Richter's Revenge rounds 4-5

Baleon feels the magic that keeps him invisible begin to ebb, and he focuses his ki to renew it.  He leaps to the other side of the chasm and stalks stealthily towards his foes.

swift action: spend ki point to activate invisibility trick for 3 more rounds. 
move action:  jump to C8, stealth move to B6 ( A6 is a solid stone wall - see comments in previous post)
standard action:  hold

Richter and the guards look around from side to side, searching for signs of their quarry.  "You won't get past us Arzen!" yells Richter.  To his men: "Draw your swords and form up."  The guards dutifully obey, dropping their crossbows and drawing swords and sturdy steel shields as Richter backs into the entry way.

Richter:  5' step to A4, ready action to cast spell at anyone who appears out of thin air.

Trik:  hold

Guards:  switch weapons

Baleon scowls as Richter (his prey... who was hunting who here?) disappears behind a wall of swords and shields, and decides that there will be no better time to strike.  He drives forward with the speed of a striking viper.  The guard, already wary spins around with admirable speed as the elf seems to materialize out of thin air, but cannot raise his heavy shield in time to meet Baleon's attack and his blade sinks deep into the man's side, punching through chain, bone and muscle with equal ease.  But Richter clearly hired tough men for this job, and the wounded guard shoves himself free and struggles to return Baleon's blow.

Baleon full attack vs flat footed AC:  1d20(roll 15)+7 = hit.  Dmg 1d6+1+2d6 (roll 2,6,3) = 12HP

Richter sees Baleon materliaze.  He hardly notices the grisly wound his man takes at the point of Baleon's sword as he cries out, "Now you're mine elf!"  Richter casts a qick spell and a pair of magical darts arc up over the guard's head and crash down upon Baleon, burning him.  Baleon grunts in pain.

Richter standard action casts magic missile:  auto hit dmg 2d4+2 (roll 1,2) = 5 HP.  11/18 remaining

Trik materializes beside the other guard moments later, a short sword raised in each hand and strikes down.  His opponent manages to block one strike on his shield, but Trik's other blade darts over his defences and tears a blood gash in his cheek.

Trik 5' step from B2, full attack w/ two short swords vs flat footed AC: 1d20 ( roll 9, 17)+4+1 (divine favour) = 1 Hit.  20% miss chance from darkness ( roll 33) = hit.  Dmg 1d6 (roll 5)+1+1 (divine favour) = 7HP.

The guards manage to find their footing and fight back to back against their stealthy assailants.  The guard facing Trik stabs back at the wily cleric, and seems to strike true, but Trik's image melts away, merely an illusion, and the real Trik steps forward to take another swing at the confused guard.  The second guards swings repeatedly at Baleon, but the drow fades in and out of the darkness, evading the man's every blow.

Guard1 attacks Trik:1d20 (roll 16)+5 = hit.  20% miss chance from darkness (roll 50) = hit.  Copycat 50% hit mirror image (roll 08) = miss, mirror image dispelled.

Guard2 attacks Baleon: 1d20+5 (roll 15) = hit.  20% miss chance ( roll 14) = miss

Richter's Revenge - round 3

Baleon feels the heat of the flaming sphere behind him and keeps moving.  He sprints to the pit and vaults forward, landing on a column about midway across the crevasse, which immediately begins to glow yellow.

"There, there!"  yells Richter, pointing to the the glow from beneath Baleon's feet.  Richter's guards wheel around and Richter himself directs his flaming sphere to barrel forward.  The sphere bounces across  the tops of the columns, but before it catches up to Baleon, it fizzles and winks out of existence.  Richter curses loudly and draws his own crossbow, firing wildly. 

As he does so, Baleon completes the second half of his plan and plunges the west half of the room into darkness.  His adversaries now nothing more than dim shadows - except for Richter; the pale light emanating from him from Baleon's earlier attentions now making him clearly stand out in the dim light.

Richter's shot passes two feet to Baleon's right, clatters off the wall and down into the chasm.

Baleon move action to I8, acrobatics check (roll 15+11 = 26 ft), but cannot exceed base spd of 30 in one round so ends in E8.  Standard action cast darkness.

Richter move action direct flaming sphere to F8, then spell duration ends.  Swift action, draw crossbow, Standard action fire crossbow (roll 8 +2 = miss)

On the other side of the room, Baleon sees another set of columns glow yellow, one after another as, presumably, Trik sneaks across the chasm while all eyes are searching for the drow.  He somewhat gives up this advantage when he intones another spell.  One of the guards wheels around and fires at where he thinks he hears the sound, but hits nothing.  His companion fires at Baleon,s glowing column, and while it also misses its mark, it whizzes past Baleon's hip by only a few inches.

