As everyone got into position, Zorden shifted one of the chairs away from the tables, sending up a poof of organic dust, and set it closer to the door they came in.  He then took a step up to stand on the seat and give himself a better vantage as he loosely raised his weapon to his shoulder in a ready position.

Ionaya listened to the others and watched as Kelaria moved into place at Cain's direction. She briefly considered stepping up to lend her assistance to the metal woman warrior, but she realized that others in the group were better equipped to fight by her side so Ionaya decided to stay with Zorden until better opportunities presented themselves.

"We're fighting even more of those plant fungus men, right! Well, at least they die much more quickly than the other metal beasts." 

After Morin makes a round of the room, locking each of the southern doors and spending some of the wand's power to heal Cain(26 > 25 Charges,) the party forms up at the door to the east. Once everyone has prepared, Cain swipes his brown access card across the door's panel to unlock it, and then presses it to send the door into the ceiling above.

The air in this room is unusually warm and moist, with a thin, pale vapor of mist clinging to the ceiling, causing the lighted panels to diffuse and become muted. Condensation runs down the walls along with a riot of unusual brown and dull green vegetation. The moist, thick-stemmed plants and vines grow out of long earth-filled troughs along the wall, while a tall column of plant matter extends like a tree trunk from a circular planter in the middle of the room to spread a network of vines across the mist-shrouded ceiling. A low humming sound fills the air.

To the east, on the northern wall, a door is open with a vegepygmy watching through it, and in the southern side of a room a strange mass of vegetation resembling a tangle of sturdy vines with jagged purple thorns floats in the air. Its coloration is mottled with brown, green, and yellow mold patches that flake and fall as the creature writhes through the air. Its vines barely conceal two translucent, gas-filled sacks that act as balloons, enabling it to float along above the ground. Stretching from the creature’s center are two longer vines which move about and feel the surroundings. An opening filled with rows of spiky thorns serves as the creature’s mouth and is positioned on the creature’s underside, where it emits a wet, rancid stench.

Everyone wins Initiative, enemies are flatfooted.

When nothing rushes out to attack them, Cain moves in to to close with the vegepygmy instead. He does not even notice the strange floating creature before he is already in the room with it.

OOC: I know the plan was to wait for them to come to our chokepoint, but it seemed like a waste to not use our initiative. Cain can block the other door if necessary.

Swift action to enchant weapon. Abandoning stealth, move to the other doors and sneak attack the vegepygmy.
11:39, Today: Cain rolled 15,14,4 using 1d20+10,1d8+7,1d6 with rolls of 5,7,4.  Attack, Damage, Sneak Attack. – 15,14,4

"Oh, a tsaalgrend!" Morin called out excitedly, following Cain into the room.  "We don't have these back in Taldor, but I hear they're really un-spore-gettable!"  He paused for a second to appreciate what was possibly his weakest pun of all, before adding: "But seriously, watch out for it's spores."

MOVE: Move into room: 4 east, 1 south.
STANDARD: Activate inspire courage, giving everyone +1 attack, weapon damage, and saves vs fear. (10/12 rounds left)

Kelaria interpreted that to mean to use her hammer, which had the property of allowing her to smash things from a surprisingly good distance.  With a loud groan and a mighty hoist, she raised the head of the hammer high and charged forward screaming as she brought it down on the vegetable horror.  Kelaria could potentially be on her way to inventing guacamole.

14:11, Today: Kelaria Ironclaw rolled 15 using 1d20+7 with rolls of 8.  Power Attack! – 15

Huh, that's marginal, but they are flatfooted so it might hit or might not.  I'll add a damage roll just in case.

14:11, Today: Kelaria Ironclaw rolled 19 using 1d12+8 with rolls of 11.  Potential Damage. – 19

Seeing as the "enemies at the gates" who'd been reported as eager to bust through the door not long ago apparently had decided to give up on that plan, Zorden stepped off and headed into the room.

He circled around to give himself a sightline on both the door and the weird floating thing before raising his weapon to put it to best use.


Zorden will move into the room with the goal of ending up in the SE region where he can hopefully have a line of sight on the gasbag and the NE door.

