Victorious advance

[Ebiris]

"Ah, someone else approves," she says, smiling briefly. "So what were they like, anyway? I know Tryll contributed to the latter part of the Lifasa Crusade and since then Ebony had a bad time when she enlisted him and Dana to help Benyen in Dana's homeland."

[Anastasia]

Doing Latha's block in case she ends up coming along. If not I'll remove it once that's decided.

Syala will offer mass energy immunities as needed, if desired. Any you want, Alicia?

Latha will offer to drop a celestial valor regardless of if she goes or not.

Antenora will drop Opal Protection just before you go, which provides the following:

Opal Protection
Abjuration/Enchantment (Compulsion) [Good, Mind-Affecting]
Level: Pal 8
Targets: Allies in a 40ft radius burst

This spell is identical to divine protection, except as noted here. Allies gain a +3 morale bonus to armor class and saves. They are treating as being under a mind blank spell, but only against spells with the evil descriptor or by spells cast by evil outsiders.

[spoiler]

Antenora
HP: 768+20/768
Negative Conditions:
Aura: Protective 20ft (+4 deflection/+4 resistance vs evil) Courage 10ft (+4 morale vs fear)
Bonuses: Attack+7 (+3 luck, +4 morale), Damage+0 AC+3 (+3 morale), Saves+7 (+3 luck, +4 morale), Skills+4 (+14 perception)(+4 morale), Checks+0
Resources: Holy Fury 36/36 (enc) Divine Retribution 1/1 Smite Evil 7/7 Channel Energy 17/17 Lay On Hands 448/448 Remove Disease 9/9 (week), Spiritual Connection 3/3 Blinding Speed 25/25
Spells Used: Opal Protection
SLAs Used:
Spells Active: Recitation (CL33), Greater Heroism (CL33), Spell Turning (CL33), Ghost Touch Weapon (CL33), Vision of the Omniscient Eye (CL33), Freedom of Movement (CL33), Opal Protection (CL33), Epic Mage Armor (CL?)
Notes: Can always inflict nonlethal with attacks, spells, SLAs and abilities.
Smite Notes: +2 damage/paladin level on a charging smite. Each point of favored PA on charge is worth 9 points of damage, post charge multiplier (15 on crit).
Typical Charging Smite Baseline: 3d8+480 plus +4/+4d6 vs fiends plus 2d6 holy plus 2d6 axiomatic 19-20 x3 (base charging smite bonus damage is 64+64=128, includes favored enemy bonus)
Remember everything triples and x5 on a crit when adding things. Remember charge is now +4, not +2.

Latha
HP: 538+20/538
Negative Conditions:
Aura: Holy Light 30ft (7d6 damage vs evil/round) Protective 20ft (+4 deflection/+4 resistance vs evil)
Bonuses: Attack+0, Damage+0 AC+0, Saves+0, Skills+0, Checks+0
Resources: Channel Energy 12/12 Sun Devotion 4/4
Spells Used:
SLAs Used:
Spells Active:
Notes: Level + 7 (39) extra damage per hit vs undead during sun devotion.
Channel Energy: Multiply by 1.5 due to empower turning.

Syala
HP: 640+20/640
Negative Conditions:
Aura: Protective 20ft (+4 deflection/+4 resistance vs evil) Divine 10ft (various)
Bonuses: Attack+7 (+3 luck, +4 morale), Damage+0 AC+21 (+3 morale, +18 armor), Saves+7 (+3 luck, +4 morale), Skills+4 (+14 perception)(+4 morale), Checks+0
Resources: Rage 7/7 Divine Blast 14/14 Family Domain 2/2 Wrath Domain 2/2 Add Twin 7/7 (non epic only)
Spells Used:
SLAs Used:
Spells Active: Recitation (CL33), Greater Heroism (CL33), Spell Turning (CL33), Ghost Touch Weapon (CL33), Vision of the Omniscient Eye (CL33), Freedom of Movement (CL33), Opal Protection (CL33), Epic Mage Armor (CL?)
Notes: Automatically converts vile damage to normal damage.

[Ebiris]

Latha will stay in case Sylica gets attacked but we'll take the celestial valor from her before we go.

Syala can drop a mass energy immunity (fire). Alicia and Anty naturally immune but Syala needs it for herself.

Spoiler: ShowHide

Alicia: 651+20/651
Active spells: Many moments of prescience (CL 33), extended mind blank (CL 33), extended nondetection (CL 33), sensual blessing (CL 33), epic mage armour (CL 33), recitation (CL 33), greater heroism (CL 33), repelling shield (CL 33), spell turning (CL 33), dance of the unicorn (CL 33), foresight (CL 33), vision of the omniscient eye (CL 33), opal protection (CL 33), celestial valor (CL 33)
Defences: AC 91, CMD 100 (117 vs grapple), spell resistance 48, energy immunity (fire and cold), status immunity (polymorph, petrification, disease, poison, stunning, sleep, paralysis, death effects, disintegration, energy drain, ability damage, ability drain, mind-affecting, and fear, dazzled & blinded), nondetection (DC 48)
Stat buffs/penalties: +25 competence perception, doubled crit range, +10 armour AC, +3 luck attack/saves, +9 shield AC, +4 attack/saves/skills, +2 insight AC/reflex, +3 morale armour, +4 sacred attack/damage/ac/saves
Perceptions: Darkvision, tremorsense, blindsight 2 miles, scent, arcane sight, perception +83
Sorcerer spell slots: 6/16/16/14/9/9/15/8/7/8/7/5/3/6/4
Duskblade spell slots: 6/22/22/22/11/7/6

[Anastasia]

"They were overwhelmed with information," Latha confesses, "Dana is a known quantity from Aurora. Miranda seemed quiet, a quiet of being overwhelmed by the group more, as I get the impression all of them are strong personalities. Tryll seems thoughtful, though he disagreed with how the divine seed was used."

