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Age of Ice and Blood: A Pathfinder System Heroic Fantasy Quest

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Luckily we can easily deal fire-damage to the Troll, with Durendal or Zaia's bombs.

I'd say focus magic on the Troll, he's an easy target for touch-effects, so bombs and Inge's Snowballs will hit.
Esha should use sleep or Blindness to disable one of the attackers with Cold Iron weapons behind us.

Roland might actually try to challenge the shooter and charge him, if being on a Troll does not somehow protect him from that.
 
Having Tom Blinded for this fight makes it a lot more complicated. Hopefully he won't be too much of a liability.

The Troll is the most obvious danger, though not necessarily the greatest threat. Whether it is or isn't, we have to treat it like it is. That means Roland and Silver going at it full bore, since we don't exactly have a surplus of melee combat potential at the moment.

Trolls have shitty Reflex saves, so there is a good chance Zaia's bomb won't just do a decent chunk of Fire damage, but also temporarily Entangle it and possibly glue it in place. The assassin might also take damage and get Entangled, depending on its exact positioning.

For the assassin, I've got Esha targeting it with a Blindness spell. Whatever it is, unless it's Undead, it's almost guaranteed to be much more vulnerable to that than the Troll, which has a very high Fortitude save bonus. Blinding it will significantly reduce the threat it poses, plus it will be a nice bit of comeuppance for the attack on Tom.

That still leaves the enemies at our rear, and the best/only way to deal with them, if only for a short time, is Inge's Web spell. That's the only good option we have for impeding a pair of creatures with everything else that's happening. They probably have decent or better Reflex saves, but even making the saving throw still means the Webbed area is Difficult Terrain they'll have to cut their way through to get to us. Unless they're packing a Flaming blade like Roland, even burning through it with a torch will still take a few rounds.

Hopefully Swift Pebble gets up to something useful. I would have felt a lot better if she had stayed behind to help defend Inge or Tom. Also, she could have probably done pretty well against the Troll.

[X] Trolls + Fire, a match made in...Fey Shadowrun?
-[X] Zaia will target the Troll with a Tanglefoot Firebomb.
-[X] Roland uses Encouraging Roar as a Swift Action, then he and Silver Charge the Troll in the wake of Zaia's bomb. Roland and Silver both Power Attack the Troll.
-[X] Esha will target the assassin with a Blindness spell if she can see it. If she can't see it, she either waits for it to make another appearance, or if matters behind us are more pressing, targets one of the two blade wielding enemies. If Inge's spell fails to cast, she will target one of the pair rather than the assassin.
-[X] Inge will target the pair behind us with a Web spell. Even if they are not snared, it will make it much more difficult for enemies to approach is from the obstructed corridor.
-[X] Tom makes the best of a shitty situation, hunkering down behind his shield as best he can while trying not to impede his allies, using whatever combination of Fighting Defensively/Total Defense he can manage, if it becomes necessary. If/when the Blindness clears, he will move to aid the group as the situation dictates.
 
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Goldfish said:
-[X] Roland uses Encouraging Roar as a Swift Action, then he and Silver Charge the Troll in the wake of Zaia's bomb. Roland and Silver both Power Attack the Troll.
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I can see that this might be better than Challenge at this point, we don't need an AC-penalty against the shooter or his friends.

Goldfish said:
-[X] Esha will target the assassin with a Blindness spell if she can see it. If she can't see it, she either waits for it to make another appearance, or if matters behind us are more pressing, targets one of the two blade wielding enemies. If Inge's spell fails to cast, she will target one of the pair rather than the assassin.
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I'd prefer to have her target one of her own assailants, since they'll get in melee with our casters quickly.
Also that would free up Inge to hit the Troll.
 
