(( And with that, we are lvl 22!  ^.^  ))

Mits smiles at May and sings.

♪ "Why don't you come with me little girl
On a magic carpet ride!" ♫

When May hops on, she flies down toward the giants trying to climb the cliff and continues singing.

♪ "Why don't you tell your dreams to me
Fantasy will set you free!" ♫

The area fills with flashing lights and sparkles, searing the enemy!

---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4WiyxXpyZc
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:44, Sun 15 May 2016.

May squees at the "little girl" comment and hugs Mittens when she hops on.

May answers Mittens, "Neat little ditty. My dream is to master every weapon." then leaps down to the cliffside. As she slides down the side of the cliff, she roars like a dragon! All the enemies feel strangely drawn to her. WHACKWHACKWHACK! Two giants and the steel predator feel the edge of May's carrikal before she switches back to having her singing stick out. "I guess "we felled exarchs" doesn't impress people anymore. Sounds like we're gonna have to become exarchs before our enemies will so much as raise an eyebrow at this point. To be fair, the denizens here kind of torment a draconic demigod..."

---

Move: Leeroy Jenkins
Come and Get It v Dread1, Dread 2, Soulcatcher1, Soulcatcher2, Steel Predator
 Hit(42)! Hit(42)!  Hit(47)! Miss(31) Hit(45)!
 (Only able to have 3 of them adjacent to me, so doing dmg to them)
 dmg: 24

Dreadguard 2 HP: 170 - 24 = 146
Soulcatcher 1 HP: 170 - 24 = 146
Steel Predator HP: 349 - 24 = 325
This message was last edited by the player at 05:51, Sun 15 May 2016.

The giants roar in pain!

<giant>"What's it saying?" one of the giants asks.

<supernal>"They've been bragging all along that they are exarch slayers.  They claim the one that took over my mind is none other than Kas."

The giants burst out laughing.  <giant>"Yeah right!  That hurt like hell and all, but...  Like we'll believe THAT!"

One of the giants stabs May in the eye!  She is unharmed.  The giants stare for a moment in shock.  Two of them drop their weapons and the steel predator ducks its tail.

<Supernal>"We surrender!  Please spare us!"

Kas laughs.  "Giants and a construct with more sense than devils!  Why am I not surprised?"

One of the giants readies an attack.  He's of the mindset that if these strangers reject the surrender, he may as well die fighting.

  Kyle prepares a paci dust shot for if violence being inevitable is more inevitable than usual.

The last remaining barbed devil says, <Supernal>"Judge us not all the same, Mr. Kas.  I had to play dead since the others would likely have killed me for open surrender."

Timothius gives a smile to the devil before he flies over to the ledge and lands, displaying his angelic self to the enemies. <Supernal>"Speaking of not judging people, those who surrendered are spared. I don't suppose we will be fortunate enough that you would be willing to lead us to Arantor?"</Supernal>

---

Move: Fly to be within 5 of all allies
Standard: Readied Sever the Source on first enemy to attack.
Diplomacy: 32

"Sweet!" the devil cheers.

The steel predator translates the giants' reply.  They can draw out a map of the various layouts of the cave, and they're pretty sure they know which layout is the present one from their recent patrol.

Raichel levitates down to the giants, closes her eyes and becomes her normal kitty form again before opening her eyes.

Timothius changes back to normal and says, <Supernal>"To show there are no hard feelings, I can heal any one of you who wishes it."</Supernal>

May begins oogling over the enemy's weapons, but doesn't ask them to give any up.

  "Yes, the sooner we smash the dragon, the sooner you will only have to worry we might show up again, instead of being stuck with us looking over your shoulder."

Mits pretends to drive imaginary horses up the side of the cliff.

"Need a lift?" she offers those at the top of the cliff with a grin.

The giants tell the heroes about the chambers they'll face along the way as well as the dangerous occupants.  They gladly accept the heals.  They tell some "I was only following orders" about how their leader, Bahlik Gur ordered them to help him overthrow their king, and that he won't likely surrender under any circumstances.  Neither will the undead, but who's surprised.

Kas chuckles.  "Yes.  Undead can be rather stubborn.  I'm quite surprised my creation surrendered to you all.  I wonder..."

He heads back a bit to study his vampire.

May, Rai and Tim all climb onto Mitts now-enhanced magic carpet. "Thanks for the rides, Mittens! This little girl loves magic carpet rides!" she flops into Mittens' lap and curls up in it. Her expert, practiced movements avoid hitting Mittens with any of the armor's or weapons' sharp parts.

Raichel hugs one of Mitts' side and relaxes. Timothius hugs the other side. They begin purring in stereo.

May says, "Hey, Kas the Cool; What are you wondering about?"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:38, Mon 16 May 2016.

  Kyle wonders what the relation between Epic tier and adorable is, because there certainly seems to be more of it mid adventure since it happened.

  Hardly a bad thing, when his friends act Professional where it counts.

