Zhira was ready to go as soon ad Qvan gave the word, clearly looking forward to what looked like it would a difficult battle. In addition, if no other accommodation for Ibhris the turtle was found, she made sure to carry him along herself, clearly unwilling to let such a dangerous individual unsupervised, even in his currently impaired state.

While Qvan had planned with summoning several majestic eagles to bear himself and his companions aloft and towards their destination, the newest member of the party had a better solution for the journey.

Using his divine powers, the suli grasped the hands of his companions and altered the substance of their bodies to a cloud-like vapor. It took a few moments to get used to this new state of existence, but it hadn't been the first time this useful spell was the first choice for an expedient trip. Very soon after the casting was complete, everyone was already racing through the clear blue skies as a magical wind wafted the wind walkers along northward.

Leaving Blood Rise Rock behind you to the west and flying eventually over high bluffs and vast ash-strewn steppes, you reached the ruins of Shadun to the east of the towering Zho Mountains and the twin volcanoes Zhobl and Zhonar. The air here was thick with dark clouds and constant smoke drifting over from the volcanoes, each breath brought with it the unpleasant acrid taste of brimstone.

Most of Shadun consisted nowadays of only ash-covered valleys, stony bluffs, cooled lava flows, and the occasional ruined tower or collapsed monument breaking through the surface here and there. Dozens of small gnoll guard patrols roamed the vicinity of the ruined city, hunting for the rare wildlife and watching out for intruders of any kind. Overall there must have been around a hundred gnolls outside of the broken walls of Shadun, with many more visible inside. There were also a dozen dig sites scattered throughout the ruins, easily identifiable from a high vantage point, many seemed to have been abandoned only recently.

The most unwelcome sight by far, though, were two gigantic olethrodaemons hovering some 200 feet in the air over Shadun, their many orange eyes keeping the ruins under constant surveillance. Crowned with a wicked array of twisted horns, these wide-mouthed behemoths were the pinnacle of the daemonic race; with the exception of unique individuals of their kind of course. It seemed that the Jackal Prince of Famine did not hold back when it came to bringing this region under his control as well, sending such formidable creatures to enforce his rule.

---

Zhira, we will assume that Ibhris was left in Vahid's care.

Musa had enjoyed the walk through the air. While he preferred the solidity of sand on his feat and the slow meditation of simply walking through the desert, the wind walk was far faster and had its own joys. To be up in the air, that much closer to the life-giving sun was a joy in itself. The wind spirits up in the air were joyful and happy, simply giggling and enjoying life. Several times, Musa had simply burst out into laughter himself at them, no doubt to the consternation of his companions who did not see or hear what he laughed at.

The appearance of the ruins, and most worrying, the Daemons holding court over it ended these playful thoughts. As far away as possible from them, Musa slowed and then stopped, intending to head to the ground. Fighting in wind form was impossible, and it would be best to find solid ground to transform and prepare.

Not sure how far away we are when we first see the Daemons, but Musa will immediately head to the ground, and once there, begin resuming physical form.

OOC: of course, I have no problem with that; I just raised the possibility in case leaving Ibhris with Vahid couldn't be done for whatever reason. I'm perfectly fine with not having the guy along, I just wanted to make sure we didn't leave him unsupervised.

Also, I'd be using my Scout ability to try and get a read on what the daemons are capable of IC; does a 36 tells me anything of worth?

14:50, Today: Zhira al-Darea rolled 36 using 1d20+18.  Perception Scout.


The moment she saw the gargantuan, monstrous creatures floating in the air, Zhira glared at them with disgust, her eyes glowing golden as she tried to take in any detail she could about them, even as she asked the others, in a grim tone:

"Should we charge in and take those abominations down immediately, or would it be smarter to try and sneak through?"

Her fist, gripped around the handle of her scimitar, made it clear what her preferred course of action would be, even if she didn't state so, clearly willing to abide to a more subtle approach if the rest of the team would favor it.

"I am not much of a sneak, I am afraid. And I favor destroying the abominations." Musa's comment is short and sweet.

Reminder: the wind walk spell takes 5 rounds to return to physical form. In gaseous form, while you do get some defensive bonuses, you also cannot attack at all or cast spells with any components. So I am assuming we are landing and transforming far enough away that we don't get ambushed while transforming back, and then moving onwards either by land or flight if people have the ability.

