Underneath the Undeath [DM: Voda Vosa; Judge: ?]

OK, the enchanter muses, I know about this thing. I've studied it before. Time to pull out all the stops.

He takes a step back and pushes his glasses flat against the top of his nose. With a practiced flick of the wrist, string of arcane power forms around his left hand, and writhe about, seeking out the offending beast. They attach themselves to its chitin in various strategic locations, and with a few choice pulls on the string with his right hand, the scorpion becomes a living puppet.

You fear me. He wills the vermin. Now slink in to the brush like the scum you are.

The scorpion slinks beck defensively, blissfully oblivious to the literal pulling of its strings.

With a surge of adrenaline, the enchanter sees his opportunity to rid himself of the pest once and for all. Summoning up a great reserve of personal discipline, he taps in to his link to the Shadowfell, allowing him to cast his next spell almost instantaneously. Suddenly the shadows of the tickets the scorpion had crawled in to animate in a most malignant fashion, wrapping around the thing, and choking it, crushing it, and dragging to the ground. Once again, totally oblivious to the fact that it was all in his head.

At a brisk pace, Zaroch quickly puts some distance between himself and the writhing beast.

At the sound of snapping vines, Chambers stops running and turns back to face his pursuer, just in time to see the cougar's thrashing break the last of its restraints. His knife, which had reappeared in his hand after vanishing in his first attack, sails through the air toward the big cat. Once again it vanishes on impact, and once again the cougar is dragged to the dirt by the spirits of the forest. As he turns to put some more forest between himself and the struggling hunter, Chambers smiles happily for the first time since he'd taken this job. He'd hunted down prey himself hundreds of times, but he had had precious few opportunities to enjoy a contest of wills like this, to hunt the very thing that hunted him, to test himself against one like himself. He resolves to leave the cat alive once he's had his fun.

[sblock=Actions]
Standard: Clever Shot (Grappling Spirits) HIT Cougar AC 25
Move: 6 squares in the opposite direction, using Athletics to leap difficult terrain if necessary.
Result: Cougar takes 5 damage, is knocked prone, and is slowed and cannot shift until the start of Chambers' next turn

Immediate: Fox's Cunning, if the Cougar manages to engage Logan in melee.
[/sblock]

[sblock=Statblock]Logan Chambers - Male Human Seeker|Ranger 1 Status: Initiative: +4, Passive perception: 19, Passive Insight: 14 AC:16 Fort:12 Ref:15 Will:16 HP: 22/22 Bloodied: 11 Surge value: 5 Surges/day: 4/6 Speed: 6 squares, AP: 1, Second Wind: unused, Temporary HP: 0 Melee Basic Attack: +4 vs AC, 1d4
Powers:Clever Shot, Tidal Spirit Shot, Grappling Spirits, Hunter's Quarry, Fox's Cunning, Inevitable Shot, Swarming Bats, Spirits' Rebuke[/sblock]

Alek grins at the sight of his own blood, the blood of dragons. He takes a few steps forwards and begins to speak his draconic speech again. This time a fiery mist rises up out of the ground as Alek's eyes turn an orange-red. The mist flares up, condenses into a liquid, and then shoots forwards, engulfing the drakes. The mist still comes of off Alek's skin, radiating heat.

[sblock=actions]
Standard=burning spray (at-will)
movment=move to Q5
still no minor.

[/sblock]



After Alek sees the drakes are untouched by his fire, he says something again in draconic, probably a curse of some sort.

As the stirges close in, Boris sets into his work. "Feel the Sun's kiss, parasite!" Pulling his blade free of the overhanging vines he smites one of the stirges with a two handed strike. A moment later the armoured warlock seems to implode, disappearing from existence only to reappear at some distance away. Both stirges are caught in the backlash of the implosion. One of the stirges flits out of the way, but the wounded one is smashed into a crumpled heap upon the ground where it twitches and then dies. A ghostly blur raises up from the body and races towards Boris, plunging into one of the gems that line his helm. Moments later the green gem begins to glow.

"Come mosquito. Death awaits you in the Sun's shadow."

