Chronicles of the Accursed (Group 2)

(OOC: @Faux_Beau - Yeah, weird spell.  I was surprised that it only lasts while the caster remains inside. FYI - it's Ruby's turn now.)

Four shifting Rubies follow Hildegard out the back entrance.  She finally comes face-to-face to Zolgu again and she curses him in draconic.

She hurls two arcane bursts at Zolgu before seeing the swirling dragons overhead.  She darts back in the doorway hoping there's another way out...

Arcane Burst 1: Atk 9 + 2 (Bless) = 11 Dmg 8 force (4 miss)

Arcane Burst 2: Atk 11 + 3 (Bless) = 14 Dmg 6 force (3 miss)  2 necrotic

A mighty roar fills the air as the Red Dragon swoops over the battlefield and unleashes its flames upon the Astral Lich, Selarial, and Gorash! It then lets out a low moan, as whatever Firion is doing from it drains 10 life out of it via Necrotic damage.

Each must make a DC 21 Dex save against 57 fire damage (note: if Gorash goes to 0 HP, he can still be saved, but he'll be dying like any PC). Half damage on success (remember, Selarial has resistance to Fire damage!)

Firion, meanwhile, lets out a curse as he is hit by the twin Eldritch Blast beams... but... he seems not to be seriously injured. In fact, it barely seems to effect him... as if something is protecting him...

Finally, Zolgu lets out a cruel laugh as Ruby's two blasts go wide, grazing him lightly.

"Foolish girls, you have no right to impede the glorious return of Sserah," he spits at Ruby and Hildegard. "It is destiny... and I have found purpose as a herald of the one dragon worthy of our admiration..."

The kobold rushes forward towards them, not backing down like a normal kobold at all, and unleashes a blast of arctic wind. Hildegard, Perdita, and Ruby must make a DC 15 Con save or take 40 Cold damage (half damage on success)!

Temphalic: 24

Adult Green Dragon: 23

     Damage - 6

Remnant of Sserah: 22

    Damage -

Ruby: 19

Korba: 18

Adult Red Dragon - 18

    Damage - 10

Firion: 17

    Damage - 13

Zolgu: 16

    Damage - 28

Hew-Bear: 15

Nickeline: 15

Hildegard: 15

Jodie: 15

Sserah Cultists (x5): 12

    Cultist 1 - 77 damage (Dead)

    Cultist 2 -  Dead

    Cultist 3 - Dead

    Cultist 4 - 46 damage

    Cultist 5 - Dead

Kobold Dragonshields (x4): 12

    Kobold 1 dead

    Kobold 2 dead

    Kobold 3 - Confusion

    Kobold 4 - 24 damage, Confusion (acts normally this round)

Astral Lich: 11

Gorash: 8

Selarial: 6

Smiler: 6

Quote from Mister_Whisker >>

Zolgu....unleashes a blast of arctic wind. Hildegard, Perdita, and Ruby must make a DC 15 Con save or take 40 Cold damage (half damage on success)!

• Hildegard - DC 15 CON saving throw: 14
  Perdita - DC 15 CON saving throw: 20 

Quote from Ben_Evolent >>

Quote from Mister_Whisker >>

Zolgu....unleashes a blast of arctic wind. Hildegard, Perdita, and Ruby must make a DC 15 Con save or take 40 Cold damage (half damage on success)!

• Hildegard - DC 15 CON saving throw: 14
  Perdita - DC 15 CON saving throw: 20 

(OOC: I forgot to include the bonus from Bless, which means that she'll definitely pass the saving throw.)

Hildegard - DC 15 CON saving throw: 14 + 4 (Bless) = 18

And then to maintain concentration on Bless:
Hildegard - DC 10 CON saving throw: 17 + 1 = 18

Edit: Firion does NOT make Concentration saves. I double-checked my magic item description and there is another way to force him to relinquish control... but it is not an entirely dissimilar mechanic.

Gorash throws an arcane ward around Selariel reducing the damage by 15 for her. Himself he almost goes down (Save 19) but thanks the relentless endurance he isn't dead yet.

Selariel does make the save so 57->28-15->13 halved is 6fire damage and she reacts with Radiant pulse DC15 con save for the dragon or take 11 radiant dmg (half on success) and be blinded until end of its next turn.

Quote from Secretfool >>

Gorash throws an arcane ward around Selariel reducing the damage by 15 for her. Himself he almost goes down (Save 19) but thanks the relentless endurance he isn't dead yet.

Selariel does make the save so 57->28-15->13 halved is 6fire damage and she reacts with Radiant pulse DC15 con save for the dragon or take 11 radiant dmg (half on success) and be blinded until end of its next turn.

 Forgot Bless for Gorash which means he adds to and just like Selariel just makes the save with a 21. He is left standing with 4hp and hasn't used relentless endurance yet.

Ruby's small body takes the full blast (Con save 3), but her scales seem to shift to look like white dragon's scale and takes 20 cold damage.

The Lich attempts to evade the dragon breath 19

The Lich uses a legendary resistance to succeed on its save and takes 28 fire damage

As the dragon flies over, the Astral Lich, with its truesight, can see a faint pulse in the air, like a tether from Firion to the dragon.

While farther away, another tether connects the second dragon to Firion as well.

The lich likely noticed that, when Firion was hit with Eldritch Blast, the two tethers flashed brighter for a split-second.

The Astral lich sends out a telepathic message to the party within 120' (all except Hildegard)

The mage binds the dragons with enchantments.  Sever the binds to release the dragons or strike the mage to weaken his grasp.

