Act III: Coalescence

[Charon]

Another burn from the flaming sphere. The scorpion simply isn't swift enough to react. It totters unsteadily as Dethmir twirls his kukri with a flourish...

Dethmir is up.

[Cmdr Maxwell]

He'll pivot after ensuring the other one is dead, and move adjacent to Gortig by standing on AD17.

Attack:

[9]+10 = 19
1d20+10:  [

] +10 = 19

Damage:

[4]+10 = 14
1d8+10:  [

] +10 = 14

[Charon]

Unsurprisingly, the weakened scorpion is quick to fall under Dethmir's blade, the kukri sliding in neatly between its chitinous armour plates and severing something vital to keeping the beastie standing.
It slumps to the floor, legs spasming as the life leaves it.

[Charon]

If there's no conversation in the aftermath, then you settle atop your mounts once again and continue your journey.

You start to see sparse signs of life as your journey progresses. The occasional strange plant, mostly in isolation, the majority are cacti or cactus adjacent. Hardy succulents, laced with protective spines, making the most of the small vein of subsurface water they've managed to tap. Some are barely more than a small ball, one in the distance seems to be a man sized saguaro. You even see a bird pass overhead at one point, flying high.
The sun dips lower, darkness paints the desert once more, the moonlight adding its lavender touch to the sands. In the half light, those saguaro look eerily like men watching you from the horizon.

Let's have some more perception and survival checks.

[Grodech]

"Everyone ok?" Nirili asks.

[Grodech]

Perception:

[18]+16 = 34
1d20+16:  [

] +16 = 34

Survival, if it helps:

[15]+11 = 26
1d20+11:  [

] +11 = 26

[Cmdr Maxwell]

"Ahm more then fine." He kicks the nearest one, keeping a beady eye on the twitching leg. Sheathing the kukri when satisfied there's no further thread, he continues. "Nasty buggars." Looking to Gortig. "Ah heard ya take a hit. Yer gud?"


Survival:

[6]+2 = 8
1d20+2:  [

] +2 = 8

Perception:

[18]+4 = 22
1d20+4:  [

] +4 = 22

[Gimble]

Gortig inspects the wound form the stinger, a deep puncture in his side. He wipes away the blood and venom with a wet cloth, and uses his Wand of CLW to mend the flesh.

"It's fine. The venom didn't take hold. Let's move on, we have more distance to cover."

Gortig Firehand

Gortig | HP 27/29 | AC 18 (T12/F17) | Saves Fort +4/Refl +4/Will +6
Active Effects:
Iceplant (+2 AC, Endure Elements)
Mage Armor (+4 AC)

Rook

Rook | HP 14/14 | AC 24 (T17/F19) | Fort +2/Refl +5/Will +7 | Evasion
Active Effects:
Iceplant (+2 AC, Endure Elements)
Hex Ward (+2 AC, +2 Saves - until hit)

[Charon]

Nirili sees into the next gaming area with that Perception check. XD

Rocks. A welcome change of pace. There are a variety of rocks to be found in the desert. Some sections have black volcanic rock left from times long ago. Some areas have granite, stark white against the sands. However, the rocks here are simple sandstone, brown in the usual light of day, now a darker purple under the light of the moon.
There's no avoiding them. They litter this region. So the party lead their horses through patches of rocks as you progress.
Nirili's keen eyes save you from an ambush. Something fluttering near the rock ahead that almost seemed like a trapped swath of fabric.
She points it out to Gortig, and you are are able to ready your weapons as the sailsnakes rise up on the thermals.

Roll for initiative.

You'll have to forgive another daylight battle map. People don't make much in the way of nighttime desert offerings. XD
Quality isn't great, but hopefully we can make do.

Spoiler

[Gimble]

The maps looks perfectly usable.

What do we know about sailsnakes? Rolling knowledge nature just in case it applies.

How long since the last fight? Would the Mage Armor spell still be active at a 5 hour duration?

Rook will retreat into his pocket pouch again.

Gortig Firehand

Gortig | HP 27/29 | AC 18 (T12/F17) | Saves Fort +4/Refl +4/Will +6
Active Effects:
Iceplant (+2 AC, Endure Elements)
Mage Armor (+4 AC)

Rook

Rook | HP 14/14 | AC 24 (T17/F19) | Fort +2/Refl +5/Will +7 | Evasion
Active Effects:
Iceplant (+2 AC, Endure Elements)
Hex Ward (+2 AC, +2 Saves - until hit)

[Grodech]

Nirili Init:

[Cmdr Maxwell]

Initiative:

[2]+1 = 3
1d20+1:  [

] +1 = 3

Ahhh, there it is XD dat low roll

[Charon]

Sailsnakes. You know them well. Opportunistic ambush predators, they like to lie flat at height and launch themselves at prey as they approach. They glide rather than flying, climbing the rock, launching off, attacking as they drift down. They're often hostile to each other which suggests these might be a mated pair given that they're working together. They're aggressive, unlikely to back down, and have a poison spray that can blind foes, though they'll likely only be able to do so once. It's a cone, so Gortig would naturally advise trying to delta split to minimise how many people are caught in it.

Even as the warning leaves his lips, the snakes launch from their perches, spreading out their sails and drifting along the thermals. The rock perches were roughly 25 feet up.

