Around Ladydove - The Countryside on the Border of Anauroch

[Brainpiercing]

Ok, so maybe we stick to soloing you for a bit more until you've settled in a bit and can get into a more regular posting schedule. For me it's fine, I'm here, either way .

You need to make some checks to find your horse - it won't be hard to track but the tracks are solidly elsewhere right now.

Survival DC10 to get your bearings back. Then you can send the bird to scout. It'll still take a while, probably won't work in the night, either.

[mthor]

Otaix 25 (1d20+18=23)binding malphas 15 Otaix 25 (1d20+18=19)

Bad pact with Otaix that means I go all OCD on unopened doors and locks. I'm also surrounded by a thin blue mist.

Trudging through the desert was miserable work, Thor reflected. He couldn't imagine that anyone would willingly do it. But here he was, searching for his horse survival (1d20-1=17) At least the wind had died down. It made it slightly easier to see around him. Unfortunately that was almost more depressing then the blowing sand as you could see the endless up and down of the dunes. Still it made his task easier, he thought he saw the dark brown of his mount about a mile to the west. He started trudging towards the horse with but a little sliver of his mind focusing on keeping his feet on the right path. The rest of him was soaring high above the rolling dunes in a bird that was bound to his soul. He was searching for more demons. They wouldn't get the better of him this time.

[Brainpiercing]

After a while Thor found his horse. It was trudging through the desert unhappily in search of food or water.  The spores had injured it, too, but thanks to its good breed it was not quite dead, yet.

Thor saw no more demons for the moment.

Well... we could change scenes now, and have you meet up with the others, but maybe I should finish that fight, first. If you have a plan that you want to follow right now, go ahead, or else I will come up with some new hook .

[mthor]

I kind of got and idea that might work.  Yikes, I just realized I went into the desert with no food or water! what was I thinking, do you usually list such things or do you find them tedious for a non face-to-face game? I am also assuming I can find a rock somewhere.

Thor stood staring up at the sky and then looked back at the good size rock he had found the day before. It had taken him almost a full day but with the amount of ground he could cover on a horse and the ability see through the eyes of a raven he had finally found a rock which suited his purpose. last night he had lit a fire on this very rock burning a area that was slightly larger then his outstretched arms.  He had doused the fire with water quickly because he wanted no one to see the smoke or light. What was left was a rock which had been charred but not cracked by the fire. He this morning had gotten up early and sent the raven he could call out to scout and make sure there was no one around. The he had bound to visages which he normally didn'tbinding: Astaroth(20) and buer (20) (1d20+18=26, 1d20+18=24)

Binding: Otaix(25) an Malphas(15) (1d20+18=38, 1d20+18=21) roll for tomorrow: once again a bad pact with Otaix

Thor smiled with pleasure as new sensations swept through him; This was true power. A worry suddenly reared it's ugly head though, he had stripped away many of his magical protections for this. He quickly settled down in a sheltered area to seek the spirits help.

Astaroth gives you divination as the spell unlimited number of times per day. Its pretty close to broken. Buer just gives me fast healing so after today I'll be at full health. I spend the day asking questions including the first one which is "will I be safe if I stay here today?" I would act on any bad news. If not I ask about how I would find the specific demon I met before, how I would do if I went (West, East, North, South)  and who "mother" is. Please feel free to disregard any questions you view as irrelevant.

[Brainpiercing]

Nice... ok, I need to think about the questions a bit...

As to your food and water problem: It's up to you. You don't need to count rations, but without magical aid you will probably not be able to stay in the desert indefinitely. So in your position I would just go ahead and retro-actively buy a neverending rations bag, a feedbag, and an everfull mug. Those don't amount to much, total.

[Brainpiercing]

The questions Thor asked provided the following answers:

"He who hides is safe for the day."

"Demons gather and move out, children gather and move in. North-north-east."

"The desert ends in the west."
"Desert extends to the east, hills and goblin marshes."
"Battle is brewing in the north. Demons and men both gather."
"In the south, civilisation is preparing to purge the infection."

"Mother, the origin, unreachable, yet close at hand. Encroaching ceaselessly upon the fold."

You can ask again upon getting those answers, and since you know when the percentile fails, I won't even roll it.

[mthor]

Actually I think I get the same results for the same questions. I do only have a 82% chance for a correct result but I do know if it fails "The base chance for a correct divination is 70% + 1% per caster level, to a maximum of 90%. If the dice roll fails, you know the spell failed, unless specific magic yielding false information is at work. Multiple divinations about the same topic by the same caster use the same dice result as the first divination spell and yield the same answer each time. " SRD: Divination

Thor stood lazying around in the last lights of day watching as black-blue fire rolled through his hands, crisping sand beneath his feet to glass. As always when he had just bound the visage of demonic knowledge he felt narcissisticly proud of himself and sure of his course of action. This of course was an illusion, the cryptic answers that he had sought gave little to no knowledge. He asked one final question before he drifted to sleep. "Will I survive the next week?" No answer came back. He rolled over and drifted into a dark nightmarish sleep, filled with dark shadows and blue fire. The next morning he started N/NE trying to find the children the spirits had spoken of.

