Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 12:01 am
Chateau de Tarascons, Outside of Port-a-Lucine; Just Past Midnight of March 24th, 770
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Player Actions
Mr. Agale: Uses a Dishearten to make the Water Weird attack Poincare. It barely hits, deals 11 damage and Marks Poincare.
Tomas: Divine Mettle's Nerit, hits the Water Weird for 9 Radiant Damage.
Nicolas: Uses Inspire Competence on all PCs but Lia, hits Poincare with a Vicious Mockery for 9 Psychic damage.
Celeste: Misses a Storm Walk on the Weird (provoking an AoO from Poincare). Fires a Reeling Torment at the Weird for 26 damage
Kerrian: Summons a spirit (purple dot), hits Poincare for 13 damage, heals Celeste, and readies a Spirit Shield vs. Poincare.
Nerit: Teleports, uses Deep Shroud, and Lightning Strikes Water Weird for 16 damage and Poincare for 3.
Darius: Teleports, Marks, and then Frigid Blades Poincare for 10 Cold Damage. Poincare has Cold Resist 10, and resists all of it. Poincare does take a -2 speed penalty, however.
Cyrus: Moves, gains Oath of Enduring Wrath, and crits Poincare for 14 Radiant Damage, also gaining 4 temp HP.
Lia: Casts Magic Missile, misses. Casts Shield, don't know why.
Then it stopped. The professor, of art history of all things, had interposed her wrist between her body and the blade. She'd moved unimaginably fast, before the blade even began to fall. Frost began to coat her wrist, but Poincare regarded this without so much as a glimmer of discomfort.
"If you wish." Dr. Poincare said, clinically examining the blade at her wrist. Then, once more moving with that bizarre grace, she twisted out from beneath it and bounded to her feet, the sword biting deep into the ice.
"Some other time, perhaps." Dr. Poincare smiled for just a moment. She put her hands together, grasping the glaive of shadows and ice and rusted metal in both hands, then planted the end in the ice. The doctor closed her eyes, seeming almost to meditate in the midst of battle, even as her enemies closed around her and bolts of rime from her followers darted overhead. Then she opened her mouth and screamed.
It would be impossible to describe the sound. It began as a high-pitched keening, and continued, rising in register till you weren't even sure if you heard or if you felt it. Something impossibly powerful, piercing and malignant. Images assailed you, little glimpses of past and present and future, a grim assembly of funereal scenes. You felt a warm trickle from your ears, and blood dribbled down the sides of your heads.
"Quickly." You heard Poincare give the command as though in a dream. "While they're stunned."
Then its body churned, the ropey, snake-like form shifting to ice and water and back. One goose's neck snapped, the bird falling still, and others began to be sharply lacerated by the bits of ice and the pressure of the elemental's form. The Water Weird's clear, crystalline form began to be tainted with dark, rich blood.
Poincare OA on Celeste: Miss
Water Weird!: Is dazed, so it tries to bite Tomas. Crits. Which sadly only means 12-1=11 damage, and Tomas is Marked (takes -2 to attacks if he makes an attack that does not include the Weird)
Cultist #1 fires a Frostbite Bolt at Nerit. Suffers a -5 penalty due to heavy obscuring. Rolls a natural 1. (What is with these things?). Cultist shuffles back onto dry land.
Cultist #2 fires a Frostbite Bolt at Nerit. Suffers a -5 penalty due to heavy obscuring. Hits. Deals 11 damage, and Nerit is Slowed (Save Ends). Cultist shuffles back onto dry land.
Cultist #3 uses a Tentacle of Water and Ice on Tomas. Hits for 21 damage, Tomas slides 2 squares and is restrained (save ends). Tomas makes his save to avoid entering the water.
Cultist #4 uses a Tentacle of Water and Ice on Celeste. Hits for 19 damage, Celeste slides 4 squares and is restrained (save ends). Celeste makes her save to avoid entering the water. Takes 12 damage from Celeste's Chaotic Shield.
Cultist #5 moves up and uses a Tentacle of Water and Ice on Cyrus. Misses due to Obscurement. Uses Insubstantial Transformation, is Insubstantial and Flying 4 (Hover) until she attacks or is dazed/stunned).