S1 moves to U14, descending to 20ft height.
S2 moves to I5, also descending to 20ft height.

Nirili is up.

[Grodech]

Nirili fires an arrow at S1.

Attack:

[13]+9 = 22
1d20+9:  [

] +9 = 22

Damage:

[5]+3 = 8
1d8+3:  [

] +3 = 8

[Charon]

A quick hit for Nirili, putting an arrow through Sailsnake 1's sails. It remains aloft, the sail fluttering a little on its left side.

Two gem scarabs burrow up from the desert sands near the base of the rocks.

G2, emerald in hue, emerges in R21 and sprays acid at Dethmir.
18 to hit touch AC (You're also still FF). 1 acid damage.

A second scarab, a sapphire gleaming in the moonlight, emerges in M18 where it fires a Ray of Frost at Gortig.
Nat 1.

Gortig is up.

Updated map:

Spoiler

[Cmdr Maxwell]

That's a miss. His FF AC is equal to base AC as he has no dex XD

Me big dum dum

[Charon]

That's a miss. His FF AC is equal to base AC as he has no dex XD

Your FF touch AC is 10. It's a hit.

[Gimble]

"Beware the snakes, they have a nasty venomous spit!"

He grabs a salamander eye from his component pouch and chants a short arcane phrase. His eyes glow red with inner fire, a fire waiting to be released. Then he'll move back to M27.

OOC: Casting Burning Gaze using Burning Amplification, targeting G1. It'll take fire damage if it fails a Fortitude save, then catch on fire if it fails a Reflex save. I'm not sure how this interacts with Burning Amplification, would it catch on fire from that too? I'm fine with however you rule that.

Fort save DC 16. Forgot to add it to the dice roll.

Gortig Firehand

Gortig | HP 27/29 | AC 18 (T12/F17) | Saves Fort +4/Refl +4/Will +6
Active Effects:
Iceplant (+2 AC, Endure Elements)
Mage Armor (+4 AC)
Burning Gaze using Burning Amplification (4/5 rounds)

Rook

Rook | HP 14/14 | AC 24 (T17/F19) | Fort +2/Refl +5/Will +7 | Evasion
Active Effects:
Iceplant (+2 AC, Endure Elements)
Hex Ward (+2 AC, +2 Saves - until hit)

[Charon]

From what I can tell, it works like this.
Spell is a fire spell and allows a save. Check.
Reduce save DC by one, process spell as normal.
"Targeted creatures must succeed at a Fortitude save or take 1d6 points of fire damage."
Assuming it fails its save, we have two effects to consider. The default, which is save or catch fire. But, Amp says if it takes fire damage, it catches fire. Thus we essentially deny it that second save as the catching fire part is guaranteed. Being on fire is a binary state, we cannot apply it twice. The 'on fire' comes from Amp and thus follows Amp's rules for how to make the save.

G1 rolls a natural 1 on its save and is now on fire.

Dethmir is up.

[Gimble]

Sounds good. Do we use the spell save (DC 17 Reflex) instead of the general on fire save(DC 15 Reflex) since Burning Amplification is the source of the burning?

[Cmdr Maxwell]

As the acid hits, it singes a bit of his beard. He'll hop off the horse, unsheathing the kukri at the same time. "Now ahm mad, ya feckers!" Dethmir exclaims, hitting himself in the chest with the clenched fist as he casts the Protection blessing on himself, the action hopefully attracting the attention of the enemies.

Spoiler

HP: 41/41
AC: 22 (10 base, 9 armour, 1 shield, 0 dex, 1 natural, 1 other)
Active effects/spells: Protection blessing (10 rounds))

[Charon]

(Gortig, yes)

Also, I do need to determine where you are precisely.
It's a lot to keep track of, but with your standard action being spellcasting that leaves one move action which is either dismounting (or dismounting as a free action with a ride check so you can move), or moving the horse, again with a ride check, however this last must be done before the casting in case you fail, so can no longer apply this turn.

I will say, because I think it confused Pell too, that when I said you were leading your horses through this area, I meant on horseback. XD

Finally, technically Dethmir can't draw a kukri while dismounting, however, he doesn't need to. I work on the assumption that if you pass spot checks and roll initiative normally, you have time to ready yourself by drawing a weapon pre-combat, so he would already have the kukri to hand.

I've also realised even light horses are large, so I'll have to factor that in somehow. Man, mounted combat is awkward.

[Gimble]

Ah, then Gortig will attempt to ride the horse to M27.


Emphasis on attempt... wow

[Charon]

Sorry, was still updating this as I went. Basically invalid.

"Control Mount in Battle: As a move action, you can attempt to control a light horse, pony, heavy horse, or other mount not trained for combat riding while in battle. If you fail the Ride check, you can do nothing else in that round. You do not need to roll for horses or ponies trained for combat."

So if you failed the check, you didn't cast the spell. So realistically you can stay put or dismount this round.

I'm gonna link to these for people to read up on.
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/skills/ride/
Also, this is not necessarily the full rules for mounted combat, just those for the Ride Check, so check this too.
https://aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=196

Basically, unless you dismount your horse, the rule about Ride checks exists. ¬¬
I'll enforce this going forwards but will waive it for this turn, allowing you to stay mounted, as everyone else essentially had that option.

[Gimble]

Gortig will instead dismount, and with the low roll that'll cost him the round. So no spells cast yet.