A second tryp to the Styx (Jaela)

[Corwin]

[21:59] <Jaela> roll 1d20+42+4 evasion
[21:59] <Serith> Jaela roll for Serith < 65 > [d20=19]

[Anastasia]

Jaela nimbly dodges the burst of water, avoiding the black muck. As it splashes around her and falls, Ellese advances 30ft and chants strange, twisting words. A green fireball flies out, exploding amid the amnizu ranks.

Init is Sylvie (39) > Mirima (27) > Styx Wanderers (26) > Jaela (14) > Ellese

Ellese is using a energy substitution (acid) + energy admixture (acid) delayed blast fireball. She's dropping a smiting spell to add an extra 20 damage.

> roll 40d6+20
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 163 > [d6=4,4,2,6,1,1,6,3,4,1,2,5,2,2,3,3,1,1,2,3,5,4,5,6,2,5,5,3,6,6,6,5,2,3,1,5,6,3,5,4]
> roll 1d20+23 vs DC 26
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 27 > [d20=4]

The burst of acid catches them all - from here Jaela can see there are 4 more. They are blasted by acid and cry out as they melt down before your eyes, dissolving into bursts of Styx-water.

Free-act. That battle was way under y'all's normal CR range.

[spoiler]

Celestial valor placeholder for everyone pending CL resolution: +8 saves vs fear/emotion, +4 sacred to attack rolls, damage rolls, armor class, saving throws, weapons count as holy (doesn't stack).

Ellese
HP: 445/445
Spells Active: Mind Blank (CL15), Fortunate Fate (CL13), Planar Tolerance (CL7), Greater Mage Armor (CL5)
Bonuses: -
Negative Conditions: -
Resources Used: -

Sylvie
HP: 305/305
Spells Active: Mind Blank (CL15), Fortunate Fate (CL13), Planar Tolerance (CL7), Greater Mage Armor (CL5), Deeper Darkvision (CL23), Overland Flight (CL23), Endure Elements (CL23), Greater Mighty Wallop (CL23)
Bonuses: -
Negative Conditions: -
Resources Used: 1 stunning fist

Mirima
HP: 299/299
Spells Active: Mind Blank (CL15), Fortunate Fate (CL13), Planar Tolerance (CL7), Greater Mage Armor (CL9), Mirror Image (8 images)
Bonuses: -
Negative Conditions: -
Resources Used: 1 quickened mirror image

Ellese casts as a 21st level sorcerer. The save DCs are 18 + spell level. Her metamagic options are Empower Spell (+2), Energy Substitution(Acid) (+0), Energy Admixture (+1) and Maximize Spell (+3). Once per day she may automatically maximize any spell. Twice per day she may declare a spell a smiting spell, dealing an extra 13 points of damage.

[6/day]0: Acid Splash, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Ghost Sound, Mage Hand, Mending, Message, Prestidigitation, Resistance.
[8/day]1: AberrateBoVD, Protection from Good, Seething EyebaneBoVD, C, Shocking Grasp, StuporBoVD.
[7/day]2: Darkness, Devil's TongueBoVD, C, Mirror Image, Scorching Ray, Summon Swarm.
[7/day]3: Devil's EyeBoVD, Lightning Bolt, Love's PainBoVD, C, Rage.
[7/day]4: Absorb StrengthBoVD, C, Black Tentacles, Damning DarknessBoVD, Wall of Ice.
[5/day]5: Call Lemure HordeBoVD, Cone of Cold, Feeblemind, Morality UndoneFC1, Wall of OozeBoVD.
[4/day]6: Acid Fog, Chain Lightning, Freezing Sphere, Harm.
[5/day]7: Delayed Blast Fireball, Fiendish ClarityFC1, Rapture of RuptureBoVD, Whirlwind of TeethBoVD
[4/day]8: Create Greater Undead, Fire Storm, Horrid Wilting, Polar Ray.
[4/day]9: Apocalypse from the SkyBoVD, Eternity of TortureBoVD, MindrapeBoVD, UtterdarkLoM.
[2/day]10: Body SofteningHome, Gathgorian's FireballHome, Simmer's Contagious FireburstHome, True Meteor SwarmHome

BoVD - Book of Vile Darkness.
C - Corrupted spell. No corruption cost is noted as Ellese is immune to corruption costs.
FC1 - Fiendish Codex 1.
LoM - Lords of Madness.

Ellese casts as a 1st level death delver. The save DCs are 15 + spell level. Her metamagic options are Empower Spell (+2), Energy Substitution(Acid) (+0), Maximize Spell (+3) and Energy Admixture (+3). Once per day she may automatically maximize any spell. Twice per day she may declare a spell a smiting spell, dealing an extra 13 points of damage.

[1/day]1: Lesser Restorationx2

Always active: Deeper Darkvision, Greater Mighty Wallop, Endure Elements, Overland Flight.

Sylvie casts as a 13th level chameleon (Caster level 23rd.) Her save DCs are 24 + spell level (arcane) or 15 + spell level (divine). Her spell selection themes are personal power and planar survival.

Arcane casting

[4/day]0: Detect Magicx2, Prestidigitationx2
[8/day]1: Improvisationx3SC, Magic Missilex3, Shieldx2
[8/day]2: Body of the SunSC, Detect Thoughts, Electric LoopSCx2, Resist Energyx2, See Invisibilityx2
[7/day]3: Amorphous FormSC, Displacement, Greater Mighty Wallopx2RD, Heroism, Vampiric Touch
[7/day]4: Assay Spell ResistanceSC, Attune Formx2SC, Dimensional Anchor, Dimension Door, Enervationx2
[7/day]5: IndomitabilitySC, Overland Flight, Teleportx2, Wall of Force.
[7/day]6: Bite of the Weretigerx2, Disintegratex2, Greater Heroism.
[3/day]7: Greater Teleport, Limited Wish, Waves of Exhaustion.

