CB's City of the Spider Queen v3.5

[CanadienneBacon]

Prixo, standing his ground in O9, draws his bow and notches an arrow to the bow's string. Looking about himself for other possible trouble, Prixo scans the market stalls, shops, and craggy stalactite-hung ceiling for foes. Not seeing anything save Drider 1 amidst the busy bazaar, nor anything on the ceiling where the orog pointed, Prixo steadies his hand and focuses on firing a poisoned arrow at the first foe to beset the party. The orog's offer of secure retreat seems sound enough to Prixo--money is often a sure enough security in these parts. At Zarra's shout, however, Prixo looks up again and this time spies Drider 2 as the large creature scurries out from behind cover.

Still in L10, Zarra draws her rapier and quickly puts her pack back in place. Her shout of alarm causes several customers and merchants nearby to look up and gasp. A young drow boy, in the middle of handing over silver coins to a merchant in exchange for a vial of oil, hastily drops the coins to the floor and footpads a hasty exit back toward Drider 1. The crowd quickly exhibits first irritation at the fleeing boy, then gasps of surprise and shock as Drider 2 is spotted.

Drider 3 scuttles from behind a particularly large calcite stalactite hanging from the ceiling and moves forward 30 feet, a wicked red shortbow in its hands. The creature has the head and torso of a male drow but the legs and lower body of a giant mottled brown spider. Firing from 100 feet up on the ceiling, but 10 feet south of K'yorl, Drider 3 takes aim at K'yorl from just over a combined 100 feet away. The arrow whistles through the air but misses K'yorl, instead hitting a troglodyte merchant in the throat six feet away. The troglodyte keels over, blood spurting from the puncture hole in its neck.

Prixo, seeing the opportunity he'd been awaiting, fires his own arrow in reply at Drider 3. Though far away up on the ceiling, Drider 3 is still within good range of his bow. Prixo's arrow hits true, striking Drider 3 in the softer underbelly, dealing a total of 15 points of damage, 3 of which is frost and 6 of which is shock.

Alex quickly determines that Drider 1 has a pair of daggers in the front two of its eight legs. After seeing that Ardyth shows on sign of retreat, Alex readies his silver spiked chain to disarm the drider of at least one dagger.

Drider 2 begins to climb down the far wall of the cavern behind a row of shop fronts. As the large creature scuttles down on eight legs, it suddenly blinks from view.

Hael, having activated his boots, flies back toward Drider 1 to engage. From F9, Hael hurls his throwing axe from a distance of 15 feet. Still within partial range of the weapon but wary of whether the creature has reach, Hael strikes Drider 1 squarely on the head with the throwing axe, scoring a blow that deals 6 points of dmg. Viscous brown ichor wells from the wound.

Ardyth, standing behind Alex, casts see invisibility and scans the wall where Drider 2 disappeared.

@Ardyth [sblock]Drider 2 is invisible and climbing down the far cavern wall and started out in roughly W3. By the end of its turn it is 60 feet down and getting ready to jump onto the rooftops of the shops in that area.[/sblock]

Queastag, having no stomach for the rigors of battle, rudely tugs on K'yorl's sleeve to get the drowess's attention. In a harried throaty whisper, the orog hulks forward and motions to the side alley. "Come, Queastag guide you now, we leave. All?" The orog draws a short sword and looks around at the others, but makes no menacing gesture toward K'yorl.

Lyssa, in a foul temper after the effects of her drink wear off and irritated at having been beset by a swarm of merchants, whips a wand into view and intones, "Kundrithly." Directing the bead of fire at Drider 3, a fireball explodes high above on the ceiling, dealing 16 points of damage to Drider 3 and one of the mottled red spiders nearby. Drider 3 appears to be only partially burnt by the spread of flames but the red-striped spider sizzles and falls to the bazaar floor in a smoking ball of chitine. The crowd in the area where the red-striped spider hits scatter and shouts ring out.

Enmasse, the remaining eleven red-striped spiders begin spindling down on silk thread from their perch on the ceiling. The three spiders nearer the side wall use the rock of the cavern wall to aid their descent while four others drop on threads toward the rooftops of the row of shops. Three other of the spiders simply spindle down on thread toward the bazaar floor, some 100 feet away. The spiders appear to be making slow progress.

K'yorl casts sanctuary on herself but, not being threated by melee, stands her ground in O10 after drawing out her wand.