I can cast Air walk on anyone who doesn't have the ability to fly on their own.

Aryk flexed his hand then drew his sword as his body slowly coalesced.  Whihc he had not experienced this specific spell before, he had a few times astral traveled, and found the experience of his body reforming to be a bit similar to that.

"Those olethros are a powerful foe.  I think it unavoidable that at some point we will have to battle the foes here, which will of course draw them in.  If we are to fight the demons, it would behoove us to pick the time, place and circumstance of that fight.  I believe we should strike first, on our terms."

 The group landed and slowly resumed their tangible shape. Qvan agreed, these powerful demons were too important to be a threat ignored and left behind. A life spent in study of such creatures left him with a pretty good idea of what they were capable of, and how the group could deal with them.

  "It seems we have a consensus. Ignore the Gnolls for now, and take those two behemoths down. I should warn you on a few things... they are surprisingly mobile, walking through the air as if on solid ground and able to burrow through mountains as if through water; they can also teleport at will. They will be very resistant to most attacks, physical or magic, and simply immune to acid. Their claws and fangs are obviously formidable, and their bite will drain your life force... but they also wield strong magic... including the ability to summon other lesser demons. Oh I almost forget – they breath potent negative energy the way dragons breath fire..."

 The wizard then added: "As for their weaknesses, they have none. Apart from being big..."

 "I will assume a flying battle shape. Zhira I know you like your mobility but in this instance I reckon a giant shape would be appropriate..."

---

Qvan Ibn Hamid rolled 37 using 1d20+34.  know the planes: olethrodaemons.

Ext. Shapechange, Ext. Freedom of Movement, Ext. Barkskin, Mage Armor.

Then Polymorph Any Object to turn Zhira into a Huge Giant (Sun) 
This message was last edited by the player at 17:44, Fri 20 Nov 2020.

"That is useful to know. We should try and surround the enemies then, to avoid bunching up and providing a single target for that breath." Musa said before beginning his own preparations.

He stood up, gazing straight into the blazing sun overhead, and the sun seemed to shine down strongly upon him, making him glow. Soon it became apparent that Musa really was glowing, brilliantly bright. "Do not approach to close to the sun, lest you also be burned. He warned the others. Then with a few more words, Musa again takes on the aspect of Celestial perfection, and even his sword begins to glow.

EDIT: Cast Weapon of Awe, Air Walk on Zhira.
Cast: Air Walk, Freedom of Movement on self (and Air walk on anyone who asks). Cast Weapon of Awe on the Falcata.
Activate Luminous Form revelation, granting blur (20% miss-chance) and anyone who ends their turn adjacent to me must make a fortitude save (DC 26 or be blinded for 1d4 rounds, on a success they are still blinded for 1 round).
Finally, cast Quickened Divine Power, Divine Vessel, and move action to gain:
Dedicated Adversary (olethrodaemons), critical focus and staggering critical.
Then I will dimension door everyone over (I'm large, so I use my 10 feet of natural reach to allow me to touch the rest of the party without blinding them.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:36, Fri 20 Nov 2020.

OOC: Any other preparations from Zhira or Aryk before being 'teleported' over to the first daemon?

Also, everyone please make sure to have your combat stats updated to reflect all these buffs!

OOC: I will update the thread as soon as this post is made, now that it's decided that it will work and how.

Also, yes I have preparations to make. Specifically: using the first round to draw my scimitar and shield, then the following round to activate Warrior Spirit (standard action) and Animate my shield (move action); hopefully that'll work fine.

For warrior Spirit, I get to add 6 to a weapon that is already +4, which means it ends up being +5 Bane (Daemon Elemental) Holy Leveraging Training (Big Game Hunter). Naturally, going from Medium to Huge also means my weapon damage dice grows from 2d6 to 4d6, which is going to make my Vital Strike inflict some scary damage.

Zhira drew her weapons, then let go of the shield to focus on the scimitar in her hand, making it glow with golden light as she called her power on it; meanwhile, Qvan's magic made her grow over twenty feet in eight, her bronze skin taking on a metallic sheen while her black hairs turned crimson, flashing like liquid fire as they caught the light.

