Trapped in Hell's Basement (DM: Mal Malenkirk Judge:Covaithe)

Sheng nods quickly and darts forward at unmatched speed. Clearly, this man knows how to run.

OOC: Back again. Sheng double moves. About the previous set of rolls, I got mixed up with the bonuses of my other sorcerer, just how dumb is that ha?

[sblock=OOC]Well, objectively, I probably should have run Sheng quicker since he had no one to attack and only needed to be moved. I am notoriously reluctant to running PCs, though.

Eh. In the nick of time.
[/sblock]

Temple

Patrin stumbles south, still unable to clear his thoughts from the ringing blow inflicted by the fallen trooper. He tries to hustle forward to meet a new threat; a warfoged bearing the cult's colors is striding into the hall.

The drake and the archers focus on Haruka who deftly avoid all attacks. But how long can she hold the tide as more reinforcement surge from the temple?

Entrance

The heroes move deeper into the keep. Meanwhile one of the elite trooper moves away from the fight with the tentacled monsters. Things are going well and he investigate the carnages behind. He spots the retreating heroes and a determined look appears on his face.

Sheng is leading the way and he meets a handful of guard barring his way. More combat awaits.

How can the heroes face such odds? The enemies come in never ending waves! But no, they refuse to surrender to despair and with grim detrmination face the mounting odds.

[sblock=Adrenaline Surge!]
Digging deep in their reserve, the heroes have amassed 1 adrenaline points. Redeem it by spending a minor action. When you do, you can choose betweem the following effects:

Regain an AP (and the right to use it)
Regain Second Wind
Spend a healing Surge +WIS or CHA
Regain an encounter power
Reagin an healing surge (not spend it, regain it)

No matter what, Max regains the use of 1 inspiring word for free on any adrenaline surge.

You can never have more than one adrenaline point in reserve so use it freely before I give another one.
[/sblock]



[sblock=Actions]
Patrin
save (1d20=9)
fail

Archer vs Haruka
vs AC (1d20+9-2=14)
miss

Drake vs Haruka
vs AC (1d20+6+1-2=14, 1d10+3+6=11) miss
[/sblock]


[sblock=Status]
Haruka: 39/40 +6 [10/10]
Max: 12/22 [6/7]
Raiko: 19/25 [9/10]
Patrin: 31/52 dazed (save ends)
Sheng 31/36
[/sblock]

[sblock=Stats]
Warforged Cultist
Perception 13
HP 56; Bloodied 28
AC 20; Fortitude 17, Reflex 15, Will 14
Saving Throws +2 against ongoing damage
Speed 5
OA Longsword (standard, at-will)
+9 vs AC; 1d8+4 damage, and the target is marked until the end of the warforged soldier’s next turn.
Battlefield Tactics:
The warforged soldier gains a +1 bonus to melee attacks if it has an ally adjacent to the target.

Guard Drake
Perception 17
HP 48; Bloodied 24
AC 15; Fortitude 15, Reflex 13, Will 12
Immune fear (while within 2 squares of an ally)
OA: Bite (standard, at-will)
+6 vs AC; 1d10+3 damage, or 1d10 + 9 damage while within 2 squares of an ally.

Guards (G)
Perception 11
HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion.
AC 16; Fortitude 16, Reflex 14, Will 13
Morningstar (standard, at-will) Weapon
OA +7 vs AC; 5 damage. If another Guard is adjacent to the target, the target also falls prone.
Combat Advantage
The tough’s attack deals 1 extra damage to any target granting combat advantage to it.

Archers (A)
Perception 16
HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion.
AC 16; Fortitude 13, Reflex 14, Will 11 ; see also mob rule
Crossbow (standard, at-will) Weapon
Ranged 15/30; +9 vs AC; 3 damage.
OA none unless they dropped the crossbow and drew a spear
Then; +7 vs AC; 2 damage.
Mob Rule:
The archer gains a +2 power bonus to all defenses while at least two other human archers or guards are within 5 squares of it.

