[KAUAI]The Rod of Seven Parts: Of Hexes and Gems

Gamad

Understanding the magical nature of the shadow and his ineffective weapons, Gamad tries a light school spell on the creature, hoping the magical nature of the creature will not waste the precious spell

*Flare

Knowing he holds one of the only means to inflict damage on this creature, Chev steps forward to attack the shadow creature. Mimicking the shadow, Chev hisses back with a grin.

Maelicent does his best to wriggle free from the burning Mallorn tree's grasp and to regain his footing next to the fire. Cackling with glee, the goblin deftly hops to the opposite side of the fire (five foot step to O-9) away from the Mallorn. Pulling a second sling stone into his free hand, the Gudwulf warrior dips it into the fire before him (as a move-equivalent action) while he continues to taunt the forest. "Don't care fer tha do ya Tinderbox? Shoulda just stayed outta my way. One goblin worth burnin fer? Well this Gudwulf's got teeth!" Maelicent quickly sets his burning missile to spinning before letting it fly (ranged attack +7, point blank shot, aiming for 4-P)

Brakkus swears as his guisarme passes right through the creature. But at least Chev's axe struck true! Brakkus tries to remain near Chev so he can scoop up Chev's battle axe should his friend fall to the fiend.

OOC: Brakkus readies an action to pick up Chev's axe if it should fall from his hand.

Hearing the shadow's reply and seeing the guisarme fly through it Voadam says "Brakkus, you can still distract it to give Chev a better shot with his axe. Its a Queen servant." He then says "Nicht für die antworten deren Magie du nicht kennst. Für Bedienstete der Königin lasse ich die Schwärzung gehen." [sblock]"Answer not for those whose magic you do not know. For servants of the Queen I will make the darkness go."[/sblock]

Voadam will five foot step to R16 to gain partial cover from the pool so he is protected from attacks of opportunity and then cast his light spell directly upon Brakkus' guisarme, attempting to banish as much darkness and shadow as he can and maybe enabling Brakkus to hurt the creature of darkness.

Maelicent wriggles free from the burning Mallorn tree's grasp and, skirting the edge of the fire, dips a second stone bundle into the flames. Setting the burning missile to spinning, the goblin releases the streamered bundle of hot rocks at the fir tree at the edge of the glade to the northwest. The fir, hit on an outer limb, quickly catches fire and, yanking its roots free from the soil like a woman collecting her skirts, retreats into the forest.

The mallorn, now fully ablaze, lurches forward at Maelicent but stops with an evil CRACK! when an oak from the rear of the glade advances on the goblin. The oak, mighty as the mallorn and roughly the same size, whips a low-hanging branch out to grab the Gudwulf by the scruff of the neck. Try as he might, and he fights furiously against the choke hold, Maelicent cannot release himself from the oak's grasp. The slimmer twigs at the end of the oak all snake about Maelicent's extremeties and begin to squeeze. Maelicent suffers 8 points of non-lethal damage.

Maelicent is grappled by the oak. Escape artist or opposed grapple will be necessary next round. Please post anything else that you might like to have him try to do while grappled or to escape the grapple.

Maelicent watches with grim satisfaction as the second tree catches on fire, uproots itself and plunges into the tightly packed ranks of the trees arranged around the clearing. It's panicked retreat would likely spread the blaze faster and further than the goblin could have hoped to do himself. The Gudwulf warrior is about to pull a third sling-stone with his free hand when he hears the cracking of wood as the oak behind him moves to attack. Caught off-guard, the goblin is quickly wrapped up in a wooden vice of tightening tree branches.

Maelicent's tries to spit out another gibe at this newest challenger but his last breath is forced out of his lungs by the oak's bone-crushing grip. Desperately trying to gasp in a lungful of air to no avail, the wily goblin uses his free hand to fumble at his belt for a weapon. Skipping his quiver of arrows Maelicent's hand pauses over the haft of his axe. He couldn't possibly hope to chop down an enchanted oak with a mere handaxe before it suffocated him to death. No. What he needed was to fight fire with fire... Or magic with magic! That's when Maelicent's free hand closes upon the tip of one of the mongrels' wands he'd tucked there a few moments ago.

Yanking the wand free from his belt (drawing a light weapon as a move equivalent action) the Gudwulf warrior desperately strikes the branches around him with the wand's tip (as a touch attack +0). Hoping to transform the tree into a human, Maelicent is surprised but delighted to see the tip of the wand burst into flames!
[sblock=OOC]I'll grant that it's an unconventional use for a tindertwig, but I didn't think it would be too much of a stretch to draw and try wielding one as a light weapon against a tree.

