Silt Fight!

[DM Bob]

The silty dead streets of Giustenal are rife with clouds of the grey shit. The wind blows as 'Muiko maneuvers. Screams can still faintly be heard. You still feel watched.

None of the flying beasts are engaging the ground forces that your party presents. They move upward to surround the invisible flying elf bird person, operating on senses other than sight to guide them to their prey.

Approaching out of the dust to your left, from the smaller ruined buildings and edifices, four figures begin to emerge.

Three keep in step, large & perhaps fifteen feet tall, canine headed figures that howl in evil delight. Only one howl is heard both audibly & mentally though. The trio have four arms and two legs each - two of the arms, topmost, end in pincher claws. Their body color is deep crimson, with streaks of black... like a tabby cat or kirre in pattern.

The fourth figure is shorter, some 7 feet tall and built like a brick shit house. A frog-like head with blunt teeth and needle-y spines mark this beast... it walks upright and has arms instead of a toad's forelegs. As it approaches, you can tell the coloration is grey green, causing it to blend in well with the silt.

And that is when a wall of orange flame covers your exit, ranging the arch of dragons from the main gate behind you.

No surprises, no attacks this round outside of what was described. The flyers will be able to engage 'Muiko next round. Map tomorrow, I have a tabletop game during the day. You can attempt melee this round if desired.

[Attilius]

Hearing the continued screams in the distance the giant thinks outloud
"Any takers on that elf crew following us 'ere and was preppen' an ambush for us but got caught by these mutant Wolf headed B'rohg's..."

"I bet they're like da sand golem: only magiked weapons are gonna work on 'em. And all I's got is dis damn wood chopper!" Attilius spits out as he takes a step to be shoulder to hip with the Balican to create a two-man shield wall (Attilius is on Codens right so that his tower shield is between the two.) The giant drops his gouge behind him while simultaneously reaching down to pull his invisible axe from it's calf sheath.

Attilius readies his shield to block the first incoming attack and then counters with his Smuggler's axe

---------------

Armor Class: -8
vs. missile weapons: -10
Initiative: 2

Shield Block: AC -10 hit
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.

1 Smuggler's axe attack:
Initiative: 9
Hit: AC -9
Damage: 21 magical Slashing

[Coden Rokos (Jesse H.)]

Coden pivots to follow the turn of his shield group to face the sudden unpleasant arrivals. He brings his spear into position and, as trained, waits for the enemy to close before he lurches forward with a thrust.

Initiative: 10
Hit AC 10

[Quila Oris (John M.)]

Quila, standing near Skrye, gestures at her tari friend, and says, "Help me out with a Prayer to better combat these creatures."
Quila then waits for a confirmation of any sort from her friend, and would then start the casting of Prayer.

Furthermore, what struck Quila as quite strange was both the synchronized lockstep motion the three demonic creatures showed, which feels unlike them, the fact she only heard one distinct howl, and that the dialogue the group was audience to before was only between two entities. This to her suggests something doesn't add up and some trickery or magic is involved here. She takes a good look at the canine trio to try and find what's up.


Initiative 7
Prayer: duration 1rd/lvl; get +1 to att/dmg and saves for all allies in 60ft radius area of effect at casting time, a -1 penalty is applied to enemies. If 2nd priest is present and helps chanting (not causing them to lose a spell slot!) the bonus/penalty is +2/-2.

[Skrye [AC3; 48/48HP]]

- Skrye nods at the suggestion that Quila proposes. She sheates the daggers and starts to chant at unison with Quila, calling the energy of earth to reinforce the group


[OOC: Initiative 8
+2 morale everyone, 7rnds left.
AC 3, 48/48HP; SPELLS 1stLvl(5/5), 2ndLvl(5/5), 3rdLvl(4/4), 4thLvl(3/3); +2 to Att, Dmg & S.Throws]

[AthasianLaborer]

'Muiko banks once again and descends gliding into the midst of the party, keeping the bulk of the combatants between him and the advancing nastiness.  I'm assuming his full round action is movement and landing.

Initiative 8 (rolled a 9 -1 for Dex)

[DM Bob]

Round 1:

The ancient crumbling city provided quite the environ for such a grand melee, much like a snow globe of swirling silt.

The sharp winged fliers swoop to attack from their higher position as 'Muiko attempts to land. Only two are interested in him however. Of those two, blind slashes and bites are made... and only one chomp succeeds in connecting with his invisible body. [6 damage.]

The two unlikely allies, a templar and an earth shaman, begin to chant words of power loudly into the fray. A beautiful amber glow bounces to each of you allies, and including 'Muiko.

The other six spread out and dive into the Son of Kri-kcht [4 damage], Chat-cho [4 damage] and one of the tall wolf headed trio of tongue-eating fear goliaths. One of the beings disappears as a slate colored razorwing slashes it furiously. Two of the ugly opponents remain as their forms blur and shift about the silty air.

Speaking of the air, the frog beast *reeks* of methane and charred asafoetida. Your eyes burn even more somehow and you feel the need to gag.

Coden is spared retaliation physically, but this stench causes him to almost vomit. Almost.

Attilius blocks a blow from the frog brute's mannish, yet clawed fists. He does not block a solid bite. [12 Damage.] He also gets hit by the insane musk, but manages to fight the urge to gag and vomit.

The goliath's cut from his trusty invisible axe actually lodges deep into it's torso. Surprise is seen in it's narrowed beady eyes as it calls out in a mental shout that all can hear, "YOU WERE CORRECT ABOUT THEIR TOTEMS OF POWER. I GET FIRST DIBS, EATER."

