Cool, will wait for the ques and get back to dancin'!

The party gathers to discuss tactics and strategy. Mostly it's a question of how to finish off the boss warrior. That dude is for real. The second question is whether or not another dragon will be involved.

Beldame offers this: My knowledge of the Githyanki is limited, but I do know that they do not suffer defeat kindly. Everything they do is counted as either success or failure. No in between. They will continue to send him out until he succeeds in his mission, or he dies. At this point he may be growing desperate.

The Githzerei asks for translation. When Beldame speaks the monk nods agreement.

"With that in mind, I do not believe that another dragon will be part of the next attack."

"Well, that should be easy than," Elora said, but Beldame shook her head.

"Have you not been paying attention?" she asked? "Four times now he's attacked and still he stands. That is no mean feat. Surely this is a dread lord from among their greatest warriors. It will take more than magic missiles defeat him. He even shrugged off my lightning bolt. But I am not without my own wiles. If all of you can corner him, I have some magic that might cause him great harm."

"So we should merely jump him and hold him down? Won't he simply use that rod and fade away again? How do we neutralize that? Our monk friend have anything to say about that?

"Pious, do you have any magic that might enhance the monk in some way, make her, dunno, tougher or faster or even able to shed a few blows so that she can hang in the fight a few more seconds? If he's focused on her, maybe we can bind him somehow.

"Don't see much to work with around here but maybe we can fashion a net from blankets or something.

"Thoughts?"

"To be fair, I was playing into the warrior's hands. I didn't give him his due. I will not make that mistake again. There are several spells that I have at my disposal that will prove useful.

"For the warriors, when the time comes, I will cast haste. Those of you engaged with him will have twice the attacks as you usually do. That will give the monk double her normal attacks (six for the monk, four for Olaf - if Kal wants to be part of that, he'll get 2x his normal).

"You must stay within the area of the spell: 40'x 40'. Also, the duration will be one minute (10 segmemts).

"I would caution you, this spell has adverse affects, specifically, it causes you to age each time you use it. So be aware of that.

"Finally, if you hear me shout, duck!"

ooc: Kal can spare a year... I believe the duration to be longer tho.

You got me. 12 rounds duration.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:29, Wed 10 Feb 2021.

A day passes. Then another day, and another. Tensions mount among the party, the cold starts to wear. Beldame has a cough, dry and wracking, enough so that Pious has to cure light wounds periodically. The monk lays hands periodically as well; it works, but for a short time only.

"Do you think they gave up?" Elora asked. Outside of the Beldame, she seems the most out of sorts. Patience has never been the fey's strong suit. The rest of the party muddles through.

ooc: I'll have something of substance for you this evening.

Kal, knowing that this confinement was very bad for everyone concerned, asked the Monk through the Beldame: "Is it possible the asshole just gave up? I think he's recruiting more allies. If we take you south, will he follow? Can we get him on OUR turf to fight?"

ooc: Never saw a post the other night so guess I was supposed to take the last one and run?

No you didn't anything wrong - I've had a substantial spurt of business this week that's curtailed my gaming. I'll post something this weekend...at the latest.

The Monk recognizes that the Beldame is ill - she's helped in some small fashion by laying on hands. Still, she talks to the Witch, who translates: "There is a node of power up here that they are seeking. Should they succeed in retrieving it, the balance between their races will tilt, and the Githzerei will be at their mercy once again. She cannot let that happen."
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:55, Tue 23 Feb 2021.

"So, can we set an ambush for him at the node? He seems to know where we are, or more likely, where she is at all times. Maybe we can use that against him."

Beldame translates again:

She says that not only are they hunting the node, but they are also hunting her...which we knew already, or at least suspected. That changed nothing. The only thing I worry about are additional foes, but I think we can handle that if we summon some animals as attack beasts. The critters will be a distraction, if nothing else.

"That does sound like a plan. Ask the monk if she knows the area around the node, perhaps well enough to sketch out a map. We can find places to hide and from which to send the animals to make sure we have maximum effect."

Beldame said, "I can summon a pack of six dogs. Once I do so, I'll give them basic commands and then I can focus on our antagonist. Now, it's getting late. We need to set a watch rotation - there's no reason to think he would not try a night attack, so two at least on each watch. For my part, I need to ready my spells, then get some rest. This old body isn't what it used to be."

"Sounds good, I'll take the middle watch with whoever else wants to join me in chattering and shivering. Let the Beldame get as much rest as possible."

The night, surprisingly, is quiet...and short. That displacement of time being so near the pole leaves everyone a bit out of sorts. Still, everyone makes ready, eating a quick meal of rations for sustenance.

It's not long after the sun reappears that not one, but two armor clad figures appear atop the rise.

"At least it's not a dragon," Elora said, looking up at the twin clad warriors.

"Hush, child," the Beldame admonished.

A moment later, the Beldame summons her dogs, then follows by casting Haste upon the Monk, Olaf and Kal.

ooc: no surprise, both sides are ready. Roll initiative, Attack and Damage rolls. Game on!

