DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Fantasy SKT: The Storm King's Thunder 3U - Ring of Fire

Aubric

The elf looks annoyed. As he's still crossing the bridge he can see the magma conjured by the giant and both Zhu and Jaliera's strike back against the giant.

"They're already attacking! What are we waiting for? These creatures are just a nuisance!" he says urgently toward Sindar and Pavel. "Let's go!"

Figuring that combat is imminent, he notes that he's in range of five other party members, including the two in the water. Given how he barely even got singed by the only attack so far, he decides to cease concentration on his fire resistance and instead help everyone else. Assuming they are actually going to... you know... continue the plan they had when everyone entered and attack the giant.

He takes a step back on the bridge to make sure his spell can reach Arus, and utters a brief prayer.

Bless
1st-Level Enchantment (Casting as level 3)

You bless up to three creatures of your choice within range. Whenever a target makes an attack roll or a saving throw before the spell ends, the target can roll a d4 and add the number rolled to the atta⁠ck roll or saving throw.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, you can target one additional creature for each slot level above 1st.

Pavel, Sindar, Kriv, Arus, and Davroar have an extra 1d4 on attack rolls and saving throws.

After casting, he moves forward, past Pavel's floating rock which also seems to have stopped moving along with everyone else, prepared to offer healing support as needed.

<Bern>

The giant is still the biggest threat. He fires both shots in that direction ...

[[ Bern Bow two shots at Ignara MikeD rolled d20+9,d8+4,d20+9,d8+4 and got 24, 11, 17, 7 ]]

DM

Berns shots both strike the giant, but together seem to do half the damage as Jaliera's single shot.

Arus

He sees the orange gouts of flame from below the water's surface, the cavern lighting up with fiery magicks.

The attack has begun. Surging forwards, Arus rises from the water and a wavering wall rises with him, surrounding him in a watery stockade.

It should give him a moment to assess the situation.

[Casts Wall of Water as a circle.]

DM

The wall of water serves multiple purposes; shielding Arus and also the only two other members of the party that the giant can see.

Zindra

Standing behind a lava river, the huntress, begins to run towards it and leaps across the flaming stream of fire with a 10 foot start, Zindra can jump 12 feet without fail - strength of 12. Landing on her feet she unleashes two arrows at the fire giant who she's already marked. She then moves further away from the magma flow.

Zindra hit,hit,dam,dam,hunters mark damage
Neptune rolled 1d20+8,1d20+8,1d8+3,1d8+3,1d6 and got 22, 13, 11, 8, 6
Zindra disadvantage dice
Neptune rolled 1d20+8,1d20+8 and got 17, 15

DM

One of Zindra's shots looks perfectly aimed to hit the giant [AC 18], but is deflected by the wall of water just barely enough to miss.

Ignara

Ignara Awaken Magama Recharge
AquaDyne rolled 1d6 and got 4

The fire giant is annoyed.

She has no idea that her enslaved troll is actually under the impact of a spell; she assumes the creature has turned against her! Perhaps all these people are here as his allies to help free him!

In any case, the troll is now her enemy, and if Zhu intended to bring about a civil war with her Confusion spell, she's managed to do so.

Multiattack. The fire giant uses its molten grasp twice, one of which it may replace with a hurl creature attack.

Molten Grasp. Melee Weapon Attack: +12 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 3d12 + 7 bludgeoning plus 3d10 fire damage and the target is grappled (escape DC 20).

Hurl Creature (Requires a grappled creature). Ranged Weapon Attack: +12 to hit, range 60/240 ft., one target. Hit: 4d10 + 7 bludgeoning damage. On a hit or miss, the thrown creature takes the attack's damage.

The Giant reaches out with her powerful hand, seizing hold the troll and burning him with her fist, the power of molten lava burning him.

Ignara Molten Grasp Troll
AquaDyne rolled 1d12+12,3d12+7,3d10 and got 19, 28, 27 -> Troll incurs 55 damage

Troll Grapple Escape
AquaDyne rolled 1d20+4 and got 18 -> Troll is grappled

The troll now becomes a projectile, as the fire giant hurls him toward Arus, the large green body splashing through the wall of water but still impacting the triton, and then falling down into the water below, still alive... barely. Probably easily killed unless he's allowed to regenerate... but also now somewhat removed from the field of battle.

