By command, you join the rapid response group for Liber. Besides the forces waiting there, there's also Balyss, Crystal, Master, Meillarberyl, Moonlight and Finnegan. Most of them are busy seeing to the troops, save for Mei and Moonlight.
"Oh hey, you're back,' Moonlight says to Calleigh, "How were the sewers? We're waiting to be called on, so if you need to rest a moment, now's it."
Calleigh plonks down on Moonlight's head. "It was soooooooooooo gross! We had to go down there and it was so SMELLY I stayed a ball of light most of the time and then there was a bunch of devils and humans actually helping them so we killed the devils but one didn't like vanish back to Hell so we had to disintegrate it and then we found a BIG LIZARD GUY and I dunno if he was a devil but we smashed him good cuz he was using magic to control the sewer water to form it into waves EW EW EW and was trying to drown us with it, then we found a fortress made of WATER and I dunno how that works but Tryll found a huge bomb under the fort that was big enough to level the entire city and we got it disarmed and now we're back! We saved the city!"
"So..." Moonlight drawls as you take position on her head and exposition away, "Up for more? This is the rapid response force, so we're going as soon as there's a knot our forces can't deal with."
"Works for us, as long as there aren't any more sewers involved!"
"No way there is," Moonlight says, "Once was bad enough. Ugh."
At this you hear Tepen in your head, "Rapid response force, you may be mobilized shortly. Begin to prepare.'
"Yeah really. Oh boy! Doin' stuff!" Calleigh cheers.
Crystal races forward, hopping onto Hope. "At attention!" she calls, "Battle draws nigh!"
Moonlight nods, checking her mace and armor over. "Be ready. Tryll too."
"We're always ready!" Calleigh waves a wand around menacingly, "Boom! Pow! Bang! Makin' devils sad!"
"Yeah!" Moonlight calls, "We'll grab 'em and smash 'em! Right in the face!"
"Yeah!"
Then abruptly:
All of reality flashes white. There is a violent shaking, everything trembling. A howl comes from afar, like a vast creature crying out. Outside of Aurora Benfal shakes and convulses.
"Something is bad!" Calleigh yells, steadying herself by holding onto Moonlight's hair.
Moonlight stands resolute as noise and fury engulf everything, drawing her mace with one hand.
Outside, you see rain fall from the clear skies. A rain that becomes little tears of flame as the earth cracks, shattering in rifts all around. The wind carries a message, a woman's voice declaring, "Return to Hell or die!"
"Uhh..." Calleigh looks uncertain.
"Okay, so did someone schedule a catastrophe?" Moonlight steps away from the gate. "'cause I think we're getting one."
"Hold and fall back from the gate!" Crystal screams over it all, "This is the hour of Semyaza's downfall. Brace!"
"Well, that's not good. I mean, it's good, but not good. Not good for the plane? But is is? I guess? I dunno. Are the gods really gonna show up in person-like? They know that's not a good plan! Gods and Primes don't mix in those amounts!"
"Yeah, that's the problem. Semyaza's facing down Alicia and Syala somewhere here, according to Tepen," Moonlight says, "We're sort of getting the end of the world on account of it."
Note since you're at work and not on IRC for this update:
> Okay, pausing all of you pending Iddy catching up a bit. He's a few posts behind and what he does will matter. Most likely we start tomorrow with a brief skip along as matters are decided.
> More formal discussion of how you did will happen OOC and IC soon, but casually? You all did really well here in dealing with some serious challenges.
> Neither side was playing remotely fair here and it's an interesting warm up and shallow taste of what the battles for Lifasa may well be like.
Go ahead and do a bit more back and forth, but once you're locked into a course, you'll be paused pending Surraruthru.
"Well I mean, I'd probably be fine. I'm a courre. I'm used to seeing gods swing power around. But Tryll's not! And you're not! And Surrururururuthuru isn't either, probably! We gotta get him off the plane! And everybody else! Crystal! Do we have any evacuation plans we can use? Tryll can do lots of small-group teleportation!"
"I think Tepen's working on it," Moonlight says, "C'mon, out of the way, troops and refugees are going to be coming in fast."
"I'm not in the way! I'm in your hair!"
That good to skip ahead a tad as mentioned, Yuth? Unless you have anything else you wanna add.
SKIP AHEAD, SKIPPER
You sit and watch. You watch as others rush in, escaping the cataclysm.
The world shatters before you. The ground bubbles and boils, becoming a rainbow-colored slurry that shifts into strange geometric patterns. The skies rain fire and blood, cascading down on the broken ground. Gale winds blow that howl with diabolical fury and the ring of battle. Snow and ice erupt from the ground like veins bursting through skin, melting into sizzling purple fire. Earthquakes, semi-constant and varying in intensity. The sound of trumpets blast across the world, answered by roars of infernal wrath.