The original warrior moves quickly from the rise, but his partner stumbles a bit as he follows his compatriot. The baying of hounds echoes through the surrounds!

ooc: once Kal rolls initiative and attack/dmg, game will be on!

17:40, Today: Kalmus the Grey rolled 7 using 1d8+5.

17:40, Today: Kalmus the Grey rolled 13 using 1d8+5.

17:39, Today: Kalmus the Grey rolled 4 using 1d20+3.

17:39, Today: Kalmus the Grey rolled 22 using 1d20+3.

17:39, Today: Kalmus the Grey rolled 7 using 1d20+3.

17:39, Today: Kalmus the Grey rolled 21 using 1d20+3.  Att 1.

INIT: 3 (not sure what you rule Haste does to this)

Kal, a blur of motion, hacks with his flaming blade at the big villain, hoping to slow him for the monk!

ooc: Looks like 20 points of damage to the A-hole then a fumble on the last attack. BTW, assuming he is regenerating and using +2 feature of the flametongue.

I did not clarify that particularly well. Since Beldame was the caster, the haste spell goes on her turn. I allowed for the dogs, because she prepped the spell and cast it earlier.

Beldame's initiative is 3, meaning that the spell will be cast, but the primary warrior will get his licks in at the same time as Agrax and Olaf and the monk.

Upon his attack, the original assailant swings his sword, and misses 2x:

Olaf attacks: Hit's the original baddie 2x for 16points of damage on 2 attacks. Nice

Monk Attacks: The monk attacks, and again she finds herself struggling in the thick snow. Three tries go awry.

Agrax Attacks: Misses, but not for want of trying.

Beldame casts haste.

Elora casts flaming sphere at the second black knight. It hits for 5 points of fire damage

Pious holds steady, ready to heal when he must.

And the second baddy finally engages, and swings 2x at Olaf: 7 points damage

Here's how I'm going to rule Kal's turn. As I said up above, the haste spell is cast on Beldame's initiative which is a 3. So Kal is going to have to wait until she casts. once done, he's hasted like a dervish. I think that's fair. Oh, and you can keep your rolls.

ooc: so... now I'm confused, are we back to init or do I need to fix my post?

I see what you're saying: You rolled a 3 for initiative, that's the same as Beldame...so you that will allow Kal to use the rolls he made under the haste spell. That work?

If it's permissible, sure! I read it as haste spell was active, go have fun. Sorry.

Unless surprise is a factor, initiative gets rolled first, followed by attack and damage. Fortunately, Kal rolled well, along with Olaf, to get things going, while the bad guys didn't do much.

Round 2


Bad guy 1: The warrior seems stymied by Olaf's and the Monk's defensive posture. He misses 2x again

Olaf: Meanwhile, Olaf attacks with his bastard sword. The first swing goes awry, but the second one is a solid hit of 13 pts of dmg! Olaf seems to be back on track with some solid swordplay. In addition, he got two more swings, one of which scored a solid 7 pts dmg.

Agrax: Agrax still struggles with the new blade, but she's hasted and gets another try and scores a worthy hit! 13 dmg to the main baddie.

Monk: The hasted monk is a dervish. Wielding her staff, she gets 6 attacks. three miss, three hit: She scores 19 points of Damage on the bad guy.

Elora: Magic missile x3 scores 11 points of damage on the big baddie.

Beldame: Casts Cone of Cold which does 24 points of damage to the bad guy. A frozen rime of ice covers him, but he's still standing.

Dogs: dogs attack and score 2 hits: One full damage: 7 total dmg by the dogs.
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I am Waiting on Kal and the 2nd baddie, who is now beside his comrade. Basically, round two is still going on. Just fyi, the second baddie rolled a 2 for initiative, so he's the last to go.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:52, Sat 27 Feb 2021.

12:47, Today: Kalmus the Grey rolled 6 using 1d8+5.

12:47, Today: Kalmus the Grey rolled 13 using 1d8+5.

12:47, Today: Kalmus the Grey rolled 15 using 1d20+3.

12:47, Today: Kalmus the Grey rolled 15 using 1d20+3.

12:47, Today: Kalmus the Grey rolled 2 using 1d6.

Kal will attack the 'other guy' this round, hoping to keep him busy while Olaf had the hot hand and join back in on the main bad guy next round. If 15 hits, he took 19 damage.

Kal does not hit, unfortunately (you needed a 17). I'll tell you what, though, I'll allow magic missiles to be hasted so that you can hit 4x instead of two. That'll take place on Kal's next turn.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:16, Tue 02 Mar 2021.

The second bad guy reaches out and touches the reeling leader. Suddenly the the leader looks quite hale once again.

Round 3

The fighter baddie steps forth with newfound purpose: Misses the first, but scores 15 points of damage on the 2nd attack: His target is the Monk.

OOC: I have to run out, I'll pick this up when I get back today.