Ignara Hurl Creature
AquaDyne rolled 1d20+12,1d20+12,4d10+7 and got 32, 31, 29 -> hit, would have been crit except for disadvantage, 29 damage to both Arus and Troll

Magma Mephits

MM2,MM3,MM5 Fire breath recharge
AquaDyne rolled 1d6,1d6,1d6 and got 1, 4, 4

The northernmost mephit [MM1] spies Arus's shiny metal shield on the other side of the wall of water and makes its first attack of the battle, making the armor glow red hot before flying further south and attempting to use the giant for cover from the party on the opposite side of the stream.

Heat Metal: Choose a manufactured metal object, such as a metal weapon or a suit of heavy or medium metal armor, that you can see within range.

You cause the object to glow red-hot. Any creature in physical contact with the object takes 2d8 fire damage when you cast the spell. Until the spell ends, you can use a bonus action on each of your subsequent turns to cause this damage again.

If a creature is holding or wearing the object and takes the damage from it, the creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or drop the object if it can. If it doesn't drop the object, it has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks until the start of your next turn.

Meanwhile, one of the mephits it summoned [MM1b] is close enough to Arus to try to engage him inside the wall of water, flying around the wall to the left, and setting off a brief burst of steam as it penetrates the 1-foot-thick wall. [1 square of difficult terrain]. It then breaths fire on the triton, over the top of the head of the troll. The other mephit summoned by the same northerly elemental [MM1b] flies straight toward Arus. It remains outside the wall, which mitigates its damage, but still does its best to project its flame breath in the triton's direction.

Fire Breath (Recharge 6): The mephit exhales a 15-foot cone of fire. Each creature in that area must make a DC 11 Dexterity saving throw, taking 7 (2d6) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

MM1a Fire Breath
AquaDyne rolled 2d6 and got 6
MM1b Fire Breath
AquaDyne rolled 2d6 and got 7 (halved is 3)

And Arus, newly arrived and wielding a shiny longsword, is the victim of a fourth mephit attack. The creature that had done a fly-by fire breath attack on the clustered trio before now casts heat metal on Arus's longsword. It too glows red with heat, while the mephit flies further north into the cave.

MM1,MM3 Heat Metal
AquaDyne rolled 2d8,2d8 and got 5, 8


In the front of the cave, the two mephits who are still concentrating on keeping Kriv's armor and hammer red-hot [MM4, MM4a] choose to not attack him a second time, but instead fly as fast as they can out of the cave, essentially requiring the party to retreat from the battle to help the dragonborn avoid further heat damage, which they both inflict. [Move+Dash Action+Bonus Action for more heat damage]

MM4,MM4a Heat Metal Bonus
AquaDyne rolled 2d8,2d8 and got 5, 11 (Kriv takes 2 more damage)

The mephit maintaining concentration on Pavel's dropped sword's heat [MM4c] has a similar idea, flying out of the cave as fast as it can. [Move+Dash Action]. As the weapon was already dropped, Pavel incurs no additional damage from it, but the sword remains glowing at his feet.

But the last Mephit, who had previously attacked the trio with fire breath, still has its own heat metal casting, and goes after the sword still in Pavel's hand. It then flies away toward the south.

MM5 Heat Metal
AquaDyne rolled 2d8 and got 14

Pavel, another CON save.

Summary: Arus takes a total of 6+3+5+8=22 fire damage and must make 2 CON saving rolls (one for shield and one for sword); on a failure, he drops the item; on success he can choose to drop the item or not; holding on to the item confers disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks.

Kriv takes 2 more damage and still has disadvantage.

Miales takes 14 more damage and has disadvantage again.

Pavel

Pavel Con Save (Heat Metal) , Bless
Miales rolled 1d20,1d4 and got 19, 4
+1 + Bless roll

19 +1 +4 so a 24

Pavel now standing with his sword drawn feels the metal of his blade suddenly heat. Spiking suddenly as if the longsword was no longer a weapon but a red hot fire brand. With a brief effort of will he convinces himself that he can endure the heated metal. He manages to hold on to his weapon as he looks around for the flying creature that must have done this to him.

DM

Although he may not be in a condition to engage in melee right now, Arus is close enough to the giant to make an observation about a potential weakness. It looks like he (or anyone) could climb onto that armor and attack at close range.

Huge Stature. A creature adjacent to the giant may spend half of its movement to attempt a DC 20 Strength (Athletics) check. On a success, the creature climbs onto the giant. While climbing on the giant, a creature has advantage on melee attacks against the giant, and the giant has disadvantage on melee attacks against it.

