Soulriders 5.0: Legend of the Unending Games

Few challenge Afina and Jaela as they rise up towards Tiamat's avatar. No, devils seem almost giddy to part away, letting you pass to the Queen of Dragons without a fight. The World Destroyer flies heavy in the sky as the two of you approach.

"AURORA!" she bellows, voice shaking all the world.

"NO!" Baleruk rises up with you, bellowing a challenge back, "IF YOU HAVE NOT COME TO BOW TO MY PRISMATIC GREATNESS, THAN I SHALL HUMBLE YOU LIKE A DOG!"

Afina flies in to flank Baleruk for the moment, approaching openly though that'll change soon. She hastes him and Jaela as they rise and adds her own cutesy voice to the battlecries. "For Lifasa, we will prevail!"

CL 27 haste for friends.

"For Lifasa," Jaela agrees, twirling Gae Buidhe before the artifact's tip points at Tiamat's centermost maw. "Withdraw or you'll never live this down, bitch!"

Tiamat merely bellows down and...

Init.

[22:20] <@Lisa> roll 1d20+19
[22:20] <Rei-chan> Lisa rolled : 1d20+19 --> [ 1d20=7 ]{26}

[20:22] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+34+29 gonna blow a moment of prescience here. Dragon init sucks but deity init is good so playing the odds.
[20:22] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+34+29 gonna blow a moment of prescience here. Dragon init sucks but deity init is good so playing the odds. --> [ 1d20=5 ]{68}

I'm not flat-footed and will attempt to counterspell attempts to debuff us (I should autopass spellcraft for this) or instakills if the gods are allowed to have those, but not any other spells.

> roll 1d20+5 Baleruk
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+5 Baleruk --> [ 1d20=11 ]{16}
> roll 1d20+34 Tiamat's avatar
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+34 Tiamat's avatar --> [ 1d20=5 ]{39}

Init is Afina (68) > Tiamat's Avatar (39) > Jaela (26) > Baleruk (16)

Afina opens.

So just how big is Tiamat and how far are we away from her 'space' in terms of squares she occupies and can be attacked in?

edit: Also, taking 10 for 61 on arcana/planes, is this thing likely to have evasion?

She is vaster than you can adequately express, taking up the entire sky from above.

You are thousands of feet away from her, flying up fast.

Due to her size she can be attacks in tons of places if you get close enough.

You do not believe it has evasion because size if nothing else.

"I'm going in," Afina says, abruptly accelerating herself to stupendous speeds!

12th level slot for 7 rounds of time stop.
Round 1: Dimension door 1480 feet up. Fly 60 feet up.
Round 2: Dimension door 1480 feet up. Fly 60 feet up. Presumably I'm
Round 3: Cast planar bubble.
Round 4: Cast elemental swarm (air)

[20:37] <@Ebiris> roll 2d4 large air elementals
[20:37] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 2d4 large air elementals --> [ 2d4=5 ]{5}

Round 5: Cast Summon Monster X for 1d4+1 huge storm elementals.

[20:38] <@Ebiris> roll 1d4+1 huge storm elementals
[20:38] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d4+1 huge storm elementals --> [ 1d4=4 ]{5}

Round 6: Cast Summon Monster X for 1d4+1 huge storm elementals

[20:39] <@Ebiris> roll 1d4+1 huge storm elementals
[20:39] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d4+1 huge storm elementals --> [ 1d4=3 ]{4}

Round 7: Cast Limited Wish to boost the ability of Afina's next spell to penetrate spell resistance.

Suddenly Afina is visible as a tiny dot under Tiamat's vast scaled bulk, fourteen cloudy elementals radiating off of her position like spokes. Nine of them pulse with thunder and lightning...

[20:41] <@Ebiris> roll 9#8d6 sonic damage
[20:41] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 9#8d6 sonic damage --> [ 8d6=25 ]{25}, [ 8d6=27 ]{27}, [ 8d6=20 ]{20}, [ 8d6=25 ]{25}, [ 8d6=29 ]{29}, [ 8d6=35 ]{35}, [ 8d6=31 ]{31}, [ 8d6=23 ]{23}, [ 8d6=21 ]{21}

DC 24 fort halves

[20:41] <@Ebiris> roll 16#8d6 electricity damage
[20:41] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 16#8d6 electricity damage --> [ 8d6=26 ]{26}, [ 8d6=24 ]{24}, [ 8d6=31 ]{31}, [ 8d6=17 ]{17}, [ 8d6=23 ]{23}, [ 8d6=36 ]{36}, [ 8d6=28 ]{28}, [ 8d6=27 ]{27}, [ 8d6=22 ]{22}, [ 8d6=30 ]{30}, [ 8d6=25 ]{25}, [ 8d6=22 ]{22}, [ 8d6=22 ]{22}, [ 8d6=32
[20:41] <Rei-chan> ]{32}, [ 8d6=29 ]{29}, [ 8d6=31 ]{31}

DC 24 ref halves

But that's a sideshow as Afina focuses her magic and...

[20:42] <@Ebiris> roll 1d100 spell failure chance
[20:42] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d100 spell failure chance --> [ 1d100=9 ]{9}

Nothing happens!

-1 11th level slot for a failed attempt at contagious fireburst there.

For the record, what bonus to SR checks does the limited wished assay spell resistance give, since it'll still be in effect for when I do get a spell off.

edit: Also that uses up her daily use of Fire Apotheosis since it was tacked onto the fireburst too.

What level can limited wish mimic here for you?

