler

Moving to M-17. Medinah's Perception is mediocre, but she'll use Arcana or Religion to look for telltale signs of monsters from the boxes.

@^: You might want to hold off on entering the corridor until we've had a chance to disarm the traps. Heh, nevermind about that. I guess it's possible to be overly cautious.

[Shadow_Elf]

The Fang of the Deep, Below Decks - Qius Sea
As Teshiq moves forward into the hall to examine the blood pool, the tile beneath his feet depresses. Ever ready as he is, his sword leaps to his left to deflect the emitted spray of darts - those that get through his guard are easily deflected by his armour.

Behind him, Medinah peels back a plank on one of the boxes to examine its contents. ((OOC: PM coming on that subject.))

[Scylfing]

Medinah

After peering inside the crate, Medinah looks back toward the stairs to relay her findings.

"The crates contain alchemical substances that appear highly volatile, but I cannot identify them or their specific properties. Sage Rahman, please if you would have a look at them?"

Spoiler

Oh I forgot to mention, the pirate woman token will be fine for Medinah.

[Reverent-One]

Kihtsah Darimil, Dervish of Adimas

Following Teshiq, Kihtsah moves beyond the pool of blood and looks through the open door.

[Belthasar]

Hakhpur

The gnoll was almost as tough as a fighter, having good, uncommon arcane defenses. However, since his specialities were area or ranged attacks, Hakhpur marched right behing the group, and listened to his companions' reports. He just crossed his arms as there was practically nothing he could actually do. He also wanted to get Teshiq or any expert to talk about the hallucination thing, but it'd be better to wait until the end of the mission.

Without considering his poor senses, Hakhpur still attempted to get help from The Falaqui to check his surroundings.

Spoiler

Perception check: (1d20+8)[26]

[Shadow_Elf]

The Fang of the Deep, Below Decks - Qius Sea
As Kihtsah moves past Teshiq, the darts fire again - but Kihtsah's divine shielding easily repels the dartstorm. As he moves into the next room, past the trapped hallway, he notices a faint trail of blood leading deeper into a maze of the earthy-smelling crates. He can't see far, though - there is no light whatsoever beyond the meagre shafts of light provided by small holes in the deck, invisible from above but quite pronounced from below.

OOC: Map update to come soon, I need to do some other things first though.

[ninja_penguin]

Rahman Shamis, Kobold swordmage

Rhaman steps up toward the front of the party to take a look at what what Medinah has found. "Let me see what we've got here." He said, carefully peering at the crates. "And be careful! Give me a moment and I'll see what I can about disarming those traps."

OOC:

Spoiler

Arcana - (1d20+18)[29]
Nature - (1d20+9)[26]

This is provided that Rahman doesn't have to trip said traps before getting there, in case I'm not understanding the layout. He'd want to disable those traps first before passing.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Amirah, Living Swarm

Still hovering behind Medinah, Amirah cannot help but buzzingly giggle at the others setting off the trap. "That was funny, do it again, do it again!" she sends to the priest and sword master.

Then, as Medinah opens one of the creates, several of her swarm members detach and scoot over to the crates, up the sides and over the edge, their feelers hovering over the substance.

Spoiler

Knowledge Nature - (1d20+18)[20] and Arcana - (1d20+14)[18], and also Insight - (1d20+21)[38], trying to determine if anything may have been growing in it or otherwise how it was that the smell has escaped the crates.

[ninja_penguin]

Rahman Shamis, kobold swordmage

Rahman's eyes widened and his frill flared as he suddenly recognized the substance. "Stop that!" he said quickly and sternly to Amirah. "It explodes if you jostle it!" He said, explaning sternly, but holding his voice steady like shouting would set it off too. "Heat, or other alchemical reagents can set it off as well, I know some alchemists use it to level the land for some highways.

"Now let me see if I can stop this trap." he continued, slowly moving onto the pressure plate. Mercifully, his slight frame was not displacing it. Yet. "If this is what the pirates were carrying on board, we should make sure we've got a fast and quick exit. This whole place stinks." He said as he inspected and prodded the trap, bringing out a tool or two to test it.