Very quietly, Moonlight says to you, "I've seen this before. They're fighting using their divine will against one another. It's not just an archdevil and and two demigods waging war, it's everything they represent and that serves them."
"That probably means bad things for the innocent residents of the plane, though!"
"There will be losses," Moonlight agrees, "Better this than Semyaza's continued reign. Oh Lathander," She bows her head a moment, lips moving in silent prayer.
'Listen up,' Calleigh hears in her mind. It's Tepen. 'The rapid response force will be going out to herd evil spirits towards Aurora. More information will be given to you by your commanding officers.'
"Uhhh, we're going out there?" Calleigh looks unsure.
"Shit," Moonlight says, "Are you safe to go? What about Tryll?"
"I mean if I get exploded or something, I'll just reform on Arborea. It sucks, but I've died a few times before. Tryll's different. Sorta. Until recently, if he died that would be it. He's already sorta-dead, so not much can actually kill him. Re-kill him? I dunno. But! Right before this uh incident, he figured out how to make himself more planty. You know how he looks sorta like a squid crossed with a weird tree?"
"Right," Moonlight says, "Are you two good with coming out with the rapid response or staying in here?"
"Oh! Uh, yeah. Let's go!"
Okay, any preference on who you work with, if anyone? It'll be small groups to cover distance effectively.
Preferably at least one tanky melee to keep mooks off of us. Other than that, no. We can work with anything.
You're paired with Moonlight and Cresiel. The latter nods to Tryll directly just before you head out, "Much of my magic is expended, but not all. I have healing available."
As you head out, the winds whip. Guh! It's hard to move in this.
Unless you're incorporeal or have freedom of movement, any movement costs double and counts as difficult terrain. This includes aerial movement due to the winds. Protection from wind stops this.
Calleigh elects to be a tiny ball of incorporeal light over Moonlight's head unless otherwise needed.
'That's fine," Tryll responds to Cresiel, "I've enough power for us all.'
Make a Spot check and note any unusual means of perception you have.
<Serith> Mushroom_Cid roll for Serith < 51 > [d20=19]
<Serith> Mushroom_Cid roll for Serith < 37 > [d20=12]
Darkvision only.
The weather is roaring as the four of you fly around - there! You can see a crack in the ground about 100ft away, coming up through a pile of strange, unmelting snow. Something's emerging from there.
"Hey! There's something coming out of the ground!" Calleigh calls to the others.
"There!" Cresiel agrees, flying towards it with Moonlight. As they do, the ground and snow erupt out, a great twisting body of shadow. It lacks a head and instead has a writhing tendril of darkness that lashes around in place of it. It's 60ft away from Moonlight and Cresiel and 100ft away from Calleigh and Tryll.
Init.
Tryll[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+8 : 8 + 8, total 16[/blockquote]
Calleigh[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+9 : 1 + 9, total 10[/blockquote]
> roll 1d20+14 Cresiel init
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 27 > [d20=13]
> roll 1d20+7
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 9 > [d20=2]
> roll 1d20+12 spirit
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 27 > [d20=15]
Init is Cresiel = Unclean Spirit (27) > Tryll (16) > Calleigh (10) > Moonlight (9)
Cresiel and the spirit open. But first...
Blood red lightning flies from above, striking down wildly.
> roll 1d100
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 100 > [d100=100]
> roll 9d6 strikes oh wow, that was the jackpot you didn't want
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 34 > [d6=3,3,2,4,6,4,3,5,4]
> roll 34/5
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 6 >
> roll 1d5
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 3 > [d5=3]
Uh oh.
The lightning begins to rain relentlessly, a lightning storm striking all of you.
Is Calleigh incorporeal right now? Also, are either of you immune to electricity?
Yes and Calleigh is immune. Both are incorporeal.
Calleigh is off the hook then. Tryll isn't, they're magical enough to possibly effect an incorporeal creature, though normal miss chance applies.
> roll 6#1d20+17 touch AC Tryll
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 32, 37, 27, 33, 34, 37 >
Geez. Touch AC?
