Final Fantasy J

[Jemal]

[sblock=Init]
Mage 21
Mikken 18
Bandits/Bruisers 17
Aluf 15
Leita 12
KYO 10
Frida 5
Sorry, the badguys rolled high.
[/sblock]

The Mage sees Kyo heading for him and his eyes widen as he quickly chants the words to a spell, covering the area between him and Kyo with grease.

Mikken, muttering under his breath, drops a hail of stones on the bruisers, battering them a bit(15 damage) and slowing their charge. (NOTE: 20'Radius, Kyo is 20' in front of them. Thus 5' in FRONT of them would have it hitting Kyo, so I'll assume it went off just behind them.)

The Bandits reload and fire another volley(Kyo 8*nat 20*, Mikken 1, Leita7), though one of them breaks his bowstring(nat 1) and drops it, drawing short sword & Shield.
Two of The Bruisers stagger forwards out of the field. Finding themselves beside Kyo, they swing, but they're wild attacks are easily parried by the skilled swordsman. The others head for the Choco-riding mage, two of them hitting (8,14) while he parries the third. The fourth tries manuevering around him to get at the girls.

Aluf draws his sword and advances on the bruiser who's trying to get at the girls, though the large man manages to parry the blow with his greatsword.

Leita sights her bow in on the mage.

Kyo easily flips past the two bruisers, leaving them wondering where he went, and speeds towards the mage. The grease doesn't even slow him (Take 10 balance check) as he slides across it to the astonished horror of the mage, though only one of his furrious blows manages to penetrate the robed mans magical defenses.
Seeing that this savage swordsman was harder to stop than he thought, the mage steps backwards (He delayed after his QUICKENED spell), and casts a spell. As he does so, an arrow zooms in (Leita's readied action) but pings off his magical protections as he transforms his appearance into that of Leita, giving Kyo pause even as he feels Frida's healing pour through him (44 healed).
[sblock=Leita] It was actually a Baleful Transposition spell(I rolled the save for you, got a 2. sry). Right after you saw him start casting, you fired, but a moment later were no longer looking at him. Instead, Kyo's looking down at you, sword raised, and you're in the bush.[/sblock]
[sblock=Frida]Nobody else seems to have noticed, but the mage is standing right beside you, where Leita was a second ago.. [/sblock]

[sblock=Combat Info]
OK, Bruisers 1&2 are standing 25' from Mikken (Where Kyo used to be),
3,4,5 are facing Mikken, 6 is facing off with Aluf.
Bandit 1 is wielding shortsword/shield, 2-6 are still firing crossbows.
Mikken and Aluf are slightly ahead of the two girls, forming a barrier between them and the bruisers, but to the side they are an open target from the bandits (If you wish, you can move back about 15 feet to take cover behind the wagons, but that may draw more fire towards bystanders).
Kyo is in melee with the Mage (Who currently looks like Leita for some reason), with the bandits only a few feet away (In fact, Bandit #1 looks like he'll be advancing on you next round).
BTW, when assaulting a badguy, please state WHICH one you're attacking. (I numbered them in relation to who they're fighting, for ease)
Also of Note, Thaedrus did not roll in, so I had his character caught 'off-guard' by the sudden ferocity of the combat this round.

[/sblock]
[sblock=ooc]
PLEASE include AC as well as HP in your ooc combat block at the end of your post.
Also I need Fort saves from Kyo, Mikken, and Leita in your next post (Though the effects are not immediate so don't worry about whether you succeed.)
Also, I know that technically the mage can't quicken AND delay, but it was either that or kill a pc on Mage's turn. I go for the cool thing rather than by the RAW.
[/sblock]

 

[Brother Allard]

Eyes wide, nostrils flared, Aluf shakes his long black hair loose and raises his massive sword high above his head. Taking a massive breath, he shouts the distinctively unnerving warcry for which he had become so famed in the war - a high-pitched, ululating cry, unnerving to all but the most hearty.

