Battle on the Carriages, Round 1
It's been almost 10 days, so I'll post the first round.
Those that haven't posted yet - sorry, but the show must go on.
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Initiatives
Animus
and Jansson -
21
Creature -
19
Osius -
18
Niko -
16
Syld -
6
Animus leaps up from his seat, onto the table, and dives onto the top of the carriage, going into a roll and not stopping until he is behind the creature. As he rolls by, the thing reaches out with the Staff and hits him.
The creature gets a 18, a hit! It proceeds to deal 7 points to Animus.
Animus, in turn, stands up behind the creature and strikes it.
Animus gets a 20 (15+5), and hits! He deals 8 points to the creature.
Meanwhile, Jansson jumps up alongside Animus, and charges the creature.
Jansson gets a 22 (13+9), and hits! He deals 6 points to the creature.
The creature is still alive, and looks more angry than wounded. It's pupilless eyes narrow at the two coming at it, and the air ripples.
This, of course, leaves the creature wide open. Jansson and Animus both take this opportunity to attempt to take down the creature.
Jansson gets a 12, which is a miss.
Animus gets a 1, a fumble!
Animus attempts to slash at the creature, but a loose board messes up his footing, and he instead sends his sword whirling through the air and landing a good 20 feet away to the left of the first carriage.
Will Saves
Nathan -
9 (6+3) (+8 to DC)
Osius -
7 (3+4) (-2 to DC, 1 MH)
Jansson -
15 (13+2) (-2 to DC, 1 MH)
Animus -
8 (6+2) (-3 to DC, 2 MH)
Everyone in the area of the rippling air is affected by the attack.
Nathan takes
2 temp Cha damage and
4 points of damage.
Osius and Jansson take
1 temp Cha damage and
2 points of damage.
Animus takes
no damage.
Osius, although slightly shaken by the mental assault, clambors up onto the top of the carriage, grips his morningstar tightly in both hands, and brings it down hard upon the creature.
Osius gets a 17 (12+5), a hit! He proceeds to deal 11 points to the creature.
Niko hops out of the second carriage, drawing his gun and peering around, looking for the thing that spoke. However, he doesn't see it, although he does see several people climbing up onto the top of the carriage from his current angle, although he doesn't see what they are doing.
OoCYou are a gnome, around 3 feet in height, the carriages are 10 feet high, and the creature is on top of the first carriage, near the center of it. I don't think you'd be able to see him, and he's a little too preoccupied to notice you.
Talking is a free action, yes, but as mentioned before, you would have to assist the golem out of the carriage, and it couldn't get onto the first carriage even if you did so.
[/OoC]
The golem is loaded up on the carriage, and is quite large, so it can't get out of the carriage on its own, and it definitely won't be able to climb around on the carriages to get to the top of the first one (carriages are psionic in nature, remember, and the golem is technological).
Desimus also gets out of the carriage, readying his crossbow, searching for whatever it is that spoke. Crouching down, he doesn't see it, although he remains vigilant and continues to search for it.
Meanwhile, outside the second carriage, Syld walks around and tries to get a good view of the creature. While manifesting, he attempts to recall anything he knows about something that would appear to be half-human and half-illithid...
Tales from the days of the illithid empire speak of terrible experiments that the mind flayers performed to make their servitor races more useful in the ways of psionics. One of their more successful experiments was to make the human race more like themselves in mind and body, but still weaker in will. The creatures were grotesque to behold, and, while vaguely human-like, had many of the features of an illithid - as well as the psionic capabilities. Such things were called 'illithidkin', and the process that created them was said to have been long lost. However, even to date, a few of these creatures are still found in psionic areas, roaming about and looking for a surviving illithid that they can call 'master'. If any mind flayer did indeed stumble upon these creatures, the secret of their creation could be found once again, and perhaps a more advanced version of the creature created, one that resembled humans more and could pass off as such, and infiltrate humanoid areas and provide reconaissance for the mind flayers.
-- Excerpt from 'A Treatise on the Illithid Species'
(Roll = 29 [16+13])
An astral construct appears above and slightly behind the illithid-like creature, and slams down upon the creature with immense force.
The AC gets two 20's, both of which are criticals! The next rolls are a 2 and another 20, which is another threat! 
...And third roll for the second attack is 16, which is a hit.
The first attack deals 6 points to the illithidkin.
The second attack deals 18 points of damage to the illithidkin.
A sound emanates from the illithidkin, as though it were shattering.
"Damn!" It says with force in a broken voice. "I have failed..."
The creature collapses, and is quite dead.
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It appears that the Staff is undamaged, although there is a small amount of cold slime upon it where the illithidkin had been wielding it. The creature' grip upon the Staff, however, is quite tight, even in death, and it will more than likely take more than a little effort to pry the Staff from the thing's cold, dead fingers.