He'll favor having eyes on the NE doorway if he can't get all the way around the tree thing in the center.

The attack was intended for if it's needed.  Kelaria and Cain may well down their targets, in which case Zorden will not fire.

If he does, his gun breaks from a misfire.


Zorden rolled 11,14.  Attack (PBS, Deadly Aim, Inspire Courage), Potential Damage

Having recovered her javelin from the previous room, Ionaya watched with a moment of dismay as Zorden moved quickly ahead of her into the next room. Following the others inside, she turned and cast her javelin at the monster Morin just identified.

OOC
Ionaya rolled 20 using 1d20+4 with rolls of 16.  Javelin vs. tsaalgrend.
Ionaya rolled 4 using 1d6 with rolls of 4.  Javelin damage.

Seizing the moment, the party rushes in to confront their foes before they can react. Under the guidance of Morin's joke-cracking, Cain crosses the humid room and stabs at the surprised vegepygmy but has difficulty hitting his target through the cover of the doorway. Zorden attempts to fire his musket once again, but instead of a loud crack of fire and smoke the musket grinds and squelches--a bad batch of black powder fizzling and making its way through the mechanisms of the firearm. Ionaya throws her javelin once again, this time sticking solidly into the mass of vegetation hanging from the Tsaalgrend's gas bags(-5 HP) soon after, Kelaria brings her mighty hammer down on the beast and with a loud pop and a wheezing fart bursts the sacks of gas holding the creature aloft(-21 HP).

But just as the northern door closes and the party feels they have gained control of this room, the docile plants around them seem to rise up. Two vegepygmies spring out from hiding about the plants, including their Adonic leader wielding his glowing hammer. The northern door opens once again as the vegepygmy behind it leaves cover and the leader moves to flank Cain. The Vegepygmy manages to get a claw through the half-elf's defenses for a minor scratch(-2 HP), but the attack leaves Cain unbalanced as the deceptively strong leader moves in and brings his hammer down on Cain's lower back--audibly cracking bone(-9 HP). Adding more injury to injury, the leader also swipes with his free claw and gashes Cain's thigh(-4 HP, Fort DC 15 or 2 Con damage.) The other hidden pygmy lunges at Ionaya with both claws, but does not have the luck of its siblings.


17:18, Today: Dungeon Master rolled 8,3,10,3 using d20+1,d4,d20+1,d4 with rolls of 7,3,9,3.  Vege v Ionaya.
17:08, Today: Dungeon Master rolled 15,6 using d20+3,d4+3 with rolls of 12,3.  Crit Confirm.
17:05, Today: Dungeon Master rolled 24,9,23,4 using d20+10,d4+7,d20+3,d4+3 with rolls of 14,2,20,1.  Vrill Hammer, Claw v Cain.
17:00, Today: Dungeon Master rolled 6,4 using d20+1,d4 with rolls of 5,4.  Crit Confirm.
16:59, Today: Dungeon Master rolled 21,2,10,3 using d20+1,d4,d20+1,d4 with rolls of 20,2,9,3.  Vege v Cain.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:54, Mon 29 Apr.

"Wha? Ha!" Morin laughed in shock as some of the nearby plants revealed themselves to be vegepygmies. "You cheeky bastards, you got us good!"  Scrambling up into the planter to reach Cain, Morin cast a spell to patch up the worst of the half elf's injuries.

STANDARD: Cast Cure light wounds.  Not casting defensively, so the nearby pygmy gets an AoO.
MOVE: Move 1 square NE, into planter.
FREE: deliver CLW charge to Cain.  Heals 7 HP.
SWIFT: Maintain Inspire courage (9/12 rounds left)

16:15, Today: Morin Matzylford rolled 28 using 1d20+9 with rolls of 19.  Concentration if vegepymy hits me. – 28
16:00, Today: Morin Matzylford rolled 7 using 1d8+3 with rolls of 4.  Cure light wounds on Cain. – 7

With vegetable based threats suddenly around him, and his weapon momentarily useless, Zorden attempted to dash away out of their reach so he could clear the jam in his gun.