He stomps his foot and sweeps the masamune low, looking to remove his challenger's feet at the ankles.

OOC: Swift action: Knight's Daunting Challenge (all foes within 100' of CR 10 or lower are shaken [WillNeg, DC 19]). Full attack: masamune +18/+13/+8 (3d6+7, 19-20/x2, 10' reach).

Aluf attacks at a range of 10'. If his opponent closes, he of course, gets the AOO. I still can't get on to invisible castle, so if you could make the rolls, I would greatly appreciate it.

And again, sorry for my lack of action here. Things should be back to normal now.

HP 172 (12 + 11d12 [88] + 72)
AC 26 (10 base + 1 dex + 10 armor + 3 shield + 1 deflection + 1 natural armor)
DR 2/-

 

[Arkhandus]

Mikken, HP 52/75, AC 21 (22 vs. Dodge target)

Mikken tries to figure out what to do, hopping down behind his chocobo while commanding it to attack one of the bruisers in front that had just wounded Mikken.

After a moment's hesitation, Mikken moves a bit to the side by his chocobo, casting a defensive spell on himself quickly.

(ooc: move action to get down, 5-foot step, then Mage Armor. Dodge feat oriented on the bandit nearest him when he moves.)

[sblock=Jemal]You got me confused as to where the bandits were positioned......I thought I understood before, but now I don't have a clue. And now I'm not sure if my Ice Storm even slowed them down in the approach.

Mikken's Fortitude save for whatever you have planned is a 26.
Fortitude save for Mikken (1d20+9=26)

Mikken tries to hop down from his chocobo quickly, but fails the Ride check, so his dismount uses up a move action.
Mikken's Ride check to dismount as a free action (1d20+5=12)

Mikken attempts to identify the enemy mage's second spell when cast.....Spellcraft check of 33.
Spellcraft check to identify mage's second spell (1d20+17=33)

Mikken's chocobo attacks the bruiser that hit Mikken the hardest (I'm assuming stats of a light warhorse as before)......First claw is a 16 for 6 damage, second claw is a 22 for 7 damage, and bite/peck is a 10 for 3 damage. I forgot to include the +1 attack bonus for Haste in the rolls, but added it to these totals. The chocobo's extra attack from Haste on the full-attack was a claw roll of 20 for 7 damage (after the Haste bonus).
Claw, claw, and bite attack by Mikken's chocobo (1d20+4=15, 1d4+3=6, 1d20+4=21, 1d4+3=7, 1d20-1=9, 1d3+1=3)


I have no idea what Mikken should do. I need to know if he noticed that the enemy mage cast Baleful Transposition, so that Mikken would know to look all around by his friends to see what's up. Mikken's action, besides hopping down from the chocobo, depends entirely on whether or not he notices that the enemy mage has switched places with Leita.

So......I need input on that before I finish Mikken's action. He's either going to move around the side to flank a bruiser or get in its way at least, while drawing his blades, OR he's going to move right up next to the transpositioned mage while drawing his blades, OR he's going to fire off a pair of Scorching Rays at somebody, OR he's going to cast Mage Armor on somebody.....

And if he notices that the mage is now over here, he'll shout out loudly to Kyo that the mage has teleported over here.[/sblock]

 

[Jemal]

[sblock=ooc]
Well, in my original post I stated they were 20' from Kyo, who was 30' in front of you guys. Ice storm has a 20' radius, and your post said you were putting it "centered on a point 5 feet closer to him than the middle of the 6 big bruisers" which would put the center 15' from Kyo. it DID slow them to half speed while they were in it (Meaning it took them 40' of movement to get out of it instead of 20'). Unfortunately, they're barbarians, which you couldn't have known at the start, and have a movement rate of 40' flat. Meaning they can charge 80', and were 30' away from you when they exited the storm, giving them plenty of movement left to complete their charge. It was a good tactic, and you'll be gaining bonus XP for it at the end of the combat, but unfortunately their barbarian nature made it not work. (Just like the mage's grease spell was useless against Kyo's dervish).