Davroar

Davroar-as-frog has a similar idea as Arus, of getting an idea of what's going on in the battle before engaging. But unlike the triton's water show that attracted undue attention, he observes more sneakily, still in frog form and completely unnoticed in the battle raging above.

OOC: skipping Davroar's turn for now to preserve his options for the future; will make other adjustments to the encounter to acknowledge temporary party size reduction and/or catch up with a late turn if appropriate.

Kriv

Although initially minded to ignore the mephits as the overheated armor was relatively trivial for the fire-aligned Dragonborn to bear, the fact was there were precious few other reachable targets, especially with the giant being immune to most of his ranged complement and the troll noises being muffled by something watery and likely to further disrupt his aim. So, he headed back out after the magma creatures, trying to roar the culprits into the river it had appeared they had so foolishly paused beside.


Move to bring MM4 into range. (Having looked up the rules for Thunderwave cube placement, this should do it.)

Kriv Thunderwave
AJ rolled 2d8 and got 7
MM4 DC14 Con save for half damage or be moved 10ft directly away from Kriv.

DM

Kriv's attack on the mephit hits true, and the mephit is pushed out to the edge of the stream. Unlike the mephit previously knocked into a wall and tumbled into the stream, this one doesn't have much altitude to deal with and other than the damage from the spell, seems to survive the hit. It loses concentration on its heat metal spell, though, and Kriv's maul (that he's no longer holding) cools off to a normal temperature. His armor is still rather toasty.

Magma Mephit MM4 Con save thunderwave DC14
AquaDyne rolled 1d20+1 and got 3

Magma Mephit MM4 Con save for concentration on heat metal DC17
AquaDyne rolled 1d20+1 and got 14

DM

This is far from the troll's best day. Whether or not it's his worst has yet to be determined.

He's still confused by Zhu's Confusion spell, but has a brief moment of clarity.

Troll Random Action
AquaDyne rolled 1d10 and got 9

He remembers that he attacked the giant and got hit hard in response... and knows he is seriously injured. But is still a bit unsure on what to do next. He could try to follow the stream to the exit, but rejects that option as he's got a reason to remain... which reduces his choices to fighting where he is or moving somewhere to possibly fight later.

It seems the Giant who enslaved him has enemies, and while they are not necessarily his friends, it seems that killing her may be in his best long term interests. But he also has to maintain plausible deniability in case this group of attackers can't defeat her.

There's no time for extended thought and the troll decides to ... stall by moving away, but in a way that looks like he's trying to re-engage. Just in case the giant wins. But enough away to hopefully let the party know he's... well, at least not trying to hurt them.

He heads under the bridge and toward a natural stairstep that will bring him back up to where he was before being unceremoniously hurled.

OOC: Arus can take an opportunity attack against the troll as he moves away.
If still alive, Troll uses its normal movement (difficult terrain for wall of water and squeezing under bridge) and takes Dodge action. If dead... the stream turns green with troll blood.

Troll Wisdom save DC15 (Confusion)
AquaDyne rolled 1d20-1 and got 17

If still alive... the Troll regains its wits for the next turn. If not... Zhu no longer needs to maintain concentration.

Zhu

Preparing for an action she plans to do on her next turn, Zhu expends one of her 2nd level spell slots to create additional Sorcery Points. She moves up to be closer to Arus and not be bunched with the other pcs and casts a spell on the Mephits that are concentrating on Heat Metal.

Zhu Magic Missile
Zeim rolled d4,d4,d4,d4 and got 2, 2, 3, 1 each at +1

Total = 12 points, divided up between the two Mephits. 10 points on MM1 and 2 points on the MM3. Both need to make DC10 Concentration Saves

[Both CON saves successful. Attacking with disadvantage, Arus rolls 13 but adds 3 from Bless. 16 hit for 5 damage.]

Arus

Gritting his teeth against the pain, the triton holds onto his armaments but finds a good home for his sword as the troll wades passed confused.

"Here, hold this." He says in Giantish and plunges the red hot blade into the troll's flank.

DM

The troll didn't get as far in his attempt to move; perhaps he should have disengaged instead of dodging! Arus's sword plunges into the Troll, who seems to be barely clinging to life, crawling away.

OOC: I see the damage roll as 1d8+5 for 10 hp so using that rather than the 5 you indicated.

MM1,MM3 Con save for concentration on heat metal
AquaDyne rolled 1d20+1,1d20+1 and got 8, 2

Some practitioners of magic think Magic Missile is a child's plaything, good for those just learning the craft but not useful once more powerful magicks are learned.

But sometimes it's the right spell at the right place and time.