OOC: Intent is to move west into the space where the tsaalgrend was.

That should provoke 2 AOO, 1 from the Vrilledt, and another from the Vegepygmy on the central planter.  Will attempt to avoid via Acrobatics check.

Zorden rolled 18,17.  Acrobatics x2

18 vs Vrilledt
17 vs Vegepygmy

Kelaria wanted to get into the fray at the other corner of the room but saw no clear way in, so she'd have to pound one out.

She stepped forward methodically and brought down another powerful stroke, determined to kill everything in the room that was not a mammal.

All right there's not a clear path across so I'll do the next best thing I see to do and try to kill that nasty that got in our back line.

5 ft. step one square south.  Attacking Ionaya's buddy.

21:18, Today: Kelaria Ironclaw rolled 16 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 8.  Hammer Time. – 16

With Inspiration (if that's +1, it's included if it's better add the difference) I'm guessing that hits.

Let's see if that Power Attack damage is good again.

21:20, Today: Kelaria Ironclaw rolled 13 using 1d12+10 with rolls of 3.  Damage Roll. – 13

Not so much, but maybe it's enough?

"Son of a..." is all Cain can say before he is nearly hacked and smashed to pieces. Fighting for his life, he twists away from the leader's claws and tries to get out of being flanked by the two vegepygmies before striking back.

OOC: Well, that did not go as planned. I did say the Dice roller was just biding his time, didn't I? Alright, first Twist Away to avoid the poison.
11:03, Today: Cain rolled 25 using 1d20+11 with rolls of 14.  Twist Away. – 25

Then 5' step SE so that Cain flanks the leader with Ionaya. And sneak attack the leader.
11:06, Today: Cain rolled 19,11,2 using 1d20+13,1d8+8,1d6 with rolls of 6,3,2.  Attack, Damage, Sneak Attack. – 19,11,2

Couple of assumptions here. First, that it is possible for Ionaya to flank with a javelin since it can be used as a melee weapon. If that's not the case, that's -3 from my attack roll and no sneak damage. And second, that Cain can take a 5' step in those planters. If those are a difficult terrain, that's not gonna happen, so no sneak attack either. In that case, and should Ionaya leave her current square, can Cain make 5' step there instead?

Calling upon the handy wand again and dodging an opportunistic swipe from the nearby vegetable, Morin mounts the low planter and lays a healing touch on Cain(+6 HP(Bitter Trait.)) Zorden dodges and weaves away from the fray as Kelaria steps into it, bringing her might hammer down once again to make a smoothie out of their enemies--flattening the vegepygmy's head and leaving its body as still as the rest of the growth in the wide central garden pot(-13 HP.) Ionaya draws another javelin, determined to provide what help she can to the desperate Cain, and by some miracle the flimsy, untrained thrust of the misused javelin manages to strike true into the thewy plant's side(-5 HP)--leaving it open to as he hops into the planters opposite her and thrusts down at their foe--skewering him once again(-13 HP.)

The door to the north closes briefly once again before the vegepygy on the other side presses it open once again and moves in to press the attack on Cain and keep him cut off from the others. Both it and the leader continue striking and slashing at the half-elf, but luck is a fickle lady.

Zorden began to clear the barrel of his gun and reload.

Kelaria's motions were not graceful, though they were surprisingly agile.  With metal-shod feet she closed the distance, brought the hammer up.  She had considered switching tactics, but she wanted to keep the other one pinned in and the longer weapon was the better for it.

Nice and simple, Kelaria moves 15 feet east, into the square below Ionaya and Cain but directly between them and attacks the foe they have flanked with her gauntlet as discussed.  The logic being if the one in the doorway tries to escape or whatever it ought to provoke an attack of opportunity.  Kelaria is no battlefield controller but it never hurts to try.

21:07, Today: Kelaria Ironclaw rolled 22 using 1d20+9 with rolls of 13.  Rerolling, Gauntlet Attack! – 22

Swing and still a hit, but very different damage.  Assuming we're too low level for my feat to help with the damage die since that'd be a warpriest in the negative levels lol.  However Inspiration should help.