I don't know whether these trees have the Improved Grapple feat or not, but I was wondering if you'd taken into account the attacks of opportunity the trees are provoking by trying to initiate a grapple. It's unclear if Mael's spiked gauntlets could harm the trees or not, but he'd only have to deal a single point of damage to block their grappling attempts. I'm asking because your description of the action don't seem to include him taking a swing at the trees and I'm desperate enough to bring up anything I think that might help.

Also, keep in mind that to maintain the grapple next round the oak will have to enter Mael's square... right next to the hot fire![/sblock]

Knowing he holds one of the only means to inflict damage on the creature, Chev once again steps forward to attack the shadow. Mimicking the shadow, Chev hisses back and, with a sinister grin, lays into the shadow with his battleaxe. Connecting yet again, Chev's axe deals the shadow another 4 points of damage.

Reaching back to the depths of his arcane knowledge, Gamad takes a shot in the dark and casts flare at the shadow. A burst of light pierces the darkness coalescing in front of the shadow and for the barest hopeful hint of a moment, the shadow appears to be dazzled by the intensity of the magical light summoned by Gamad. Alas, after the brief moment passes, so too does any lingering effect; the shadow is not dazzled. By sheer force of concentration and will, Gamad still retains control over the lantern hovering near the tunnel mouth.

Hearing the shadow's reply and seeing the guisarme fly through it Voadam says "Brakkus, you can still distract it to give Chev a better shot with his axe. It's a Queen servant." He then says, "Nicht für die antworten deren Magie du nicht kennst. Für Bedienstete der Königin lasse ich die Schwärzung gehen." As he speaks vile Abyssal, Voadam takes a single striding step into the pool and magically lights the end of Brakkus's guisarme. To his satisfaction, when he steps into the shallow pool, Voadam feels solid bedrock beneath his feet and seems to suffer no ill effect. The distance, however, isn't enough to dissuade the shadow from taking advantage of Voadam's momentary distraction while spellcasting; the shadow bares incorporeal fangs and attempts to bite Voadam on the neck but misses. So close does the fiend come to sapping Voadam of some of his lifeblood that the Green Wizard feels the death of cold settle upon his marrow.

Hissing still after its miss at Voadam, the shadow retracts itself five feet from the growing layers of light gradually filling the terraced cavern. Out of reach of both Chev and Voadam, the fiend gathers its wings close to its side and whirls itself into a maelstrom. In the common tongue of man, the shadow booms out,

"Where creatures of light
fear no night,
let us see, oh yes.
Confess!
Wither will you go in Her darkness?"
[sblock=Chev]Chev recognizes the shadow's spellcraft as an arcane version of darkness.[/sblock]

All light immediately flees and is replaced by a closeted, nearly tangible blanket of thickest night that obscures sight. In the velvet dark, Brakkus is left swearing an oath as his guisarme passed right through the creature. Steadying himself against the darkness, Brakkus readies himself to pick up Chev's battleaxe should he hear the telltale clink of metal dropping to the rocky stone floor of the cave.

Darkvision does not function, all creatures within the area gain concealment (20% miss chance).

Somewhere beyond Chev and Voadam, the shadow cackles with abyssal glee but stops abruptly as the dragging sound hear earlier by Gamad resumes with a heavy thud from a few lengths down the hall.

Initiative:
Chev 16
Gamad 14
Voadam 13
Creature 12
Brakkus 12
Dragging sound 8

Feeling his throat constrict under the pressure of the oak's limb, Maelicent desperately scrabbles a wand free from his belt. Holding the miniature stick aloft and striking its alchemical tip against the nearest branch what as grabs him by the neck, Maelicent is delighted to see fire spring from the tindertwig. The Gudwulf warrior snakes his free hand forward again, hoping to strike the tree a second time but misses. From across the glade opposite the fire, the mallorn begins to huff and chaw, though whether from the billows of smoke engulfing its trunk or from evil glee isn't clear to the goblin.

The oak withdraws some of the twigs nearest the lit tindertwig still held in Maelicent's free hand but otherwise maintains its hold on the Gudwulf. The tree reacts to the goblin's antics with apoplectic rage and squeezes even tighter, dealing another 7 points of non-lethal damage. Maelicent continues to twist and turn with a fury, vainly trying to free himself from the crushing grasp of the oak. In his struggles, the goblin notes that the trees have kept open the twisting path leading into the heart of the wood nearer the keep and that where the fir tree once stood, there is now a gap in the ring of foliage.