Cultist #6 moves up and uses a Tentacle of Water and Ice on Nicolas. Hits for 17 damage, Nicolas slides 5 squares and is restrained (save ends). Uses Insubstantial Transformation, is Insubstantial and Flying 4 (Hover) until she attacks or is dazed/stunned).
Poincare Move Action to stand up (in 4E, this does not provoke an AoO.
Standard Action to use Terrifying Scream. Close 5 Burst, attacks Celeste, Darius, Nicolas, Tomas, Nerit, and Cyrus. Hits, hits, hits, miss, miss, crit. 11 damage to Celeste, Darius, and Nicolas, and 19 damage to Cyrus. All four of those worthies are now Immobilized (Save Ends)
Minor Action to activate Insubstantial Transformation. Poincare is Insubstantial and gains Fly 8 (Hover) until she attacks or is dazed/stunned.
Ice! Reflex Attacks versus Celeste, Darius, Nicolas, Tomas, Nerit, and Cyrus. Miss, hit, miss, miss, miss, miss. Darius gets an 8, sliding 4 squares in direction 5 (due south) and falling Prone.
Recharges for Cultists 1 and 2: Nothing recharges

Terrain!
Ice: I'm going to run this slightly like a trap. At the end of each turn, the Ice will make an attack roll against your Reflex Defense if you are on the ice. If it fails, nothing happens. If it hits, we roll a d20 randomly on the following table to decide what happens:
You may take a Move Action to steady yourself (DC 5+ Acrobatics). For every 5 points you exceed the DC by, gain +2 to your Reflex defense only against the ice. So if you got a 17, you get a +6 to your Reflex defense against the ice.
Water: Anyone who enters or starts his turn in a water square takes 5 Ongoing Cold Damage and is Slowed (save ends both). To move onto an Ice Square requires a DC 12 Acrobatics or DC 12 Athletics check as a Move Action.
Forced Movement & Water's Edge: If you are, by reason of Forced Movement, knocked into the water, you can make an immediate saving throw. On a result of 10-20, you remain on the ice, though you fall prone. On a result of 1-9 you are pulled into the water. Until you make the save, I shall leave your PC in between the two squares, and then you can count your origin square for the turn based on your save result.
PCs:
Cyrus Isfahani (C): 39/58, 8 HS, Oath of Enduring Wrath (+2 Saves), Spirit Shroud (Heavily Obscured), Inspire Competence (+2 to next skill check), Immobilized (Save Ends),
AC 18, F 18, R 17, W 19
Darius Isfahani (D): 31/60, 9 HS, Spirit (+1 NADs), Inspire Competence (+2 to next skill check), Prone, Immobilized (Save Ends),
AC 23, F 17, R 19, W 19
Sister Nerit Doherty (N): 1/47, 4 HS, Bloodied, Spirit Shroud (Heavily Obscured), Inspire Competence (+2 to next skill check), Slowed (Save Ends)
AC 18, F 14, R 17, W 21
Mr. Agale (A): 43/44, 6 HS, Inspire Competence (+2 to next skill check)
AC 18, F 16, R 19, W 21
Nicolas Etienne de Castaigne (Nc): 28/56, 6 HS, Inspire Competence (+2 to next skill check), Restrained (Save Ends), Immobilized (Save Ends),
AC 21, F 18, R 20, W 21
Tomas Eisenwald (T): 27/59, 10 HS, Resist All/1, Virtuous Strike (+2 Saves), Inspire Competence (+2 to next skill check), Marked (Weird), Restrained (Save Ends), Bloodied
AC 24, F 18, R 18, W 20
Prof. Lia Mournswaithe (L): 44/50, 7 HS
AC 20, F 16, R 18, W 17
Kerrian Mauganson (K): 53/53, 3 HS, Inspire Competence (+2 to next skill check)
AC 17, F 19, R 16, W 20
Kerrian's Spirit (Purple Dot) Minion
AC 17, F 19, R 16, W 20
Celeste Viardot (Cv): 8/50, 3 HS, Spirit (+1 NADs), Inspire Competence (+2 to next skill check), Restrained (Save Ends), Immobilized (Save Ends), Bloodied
AC 16, F 17, R 18, W 20
Enemies:
Dr. Nicole Poincare (P): -52 HP, Mark (Darius), Frigid Blade (-2 Speed), Spirit Shield, Vicious Mockery (-2 to attacks), Insubstantial
AC: 24 Fortitude: 18 Reflex: 22 Will: 23
