Timothius walks on the table to the center of the room and says, "Let them come to us. We stay in this room." He grips his staff with both hands and an updraft causes his hair to fwoof a bit as the entire room begins to glisten and resemble the astral sea. Everything is cleaner, clearer, brighter, and more vibrant.

---

Move: To center of table.
Standard: Holy Ground
 Effect: Makes a zone for encounter. +2 attacks, defenses and saves while in zone.

Raichel shoots a corkscrew of white lightning bolts at the rakshassa and it turns the bend, downing the fleeing one. "FLEEING IS NOT SURRENDER! Geeez! How many times do we have to say that to our enemies?!"

She moves to be right next to Ironfell. "You aren't leaving, Ironfell. But at least now you see what the heroes can do."

---

Lightning Strike v R3. Hit(39)!
 dmg: 41-6(to be applied to other guy)=35
 dmg to other guy: 16+6=22

R3 HP: 31 - 35 = KO
R1 HP: 22 - 22 = KO

"Powerful adventurers!" the rakshasa had warned, "Dragonslayers!  We gotta get outta here!"

"Craven worm," the dryder answered, disgusted, "Get back in th"ZOT!!

The drow underlings gulp.

"Eee!" one of the firebats squees.

It swoops into the room and charges Raichel!

May charges the bat and expertly hops around it to flank with Raichel before WHACKING it good in its batty back! She yells up the stairs, "Hurry on over to get your butts kicked! We're already done with the poison guys! Can't you at least show up on time for your humiliation?!"

---

Move: To bat
Minor: Shift into position
Standard: Weapon Mayster's Strike v Bat1. Hit(42)!
 dmg: 21

144 - 21 = 123

The last conscious rakshasa blinks in awe at Timothius' power.

"So um...  I'll take that 'be your prisoner' offer you mentioned earlier."

  Kyle finally toughens up May (you know, now that we are on all of his second turn), as the dancing weapon floats over beside May, and he introduces the first Drow to show itself to the joys of getting his shin stapled to the stonework with a crossbow bolt.

  Somewhere, Sehanine can't decide if she momentarily doesn't hate crossbows.

Oh the sweet irony!  Crossbow being used against Lolth's little spiders!

"For the boss!"

Several more charge May, but they all fail to get past her impressive defenses!  The drider shows up and spits a web at May!  Nope!

"Curses!  Bulette!  Attack!"

Mits tip-toes across the table without breaking anything, hops off, and passes the fire bat.  After a cascade of reactions that result in the bat being worse off than Mits, sunshine kitty wiggles her fingers at the enemy.

"Astral diamond attack!"

Diamond dust falls on the enemy and makes them sneeze themselves into unconsciousness!

"Ingredients: imitation astral diamond dust."

"Eee!"  Another fire bat enters and charges May!

"Roar!"  A scarred bulette also charges!

Timothius looks to the "surrendering" rakshassa and smiles. "Wise choice." then turns a concerned look to the drider. "Oh... a drider. You do know that process can be reversed, right?"

He turns to look at the bulette and waves a hand at the bulette. He walks over and bursts with holy energy before causing chains to come up and bind the bat and drider.

---

ACTION POINT! +4 to non-damaging attacks
Standard: Pacify v Bulette. Hit(43)!
Move: To May/Mitts/DancingWeapon area
Minor: Solar Enemy
Standard: Chains of Blazing Light v Bulette, Bat2, Drider. Critfail(27), Hit(41)! Hit(33)!

Bram slips out from hiding.  "You all are so inspiring!"

He charges a fire bat and slices it with his dagger!

Raichel feels... REAL good. Somehow, a dwarf going from "scared witless to the point of joining his enemy" to "you are so inspiring!" and charging the enemy just made Raichel feel like this hard work is paying off in more ways than just keeping people from dying. They can inspire people to be something more.

Empowered by Ironfell's words, Raichel gets an idea and says, "Bunching 'em up."

