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[FR][PBP] Against the Storm Game Thread

(Sorry everyone, ENBoards haven't worked for me all week...so, without further adieu):

After activating his boots and casting his spell, Calain throws a Minor Globe of Invulnerability around himself and casts Evard's Black Tentacles in an attempt to grapple any drow that come on board near him...
 

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A map is not all that necessary in this case. Think of a ship, with one mast and a raised back section for the captain's quarters. Then imagine that there are two floating box-boats towards each end on each side. There are ropes and hooks going from the box-boats to the deck. As far as the battle goes, think in quadrants, corresponding to a quarter of the ship and a box-boat. One quadrant seems to be under control, as Rysian is holding off the drow, who don't have sniper cover anymore. Each of the other three has one fighter at it (H-Orcs and Akharos). Ubaar and Calain are casting spells form the center, Alcar is in an unspecified quadrant, and Frian, and Alex can enter appropriate quadrants as needed, .

Calain secures his position, using his boots to speed his spellcasting (haste), causing his skin to darken somewhat, its surface hardening and becoming like living stone (stoneskin), putting himself in a minor globe of invulnerability and summoning dark tentacles from the deck of the ship to grab drow when they crest.

Each boxboat (besides the one that Rysian is covering) has two snipers covering the advance and four drow climbing up. There are trap doors on the top of each of the box-boats, and from each emerges a mage. Alcar immediately summons his spiritual Maul to harry the mage in his quadrant, and prepares to fire his bow. the Maul smashes into the mage's head, disrupting his spell (17 dmg crit).

Ubaar summons the power of the thunderbeast, stomping on the ship and sending ripples through the water and shock waves through the air. On Alcar's side, they knock down the snipers. He cannot strike the other side without hitting his comrades guarding it. Alcar shoots the mage twice and kills him.

The other three get their spells off. Each blasts a pea-sized goat of fire at the ship which explodes into a brilliant sphere of flame, blasting the fighters guarding the ship's edge, damaging the ship, and destroying the ship's rim used for cover.

Rysian's arrow pierces the mage in his quadrant and knocks him back into the boxboat. (PC DMG: Elone 15, Ahharos 16, Ubaar 16, Frian 8, everyone else avoided dmg). The three remaining on top of the boxboat drow are climbing towards Rysian.

In the two quadrants with both snipers standing and fireballs successful (Akharos' and the H-Orc one that Alcar was not at.), The snipers shoot at the fighters, who are now without cover, while the other four drow climbers stream onto the deck.

One of the H-orcs is shot three times. He is knocked back, but does not fall. The drow on his side do board, however.

Alex finally finishes his flaming oil bomb, but the only safe place to lob it is onto Alcar's side. The barrel shatters and flames up beautifully, lighting the two prone drow ablaze. The oil pours into the boat as well, igniting gunpowder stored in the ship (apparently to be used to scuttle captured vessels), and the internal explosion causes the boxboat to implode and suck the flaming snipers in. There is too much smoke to tell, but you assume that they are dead.

The other four are still hanging on to the side of the boat, however, and they crest to challenge Alcar, Alex, and the HOrc.

On Akharos' side, the snipers fire four bolts into him, two right in the center of his chest. (2 crits, 2 regular, 44 dmg total, so 60 this round out of 70 total). Akharos is throw down by the force of the blows and is quickly overcome by their poison. Four drow board on his side, too.

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Summary: You estimate that 6 or 7 drow are dead. Elone and Akharos are down due to poison and have taken a lot of dmg. One of the H-Orcs is badly wounded, too.

The rest of you are on the deck of the ship, with Calain's summoned tentacles protecting you somewhat. 11 Drow, apparently fighter types have boarded. At least 4 snipers and two mages are still in/on the boxboats.
 

OOC: Well, crap... that sucked for Akharos... what was Dead_Radish's plan again? Oh, yeah...

Lie there. Lie there. Be kicked when someone moves over me. Lie there. Roll a bit with the ship. Lie there (double move). Have a nice dream about woodchucks. Lie there.

Akharos does that, too. :(
 

Alcar will stash the bow and draw his maul. He'll then enter melee with boarders trying to coordinate with another defender (fighting back to back) to avoid getting flanked.
 

Ubaar sees Akharos fall and shouts out "Men down! Drow on board!" and engages the drow on the deck with Greatsword and Tail.

He won't hide behind the mage's (Calain's) cheap-ass (he thinks) magic Tentacles of Grappling.

He'll try to keep the drow between he and the sniper & mages on the other side of the boat.

OOC: Who goes first? Do we have initiative?

I think Ubaar should have Tail of the Beast up by now, since he didn't cast Barkskin.
This would give him an extra attack with 10' range, and allow for AoO's on advancing drow.
His STR is now 34 (+7) (Surge of Strength and Rage Gauntlets), and let me know how many Surges of Strength he will have had to use to keep his STR up this whole battle (each lasts 1d4+1 round, free action to activate - each Rage lasts 6 rounds)

I can't tell without a map whether he could Trample one and continue his attack into another, or if he'd want to ready an attack for their charge(if they look liike they may be setting up for one) so that he could Power Throw one of them back into the rest, etc.
Unfortunately, maps are kind of required for tactical combat in 3E, IMO.
 

Calain snarls and keeps towards the center of the ship, directing five of his tentacles to grapple the drow boarding near to Akharos and directing the others to grapple as they see fit.

