Tecklenburg
Explorer
1) Saerie, you have a gauntlet of three immature aboleths to run before you can get to Otthor. You've got two of them behind you moving after you (possibly more just running away from the remorhaz than anything else!). And of course a huge, hungry centipede that longs to eat with the power of a thousand burning suns!
2) Otthor, as you finish off the immature aboleths, the Aboleth Overseer on the ridge throws its terrifyingly long and impossibly strong tentacles your way. It invades your mind with "...let us join..." Its alien maw seems to smile. If it had a tongue, it might lick its nonexistent lips. The one nearest you (IA8) moves to engage you while the two on the far end of the long moraine collect themselves from their "dragon flinging" and begin to navigate the rocky slope in a northerly course (toward your position).
3) The mighty white dragon and the powerful aboleths are locked in deadly battle. Their staggering mucus haze seems to be wearing down even on his incredible fortitude.
I speak in my mind to the invasive aboleth. "Worse things than you have tried to make a meal of me." As the creature's tentacles are about to strike me, I use the arcane fabric that overlays all realities and step through worlds, leaving the creature's tentacles to grasp at nothing. Using the Void Note of the Bladesong, I teleport next to the aboleths blocking the way for Saerie, Rawr, and the old dog. I'll help them cut a path.
[sblock]Used 1 Bladesong for Void Note to avoid the imminent danger of the Aboleth Overseer's tentacles. Teleported to close range with IA3, IA4, and IA7.
Flawless Bladework (Int)
2, 2 + 3 = 7
d8 damage + 1 technique and enemies counterattack me. 3 damage.
Burst: Your attack deals an additional 1d4 damage and gains the ‘forceful’ tag. 3 damage. Dead.
Counterattack on me. d6 + 2 (2 extra aboleths) = 4 - 4 (spend 1 Bladesong for + 2 armor from Guarded Flourish) = 0 damage to me.[/sblock]
My blade and body work with tremendous alacrity the moment I emerge in a flash of teleportation. Spinning, slashing, parrying tentacles, and neatly side-stepping, I bring a ward of magic forth at the last moment to deflect the aboleth blows.
Per Manbearcat
The two of them, hungry for a meal to fuel their otherwordly biology, rush you hungrily in concert without success.
However, as you focus on dispatching these two, you can feel the other three, from your flank and behind, closing in (1, 2, and 8).
You can go ahead and make a move, but if you do (rather than getting out of here), you're going to be defying danger in short order.
The battle is a whirl of massive bodies, fire, ice, telepathic invasion, and flailing tentacles. I block everything from my mind save for ending the lives of these two creatures before me so my allies can find egress against the pursuing Remorhaz.
[sblock]Flawless Bladework (Int)
4, 4 + 3 = 11
d8 damage + 2 techniques. 6 damage. Dead.
Burst: Your attack deals an additional 1d4 damage and gains the ‘forceful’ tag. I want to use the forceful tag to fling the body of the aboleth every the heads of my incoming allies so the Remorhaz has something to feed on momentarily.
Flowing: If your attack kills a target, you may immediately attack a new target as if you had gotten a 7-9 on the move you initially used.
d8 damage + 1 technique and the last aboleth counterattacks me. 7 damage. Dead.
Burst: Your attack deals an additional 1d4 damage and gains the ‘forceful’ tag. Again, I want to use the forceful tag to fling the body of the aboleth every the heads of my incoming allies so the Remorhaz has something to feed on momentarily.
Counterattack on me. d6 = 3 - 2 = 1 damage to me.[/sblock]
Per Manbearcat
You slaughter the other two aboleths before you. You reach out and grasp their bodies with magical force and hurl them over the heads of your allies who are now emerging on your position. As you had hoped, the burning Remorhaz stops his implacable, burning pursuit to feed upon the two corpses. The other two aboleths that it was pursuing (5 and 6 that were engaged with Saerie on the moraine) have thought better of pursuing you guys and split off in separate ways; 5 toward the dragon and the Aboleth Overseers and 6 toward the long moraine and the other Aboleth Overseer.
However, 1, 2 and 8 do converge on you, tentacles leading hungry maws.
As the tentacles grasp my arms, legs and waste, I attempt to harness the fury of a thousand battles to break free.
[sblock]Defy Danger (Str)
1, 1 - 1 = 0
Mark 1 xp
1d6 + 2 damage to me. 2 + 2 - 2 = 2 damage to me.[/sblock]
Lol, just like at the crevasse.
Per Manbearcat
Saerie, you see your ally pulled to the ground and set upon by three ravenous immature aboleths as you arrive (roll damage Otthor). Exel is rushing up from behind as fast as his stumpy goblin legs will carry him.
You have momentary respite from the Remorhaz, but the Aboleth Overseer on the long moraine sends its 60 ft tentacles toward you.
Meanwhile, the dragon is beginning to be overcome by the two powerful aboleths and their fetid auras. The mighty wyrm barely has the strength to fend off their tentacles as they wrap all over the creature, bringing its belly to the ground. If you don't intervene soon, The Frozen Wind of the North will be slain and you will have two more Aboleth Overseers to contend with!