In reply to Eleni (msg # 11):

Birahu casts two spells one after the other, Mage Armor, and Resist Energy: fire! and followed the others where they went.

"woo...mind the next step that one's a doozie" Maevre had recovered remarkably quickly from the sickness. Perhaps some fairie magic?

"Let me go aloft and see" Maevre suggested and rather pretty butterfly wings seemed to materialise around her. Mostly as though 'they had always been there but not noticed' than 'manifesting'. "That is risky, but perhaps not as risky as staying down here."

"It's going to be the one with lots of columns right?"

She spend a moment mentally concentrating before leaping aloft. Cautiously she used the roof of the nearest building: landing on it and looking around for the next high point. Fortunately the smoke provided excellent cover spoiled somewhat by her coughing and spluttering

The temple of Zeus shines magnificently, lit up during this night like a beacon in the meagrest light. It will take a solid hike uphill to get there, but there are massive rope-guided pulleys that allow you to glide over the slopes of controlled water, which would be a DC 15 Climb check, coupled with a DC 15 Concentration check to avoid getting distracted by the terraced view that collapses into a vast green surrounding the seven hills of the city.

The priest yells to you, as you slip away from the elementals' grasp, that he just can't tolerate being left behind, and you hear a desperate edge to his voice. With a DC 20 DEX check, and a Deflect Arrows spell (you all have a scroll in your pocket of this spell, level 5, with the effect of changing the trajectory either in a cone or up to five arrows fired in consecutive rounds) characters are able to maneuver them into the elementals, though they pass through to an unknown end. You also notice that your quivers dance with lines of fire, meaning the success you encountered while dealing with the riot will simply be channeled into another location. But now you have fire arrows, and you suspect that Apollo is behind the presence of the elementals, which are slowly pursuing you. But their profane forme is not permitted inside the naos of the temple, though you have before seen fire dance on the columns. The priest stumbles away from the elementals and starts chasing you, brandishing his cross. He speaks more Latin incantations and waves at Lady Maevre on the roof. There is a fairly even keel, assuming you either Take 10 or 20 on the Jump roll, which means you'll be encountering the elementals as they snake up the roof, or your companions won't be able to reach you for a time.

The rubble from some magically destroyed terrain blocks your passage. If you Featherstep (players with boots will move twice as fast over rubble [half move speed instead of one-fourth] and the elementals merge with a wooden bulwark in your path, setting it ablaze. You think it has symbolic worth, and can, you recall, be vanquished with a small amount of holy water, which the now emboldened priest runs toward you carrying.

You can avoid combat as the elementals are slow but the priest is catching up to you, provoking a glance left and right from a mysterious woman with black hair who taps her spear on the roofs (all of them flat in the immediate vicinity and as far as you can see) and shouts more Latin phrases. Interestingly enough, you suspect they cast glib tongues seeing as they have serpentine forked tongues to match the shocking grasp that they now pull over (lucky you discovered the source) from a ball of lightning now tracing the lip of the building two jumps away from Lady Maevre.

Garaxus begun climbing the ropes that lead to the temple of Zeus. It was an easy climb for the Savage and as he looked back, somewhat distracted, he was relieved by all the water. The fire elementals would have a hard time following them now.

He knew that Maevre could fly and would be right behind him, if not ahead of him before too long. He just hoped the rest of the group where good climbers.

Looking at the Temple of Zeus, he continued to move forward at a rapid pace.

OOC:
09:18, Today: Garaxus rolled 12 using 1d20+3.  Concentration .

09:18, Today: Garaxus rolled 27 using 1d20+14.  Climb check .
This message was last edited by the player at 17:40, Wed 18 Jan 2023.

Birahu attempts to follow Garaxus!

In reply to Birahu the Black (msg # 16):

As they start off climbing, Garaxus notices Birahu having a hard time climbing the ropes. Garaxus grabs hold of the mage and puts him on his back. "Hold on!" The extra weight was no big deal to the Savage as climbing was as difficult for him as walking or breathing.

OOC: Garaxus's Strength is a 21. An extra 150 lbs is no big deal to him. Considering, Garaxus has less than 34 lb of gear on him (he's only wearing leather armor)
This message was last edited by the player at 18:20, Wed 18 Jan 2023.

Ignoring the fate of the evil priest who had lightning bolted her comrades, Maevre found a good place, tied her rope to it and tossed it down. Rope made most things like climbing an awful lot easier

She wasn't even tempted to look at the view as there were things trying to kill them, and anyway this place was a little dull compared to the Glories she was used to.

