OOC: House Millithor in COSQ part 4

[Goddess FallenAngel]

If you really want to be pessimistic:
10) Torellan could be very lonely.

Good Gods, NO! Anything but that!...

 

[Pyrex]

Well, from Torellan's point of view, being trapped inside his coffin inside the Matron's Portable Hole for a few hundred years pretty much would be a fate worse than (un)death.

Oh, and Think Positive(tm) Serp, we need to focus on how we can kill him, not how he can kill us.

 

[Endur]

The Demonweb Pits aren't really sealed off, just that the Spider Queen isn't sending minions anymore. So, you can still summon any creature that is not a direct servitor of the Spider Queen. i.e. no Yochols, but you can summon a Bebilith, a Vrock, a Succubus, etc.

Given that your party already has two Bebiliths, I would recommend summoning a third Bebilith.

With regards to the armory, most of the armory that remains is up on the barracks level. However, the vampire garrison has been relocated into the Shrine of Lolth (along with all of their brand new coffins). You could probably find a cold iron weapon or two if you go rob the vampires.

The Earth Elemental that Quertus bound is still hanging around in the nearby vincinity.

Carcelon will likely use her scroll of Planar Ally to call for aid. Endur, does Carcelon know what would be likely to answer her call as the Demonweb Pits appear to have been sealed off?

Edit: Do we have (or have access to in whatever passes for Szith Morcane's armory) Cold Iron weapons?

 

[Xael]

I don't think it is as bad as you guys think - it is bad, but I think we can take him. We may lose a person or two, but... *shrug*

I agree with you here, we've got lot's of "people" around. Bebiliths, Elemental, Vampires. And of course the party itself.

For the record, if Zieggrek dies, I will be sad that I lost a fun character - but I would make a new one, or assume one already running around, and go on. And Zieggrek, for his part, is practically salvating at the chance to fight a Balor.

If Zieggrek dies, and Quertus is alive, he'll raise you. He just picked up Limited Wish.

So here's another idea: how about a small, scouting force? Sneak in, gain access to Irae's living quarters (where is she in the city, again?) and kill her. Sounds good to me. We're never going to be able to raise enough of a force to storm the place in time. So let's not try.

She's in a fortress with permanent Forbiddance, and the place is full of god-knows-what. If we could bring the Forbiddance down however, we could use the good old, scry-buff-teleport tactics.



And Quertus has 50% chance to make it past the SR of the Balor. Fortunately I have spells with no saves. Too bad I haven't got time to prepare something to those empty slots.

 

[Dalamar]

10) Torellan could be very lonely.

Technically speaking, Torellan is very lonely, what with his physiology giving up on him.

 

[Dalamar]

Oh, and almost forgot to ask: Does a vampire need to penetrate the balor's DR to deal Energy Drain?

 

[Uriel]

2) Kripp could have been killed by the Claw for not bringing back Carcelon.

Firstly, I would not have returned, had I not had a Drow Priestess to present.
Secondly, I would have crushed the Claw.

He's not that tough...

 

[Uriel]

OK, well here is a bit of help from my end, more (and stronger) to follow)

I have the Wands of Bull's Strength and (more importantly), Bear's Endurance for weveryone, when we are sure that a confrontation is imminent.

(Barring the Undead) Another 2XHD in hit Points is nothing to sneeze at.

As well, I do have a Bless Weapon Oil...if we have a melee monster that has a chance to get in there and strke, a Blessed Weapon is Good thing.
(pun intended)

 

[Serpenteye]

I'm sorry for being so negative, your explanations justify a lot of what I considered arbitrary rat-bastardness. I'm getting the hint, and we're going to Maerimydra (after going shopping).

Ok, Plan #1

1: We gather our forces in the Noble Level (completed)
2: The Elemental moves to the solid rock above the entrance and begins to prepare for a cave-in. The Bebiliths hide in the rock to each side of the entrance. Some of the Vampires go gaseous and wait in the chasm (the Balor can't damage them without wasting its Fire Storm for the day.) The rest of our forces array themselves in two ranks behind the doors to the level. Carcelon summons her Planar Ally. Buff spells are cast.

3:The Balor arrives. Unless it uses the information it tortured out of the commoners to teleport in behind us it will arrive at the entrance.
The Bebiliths attack it from behind while Zieggrek and 10 vampires disarm it's Vorpal Sword.

4: The Balor probably uses its Fire Storm to clear away the attackers, the loss of its sword should have angered it enough for that, but not enough to warrant gating in another Balor (I hope). The 10 Vampires die.
Z and the Bebs continue their attack, joined by the second rank from the Noble Level and the Chasm. All of our forces are committed to the attack, the weaker individuals Aid Another to help Z and Torellan penetrate the Balor's AC and DR. The Balor starts losing HPs.

5: If the Balor is badly wounded it either teleports out or gates in a companion. If it's not so badly wounded it might try Implosion, or Stun + Quickened telekinesis. It continues to lose HPs, perhaps even a couple of HDs from Level Drain.

..
..
..
?: If the Balor is still in the same place it was when the battle started and it's obvious that it's almost dead the Matron will order her troops to withdraw and signal to the Earth Elemental to drop the roof on the demon. Several tons of rock should be enough to finish it off and would also contain it's Death Throes, saving us all from 50 or 100 points of damage.

Basically our success depends on the Balor arriving at the entrance and abstaining from gating in another Balor to help it. We might actually have a chance of victory.

 

[Dalamar]

As well, I do have a Bless Weapon Oil...if we have a melee monster that has a chance to get in there and strke, a Blessed Weapon is Good thing.
(pun intended)

Dear Lolth! Does Torellan qualify as a melee monster? 'Cause I've got some cold iron daggers in store. Considering that the balor will most likely have unholy aura running, its AC is going to be 39, which will mean that T needs a 16 on his first attack to hit (if he casts his magic weapon on the cold iron dagger), an 8 if somebody *looks at Zieggrek* grapples it so it'll lose its Dex bonus to AC.

The problems with this are:
1) The balor needs to have already expended its AoO before Zieggrek attempts to start a grapple, otherwise it will be able to stop Zieggrek
2) The Flaming Body ability of the balor deals, on average, 21 points of damage a round, and Zieggrek only has a resistance of 10 against it, meaning he'll be taking lots of damage from it
3) The balor will still be able to use all its SLAs without fail (DC for 9th level SLA in grapple is 29 and it has a bonus of +33)

Points to take note of:
1) Haste will increase the chance of succeeding immensely (That extra attack is yummy, and +1 to attacks helps)
2) Bull's strength on Torellan will increase chance of succeeding somewhat (+2 damage is always nice, increasing Torellan's damage to d4+10 with a +1 blessed cold iron dagger)
3) SOMEBODY cast protection from [alignment] on Zieggrek! We don't want him dominated
4) Zieggrek definately wants to drink his potion of greater magic fang and apply it to his grapple
5) The Balor needs to be hit with 10 Energy Drains to outright die. Quertus has enervation, which also bestows d4 negative levels

Another question: The description of Energy Drain reads (beginning of second paragraph): "An affected opponent takes a -1 penalty on all skill checks and ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws, as loses one effective level or Hit Die (whenever level is used in a die roll or calculation) for each negative level".
Does "whenever level is used in a ... calculation" include gaining bonus HP from high Con? 'Cause if it does, the balor will be losing 10HP for each negative level it takes 20HP for a vampire's Energy Drain)