21:10, Today: Kelaria Ironclaw rolled 9 using 1d4+6 with rolls of 3.  Gauntlet Damage. – 9
This message was last edited by the player at 02:11, Thu 02 May.

Ionaya was still desperately trying to aid her allies while they battle the vegepygmys. Usually she couldn't hit the broadside of a wall with her javelin in her hands, but this seemed to be an unusual day.

Staying in place, she thrust her javelin at the bipedal plant in front of her. However, this time the day turned back to normal and only the inspirational courage from Morin saved her from disaster.

OOC
Ionaya rolled -1 using d20-4+2 with rolls of 1.  Javelin vs. Vegepygmy.
Oops, forgot to add in the +1 from bardic inspiration to the die roll.
So, Ionaya actually rolled a big fat 0.

Badly wounded and with both vegepygmies focusing on him, Cain keeps slashing at their leader as he slowly gives ground.

OOC: Swing and a miss, likely. 5' step south.
14:19, Today: Cain rolled 17,11,3 using 1d20+13,1d8+8,1d6 with rolls of 4,3,3.  Attack, Damage, Sneak Attack. – [roll=1714652369.5671.358371

While the others piled onto to big guy, Morin figured he would lend what physical might he could muster towards wrangling his remaining backup.  Stepping back, he threw his makeshift lariat at the plant-man, in the hopes of tripping it up and controlling it's movement.

FREE: 5' step west.
STANDARD: Throw lariat at basic vegepygmy.  Hits touch attack 13 to entangle (Including the penalty for firing into melee.)

09:10, Today: Morin Matzylford rolled 17 using 1d20+2 with rolls of 15.  LASSO! (vs little guy).

While Zorden reloads, Cain and Ionaya strike at the small but mighty vegepygmy leader, but their attacks are avoided or deflected by the brute's fibrous skin. But soon Kelaria rushes in and gives the little man a mighty wallop with the back of her spiked, gauntleted fist.

Morin backs away from the fight and casts out his handy lasso, managing to snag the smaller of the remaining vegepygmies. The pygmy, now held back from pursuing the injured Cain as the half-elf moves away, instead turns to deal with the gnome that caught him. Ignoring the binding rope, it moves in and swipes its claws at Morin, but fails to touch the nimble bard.

The adonic vegetable leader, leaking sap and puss from multiple injuries, dazed by Kelaria's steel backhand, and boxed in by invaders, hesitates for a moment in fear before tossing his glowing hammer to the ground and backing away to fall to his knees and clasp his hands together--begging for mercy.


This message was last edited by the GM at 01:28, Yesterday.

Zorden, his weapon now loaded and able to damage to something, kept it casually ready as the battle seemed to take an unexpected turn.

"Anybody speak plant?"  He inquired, thinking this might actually be a good outcome if they could actually come to some sort of agreement and exchange of information.

Casually dodging the swipes of the remaining vegepygmy, Morin raised a hand for the plant-man to stop. "Hey buddy, get with the program," he remarked, pointing a finger to draw his attacker's attention to the sight of the pygmy champion dropping to his knees. "Fighting time's over.  It's kneeling time now." Being aware that the pygmies probably didn't speak common, Morin got his point across by pointing to the plant-man's knees, then down to the ground.

Turning to respond to Zorden's question, Morin shrugged.  "I've got a scroll of comprehend languages on me.  I honestly don't know if it works for the sort of talking these folks do."

Cain likewise pauses, his sword still pointed at the vegepygmy leader. With his free hand he feels his back for damage and winces when he finds it. Yes, something is definitely broken there. "Are we going to talk to them then? They did attack us on sight the first time we met. And didn't you say they grow out of corpses infected with that mold stuff? Because that kinda seems like a major barrier to diplomacy and peaceful coexistence."

OOC: Well, dungeon diplomacy did work for us so far. Kinda.

Kelaria said nothing, finding the whole thing bizarre.  She stood poised, ready to strike out if the Vegetable showed any sign of treachery.  Perhaps she should stick with the power of Metal after all.

"Could you cast it on him?"  Zorden asked of Morin's scroll, not being very familiar with such things.

"So then he could understand us at least."