As for the spell. To identify a spell, you need to either see or hear it. Given that you're currently engaged in a melee with three large men and the mage was 30' to your SIDE, in the bushes, engaged in a melee of his own, I'll let you make spot/listen checks to see if you catch it, followed by your spellcraft check.

The point's entirely moot if Frida shouts, however. (Speaking = Free action)[/sblock]
[sblock=arkhandus only please]
Also, I'd like to state my displeasure that you read a spoiler with somebody elses name on it, as such is the only way you could have known he cast baleful transposition. I won't do anything bad to your character this time b/c I SHOULD have given you a spot/listen check in the first place, but I don't tag things to specific people just for my own amusement.
[/sblock]

 

[Arkhandus]

(edited in Mikken's probable action above)

[sblock=Jemal OOC]Also, I'd like to state my displeasure that you read a spoiler with somebody elses name on it, as such is the only way you could have known he cast baleful transposition. I won't do anything bad to your character this time b/c I SHOULD have given you a spot/listen check in the first place, but I don't tag things to specific people just for my own amusement.

Sorry, I only read Frida's because her in-character description said she tried to deflect an attack but failed, which made me wonder what that meant since we hadn't the chance to cast any magical protections yet (which lead me to assume she had the Deflect Arrows feat but somehow failed with it, even though it's automatic in 3.5).

So I glanced at it and saw the Deflect Arrows thing, and thought I should comment on that, but since I hadn't read any of the spoiler blocks before (nor now, aside from that one), not in the PC sheet thread nor the others, I didn't know that Frida was wearing some kind of magic item that has a special ability similar to Deflect Arrow, not the actual Deflect Arrows feat itself......

I thought she had forgotten the DA change from 3.0 to 3.5 and commented on it, as I've heard people make that DA error before in other campaigns.
Apologies.

Regarding the bandits, I just thought I had gotten confused about their initial positions, but I guess it's clearer now, sorta. Mikken's spot or listen check result is 17, but I don't know if that is sufficient for anything at the mage's 20 to 50-odd feet of distance away, since I'm a bit confused still. Mikken is not very observant.
Mikken's spot or listen check to maybe notice the spell (1d20+0=17)

Edit: dur, I'm stupid. Anyway....I guess I did read another sblock earlier out of confusion when the mage turned into Leita, but I forgot. I'm impulsive once in a while despite my usual self-control. [/sblock]

 

[Sound of Azure]

Frida cries out in fear at the sudden appearance of the mage. "W-what the heck?!!" Eyes wide and panicking slightly, she backs away from him, almost bumping into the chocobo. She brings up her staff in defensively front of her, her composure beginning to return. "Oh, you're a cheeky one! Why don't you... take a break?"
The girl's eyes flash with power as she invokes a spell. "In fact, why don't you all just... Halt"

[sblock=ooc]
Greater command on mage and nearest up to 9 bruisers within 30 feet of him. DC 20 Will save negates, 10 round duration, new save each round. Halt command = stand and take no actions (but isn't helpless).

Ahhh! Help!!! [/sblock]

 

[Jemal]

Still need Leita, Kyo, Mesa.
[sblock=mikken]
Not high enough to see/hear what the Mage did, but high enough to hear Frida's strange conversation behind you, glance back, and see the Mage. You're still engaged with 3 brusiers though, remember.
[/sblock]

 

[Caros]

"You think thats going to stop me?" Kyo asks simply as the mage transforms before his eyes, taking on the form of one his dearest friends. Though he was not well versed in magic, Kyo was no idiot. There were seven archers, and only one of them, the one he was trying to impersonate, had a clean shot at him. His eyes narrowed Kyo brought his sword up in a flashing strike from his side, raking it across the "Woman's" body an a brutal strike.

Then he heard Frida's scream, his head turning back long enough to see the mage he had just attacked standing not ten feet from her. And it clicked, horrified eyes looking back to Leita, wooden sword quivering in his grip, the fire and color in his eyes seeming to drain off to nothing.