OOC:

Spoiler

Trying to disarm the trap. Extra bonus from tinkerer.
[roll0]

[Scylfing]

Medinah

Upon hearing his warning, Medinah carefully closes the box (but making sure not to trap any of Amirah's swarm in it) and slowly edges over behind Rahman, shedding some light down the upper corridor.

"Agreed, this is more dangerous than I anticipated. The Captain should be notified immediately, and the survivors need to leave via rowboat as soon as possible."

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Originally Posted by Medinah

"Agreed, this is more dangerous than I anticipated. The Captain should be notified immediately, and the survivors need to leave via rowboat as soon as possible."

Knowing all too well what Medinah means by notifying the captain, Amirah once again switches to its more compact, flying swarm aspect. "OK, I'll go let captain-queen know," she projects, sounding rather pouty, "but don't go far without me. I don't wanna miss the fun."

Medinah flies out into the upper deck, and contacts the captain. "Captain-Queen Shaur, we found some strange dirt in the hold that Rahman says will go boom if I taste it. The other Hunters say we should get the people off the boat quickly."

[Shadow_Elf]

The Fang of the Deep - Qius Sea

Captain Shaur nods from the deck of the Midnight Mirage. Make is so, Hunters. We will wait at a safe distance.

Meanwhile Rahman is tinkering with the pressure plate. As he approaches the fundamental mechanism with his tools, he makes the slightest error - and trips the trap. However, the darts miss catastrophically - Rahman's Aegis deflects most of them, and his quick-witted movements avoid the rest. Going back to work after dartstorm, Rahman finds that he has lost his place, and he trips another part of the mechanism finding his thieves' tools - the darts spray again, but his aegis and agility are once again more than sufficient in keeping him totally safe. Third time, however, is the charm - Rahman's tools are successful in finding their mark and he severs the last connection, disabling the trap in this hall. His efforts did nothing to disable the trap in the other hall, but at least this path is now safely passable.

As Amirah directs the merchants to begin loading onto their available rowboats, she descends to join the rest of the party, who move past the disabled trap and into the below-deck area proper - the area is stacked wall-to-wall with the volatile crates. The generated effect is similar to that of a maze, albeit not a complex one. The trail of blood runs forward a small ways, and ends in a human body leaning against one of the crates in a pool of blood about 10 feet ahead.

Map (Yes, I redrew it, I like this one better):

Spoiler

The Fire Giant token is the human body.

[A'den]

Teshiq

Teshiq looked at the human body then turned to the other Hunters, "It's time this riddle was put to an end, let's find out how he died."

With a weather eye he examined the area around the for traps before proceeding with his ritual. He approached the body and knelt down next to the body before summoning his divine energies and opened a doorway to the world beyond beckoning the spirit and body to answer questions from beyond the grave.

"This might take a few minutes why don't the rest of you further secure the immediate area of traps."

Spoiler

Perception for Traps: (1d20+12)[15]
Religion Check for Speak with Dead: (1d20+15)[21]

Enough for Two questions as long as we didn't blow up with my meager perception.

[Shadow_Elf]

The Fang of the Deep - Qius Sea
A voice comes from behind the group. You want to speak with the dead, priest? I am dead. Speak with me! I am much more interesting than that dead person. I watched him die, you know. I could have warned the others above that he was in trouble. But I didn't. I like watching things die. Makes me feel all cozy. Would you all please die for me? I would ever so much enjoy that. There seems to be the faintest image of... a child?.. rising up from the floor behind Amirah.

Suddenly, screams are heard above on deck, and a grating, inhuman shriek pierces the sky. The thud of arrows hitting wood is heard above. Something heavy like a box or a body hits the deck above as well, with a loud thud.

Oh dear. People are dieing above deck too! This is great! Why don't you join them? Teeheehee.

((Determining initiative now. Combat begins! I shall make an OOC post with bonus actions and which phase begins in a few minutes.))

