Dark Rumblings

[Anastasia]

The crevasse is an abrupt dead end. But here is more ghostly grass and sitting in the back is a chunk of stone. It seems ethereal, the size of a man's fist and glows with a pallid gray light.

[Ebiris]

Any knowledge or spellcraft to figure it out?

[Anastasia]

K:R.

[Ebiris]

[19:18] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+46 religion
[19:18] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+46 religion --> [ 1d20=17 ]{63}

[Anastasia]

It's the essence of nature, half dead and ghostly. It's surely behind the unusual, ghostly garden here, allowing life to grow in a dead sort of way.

[Ebiris]

"Syala, you might want to hold onto this. It's little use now but with some nurturing it could turn out better," Alicia suggests, plucking the rock up and handing it to the nature goddess's avatar.

[Anastasia]

Syala takes it, "Yes, soon," she intones, putting it aside and away, sideways to another place, perhaps.

Alter reality.

"So shall we tunnel or play along a little further, dear?" Syala says, "With that disrespect, I think we should cut to the chase and educate Allema personally."

[Ebiris]

"Yes, not from here though. This way," she leads the way back to the prior intersection to take the northern scentless passage.

[Anastasia]

As you turn to go back, they emerge. More tumorous shadows - six ahead of you, four behind you and five emerging all around from below.

"He's also too dumb to learn what doesn't work." Syala observes.

Init. Open Alicia, they're persistent annoyances.

[Ebiris]

Alicia moves like lightning, an accurate sweep of her blade bisecting every shadow at a stroke!

[19:46] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+42 whirlwind attack, haste, 3rd level arcane strike, channelled maximised/vivacious shocking grasp, -20 power attack
[19:46] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+42 whirlwind attack, haste, 3rd level arcane strike, channelled maximised/vivacious shocking grasp, -20 power attack --> [ 1d20=13 ]{55}
[19:46] <@Ebiris> roll 2d6+67+6+2d6+60+3d4+1d8
[19:46] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 2d6+67+6+2d6+60+3d4+1d8 --> [ 2d6=8 2d6=7 3d4=5 1d8=7 ]{160}

Spoiler: ShowHide

Avatarlicia: 644+60/644
Active spells: Extended nondetection (CL 32), many moments of prescience (CL 31), epic mage armour (CL 31), extended greater anticipate teleportation (CL 32), extended repelling shield (CL 32), sensual blessing (CL 31), greater heroism (CL 31), recitation (CL 31), dance of the unicorn (CL 31), keen edge (CL 31), foresight (CL 31), ray deflection (CL 32), magic vestment (CL 31), greater magic weapon (CL 31), mass energy immunity (CL 32, cold), mass energy immunity (CL 31, fire), extended latha's sunmantle (CL 32)
Defences: AC 81 (touch 32), CMD 86, spell resistance 46, energy immunity (fire, cold, negative energy), status immunity (polymorph, petrification, disease, energy drain, ability damage, ability drain, mind-affecting, and fear), nondetection (DC 47), ray deflection, damage reduction 20/-, 20 damage to anything striking in melee
Stat buffs/penalties: +13 armour, +9 shield, +4 morale attack/saves/skills, +3 luck attack/saves, +25 competence perception, doubled crit range, +2 insight AC/reflec, +1 enhancement attack/damage, +8 str, +4 con, -2 dex, +2 natural armour, -1 size.
Perceptions: Darkvision 60, arcane sight, low-light vision, scent, blindsight 60, tremorsense 60, perception +73
Sorcerer spell slots: 6/13/12/10/8/9/11/6/6/0/6/5/5/2
Duskblade spell slots: 6/17/17/14/3/4

[Anastasia]

The explosions wash over all of you like nothing at all, the shadows obliterated in a single strike. Victory!

'Merely be mindful that he is opening to exhaust us, thinking he can overcome us with sufficient attrition. Let us prove him wrong, Alicia.' Latha sends.

Not that you have time to reflect. Guh! Rats! Thousands of them, laced with burning fire, flooding in from the way you entered the ghostly garden. They're currently 100ft away, a vast swarm of them unlike a normal swarm, coming and coming.

What's worse is that more shadows emerge from behind you, another half dozen charging you suicidally, desperately.

Farther away, back the way you came, you can hear chanting, dark and ominous words of the Dark Speech being intoned. Words of negation, words of destruction, words of oblivion.

Init again.

[Ebiris]

Supreme init. With my epic perception can I identify the square the person chanting is standing in and if I have a direct line on it/how far it is?

[19:56] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+73 perception
[19:56] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+73 perception --> [ 1d20=12 ]{85}

Pinpoint Unseen Creatures

You can detect where invisible creatures are by the slightest noise they make. You are aware of what square they are in. You may strike accurately and ignore the penalties for total concealment against the invisible character. If an invisible character uses Move Silently and exceeds DC 60 with its check, your Listen check must match or exceed the result of that check to detect it.

