MTG: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms

Vrah looks about the room and utters a guttural growl of frustration at what is transpiring. Then he ports for the last time next to the Red Wizard and drops his rage as he picks up the unconscious wizard and tosses him over his shoulder, "If we must flee I am taking this thing with me as he has some questions to answer for."

Quote from Wile_E_Coyote >>

Marlyth stands close enough to the huge elemental to feel the heat emenating from its form.  She smells the burning of paper still, but now also a sulfur-tinged odor fills her nostrils.  The roar of the immense fire swells and ebbs as the pillar of flame incarnate swooshes about flaming library... but she is unconvinced of the nature of this dread visage. 

When the spell didn't show any effect on the Earth-Fire Elemental, Marlyth suspected that the elemental wasn't summoned or animated by a spellcaster, but there's something else that's beyond her understanding. She didn't understand the language of the creature, besides she didn't even realize what kind of magic was involved. But, the smell of burning sulfur emitting from the new fire elemental that she could smell as a result of her search action was too overwhelming to ignore as a coincidence.

(Check out the posts #204, #207, #211, #214 for reference, please. I've compiled the action of Marlyth's turn here, and this takes place immediately before the monster's turn.)

<It looks like nobody is attacking an elemental this round, so..>

The fire elementals return to their work of burning the tomes of the library.  Exul causes a wall of fire to surround him and the great pile of book he had not finished burning in the center of the room.

<I guess umm. combat happening or.. is it running away? I mean - advancing in a different direction!>

<That's a real question to the players - are you fighting or no?  It is up to you.  Some have said no combat related action others dodge or protection buffs, so not 100% sure if this is end of combat or not.>

<Well, it's not clear to me whether the super-elemental is attacking us or not...if he is, we don't really stand an ice cube's chance in hell.  So, is he coming after us or just standing there? Have we finished round 3 yet?  Did it attack anyone?>

<Weneon is fine to leave the elementals to their duty>

Seeing the elementals ignoring the party Wen throws a couple books in the fire and heads down with others

(OOC: Yea maybe I'll change my mind depending on the Elemental.  But for the most part I'm throwing my vote toward running away since regardless if we do or don't fight it I don't think we can beat it without some special circumstance that we are all missing.

So to summarize my vote is to run xP)

Quote from Syd_Wartnose >>

<Well, it's not clear to me whether the super-elemental is attacking us or not...if he is, we don't really stand an ice cube's chance in hell.  So, is he coming after us or just standing there? Have we finished round 3 yet?  Did it attack anyone?>

< For enhanced clarity: Both the elementals appear to be burning books, not engaging with PCs. Someone caused a wall of fire to encircle the pile of books.  It is magical, as the spell, but otherwise just looks like more fire, albeit in a perfect 20ft circle.  It's not technically the spell, but it is in almost every respect identical.   That's all the monster actions for round 3.>

"One’s a curiosity, two’s a conspiracy, three's a....buff!"

Marlyth will cast Dispel Magic on the huge fire elemental creature which she still considers as nothing but an illusion. Then she'll use her movement to get closer to the center of attention:

"If you think that wall of fire is going to scare me away, you're mistaken. Why don't you try to burn a tiefling woman instead of setting the books on fire?"

Constitution: Intimidation 11 (If applicable)

Dexterity Saving Throw: 18 (If applicable)

<We'll see about Marlyth's placeholder, but think about where you'd like to go if you're not going through the library.

It sounds like your taking the unconcious wizard with you to interrogate later.  Is that the plan?>

(OOC: Lol, the difficulties of PbP huh?  So I'm trying to grasp possible route options

1st Level is the Top Floor and how we entered this place. 

2nd Level is lower and where the South Chamber, Lab Chamber, and Common Catacombs are. 
- Part of the floor is collapsed leading to the 3rd Lowest Level
- I believe Wen took the golden plates from the South Chamber when the floor collapsed but there could be some miscommunication there.
- Vrah found the unconscious red wizard in the Common Catacombs where the teleportation circles are

3rd Level is the lowest floor where the library is.  We got here when the floor collapsed and is where the Elementals are burning everything

So possibilities include:
1) Exploring more of the library to find an alternate route which may involve fighting elementals
2) Going through the Common Catacombs and attempt to use the teleportation circles
3) Explore the other 2 rooms (South Chamber, Lab Chamber)

If I am grasping the situation correctly (if I'm wrong please feel free to correct me xP) Imma put my vote toward Option 2 and mess around with the tele circles.  Could potentially be more dangerous but I still want to primarily get away from the elementals that could potentially kill us.  But regardless I'll go with majority rule xP)

By initiative, Marlyth's action takes place after everyone else's actions, so I'm resolving it after the other PCs act for round 4, but she can certainly speak freely - as can anyone - without regard to initiative.