"I have no clue what is happening" she called to the others "Please shout out if you have an idea what to do"

In reply to Lady Maevre (msg # 18):

Hearing Maevre's voice, while climbing with a mage on his back, he answers back to her. "Head to the temple, we'll figure our next step there!"

Aranea thinks the group progress might be well treated by less priest. She swings her crossbow around as she uses the usual number of limbs to navigate the rubble. She pulls the two triggers on her crossbow, sending a bolt through a bubble of gel that formed at the front of her bow headed toward the priest.

Aranea rolled 23 using 1d20+9.  Crossbow shot.
Aranea rolled 3 using 1d8.  Crossbow damage.
Aranea rolled 3 using 1d6.  Strength damage if dc 14 fort is failed.

Before she tries to follow along with compatriots.

Aranea rolled 22 using 1d20+4.  Concentration check.
Aranea rolled 13 using 1d20+8.  Climb check dc 15

The rope's traditional +2 should actually raise her 13 to a 15 and pass but I'll leave that to the GM and plot.

In reply to Garaxus (msg # 17):

Birahu catches ahold for the ride to the top.

Eleni sees the priest and watches the crossbow bolt leave towards him. She decides the rope is probably the right call for her, using it and her natural climbing ability to ascend rapidly.

OOC: Eleni rolled 25 using 1d20+6.  Concentration.
Eleni rolled 18 using 1d20+12.  Climb.

Arenea and Eleni succeed to mount the building, while the others fail. Those who fail, your hands skid a little bit on the rope, which is crafted of the finest hemp, and 50 feet now dangle limply from a vantage point angled from the hook ranging this way and that as the rope's anchor. The priest seems to be your friend, he keeps mouthing good-feeling preludes toward you as you occasionally turn around to see if he's actually the one shoring in your reality with mantras from all radial perspectives. The temple is situated almost like an island, a beacon from the storm that sits at odd angles from the crashing waves that the Sea of Pelluria and the Caen River divvy up the spoils of with your tourist-like selves. The magic feels unraw because you're so new to the city, but there is reputedly a Power Nexus (which range from power levels 1 through 10) and this one is a level 7. Later on you can level up to 7 in a Heroic Path and the 7th spot will offer criticals in a range exceeding the standard 20, making it 18-20. This location is sacrilized by the gods, and you might be able to use Zeus' limp power to prematurely cease the fire elementals, whose gift to Apollo is their service, their sun-like shape now in your rear-view mirror.

The lady on the roof says, "My name is Jil and the prophecies spoke of you," to Lady Maevre. "The fire elementals may pay heed to Apollo, but their arrows will be of service in the allegiance to Zeus. Summon him and he'll erupt from the center lake, causing a natural disaster which will be digressed into yet more taxation, fixing these houses up. But it can be done using just magic, usually. Go, and wile your way into a fury before the gods, or we don't help you." As she says this, two elves catch their hands upon the gutters, hoisting themselves onto the roof. They had good climb checks, with a difficult DC given there is water now treating the city like Zanarkand.

Those who fail the check end up on their rear ends, with no other difficulties non-trivial. The facade gleams against those of you whose sight is low-light, for it is dark as night. But the light from the Temple is enough to illuminate your path. Ten rioters smash its windows and say to you, "You're not going to make it inside this temple, scum!" and they appear to lift the rubble that now constitutes the Areopagus from cairn-like piles. Those who climb up are able to create a link between the words offered in prayer here to the serpentine tongues of those now jumping toward the temple from the flat rooves. They say to Lady Maevre, "Some other time the Last Laugh will meet you at the temple. For now we retreat from this rioting."

Concentration was succeed by all and warrants a moment of pure bliss that lets you communicate with Zeus temporarily, with the spell command. You feel that the word will splash its way into the lake, offering the chance to literally use a word to vanquish the priest and use summon nature's ally to bring the priest down from his elemental prison to secure the safety of his soul in the form of a phrase. Together you're able to hear that a channeler is requiring a scroll of glib tongues and that you can secure it either at Skie's Treasury or from the Church of Wee Jas, both in the northwest part of town. Then you can align the spiders of the church with the priest's babble, creating something of a tower at the top of which is a gem-encrusted staff created with Craft Magic Item. The top of the staff, the top of the tower, the minarets awaiting your presence in which fire is the password for ascension back into the library where you will re-group. In addition to the riots you are able to channel anger into the staff, unleashing it to demolish a wall and let the water stream down in avidness, surrounding the temple with water in a fashion unbeknownst to the eagles of Zeus now floating around the city. Using the staff, you can unload the shocking grasp to retain it as a future prophecy in "ungating" the Nereid prophets, who are taking the form of serpents.