[spoiler]

Pending celestial valor, do that next post.

Antenora
HP: 768+20/768
Negative Conditions:
Aura: Protective 20ft (+4 deflection/+4 resistance vs evil) Courage 10ft (+4 morale vs fear)
Bonuses: Attack+7 (+3 luck, +4 morale), Damage+0 AC+3 (+3 morale), Saves+7 (+3 luck, +4 morale), Skills+4 (+14 perception)(+4 morale), Checks+0
Resources: Holy Fury 36/36 (enc) Divine Retribution 1/1 Smite Evil 7/7 Channel Energy 17/17 Lay On Hands 448/448 Remove Disease 9/9 (week), Spiritual Connection 3/3 Blinding Speed 25/25
Spells Used: Opal Protection
SLAs Used:
Spells Active: Recitation (CL33), Greater Heroism (CL33), Spell Turning (CL33), Ghost Touch Weapon (CL33), Vision of the Omniscient Eye (CL33), Freedom of Movement (CL33), Opal Protection (CL33), Epic Mage Armor (CL?)
Notes: Can always inflict nonlethal with attacks, spells, SLAs and abilities.
Smite Notes: +2 damage/paladin level on a charging smite. Each point of favored PA on charge is worth 9 points of damage, post charge multiplier (15 on crit).
Typical Charging Smite Baseline: 3d8+480 plus +4/+4d6 vs fiends plus 2d6 holy plus 2d6 axiomatic 19-20 x3 (base charging smite bonus damage is 64+64=128, includes favored enemy bonus)
Remember everything triples and x5 on a crit when adding things. Remember charge is now +4, not +2.

Syala
HP: 640+20/640
Negative Conditions:
Aura: Protective 20ft (+4 deflection/+4 resistance vs evil) Divine 10ft (various)
Bonuses: Attack+7 (+3 luck, +4 morale), Damage+0 AC+21 (+3 morale, +18 armor), Saves+7 (+3 luck, +4 morale), Skills+4 (+14 perception)(+4 morale), Checks+0
Resources: Rage 7/7 Divine Blast 14/14 Family Domain 2/2 Wrath Domain 2/2 Add Twin 7/7 (non epic only)
Spells Used: 1 10th level,
SLAs Used:
Spells Active: Recitation (CL33), Greater Heroism (CL33), Spell Turning (CL33), Ghost Touch Weapon (CL33), Vision of the Omniscient Eye (CL33), Freedom of Movement (CL33), Opal Protection (CL33), Epic Mage Armor (CL?), Energy Immunity (Fire)
Notes: Automatically converts vile damage to normal damage.

[Ebiris]

"I don't understand Zaphkiel's reasoning for picking who he picked without telling them why or what for," Alicia mutters. "What was Tryll's problem with the seed?" She hopes Latha's not disappointed herself at being passed over for Jessica.

[Anastasia]

"Nor do I," Antenora confesses, "I believe I understand why Moore was chosen, and Alyssa seems to be Io's doing for his own reasons. Tryll I don't know at all yet."

Here Latha shakes his head, "In short, he disagreed with the other two nodes not being considered, as they're the newest and without divinity at all."

[Ebiris]

"Ironic with the consideration that he showed to Ebony regarding the treasure they found after excising that cult in Langersun," Alicia says dryly. "But it gets to the root of a problem I have with the node business - Seira and I have been carrying this burden ourselves for two decades and we both have plenty of trusted allies we've shed blood with and would have liked to bring into things. All the others have to mark them is that they were chosen by a higher power for opaque reasons, like the 'Chosen One' out of a storybook. I wouldn't hand godhood out as a gift to a stranger just because he came with a good recommendation."

[Anastasia]

"I suppose it's the nature of Io's interference," Latha suggests, "Io seems to cooperate but have his own ideas and criteria."

"We're better with them than not," Syala says, "I'll take this, warts and all, to having no additional allies."

[Ebiris]

"I'll feel more comfortable once I see them putting in the legwork and getting some good victories against Shar," Alicia says, shaking her head. "Results are what matters here."

[Anastasia]

"Speaking of," Latha says, "Tryll is chasing down heart rubies for Sune. While not a direct action against Shar, he's in the right direction."

"Good, I heard about that theft," Syala says as you wait, smiling, "It almost made me want to go hunting, but it's really Sune's choice on how to handle it. "

[Ebiris]

"What are those and who stole them?" Alicia asks since Syala seems invested in it.

[Anastasia]

"Hold on," Syala says, "A cat's purring in my ear." She cracks a smile, focusing.

[Ebiris]

Alicia nods, falling silent. "The battle's just starting for real now, it looks like," she adds to Antenora and Latha.

[Anastasia]

"I can...almost feel it," Antenora says, "Flames, fear and battle." Her eyes close, "Be careful, Seira."

It's beginning everywhere - primal elementals lead, slamming into lines with magic. Meteors rain down on a few key points, whilst great armies gather in the distance, preparing to march. At places burning fire and magma elementals erupt from the ground, flaming red basilisks scurrying out with them - that's new.

"I can feel Seira's resolve and worry. I can feel Zaaman's Rul's courage and tension." Antenora continues to speak.

[Ebiris]

"Yes, Seira's at the forefront, she'll take the brunt of it," Alicia nods, creating an illusion of the battlefield between all of them to show those lacking her acute divine preception.