[sblock=Actions]Minor: Curse Stirge1
Standard: Valorous Smite vs Stirge1 Hit: Stirge 1& 2 are marked by TCO's Sanction TENT
AP: Otherwind Stride vs S1 & S2
Hit S1 triggering Curse dmg: S1 is dead. (If it wasn't it would be immobilised.) Free Action: Capture stirges soul with Helm of Seven Deaths!
Effect: teleport 5 to B14 and TCO gains 2 THPs from Gauntlets of Arcane Might.
[/sblock]
[sblock=The Cursed One]
The Cursed One aka Boris
Human Hybrid Paladin | Warlock 3
Passive Perception/Insight 10
AC:20, Fort:17, Reflex:16, Will:17, Speed:5
HP: (+2 THP) 39/39, Bloodied:19, Surge Value:9, Surges left:9/11
Initiative +2
Action Points: 1 (encounter): USED

Conditions:
Buffs:

Powers:
MBA: Eldritch Strike +9 vs AC, 1d12+5 damage

Divine Challenge:
Divine Sanction: S2
Warlock's Curse:
Eldritch Strike, Ardent Strike, Dire Radiance
Helm of Seven Deaths: Souls Captured 2/7
Blade of Crimson: USED
Valorous Smite: USED
Otherwind Stride: USED
Helm of Seven Deaths: Unavailable
Second Wind
Crown of Stars:
Bless Weapon:
Fullblade of Defense:
Dazzling Plate Armour:
Helm of Seven Deaths: Unavailable


Consumables:
Potions of Healing: 1/1
Augmenting Whetstone: 2/2

Combat notes:
Dazzling Plate: TCO gains +2 to all defenses vs Charm, Fear and Psychic attacks.
Gauntlets of Arcane Might: TCO gains 2 THP when he hits an enemy he marks with an arcane attack.
Fullblade of Defense: Resist 1 vs All dmg;
TCO will use his Fullblade of Defense Daily power to halve damage of an attack will reduce him below 0.
[/sblock]

Here it was. His first battle against a foe that wasn't going to hold back. This enemy would kill him and eat him if he let it. They had already attacked, so now it was self defense and he could do something without being the aggressor. Master Garion's spirit would rest easy knowing that even if his pupil died this day, he didn't attack first.

Kurnos moves around behind the drakes, nimbly ducking any attack the injured one might make, till he is close enough to attack the uninjured Drake. The minotuar botches the attack at the drake. These foes are much shorter than what he has practiced on before. 'I MUST be able to do something!' he thinks to himself as his anger rises over the thought of failure, that another person might die because he wasn't good enough to help... again.

No! He would push harder and do more. Launching into a spin, the minotaur flings a series of low kicks out at BOTH of the drakes trying to give vent to his frustration... Success! He lashes out hard, taking out the injured drake! He then adds a small flurry of hand strikes on the remaining drake, just for good measure!

***Edit: Per jbear, rolled the second hit roll I needed for the Masterful Spiral. Missed. So Drake #2 only takes the 5 dmg from the Flurry of Blows. Not as much awesome as I thought. Corrected on the battle stats page.***

[sblock=Actions/Stat Block]Start= n/a

Move= Open the Gate of Battle (Move) (move up to 8, not provoking Opp Atk from 1st enemy he moves away from - Spiretop Drake 1). Move to P4, to O4, to N5, to N6, to O7.

Standard= Open the Gate of Battle (Atk) vs. Spiretop Drake 2 Ref 14= 7 to hit. Miss on the Attack. Spending Action Point!

2nd Standard from AP= Masterful Spiral Attack, burst 2, +4 vs Ref = HIT Drake #1 for 19 dmg, knocking out drake #1.

Free= Centered Breath Flurry of Blows. Drake #2 takes 5 damage and is slid 1 square to P6 so that Kurnos and Alek are flanking it. So unless it stays where it is at to attack one of us, it WILL draw an Opp Atk from whichever one isn't the target of it's attack if it moves.