Zhu's magic does trivial damage to the mephits. But much more importantly, that trivial damage is enough to distract them from maintaining concentration on Arus's weapon and shield. They cool off, giving the triton back his ability to fight without distraction. And the magical energy is enough to ready Zhu for something even more powerful in .... about six seconds.

Pavel
Note: Using Action surge

His back against the cave wall he can here that the ranged group had already started their attack. Their was somewhere he needed to be. Glancing down at his sword on the ground he takes off in a dash down the corridor towards where he believes the giant is. As he rounds the corned he sees one of the nefarious creatures that spat fire at him between him and the giant. While still moving he casts a spell hoping to slow it down as he runs past. The giant looming before him his weapon ready for the next round.

OOC: His path is the red line. Where he cast is the Blue circle. 30 ft cone from that spot would also include the giant.



Pavel Rines Binding Ice Damage
Miales rolled 3d8 and got 16

In case he needs because he crossed into the path of his spell:

Pavel Con Save
Miales rolled 1d20+1,1d4 and got 11, 3

So a 14

DM

Pavel takes a risk, making a tactical move less helpful to himself but hopefully to the benefit of the party, getting within melee range of the Giant on the opposite side of Arus. Even though he doesn't make a melee attack this turn and has left a (hot) sword behind limiting his future melee attacks, this is a team effort and the flanking position will help Arus gain advantage if he chooses to enter melee.

En route his destination, his spell ends up being rather effective, striking both the Mephit and Giant and surrounding them with ice.

MM1 Con save for ice (DC12)
AquaDyne rolled 1d20+1 and got 4

Ignara Con save for ice (DC12)
AquaDyne rolled 1d20+6 and got 11

Thanks to Zhu's choice to send three missiles the way of the mephit that Pavel also just targeted, it's weak enough that the icy blast inflicts fatal damage. It explodes in a burst of lava, the superheated rocks mixing with the ice to create a fire-and-ice steamy spectale.

Unfortunately for Pavel, he's a bit too close to the Mephit when this happens.

Death Burst. When the mephit dies, it explodes in a burst of lava. Each creature within 5 ft. of it must make a DC 11 Dexterity saving throw, taking 2d6 fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

MM1 Death Burst damage
AquaDyne rolled 2d6 and got 4

OOC: Pavel, DC11 Dex saving throw to reduce that 4 to a 2, and kill mephits from a further distance next time.

When the mephit dies, the two mephits surrounding Arus who had just breathed fire on him disappear as fast as they had appeared earlier, returning to the elemental plane from whence they came.

OOC tactical note: any other character can pick up Pavel's sword as an object interaction, move with it, and drop it at a destination without the need for an object interaction; perhaps multiple characters in multiple stages. Pavel in theory could have done this as well... Its heat won't cause damage, but would confer disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks while carrying it.




Key notes about the Giant:

Huge Stature. A creature adjacent to the giant may spend half of its movement to attempt a DC 20 Strength (Athletics) check. On a success, the creature climbs onto the giant. While climbing on the giant, a creature has advantage on melee attacks against the giant, and the giant has disadvantage on melee attacks against it.

Dampen Flames. If the giant takes any cold damage, the next attack made against it is made at advantage.

Pavel

Not expecting the eruption of the creature and too focused on getting to the giant, Pavel barely is able to acknowledge the bursting creature much less dodge the after effects. Singed but ready for the next round his eyes widen when he realizes he is right next to the giant as ice encases her.

Pavel Dex Save
Miales rolled 1d20+2,1d4 and got 4, 3

OOC: I wanted to pick the sword up but thought it'd take an action I needed to be able to get to the giant. Lesson learned I guess.

As for the giant. She is encased in ice and hindered for the next minute. That means what? Next round? Can't move or is at a disadvantage on attacks? The spell wasn't exactly clear on it except that another creature would have to break them out. Essentially as described Pavel is standing next to a giant ice cube

[OOC Jaliera can see the ice wall around the giant and so will hold her action until she has a target she can hit more easily ie as soon as ice melts/cracks. ]

(OOC - Gypsy - I believe the ice does not affect your attacks. Miales, I also believe the only impact for 'Hindered' is as described i the spell. Speed is reduced to 0. However Aqua posted the giant has a weakness that if it takes any cold damage the next attack on it is at advantage. Unfortunately Jaliera already has advantage but something to keep in mind.)

Yes, but she wouldn't qualify for overcoming the Giant's Resistance unless she has advantage, so bonus damage, but halved.