Blite pushes his hulking way through Zarra, Ardyth, Alex and the general throng of the marketplace back toward Drider 1, drawing his greatsword as he goes. Blite's attempt to push forward and sidestep Hael, who had moved nearer to Drider 1, causes two entire merchant stalls on Blite's right side to collapse. An angry cry, muffled in part by howls of pain from nearby marketgoers, ensues from that section of the bazaar. With a roar, Blite swings at Drider 1 and scores a massive blow, dealing critical damage for a total of 43 points, slaying Drider 1 on the spot.

Initiative:

Prixo 23
Zarra 19
Drider
Alex 15
Drider
Hael 12
Ardyth 9
Orog
Lyssa 8
Spiders
K'yorl 6
Blite 4
Drider

Battlemap forthcoming. Please hang tight before posting, as you'll want to see current positions.

 

[Mellubb]

Staying as close to Ardyth as possible. Alex activates his shield allowing it to float in front of him as he follows te wizard through the back allies.

 

[Eydis]

Zarra will take this opportunity to hide amongst the shops and watch for the spiders heading this way, in order to sneak up on one. (Hide +10)

 

[Guest 11456]

Ardyth : Female Human Wizard 10

Ardyth keeps track of the invisible drider and tries to judge her next course of action. She would rather electrify it if she can get a clear shot. But she will choose missiles if the need arises.

[sblock]OOC: Lightning Bolt (10d6) if there is a clear shot (she will avoid injuring any bystanders) or drop the sleep spell for a magic missile (5d4+5).[/sblock]

 

[kinem]

That minotaur is certainly strong. I'll have to keep an eye on him.

I wonder if that other one teleported or became invisible ...

Think you can outduel me in archery, drider? Prixo hopes that if he brings down the drider on the ceiling, the spiders would flee.

Prixo reaches for more arrows - this time from the other quiver that hangs at his back, clicks his heels together, and very quickly fires again at the drider he'd hit.

(ooc: using Rapid Shot and a round of Haste from the boots, attack +16/+11/+16/+16, damage 1d8 + 5 + 1d6 frost + 1d6 shock (no poison))

 

[wmasters]

Blite turns and looks for his next foe. If he sees either spiders or a drider on the ground(or within reach of his greatsword) he moves to attack them. If there is no-one in reach, he heads back over to the orog, keeping his greatsword drawn.

OOC: Any attack would be a single attack, and therefore at: Greatsword +16 melee (10ft reach), 3d6+13dmg, 17-20/x2

 

[Watus]

K'yorl draws a wicked looking little blade from the folds of her robe and in a clear voice, intones a prayer in an unfamiliar and ominous language.

[OOC: draw dagger and cast Invisibility Purge - all forms of invisibility with 40 ft. of her are negated for the next eight minutes.]

 

[Voadam]

Hael smiles grimly as his axe strikes the drider in the face. When the minotaur rushes past and smashes the spidertaur like a bug it impresses the dwarf and he gives the horned warrior a nod and grunt but does not pause as he takes to the air. Hael flies over to Drider 3 and brings his wicked looking battle axe into play against the visible drow outcast hanging from the ceiling.

ooc winged boots fly at 60' speed if in light armor and light encumbrance or 40' otherwise, can charge for double speed and still attack. Not sure of the height he needs to climb but will charge up if necessary to close and get in range for full attacks the next round.

Battle Axe +1 Wounding +14 melee 1d8+5 dmg x3 (+1 con) cold iron
+16 melee if charging with -2 to AC.

 

[Scotley]

Lyssa Gloaming

Sheathing her wand and pulling her sword, Lyssa's wings begin to flap rapidly as she flies toward the crispy drider still on the ceiling. "You're mine bugman!"

OOC: Don't expect to get there this round.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

Prixo fires three shots at Drider 3 in quick succession. The first shot goes wildly astray, the arrow piercing the cavern ceiling. Undaunted, Prixo continues to increase his bead on Drider 3 and successfully hits the creature with his other two arrows, dealing 9 points of damage plus 1 point of frost damage, plus 2 points of shock damage with the second arrow, then 7 points of damage, plus 6 points of frost damage, plus 6 points of shock damage with the third arrow. Drider 3 emits a piercing shriek and loses its grasp on the cavern ceiling, its lifeless arrow-riddled form falling far below to the bazaar floor not ten feet from Prixo and K'yorl. The crowd of merchants and customers in the immediate vicinity scream and scramble over one another to flee the scene, trampling others and knocking over merchant shanty stalls as they cut a swath away from the bazaar.