Afina throws all her power out - yet her spell crumbles to dust, while sonic and lightning wrack Tiamat...to no impact whatsoever. The draconic avatar ignores the attacks like water under the bridge, not the slightest sign of damage. "PERISH!" Tiamat bellows as fire, acid, gas, cold and lightning strike down, in columns big enough to consume a kingdom.

A cold wind blows, blowing aside the gas.

"Has Hell not failed enough? Hell has lost, Tiamat."

Auril's voice speaks on the wind, an involuntary shiver going throughout you. "I am interested in this world. Hell will not have it."

Blocked it may be, but starlight still shines down from the ruined sky. In this light, the cold winds dissolve into harmless mist.

"Afina is mine, Tiamat. Her world is under my protection now."

A slash of a three-pronged spear from nowhere, slicing apart the acid like paper.

"Bel has gone too far. We are not bound in this struggle and we will not allow you to interfere."

The glimmer of a sunlight, sky blocked but nonetheless golden sunshine shines, dissolving the lightning like it's merely fluff.

"You know better, Tiamat. After all, who do you think rallied us here?"

A roar of draconic defiance, the flames snuffed out in the wake of them.

"Baleruk is an abomination, but I will not stand by and allow you to interfere unchecked, Tiamat. It is not my duty to stand by and enable your wickedness."

The Fivefold Breath of Tiamat is stopped, sparing all those below. The five heads turn and stare down at the three of you, fury radiating off each of them. "You protect the abomination, Bahamut?"

"No, I protect Lifasa. Leave or face down defeat."

All your befriending pays off her in a big way, especially mending fences with Bahamut. Chance to react, you two.

6th level arcane

Afina's face screws up in disappointment at her spell's failure after all that preparation, bracing herself to dodge for her very life against the counter-attack she's now invited... but safety comes from quarters welcome and unexpected!

"I won't forget this!" she calls out, a promise of restitution for each of the deities to have lent their strength for her and Lifasa just now.

Through the clash of gods, Tryll's mental voice comes clear, 'Attention Aurora command: Taelfagn appears to have taken the field at Gar-Malleos. We are moving to engage. Assistance is requested.'

This is not the schooling by a few Tiamat would consider beneath her that Jaela hoped to see, but an intervention of divine power. Still, Jaela doesn't even consider feeling a shred of disappointment, as the important thing here is to drive the dragon goddess away from Lifasa.

"You will gain nothing more through your tantrum," she tells Tiamat. "It's over. Get the hell out of our world!"

Her feelings of gratitude for the gathered deities supporting them are tinged with regret when directed at Bahamut, but should come through without anything to be said all the same. That's how gods work, from her experience. As Tryll's Sending arrives, she doesn't react outwardly, except to send back, 'Understood. Help is on the way.'

Make an Intimidate check, Jaela. +50 circumstance bonus.

Surraruthru hops into the telepathic conversations,'There's another mobile battle fortress here at Gar-Melleos. Seems they like the functionality of Aurora enough to copy the idea. From the magic I'm seeing on it, it's got powerful attacks built in. Anyone up for cracking another one of these open?'

Surraruthru follows up his notice to everyone, 'Taelfagn was an illusion here. It seems like they know what I'm trying to do and are using it to bait us into a trap. But what concerning devil's isn't a trap? In any case it was an illusion of him. He could be anywhere.'

20:10 <Lucille> roll 1d20+50+50+15 intimidate!
20:10 <Rei-chan> Lucille rolled : 1d20+50+50+15 intimidate! --> [ 1d20=18 ]{133}

Tiamat glares down in fury at the party as Baleruk roars back. All five heads rear up again, as if to breathe. There is a terrible moment when you feel Tiamat's power, seeming to draw everything from the air in - and then she is gone. The broken sky is again visible.

Also a good time for a high roll, Jaela. DC was 125, so it wasn't a shoe in. Tiamat's ego being bruised was enough to make logic only part of the choice, but you gave her the last push she needed to not risk confronting all of her fellow deities as well as the three of you.

A snap of her fingers summons a massive Jaela nearly three hundred feet tall, towering over the battlefield! The image poses triumphantly with Gae Buidhe, proclaiming in a deafening tone, "Tiamat was driven away from our world! Our friends and patrons are watching, and they stand with us here! This battle, the same as the Throne, is ours!"

Persistent image. The message doesn't loop, though my hologram will remain there for the duration.

Since Tiamat was a scary modifier for the devil commanders, perhaps this will help our side or demoralize theirs?

There's nothing else to fight and she's of limited use right now anyway. 'I'm returning to station on Aurora,' she reports via telepathic link, flying back down to the fortress. Hopefully they don't actually run into Taelfagn or Gathgorian at least for another hour, though a day would be even better!

Make a second Intimidate check, Jaela. +20 circumstance since Tiamat fled.

21:26 <Lucille> roll 1d20+50+20+15 still scary!
21:26 <Rei-chan> Lucille rolled : 1d20+50+20+15 still scary! --> [ 1d20=3 ]{88}

Jaela's illusion is cast over the battlefield as Aurora's forces rally. As you see the devils scatter, a surge and counter breaking devil formations. You see Afina flying back down in the meantime.

Jaela makes her way to Gisfal, asking of Vul'lath, 'Please confirm with Tryll and Surraruthru as to whether they need reinforcements.' It's best to be sure, after several rapidfire conflicting communications.

'I will,' Vul'lath sends back.

Okay. Afina, you're going back to the Lifasa topic. Jaela, you're going to a new topic