Bound Otaix (bad pact) and Malphas. Just a question will you allow Tenebrous' Deeper Darkness to activate both shadow strike and to act as kind of a Camouflage (ranger ability) because "You can use concealment to make a Hide check. Without concealment, you usually need cover to make a Hide check." SRD. I honestly can't find anything in the PH that suggests otherwise but for some reason I remember that hiding in a darkness spell was a no-no.   

[Brainpiercing]

You could have asked more about those answers... well...

As to the Darkness thing: AFAIK Darkness gives 20% concealment, right? And you can hide in concealment - as long as the critters don't have darkvision. Low-light I'm not sure, since that only extends the range of shadowy illumination. You should get a ring of Darkhidden, so that you are invisible to darkvision, though, and the Darkstalker feat, probably, if you plan on doing this a lot.
As with all things, though, it only lets you full-attack with sudden strike if the enemy is really flat-footed, or if you can make another hide check as part of the attack with a -20 penalty - or use some other ability.

However, do note that a blob of darkness in open terrain does look a bit weird, and will likely draw fire out of pure principle.

Now, do you want to make an immediate scene change to stalking the other "children"? Basically there is no interesting mechanic in D&D for tracking people when you don't know where they are...

[mthor]

You could have asked more about those answers... well...

True I may consider dredging up the ol' divination vistage when I start having questions other than; " What is the infection?" and  "Who are the children?" Having the answers to every question is good and all but actually having practical questions are better.  

Now, do you want to make an immediate scene change to stalking the other "children"? Basically there is no interesting mechanic in D&D for tracking people when you don't know where they are...

Sure, I'm cool with that.

As to the Darkness thing:

Yeah I was just looking for a 3rd vistage to add to my characters main battle form and its between this guy and Zceryll. You really weren't lying when you said zceryll kicks ass, mindsight, 10/magic DR, Spell Resistance and summoning to make a malconvoker jealous. Thats just downright sexy.

According to this this, you can add a template more than once to the same creature as long as it continues to qualify.

Just in case any of my players read this...

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

uh oh

desole

[Sohala]

Just looking ahead, or do you actually get three at level ~10?!

[mthor]

oh damn it... I forgot to put that in a spoiler

To Sohala

At level 12: a major bloodline adds 3 EBL per class that increases soul binding (binder and KotSS) so EBL is 15. (I'm going to have to talk to Brainpiercing after level 12 because I'm not sure what I'm going to add and and PrC I add will give me 3 more EBL)   

[Brainpiercing]

Please edit all that into a spoiler box, it's pretty ugly, otherwise.

Also, give me some details how you want to approach the "children", then I'll set up the new scene.

[Sohala]

Huh...I didn't think it would extend to the number of bindings for 'functions', but there is actually no other way to read it...Well I met my learning quota for the day.

[mthor]

seeing as I'm not sure who the children are.....

Thor's mind whirled back and forth with thoughts, ideas and plans, never settling for a moments peace. Who were these children the spirits spoke of? Should he approach them openly hoping to make the acquaintance of a fellow traveler in this hell-hole. Finally, after hours of battling a storm both of the desert and of his mind Thor drifted to sleep. Thor would approached cautiously, slowly, without trust. It was a product of years of suspicion, betrayal and silent, bitter rage. He would approach only after riding alongside whoever, or whatever, the creature was for a day using his raven to scout for him noting what prepared spells and what practiced fighting techniques. This would be no gesture of trust, he would approach in full battle form, vestiges of war and power reinforcing his already potent will.

If I close to within half a days ride within a day then I will keep my battle vistiges (Otaix 15 and Malphas 25) however if it takes more then a day I will take the opportunity to bind (Malphas 15 and Astaroth 20) binding (1d20+18=38, 1d20+18=32)

[Brainpiercing]

In the desert

It was good that Thor did indeed take precautions. His high-flying bird came upon a regular demon patrol some time later that day. After some more searching, it spotted something in the distance that seemed at first like the demon from before - five heads, leathery wings... but its body was all wrong. It was massive and muscular where the demon's had been scrawny, and its skin was covered in bulges and bony deposits. It seemed to meander roughly northward, trailing a huge club in the sand after him.

And it wasn't the only strange creature afoot. After some time the giant waded straight into an ambush of desert predators, sleek, hyena-like creatures with smooth, scaly skin - but these, too, had been transformed to posess five heads and wings. They began their attack with uncanny coordination, almost instantly moving to flank and support each other, but suddenly stopped when they came close to the giant. The strange congregation remained for a while in mutual observation, the predators circling the giant. But then they began talking from their draconic heads. Eerily enough, all the hyena-like creatures talked with a linked consciousness, like a hive mind, their voices speaking in perfect unison, even though their articulation was in a very crippled draconic. Fragments drifted over to the the watching bird.
'...searching....hunting....gather...find....MOTHER.....'

