[v.3.5] Realmsian Dragonstar: The Battle of Toril PbP Game [IC] (Game Cancelled)

[Knightfall]

Shazer'a reads Lachaln's message and looks toward the hoverjeep. Damn it! I'm the only one who can keep it from exploding! The half-dragon uses the power of the fly spell to swoop down the to the vehicle and immediately begins hunting for the explosive. "Nelalwe! Everyone! You have to get out of here. that damn bastard has rigged the hoverjeep to explode. GO! GO! GO!" Shazer'a roars. "And whoever put up this magic, drop it!"

"Shazer'a," Nelalwe pleads. "I can help!"

"No, my Weesham! One of us must live to warn this city of what is come! Now go!"

Shazer'a doesn't wait to see if Nel does as he commands. He knows she will try to save the others. Using his datapad, he quickly discovers that the bomb is attached to the jeep's power systems. He looks for a way to bypass the connection, but there isn't any way to do it. If he had more time, he might have been able to try it. He picks another route and try to disable the power core. He finds the main bus and cuts the connections. Looking at the explosive, its countdown doesn't stop. The panel blinks a yellow emoticon with an evil grin that explodes.

Failure.

"It's no use! It's going to explode! There's nothing I can do!" Shazer'a says a prayer to the Warrior and tries to flap his wings to freedom. The magical field holds him in place. "This is bad."

 

[Knightfall]

Explode? Silhouette cursed softly and shouted, "Save the hobgoblin!"

She then said to Thak, "No charging off after all it seems. But we're going to need another way out as well."

With that and a flick of her hand, the magic field was gone.

 

[Knightfall]

Hadyri realizes that she and the hobgoblin are in mortal danger. She quickly activates her inner burst of speed and finds renewed energy. She dashes past the orc and grabs the hobgoblin leader moments before Silhouette shouts out for someone to save him.

Originally Posted by Shayuri
Explode? Silhouette cursed softly and shouted, "Save the hobgoblin!"

She then said to Thak, "No charging off after all it seems. But we're going to need another way out as well."

"Running might not be the best option, Silhouette. We are sheltered here. Maybe."

Originally Posted by Shayuri
With that and a flick of her hand, the magic field was gone.

OOC: (dismissing i think is an action...can't look it up now)

The field drops and both Azara and Kethrendil are free to move without restriction. Keth heard the half-dragon's warning and can see him standing on the thing he calls a 'hoverjeep'. He can tell the half-dragon isn't overstating the danger by the look on his companion's face. Keth knows when to retreat. He turns and runs as fast as he can past the other elf and the winged creature.

Azara reacts a moment later. She moves with determined purpose and stumbles away towards the dockyard as far as her churning stomach allows. It will be close. She prepares to dive into the harbor.

OOC: It's a standard action.

 

[Knightfall]

I won't let Shazer'a die! Nelalwe tells herself. She hopes she can get close enough to him through the field, bu then, it disappears. She rushes forward to be just in range despite his fierce look and casts dimensional step. She watches as the xeph rushes forward and pulls the hobgoblin to safety just before the spell teleports her and Shaz away from the hoverjeep. She would have saved him too, if it had been necessary.

Nelalwe teleports back 20 feet from the hovering vehicle and watches as Shazer'a teleports himself up into the building through the ruined window. The building will provide him a modicum of protection from the blast. It's the best she could do. She hopes she's far enough away to avoid the blast, as she hits the ground.

OOC: The spell allows a short teleport up to the target creature's base land speed, so while Nel can get completely out of range, she can't get Shaz 100% away from the tank. He only needs line of sight, so he can teleport through the window I had him shoot open the last round. He'll still have to make a Reflex save, but he'll have a +4 circumstance bonus.

 

[Knightfall]

The Hoverjeep Explodes

With only a split second to think over his options, Dakashi decides that its best to chase after the orc after everyone else is safely out of range of whatever conflagration is to come from pending destruction of the floating construct, this hovering heap, as the half-dragon names it. He dashes out to the winged man and the elf manages to touch both at the same time, and psionically teleport everyone to safety.

What he sees next makes him glade he didn't teleport them into the middle of the street on this side of the gate...

