DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Hall of Fame - Latest Top 10 completed games HHE: The Haunted Helm OOC: Geese

Thanks Mike. Work, ultimately, has to take second place to more important things in life. That's how I roll anyway.

The sly thing about work is that it sneaks up on you, and before you know it, you're over-committed while the rest of your life erodes away.

So expect a better post-rate from here on out!

I wouldn't know ... I am retired now <gd&r lmao>

But I agree that if you are not having =some= fun, you are doing something (probably many) thing(s) wrong <wink>

Resolving two rounds in the next post, to account for the double move not being hugely entertaining from a storytelling perspective.

I can tell you though, this is going to be a very close and nasty fight to the death. It might be crucial to get Zoltan in MW's face so he can tank some damage. It worked wonders in the first fight against the dragon. (Thank goodness you cut through the dragonspawn as quickly as you did!)

Well, he is running after it so doing his best to catch it.

Fair warning, we are still in combat. (This is the part I've been worrying about!)

Yeah, but weston doesn't realize that yet <wink>

OK, so it's back!

For the turns in Round 3 where a PC couldn't attack (no targets), I found some other constructive action. Weston and D rallied, regaining some HP. Seyja convinced the GM, that surely if she held her action she could do something about the acid spray. So I gave her a +2 advantage bonus to her save.

So no more ongoing acid damage for anyone to worry about.

The dragon's next phase is pretty terrifying for PCs that are already worn down. A couple of things I'll point out now.

1. It rolls 3d20 for each attack, picks the best, so its crit chance is high and it does 11 base damage.

2. Once per battle, it can completely negate an attack. (I'll probably choose the first attack that does over 20 hp.)

Now's the time to give it everything you've got because this dragon is bringing the pain! Zeim, Zoltan can only Bastion on another PC, so Bearkiller and Almador are exempt.

Good luck guys.

I assume you will want a recovery roll this round for Breath of the White. Rolled it. Failed.

Damn! Well, there's always Scorching Ray. At least you have more chance of critting the blizzard dragon with fire attacks.

Zeim, yes, the chances of rolling three 1-5s are slim, so it's unlikely Curse of Chaos will trigger.

I've resolved the remainder of Round 5 and it didn't go brilliantly for the PCs. Haven't resolved the dragon's next turn yet (in the next round), so it might not be too bad if it rolls poorly too.

So, in the notes for previous round you can see that damage was generally underwhelming. (In six rolls, the dragon hasn't rolled a crit either, so that's a relief.)

Jex's battle cry didn't trigger and he missed, but Fusillade still did 9 miss damage! I'd hate to see what it does he hits!!

Zoltan's Smite Evil might not have done any damage per se, but it did provoke the dragon into using its negate attack ability. It can't do that again, so the Smite Evil wasn't wasted. I didn't use Bastion on Seyja, because I figured either on 1 hp or 7, it would still take a second hit to drop her.

I opted for Sure Cut for D, deciding that guaranteed damage was best. Sure Cut does better miss damage than normal, but he didn't miss so it wasn't needed. His racial power, Cruel didn;t trigger either, which was a shame because it deals 10 ongoing damage at 2nd level!

Weston's Power Attack underperformed on damage, but the roll did trigger Carve An opening finally (first time?). This widens his crit range to 19-20, so that's a positive development. He actually missed his first attack, but triggered the rune's effect, allowing him to reroll one missed attack.

Seyja missed with the fire bomb but I owing to the awesome A-Team preparation of the night before, I imposed dazed condition on MW (-4 to attack).

Tindarien gets another recharge roll on the Breath of the White, or can try Scorching Ray.

Neil - didn't see an answer to my question on Zoltan's Racial Power. Does the dragon need to roll 1-5 on all 3 of it's dice?

Answered in the post above my prev, Zeim, but yes, it does, so slim chance of triggerng Curse of Chaos against it unfortunately. You did so well against the dragonspawn and its second form, I don't think there's likely to be a TPK here, but a couple of dying PCs and even a fatality is possible if it crits.

Phew!! [Topples to the floor]

Elegant prose, Neil, but Seyja's a little chilly at the moment.

OK yes, so there's no rush to heal per se. Battle is over. You now have a Quick Rest, so Jex and Seyja are automatically stabilised and everyone must use recoveries to heal to above half hit points.

If this requires burning recoveries you don't have, you take a -1 attack and defence penalty for each. Think of it as fatigue.

Most healing, including healing potions doesn't bypass the above rule. Some very potent magic healing gives you a free recovery (Cure Wounds), or allows you to use someone elses (Lay On Hands).

D and Tindarien have healing potions they can use, best used on Jex and Seyja. Zoltan still has one Lay On Hands remaining, perhaps best used on Seyja also, that will leave him one recovery for himself, which should be sufficient to get him back over 20 hp without incurring a penalty.

If you're all happy with that, we'll say it's so, I'll roll recovery dice for everyone, and you guys and concentrate on role-playing and searching, etc.

What sort of shape is nestaron in? He might need a bit of help too <g>

Nestaron's been converted into an NPC, so he'll get a few dice of hit points back during a Quick Rest. Like Almador and Bearkiller, he isn't a fully featured PC anymore, and will likely have to leave the party to convalesce at the later time.

Nice punch line. Hadn't expected to have to worry about burning to death in an ice cave.

Hehe. Yeah, I thought it was a fun twist! And hey, D still has a resistance to fire potion to use.

LOL. Nice.

I'm so sorry guys, I read that as if we had a question each. No way would he have leapt in to steal that one opportunity. I suppose it is too late to change it now? Maybe Tindarien made the same mistake?

It's alright. Play it as the character's mistake. Zoltan didn't have a question anyway.

yep. sometimes our mistakes make the most interesting play <wink>

It works for me. D has too many.

At least you didn't mishear and ask the ghosts to repeat what they'd said. That would've been hilarious. Probably worth it.