Zarra crawls under a merchant stall selling moss agate stones in J11 and lies in wait, watching and hiding in her new cubby.

Alex, having activated his heavy steel shield so that the protective item hovers in the air of its own volition in front of him, notes that Ardyth seems to be standing her ground and looking with interest off to the left, toward the row of shops abutting the far cavern wall. Wanting to protect his fellow human, Alex stands his ground and, his chain at the ready, scans the market for signs of foes.

From the rooftops of the line of shop fronts along the western wall of the bazaar's cavewall comes a many-layered mass of strong, sticky strands. Drider 2, a wickedly bemused smile at play on its green lips, quickly pops into view just as the webbing shoots forth. The webbing lands with a wet splat in M9 and quickly spreads to grasp at everything and everyone within a 20 foot radius spread, attaching itself to the merchant stalls as an anchor. Alex, Ardyth, Zarra, Lyssa, Prixo, and K'yorl soon find themselves engulfed in the sticky webbing and struggle to get free. While Zarra, Lyssa, and Prixo right themselves this round, Alex, Ardyth, and K'yorl are entangled in the webbing.

I've scanned everyone's character sheets and don't believe, for those who missed their reflex save, that anyone currently possesses an item or ability that would negate the effect of the webbing. Let me know if you feel I have this in error. Zarra, Lyssa, and Prixo are entangled but may move through the web very slowly--each round it will be a new Str or Escape Artist check and for each full 5 point increment that you beat a DC of 10 you may move 5 feet. Alex, Ardyth, and K'yorl may not move at all without first breaking loose by spending 1 round to make a DC 20 Str check or DC 25 Escape Artist check. Ardyth, Lyssa, and K'yorl all successfully identify the spell as web.

Hael, with the aid of his winged boots, flies up 25 feet to be on an even level with the now-visible Drider 2 who sits perched atop the row of shop roofs. Flying a further 85 feet to R4, Hael finds himself 20 feet from Drider 2 and directly eye-level--albeit from a short distance. Having double-timed to get from Drider 1 to Drider 2, Hael stops to consider his best angle of attack against the drider.

Given the height of the stalls and the shop fronts, and the general tumult of people in the marketplace, Hael doesn't have the straight line of sight that he needs to charge; thus, he needed to move up first, then over. I've left Hael enough movement to be able to charge in Round 3 or simply attack from 20 feet away. Let me know if I've misunderstood your intent.

Ardyth, engulfed in webbing, struggles uselessly against the sticky sheets of spider web and remains motionless. After spending a second or two writhing to free herself, Ardyth stops struggling in favor of concentrating on her arcane prowess. Having singled out Drider 2, Ardyth drops a sleep spell to activate magic missile and casts her spell at Drider 2. Five missiles of magical energy dart from Ardyth's fingertips and strike Drider 2 squarely on the thorax, dealing 13 points of damage.

Queastag, sensing an impending stampede in the marketplace and K'yorl's determination not to flee, avails himself of an opportunity to leave and turns to flee back through the alley in which he stood. The odor of his leather armor lingers in the air long after his departure.

Lyssa rips free of the remaining tendrils of webbing that grasp at her form and moves to L13. Nearly free of the webbing, Lyssa figures she can break out entirely next round.

The red-striped spiders animatedly trundle down their fine silken threads toward the ground below. The spiders in T4, U5, W6, and Y5 land on the rooftops of the store fronts and now surround Drider 2. The spiders in T2, U3, and X3 are all within 5 feet of landing or jumping on the rooftop next round. The spider hovering over the market stall in Y8 is still 15 feet of the top of the stall and 20 feet from landing on the cavern floor amidst the bazaar. The spiders in V9, W10, and V11 are all still scrabbling down their threads and are 20 feet above the bazaar byway.

K'yorl foregoes struggling against the webs in order to concentrate on her spell and successfully casts invisibility purge. A tiefling suddenly pops into view in S10, not twenty feet south of K'yorl and Prixo, just beyond the arrow-riddled corpse of Drider 3. Surprised to find himself visible, the tiefling hesitates a moment then scrabbles underneath the market stall that he had been leaning against.

Figuring that he might be able to get at Drider 2 (who is perched only 25 feet up atop the shop roofs), Blite lumbers angles west toward Drider 2, coming to a rest in H7, just north of the webbing. Careful to stop before the webbing and the now panick-stricken crowds, but unfortunately plowing right through the entire section of market stalls in H, G, F, and E 8, Blite stops to assess his best bet on how to get to Drider 2.