Originally Posted by Deuce Traveler
OOC: Rodan's Research Check
[roll0]

Typo..
(1d20+2)[7]

OOC: D.T., when you post rolls like these on the IC thread, pelase mark them as OOC. For a second, I thought I was in the wrong thread.

Rodan tries to remember the site he read on the InfoNet all those years ago. It explained the physics and dangers of exploding vehicles. There was something about pressure waves that makes his stomach churn now. Is he too close? He wants to run, but he is frozen in the moment.

Then the human with the red hair is standing between him and the female elf. He reaches out and touches both her and Rodan with outstretched fingers. With a wave of mental energy, Rodan finds himself, the human, and the elf all teleported far back on the other side of the inner gate. Rodan knows the explosion won't hurt him here, but the sound will likely be deafening.

Thrak stays with Silhouette, unwilling to leave her side.

Laran understands the danger of the exploding vehicle. He stops singing and heads through the inner gate and ducks down behind the stone wall with his ears covered and his eyes closed. He doesn't hear the sound of approaching hoofs pounding on the city's street.

Two of the invaders lie unconscious near the hoverjeep. The bear sniffs at the air and rumbles low sensing some form of impending doom. It's keen ears also pick up the sound of thundering hooves and clanging metal. The two conscious troopers move away from the jeep as quickly as they can. The nausea doesn't leave the one invader until it is too late for her to run. The other armored orc has better luck even with the magical fatigue holding and slowing him down. He manages to get out of the blast range just in time to look up and see the sight of a dozen armed and armored men bearing down on him with blades ready and a fierce determination in there eyes.

"I surrender! I surrender!" The trooper yells but the sound is eclipsed by the noise of the horses and their riders, soldiers of the the Flaming Fist.

Zugorim laughs as he runs away towards the ruined wall of Baldur's Gate's harbor district. He runs so fast that he covers 90 paces in half a second. His powered boots drive him forward towards freedom and revenge against Lachlan Scaro.

"Metal beasts," one of the Fists yells. "You will now face Grand Duke Eltan and the Flaming Fists!"

It is the Grand Duke that Shazer'a and Nelalwe came to warn about the Dragon Empire and pending invasion. Nel tries to warn the man off but he cannot hear her. Shaz can only watch through the ruined window as Eltan and his steed trample the retreating and surrendering shock trooper and charge towards the hoverjeep with his lance ready to strike.

Hadyri hears a voice that isn't hers scream for help. The voice begs the Grand Duke to free them. Hadyri finds the voice. In their rush to save the hobgoblin, they had forgotten about the harbormaster in the energy cage. He is pinned down to the ground near the jeep. He tries to get Grand Duke Eltan's attention without luck. Hadyri can do nothing for him.

Mere seconds before the lance would have impacted the jeep's metal and plastiform frame, Shaz hear the sound of laughter rising from the jeep's comm system. The laughter is Lachlan's voice augmented with a tinny pitch and halting pause before continuing on in unnerving laughter.

Somewhere far away, Haspur falls to his knees and prays to dead Mystra. "He is strong, but he will be scarred. The jeep will start the scaled one's diplomacy for him, if the Grand Duke survives."

Then a red face of death blinks on Shaz's datapad and the hoverjeep explodes. Fire, twisted metal, and burning plastiform erupt in a massive ball of death, The explosion fills a 80-foot space around it, centered on its power core. The explosion hits the Harbormaster's House and makes it implode inward. While Shazer'a is partially protected from the metal projectiles thrown out and up from the sundered jeep, the fire from the explosion acts as a massive fireball. It spreads out to the wall and upward.

Nel watches in horror as the Grand Duke and half-a-dozen of his Flaming Fists are engulfed in the explosion with the remainder of their number being tossed off their mounts by the wave of energy that accompanies the blast. She cannot see anything beyond the flames, which spreads out to engulf one of the shock troopers. It creeps toward her, but she manages to avoid the flames and the flying debris. Luck. She feels the pressure wave hit her, however, and grits her teeth. She hears screaming and does not realize it was her screaming until much later.