Aranea wants to help the townsfolk and secure the good will of some locals. A place to fall back to or the relics they may offer could well be worth some time and a few wounds helping them.

Maevre followed Arenea. Still a little lost she tried to make sense of what she had seen and heard. Who or what was the Last Laugh? Some of the others had communed with Zeus: something she would never do.

"Did we win?" she asked

"OK let's try this" Maevre wasn't very confident about what was happening or what they had to do. She was still very very confused about it all

"I guess it's clear we need to fight some fire elementals" she continued. "I'm going to go for that one" she pointed to a fire elemental that was some distance from the others. "Let's see what happens"

While normally she liked to use her fists and feet if she was going to fight, that would be the height of folly on a fire elemental, so she drew a cold iron dagger which she kept very carefully sheathed most of the time.

"Here we go"

And with that she moved cautiously up to a fire elemental and stabbed it. It was not her best attempt. Perhaps a child could have done better. Still she was trying...

• Move action: Move up to elemental
• Standard action: Attack 31 with a cold iron dagger using Foe Hammer. Foe hammer is a standard action, ignores DR and does +2d6 damage.
• However it does a mighty 3 points of damage ( because Maevre can't use fists and similar reasons the damage is pitiful. Still perhaps we'll learn something )

AC 29.
Fire resistance 10

20:25, Today: Lady Maevre rolled 31,5 using d20+12,d4+2d6.  Attack / damage.

Trying to follow the lead of her fae friend, Aranea risks direct contact by putting her enchanted, poisonous, fangs into the fire elemental. She knew virtually nothing about such beasts from her sheltered forest home. It might not be for the best but the best learning came from doing. Bandits, thugs, and occasionally shadows were her typical fare so far and she was quite young. Next turn however she could be far more dangerous to a mortal opponent... If she could take the heat.

Aranea rolled 27,5 using d20+9,d6+1.  Attack/damage. If the poison can be effective Fort DC15 vs 1d6 str(primary, 2d6 str secondary) damage

When the combat begins, you feel like there is a rush of wind that seems to factor into your situation as a previous natural disaster prompted by the entrance of one square of fire and wind elementals. As you go into combat, it seems that black fire is rotational, perhaps the churning of a greater fire hidden deep beneath the earth. And you can see the earth blacken underneath them, like a kiln full of sculpted pottery that saved an adventurer from a fierce wind. The elementals. You are each in combat with one small fire elemental. #1 is fighting Lady Maevre while #2 is fighting Aranea. They seem mawkish but brittle and you can see warped smiles boiling through their tension in trapped air. Forming a sort of wall, the other elementals seem to be summoning air elementals as you engage the other ones in combat. Therefore they will become four-foot high strings of moltenness attached like siamese twins to vortexes that if you fought, you figure would be stung by the infinity of fibers buoying like a rictus of fanged teeth. You suspect based on the knowledge that you have of walls of fire that the combined air and fire elementals, if poisoned, would absorb that poison like a tornado sucking up a house and in essence absorbing it. Lady Maevre, step of the wind was useful to you in the past in fighting fire elementals, and would be useful to use, and you figure it would be safe to enter them as they lay dying. You recall using burning blade in situations like this as well.

You both vanquish the closest 2 fire elementals (they both had 5 and 4 HP, respectively), which are sucked into the now-becoming-giant air and fire elemental, which bristles with lurid color. It's like a giant locomotive reaching into the earth to secure some kind of mud that would slow down its diffusion into whatever realm gave it birth, likely Hades. The sky is a red color that gives the place the assumption that Hades is in some way related, and things crackle with a fury upon the death of the elemental, some kind of automatic reaction of the gods. The Auron that seems to issue forth from the faux fire and brimstone grant you a vision into the nature of Delphi, and you know from the beginning of the combat that the Crown of Eurydice is in some way attached to ghost word. You can probably speak Auron in the pursuit of the glass and might even get a free sword out of the deal from assisting in the quelling of the situation (you still can figure out where the demon came from if you ask around). You get glances from some of the passers-by, some stand gawking and others run in terror. There are now 2 fire/air elementals which were previously the line, of combined essence.