Jodie gasps as the artic blast blows off more of the dead god's skin and catches her friends in the blast.  She knows Zolgu is on the other side of the skin, but their play is to disrupt the magic on the dragon.

Jodie tries not to think about the acidic burns. The pain almost seemed to bolster her resolve in herself.  She thinks breaking the dragon's charm is the most important thing at this moment.  And she also thinks words are a kind of magic in its absence.

Jodie moves towards her other allies and urges Hewelathan "Nature's magic is strong, you can break the enchantment!" (Bardic inspiration)

Jodie awaits the Lich and Hewelathan's attempt to break the charm.  If one succeeds, she begins playing Workin' Drake Blues Performance 22

Well, hey, hey, the working drake, the working drake like me
Never been charmed, until it happened to be
Keep me working, a mage for his own use
My little blood like a wolf's meat
Sing a little bit of these working drake blues, this song for the workin' drake

If the dispels are not successful after the Lich's turn, Jodie strums the harp and turns invisible.

(OOC: nothing I can think of in-game for the Concentration crit... but... I'll reward it anyway. Jodie recognizes that the Ruinstone is essentially casting Summon Dragon in the cave with you next round, with the shadowy shape as its incomplete, immaterial form showing exactly where the summon will appear)

Nickeline had been quite afraid. Indeed, it was all she could do to maintain concentration on her spell. She could hide behind a pretend mushroom no longer; the Astral Lich's telepathic message spurs her to action.

She moves over toward the side exit where Ruby is, away from that scary thing forming where the ritual had taken place. She sees Firion in the distance. Nickeline hopes she can zap him without having a dragon sent at her. As she does, she suddenly worries that Zolgu is the more immediate threat, but can do nothing about that.

OOC:

Move: 30 ft. to entrance, which should get her about 120 ft. from Firion
Action: Cast Scorching Ray targeting Firion --> miss; 22 to hit for 5 fire damage; 22 to hit for 8 fire damage

Quote from Ben_Evolent >>

Quote from Ben_Evolent >>

Perdita - DC 15 CON saving throw: 20 

Hildegard - DC 15 CON saving throw: 14 + 4 (Bless) = 18

And then to maintain concentration on her own Bless:
Hildegard - DC 10 CON saving throw: 17 + 1 = 18

Hildegard guards the rear entrance.  She watches Zolgu slip away from Sir Stephen and continue toward her.  Hildegard just manages to duck her head behind her shield before Zolgu's firigid blast hits her.  She feels the cold through her shield and armor, but perhaps Nickeline's blessing of light and warms helps to ward away the icy effects because she survives the powerful spell.  Perdita rears up angrily, her fire seeming to burn brighter in defiance of Zolgu's spell.  Or perhaps Perdita is able to draw some power from this dead god's body too?  Hildegard reins in Perdita as Nickeline comes out of the cave to attack Zolgu.

(OOC: Both pass their saving throws and take 20 cold damage.  I cannot update Hildegard's sheet, but I think that she's at 18, and Perdita is at 45.)

Round 2: Hewelathan

Hewelathan had been hiding among the illusory giant mushrooms, waiting for the cultists to approach the cave.  The lich and some of the others went out to finish off some of the cultists that his conjured wolves had injured before Firion ended that spell.  He shakes his head in surprise at the spell's sudden termination, and he considers what to do next and whether to go help Hildegard guard the rear entrance. 

But that's when an absolute explosion of light and fire hits the area in front of the cave.  Hewelathan can feel its heat even 20 feet back inside the cave!  The dragons have arrived! 

Quote from Faux_Beau >>

The Astral lich sends out a telepathic message to the party within 120' (all except Hildegard)
The mage binds the dragons with enchantments.  Sever the binds to release the dragons or strike the mage to weaken his grasp.

Quote from Faux_Beau >>

Jodie moves towards her other allies and urges Hewelathan "Nature's magic is strong, you can break the enchantment!" (Bardic inspiration)

Hewelathan is disturbed the the lich's eerie voice in his head, but Jodie's words inspire him.  A red dragon may not be a normal beast, but all creatures loathe being dominated and forced to do another's bidding.  He rushes to the entrance of the cave and looks for the red dragon.  He yells as loud as he can, in draconic:

Then he attempts to dispel whatever enchantment Firion has used to bind it before running back into the cave to avoid any reprisal from Firion or his cultists.

Movement: Move 30-ft: that's 20-ft to the cave entrance so that he can see the Red Dragon and then 10-ft back into the cave and "into" another illusory giant mushroom.
Action: Cast spell (LVL 3 slot) Dispel Magic on the Red Dragon, trying to end the enchantment that allows Firion to control it.
  WIS check to end the spell: 6 (+ 4, from bardic inspiration if the base WIS check is < 19) = 10
Free Action: Talking.

(OOC: Ugh!  OK, obviously not using his bardic inspiration if his result is < 11.  Hewelathan will spend a Luck Point to re-roll the WIS check.)

Hewelathan - WIS check re-roll: 18  

Quote from Ben_Evolent >>

(OOC: Ugh!  OK, obviously not using his bardic inspiration if his result is < 11.  Hewelathan will spend a Luck Point to re-roll the WIS check.)

Hewelathan - WIS check re-roll: Dice rolls not yet available for this section.

(OOC: Huh.  OK.  I may have to try on the character sheet.)

Hewelathan - WIS check re-roll: 20 (in game log)

Saving his bardic inspiration for later since that check should succeed at dispelling even a 9th-level spell.