Alas, 27. Hey, would any of Iddy's spells still be active? See reference below. That may change things. Tryll
HP: 246
AC: 47
Touch AC: 30
Flatfooted AC: 39
Active Effects: Inertial Armor (Extended, Overchanneled, CL 26), Mind Blank (CL 26), Fortunate Fate (CL 13), Planar Tolerance (CL 7), Magic Circle Against Evil (CL 25), Create Magic Tattoo (+1 luck bonus to attack rolls, CL 26), Create Magic Tattoo (+2 competence bonus to attack rolls, CL 26), Energy Absorption (CL 26), Elemental Body (CL 26), Surraruthru's Stupendous Dragonskin, (+10 armor bonus & DR 10/magic CL 26), Agility of the Dragon Princess (+4 insight to dexterity, CL 26), Strength of the Dragon Princess (+4 insight to strength, CL 26), Mind of the Dragon Princess (+4 insight to intelligence, CL 26), Stoneskin (DR 10/adamantine, CL 26), Spell Turning (CL 26)
Passive Effects: Incorporeal, Hide Mind
PP: 404
Calleigh
HP: 123
AC: 49
Touch AC: 27
Flatfooted AC: 36
Active Effects: Inertial Armor (Extended, Overchanneled, CL 26), Mind Blank (CL 26), Fortunate Fate (CL 13), Planar Tolerance (CL 7), Create Magic Tattoo (+1 luck bonus to attack rolls, CL 26), Create Magic Tattoo (+2 competence bonus to attack rolls, CL 26), Energy Absorption (CL 26), Elemental Body (CL 26), Surraruthru's Stupendous Dragonskin, (+10 armor bonus & DR 10/magic CL 26), Agility of the Dragon Princess (+4 insight to dexterity, CL 26), Strength of the Dragon Princess (+4 insight to strength, CL 26), Mind of the Dragon Princess (+4 insight to intelligence, CL 26), Stoneskin (DR 10/adamantine, CL 26), Spell Turning (CL 26)
Passive Effects: Magic Circle Against Evil, Tongues, Incorporeal, Improved Evasion
Psicrystal
HP: 123
AC: 31
Touch AC: 14
Flatfooted AC: 29
Active Effects: Inertial Armor (Extended, Overchanneled, CL 26), Mind Blank (CL 15), Fortunate Fate (CL 13), Planar Tolerance (CL 7), Magic Circle Against Evil (CL 25)
Passive Effects: Unanimated (currently being used by Calleigh as a staff, gains no bonuses to initiative. No strength or dexterity score)
Psi-like ability (Ectoplasmic Shambler): Ready
What's the durations on all of them?
Nevermind, everythng except Spell Turning and Stoneskin are still up. Assuming it's been less than 24 hours since the water fortress?
Will update my roll total after you answer.
Much less than that, yes.
Okay. Touch is AC 29, and I have Electricity Resist 10. Does SR apply to those strikes?
It does not, but the electricity resistance does.
> roll 6#1d100 miss chance
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 59, 39, 25, 23, 7, 9 >
> roll 10d6 your lucky day
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 41 > [d6=6,5,2,5,3,3,5,6,4,2]
That was a nice counter to your horrible luck there. I presume that isn't fatal, so moving onto the others.
> roll 10#1d20+17 touch AC Moonlight
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 37, 22, 34, 34, 25, 19, 18, 23, 23, 18 >
Touch AC is 27, so 23 hits. Crit check on the first.
> roll 1d20+17 crit check
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 27 > [d20=10]
On the number. Ow.
> roll 40d6 hello pain train
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 134 > [d6=4,3,1,3,4,3,5,5,6,3,4,2,5,2,4,4,2,4,1,1,6,4,4,5,5,3,6,1,4,4,1,2,2,3,5,3,1,6,1,2]
> roll 6#1d20+17 vs 19 ow
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 28, 36, 22, 30, 37, 37 >
> roll 1d20+17 crit check 1
> roll 1d20+17 crit check 2
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 18 > [d20=1]
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 20 > [d20=3]
Lucky break on that crit check, at least. Pain still coming full bore.
> roll 70d6
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 249 > [70d6=249]
> roll 6#1d20+17 vs ???? Unclean spirit
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 19, 34, 21, 35, 35, 19 >
> roll 30d6
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 126 > [d6=3,5,2,4,6,6,5,6,6,6,3,3,5,3,6,2,4,6,1,3,2,4,1,5,3,6,4,6,4,6]
Pain.
Lightning rains down on all of you in a sudden flurry. Screams as shocks hit everyone, knocking you around as Cresiel holds his ground. "So be it. Raziel, heal us!"
Mass heal for +220 HP healing to all. Spirit's up.
In fury the spirit dives for Moonlight as she's fried and healed all at once.
> roll 1d20+34 (+2 sentinel, celestial fortitude in play)
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 50 > [d20=16]
It touches her, yet sunlight springs from her breastplate. It sends the spirit screaming back, recoiling from her.
Tryll.
Is the spirit still in melee with Moonlight?
Yes.
Can I get a read on what this thing is?
K:R or K:P.
<Serith> Mushroom_Cid roll for Serith < 39 > [d20=12]
It is a spirit of malice, an unclean thing fed on the sins of the devils and those who serve them. It is simply evil in a material form, raw and unpolished. Primal.
Naturally, holy energy and attacks will work best.
Lacking holy power, Tryll instead opts to set the thing on fire. A series of explosions rip through the air behind the monster.