Water Weird (W): -51 HP, Dazed
AC: 24 Fortitude: 22 Reflex: 19 Will: 20
First Cultist (1): -9 HP, Recharging (Insubstantial Transformation, Tentacle of Ice and Water)
Second Cultist (2): Recharging (Insubstantial Transformation, Tentacle of Ice and Water)
Third Cultist (3): -8 HP, Recharging (Tentacle of Ice and Water)
Fourth Cultist (4): -22 HP, Recharging (Tentacle of Ice and Water)
Fifth Cultist (5): Recharging (Insubstantial Transformation, Tentacle of Ice and Water)
Sixth Cultist (6): Recharging (Insubstantial Transformation, Tentacle of Ice and Water)
AC: 20 Fortitude: 19 Reflex: 21 Will: 19
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Player Actions
Mr. Agale: Uses a Dishearten to make the Water Weird attack Poincare. It barely hits, deals 11 damage and Marks Poincare.
Tomas: Divine Mettle's Nerit, hits the Water Weird for 9 Radiant Damage.
Nicolas: Uses Inspire Competence on all PCs but Lia, hits Poincare with a Vicious Mockery for 9 Psychic damage.
Celeste: Misses a Storm Walk on the Weird (provoking an AoO from Poincare). Fires a Reeling Torment at the Weird for 26 damage
Kerrian: Summons a spirit (purple dot), hits Poincare for 13 damage, heals Celeste, and readies a Spirit Shield vs. Poincare.
Nerit: Teleports, uses Deep Shroud, and Lightning Strikes Water Weird for 16 damage and Poincare for 3.
Darius: Teleports, Marks, and then Frigid Blades Poincare for 10 Cold Damage. Poincare has Cold Resist 10, and resists all of it. Poincare does take a -2 speed penalty, however.
Cyrus: Moves, gains Oath of Enduring Wrath, and crits Poincare for 14 Radiant Damage, also gaining 4 temp HP.
Lia: Casts Magic Missile, misses. Casts Shield, don't know why.
The shivering blade arced down upon Dr. Poincare's prostrate form like an avenging fury, proclaiming nothing but death and damnation to the enemies of the Lawgiver as it fell. It turned to ice as it did so, a frozen starburst, cold and distant.Darius wrote:"I...must...insist," he grinds out as the water weird tightens its grip, and then he is standing above the professor, longsword drawn and blade coated in ice. "You and me, woman, and we'll see who tires first."
With that, he cuts at her prone form.
Then it stopped. The professor, of art history of all things, had interposed her wrist between her body and the blade. She'd moved unimaginably fast, before the blade even began to fall. Frost began to coat her wrist, but Poincare regarded this without so much as a glimmer of discomfort.
"If you wish." Dr. Poincare said, clinically examining the blade at her wrist. Then, once more moving with that bizarre grace, she twisted out from beneath it and bounded to her feet, the sword biting deep into the ice.
Tomas wrote:"You could at least give us a speech about your master plan, you know!" Tomas shouts at her, but focuses on the bizarre elemental. Yeah, that's going to have to go.
"Some other time, perhaps." Dr. Poincare smiled for just a moment. She put her hands together, grasping the glaive of shadows and ice and rusted metal in both hands, then planted the end in the ice. The doctor closed her eyes, seeming almost to meditate in the midst of battle, even as her enemies closed around her and bolts of rime from her followers darted overhead. Then she opened her mouth and screamed.
It would be impossible to describe the sound. It began as a high-pitched keening, and continued, rising in register till you weren't even sure if you heard or if you felt it. Something impossibly powerful, piercing and malignant. Images assailed you, little glimpses of past and present and future, a grim assembly of funereal scenes. You felt a warm trickle from your ears, and blood dribbled down the sides of your heads.