With a wave of his hand and a spoken word, a dagger of force materializes before him and flies at the mage not being harried by Alcar's hammer, to harry this one. (Shelgarn's Persistant Blade)

Turning, he summons up four 2d6 balls of lightning and one 1d6 ball of lightning (Ball Lightning). He directs the four 2d6 balls to fly at the archers and harass them while the 1d6 ball flies at the mage bothered by Shelgarn's Persistent Blade.
 

OOC (Lots o combat Data): New initiative is rolled as the ship is boarded. The location and nature of the battle is totally different, people are not fighting with lots of readied actions, and there are many new combatants.

Drow Squad 1 19
Drow Squad 2 13
Drow Squad 3(the one with only three in it) 23
Sniper Squad 1 21
Sniper Squad 2 23
Mage 1 20
Mage 2 10
Ubaar 10
Calain 22
Elone 21
Alcar 12
Akharos 9
Frian 5
Alex 18
HOrc 1 11
HOrc 2(the wounded one) 17
Rysian 16

Order =DS3/SS2, Calain, SS1, Elone(Down), Mage 1, DS1, Alex, HOrc 2, Rysian, DS2, Alcar, HOrc1, Ubaar/Mage 1, Akharos(Down), Frian.

The mages are on their boxboats on opposite sides of the ship.
DS3 is the one boarding where Rysian is.
DS1 and SS1 are boarding where they dropped Akharos.
DS2 and SS2 are boarding where the injured HOrc is.
 

(OOC- reaper, since Matt posted that he had you casting Barkskin in the first round, my guess is that he just forgot to post it later and that you it cast)

Alex will do a jumping attack at one of the drow who is already distracted and then darts back to his more secure position. Ideally, he helps attack a drow in a group that is going to be badly damaged this round. If possible, he retreats to higher ground or to an easily defended position (for example, against a wall).

(Spring Attack against a drow who will be flanked- hopefully concentrating his attacks to wipe out a single group of drow)

(OOC: what kind of armor are these drow wearing?)
 

Frian sees the shark get hit by a few harpoon's from Sauhugan manning the rigging under the ship, and then get hacked up as they move in for the kill. There appear to be 6 Sauhugan down there.
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OOC: Meanwhile....I am going to post this round of combat now. Frian hasnt posted, but thats somewhat OK because he is going last. /OOC

Calain's tentacles surround him and Frian (both of whom they ignore. The rest of the fighting is out of their range, which is fortunate, because they do not distinguish between friend and foe, making them a bad choice to use when fighting off superior numbers with individually powerful characters.

Alex: Half the drow are wearing mithril armor consisting of breastplates and chain sleeves, and the other half are wearing studded leather (all masterwork if not slightly magical).

The three drow reach Rysian before he can fire at them again or switch to a sword. The lead drow throws a net at him and entangles him, while the other two wrestle him to the ground. The lead drow moves to tie the rope lead cord around Rysian with the help of another, while the third drow recovers, helping hold Rysian down with his foot, while drawing a repeating hand xbow to defend against anyone who approaches.

The second sniper squad meanwhile crests behind their fighters and shoots four more bolts at the wounded HOrc, two of them penetrating. With five bolts in him and fireball burns, he finally falls.

Calain summns up a dagger that flies towards one of the mages, and then points his finger in the air. It glows and lightning shoots up from his hand. A small circle of lightning forms around his hand, and then three bigger balls form from it, with electricity traveling through the whole upside-down pyramid structure. The bolts fly at their targets as directed by Calain, shock them, and stick around to strike again. The mage's spells are disrupted, but the sniper squad resists the magic.

The other sniper squad opens fire at Calain and Frian, hitting Frian once (8dmg). Either the bolt was not envenomed, or it had no effect on him.

The other two drow squads move towards the defenders. Ubaar roars and he sprouts a long spiked tail and his muscles bulge. The Thunderbeast encourages him with a vision of Hermod on this very ship digging his axe into the neck of a green dragon, and another vision of Hermod elsewhere on this river tossing around drow pirates like rag dolls along with a robed Shou man that Ubaar does not recognize. Alex positions himself right behind Ubaar, ready to strike at the drow when they get close enough.

Meanwhile, Alcar and the other HOrc prepare to fact the onslaught back to back.

As the drow approach, swords in hand, the leader pulls out and throws a net onto Ubaar, entangling him. Ubaar ignores it for the time being and lashes out with his tail as they approach (25 dmg each). Each blow knocks them back some, and the tail tears the chests out of the two lesser-armored ones. the other two hack at Ubaar, slashing into the huge bony plates of his trunk twice with their blades (30 dmg). While they are distracted fighting Ubaar, Alex jumps onto a loose rope and swings into a drow rapier-first, stabbing him through the chest and dropping him. Alex lets the blade slide out of his quarry as he turns on the rope and swings back to safety behind Ubaar. The drow, surprised to see there two lacing into them like this, are clearly frightened as Ubaar steps forward. His Hizarkurr blade sparks and flashes eagerly as he swings it, slashing through the chest of one so hard that a pair of ribs fly out, then spinning with the blow and beheading the drow warrior before he hits the ground."

Meanwhile, Alcar and the other Horc are not quite as successful. The four drow move in on the HOrc and Alcar, netting the Orc first. The HOrc flies into a rage, and one of them slashes him. He instantly succumbs to the green poison on the blade and falls. Alcar swings his Maul once, driving them back slightly, and then swings it again, turning the front half of the lead drow warrior's face into a sticky paste and throwing him a good ten feet.

Frian still needs to go....Post for next round....
 


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