[Game Thread] Chapter 1: Fractured Reality

[Pojo]

"Don't worry, Prometheus, he didn't mean you." Emma says, pulling her pet off of a shoulder and hugging it close. If it was agitated before, it seems significantly less comfortable as the old woman squeezes it, talking quitely into it's ear. "Not that that little imp would have a chance if he did, anyways, would he bubby? No, no he wouldn't! No he wouldn't!".

She continues to talk to the chicken but her words devolve into childish gibberish. A strange glint forms her in her eye as she steps around the rock in a wide circle, placing it between herself and the rest of the party. She does not approach it, for whatever reason, and while she continues to coo into the birds ear her movements seem stiffer, more cautious.

[Jinx_Greyflower]

[Ophelia] HP 1/13; AC 17

Watching the brute stand up, Ophelia attempts to knock it down again, hoping to capitalize on the success of her earlier trip. Without waiting to see if she succeeds or fails, she swings again, slicing her blade through the air.

OOC: NOTE: Her plan is to try to knock the creature down as part of the previous round's standard attack. If successful, she'll either gain an AoO when it attempts to stand next round, or she'll get a bonus to attack because it's prone.

[Timeless Prophet]

[Ophelia, Beau]

OOC Jinx I read the Combat Manuevers wrong before. You shouldn't of succeeded last round because the DC of the check is 15+ My Creature's CMB +Damage you receive due to the AoO. I thought I had to roll for my monster every time (and last round I rolled a 1 on the CMB check). So you DC should of been a 24 (15+3+6) instead of a 10 (1+3+6). I'm mentioning this for future reference when this comes up again.

Ophelia strikes out at the beast once more in an attempt to bring the creature down, but before she is able to bring her blade into the creature's leg the creature swings and blocks her strike with its chains. It brings the chains back around as it prepares to strike her once more.

OOC Alright I need an action for Beau for this round. Also Ophelia if you would like to keep your action for this round you may or you may go ahead and state a new one.

[LordJecks]

Brother Damian was getting more and more frustrated at the situation to the point where he was beginning to almost lose his outer calm. Letting out a sigh he bent down to investigate the little rock their 'host' seemed to have dropped or thrown at the them. Perhaps if he was lucky it would kill him or take him somewhere less insane... it seemed anything was possible here, even teleporting rocks.

[BrokenPlayer]

As the group grinds to yet another halt, Sydney turns towards the others. "Hey," she says, feeling a bit more confident about the people she is surrounded by, "I saw something in the trees." She points towards the area where she saw a tail. "There's something up there."

When the rock falls into the center of the group, Sydney takes a second to look at it before returning her gaze upwards into the trees.

OOC Gah, rolled a 4 on the Spot Check. /sigh

[OwenQuillion]

As the potion courses through his veins, knitting flesh and healing wounds, Beau begins to fumble and bring his crossbow to bear, only to look up and realize his companion and the monster are on the ground. "Well, not very well likely to get a shot there, am I," he mutters to nobody in particular.

With a sigh, he takes a few steps back, chants the old familiar spell and waves his arms a little, and unleashes yet another ball of magical force, closing his eyes and hoping that nervous jerk at the end didn't accidentally send it slamming into the quickly wearying elf. The worrisome part of his brain also notes his magical reserves are being taxed to their limit, and he hopes this is the elf's only 'friend' in the area.

Battle Info HP: 10/12 AC: 14 (14 Touch, 11 FF) Ini: 11 Actions: Move so as to put maximum distance between self and melee, cast a 4 damage magic missile on our chain-friend.

[EnixH]

Allan erks in surprise as the creature beat a hasty retreat and left a strange fallen rock in its wake. He approaches slowly and stands next to Damian, also leaning over to carefully observe this strange rock, before starting to gesture and enchant quietly, calling upon his mastery of the arcane to read the magical auras of the rock and anything in front of him. He continues to concentrate to maintain this spell's effect,hoping to get as much information as possible...

OOC I am casting the level 0 cantrip 'Detect Magic',and concentrating until otherwise interrupted to get the maximum effect.

[Timeless Prophet]

[Beau, Ophelia]
Beau shoots magic balls of energy at the creature and it howls out in pain. However, it swings its chains at Ophelia but they do not manage to find their mark. Ophelia strikes the beast finally and it howls in even more pain and begins to smash its chest in fury.

OOC Next round guys!

[Damian, Allen, Sydney, Emma]
Sydney notice nothing of particular interest that she didn't before. In fact she loses sight of the creature in trees. Damian bends down to examine the rock and notices that it appears to be...well it appears to be just like any other common black rock he has seen in his life. Allen uses his magic to attempt to detect something out of the ordinary. At first nothing seems to peculiar about their surroundings, but soon a faint aura creeps aura creeps into Allen's mind's eye.