RD - Races of the Dragon.
SC - Spell Compendium.

Divine casting

[4/day]0: Create Waterx3, Cure Minor Wounds.
[5/day]1: ConvictionSC, Divine Favorx2, Endure Elements, Foundation of StoneSC, Goodberry
[5/day]2: Aid, Lore of the Godsx3CC, Spiritual Weapon
[5/day]3: BlindsightSC, Cure Serious Woundsx2, Ghost Touch WeaponSC
[5/day]4: Death Wardx2, Divination, Divine Power, Freedom of Movement.
[4/day]5: Plane Shift, Righteous Might, Spell Resistance, Zone of RevelationSC
[4/day]6: Healx4.
[1/day]7: Aura of VitalitySC

CC - Complete Champion.
SC - Spell Compendium.

Arcane Dilettante casting. 9 spells with a maximum of level 8. Save DCs are 22 + spell level.

Bite of the Werebear, Cone of Cold, Enervation, Greater Mirror Image, Greater Invisibility, Greater Mighty Wallop, Greater Heroism, Polar Ray.

Spell like abilities

1/day-scorching ray. Caster level 20th. The save DCs are 19 + spell level.

Mirima casts as a 9th level sorcerer. The save DCs are 19 + spell level.

[6/day]0: Acid Splash, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Mage Hand, Mending, Message, Prestidigitation, Read Magic, Resistance.
[7/day]1: Endure Elements, Fist of StoneSC, Magic Missile, Shield, Weapon ShiftSC.
[5/day]2: False Life, Ray of WeaknessSC, Resist Energy, Whirling BladeSC.
[5/day]3: False GravitySC, Fly, Greater Mage ArmorSC.
[5/day]4: Greater Invisibility, Orb of Force
[3/day]5: Wall of Force

SC - Spell Compendium.
[/quote]
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[Corwin]

"Let's keep going," Jaela announces, waiting for everyone to get back into formation before setting off again. She still has enough power in reserve for a serious battle, and everyone else is even fresher than she is.

[Anastasia]

> roll 1d100 Jaela random
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 38 > [d100=38]
> roll 1d100+15 Jaela random
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 66 > [d100=51]

You wander another 15 minutes or so, following the river. You begin to see something ahead in the fog, a deep, dark shadow. A building, perhaps. Too hard to tell from here, it's barely an impression against the ever present mist.

[Corwin]

"Let's see what that is," Jaela decides, heading that way.

[Anastasia]

"Careful, it has to be something of Lixer's," Mirima says, "Which means things are about to get interesting." She grins as you approach. It's not a building after all, now 40ft away. It's a black obelisk, rising up about 90ft before ending in a jagged spike. Maimed bodies hang from it like ornaments, dozens of rotting bodies kneeling before it. You can see there's engravings on the obelisk, strange runes that look to be Infernal.

[Corwin]

"Sylvie, any reason you shouldn't 21 that vile thing?"

[Anastasia]

"None whatsoever," As the two of you speak, the zombies begin to rise. Horrid things, blackened and dripping with the waters of the Styx. But before they can act, slow and shambling things, Sylvie utters three profound words, the book of 21 in her hand.

> roll 21d12+21
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 149 > [d12=9,11,4,8,3,5,6,9,9,1,6,4,10,5,5,1,6,8,5,10,3]
> roll 1d20+11
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 12 > [d20=1]

The zombies are simply annihilated, the obelisk dissolved save for the last 20ft of it, which crash to the ground. There is only the silence of the deep ethereal after.

[Corwin]

"Is it tiring you to use it consecutively like this?" Jaela asks, heading onwards once more.

[Anastasia]

"No." Sylvie says, "But something's wrong about this." She stops, "Lixer has enough defenses to stop Aurora cold against Lethe, but here the resistance is more token, like it's keeping away the natives rather than a serious assault. It doesn't make sense."

[Corwin]

Maybe it was a mistake to leave the assault to Gisfal, Jaela muses privately. Then again, Styx water is the sort of trump card that beats just about anything.

"It's possible he simply doesn't know we're here, he's not omniscient. It's possible he doesn't want to draw attention to how important this is, so the serious defenses would only be at the very end. It's possible he's working some stupid plan to use as a trap. It's even possible that just about anyone but you and Ellese would slowly be defeated by the Styx fog and that was considered enough, or was counter-productive to stationing powerful troops here. What's important is that unless we have a good, solid reason to stop we'll keep on going."

[Anastasia]

Mirima murmurs agreement, while Sylvie taps her foot - on thin air, so it's silent. "It's possible, any of them are, but maybe this is just a shell game or stalling. Let the Styx triumph without him having to lift a finger."

"The water's hungry," Ellese adds, very quietly. "Did you notice?"

[Corwin]

"I did say as much. But see, there's one thing Lixer doesn't want you to think about. He's at a disadvantage, unless he found a way to shift portals conveying the fucking Styx at will. So he must defend a stationary target at all times, and we only have to be lucky once after tracking it down."

[Anastasia]

"Mmm," Mirima murmurs, head bowed.

"Wouldn't put it past him," Sylvie adds, glancing at Mirima. "You still there?"

[Corwin]

Jaela reaches out to touch Mirima's shoulder.