Artemis1992 said:
I can see that this might be better than Challenge at this point, we don't need an AC-penalty against the shooter or his friends.
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Challenge still has its place, but for the opening round of a fight Encouraging Roar will almost always be better. Roland can always use it next round to boost his damage, since he doesn't have much else to spend a Swift Action on at this point, though I would probably refrain in this instance, because like you said, we don't need to make him an easier target for the others.
I'd prefer to have her target one of her own assailants, since they'll get in melee with our casters quickly.
Also that would free up Inge to hit the Troll.
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At best, Esha will be able to Blind one of the two that are coming at us from behind, leaving the other free to attack her, Inge, or Tom. Inge at least has a chance to snare both of them with her spell, and even if she doesn't, her Web will block that passage for a short while at the very least, giving us time to deal with the larger threat in front of us.
 
Vote closed.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Jun 7, 2022 at 9:21 AM, finished with 15 posts and 5 votes.
  • [X] Trolls + Fire, a match made in...Fey Shadowrun?
    -[X] Zaia will target the Troll with a Tanglefoot Firebomb.
    -[X] Roland uses Encouraging Roar as a Swift Action, then he and Silver Charge the Troll in the wake of Zaia's bomb. Roland and Silver both Power Attack the Troll.
    -[X] Esha will target the assassin with a Blindness spell if she can see it. If she can't see it, she either waits for it to make another appearance, or if matters behind us are more pressing, targets one of the two blade wielding enemies. If Inge's spell fails to cast, she will target one of the pair rather than the assassin.
    -[X] Inge will target the pair behind us with a Web spell. Even if they are not snared, it will make it much more difficult for enemies to approach is from the obstructed corridor.
    -[X] Tom makes the best of a shitty situation, hunkering down behind his shield as best he can while trying not to impede his allies, using whatever combination of Fighting Defensively/Total Defense he can manage, if it becomes necessary. If/when the Blindness clears, he will move to aid the group as the situation dictates.
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Oh, too late now, but do we have our new 1.5 Horse with us?
That one could also kick the shit out of some of our assailants.
 
Of all the things to tie to your arm, why a chainsaw?
Maybe they figured today they just had to bully someone into line.
 
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Arc 14 Post 49: By Fire and Fury
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    • By Fire and Fury ​

    Day of Rule, 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)

    Amid the chaos none can hear the sound of breaking glass but all can see the fire all too well as it blasts across the cobbles and greedily lick up legs thick as tree trunks. Yet with a growl of pain the beast manages to hurl itself away, strands of the burning tar breaking as he does.... hurling itself right at Esha whose eye is on the assassin even as words of power form on her lips, to hurl some curse or enchantment.

    "Ware!" you call, even as Silver's charge carries your forward... too late, far too late. The beast's fangs pass though the spell-forged shield like steel though cloth sinking into her shoulder and then the whirling blade cuts into her ribs with the dreadful sound of metal scraping bone as blood pours in a wave over the stones.

    Esha loses 6 Temporary Hit Points takes 19 damage and is Unconscious (-3 HP)

    No warcry passes your lips, not even a curse at the beast, but anger and rage that bubble in a red haze and red if the flame of Durendal as you strike the beast in the neck with such fury as would have sent the head of any mortal man flying. Alas that this is no man, it bleeds but does not die turning its hateful gaze on you. Eyes of metal and not of flesh, you realize distantly. As much mechanism as monster.

    And then the monster speaks, in rough but understandable Anwa "Oi I'm gonna loike when I tear your shinies from your corpse and ear 'em."

    Silver's hooves spark off its armor unable to get at his flesh even as you watch in horror, that flesh knits, the bleeding slows. Somewhere behind you you hear something hiss in anger and you can only hope the ones behind you have been snared. You have no time to turn aside and look, not then the troll faces you over Esha's fallen body.

    When something wet sloshes at your feet you notice, a snare just as Zaia had cast, though Silver quick on his hooves manages to kick most of it away. Jerking aside opens his neck to the troll's teeth and he latches on with savage glee, though when the arm that is not an arm comes tearing though the air it strikes only your shield.