Elite Troopers
Perception 16
HP 47; Bloodied 23
AC 18; Fortitude 16, Reflex 15, Will 14
OA Longsword (standard, at-will) Weapon
+10 vs AC; 1d10+3 damage, and the target is marked until the end of the next turn.

Dretch
Perception 11; darkvision
Sickening Miasma aura 1; each enemy within the aura takes 1 damage whenever it takes a standard action or a move action. Multiple sickening miasma auras deal cumulative damage, up to 5 damage.
HP 44; Bloodied 22
AC 14; Fortitude 14, Reflex 13, Will 11
+5 vs AC; 2d6+2 damage.
[/sblock]

[sblock=OOC]
Adrenaline Surges will occur for everyone when confronted with new enemy(ies) of sufficient level from now on. Basically, a new wave of monsters ought to generate an adrenaline point, as long as they are led by a monster of at least as high a level as the highest level PC in the engagement (level 4 for Patrin at the Temple, level 3 for Sheng at the entrance).

I will also identify 'boss' monsters that will generate an 'instant' adrenaline point when fell, as a free action, whether you have an adrenaline points. Such a monster will also be at least 1 level higher than the highest level PC in the engagement, there are none on the map at this point.

Also, When one of you is reduced to 0, everyone who sees it gains an adrenaline point.

Finally, there are good old fashioned healing potions on many defeated monsters from now on.

There is one one the warforged and the new elite trooper. As a rule of thumb there will be one on any non-minion humanoid. It takes a minor action to snatch it on the fallen foe. It can be picked up for free as part of a move action that takes you over the fallen foe if you suceed an acrobatic check 15 and have a free hand.

You will also eventually gain levels on the fly. My counter is at 472 XP for all the monsters either slain or currently on the map and rejoining is a minor quest so it may happen sooner than you expect!

Why all this? Because you ain't resting. Ever. You get out or you get killed. There is nowhere where you'll get 5 minutes worth of rest.
[/sblock]

Ashir sees Haruka beset by enemies and the appearance of the the strange creature to the south, cutting off their escape. Focusing his attention on the enemies closest first to free Haruka up, the genasi gestures with his staff and a ball of fire explodes just past the drake, catching it in the blast, but the archer dodges the flames.

With the adrenaline coursing through him, Ashir manages to get another blast of fire off, catching the drake again, but again missing the archer.

[sblock=ooc]
Standard: Scorching Burst centered 1 square NE of drake, should catch it and archer vs ref (drake, archer); fire dmg (1d20+4=17, 1d20+4=7, 1d6+8=10)
Minor: Adrenaline surge
AP: Repeat the above attack vs ref (drake, archer); fire dmg (1d20+4=20, 1d20+4=11, 1d6+8=11)
Move: Shift 1
Total damage to drake - 21 fire damage
[/sblock]

[sblock=L4W Ashir]
Init: +0 Speed: 6 Perception:12 Insight: 12
AC: 14 NAD:15/14/14
HP: 22/22 Surges: 7/7 Surge Value: 5 AP: 0
Languages: Common, Primordial
Str:18 Dex:10 Wis:14 Con:12 Int:18 Cha:8

Powers:
Cantrips
Scorching Burst
Thunderwave
Burning Hands
Chill Strike
Promise of Storms
Second Wind
Tome of Readiness
Flaming Sphere
Rolling Thunder

Full Character Sheet
[/sblock]

Sheng rushes towards the enemies. As he runs, he spins his arms, in a tai chi fashion, ending in the crouching tiger’s stance, his fingers curled and his arms outstretched towards the guards. From between his hands, the green vapor that emanates from him concentrates in a small orb.
The sorcerer separates his palms and blows softly. His breath carries the spark of chaos, and the gas instantly ignites, sending an explosion of flames towards the helpless foes. The first guard is killed almost instantly, his skin fried, and his eyes melted by the torrent of fire, but the other crouches behind the first, saving his life.
Sheng lifts his upper lip. “You vermin have the nasty ability to avoid righteous death, and manage to end up dying by the frivolous blade before Chaos can claim your life, as it should be.” He mutters bitterly “Either way, your life is forfeit.” He adds raising his eyebrows.
[sblock=actions]
Move forward
Burning spray vs guards: Roll Lookup Kills first (I can’t imagine how could it be that it killed the second and not the first.)[/sblock]

[sblock=ooc]Sheng did you remove the guard you killed from the map? I don't want to attack someone who's dead.[/sblock]

OOC: No I didn't

Raiko shakes his head as the sorcerer runs past, in the opposite direction of his request. Chaos indeed. His allies easily hear his thoughts. Unaware of the Elite Guards approach, he runs off after Sheng, though he is not fast enough to get off an attack as well.