She transforms into a lightning bolt and charges (pun intended) through the enemies! Raichel materializes next to the drider. "You can't hide." WHAM! shadow-kick to the belly and the drider gets pulled into a vortex that lands him amidst his allies and Raichel teleports to block his path back. "But you can surrender."

---

Spark Form v Bat1,2,Bulette,Drider. Hit(35)! Hit(33)! Hit(29)! Miss(23) <-three Hit(39)!
 base dmg: 29
ACTION POINT! 6 dmg to 3 enemies within 5 of me (all but bat1)
Step Between Worlds v Drider. Hit(29)!
 dmg: 40
Move: To block drider's escape

Bat1 HP: 98 - 34 = 64
Bat2 HP: 144 - 44 - 6 = 94
Bulette HP: 304 - 34 - 6 = 264
Drider HP: 142 - 49 - 6 - 40 = 47

"EEEEE!" the bat figures it best attack May in addition to the others. However, it doesn't know May attacks anything that moves. WHACK! "Eeeee..." the bat says dizzily and somewhat depressed.

All it wanted to do was share its fire with people. ;.;

---

Fiery Swoop v Ma-
May-o-O! Hit(46)!
 dmg: 28

Looking at the bats, I feel sorry for them. They don't have much of an attack since it is a status effect. And May is already suffering said effect, so...

Bat1 HP: 64 - 28 = 36

May says, "2... 1... We'll keep you safe, rakshassa who surrendered! And no humiliation in the future!"

With a thunderous whirl of her carrikal, May swings wide, hitting every enemy, and seems to even hit the drider during the first swing! In the process, she hooks onto the bat behind her and tosses it to be in front of her. "EEE!" The second swing, which uses May's shield - the tortoise blade - hits the ones in front of her. Lots of whacks and thuds can be heard.

---

May takes 4 fire damage (10 - resist 6 ongoing)
Minor: May takes 10 damage to auto-save from the ongoing.
Standard: Lunging Dervish v Bat1,2,Bulette,Drider. Hit(30)! Hit(37)! Hit(29)! Hit(29)!
 base dmg: 15
 Secondary attack v burst1: CRIT(44)! Hit(29)! Miss(26)
  base dmg: 12
  crit dmg: +20

Bat1 HP: 36 - 24 = 12
Bat2 HP: 94 - 20 - 17 = 57
Bulette HP: 264 - 20 - 37 = 207
Drider HP: 47 - 29 = 18

  "Thanks, Raichel."  He pitches orange clove scented pacification dust into the conveniently crowded enemies, though the most injured bat flaps wildly enough to keep it off themselves.

  The Dancing weapon shift floats over one of the bats and in front of the Drider.  "Morningstar!" "What, that's clearly a sworaaaagh!"  The dancing weapon smashes the Drider chin first into the stairs by way of bashing it's Morningtar themed pommel onto his skull.

OOC:  OOC results:
Drider KO.
Bulette and Bat 2: Pacification dust.
NO STANDARDS (aftereffect, slowed).
This message was last edited by the player at 23:25, Wed 20 Jan 2016.

Mits slams her staff on the ground, striking up sparks that ignite all the astral dust!  One of the bats passes out!

"I've always wondered what it would be like to be an explosion.  Let's find out."

She pulls on one of her pigtails, turning it into a fuse.  She snaps her fingers to light the fuse.

"EEE!"

The other bat tries to flee, but gets knocked out by May.  The bulette also tries to flee the Mittens bomb but gets knocked down by May!

"Roar."

It stands back up, raspberries the drider - it's former master, and dives into the stairs, disappearing below ground, leaving only a heap of rubble in its wake, never to return.

Mits' fuse fizzles out.  "Aww.  Didn't get to use the second part of my new spell.  Amazing new moves there, May!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:26, Thu 21 Jan 2016.

Timothius looks down at the rubble, gets a sad smile, and waves a hand. The astral appearance of the room fades back to its original state. Which is rather beautiful, still. "Well at least that poor, tortured animal gets to go free." Timothius looks over at Mittens. "I take it you like that Holy Ground power I was recently gifted."