After the planning phase was over and all possible preparations had been made, the party gathered around Musa and his towering angelic form to be transported over the vast distance and right next to the gargantuan fiend hovering above the ruins of Shadun. And while the Olethrodaemon was ever-vigilant and spent each waking second fulfilling the command it was given to be on the lookout for intruders or any other trouble, the sudden arrival of the combat-ready group of adventurers still took it by surprise!

---

Qvan, didn't have your Sprite stats yet, so let me know what those are.

The entire party is up next!





This message was last edited by the GM at 17:52, Tue 24 Nov 2020.

 Qvan had changed shape to be as inconspicuous as possible against the bright skies. A diminutive luminous fairy would do the trick.

 He appeared at the back of the group, and following the tactics agreed with Zhira, summoned a wall of force to cut the demon's retreat, at least temporarily.

---

Cast Wall of Force – Going from H to P 24, 20ft tall
 5ft step to I10.   
This message was last edited by the player at 11:49, Wed 25 Nov 2020.

Posting for Rictor

 They had the advantage over the Demon, but not for long. Rictor was not one to waste an opportunity and charged forward on his flying steed... but his misjudged the distance and his blade caught nothing but thin air.

---

Standard: charge to L17
 Qvan Ibn Hamid rolled 33,23 using d20+32,2d4+17.  charge big demon.
 Well... one standard action and it's a fumble.
 Maybe I shouldn't volunteer to play for others.

Zhira grinned, the golden glow of her scimitar casting flashes on her newly red hairs, as she said to herself in an amused tone:

"Let's see how though you actually are, abomination."

Then, without hesitation, she jumped forward, using the air as if it was solid ground and a platform for her to bounce up from, bringing her blade down in a devastating overhead chop, clearly aimed straight at what passed for the monster's face.

OOC: Ok, this is going to be entertaining.

As I only have a Standard Action, I'm going to use Locust Pounce to cover the 20 ft separating me from the monsters and attack on landing; this should also grant me 1 tension point for having moved at least 10 ft in a turn.

For the attack I think it's important to point out that my weapon has Bane, granting a +2 enhancement to attack that specifically stacks with the +5, making it a +7 enhancement in total. It also has Holy, which makes it be counted as good for bypassing damage reduction, and the GM granted me that it is treated as silver, so all the damage from this will ignore DR. I'm using Vital Strike, but not Power Attack for this one.

EDIT: back when rolling for the attack and damage, I treated my strength from giant form as only 4 higher then normal, instead of 8 higher, and then forgot 4d6 of damage dice. The numbers below reflect the actual reality rather than my original mistaken math, so they're all higher than what the roller says.

13:01, Today: Zhira al-Darea rolled 65 using 1d20+46 with rolls of 19. Locust Punch Vital Strike Bane 2h attack.

Oh, wow. Ok, I do believe that 19 is a critical hit on my scimitar even if I don't have keen on it this time, isn't it? So, confirmation roll:

13:03, Today: Zhira al-Darea rolled 62 using 1d20+46 with rolls of 16.  Critical Hit Confirmation.

Yeah, that's not a 1, so it's confirmed. This one is going to hurt.

Just to recap: my scimitar is two size categories larger, so the damage dice goes from 2d6 to 4d6, and the crit doubles that to 8d6.
Vital strike isn't doubled by the crit, but does take advantage of the increased dice size, so that's another 12d6.
Bane and Holy are 4d6 on top of that. That's a total of 24d6 that I have to roll.

And then I double the static damage bonuses: +16 (2h STR), +6 (weapon training), +6 (Devastating Strike) +7 (enhancement) +2 (big game hunter) and +2 sacred (Weapon of awe)  makes for a total of +39 which is doubled to +78.
I also get Critical Genius (+18) +5 bleed damage (assuming this thing can actually bleed) and my Sarenrae trait (+2 fire damage) on top of that, although those don't double and I imagine the fire damage is going to get ignored, but I can live with that.

So, rolling for damage we get:

13:16, Today: Zhira al-Darea rolled 200 using 24d6+103 with rolls of 6,4,3,5,5,5,4,3,2,4,3,3,5,6,4,2,4,5,5,4,4,3,5,3.  Vital Strike Crit damage

So that's a pretty nice hit, and due to Weapon of Awe, the enemy is left Shaken. And since I inflicted damage (hopefully), I get 1 tension point, raising my tension total to 2.