Spoiler: ShowHide

Avatarlicia: 644+60/644
Active spells: Extended nondetection (CL 32), many moments of prescience (CL 31), epic mage armour (CL 31), extended greater anticipate teleportation (CL 32), extended repelling shield (CL 32), sensual blessing (CL 31), greater heroism (CL 31), recitation (CL 31), dance of the unicorn (CL 31), keen edge (CL 31), foresight (CL 31), ray deflection (CL 32), magic vestment (CL 31), greater magic weapon (CL 31), mass energy immunity (CL 32, cold), mass energy immunity (CL 31, fire), extended latha's sunmantle (CL 32)
Defences: AC 81 (touch 32), CMD 86, spell resistance 46, energy immunity (fire, cold, negative energy), status immunity (polymorph, petrification, disease, energy drain, ability damage, ability drain, mind-affecting, and fear), nondetection (DC 47), ray deflection, damage reduction 20/-, 20 damage to anything striking in melee
Stat buffs/penalties: +13 armour, +9 shield, +4 morale attack/saves/skills, +3 luck attack/saves, +25 competence perception, doubled crit range, +2 insight AC/reflec, +1 enhancement attack/damage, +8 str, +4 con, -2 dex, +2 natural armour, -1 size.
Perceptions: Darkvision 60, arcane sight, low-light vision, scent, blindsight 60, tremorsense 60, perception +73
Sorcerer spell slots: 6/13/12/10/8/9/11/6/6/0/6/5/5/2
Duskblade spell slots: 6/17/17/14/3/4

[Anastasia]

They're back the way you came outside of the garden and past the onrushing swarm. Based on the sound, you suspect they're right around the bend.

[Ebiris]

Spinning around, Alicia slashes her blade through the flanking shadows before she thrusts her hand out and sends a sunlance careening down the hall to explode at the junction. No contact damage that way but the huge radius of the sunburst will at least encompass the swarm, the dark chanter, and anyone else in the other directions from it.

[20:09] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+42 whirlwind attack, haste, 3rd level arcane strike, channelled maximised/vivacious shocking grasp, -20 power attack
[20:09] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+42 whirlwind attack, haste, 3rd level arcane strike, channelled maximised/vivacious shocking grasp, -20 power attack --> [ 1d20=10 ]{52}
[20:09] <@Ebiris> roll 2d6+67+6+2d6+60+3d4+1d8
[20:10] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 2d6+67+6+2d6+60+3d4+1d8 --> [ 2d6=8 2d6=4 3d4=8 1d8=1 ]{154}

Quick-cast Sunlance. No ranged touch because I'm just hitting an empty square with it.

[20:10] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+31 sunlance SR
[20:10] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+31 sunlance SR --> [ 1d20=15 ]{46}
[20:10] <@Ebiris> roll 6d6 sunlance radius damage
[20:10] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 6d6 sunlance radius damage --> [ 6d6=23 ]{23}

DC 34 ref half, blinded if save fails.

Spoiler: ShowHide

Avatarlicia: 644+60/644
Active spells: Extended nondetection (CL 32), many moments of prescience (CL 31), epic mage armour (CL 31), extended greater anticipate teleportation (CL 32), extended repelling shield (CL 32), sensual blessing (CL 31), greater heroism (CL 31), recitation (CL 31), dance of the unicorn (CL 31), keen edge (CL 31), foresight (CL 31), ray deflection (CL 32), magic vestment (CL 31), greater magic weapon (CL 31), mass energy immunity (CL 32, cold), mass energy immunity (CL 31, fire), extended latha's sunmantle (CL 32)
Defences: AC 81 (touch 32), CMD 86, spell resistance 46, energy immunity (fire, cold, negative energy), status immunity (polymorph, petrification, disease, energy drain, ability damage, ability drain, mind-affecting, and fear), nondetection (DC 47), ray deflection, damage reduction 20/-, 20 damage to anything striking in melee
Stat buffs/penalties: +13 armour, +9 shield, +4 morale attack/saves/skills, +3 luck attack/saves, +25 competence perception, doubled crit range, +2 insight AC/reflec, +1 enhancement attack/damage, +8 str, +4 con, -2 dex, +2 natural armour, -1 size.
Perceptions: Darkvision 60, arcane sight, low-light vision, scent, blindsight 60, tremorsense 60, perception +73
Sorcerer spell slots: 6/13/12/10/8/9/11/6/6/0/6/4/5/2
Duskblade spell slots: 6/17/17/13/2/4
Quick cast: 1 left.

[Anastasia]

To be perfectly clear here, your aim is to get both the swarm and whatever's chanting out of sight?