"Quickly." You heard Poincare give the command as though in a dream. "While they're stunned."
There was a brief pause as this was considered by all involved. It just wasn't something you saw every day. Even the Weird paused for a moment.The Gods of Bizarre Fate wrote:Scratch that. There was a brief pause accompanied by a brain-crawlingly horrifying squelching noise. The water weird was translucent, for all that was holy. The geese were still in there. They appeared to be drowning as you watched.
The majority of you were not experts on the physiology of elementals, but you were reasonably certain that this was an unhealthy situation for the weird.
Then its body churned, the ropey, snake-like form shifting to ice and water and back. One goose's neck snapped, the bird falling still, and others began to be sharply lacerated by the bits of ice and the pressure of the elemental's form. The Water Weird's clear, crystalline form began to be tainted with dark, rich blood.
Poincare OA on Celeste: Miss
Water Weird!: Is dazed, so it tries to bite Tomas. Crits. Which sadly only means 12-1=11 damage, and Tomas is Marked (takes -2 to attacks if he makes an attack that does not include the Weird)
Cultist #1 fires a Frostbite Bolt at Nerit. Suffers a -5 penalty due to heavy obscuring. Rolls a natural 1. (What is with these things?). Cultist shuffles back onto dry land.
Cultist #2 fires a Frostbite Bolt at Nerit. Suffers a -5 penalty due to heavy obscuring. Hits. Deals 11 damage, and Nerit is Slowed (Save Ends). Cultist shuffles back onto dry land.
Cultist #3 uses a Tentacle of Water and Ice on Tomas. Hits for 21 damage, Tomas slides 2 squares and is restrained (save ends). Tomas makes his save to avoid entering the water.
Cultist #4 uses a Tentacle of Water and Ice on Celeste. Hits for 19 damage, Celeste slides 4 squares and is restrained (save ends). Celeste makes her save to avoid entering the water. Takes 12 damage from Celeste's Chaotic Shield.
Cultist #5 moves up and uses a Tentacle of Water and Ice on Cyrus. Misses due to Obscurement. Uses Insubstantial Transformation, is Insubstantial and Flying 4 (Hover) until she attacks or is dazed/stunned).
Cultist #6 moves up and uses a Tentacle of Water and Ice on Nicolas. Hits for 17 damage, Nicolas slides 5 squares and is restrained (save ends). Uses Insubstantial Transformation, is Insubstantial and Flying 4 (Hover) until she attacks or is dazed/stunned).
Poincare Move Action to stand up (in 4E, this does not provoke an AoO.
Standard Action to use Terrifying Scream. Close 5 Burst, attacks Celeste, Darius, Nicolas, Tomas, Nerit, and Cyrus. Hits, hits, hits, miss, miss, crit. 11 damage to Celeste, Darius, and Nicolas, and 19 damage to Cyrus. All four of those worthies are now Immobilized (Save Ends)
Minor Action to activate Insubstantial Transformation. Poincare is Insubstantial and gains Fly 8 (Hover) until she attacks or is dazed/stunned.
Ice! Reflex Attacks versus Celeste, Darius, Nicolas, Tomas, Nerit, and Cyrus. Miss, hit, miss, miss, miss, miss. Darius gets an 8, sliding 4 squares in direction 5 (due south) and falling Prone.
Recharges for Cultists 1 and 2: Nothing recharges

Terrain!
Ice: I'm going to run this slightly like a trap. At the end of each turn, the Ice will make an attack roll against your Reflex Defense if you are on the ice. If it fails, nothing happens. If it hits, we roll a d20 randomly on the following table to decide what happens:
- 1-4: You slip and fall Prone.
5-7: You slide 1d4 squares in a random direction (determined by a d8 )
8-10: You slide 1d4 squares in a random direction (determined by a d8 ) and fall Prone
11-13: You slip into some shallow water. You take 5 Ongoing Cold Damage (save ends).
14-16: Extremely slippery ice forces you to move very carefully. You are Slowed until your next turn.
