Death of an Artist - Game Thread

[Bozwevial]

A powerful hum rattles the ship, and the interior lights flicker briefly. More importantly, the fizzling noise that immediately follows heralds the appearance of the man, both visibly and in Lucy's mind. He looks around wildly, but only catches sight of the small girl hovering in the air. Wide-eyed, he grins still more, waving as he makes a mad dash away from the Judas.

"Our strike team hit about...four hours ago. We were supposed to vacate the place by now, but your arrival took us by surprise. I must admit, it seems to be a most fortunate coincidence. If the Inspired haven't shown up by now, there's likely some time before they check in. Be my guest...though I do request that you leave some salvage for our forces to make the operation worthwhile."

"Not that we're really in a position to demand anything," the dour kalashtar grumbles.

[Kuroimaken]

"Now, now, gentlemen. You requested our assistance, and that is what we will provide. We merely need to check the facts beforehand, after all. Surely you understand." Nax smiled with what looked like the most innocent smirk of a little boy, despite the fact practically anyone with a little more understanding in such matters would be able to tell he was more than he appeared.

[Bozwevial]

"I never signed on for this. I expected to be mind-raped--hell, it's practically a daily occurrence when you fight the Inspired--but I wasn't expecting a little boy and girl, a talking ship, and a musical cowboy to be doing it." The expression on his face is pure misery.

[Agita]

Seeing the man's expression and mad dash away, Lucy holds down the skirt of her dress and yells, "Eeek! Lemmy, the man peeked under my skirt!" Laughing, Lucy flies lower and points at the naughty, naughty man. "Shame on you!" Suddenly, the man hears her voice again, this time solely in his head, and terrifyingly distorted. Come back.

[spoiler]Lucy flies to get within 30 feet of the man, then uses Persuasive Words on him for a Command effect, using the Approach command to have him move towards her as quickly as he can and do nothing else. The DC is 18.[/spoiler]

[PhaedrusXY]

[spoiler]On his turn, Eddie manifests Ectoplasmic Cocoon on "the visitor". I also forgot to roll to see if his flaw kicked in. 5% chance for him to do nothing on the first round of combat. We'll just roll a d20, and say a 1 means he is too caught up in Deja Vu of his previous life to act.

1d20=4
So he's ok.

The DC for the reflex save against Ectoplasmic Cocoon is 21.[/spoiler]

Felix laughs at the kalashtar's description of their crew and says "You get used to it after a while. Besides, things are certainly never dull around them, and people literally throw money at them just for showing up at places. So it's not a bad gig at all, actually."

[Kuroimaken]

"If it makes you feel better, I just like this appearance more than my usual one."

[Bozwevial]

[spoiler]Pair of saves! (1d20+7=14, 1d20+11=31)[/spoiler]
The man whips his head around at the terrifying command in time to see the ectoplasmic strands lash at him and dive aside. He hits the ground hard, but the compulsion forces him to rise quickly and approach the ship at a steady pace, struggling against Lucy's influence every step of the way.

"A shame that we have no use for currency, being outlaws. It sounds a good deal easier than rebellion, and much more profitable." The dour kalashtar smirks faintly. "If you intend to examine the back room, I would be quick about it in case we are running out of time. Getting us past the checkpoint will be much easier without the Inspired to hamper our progress."

[Agita]

Landing right in front of the man, Lucy pokes his elbow with her index finger. "Gotcha!" She looks the man in the eye, and suddenly her irises shift color to a poisonous green, glowing eerily as she says, "Now it's your turn! Catch me if you can!" Then, she runs in the opposite direction from the man, her eyes seemingly back to normal.

[spoiler]Lucy uses her Charm SLA from Touch of Captivation. DC 19 Will save or be charmed for one hour.
Unfortunately, I've done "everyone is pedo for Lucy" jokes to death already, so I can't think of anything witty to say.[/spoiler]

[Kuroimaken]

"Pah. Why search it when we can simply have whoever was in charge do that job FOR us." With that said, Nax set about to look amid the corpses for whoever looked to be in charge of the back room, judging by uniforms and the lack or presence of keys.

[PhaedrusXY]

"Yes, I don't think we should dally long here, considering how recently you all conducted your attack." Felix says. "William and I will conduct investigations to confirm what you're saying, but that will take a bit of time. I'd suggest that Lemmy and the rest of the crew prepare to get on with your... concert. Well... after they deal with whatever is going on back on the ship, at least. It sounds like there is an intruder or something."