End= Assume Masterful Spiral Stance = Kurnos has Reach 1 with melee touch attacks till the stance ends.
[sblock=Stat Block]Kurnos - Male Minotaur Monk 1
Conditions:
Initiative: +4, Passive perception: 20, Passive Insight: 18
AC 18 (20 vs opportunity attacks provoked during a charge), Fortitude 14, Reflex 15, Will 14
HP: 24/24, Bloodied: 12, Surge value: 6, Surges/day: 9, Temporary HP: 0
Speed: 6 squares, AP: 0/1, Second Wind: unused
Melee Basic Attack w/ Monk Unarmed Strike = +5/1d8+2
Ranged Basic Attack w/ Shuriken = +7/1d4+4
Powers:
Crane's Wings
Dancing Cobra
Centered Breath Flurry of Blows
Goring Charge
Open the Gate of Battle (Attack)
Open the Gate of Battle (Move)
Masterful Spiral[/sblock][/sblock]

WEContact said:

The sun doesn't have a shadow just thought you should know

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Ilse, still working at close range with her polearm, smashes the fire beetle in the side with the weapon's blunt edge. For a moment, Ilse wonders if she's done enough damage to the monster to just scare it off. But the beetle is in such a pitiful state that she decides it isn't even worth the risk. With an arcing overhanded slash, she brings her naginata's blade down upon the bug's head.

The sounds of battle can be heard in the distance, so Ilse doesn't waste time mourning for her adversary. She dashes off into the forest in the direction of the noise.

[sblock=Ilse actions / stats]Standard: Demoralizing Strike-AUG1 vs Fire Beetle hits AC 18 for 11 damage and -4 Will defense UENT Ilse. (1d20+7=18; 2d4+5=11)
--No Action: Takedown Strike to add 5 more damage and knock the beetle prone. (If you want to rule 0 this to say a beetle can't be prone, Ilse's next attack still hits even without CA. )

Well, I was going to try to intimidate the beetle to get it to run away, but I think I have better odds of just trying to kill it outright.

AP-Standard: Demoralizing Strike vs Fire Beetle hits AC 16 for 9 damage, killing it. (1d20+7+2=16; 2d4+5=9)

Move: Walk 6 squares toward my allies. Can I head to Zaroch to try to help him against that scorpion?


PC:Ilse (Dekana) - L4W Wiki- Female Tiefling, 1 Ardent
Passive Perception: 10, Passive Insight: 10
AC:17, Fort:14, Reflex:11, Will:16, Resist 5 fire, Speed:6
HP:28/28, Bloodied:14, Surge Value:7, Surges left:8/10
Initiative +0
Power Points: 1/2, Action Points: 0 (encounter)

Conditions

Powers
MBA: +3 vs AC, 2d4+1
RBA: +3 vs AC, 1d4, range 5/10
Energizing Strike, Demoralizing Strike
Ardent Outrage, Ardent Surge x2, Infernal Wrath, Takedown Strike
Battleborn Acuity

Combat notes
+1 attack rolls vs bloodied foes
+3 damage rolls on OAs for Ilse and allies within 5 squares
+2 diplomacy and intimidate for allies within 5 squares.
[/sblock]

jbear said:

OOC: "There are no shadows without light. Each shadow cast during the day is the sun's. At night they are the moon's, but what light would the moon cast without the sun. So apart from the shadows cast by flame and arcane light, they all belong to the sun. But we do not expect mere mortals such as yourself to understand these mysteries. Continue to stare into the light. Dazed, confused and blind you pose us no threat." Mother Dark, Father Light and the Children of Shadow An Essay on Morality and the Three Mysteries by Harekk Hellfire of the Crimson Legion

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WEContact said:

OOC: Haha, fine but you fabricated that quote of mine!

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[sblock=OOC]Hehe, I also fabricated the quote from The Cursed One's mentor Harekk, so fabricating a quote from your xp comment seemed to be in line with that! [/sblock]

BedLlama said:

OOC: Zaroch's Turn: Free - Monster Knowledge + Use Vulnerability if former is successful Standard - Beguiling Strands IC post and further actions pending rolls.

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Still waiting for you before rolling the next round.

WEContact said:

OOC: [MENTION=51271]Voda Vosa[/MENTION] how did the cougar move four squares on its turn? Just curious. As far as I can tell it would have used a move to stand, and then a move for two squares. Can it move as a Minor action?

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