Trik move action; standard action casts a spell.

Guard 1 perception check to pinpoint Trik (roll 7+ 2 = fail)
Guard 2 fires at Baleon's square (50% miss chance, +4 AC) roll 18 + 3 = miss.

Richter's Revenge - round 2

Baleon calls on the innate magic of his blood and Richter is limned in dim violet light.  The old man is momentarily startled by this development, but once he determines that the glow poses him no threat, he steals himself.  "You'll have to do better than that drow," he spits.  "Mitra protects me from your devil-born glammers!"

Before the guards can reload their crossbows, Baleon focuses his magical energy.  His image blurs and then vanishes as the two guards raise their weapons for a second shot.

Baleon:
Standard action - cast faerie fire
Swift action - cast vanishing trick
Move action - move to K7, stealth check roll 9+11 = 20

Richter growls as his quarry disappears before his eyes.  "Don't think you can escape me so easily."  He concentrates on the 5 foot diameter ball of flames, guiding it in a sweep around the pillar closest to the thrones, searching.  I'll find you, and then you'll burn!"

30 feet.Richter - move action to move the flaming sphere

From the other side of the chamber, Baleon hears Trik casting another spell.  So to does Richter and his guards.  "There!  To the left, shoot there!"  The guards swivel around and fire blindly at the area they thought they heard Trik's voice from but their bolts clatter harmlessly over the flagstone.

Trik casts a spell, stealth check (roll 14+8) = 22

Guards perception check ( roll 17+2) = 19 = fail to pinpoint.  Shots automatically miss

Note that Trik has moved, I've just marked his last known position on the map.

Note that flaming sphere automatically attacks any creature in a square it moves into, forcing a reflex save to avoid damage.

Richter's Revenge - combat round 1 results

Baleon steels himself and listens for the sound of the guards trying to cross the columns

ready action to cast darkness if someone moves into chasm

But Richter completes his spell, and a blazing ball of flames appears out of nothing to Baleon's left.   It proceeds to roll forward and swing sharply up the dias and into Baleon and Trik's refuge behind the thrones.  Baleon vaults away instinctively as it crashes towards him. . .

Richter casts flaming sphere in N6 as standard action then spends move action to move it across the back of the thrones, but it stops when it reaches Baleon in O5
Baleon reflex save (roll 13)+8+2 (for cover) = 23 vs DC 17 = success, no damage

. . . and finds himself exposed to the crossbows of the two guards, who waste no time firing on him, and though he drops to a low rolling crouch , one of their bolts still grazes his shoulder, drawing blood.

Guards attack (roll 11, 17)+2 vs AC 18 = 1 hit.  1d8 dmg ( roll 2) = 2 HP dmg

Meanwhile, Trik swears and staggers back from the flaming sphere as well.  He casts a spell of his own and disappears from sight.

Trik casts invisibility and moves to K2



End of round 1
 

Status:

Baleon   16/18 hp

Enter Richter - combat round 1

The old man scoffs at Baleon's retort.  "Your drow tricks may have helped you escape my prison Baleon Arzen, but they won't save you this time!"

Baleon starts at the sound of his name.  "That's right, don't think you paltry magical disguise can hide your guilt, or the brand on your arm."

Baleon reflexively grips the scar on his forarm; a runic "F"  burned into his skin when he arrived at Braderscar prison...  And then it all falls into place.  He remembers the old man.  Inspecting him like chattel when he arrived at the prison, then turning him over to his torturers with a dismissive wave...  Baron Richter, warden of Branderscar prison.

Trik ducks behind the other throne and turns to his companion.  "Friend of yours?"

"The warden of the prison I escaped from.  Richter."

"the warden of... but I heard he was executed for gross incompetent after you guys broke out.  What's he doing here?"  Trik poked his head over the throne and yelled across the room.  "Richter is it?  I thought they hung you.  On account of, you know, being an idiot," he added.

Richter screamed back with a hint of madness in his voice.  "I was betrayed by witchcraft and deviltry!  They stripped me of my title, and would have hung me.  But I told them I could find you Baleon Arzen!  I knew all the old places.  And I knew why you had come to the surface, and what you sought.  If I can bring you in, then the duke will pardon me.  So I have watched this place for months, waiting for you to skulk in to finish the job you started all those months ago.  And here you are at last, and so too my salvation!"

Trik ducks back down and starts to load his crossbow.  "You have the nicest friends, elf," he quips to Baleon sardonically.

