Ugh. I hate sand. It's coarse and rough. [Combat thread.]

[DM Bob]

The two tall sand women move to shut the torture pen and engage Chat'cho respectively.

Skrye can attempt to engage, as well as the flying worm familiar if Niachi wills it.

The others in the hall can be at the doorway by the next round. 'Muiko notices after he recombines with Attilius and Coden, that any drawn weapons and any exposed magical items - armor, boots, rings, amulets, etc... that normally glow with his detection spell are dimmed where the dust touches.

Niachi, if he follows, will appear in two rounds.

Rolls and game on!

[Deleted]

Chat'cho tries to disappear from view by activating her Gythka of Past and Present. [11]

[Skrye [AC3; 48/48HP]]

- "Here!" - Skrye says as she unsheathes her glass daggers and approaches to avoid the creature to close the door, holding initiative to attack if the they attack her. Skrye would be in the middle of the door to avoid it to be closed

[OOC: Initiative 1, to hit Thaco 11 (damage 6) and Thaco 5 (damage 5)]

[Attilius]

The armored behemoth runs down the dusty hallway on Initiate 1

No need for initiative this round, you can roll when you get there the following round. -Bob

[Niachi]

After 'Muiko's cryptic warning of the dust's effect on magic, Niachi delays any spellcasting as he rushes down to where the tari shouted about sand creatures.

In the 2 rounds until he gets there, he senses a staccato burst of primitive anger and confusion from the Xerichou:

<Kaah! No! Eat! Brain!>

and after a beat he deciphers this to shout back to the team:

"Mental attacks no good on 'em!"

He tries to shake off any of this foul dust. As he enters the melee:

Modified initiative 7
 
If the statue's bonus still applies:
+2 to saves.

He casts Blur on himself.

Blur: Duration 11 rounds.
He looks kind of melty and indistinct. Foes get -4 to hit on the first attacks against him on 1st round of combat, -2 penalty after; and he has +1 saves to any magical attacks.

[DM Bob]

Chat'cho's attempt to vanish is thwarted. Unbeknownst to the kreen, the dust she'd passed through earlier was dampening her magically enchanted items that were exposed to the grey particles. A non-deadly or threatening trap at first... but with possible long term repercussions.

The tari stone cleric draws her glass blades, unaffected by the malaise due to their sheathes and the long dust cover she wears. She manages to step within the door frame, keeping the large sand thing from trapping the kreen inside.

Instead, it swings a sandy fist at the tari, missing widely as she connects with both blades. Only one seems to do any damage to the strange creature.

The other one attempts to grab Chat...

Unsuccessfully.

The lil flying familiar gets frustrated. Through the mental connection, Niachi feels that the flying worm's attack, whatever it was, was unsuccessful or perhaps impossible. It remains on the stadium side of the combat... so if the others could communicate this it would be apparent that perhaps a mental attack had been attempted.

Luckily the others, minus Niachi, arrive. Attilius, Coden and then Quila followed by 'Muiko if he catches up.

[Deleted]

Chat'cho, realizing she is rapidly running out of options, decides to Withdraw. [Movement/3, no opportunity attacks.]

She passes through the doorway that the Tari is keeping open for her and moves back toward the doorway, standing aside for Attilus.

[Init 10]

[AthasianLaborer]

Taking note of the subdued glow, 'Muiko speculates aloud (and repeating at least the first sentence via Ping for Niachi) "The dust is subduing our magical items, at least it appears so to me.  The b-*sigh* Chat'cho is likely in serious danger, go quickly, I will be soon behind" 'Muiko touches his third eye tattoo and utters an unintelligible mantra (Psionic Mimicry rolled a 8 needing a 17 or less; Somatic Concealment rolled a 9 needing a 15 or less; total success to pass off casting Slow as a psionic effect to any witnesses)

Initiative rolled 6 (-1 for Dex +3 for Casting Time to 8) 

[Quila Oris (John M.)]

Quila rushes down the hall making sure not to get any dust in her mouth and nose and screaming a bit muffled through the kerchief "Chat'cho talk to me. What's happening?!"

While on her way there Quila activates her psionic power of Safe Path (rolled a 1 vs 20, success).
-2 to AC, +4 to saves.

When she arrives she will take a good look at these creatures. Do they act intelligently, with intent, or are they more mindless or what?

If she can attack with her quarterstaff at the sand woman attacking Skrye by standing behind the tari, she will, and plunges her quarterstaff butt-first into the sand creature's upper torso.

Quila's initiative is 8: hits AC 0 and -2 for 1 and 2 dmg respectively.

[Deleted]

"Sommething that attacks *y touch is trying to tra* and kill mme! Not sand wixhes!"

[Coden Rokos (Jesse H.)]

Coden pivots as he realizes that the team is under threat. He furrows his brow for a moment, not sure how his spear can harm an entity made of animated sand, then his face (what little is visible) smooths and he starts to concentrate, bringing his Will bubbling up from the depths of his form, entwining it and tangling it psychokinetically. These invisible threads of force he visualizes like the tiniest of fibers reaching out and connecting the individual pieces of sand together.

(Activating Molecular Bonding, rolled a 7 for a success. Attempting to fuse one of the sand-creatures into a solid form.)

[Attilius]

The Murmillo half giant engages the first encountered foe, seeking to dispatch it quickly...

Initiative 5  - Gouge: 10/Shield punch: 13
AC -8 (-10 vs. ranged attacks)

He swings his temporarily magic gouge (thanks to Niachi's earlier ensorcelling) in a sideways torso slash testing the consistency and durability of this shifting sand foe...
Attack 1: hit AC -1; 19 magical slashing damage

Using his shield as a counter weight, the half giant spins in a 360 maneuver, much like a spinning back fist but with the added deadliness of a large gouge blade at the end.
Attack 2: hit AC 5; if it connects it does double damage: 17 magical slashing damage.