May begins binding the drider. "Hmm... this one's a little confusing, but after binding half a dozen dragons and an exarch with two heads, you'd think I have this whole binding thing down."

Raichel says, "All of these guys work for Sangwyr. The drow among them thought themselves super competent, so hopefully they know at least a sliver of info on Sangwyr. But with them taken care of, we can let Cachlain know we have some servants of Sangwyr captured now."

May puts on a mock-tone of Sovacles and says, "See? They are in league with Sangwyr and trying to frame our guests!"

May then returns to her normal voice and says, "At this point, I'd say let's just beat the tar out of Sovacles and if Cachlain decides to join the fight, we beat the tar out of him. Then we crush Sovacles' balls until he caves and confesses. Then we proceed with what we were here for in the first place."

Raichel says, "We can still be civil, May. They'll attack us soon enough anyway."

Timothius nods. "May's point, though, is good in so far as us fighting on our own terms."

Rai asides to Ironfell. "Nice to have you back on our side, Ironfell. Don't lose heart. You are on the winning side now."
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:41, Thu 21 Jan 2016.

  The Fact Ironfell took a swing at enemies at all, let alone hit, means he's done more on screen than 99% of the Coalition against the Githyaki.  Not bad for somebody the module probably only thought far enough ahead for as a cameo victim.

  "That would be ridiculous, May."  See, common sense- "He would need to have any balls to begin with" ...Well, still common sense, in a sad way.

  "Now that we have a little time, I can at least prepare those elixirs for the occasion."  Elixer's of flight, order now and we'll throw in a 6th one for 99.99!

Mits smiles and nod-nods to Timo.  "Talk about epic looking!"

Regarding pre-emptive strikes, she shrugs.  "Thank you, Kyle.  Now that's what I call fighting on our terms."

For Ironfell she has a stern look, pointing to her eyes, then pointing at him.

Bram’S faTe
After the fight, the PCs need to decide what happens
to Bram (if they didn’t already kill him). The githyanki
are finished with his services, the Coalition won’t
welcome him back, and Cachlain doesn’t want him
around if he’s not a useful diplomat. If he’s set loose
on his own, the githyanki probably kill him, and if
he’s taken back to the world, the Coalition might
execute him for treason. The future’s not bright for
Bram Ironfell.

Bram smiles sadly to Raichel.  "Maybe so, but I seriously doubt that I'll be shown any leniency.  I'll likely be executed for helping the githyanki.  Still not entirely clear on why I wasn't just killed.  Not like they really needed me.  Well I'll tell you what I've learned at least.  There's a chance I may have found out something you haven't.

 Vlaakith, the Lich Queen, who once led the
githyanki, has been slain. They’re now lead by
Emperor Zetch’r’r, who seeks to bring war and
conquest across the planes."

Mits raises an eyebrow.  "That is news to me.  Presumably her phylactery was destroyed?  Liches just keep coming back if they aren't."

Bram looks confused.  "I wouldn't know anything about that.  No githyanki mentioned anything about the nitty gritty of how to destroy a lich."

Raichel says, "With information that useful, maybe we can pass you off as more of a double-agent than turncoat. Though obviously now you can't return to the githyanki."

Timothius says, "A recommendation from us will go a long way. But the only leniency I can guarantee is your life being spared. Sayre's laws forbid them to execute their criminals, for starters."

Tim looks over to Kyle and smiles, "Yes please! I've never flown on my own before..."

Raichel says, "It's fun."

May says, "I will gladly take one, Kyle, thanks."

Timothius says, "Oh... and yeah. When it comes to monsters and villains and such... Mittens knows it all. Could even be the lich queen is still alive and this Zetch'r'r guy doesn't yet know he's gonna get a knife to the back. But eh... I doubt it."

Raichel says, "In their kind of culture, I would be surprised if any of their leaders ever died of old age."