Nature 25 (passive does not count):

Spoiler

The cry above is that of a Wyvern, from the Lizardfolk "Locqui Wyval", or "Place Stealer". They are well known for taking the abandoned roosts of greater aerial predators, such as Rocs, Samandars, Dragons and Simurghs. They are occasionally domesticated and used as mounts, particularly by the she-da-zhong.

Map:

Spoiler

The Banshee token is the ghost child.

[Belthasar]

Hakhpur

"What was that...?" mumbles Hakhpur upon hearing the unnatural screams above.

Then his glare goes back at the child. "You little ****!!!" he barks. "Is that thing yours??! You'll pay if something happens to the people above!!!"

He starts emiting a dark, deep purple, unpredictable aura.

Spoiler

Nature check: (1d20+6)[20]

[Scylfing]

Medinah

As soon as she hears the attacks above deck, the Warforged springs into action. Leaping to Amirah's side, Medinah calls down a curse upon the ghost before slashing at it with her blade, aflame with eldritch energy.

Spoiler

Move action to move to L-14.

Minor action to place Warlock's Curse on the ghost. I gain +2 to defenses against its attacks.

Standard action, attacking with Eldritch Strike:

Con melee weapon vs. AC, (1d20+21)[40] for (1d8+14)[21] weapon damage + (2d6)[6] WC damage, and if it hits the target slides 1 square to L-16 and its melee and close attacks against allies suffer a -2 penalty until the end of my next turn.

[Reverent-One]

Kihtsah Darimil, Dervish of Adimas

As Medinah rushes off, Kihtsah takes her place, throwing open the door and circling around to get up the stairs, trusting that his fellow hunters can handle whatever it is down there. They're trained and capable of dealing with danger, the same cannot be said of the civilians up above.

Spoiler

Move: to O13
Minor: Open door
Move(assuming the door opens): to N14
If it's locked, I will try to force it open (probably using athletics).

[A'den]

Teshiq
Teshiq pauses at the voice of the cries of the others. He light a torch to better see what is going on and move to the stairway and see what is causing the commotion above.

Spoiler

Minor Action: Pull out a torch and light it.
Standard Action: Pass
Move Action: Move to N14.

EDIT** Deleted Turned undead moved onto squares.**

---

* post roll count doesn't match database

[Shadow_Elf]

The Fang of the Deep - Qius Sea
Though he gets the jump on his foe, Teshiq is struck with indecision. Medinah and Kihtsah, however, waste no time in their immediate action; the warforged attacks the ghost child with her sword after laying a curse upon her. Meanwhile, Kihtsah forces the locked door open with brute force, accepting an attack from the dart trap in the hall in order to make the best time in reaching the upper deck. The darts bounce harmlessly off of his divine shielding again, however. he rushes past that hall and then turns and heads up the stairs to look out the doors of the top of the staircase.

Kihtsah:

Spoiler

You see a giant draconean winged beast tearing apart one of the merchant crew with his mouth. It is mounted by a she-da-zhong archer, who catches sight of you. The victim is hard to recognize, but it is neither of the Rajinds.

[Shadow_Elf]

The Fang of the Deep - Enemy Phase

Kihtsah:

Spoiler

The winged beast roars, its rider firing an arrow at the Avenger. Kihtsah proves far too nimble, however - he easily shifts out of the path of the arrow. The mount leaps forward, trying to employ its tail to harm Kitsah. Unlike the two dartstorms and the arrow before it, this attack lands, as the half-Efreet is unable to dodge the massive tail - and its sharp stinger. His immune system is also unable to repel its venom. Once the poison is in his system, Kihtsah immediately feels nauseous - a component of the beast's presence, he's sure. Elsewhere on the deck, he hears the screams of sailors as they are torn apart by other beasts or succumb to the poison and arrows of the she-da-zhong. You then see the floor erupt below your opponent, likely an explosion from the crates below. The beast seems only temporarily bothered by the blast, and is unharmed.

Crunch:

Spoiler

Kihstah takes 15 damage and ongoing 10 poison damage (save ends). The winged creature that the she-da-zhong is riding has an aura out to two squares, which gives you a -2 penalty to defenses and all saving throws while you're taking ongoing poison damage. Suffice to say, this is not good.