If the creature is still standing he'll lift his shield and do a lightning quick shield punch to it's throat before stepping back into a defensive posture.
Attack 3: hit AC 1; 20 non-magical bludgeoning damage

[DM Bob]

Coden's mental bonding roots the sand person furthest from the door to the ground by it's right foot. This seems, at least for the moment to be causing it to look back and forth before trying to slam into the thri-kreen. Quila is able to determine from this that they are not the brightest combatants.

'Muiko's spell, er "psionic power", triggers and is able to envelop both targets. While not remarkably quick before, they move as if in slow motion as Attilius launches into an attack.

There are a few issues though.

For one, his gouge does not, for the lack of a better term, gouge. It passes through the foe as if nothing happened, the sand parting about the edge and reforming unharmed. It is then that he realizes that due to his size and the fact the kreen is trying to escape that he needs to hold on any possible shield play. This angers him to no end. Not on his friend's tactics, but that he cannot smash.

Quila finds the same issue as she thrusts the stave through the gaps in the large cell.

Scrye attacks, connecting once as she squeezes over to allow Chat to get by. Her glass blade glows slightly as it slashes a chunk of sand onto the ground, a pile of grains that no longer crave blood and death.

There's a lot left though. And as she smirks at her light success, even slowed the construct hits hard. She takes 5 points of damage as the grainy fist scratches her cheek heavily under the fur.

The stuck one misses Chat barely - he can thank 'Muiko and Coden later. Even after the obstacle she can feel the sand brush against her carapace.

Niachi shows and is able to enchant his club. He may attack next round if he's able to get into position, or perhaps hand off his weapon to one closer.

The familiar stays out of this melee.

[Attilius]

Nov 17, 2023 16:20:24 GMT -12 DM Bob said:

For one, his gouge does not, for the lack of a better term, gouge. It passes through the foe as if nothing happened, the sand parting about the edge and reforming unharmed. It is then that he realizes that due to his size and the fact the kreen is trying to escape that he needs to hold on any possible shield play. This angers him to no end. Not on his friend's tactics, but that he cannot smash.

Anger has it's time and place but not here. The gladiator keeps his emotions in check as he's learned hard lessons about the "mental fight" from his countless bouts in The Criterion. Seeing his teammates weapons do some damage to the sand beings, he switches tactics and moves toward the front battle line to become a living bastion for those actually doing damage. Any strike that is aimed at a friendly, he will attempt to intercept it with his tower shield...
"Keep striking at them! I'LL COVER YOU!" HE BELLOWS


• Shield Block

A character can declare that she is using one of her attacks to block an opponent’s strike. Blocking is a hard parry with a weapon or shield that deflects an opponent’s attack. Any weapon except rope-like things such as nets, lassoes, or slings can be used to block.

When a character tries to block an attack, she makes a normal attack roll against AC 4. Her opponent makes a normal attack roll against her Armor Class. The strike is blocked if the character succeeds with a lower roll than her enemy succeeded with. If the attacker failed anyway, it’s a miss no matter what the blocking character rolled. If the blocking character failed but her attacker succeeded, it’s a hit despite the block attempt.

*For example, Arweth is a 5th-level fighter with an adjusted THAC0 of 14 with her long sword. She is fighting a hill giant with a THAC0 of 9. Arweth decides to use an attack to block the hill giant’s next strike. She rolls a 15 and succeeds with her roll. The hill giant rolls a 12; Arweth is AC 1, so the giant succeeds, too. His roll of 12 is lower than her 15, so Arweth’s block fails.*

If the character announces her block before initiative is rolled, she can block an attack even if it beats her action phase. If she decides to wait, she can only block attacks in her action phase or later.
------------
Armor Class: -7 (-9 vs ranged attacks)
Shield block vs. an attack aimed at a friendly: Hit AC 2

[Deleted]

Chat'cho whips around, eyeing the group's opposition up and down. Just what are these things? Well, they're not answering questions, so she'll just have to get rid of them the hard way.

The pubescent Thri-Kreen thrusts her body forward, throwing all four of her arms outward and upward as she calls upon that underlying energy out of reach of elemental clerics, but well-known to Templars and their greatest enemies.

Despite the fact that her spell does not have a verbal component, Chat'cho feels the need to shout the name of the spell at the top of her lungs.

"Dimmensional Translocation!"

Acting on instinct, she uses her considerable will to force the energy of the spell into the as of yet uninjured sand creature.

If it is a magical creature, undead, or extraplanar creature such as an elemental, the spell forces it entirely into the Material Plane. As a result, the creature’s Armor Class may be reduced by 1d6 points for the duration of the spell. The quality of a magical weapon needed to strike the creature may be reduced by one “plus”; for example, a monster normally hit by +2 or better weapons may become vulnerable to +1 weapons for the spell’s duration. The creature may suffer permanent death upon the loss of all its hit points. Use of 1d6 spell-like powers (such as gating in allies) may be limited or negated. Undead creatures lose the ability to drain life energy levels. This spell does not prevent extradimensional travel on the Prime Material Plane (i.e., dimension door, blinking, teleport, or similar effects), but it does prevent the subject from plane shifting or becoming ethereal while in effect.

The target DOES NOT get a saving throw unless it has MORE than 11 Hit Dice. If it does have more than 11 Hit Dice, it receives a saving throw vs Spell to negate the effect. If the spell takes effect, it lasts for 11 rounds, and DOES NOT require concentration from Chat'cho.

[Acts on Initiative: 6]