Richter meanwhile, continues to rant.  "And now, Forsaken of Mitra, burn as you should have at Branderscar!"  This is followed by the unmistakable incantations of Richter casting a spell.

"Oh bollocks," Trik mutters.

Initiative order
Baleon:  17
Richter:  14
Trik:  13
Guards:  11

Baleon and Trik have full cover (+8 AC and 50% miss chance, +10 stealth) so long as they stay prone behind the thrones. If you choose to pop up, fire off a shot and duck back down, you maintain the +8 AC bonus but lose the 50% concealment bonus.   Likewise, Richter gains a +4 AC bonus while directly behind his burly guards.  The two guards are dressed in chain shirts and armed with crossbows, large shields and long swords.

The Vault rounds 4, 5, 6

"Well," Trik muses in response to Baleon's question.  "One throne represents Asmodeus, the other Mitra.  But their guises are meant to mislead - the one you think is Mitra is actually Asmodeus and the one you think is Asmodeus is actually Mitra.  And, we're here to recover artifacts sacred to both gods.  The Asmodean one as a bargaining chip with your mother, and the Mitran one for that half elf noble, so..." Trik scratches his chin in thought.  "I'd say, both thrones?"

Baleon scowls but does not bother replying as he bends down to examine the thrones.  It takes him some time, but he eventually finds a cleverly concealed drawer in the base of each throne.  Further inspection reveals no discernible traps or mechanisms.  Taking a deep breath  he slides them open.  And is surprised when when he is not suffocated by poison gas, disfigured by a jet of acid, or outright incinerated by a magical glyph.  Not for the first time this evening he wonders at these surface dwellers' inability to build a properly trapped treasure vault.  Not that he was complaining mind you.

A single item lies inside each drawer.  Inside the throne of Mitra, sitting upon crushed midnight blue velvet is a silver rod with a crook at one end.  Inside the throne of Asmodeus, nestled amongst blood red velvet, lies an ornately articulated metal gauntlet.

Before Baleon can admire his discovery further, a gravelly voice from the far end of the vault breaks his concentration.

"Step away from the artifacts, defilers!"

Flanked by two heavily armed city watchmen with crossbows levelled stands an grizzled old  aristocrat. Upon his tabard is blazoned the sign of the inquisition.

The Vault - end round 3

Trik mutters something under his breath as Baleon moves to secure his end of the rope to a nearby pillar. He can't make it out, but he's fairly certain its unflattering.

Trik takes a deep breath and skips across the pillars, again surprising Baleon with his fleetness.  He didn't have the grace of a drow, but definitely more nimble than he would have expected from a sun spoiled human.

Each time Trik lands on a new pillar, the rune on its surface begins to glow pale yellow.  As he sprints across the last pillar - the one that Baleon landed on after his jump - its already yellow glow is replaced by an angry red.  "Hmm," remarks Trik as he crosses to safe ground and detaches the rope from his waist.  "Well that can't be a good thing."

Trik examines the murals above each throne on the dais at the other end of the room and gives an appreciative laugh.  "I may have no idea what the glyphs on those columns mean, but I do know a good joke when I see one.  Looks like whoever decorated this vault had a laugh at our dear Divine Mitra's expense."

Seeing Baleon's puzzled expression, Trik continues, pleased to be the expert in their partnership for once.  "See the first picture.  Its of a king signing a document and addressing his people.  At first glance we are to believe this is a depiction of one of the Markadian kings of Talingarde, devout Mitrans every one.  But the Markadians are not a peaceful lot.  They came to power through civil war and eradicated every religion that opposed them.  They have never signed a treaty in their eighty years of power."  He pauses and indicates the second mural of a thief holding a man at knife point while picking the pockets of a woman.  "No, to the nobles and religions that opposed the Markadians, like the family who built this vault, this second picture is a far more accurate portrayal of how the kings of Talingarde have treated their people.  Which means," finishes Trik, moving his attention back to the first mural again, "that this fine contract signing fellow here could be seen as none other than our lord Asmodeus, offering law and order to the oppressed and faceless  masses."

Trik turns to Baleon with eyes that twinkle with mirth.  "Delicious, blasphemous allegory! A tribute to Asmodeus hidden within a tomb sacred to Mitra."

Turn summary:
round 1 - Baleon and Trik move into the vault, asses the situation and do a cursory check for traps
round 2 - Baleon secures a rope and leaps across the chasm.
round 3 - Baleon ties his end of the rope to pillar J2; Trik crosses the chasm by foot.
round 4 - ??