He raises his sword in challenge to the guards.

[sblock=Actions]I removed the dead guard from the map.

Double Move.
Minor: Adrenaline Point: Regain Piercing Smite[/sblock]

[sblock=Stat Block]Raiko, Male Dragonborn Paladin 1 ()
Init: +0; P.Insight: 18; P.Perception: 13
AC: 20; Fort: 16; Reflex: 13; Will: 14
HP: 19/25; Surges: 6 hp, 10/10
AP:

Skills: History +6, Insight +8, Intimidate +8, Religion +4
Languages: Common, Draconic
Str: 20, Con: 10, Dex: 10, Int: 8, Wis: 16, Cha: 12

Sling Bullets: 20/20

Divine Challenge, Holy Strike, Valiant Strike, Lay on Hands (2/3 per day)
Dragon Breath, Piercing Smite, Second Wind, Chanel Divinity (Divine Mettle/Divine Strength)
Paladin's Judgement[/sblock]

As Ashir bathes the hall in flames, Haruka reaches out and somehow catches some of it in her hand. She smiles at the flickering tongues as she steps away from her attackers. "Ah, a spark," she says to the fire with a voice more suited for greeting a lover. "Nothing much now, but with some effort, we can make you something wonderful." At once the fire turns black, and she flings it back at the drake. The creature is sudden the center of a nightmarish conflagration, but when the flames die down, the drake is still standing. Haruka frowns. "Down boy," she orders, punctuating her command with yet another reality distortion. This time, the beast falls.

[sblock=Actions]Minor: Curse Brutus.
Move: Shift one square south. Or actually, east. Well, down.
AP: Fiery Bolt Brutus. Hits Reflex 16 for 20 fire damage and 5 untyped. In addition, all adjacent creatures, such as the archer, take 15 fire damage. The archer dies. Or maybe not. Read on.
Standard: Try to finish Brutus off with Eyes of the Vestige. Hits Will 13 for 11 psychic damage. Brutus dies. I gain 6 non-stacking thp. Yay...

Actually, it occurs to me that there might have been a square between Brutus and the archer, rather than them being adjacent. It's sort of hard to tell at the map transition area. If this was the case, I would have used a non-action pointed Eyes of the Vestige on Brutus to kill the archer (I cursed him here, I just couldn't figure out how to show it on the map at the time) with the bounced damage, and then used an action point to Fiery Bolt Brutus. Of course, it's easy for me to say that now, since given how I rolled, such a plan would have killed them both.

Shoot.

Well, if you want to say that it's my bad for not reading the map properly, and that the archer is still alive and kicking, that's perfectly fair. I'm not too worried about him.[/sblock]

[sblock=Haruka's mini-stats]Haruka Sato- human warlock 3
Initiative: +2 | Passive perception: 10 | Passive Insight: 16
AC: 17 | For: 16 | Ref: 16 | Will: 15
HP: 39/40+6 | Bloodied: 20 | Surge value: 10 | Surges: 10/10
Resist: 5 Necrotic, 5 Poison
Speed: 6 | Languages: Allarian, Tsugo
AP: 0 | Second Wind: not used
Basic Attack/Opportunity attack: +3 vs AC, 1d6
Powers: Eldritch Blast, Hellish Rebuke, Dire Radiance
Vampiric Embrace
Fiery Bolt
Flames of Phlegethos
Ethereal Stride
Deathcut Armor
Prison of Salzacas[/sblock]

"Ha! I'm starting to get the hang of this. We make a great team Haruka!" Ashir says to the female jadite.