Lady Maevre rolled a 21, and Aranea a 9, on knowledge nature to recall, based on the Auron being shot off the beasts, that a dragon is in some way in your future that can be destroyed by chanting over it in draconic, the alphabet of Auron. Your wisdom is such that you are able to glance around after slaying the 2 closest elementals, and note the shape of th acropolis, shafted with a type of spotlight effect.

You continue to hear Auron melodiously over your ears, but neither of you can interpret it, aside from simple recognition.

Everything was so confusing, Maevre found it hard to work out what was happening. Perhaps it was as simple as 'defeat some elementals'. If so she decided to give that a go.

She'd tried the 'defensive' approach and that had worked. She'd not been hurt. Spotting another fire elemental she charged it, radiant lines of magical energy coming from her as she invoked energies to make this a deadly attack

While they may sustain some amount of damage, it seemed in their interest to secure this dark fire by removing further elementals from attacking the city. So, she continued to press her attack.

Move and attack
Aranea rolled 18,5 using d20+9,d6+1.  Initial attack.

The elementals are positioned in the city in an elaborate clan. They are fused with the gods so any time you encounter them in the future there will be a chance to strike at them. I'm not using grids, so imagining the combat in 3D space entails fire and air adjacent to each other, forming a chance for critical specialization effect to fight them back. They are vulnerable to cold attacks and spells, so wielding a frost sword or an icy grasp spell will allow you to get better access to the air elementals, who are vulnerable to earth. In short, the cycle of elements means that barkskin and graniteskin are what they are casting. Before long they will form a giant golem sloshing side-to-side and be possessed by the gods for a time.

Initiative: 7
Fire touch,vs AC flat-footed, given that it's an extraordinary ability to merge with the gods it becomes material and your masterwork weapons, Aranea, take on a cast of flame as they bend the light in a gesture of defiance toward the creatures which are now 50' away, but your attack had you see another group on the margins horning in on you and your blade passes through them like a knife through butter. The flat-footed call is based on the notion that there is adrenaline pumping through the temple and the guards are considered fire giants who awaken from the stone like pieces on a chess board and they are 120' away from you, immediately wreathed in flames and you see the lady Jil get smacked across the island toward you, and she gets up and feels her head for trauma, some of her hair singed off.

This touch mirrors a flat-flooted aura you see around her as there is a corporeal attunement that relocates her pain, forcing her into a leadership heal from the group that gets belched out of the temple. The initiatives are:

Lady Maevre: 17
Aranea: 15
Fire elementals (4) 14
Fire giant (1) 11
Thieves: x

The group of thieves readies actions to attack the fire giant when it approaches. draw with an intense desire the tone of the bodies in front of you, fire pulsing in the hand of the giant as it rears its ugly head toward the group, Jil still reeling from the blow. You estimate she's at about half health and has around 30/60 hp.

The riot sits in another blast of windows being knocked out, several more people screaming but luckily it subdues itself, leading to another tribute towards the dark god combing the land, the color of the landscape shifting again as the black becomes fire. The elementals and the giant make noise that sounds like static upon a television and they glow with an intensity unbereaved in the world of men and gods.

"So... " Maevre asked Arenea. Her confusion wasn't really lessening. "we let the thieves and the fire giant fight it out. Because I am not going to attack something immune to my attacks, that is ten times my mass. And ... er... what else? We could attack the fire elementals I guess? Or just let the theives get on with it?"

Aranea shifted stance slightly and her face was only appreciably different than her human guise though it came apart at the middle of the lower jaw and had an almost porcelain doll look and texture, "I'm not certain about fighting elementals further but a giant at least is flesh and blood. While my venom may not be particularly effective it at least has a chance. The giants are not made of fire. The giant is too far right now anyways unless you have more magic." Two hands held the crossbow, two moved another vial into place from her bandolier, the last freed another vial and if her movement puts her close enough to Jil she will offer it, "Minor healing but often enough in an emergency..."

She took aim and fired after closing a small portion of the distance with movement.

If 26 hits then the giant needs to fort save... That was max str damage so a fail here would make fighting it SOO much easier!

Aranea rolled 5,6 using d8,d6.  Piercing, Str(Fort DC 15) damages.