<Sorry, I dropped the ball with teleportation circles.  I knew what I meant, but it was very unclear and delivered at the wrong time. They are actually in the library. 

The idea is that only the fully vetted wizards of the conclave can access the lowest level and normally use the circles to enter, thus not caring about all the steles there to defend the place, which is often empty.  The upper levels are open to initiates, servants and a select few others -  hence the observation room and things you might have, with the right checks, understood as basic spells for those initiates to study and practice.  At first I thought the lack of stairs between level 2 and 3 was an oversight.  Now I see it as a feature rather than a bug, though it's never explicitly stated, the fact that the wizards normally used the teleportation circles is.>

Round 4

Angus is unwilling to abandon Marlyth to face the elementals alone, so he remains in the library, (presumably outside the wall of fire?).  He had to stop concentrating on his former spell in order to cast protection from evil, and thus he has no magical weapon capable of harming the elemental, so for the moment he will instead cast cure wounds on himself and attempt to assist the tiefling with either her escape or her last stand against the fiery duo.

Cure wounds: 5

From his vantage point on the second level, Tabaqui stares down through the enormous hole in the floor at the two fire elementals.  "This is insane," he thinks.  "Not what I signed up for. No treasure is worth being dead."  All his instincts scream "Run!"

But as his body prepares to turn and bolt, he notices that the summoned elemental is not taking aggressive action.  "Strange... it was commanded to attack."  He thinks back on his very limited knowledge of things magical. "Could it  be an illusion of some kind?"

Shaking his head in disbelief at his own actions, he nocks an arrow and lets it fly at the giant elemental, hoping he's not going to seriously regret this.

Attack roll: (I'm not sure if Assassin feature applies here, has the giant elemental taken a turn in combat? If not, I would have advantage): 18

Damage: 8 nonmagical piercing (possibly + sneak attack if someone is 5 ft close to giant elemental)

[OOC: Yes, Vrah will be taking the wizard with him.]

Vrah exclaims to the group, "Are we running or staying to fight, I have the wizard with me so we can interrogate the thing later on. Which way are we going." As his grip tightens on this sword and looks back over at the towering elemental.

Weneon will follow close after Calner

Angus' arrow pases I to the flame disappearing into the fire doing no evidence harm.

Moments later when Marlyth completes her Dispell casting, the enormous pillar of fire vanishes in a cloud of embers.

Exul, within his pillar of flames forms his limbs into a pair of handaxes made of flames. He readies ro throw them at Marlyrh if she moves.

<you wouldn't be able to see this through the opaque wall of flame, but I messed up earlier kind of by not dropping the major image of Imix when the wall went up.  The" kind of" is that this is innate spellcasting and not the spell, per se so a little DM wiggle, but probably not  as far as breaking concentrarion>

New round.  Fight or flight?!

Round 5

Tabaqui watches his arrow pass through the elemental, and then sees Marlyth dispel it.  He calls to his companions on the second level, "The big one's gone!  Marlyth needs our help with the other one!"
He then shimmies back down the rope, and if he has an action left he will help Marlyth by trying to distract Exul.

Somewhat embarrassed at being deceived by the illusion, Angus Killburney focuses his gaze on the remaining elemental.  Calling upon Helm, his deity, he channels divine power into his longsword, making it a sacred weapon.  It begins to glow brightly.

Weneon spins "Make up your minds!" She shouts as she rushes back to the elemental, unleashing a frustrated flurry of blows (her unarmed strikes are magical)

Attack: 22 Damage: 7

Flurry Attack: 20 Damage: 6

Flurry Attack: 12 Damage: 9

Marlyth seems impressed with the amiable act of Tabaqui the Jackal and she will give up her Inspiration (If applicable) so that she can reward him with it. She expresses her gratitude by saying:

"Thanks for re-joining the confrontation. I was starting to get a feeling that everyone would leave permanently, but I was wrong."

When she watches Weneon attempting to land Unarmed Strikes on the Earth-Fire Elemental Spellcaster while trying to by-pass the opaque barrier of fire, she will suggest:

"Hmm, be careful with your movement. I actually tried to threaten the elemental male by challenging him to a face-to-face combat but I couldn't gauge his reaction. Now, I wish that he doesn't understand Common since the result might be disastrous."