[Bozwevial]

The man's irises glow green momentarily as well, and he blinks in confusion. Then he smiles, calling after Lucy, "I don't mean to be rude, miss, but I don't have much time to play right now." He trots after her all the same.

"Would you like us to return to the ship as well, or is there some way we can assist you?"

[Kuroimaken]

"If you remember who among the corpses used to be in charge of the back room, that should do for my part."

[Bozwevial]

The two kalashtar glance guiltily at each other, then wade through the bodies into the back room. There's some heated debate over which head belonged to which body before they finally emerge with the pieces of a whole corpse.

[BowenSilverclaw]

[spoiler]Alright, this should have been enough in-game time to get to the deck.[/spoiler]

As the intruder strolls after the little flying girl, a big and hairy figure emerges on deck and jumps from the prow down onto the intruder.

[spoiler]Time to let the drummer do his thing
Boz, what's the distance from the ship (and therefore Mikkey) to the intruder?

Gonna try and jump onto him when he's within 30 ft. (consider that a readied action)

Jump: 49
Tumble if necessary (don't think so with Battle Jump, but just in case): 18

Attacks (Battle Jump, Pounce, Whirling Frenzy):
Kukris: 37, 36, 21, 29 (ignore the last roll in the link (16), I forgot I didn't have ITWF yet
First is auto-hit (natural 20).
That's 3 critical threats, meaning 3 extra attacks thanks to Lightning Mace paired with Aptitude Kukris: 28, 31, 29
That's 1 critical threat, meaning 1 extra attack thanks to Lightning Mace paired with Aptitude Kukris: 18

Critical confirmation: 28,28,23,31


Unarmed Strike: 14




Damage (double damage due to Battle Jump): 13,13,13,8,12,11,8,6
Kukris:
1)(37; natural 20; roll to confirm: 28; main hand)       =>   26; 52 on succesful crit
2)(36; critical threat; roll to confirm: 28 main hand)    =>   26; 52 on succesful crit
3)(21; main hand)                  =>   26
4)(29; critical threat; roll to confirm 23; off-hand)       =>   16; 32 on succesful crit
5)(28; main hand)                   =>   24
6)(31; main hand)                   =>   22
7)(29; critical threat; roll to confirm 18; off-hand)       =>   16; 32 on succesful crit
8)(18; off-hand)                   =>   12


Unarmed Strike: 7



Man, talk about a blender [/spoiler]

[Kuroimaken]

"Stand back a moment, both of you."

Nax's eyes began to glow for a moment, and he stabbed the rod into the chest of the corpse. He chanted eerily for a moment.

The bird of Hermes is my name, eating my wings to make me tame...

And thus the corpse rose as a dread warrior.

[Bozwevial]

[spoiler]I'm not even surprised any more. [/spoiler]

Mikkey Dee's shadow causes the intruder to look up in surprise as the bugbear hits him like a falling comet, the force of his impact sending up a large cloud of dust. When the wind finally clears it away, the bugbear is standing innocently over the mangled remains of the intruder, whose body parts are...scattered, at best.


The Inspired corpse seals itself together, though the wounds remain as a pale line on the flesh. Its eyes snap open, staring unblinking up at its creator. Though its jaw works for a moment, it says nothing, simply waiting dutifully.

[PhaedrusXY]

Eddie's disembodies voice chides the bugbear teasingly "Wow, what a mess you made, Mickey. I was thinking we might get more info out of him alive... but I guess we can do it the hard way."

In another part of the ship, Eddie commands a young woman with sickeningly pale skin pierced in many places with jewelry, all containing skull motifs, to come to the bridge.

[spoiler]Call in the Death Priest! That's what passes for a medic here!  [/spoiler]

[BowenSilverclaw]

"At least I didn't smear this one out over the good carpet, Eddie." Mikkey replies with a grin.

[Kuroimaken]

"Show us to the back room and present any valuables." Nax commanded. In order not to confuse his newfound servant, after he was done he commanded, "Quickly summarize the events leading to your demise."

[Bozwevial]

The newly created dread warrior rises to his feet, walking into the back room, his voice floating out of the room. "We had received word that an airship would be arriving soon and that it was cleared from further inspection. When our sensor network indicated that something was approaching the outpost, we thought nothing of it and deactivated the security wall. Shortly afterwards our sentries began to fall silent. I ordered a scouting party to investigate, but we were attacked before they had prepared. Kalashtar rebels entered the compound and killed all present. I tried to send a message, but was decapitated before I could do so." Several trips in and out of the room later, there are a small trove of objects lying at Nax's feet. "Do you wish me to describe the functions of the objects?"