Energy Barrage, Twinned (fire)
PP Cost: 25
Reflex 28 halves
[blockquote]Rolled 7d6 : 1, 3, 6, 2, 3, 1, 6, total 22[/blockquote][blockquote]Rolled 7d6 : 1, 2, 1, 3, 6, 4, 5, total 22[/blockquote][blockquote]Rolled 7d6 : 3, 3, 2, 2, 4, 6, 4, total 24[/blockquote][blockquote]Rolled 7d6 : 6, 4, 3, 1, 5, 2, 6, total 27[/blockquote][blockquote]Rolled 7d6 : 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 6, 5, total 29[/blockquote][blockquote]Rolled 7d6 : 4, 3, 2, 6, 2, 4, 1, total 22[/blockquote]
Note that this occurred 5 ft behind the spirit so as not to catch Moonlight in the blasts.
> roll 6#1d20+22 Ref
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 38, 41, 41, 29, 40, 35 >
Init is Cresiel = Unclean Spirit (27) > Tryll (16) > Calleigh (10) > Moonlight (9)
Explosions pummel the spirit's back, grazing blows as it moves too fast and loops back around. As it does...
Calleigh.
Calleigh materializes behind Moonlight's shoulder, brandishing a crystal stick! With a cry of, "Blorp!" from Calleigh and a wet squishy noise from the wand, a ball of black ectoplasm blasts out of the tip and streaks for the spirit.
Okay so here's the idea. Wall of Ectoplasm text states that ectoplasm can block ethereal & incorporeal creatures. Since Entangling Ectoplasm takes the same stuff from the same place, I'm assuming it would also affect incorporeal creatures in the same way. Anywho. Rolling for touch AC.
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+30 : 5 + 30, total 35[/blockquote]
Your wall forms-
The sound of a bell being rung. It resonates across everything, a beautiful sound that makes the spirit before you crack like glass.
A blur follows.
...at last...
...life shall not be...
...open wide, oh...
...come forth, H....
You awaken, the spirit opposing you gone. Above, the bright blue sky of Benfal shines, sunlight coming down. There are no signs of the spirit that attacked you nor of the damages you saw wrack the land. Beyond Aurora you see a natural land, full and splendid in life, unblemished.
It's not a wall, it's Entangling Ectoplasm. But I guess it doesn't matter.
"Uhm? We did it? We didn't all die?" Calleigh looks confused.
Free Act? If so, manifesting True Seeing to verify it's not a trick.
There was some text in other topics I guess you missed since you're at work and not caught up with them? I can edify for you if you like since I'm guessing you're behind there.
"Ow...the hell?" Moonlight says, looking around, "Elysium?"
"Elysium? What? Wait! That means we won! Probably! Yay!" Calleigh cheers.
"Yeah, but Elysium, that means..." Moonlight scowls, "Asshole devil."
Cresiel shakes his head, "Evil is vanquished. Mind your tongue and give thanks, for this is the day the innocents of Benfal have been waiting for."
"Yeah," Moonlight softens at that, joining Calleigh in a cheer.
"I mean yeah, it does kinda suck that the plane merged with Elysium and the people of Benfal are sorta forced to adapt to not having their own prime anymore, but eh. Better than being enslaved by devils forever." Calleigh says.
"It's not quite what happened," Moonlight says, sitting down and wiping her brow. "You know anything about apocalypses?"
"Well, Tryll's plane had some sort of apocalypse, but his plane just, well, ended. What's the big deal?"
"Do you know the stories about Thalasia, how it's where heroes, cities and even nations rest in their final reward? It can take entire worlds when the time is right." Moonlight says, "That looks to be what happened, Benfal is now a world sized island in Thalasia."
"For a purpose or as a reward?" Cresiel asks, one wing sweeping out to gesture at the restored land.
"Dunno. Both?" Moonlight admits, flopping back onto the ground. "The people are saved. The world's saved. That's enough for today."
"I guess." Calleigh imitates Moonlight, sprawling on the grass in her own tiny way.
"No, it is." Cresiel says, "Tomorrow will have its challenges but today's are vanquished." He takes to the sky, leaving the three of you behind.
"You could stay and lie on the grass!" Calleigh yells after him, not otherwise moving.
"Yeah, I don't think he rests except when he has to," Moonlight says as he goes off. "Solars usually at least hide that they're completely inhuman like that, but Cresiel? Not quite so much."
"Bleh. So what now?"
"We won. We relax and celebrate," Moonlight says, "What else?"
"I dunno. Wanna throw rocks?"
My apologies, I forgot I hadn't closed this one.
Suffice to say it's about time to pause and skip along. Tonight (or tomorrow at this rate) I'll do the battle summary and we'll start sorting everything out. Sounds good unless you have something you wanna do in the immediate aftermath?
We were gonna throw rocks and see who could get the best thumping noise! I suppose you could lock it though.
Right.