Then I use Follow-Through, which lets me make a bull-rush attempt, without provoking attacks of opportunity, adding my full bonuses to it, which basically means the bonuses are the same +46 from the attack roll to start from. I get a further +5 from one of my talents, and the "Leveraging" property on my scimitar doubles the effect of enhancement bonuses, thus adding another +7 in, and then I get the +2 for being of a smaller size - total of 14 extra point for a CMB of +60.

13:28, Today: Zhira al-Darea rolled 68 using 1d20+60 with rolls of 8.  Follow-Through Bull-rush.

Now, the daemon's CMD is 58, meaning I'm hitting 10 above the threshold; this means it gets moved backwards of 15 ft. Thus, it doesn't hit the wall of force, but is standing just against it; also, successful Bull-Rush means the thing is battered, so until the end of my next turn, it gets -2 CMD and anybody can use Combat Maneuvers on it without them provoking attacks of opportunity, in case anybody wants to try.

And finally, I'm not sure if we can use 5 ft steps in a surprise round, but if we can, I'll have Zhira take a 5 ft step backwards, so that she's 20 ft away from the thing again. You know, so that I can repeat this whole thing next turn, should the need arise. ;)

This message was last edited by the player at 13:32, Wed 25 Nov 2020.

Musa advances steadily on the daemon, sword in hand and eyes implacable. His body is in his angelic form, and in addition continues to outshine the sun. Even looking at him is slightly painful, to stand next to him for long would risk serious eye damage. Using that to his advantage, he positions himself in front of the daemon and opposite Qvan's wall of force, hoping to trap the daemon against the wall and blind it.

Use my one action to move to adjacent to the daemon and avoiding standing next to anyone else, hoping to get it in my blinding aura next turn.

Zhira, don't forget I cast weapon of awe on your scimitar as well. That adds +2 damage, and since you confirmed a critical, the Daemon is auto-shaken for 1 round.

In the very moment the party had crossed the large distance and arrived next to the daemon, both Qvan and Rictor sprang into action. One conjured an invisible barrier of force behind the creature to prepare for Zhira's opening move, the other gripped his blade tightly and charged towards the fiend without hesitation of fear. As it were, Rictor had not that much personal experience with flying and it took him valuable seconds to get used to the unfamiliar three-dimensional movement, causing him to miss with his strike.

Zhira found herself in a strange new skin and body as well, standing far taller than even Musa in his angelic form, flaming red hair falling down her shoulders. But it didn't take her long to make the most of the increased might granted to her and she pounced towards the massive daemon with a challenge on her lips. The holy scimitar, now an even more potent and lethal instrument of battle in her hands, came down on her opponent, carving a deep gash in the fiend's leathery flesh without resistance. A follow-up blow managed to sent the Olethrodaemon careening backwards, much to its astonishment.

Musa strode forth confidently, shining like a second sun that just had appeared in the sky above Shadun, with no doubt in his mind that they would prevail even against such a dangerous foe. With each step through the air his aura increased in intensity until it became too much to even glance upon him.

---

Zhira, you can indeed take a 5-ft step in a round when you do not move otherwise, even during surprise.

Waiting for Aryk!

Prior to combat, Aryk casts Inevitable Strike (1 pt. as std action, +20), Battle transformation (10 pts, +3), and Force Screen (5 pts., +5).

---

"Well, let's get to it then." Aryk said.

With that he popped up into the air, and channeled his mind into the mind of the creature, for only a moment, trying to disrupt it's ability to ward off attacks.

---

Manifest Brutalize Wounds.  Will save vs. a 23 to reduce effects.

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/alter.../b/brutalize-wounds/

Telepathically connected as the two daemons were, the second one was immediately aware of the sudden attack against its brethren and did not waste any time transporting its humongous bulk over the several hundreds of feet to appear in the back of the party.

The injured olethrodaemon shook itself violently as it tried to recover from Zhira's brazen and quite effective attack, bellowing a roar of pain and anger out into the ash-filled sky of Shadun. It then converted some of the life energy it had consumed over the course of its existence into a potent breath weapon. Jaws yawning wide, it unleashed a cone of shrieking black smoke and wind that washed over everyone except for Musa in an attempt to drain the very life from your bodies.

---

Aryk, the olethrodaemon succeeded on the Will save against Brutalize Wounds, but first you would have needed to make a Power check against the SR of the fiend (as psionics and spells will work under the same general rules).