May looks up at Mittens with a cheerful smile. "Thanks to Ironfell, we've got all kinds of time to think up annoying pet-names for this Zetch'r'r guy!"

  "Talk politely for the Githyaki or get killed, unless you were obvious in deliberately seeking them out you may be able to point out how little you did in exchange for your life."  Honestly it sounds like the Gith just grabbed the closest named NPC they could find for the job.

  Bram was never really all that tactful to begin with.  Then again, even Kyle would be a master diplomat by comparison to the average Githyanki.  Even... uh, what was his name?  Tea sip mc souljarred's name probably wasn't that important anyways.

  Beverages of fly 4 until end of encounter are handed out to the party.

Mits grins and offers May a high-five!

"'Vlaakith Jr' would probably push his buttons.  But yeah.  Creative names.  Sooo looking forward to that."

Bram bows.  "You are all so very kind to be so understanding.  Right now that's all I have to offer.  I can tell you Sangwyr is a cunning snake.  Constantly changing his tunnels around and his own location to reduce the chance of ever getting found and assassinated.  One rarely gets to see him face to ugly face.  Usually sending stones.  A blessing that.  But what I'm getting at is that his minions here won't know anything useful.  Like how to find him."

"Only indirectly a minion of Sangwyr," the rakshasa says, "Me and my crew are independent contractors.  Our contact was that drider."

"How in the world did you replace my guards?"

"Not too hard.  That sleeping poison can work wonders if timed just right."

"So they're still alive?"

"Nah we killed the guards we replaced."

"Good to hear.  Thanks."

"...your welcome."

"Did you take out the leader?  Arzoa.  The woman githyanki."

"Nope.  Just the three."

"She must be lurking about here somewhere, then."

Timothius says, "In that case, we keep you close, Bram. At least if you are in my sights, I can heal you."

May takes the high-five and says, "Zetchbell. Zit-roar. R'r'zetch. Though if he's a guy, your "Vlaakith Jr" gives me the idea of calling him Lich Queen or Your Highness or such."

Raichel furrows her brow. "Arzoa roams free? Ug. Well I hope she doesn't think her life is worth killing you over, but we've known enemies to die for much less. Like telling us the time of day. Or 'just because'."

May shrugs. "I dunno... Bram looks like he could take a hit or two. Anyways, let's take these prisoners to Cachlain." she looks at the satyr and tiefling. "Willing to be witnesses that we were attacked by people working for Sangwyr and that we bested them?"

Timothius says, "While I'd like to think that people other than us being witnesses would help, it is obvious Sovacles is an agent of Sangwyr, so his reaction would be to suggest that our witnesses are also spies in on the whole thing. Best we just go on our own word and leave them out of this."

He looks at the two. "Of course, you are welcome to come and watch us inevitably get attacked only for us to win if you like." Why is Tim unafraid of taunting Murphy with comments like "we will win, murphy or no"? Because he knows Murphy is scared of the alternative. If the heroes lose, then Murphy will have much fewer innocent people to pick on.

  "I suppose they could always simply keep quiet and give the impression they don't mind kidnapping attempts. Stay off the glass in either case." That would be silly, but many people they have rescued, fought, or simply met in passing make a group of people punching two headed dragons seem reasonable by comparison.

  "Though yes, it appears at the moment Sovacles could tell Cachlain 'They are obvisly lying that the Kobold is Green, she's clearly red!' and they would agree."

Mits laughed at May's names.

"Yeah pretty much," she agrees with Kyle, "So nevermind even bothering telling Cachlain that we kicked the butts of his enemies just yet and instead focus on hunting down Arzoa?"

"The sooner she's dealt with the better," Bram says, "But if you guys need a rest first, I'll understand.  I can show you to the guest room I was given, if you like.  Thanks for offering to protect me.  Hope to make it up to you all."

Mits shrugs.  "Serously doubt I'll need nap time for dealing with one githyanki.  But chances are she'll have backup somehow."

"I'm just going to go home till this all blows over," the satyr says, "Thanks for the rescue."

"What he said," the tiefling agrees.