Map:

Spoiler

Kihtsah is in F14, in the doorway, below the sterncastle. The green boxes are the overlapping auras of multiple of the venomous winged beasts.

The party hears screams of agony abovedecks as more sailors fall to whatever threat is present up there. Meanwhile, the ghost giggles, the creepy laugh nearly lost amid the cacophony above. Nearly. She soars out of the ship through the wall, and reappears on the other side of the crates, within Teshiq's sight. He warns his companions, but too late - the mischievous sprite giggles as she conjures a sphere of force and hurls it at a crate, causing a deadly chain reaction. She giggles all along, but this noise is truly lost in the sound of the explosion she causes. She is also harmed by the explosion, but seems unperturbed, as the damage is obviously minor. The screech of an massive beast above is heard as the explosion ruptures the deck and also the floor of the below deck area, exposing the sunny day above and the empty, shadowy hold below. The body of one of Rajind's crew members falls from above, riddled with arrows and with a large gash across his face. The corpse falls into the shadow of the hold and basically vanishes. Above, partially obscuring the hole, is the posterior of some winged, scaled beast.

Crunch:

Spoiler

Amirah and Hakhpur take 16 force damage each. Teshiq and Rahman take 11 force damage each. All of you take ongoing 5 fire damage (save ends).

Map:

Spoiler

Alright, at least you got some more vision of this room! The gray on the left is my sad, sad attempt at a "fog of war".

[Reverent-One]

Kihtsah Darimil, Dervish of Adimas

Spoiler

Grunting from the pain of the stinger, Kihtsah soldiers on, slashing at the beast's tail as it draws it back.

Crunch

Spoiler

Using the strikeback gloves to make a melee basic attack against the lizard, using Overwhelming Strike and my Kopesh.
Attack vs AC: (1d20+18)[19]
Damage:(1d8+9)[11]

Kihtsah shouts to his companions below, "Whenever you can spare the time, I could use some assistance up here!"

[Belthasar]

Hakhpur

"Wha-?"

Still glaring at the ghost, Hakhpur quickly vanishes from sight, only to appear next to the stairs. There, he raises his left hand and a small chain with a stone at the tip moves pointing at the noisy monster above.

"Help is coming," he says to Kihtsah with a low voice, almost a whisper.

Spoiler

Immediate Interrupt (vs area or close attack): Swift Escape (I teleport 3 squares, to O14.

(Question: Do I still receive the ongoing damage after teleporting out?)

Minor action: If I see the monster, I'll use the power of my Foe Stone on it (I learn all of the target's vulnerabilities as well as which of its defenses is lowest). If I can't see it, I'll use the stone on the ghost instead.

I'll continue with my actions after I have learned the information.

[A'den]

Teshiq


"LOOK OUT!"

The explosion shook Teshiq for a moment then his sense returned to him.

"Day just keeps getting better." He spoke with a notable sarcasm.

Teshiq assessed the damage to his allies as minimal and held back the font of divine healing in him and looked up at the romp of the creature blocking his view and frowns willing the offending beast out of his way. His eyes flash with a brilliant glare looking into the romp above he didn't need to see its face to know its mind. The water is cool away from the sparkling fire and hurting. Then he made his move for the stairs to better aid Kihtsah theological differences aside.

Spoiler

Channel Divinity: Divine Fortune +1 to Attack
Saving Grace: Forgo Save and give +5 bonus to Amirah's Saving Throw.
Target: Riding Beast at F12-13
Standard Action:
Command
Charm, Divine, Implement
(1d20+16)[28] vs Will
Result Slide Beast at F12-13 to B12-13 into the water.

Channel Divinity +5 Temporary Hit Points
Move to O16

[Belthasar]

Hakhpur

The gnoll sorcerer luckily escaped from the blast. After that, he gives a piece of advice to his companions. "This monster may be strong, but his mind is only ooze..."

He then turns to the ghostly child. "You think you can just get away with this???!" he barks to the ghost. "Bah. You're gonna be definitely dead sooner than you expect..."