[ooc]

We are sticking to this thread because it would mix up the concurring storylines too much right now if you posted in the other one, and I don't think its necessary to make a new one until you meet up with the others.

[mthor]

In the desert
We are sticking to this thread because it would mix up the concurring storylines too much right now if you posted in the other one, and I don't think its necessary to make a new one until you meet up with the others.

OOC: This is fine by me.
Thor once again thanked his lucky stars that his g-g-g-g-grandfather had seen fit to teach him a trick or two. Without his strange, unique power to bind and control spirits, Thor would continually run into ambushes and other nasty tricks. All and all though, this desert scared him more then any of the other truly nasty and terrifying places he had been put together. Never before had he encountered a hive mind outside of a swarm and common sense screamed at him that a group of motivated, coordinated ambushers could be very deadly indeed. This "mother" certainly had some very strange children. Thor quickly slipped into position SW of the grouped creatures using his bird to once again provide any info he could gather.

[Brainpiercing]

The unlikely group seemed to discuss things for a while, then they moved off, further north-eastward. After another half a day or so they hunted and slew some other desert monster - one without five heads. Again their teamwork was uncanny. Both the predators and the giant gorged themselves on it, raw. Filled and lazy they then slouched about until the sun went down, and then slept.

[mthor]

Thor laughted silently at the confidence of the creatures that he faced. They weren't the only preditors in the desert, but apparently they thought they were the toughest. He was going to prove them dead wrong.

Sorry I couldn't resist

Hide/Move Silently (1d20+11=18, 1d20+11=19)

Stalking up silently behind these creatures his mind worked its way into a furious symphony of plans. "I only have one chance to catch them when the don't expect me. I'd better make it count". "Hit and run tactics will work better against creatures who don't have sent". " Don't let the bruiser hit you and don't let yourself be flanked." " Always Keep a clear path of retreat" and " Will they still continue to find mother even with the threat of my presence" all rushed through his head as quick a thought.  It didn't matter now thought, It was go time.  Running up silently to a creature in the last light ,before the sun finally committed suicide in the east, Thor lashed out with the mist that had become part of his soul. He smiled wolfishly thankful for the enchantments, Haste, Divine Favor, and Alter Self (Phaerlock) that protected and strengthen him.
attack rolls (1d20+7,1d20+7, 1d20+4=[6, 7], [9, 7], [20, 4])
Damage Rolls (2d6+12+4d6=30)
damage rolls 2/3 (2d6+12+4d6=37, 2d6+12+4d6=33)

I'm assuming It will be alright to attack at last light because I don't have any form of darkvision. An oversight on my part.

[Brainpiercing]

Oh, you're SO in over your head, once again. Don't go attacking every monster, even if they are lying asleep in front of you. There are things you can't face alone, in this game, and at some point they will get you... the trouble is these guys won't give up - they are not outsiders who suddenly have to eat, due to a type change, and are therefore permanently starving. These know just what they are doing, and you're going to have to give me a really good reason to not have them hunt and find you. Oh, and... they have scent. So...

Well... ok, the sand hunters are in dividually not so tough, and you could probably beat the troll - by itself. But their breath-weapons alone could probably kill you in one round, and they WILL use them if they can't hit you with their other attacks.

And just take either Darkvision or LLvisoin from the Bloodline or the Dragon HD. It's not a big deal, but sucks if you don't have it.

Thor snuck up on the first of the Sand Hunters, and cold-bloodedly murdered it in its sleep. It yelped once before lying in the sand, dying. However, the rest of the pack was quickly roused... And the brute, which was, upon closer inspection, a Troll with the (by now) usual of two additional large goat heads and two additional dragon heads, wasn't much slower in awakening.

Before long, nine five-headed predators and one angry five-headed Troll were staring (slightly bleary-eyed) at Thor.

Roll your init. The Hunters wake right up, the Troll will take one more round. If you beat their init you get one more round of flat-footed enemies....

Monster init:
Hunters: 23
Troll: 18

[mthor]

1d20+5=10 initiative.

Actually I can't think of a good reason not to kill me... And I got screwed on initiative.

OOC:notes

AC 33, Combat reflexes: 10ft reach( 6 AoA) and 20% miss chance (I can calculate that)

If I don't die before I can move again then..... Thor Bloody and bruised quickly whips around and runs like a little boy. Swift action: vestiges power/ full round action run!!! (70 ( 30 normal, 30 haste, 10 Vistige power)x4= 280ft)

OOC: Normally I'm a bit more subtle   I couldn't find any actual action to prose up (<==is this an actual verb?) and make spiffy.