At first it is a dull gray, clearly magical but indistinguishable from any other form of magic. Almost like background resonance, some spell that left its mark on this place long ago and has been forgotten by modern arcanists. However, slowly he begins to notice familiar colors. Red for evocation, green for enchantment, white for divination, blue for transmutation. All the colors of magic begin to swirl in Allen's mind. They do not seem to pick a particular point though. No instead the bounce and swim about forming a haze of dreadful color that makes it impossible to maintain his concentration.

As Allen begins to lose focus and grasp his head in pain, the minute rock in front of Damian sprouts four small stony appendages. Emma lets out a slight yelp and a magical burst flies across the field. It strikes the stone and small shards of rock fly and nick Damian in the face. A dust cloud slowly dissipates and the rock is still sitting there with its four stony legs. It seems to look at Damian for a moment before skittering past the priest and into the woods.

[Pojo]

The ineffectiveness of the magical burst, a belch of yellow green flame, barely phases the old woman. She immediately rushes after the creature, tapping Damian on the shoulder as she passes and veritably hurling her small chicken off in a perpendicular direction.

"Come on, come on, we've got to catch it! If we can't learn to hunt the wildlife properly we're going to starve in this maze of a forest! Haven't you ever heard of stone soup? Prometheus, you cut him off and we'll trap the little bastard in a pincer movement!"

[BrokenPlayer]

Compared to the swirling vortex that had brought her into the forest, the rock sprouting legs and scurrying off after firing some green burst of light didn't appear to faze Sydney in the least.

Turning to look at the others for a moment, Sydney is about to ask what they should do before Emma says something about rock soup and chases after the rock. Sydney, somewhat curious, decides to chase after the rock as well, charging into the foliage after it. After all, it was at least something else do to.

[LordJecks]

A stone that turns into a crab? A stone crab? Brother Damian shook his head as he examined the strange creature, contemplating if he should take notes on oblvious a new species to their world at least, well magic burst into the creature. Coughin in the cloud of smoke raised from the spell, and whipping off the grit now plastered to his face he looks about for the creature. The smoke clears and it scuttles off.

"Stone soup? Doesn't sound very filling or tasty" he said as the mad old woman scurried by.

I'm sure the chicken would taste much better... No its her treasured pet can't do that.. Maybe something from the trees? thought the priest as he followed Emma after the rock crab.

[OwenQuillion]

Beau, exasperated that his preferred method of engagement was nearly exhausted and the foe was still standing, raises his crossbow, aims perfunctorily, and fires at what he hopes was a particularly vital point of the creature.

He smiles a little, feeling it in his blood that his shot has struck true. He immediately opens his eyes to find another crossbow bolt and load it in, beginning to fancy he was actually some sort of sharp-shooter who might take this thing down by force of arms. Gods willing, anyway.

Battle Info HP: 10/12 AC: 14 (14 Touch, 11 FF) Ini: 11 Actions: Standard action to attack, roll of 20 followed by a threat result of 18. Damage 1, 4 if the crit confirms. Move action to reload crossbow.

[Jinx_Greyflower]

[Ophelia] HP 1/13; AC 17

The elf attempts to follow through on her previous assault, hoping to take advantage of the creature's momentary rage to strike the beast down. She knows, even before the blow lands, that it won't do the trick. However, she is committed to the strike and does her best to set herself up for the next attack--if she survives that long.

[Timeless Prophet]

[Ophelia, Beau]

Beau takes aim and fires a bolt right into the creature's face. The beast lets out a horrible roar and begins to dissolve into nothingness. As the roar begins to subside both Beau and Ophelia think they can almost hear a woman scream but are unable to distinguish it from the roar of the creature. Ophelia and Beau are left staring observing nothing in particular in front of them.

OOC Get +200 XP each. Congrats guys!

[Damian, Allen, Sydney, Emma]
You all chase the skittering rock creature through the woods but manage to come back to the same clearing that we had already left. The creature or rock thing for that matter is simply sitting in the middle of the clearing. The creature seems to turn to the group before turning to what you guess to be the north and scuttling away again.

[BrokenPlayer]

Slightly winded from the chase, Sydney is not surprised when she and the others find themselves at the same clearing once again. "I don't understand," Sydney announces as she stares at the rock for a bit. "We were just here!"

Then, after just giving her enough time to catch her breath, the rock creature takes off again. Sydney yells at it to stop but gives chase anyway; it beat standing around going in circles, at least.