The other two enemies snort shortly in response. As they crush the razorwing that had impacted upon it. It slowly turns to face Coden and Atillius next.

The Son of Kri-kcht has a gythka, an odd yellowed bone dagger and a pitted metal hand ax in his clawed fists. He also attacks the razorwing that had bitten him, savaging three solid blows upon the silt beast killing it. His dagger glows a pale jade green as it tastes blood.

[AthasianLaborer]

Round 2 Initiative: 4 (rolled a 4 -1 for Dex +1 for Casting Time)
Intentions: Cast Enlarge on Attilius

Otherwise, he will keep distance between him and the baddies using Attilius as cover (and staying back 20-25' given Attilius' increased size).

[Quila Oris (John M.)]

Round 2 initiative: 6 (rolled a 5 -2 for Dex +3 for casting time)
Intention: Cast Sunblade (as version Sunstaff) and maneuver so that I am out of range of the canine one but move to the left of Attilius, staying 20 feet or so away from the toad. My idea is to not form an easy clump for area spells nor a line of targets for a ray or bolt, and at the same time be able to attack next round (so I need to stay somewhat nearby).

[Coden Rokos (Jesse H.)]

Round 2 - Coden
Coden stays in formation with Attilius and focuses his spear attacks against the frog-creature.

Initiative 7

Attack #1
Hit AC -3
Dmg 10

Attack #2
Hit AC -2
Dmg 10

(This doesn't include magic bonuses for the spear, as I forgot to write them down on my sheet over on Obsidian Portal.)

[Attilius]

Round 2
The giant does his best to hold his breath against the stench...

Top of initiative:
Shield Block Mr. toads wild attack: Hit AC -10 (w/ +2 prayer)

Initiative: 6

1 Smuggler's axe attack on Mr. Toad's FACE! (Initiative: 13 + huge size mod?)

Hit AC -6 (w/ +2 prayer)
Damage: 24 magical Slashing (includes x .9 +2 prayer)

[Niachi]

Round 2 initiative: 0 (rolled 2, -4 for 22 Dex, +2 for casting time)

The Blurred Niachi whips off his glove in a flash to reveal a black clawed hand that ripples in unclear waves. It clenches into a fist and a ghostlike floating fist appears 20 feet directly behind the fiends. Even through his blur, his face is creased in concentration. He stands still in a ready crouch and with subtle gestures, like he's steadying himself in the strong breeze, he commands the hovering fist into ready position for a rear attack next round on one of the fiends.

Spectral Hand level 2
Range: 120 yards
Duration: 8 rounds
This spell causes a ghostly, glowing hand, shaped from the caster's life force, to materialize within the spell range and move as the caster desires. Any touch attack spell of 4th level or less that is subsequently cast by the wizard can be delivered by the spectral hand. The spell gives the caster a +2 bonus to his attack roll.

The caster cannot perform any other actions when attacking with the hand; the hand returns to the caster and hovers if the caster takes other actions. The hand lasts the full spell duration unless dismissed by the caster, and it is possible to use more than one touch attack with it.
The hand receives flank and rear attack bonuses if the caster is in a position to do so. The hand is vulnerable to magical attack but has an Armor Class of -2. Any damage to the hand ends the spell and inflicts 1d4 points of damage to the caster.

[Skrye [AC3; 48/48HP]]

- Skrye unsheathes her daggers, getting her best attempts against the stench toad creature.
She lands two hits with the daggers to the one Attilius is hitting, the stenchy creature, as herself should not be much of an attention point with his gigantic size, in the attempt to injury it further without giving her back to the other canine ones. The ratkin doesn't stop her chanting, as the effects to the whole of the group are important



[OOC: 2nd round (6rnds left of +2Morale). Initiative 5, Atk 1 (rolled 15, hits AC 1, Dmg 5(P)), Atk 2 (rolled 13, hits AC 3, Dmg 7 (P)).

AC 3, 48/48HP; SPELLS 1stLvl(5/5), 2ndLvl(5/5), 3rdLvl(4/4), 4thLvl(3/3); +2 to Att, Dmg & S.Throws]

[DM Bob]

Round 2:

The razorwings are startled by your other, larger combatants and begin to fly in unison towards the ruined palace that occasionally is seen as a large shadow in the blowing silt.

'Muiko's spell of enbiggenment causes Hur..., I mean Attilius, to swell to almost double his normal size.

You have the feeling that you're still being watched. In fact, you swear you can hear Aman curse out loud through the battle's din, wind and faint screams in the background.

"This won't do. This won't do..."

Chat'cho begins to call upon the spirit of the land for guidance concerning these obviously sinister enemies. [Dispel Evil begins to be cast.]

The man-frog-beast tries once more to tear into Attilius. His shield blocks the only blow meant for his neck. The goliath gladiator does indeed strike true... but just barely. His foe still stands, having shrugged off two axe blows that could've felled an agafari tree.

The Son of Kri-kcht attempts to attack one of the two wolf-headed giants, but is unable to connect with any of his attacks.

Skrye misses both of her blows, that she was sure would connect. Oof. Coden also runs into the same issue (now that you've used the new spear in combat, +2 to att/dam).

Quila's staff of light pops into existence.

The large wolf-headed demon giant tries a flurry of blows upon Attilius. Five attacks bounce off his shield and armor! Miraculously none of them hit (because I rolled all 4's and 5's dammit).

Chat begins glowing with blue-white energy as she drops her gythka to prepare for the next round's melee.

[DM Bob]

And yes, Niachi's shadowy wizard hand emerges as expected.