Behind him he could feel the advance of the new threat, short sword in hand, raising with intent to strike, his gaze staring helplessly at the friend who he had struck in foolish pride. And yet he stood there, waiting for the blow to fall, too shocked and horrified to even raise his own weapon in defence.

"No."

And then he twitched, doing his best to ward off the attack as he spun, his eyes shining again with more intensity than ever before, movements fluid and precise as he struck at the man behind him, Laying on with quick blows and moving past to advance on the remaining bandits if possible. "No one kills me, not you, and not KYO!"

((OOC: SORRY! No one warned Kyo that it wasn't the mage, and I didn't want to metagame =/ *hates attacking PC's.*))

[sblock=combat]Poison save 20

Attack on Leita AC 30, Damage 25

Jemal, I'm activating my special. I'll let you handle the rolls. ^_^;[/sblock]

 

[Guest 11456]

Leita, seeing that her position has changed and that she is now in danger, ducks down and places her hands over her head. "Kyo! No! It's me! LEITA!"

OOC: Sorry. Busy weekend.
HP: 65/72
AC: 19
Fort Save: 10

 

[Jemal]

[sblock=Bruisers Vs Bandits]
just for the record, the BRUISERS (big barbarian guys) are on the road, the BANDITS (rogue-types w/bows) are in the forest.[/sblock]

[sblock=Initiative]
Mikken 18
Bandits/Bruisers 17
Aluf 15
KYO 10
Mage 9
Leita 8
Frida 5
[/sblock]

Mikken leaps off his Chocobo and steps away from the bruisers, covering himself in magical armour as the Chocobo pecks and boots one of the Bruisers (Bruiser#3, 3 hits, 12 damage total).
The badguys response is to move forward, two of them coming at him(Chocobo AoO misses, 1 hit on Mikken, 19 damage) the third comes around the Chocobo's other side, heading for Frida (1 hit, 16 damage). The fourth Roars at Aluf, swinging his greataxe twice at the veteran, connecting painfully (2 hits, total 31). The two still standing in the middle of the road look at each other, shrug, and charge in opposite directions, one heading for Kyo, the other heading for Aluf. (Both missed, Aluf AoO=19dmg).
Aluf responds by letting out a cry which shakes all who hear it (except the mage who made his save ), and then unleashing on the one he'd struck previously(Bandit#2, 2 hits, 32 damage) though the severely injured barbarian refuses to go down.
5 arrows fly in at the party from the bandits, 1 sinking into Aluf (8), and another striking Frida(8)
The bandit with the sword steps forward, flanking Kyo and slashing at him, though the skilled swordsman blocks it without a thought as he continues bashing away at the 'Mage' (25 damage to Leita) before realizing what he'd done. His demeanor changing, he turns and bashes the bandit across the face, then steps past him and smashes the bokken against the back of his neck, dropping him. Meanwhile, Leita cowers away from the pain and the sudden ferocity of her 'friend'. (Total Defense)

Frida Commands the badguys on the road to HALT and three of them do, though the Mage, and both bruisers fighting Aluf remain unaffected.

[sblock=combat info]
Bruiser 1 is in melee with Kyo. Bruisers 2&3 are in melee with Aluf. Bruisers 4&5 are in melee with Mikken and are Halted. Bruiser 6 is in melee with Frida and Halted.
Bandit 1 dead. Bandits 2-6 still firing. (Closest to Kyo is 10' away.)
the Mage is 10' from Frida, 15' from Mikken (who's right by frida), and 25' from Aluf. (who's 10' from Mikken)
[/sblock]
[sblock=ooc]
Just a reminder, PLEASE include all relevant numbers in your combat posts, including AC and Current/Max HP, as well as the # of the bandit/bruiser you're attacking.
Also, for any of you who have Damage Reduction, I am NOT removing that from the attacks, so remember to deduct it yourself (*cough* Aluf *Cough*)

Also, I messed a bit with init order in the description, to make it flow better, it has no game effect.[/sblock]