*** Swarm 1 is now bloodied after Thurgon's assault.
ROUND 5
Lucann and Quinn have turned an enemy sworn against them, this city, and all of human civilization. Theron has dispatched a Quickling with the fury honed on a hundred fields of battle. Thurgon is fearless and implacable, upholding the standards the God of Battle and his position would hold him to. The heroes appear to be rallying...
Summer meltwater from the glacier at the top of the Kingsmount gathers in the great reservoir that overlooks the city. The reservoir is the lifeblood of the city, feeding its occupants and, via an aqueduct system, it serves as the precipitant for the fine harvests of the terraced farms on the Eastern face . The meltwater tamely overflows a dam (an engineering marvel of this era constructed hundreds of years ago at this city’s birth) and meanders down into this very pool in this blessed garden. It is a spectacle to behold that all the city admires from their worm's eye view of it.
A sickening clatter far up on the mountain can mean only one thing and the terrible sound of furious torrent confirms your suspicions. Something has compromised the dam and the the waters now explode in a thunderous roar, crashing into the earth, menacing this Holy Garden to ruin, threatening to drown the city below. The alpine fir trees cut a path up the mountainside, resolving themselvesa at their temperature stressed treeline at the edge of the glacier...where the reservoir...and whatever has ruined the dam...resides.
Zone
[sblock]If you look at the map, there is a gold square centered on G11. This is bad (a place of flitting, moaning black specters, whose voices chills you to the bone and freezes your body with lethergy:
Swarming Shadows: a zone until the end of the encounter. Any creature that starts its turn within the zone takes 5 cold damage and is slowed (save ends).[/sblock]
Terrain Features
[sblock]
1) Brambleweed: Feywild-borne finger-length thorns, sharp and sturdy enough to rend flesh. The plant’s thick vines spread across an area, hindering any who enter it.
Effect: Brambleweed squares are difficult terrain. A creature that starts its turn in a brambleweed square takes 5 damage per tier. A creature that ends its turn in a brambleweed square is restrained until the start of its next turn. Creatures with "forest walk" are immune to it.
The squares that those trees inhabit all have Brambleweed. It is hindering terrain and you may choose to make a saving throw to fall prone just outside of those squares should you be forced moved into the area.
Directly to the West is:
2) A steep, 100 ft cliff overlooking the city proper. This is the cliff that Quinn's lackey just took a nosedive off. You may choose to make a saving throw to fall prone just outside of those squares should you be forced moved into the area.
3) The fluorescent green squares are various wild (or Feywild harvested) flora of many varieties; flowers, ferns, bushes, et al. They all come up to the knees (sometimes up to the thigh) of a medium sized creature and offer partial concealment to small creatures. The tangling nature of the flora make these squares challenging terrain. Moving through them requires an Athletics check at Medium DC (20) or Acrobatics check at Easy DC (14). Failure in this check means your movement action is spent and you are in the first square of the challenging terrain.
4) The trees are blocking terrain. They can be climbed at the easy DC (14) but refer to 1 (Brambleweed).
5) The path at the north, at J/K1, leads out of the garden and toward a path that spirals upward, eventually leading to the tower entrance of the Royal Chambers.
[/sblock]
Hazard - The turquoise shading on the map is the pervasive flooding of the Watery Grave! Hazard. At the beginning of the next round, the hazard will encompass the entirety of the garden. Please note 2 above. The X-Axis point "A" is the boundary line of the precipice.
[sblock]
WATERY GRAVE!
The Hazard activates on its initiative.
Attack - Standard Action on the Hazard's Initiative.
Target: All creatures in hazard.
Attack: +15 vs. Fortitude
Hit: 1d10 + 5 damage, and the target is pushed 4 squares (West) and knocked prone.
Miss: Half damage and the target is pushed 2 squares (West).
Effect: The Hazard is Challenging Terrain as below:
1) As a Move Action, you can make an Acrobatics check vs Medium DC (20) to move with the current (West) at your speed.
2) As a Move Action, you can make an Athletics check vs Medium DC (20) to move perpendicular (North or South) to the current at half your speed or the Hard DC (28) to move at your speed.
3) As a Move Action, you can make an Athletics check vs the Hard DC (28) to move at half your speed against the current (East).
Failure at any of the above triggers the Hazard's Opportunity Action:
Opportunity Action
Trigger: A creature fails at a Move Action while in the hazard.
Attack: + 15 vs. Fortitude
Hit: The target is pushed 2 squares (West) and knocked prone.
Countermeasures:
Athletics Medium/Hard DC: A character can reduce the distance it is pushed by 1 or 2 squares with a successful check (immediate reaction).
Nature Medium/Hard DC: A character can reduce the distance an ally is pushed by 1 or 2 squares with a successful check (immediate action).
[/sblock]
INITIATIVE ORDER
Hazard
Q2 - Quickling
M - Minion Feygrove Chokers
C - Lucann
D - Dryad
T - Theron
S1 & S2 - Swarms
L - Quinn
P - Thurgon
Actions:
-
Hazard:
The water pours in with unbridled fury, threatening to take anything and all not rooted in place over the precipice, down, ever down to a water grave!
- Quicklings:
The remaining Quickling's Stealth check is at 28, beyond any Passive Perception.
If you want to attempt to spot him, you'll need to spend a Minor Action. He commits no aggressive actions on this turn.
Perhaps rattled by the death of his cohort or by the onrushing torrent, the second Quickling is nowhere to be found...
- Minion Feygrove Chokers
The Minion Feygrove Choker in C10 Spider Climbs to F3 (yes, those trees branches overlap or are adjacent) and attacks Theron, attempting to pull him into the Brambleweed-covered trees.
Roll(1d20)+17; 5+17
Total: 22 vs AC 34;
Miss
The Minion Feygrove Choker in L3 attacks Theron, attempting to pull him into the Brambleweed-covered trees.
Roll(1d20)+17; 10+17
Total: 27 vs AC 34;
Miss
Finally feeling the rhythm of the battle and breaking a sweat in the cool night air, Theren's defensive posture and warding-imbued Greatspear is any easy match for the Fey stalkers in the trees. He effortlessly deflects their assault.
-
Lucann
@
Campbell You are up Lucann. As you likely have questions about her status, for our purposes here, the Dryad is going to be dazed until the end of the encounter. If you want to move her, the grab rules for a helpless ally will be in play; The creature can move up to half its speed and pull the target with it. If you get an assist, you can move her at the speed of the lowest speed (which would assuredly be the aiding party).
If anyone has any questions after reading the hazard and other dynamics in play here, let me know.