Aranea rolled 26 using 1d20+9.  Taking a shot

Jil is done up with a hair tie which is caked with blood, as Aranea notes when approaching. Jil flicks a little of the blood at the fire giant who roars thunderously and claps his hands together having dropped his club. The red hair at his wrists quake with energy as the nearby square takes note of his activities and several of the town guard have shifted their attentions toward him, their longswords breathing in the air against the current and file of the flaming buildings. A +2 longsword seems to scrape against the full plate armor as they run, and for a moment, you feel the watch's energy, knowing that they must rest in their armor, as they are simply that tired. They seem to be friendly towards you, and a wizard casts something that you might be able to use Concentration on in the aftermath of the battle, and his garb strikes you (rolled knowledge(arcana) for you guys and you succeeded at 15 for Lady Maevre, 9 for Aranea, and 13 for Eoiren Fellstave, so Lady Maevre succeeds and can tell that the yellow and blue garb has a logo on it that might be one of the guilds of the city. The buildings continue burning and flank you on both sides, with a successful magic bolt from Aranea. It sings with Poseidon's strength into a flank of the fire giant, who forms and re-forms surrounded by fire.

BAB: +2 spiked gauntlets merging with spiked club, 5/10/15 damage.
ACP for mages 10% but skinned from acid frogs meaning slower proliferation should Aranea choose to attack them
"Jousting iron" is the string that Lady Maevre detects using mellifluous sound for free (you guess it comes from the mages who seem to be using primal magic, prompting reflex saves to avoid stepping on the slick pavement spell and deducing which words you can chant to summon a djinn.

"On it then" Maevre said. Calling on her fae magics she almost blurred as she flew at high speed to the weakened Fire Giant, her fists smashing brutally into it.

Action	To hit	Damage die	Damage
Battle leaders charge	30	d6 +15 (+10 from the battle leaders charge)	20

Note

• that there are no attacks of opportunity from the charge.
• A double move is 120' so that's fine (just) for the charge

Crusaders Power	Effect
Crusaders Strike	Healing d6+5
Shield block	+4 + shield AC to ally
Battle leaders charge	+10 damage, no AOO for charge

The fire giant is mixed with the new recruits to the scene and there is a gust of wind that extinguishes the stray small fires dotting the scene.

His body is a cage-like fixation warranting a brief glimpse which unveils that he is alternatively viewed in plain sight as a rocky outcropping. You believe that his masterwork club is hiding a gemstone that is valuable based on the shouted accusations of the rioters and recruits dancing on the margins of the combat zone. His hit points and AC cause the masterwork club to warp you back to a time immemorial when he was weaker, and you have a flash of vision of a "second story man," something the recruits keep shouting about. They enter the fray and a flash vision of combat occurs and you suspect people will want to use rocks whose hardness is 10 in the general purview there is a stonework that suggests that the combat will be "narrow," a sort of framework overlay that decides when enemy AC gets boosted in the neck of the woods suggesting that you'll be able to start bringing together the city but do not want to stray into the environs as on the map you will encounter those beings outside of Baden's Bluff and there is a guy with bombs who is lobbing them at the fire giant and someone is shouting something about "The Striders of Farlaghn."

The fire giant is able to use his club to slam you, forcing you through the earth and emerging in the wilderness, but only on a critical hit. His appearance reminds you of times when there were "neck of the woods" elves who allowed urban oneness to seep into the heavily fortified city, as the monsters outside are known to not be terribly intelligent, seeing as they just patrol their property for the time immemorial. The beings engage the fire giant, and they're all captain NPC guys with six or seven levels under their belt and they're done up in the grey and purple of the city watch. The certitude that you feel when approaching the giant to attack, Lady Maevre and Aranea, indicates that the giant is feeling somewhat whimsical but left to his own devices he would allow his denuded form to give him some natural armor. His natural armor is at a DR of 5, but some are now throwing rocks at him from a distance.

Natural armor ignores stance periphery, granting circle of protection from circlet of protection, utilizaed by somewhere in the magical ether.

Whirling flash by Lady Maevre allows the blade to sear the flesh of the giant, bu the wound cauterizes automatically.

Blending of the Greek and shadow worlds allow the city some breathing room when it comes to the breaching of the nest that the fire giant comes from, somewhere in the wilderness surrounding the city.

The arrows that are being shot soar through the air singing. The vorpal quality that they have suggests an expensive shop which you can tell had a presence here given the rubble's quality.