17-18: Your foot catches in a crevasse in the ice. You are Immobilized until your next turn.
19: You take a very bad fall. You take 10 damage and fall Prone.
20: You stumble, causing a spray of freezing water to splash you in the eyes. You are Blinded until your next turn.
You may take a Move Action to steady yourself (DC 5+ Acrobatics). For every 5 points you exceed the DC by, gain +2 to your Reflex defense only against the ice. So if you got a 17, you get a +6 to your Reflex defense against the ice.
Water: Anyone who enters or starts his turn in a water square takes 5 Ongoing Cold Damage and is Slowed (save ends both). To move onto an Ice Square requires a DC 12 Acrobatics or DC 12 Athletics check as a Move Action.
Forced Movement & Water's Edge: If you are, by reason of Forced Movement, knocked into the water, you can make an immediate saving throw. On a result of 10-20, you remain on the ice, though you fall prone. On a result of 1-9 you are pulled into the water. Until you make the save, I shall leave your PC in between the two squares, and then you can count your origin square for the turn based on your save result.
PCs:
Cyrus Isfahani (C): 39/58, 8 HS, Oath of Enduring Wrath (+2 Saves), Spirit Shroud (Heavily Obscured), Inspire Competence (+2 to next skill check), Immobilized (Save Ends),
AC 18, F 18, R 17, W 19
Darius Isfahani (D): 31/60, 9 HS, Spirit (+1 NADs), Inspire Competence (+2 to next skill check), Prone, Immobilized (Save Ends),
AC 23, F 17, R 19, W 19
Sister Nerit Doherty (N): 1/47, 4 HS, Bloodied, Spirit Shroud (Heavily Obscured), Inspire Competence (+2 to next skill check), Slowed (Save Ends)
AC 18, F 14, R 17, W 21
Mr. Agale (A): 43/44, 6 HS, Inspire Competence (+2 to next skill check)
AC 18, F 16, R 19, W 21
Nicolas Etienne de Castaigne (Nc): 28/56, 6 HS, Inspire Competence (+2 to next skill check), Restrained (Save Ends), Immobilized (Save Ends),
AC 21, F 18, R 20, W 21
Tomas Eisenwald (T): 27/59, 10 HS, Resist All/1, Virtuous Strike (+2 Saves), Inspire Competence (+2 to next skill check), Marked (Weird), Restrained (Save Ends), Bloodied
AC 24, F 18, R 18, W 20
Prof. Lia Mournswaithe (L): 44/50, 7 HS
AC 20, F 16, R 18, W 17
Kerrian Mauganson (K): 53/53, 3 HS, Inspire Competence (+2 to next skill check)
AC 17, F 19, R 16, W 20
Kerrian's Spirit (Purple Dot) Minion
AC 17, F 19, R 16, W 20
Celeste Viardot (Cv): 8/50, 3 HS, Spirit (+1 NADs), Inspire Competence (+2 to next skill check), Restrained (Save Ends), Immobilized (Save Ends), Bloodied
AC 16, F 17, R 18, W 20
Enemies:
Dr. Nicole Poincare (P): -52 HP, Mark (Darius), Frigid Blade (-2 Speed), Spirit Shield, Vicious Mockery (-2 to attacks), Insubstantial
AC: 24 Fortitude: 18 Reflex: 22 Will: 23
Water Weird (W): -51 HP, Dazed
AC: 24 Fortitude: 22 Reflex: 19 Will: 20
First Cultist (1): -9 HP, Recharging (Insubstantial Transformation, Tentacle of Ice and Water)
Second Cultist (2): Recharging (Insubstantial Transformation, Tentacle of Ice and Water)
Third Cultist (3): -8 HP, Recharging (Tentacle of Ice and Water)
Fourth Cultist (4): -22 HP, Recharging (Tentacle of Ice and Water)
Fifth Cultist (5): Recharging (Insubstantial Transformation, Tentacle of Ice and Water)
Sixth Cultist (6): Recharging (Insubstantial Transformation, Tentacle of Ice and Water)
AC: 20 Fortitude: 19 Reflex: 21 Will: 19