Hadyri, as well, watches the explosion. Her eye are transfixed on the harbormaster as the explosion engulfs him. He screams for only a second. She also sees the deadly effect engulf the half-ogre just before she tries to dive into the waters of the harbor. The explosion picks her up and tosses her through the air and onto the edge of the harbor's dock. The flames threaten to engulf her and the hobgoblin but a wave of force blows both of them back 10 feet from the deadly flames. Her head ringing and her eyes watering, she almost misses the a human form being tossed through the air like a rag doll. The man is burning and screaming. The air is charges with electricity.

The others either watch or listen in horror as the explosion erupts in a ball of flame and throws chunks of burning metal and plastiform through the air. Several of the fists and their mounts are completely incinerated in the blast while others are knocked back or tossed into the air. Then an arc of electricity radiates out to the edge of the flames and a blast of force rushes out from the explsoion and slams into the inner wall. It tosses up objects and debris and feels like a painful wind. The world sounds like it's ringing a unending high-pitched bell.

"Gods' sundered. Soldiers' deaths. World's fall." Haspur whispers to the ground.
__________________________________________________ _________________
OOC: Explosion damage > 6d10+8+3=54

Okay, I decided to amp the damage up slightly since the jeep has a powerful electrical weapon mounted on it plus Azara left her railgun rifle on the back of the hoverjeep after being hit by the nausea. The cannon normally does 8d10 electricity and the railgun rifle does 3d12 piercing, so what I decided to do was add two #s to the damage equal to the hit dice of damage the weapons do (8 points of electricity and 3 points of piercing). I thought about adding half of the total damage the weapons would do (40 electricity and 18 piercing) but that seemed excessive (and a bit cruel). That would be 107 points of damage on a failed save, if I was to modify the roll above.

Damage breakdown > 22 points of fire damage, 24 points of piercing damage, and 8 points of electricity damage on a failed save. Half those values on a successful save. The save is a Reflex save (DC 20). Salthorae, the piercing damage Shazer'a takes (regardless of the result of the save) is reduced by 8 for the hardness of the stone wall that partially blocks the explosion from him. I will roll the saves for the NPCs sometime tomorrow. It's really late. And the plan was always to have Grand Duke Eltan ride in at the end of the third round. The harbormaster automatically failed his save, as did most of the Flaming Fists. There is a bad joke in there somewhere.

DM's Note: The revised higher damage was on the original OOC thread.

 

[Knightfall]

Rodan turns to thank his human savior. "Yes, you too know that often it is best to flee. You too are wise. But the danger is now over and we must return to see what we can do for the living, so that we who survive can live to flee again." With that Rodan goes back to the site of the explosion to see what comfort he can provide the injured.
__________________________________________

Dakashi nods at Rodan, "My name is Dakashi.. let us make haste and see who can be saved." Dakashi follows Rodan towards the Aftermath of the explosion.

 

[Knightfall]

Silhouette winces as the house she and Thak are hiding behind trembles under the concussive force of the blast at the docks. Thatch falls over them, and the window off to one side blows out in a shower of cloudy glass. She shakes her head, trying to clear it of the ringing sensation in her ears that's muffling the world around her.

"Are you all right?" she asks the towering goliath beside her. He nods.

A quick spell envelopes Silhouette in a less...conspicuous...seeming. That of a half-elf wearing similar clothing, but colored in shades of blue and violet and green. Thus girded, she and Thak emerge from their shelter to cautiously make their way down the path towards what's left of the docks.

Silhouette scowls slightly at the carnage. That flying carriage would have been ideal. Still, perhaps something of value had been salvaged? They'd have to see.

"Friends," she called as they came down. "Well fought! Did you manage to save that hobgoblin? He seemed to know quite a lot about what's going on!"

 

[Knightfall]

"Ughh. So that's what a building feels like when it falls on you," Shazer'as voice calls over Nelalwe's comms. She can hear the shifting of rubble as his enormous strength enhanced further by magic lifts even heave blocks off and away from him. "Shazer'a, you made it! I thought I was going to have to take you home already to get your shiny body!" Nelalwe exclaims as she darts up in flight and over to where he would emerge from the building. "Get out here so I can heal you you big lug!"