And his glare slowly transforms into a grin, and the grin in a sinister, intimidating cackle which was accompanied with purple-glowing eyes. "Hahahahahahahahhahahahaha!!!!!!!!"

Meanwhile he raised his staff and launched a blasting shockwave to the monster above. Hakhpur's aura was slowly growing more powerful as he swiftly moved with the storm.



Minor Action: Disenheartening Cackle @ all enemies in 5 squares from my position (monster and ghost)
Standard action: Storm Walk @ Monster, shift to O15

Spoiler

Attack 1: Disenheartening cackle:
vs Ghost: (1d20+17)[19] vs Will
vs Monster: (1d20+17)[21] vs Will
Hit: Enemies get a -2 penalty on their next attack roll, or until the end of my next turn, whichever comes first.

Attack 2: Storm Walk @ monster:
(1d20+18)[36] vs Fortitude
Hit: (1d8+23)[29] thunder damage (added a +1 bonus to damage roll for evey ally within 2 squares, +3 total) and I get a +1 bonus on arcane attack rolls vs the monster, another +1 attack bonus with area or close blast attacks, and a +1 bonus to damage rolls. Also, I become insubstantial until the end of my next turn.
Effect: I shift to O15, get a +1 bonus to AC and Reflex

[ninja_penguin]

Rahman Shamis, Kobold Swordmage

"I'm going to help up top!" Rahman shouted over the din, half to the party in general, and half to Medinah, hoping that she'd understand that his wards were elsewhere, charging up the stairs to assist while swatting at the flames on himself. On seeing the beast at the top of the stairs, Rahman reached out with his warding, layering it over the beast and its rider.

Crunch:

Spoiler

Double moving to get to M14.
Minor action to use double aegis to mark both the rider and the beast.
Standard action to use Sword burst on both of them:
Attack vs. Reflex:
Attack - (1d20+18)[23]
Attack - (1d20+18)[34]
Damage:(1d6+10)[12] Force damage
Saving throw vs. Fire damage: (1d20+2)[21]

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Amirah, Living Swarm

HP 91/102 Bloodied 51 Healing Surge 25 (0 used /12)
AC 30 Fort 27 Reflex 25 Will 28

Pack Wolf
HP 51/51 Bloodied 25 Healing Surge 12 (0 used /0)
AC 29 Fort 27 Reflex 24 Will 28

As a few flies around her burn up and fall to the ground, dead, Amirah actually shouts "That wasn't very nice". Her voice is terrible to hear - a thousand different buzzs just barely understandable combine to create speech.

She moves forward, her shape becomes more defined, and soon her humanoid shape is standing, and her 'arms' moving in the complex and indecipherable motions of a summoning spell. A magical window opens behind the ghost, showing some green fields, and Amirah calls through, completing the spell "Help me, brother wolf"

A wolf jumps through, mouth open, rending through the insubstantial enemy and bringing it down.

Free Action: Wild Shape: turn humanoid; shift 1 square (+1 AC +1 Reflex)
Move Action: Move to M11
Standard Action: Summon Pack Wolf (accept an attack of opportunity, and use Ferocious Transformation if it connects) @ M9
As part of the summoning, I give the order to attack M10

Spoiler

Attack: To Hit Banshee - (1d20+20)[38] vs. Reflex
Damage: (1d6+10)[14]
Effect: Prone if hit

Saving Throw - (1d20+5)[23]

[Shadow_Elf]

The ghost makes an opportunity attack against Amirah as she moves into position for her summoning. Teeheehee, you want tickles? Coochy coo! giggles the ghost as it touches Amirah.

Spoiler

Amirah takes 9 damage from the opportunity attack. The wolf's strike is successful in knocking her to the ground and dealing some damage, though.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Originally Posted by Shadow_Elf

The ghost makes an opportunity attack against Amirah as she moves into position for her summoning. Teeheehee, you want tickles? Coochy coo! giggles the ghost as it touches Amirah.

Amirah, Living Swarm

Even as some of her swarm die from the icy touch, Amirah's shape becomes indistinct, and dozens of new insects rush forward to join the swarm.

New HP 82+10/102