Mits smiles and blushes from all the cuteness, and returns the affection. "So glad you do!"

Kas returns and shrugs.  "Just a hunch.  That maybe the magics of this place had somehow altered my vampire creation ritual and given my vampires free will just so they can later betray me.  Don't have the time to check thoroughly, though."

May plays with one of her weapons while the team forges onward!

In Timothius' case, it was definitely a case of Epic Tier = cute antics because Pelor gave Timothius the ability to switch his dark side on or off.

Raichel has been enjoying the fact that the githyanki army was not only defeated, but turned into allies, all while the guilty were punished. So for her, it's just timing that her allies get to see her in a much cheerier mood.

In May's case, well, it just took her a while to test and find out her allies' boundaries. That and Mittens' words of affirmation and constant compliments mean a lot to the li'l lizard.

....and yes, being Epic is FUN for the characters, so there is that aspect also.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:23, Mon 16 May 2016.

  "It would have taken longer to hook up with you without enough free will for him to not mindlessly fight to the death."  Free will is preferable for Not Evil (and not twisted mindsets on Good/lawful), but some people need baby steps.  Like phrasing it like it's more convenient.

"Freedom isn't free," Mits says, "Takes a lot of effort and adventure! to secure it from Tiamat's machinations."

Kas shrugs.  "My more powerful creations have minds and all.  Much more useful than the mindless sorts.  The distinction between that and freewill is that with a mind they can interpret my orders and still obey them in creative ways where freewill means they can refuse to obey, attack me, and so forth.  Gwenth told me that she was obeying my orders to, 'bring you adventurers dead or alive.  The more powerful, the better.'  Since I didn't specify 'don't bring them of their own choice,' I can't really tell if that was freewill at work there."

Mits scriggly-faces.  "Necromancy...  Not my thing."

Kas laughs.  "I never would have guessed!"

May says, "I'd tinker with it if the gods I admire didn't downright frown on such things. Of course, there is the small matter of priorities; I'm too busy with weapons to learn magic."

Raichel says, "Don't look at me. I was born with my power. The gods know; if sorcerers were born with necromantic powers, they would be killed before they formed their first words."

Timothius says, "And in all irony, come back as undead from being restless spirits, murdered before they were truly guilty of anything."

  Soooooo avoiding the great necromancy debate right now.

  "It is just as likely they would be taken advantage of, rather than killed." Wow okay maybe you should have gone for the necromancy debate instead.

Kas smiles.  "You all have been some of the most reasonable and understanding people I have ever met!  I can't even begin to tell you!"

Mits looks a little surprised.  "It never ceases to surprise me when someone appreciates that."

Kas bows.  "Glad to be among those who do."

The air is beginning to stink of sulfur, indicating that the chamber with a reaper and two wights in it that the group was told of by the giants is not very far ahead.

Raichel says to Kyle, "Only if the rare smart villain found them first before the stupid masses killed the sorcerer because of instinct and fear. You apparently still have faith in the intelligence of the general populace even after all the stupid we've faced."

Timothius nods to Kas. "We've come to the point where if someone isn't suicidally obsessed with killing us, that's already amazing news. Methods no longer matter so much as results."

Upon seeing the stinky room, May says, "That's one big reaper..."

Raichel pinches her nose. "And one stinky room."

  Oh, right. Faith in the townsfolk. Totally not cynicism at the local rulers or churches taking them in 'for their own good' and then pointing them at their problems.  That would be crazy.

  "I suppose desired results can mean the method remains important, though."  Though that is more 'I need to use force damage for bonus against insubstantial' than philosophical sorts of means.

You’ve been smelling something foul and rotten as you
approached this chamber, and now you have some idea
why. There’s a cone-shaped formation—like a volcano,
only about 5 feet tall—in the center of a pool in this cavern.
Scattered around the periphery are smaller volcano-like
cones, each only 2 or 3 feet high and surrounded by chunks
of rock.
Along the right wall are two clawed undead, their eyes
glowing with hate as they shamble toward you. To the
left near the back of the cavern is a black-cloaked figure
wielding a scythe and floating several feet off the cavern
floor.

Perception Check
DC 29: The room smells strongly of sulfur   ...LMFAO!!!
DC 33: You can make out a light haze near one of the
nearer cones.
Dungeoneering Check
DC 29: Concentrations of sulfur are frequently
poisonous, but the poison dissipates rather quickly in a
large cavern like this

"I'm beginning to believe that nothing the giants told us will be anything we couldn't have figured out on our own," Mits says in a nasal voice, a clothespin pinching her nose closed.

Timothius shrugs. "So what else is new? The number of people who have told us things we would not have learned on our own can be counted on one hand. Look on the bright side; They surrendered and saved us at least that much effort."

He then nods to Kyle. "Obviously, the old proverb 'two wrongs do not make a right' apply here, but then, some would argue that using anything necrotic is wrong in and of itself. I guess finding a proper way to word things can be saved for another time."

May says, "Yeah. Let's kick these haters' butts."