As Shazer'a flies out covered in some of his own blood and dust from rubble and debris covering him head to toe. "I'm fine... I heard and saw Eltan and some of his Fist's enter the harbor just prior to the detonation. Let us see if we can salvage anything of him or his forces. Who knows, if he yet lives, maybe he'll now listen to us. Save your healing capacity for him and maybe weave me in if you can."

With that, the two of them fly directly towards the blast epicenter to see if anyone yet lives.

 

[Knightfall]

Kethrendil lowered his arm that shielded his eyes from the explosion. Gods, he had never seen an explosion as destructive as this. He may not have known what the flying carriage truly was, but the half-dragon's words were clear enough. He seemed to know what this was about, so Keth had heeded his words and rushed away as far as he could.

When he heard Duke Eltan's war cry, he halted and looked back. He could only look in horror as the machine exploded, blowing away the brave half-dragon, and engulfing Duke Eltan and his retinue. As the dust cleared, the elf cursed at his inability to have prevented this. Staring at the remains of the explosion, Kethrendil feared the worst, but then he saw movement. The half-dragon was alive, and flying!

"Hey! You all right?" Keth called out to him. The elf hurried to the center of the explosion, keeping an eye out for other survivors, especially the Duke.

 

[Knightfall]

Originally Posted by Deuce Traveler
Rodan turns to thank his human savior. "Yes, you too know that often it is best to flee. You too are wise. But the danger is now over and we must return to see what we can do for the living, so that we who survive can live to flee again." With that Rodan goes back to the site of the explosion to see what comfort he can provide the injured.

Originally Posted by tekknowkub
Dakashi nods at Rodan, "My name is Dakashi.. let us make haste and see who can be saved." Dakashi follows Rodan towards the Aftermath of the explosion.

Once the smoke clears and the dust settles, Rodan sees a scene that reminds him of the horrors that plagued his homeworld when the Dragon Empire came. The hoverjeep is completely gone. There is a huge hole where it had been before its power core exploded. Harbormaster's House has been partially collapsed due to the blast. Other nearby buildings that weren't already on fire have been scorched black by the explosion. Many of them have collapsed or are about to. Rodan's ears are still ringing so he can barely hear Dakashi's reply.

Five of the soldiers who rode in the harbor district on horseback are dead. They were ripped to shreds by the explosion. There is nothing Rodan can do for them other than pray for their souls. Three others lie on the ground, horribly wounded while two more, a man and a woman, are on their knees choking due to the putrid smoke left in the air by the blast. The invaders who had been unconscious on the ground have been burnt to cinders. There is no sign of the half-ogre either. One of the shock troopers lies on the ground moaning. His armor has been scorched as ha much of his skin.

The smell of burning flesh is sickening and all to familiar to Rodan but at least there isn't any radiation.

Dakashi tries to make sense of he's looking at. It seems unnatural to him, but then again, he's sure he's not completely natural either. He is relieved to see that Hadyri is alive. She is cradling the hobgoblin's head in her lap. The goblin man looks like he's on death's door, but there might still be a chance to stabilize him. The one named Nelalwe rushes toward the ruins of Harbormaster's House.

A distraught cleric, who was amongst the riders, tries to cast a mass healing spell to save the dying, but his divine magic fails him. He falls to his knees and raises his head the sky in disbelief. "Why, Torm? Why? Where are you?" He pounds his mailed fists on the ground.

Rodan and Dakashi see that the leader of the riders still stands. He is obviously tougher than most of his men. The knight looks around in disbelief at the carnage. His horse stands nearby, badly hurt, but one of only two equines still standing after the blast. The other horses perished quickly, thankfully. Eltan, as Rodan had heard the man call himself, stands over the dead body of one of his men. He looks down at the mangled corpse with true sorrow. "Scar," he says. "I am sorry. I should have listened to Thalamond and been more careful, but how could I ever imagined this kind of horror? Give me giants! Give me dragons! Those I would understand! Not metal beasts from the stars!" He screams at the sky.

Eltan's gaze drifts across the carnage until he is looking right at Rodan and Dakashi. At first, he's not sure what to make of them. He seems to sense Rodan's purpose as healer. "You," he says point at Rodan. "Can you help my soldiers? The gods of Toril are either silent or diminished. I care not what being you worship, raptoran. Just help them please and I will exclaim your name to Tempus in thanks!"