    The metal holds somehow, though the blow almost turns you around in the saddle, enough so to see Zaia bleeding, one of the hooded ones at his feet, though not by his hand alone to judge by the chunks of ice mixed in with the blood and brains of a shattered hea. Inge is holding out a trembling hand.... by that hand had one of the pair been snared and the other slain.

    Zaia has taken 4 Damage

    As Tom raises his shield and attacks the troll, spear glinting among the smoke the foes in the hideout fire again and this time one of them manages to find his mark, striking him in the calf even as he hurls himself at the beast and manages to find the spot between bronze and stone hard flesh, digging deep.

    Tom takes 3 Damage

    Be it ever so mighty there is only so much blood in the thing and a torrent has already flowed out, enough to paint Silver's flank crimson and drip down his leg.

    If it's clever enough to want to rob your corpse mayhap it is clever enough to surrender so you can deal with the rest, the thought floats to the front of your mind, piercing the curtain of rage.

    What do you do?

    [] Offer quarter to the troll if he will surrender

    [] Fight on
    -[] Write in how

    OOC: Given that we have one of your allies unconscious, one enemy dead and another one entangled in the web I thought this would be a good moment for another vote, for instance if you want to take an action to heal Esha or if you want to focus on the assassin or the troll etc...
     
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    • Goldfish said:
    Can you give us a rough idea of everyone's positioning, @DragonParadox?
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    You and Silver are right next to the troll facing it, Esha is currently a little to the side where she landed when hit (one square over if this was a grid) Zaia is about 20 ft back right next to the body of the dead dagger wielder with Inge being right next to him, close enough to reach out and touch him. 20 ft further back from that is the second knife wielder trapped in the Web spell.
     
    I feel like offering the Troll the chance to surrender is a bit of a trap. It might accept, but that is far from certain given its apparent hostility and the general alignment and behavior of Trolls of all stripes, and any time we give it is time it can be Regenerating its wounds. If Fire damage doesn't do the trick, maybe Acid or Cold will? It's unlikely, but I'll take whatever we can get at this point. If not, we'll have to beat him down completely and pull off a coup de grace, which isn't easy to manage mid-combat like this.

    We have to get the Troll out of easy reach of Esha ASAP, as it could attack her again due to its size and she would be a goner before anyone could help her. Bull Rushing isn't an ideal solution by any means, but it's the best we're going to manage at the moment. Silver has a decent CMB of +10, and between Roland and Tom's assistance we can get that to +15. I'm not sure what this modified Troll's CMD is, but hopefully it's the same 22 as a regular Troll. If so, that gives Silver a good chance of pushing the Troll out of easy reach of Esha.

    [X] Fight on
    -[X] Roland orders the others to see to Esha, defending and healing her as needed.
    -[X] Tom moves to defend Esha and uses Coordinated Maneuvers to provide a +2 bonus to everyone's combat maneuvers for the next 4 rounds.
    -[X] Silver Bull Rushes the Troll, assisted by Roland using Aid Another to provide a +3 bonus to his CMB roll. Roland uses Intercept as an Attack of Opportunity to defend Silver if/when the Troll retaliated with its own AoO. Afterwards, Roland continue fighting the Troll, looking to disable it as quickly as possible. If Roland sees a good opportunity to use his gauntlet's power to ignore Hardness and inflict +2d6 damage on objects against one of the Troll's modifications, he takes it.
    -[X] Zaia and Inge move to heal Esha. Zaia immediately uses a CLW Extract on her, followed by healing potions if necessary. Inge either heals Esha with her Healing Hex, or used a Snowball spell to target the Troll or its assassin assistant, as the situation dictates.
    -[X] Once Esha is conscious, she immediately renews her Twilight Barrier as a Swift Action and either targets the Troll with a Magic Missiles spell from her staff or the assassin with a Blindness spell, as the situation dictates.
     
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