Everyone, be aware that both daemons have a permanent Unholy Aura effect on them, so if a good creature succeeds on a melee attack against them, the offending attacker takes 1d6 points of Strength damage (Fortitude DC 29 negates)!

The entire party is up next!

Aryk, Qvan, Rictor and Zhira need to make a DC 29 Reflex saving throw, taking 130 negative energy damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one!

Musa lifts his sword in challenge, and swings it down, beginning a vicious all-out attack. His body still glowing brilliant white with the sun, he swings his falcata in brilliant arcs of power, hacking through the tough daemonic flesh.



Full Round Action: Full attack the daemon. It ended its turn next to me, so unless its immune, it should be blinded (-2 to AC and loses it dex to AC)
Attack bonus: +26 + (7 luck) + 3 (str) - 1 (size) +2 (dedicated adversary) = 33
damage 2d6 + 15 (str) + 7 (luck) + 2 (sacred) + 2 (dedicated adversary) = 2d6+26
11:25, Today: Musa Agasi rolled 46,29,37 using 1d20+33,2d6+26,1d20+22.  attack, damage, fort save (if needed).
11:26, Today: Musa Agasi rolled 44,31,34 using 1d20+33,2d6+26,1d20+22.  #2 attack, damage, fort save (if needed).
11:26, Today: Musa Agasi rolled 45,30,39 using 1d20+28,2d6+26,1d20+22.  #3 attack, damage, fort save (if needed).
11:27, Today: Musa Agasi rolled 37,67 using 1d20+32,4d6+52.  crit confirm attack, bonus damage.
11:29, Today: Musa Agasi rolled 33,38,28 using 1d20+23,2d6+26,1d20+22.  #4 attack, damage, fort save (if needed).
My weapon counts as good, but not silver so it does not bypass DR. If it is not blinded, the first three attacks hit, but the crit confirm and and fourth attack don't, total of 60 damage after DR. If it is blinded and has an AC of 37 or below, I do 67 more damage and it is staggered for 1d4+1 rounds (fort save DC 23 to reduce to one round of staggered). If its AC is 33 or below, I do another 28 points of damage, but also take 2 points of strength damage.

Seeing that her attack didn't seem to have neutralized her opponent, Zhira grinned in an almost manic manner, and commented:

"Oh, so you are a though one, aren't you? Let's see how much more you can take then!"

And then, she once again jumped forward, moving on the air as if it was solid ground, slashing into the beast with her scimitar crackling with energies repulsive to evil spirits and daemons both, and using the momentum from the attack to slam it into the wall of force, before immediately moving away, creating space between them so the monster would be forced to disperse its attacks and be unable to bring its full might to bear.


OOC: So, as said before, I'm Lawful Neutral, so the Olaetrodaemon repulsiveness to good isn't a problem for me (although I imagine it has something to make its chaotic nature relevant). Also, after I hit an enemy, I get a +2 to my saves against that enemy from my Bolstering armor during the next turn. Sadly, as it was, my saves didn't work, and my reroll didn't work either.

16:29, Today: Zhira al-Darea rolled 28 using 1d20+15.  Reflex Save
16:32, Today: Zhira al-Darea rolled 23 using 1d20+19.  Reflex Save Tattoo reroll.

This means my HP goes down to 126; that's about half my health burned away just like that. I'll gain 1 tension point from it, which raises my total tension to 3. Also, my save was an immediate action, so I have no Swift Action this turn.

So, given my current distance from the daemon, I'll Locust Pounce again; that's grants me 1 tension point for moving more than 10 ft, raising my total to 4, and allows me to make a standard action attack. As I did last turn, I'll use Vital Strike, but not Power Attack. My bonuses haven't changed, although between Shaken, Battered and possibly, if Musa's aura applied, Blindness, the enemy's should be lower. Anyway:

18:50, Today: Zhira al-Darea rolled 51 using 1d20+46 with a roll of 5.  Standard Vital Strike Attack

That's an hit even against AC 40, so I should be safe to roll for damage - naturally, this time it's not a critical.

18:55, Today: Zhira al-Darea rolled 99 using 20d6+39 with rolls of 1,4,4,1,5,1,2,2,5,5,2,2,2,1,5,6,2,6,3,1. Standard + Vital Strike damage

To that, of course, it's necessary to add +5 Bleed damage. Speaking of which, did the daemon took the bleed damage on its turn? It might not be much, but every little bit help against an enemy this strong.

Anyway, since I have inflicted damage to an enemy, that grants me 1 tension point, raising my total to 5.

Next, as is customary for me, I will be using Follow-Through to go into a Bull-Rush; again, while my bonuses haven't changed, the enemy has lower CMD this turn; 2 less due to being battered, and if it's blinded, that's his entire DEX mod removed from the CMD, which I'm gonna bet for a CR20 critter would be significant.

19:02, Today: Zhira al-Darea rolled 76 using 1d20+60.  Follow Through Bull Rush.

Now, if we assume that the monster is NOT blinded, then it's CMD would just be 56; that gives me a +20 over it, so it would have moved back 5 squares - if there wasn't a wall in the way. Since there is, I get 5 Hammer damage dice, which for a Gargantuan monster is 2d8. So that's 10d8 extra damage, which is what I will be rolling for. That said, if the monster is blinded, I'd be getting an extra 2d8 for every 5 points of DEX mod it loses (so if it has, say, a +10 DEX mod due to 30 DEX, that'd be 4d8 damage more). I'm sure the GM can roll those if it's necessary.

19:09, Today: Zhira al-Darea rolled 38 using 10d8 with rolls of 4,5,5,6,1,5,1,2,5,4. Hammer damage.

This is bludgeoning damage, so it's reduced by DR, meaning the monster takes 28 damage. The Force Wall ALSO takes the damage, not that I expect it to do anything meaningful to it.

And then, I have my move action left!

I'm using the central square among those occupied by my character to determine movement, so I consider to have started my turn in N14, with Locust Pounce moving me to N18. Locust Pounce is extra movement, so I still have my full 85 ft moving speed to spend; that should easily allow me to move down to Z18; that's 60 ft of movement (unless I miscounted something, which should put me just outside the range of the thing's breath (at least, that's my goal here - I'm trusting Zhira would be able to eyeball that and get to the right distance), and also make it harder for either of them to catch multiple of us in the same breath again.

With my tension pool so high, I should probably make a note that I can spend it as a free action to increase my AC, DR or Saves as I see fit even outside of my turn, and thus it might come into play if I'm attacked for any reason (such as if the daemon wastes his Attack of Opportunity on trying to get me before I move away, given that it provokes one). It might also come into play if I'm breathed on again - but I'll bring up the details of that if it comes to it.

And with that, my turn is over; overall not as good as my critical last turn, but 132 damage is still solid enough, I think.

This message was last edited by the player at 23:21, Thu 26 Nov 2020.

The intense light of Musa's celestial form was strong enough to blind most enemies that dared to look upon him, but the many eyes scattered all across the daemon's body unfortunately gave it a distinct advantage against this and it remained in full possession of its visual sense. Musa was able to land several attacks with his glwoing weapon, but he had a hard time actually cutting through the iron-hard hide of the creature, leaving only minor wounds in the end.

With the tremendous amount of success that Zhira just had with her initial rush at the daemon, she simply repeated her series of actions once more. One powerful swing of her enlarged weapon smashed the fiend into the unyielding wall behind it, cracking bones and rupturing flesh. Shoulder lowered, she rushed into the bulbous mass of the monster then to finish her combination, before darting out of reach of what could be another foul exhalation.

---

Musa, just to mention this if you haven't seen it, but I list the AC of the enemies in the table for everyone to compare the attack rolls against. Also, you are of good alignment, would you be potentially affected by the Unholy Aura listed just below this?

Zhira, hadn't included the Bleed damage last round, so your target took 10 damage in total from this so far.

Everyone, be aware that both daemons have a permanent Unholy Aura effect on them, so if a good creature succeeds on a melee attack against them, the offending attacker takes 1d6 points of Strength damage (Fortitude DC 29 negates)!

Waiting for Qvan, Aryk and Rictor!

Qvan was flying expertly, hovering in place and hoping to stay out of harm's range from the demons unholy breath... but no luck. Misjudging then distance, the wizard in fey clothing did not bother dodging out of the way when he fell should have, and the negative energy swallowed him.

He flew upwards to get out of reach from the newly appeared flying demon, and changed shape again. This time he became a huge dragon, and hovered in place, surveying the battlefield.

He was ready to get a spell.

---

Activate boots, fly to I20 (260ft elevation)
Ready action

Change shape: Huge  Dragon (I need to check which)

Aryk moves out of the way of the previous breath weapon, and once again attempts to overcome the demon's mind, although unfortunately he is again not strong enough for the task.

---

Move to P17.

Again attempt to manifest Brutalize Wounds.
19 +1d20(6) = 25.  Fail.

Rictor quickly realised that keeping up with the position of the enemy when Zhirav was literally bouncing them against the walls was not going to be easy. With a flicker of his magic glove, he sheathed his ancestor’s sword and brandished the bow that had made his reputation. In a blur of motions he released a barrage of flaming arrows at the wounded demon, seeking chinks in its robust hide.

Easier said than done though...

The griffin flew up to get the advantage of higher virtual ground, and put some distance between the companions to avoid an other disastrous breath.

---

Take 65 negative damage from breath (unless evasion?)
5 ft step upwards and ranged full attack

Qvan Ibn Hamid rolled 33 using 1d20+19.  Reflex save.
Qvan Ibn Hamid rolled 57,12 using 5d20,5d8 with rolls of
8,17,9,11,12,2,2,4,2,2.  Rictor ranged full attack:
+27(x2)/+27/+22/+17/+12 (1d8+13 plus 1d6 fire) add +2 for favoured enemy  +1 higher ground

 Hit 38 for 34 damage
 Hit 47 for 17 damage
 Hit 34 for 19 damage
 Hit 31 for 17 damage
 Hit 27 for 17 damage

Unless the demon has a malus to its AC for some reason (size? battered?) that’s only one hit for 17 damage — luckily it bypasses DR.
I didn’t bother rolling for fire damage as they resist.

Qvan changed form immediately after the soul-draining breath washed over him, feeling the usually strong life force within him being severely diminished. His mighty wings took him further up and away from the cluster of his other group members where he turned to gaze down at the second daemon, ready to intercept what could prove a deadly second breath.

Aryk also changed position to minimize the amount of targets their opponents could catch at once and tried once more to affect one of the fiends with his psionic powers; alas to no avail.

Rictor remained at his position, only drifting up a few feet, and changed his weapon for the bow. Firing several times in rapid succession it wasn't hard to hit the olethrodaemon with his arrows, but punching through the supernaturally-tough hide was a different matter and in the end only one single shaft pierced it.



The wounded olethrodaemon shifted its bulk to confront Musa, which turned out to be a grave mistake. Now that all of its eyes focused on the monk, the blinding radiance emitted by Musa was too much for the thing to bare after all. It flailed wildly with its claws and shook itself as the daemon desperately tried to see again. As only darkness remained, it resorted to casting a spell instead that did not rely on sight. The fiend uttered a single vile word in the unholy name of the Horseman of Famine, trying to buy it some time to regain its vision.

The second fiend attempted indeed what Qvan had expected, flying south with a gurgling groan of delighted anticipation to get more victims in its blackish breath. But as soon as the shrieking smoke billowed forth from the monster's jaws, Qvan was ready and blocked the attack with a second force wall. The demon blinked several times with its many eyes, not realizing what had just happened.

---

Qvan, I have chosen the silver dragon for the time being, but let me know which it will be in the end and update your combat stats accordingly please.

Qvan/Rictor, thanks to a successful save and Improved Evasion Rictor does not take any damage!

Musa, I did not realize that the save for the Luminous Form is made at the end of the monster's turn and not at the beginning. I have rolled now a second save for the end of the first round (with the first save coming at the end of the surprise round) and the daemon got a nat 1. So roll the turns it will be blinded then, please. I've updated the AC value for #1 now accordingly!

Everyone, be aware that both daemons have a permanent Unholy Aura effect on them, so if a good creature succeeds on a melee attack against them, the offending attacker takes 1d6 points of Strength damage (Fortitude DC 29 negates)!

The entire party is up next!

Olethrodaemon 1 casts Blasphemy! Rictor and Aryk need to make a DC 26 Will saving throw to avoid being dazed and weakened. The daemon failed to overcome Musa's SR, so he remains unharmed.

This message was last edited by the GM at 14:03, Fri 27 Nov 2020.