Zilean's Revenge (Part 5)

"Degenerate? Hellooo! Big bad Lich over here! I do the exact opposite, I RE-generate!", the skeleton hollers, sliding his arms downwards to point at himself. "And yes, I'm a skullhead. Bravo. Very observant of you. By the way, I LIKED THAT ROBE YOU SHOT A LARGE HOLE THROUGH."

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Initiative order:

Jeraylia - 15
ZILEAN - 12
Zthulan - 7
Horizon - 4
Rolf - 1
Paladins - 1 (Wanna take over one of the paladins, Lynt?)

Assume normal combat-start HP/Pips (you had a few minutes to catch your breath etc...). Zthulan, you forgot your pet again (feel free to RP how it recovered).

"Make a move and I'll fix it so you can use it as a ghost costume," Jeraylia says, adjusting her aim slightly.

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Combat:

Result: Jeraylia threatens Zilean, again (Condemn save ends). All the save ends.

Jeraylia:

Zarhon wrote: "Degenerate? Hellooo! Big bad Lich over here! I do the exact opposite, I RE-generate!", the skeleton hollers, sliding his arms downwards to point at himself.

That...was a disconcerting thought for Rolf. If Zilean didn't have to worry about healing back up over time (without even needing to retreat back to his base), then the chances of him passing up a "free" opportunity to harass or kill the party were next to none.

Of course, regeneration isn't usually cause for suicidal actions like summoning an unstable fireball. Rolf quickly pulled out his ring, which managed to absorb the energy of the blast completely and even redirect some of it back at at the lich.

"...You really shouldn't force your spells like that. Believe me, I should know."

Interrupt Utility:

Summary: Zilean takes 5 damage, Rolf takes 0 damage from attack.

OOC: I think Jeraylia gets to inflict 1d8 for Condemnation.

Yes! Reactions! Condemnation! Also pulling Misdirect!

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Immediately seeing that the lich has no intention of giving up, Jeraylia looses her readied arrow before the magus finishes casting. The bolt strikes Zilean's robe, and Zilean himself, left of the first. She draws three more arrows together in a fist as the necromancy unleashes his firey assault. Jeraylia fires the trio of arrows simultaneously, dispersing part of the fireball and lighting the missiles. The volley of projectiles find their mark on Zilean, forming a smoldering line underneath the previous two, the result resembling the face of a Jack O' lantern.
"You'll have to wake up in the dead of night to get the jump scare on me," Jeraylia states coolly, reaching to reload once more.

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Reactions!:

Result: Zilean gets pinged for 6 damage by Condemnation, and then gets his 21 damage on Jeraylia returned to him (thus taking a total of 6+21=27damage). XP to saving against both of my save ends.

Jeraylia:

Just after providing Horizon with a spiritual boom, Zthulan feels the familiar presence of Koras appear to the battle.  A little late aren't you?  Before she could retort the entire group was buffeted by a shock wave of flame and dust.  Knowing that the blast banished Koras back to the spiritual realm, he molds the destabilization of her form to revitalize the majority of the group.  Not targeting Horizon with the healing energy Zthulan rather causes some of the lingering elements in the air to form a temporary armor for him.

Combat:

Status:

Horizon jumps when the fireball is launched, and steps into the oncoming blast. The heat and force wash over him, nearly knocking him to the ground- but not quite. He rolls back into a reverse somersault, and when he comes up, his arm launches forward, the momentum shotgunning all of his remaining throwing knives at the lich, which promptly bury themselves in his ragged, necrotic body.

Adrenaline, Rage. No fear. He takes another step to recover as the others act, and then draws his Kukri in his offhand. He doesn't register the total lack of power he felt before- no fear magic aids him as he rushes the lich with Blades in hand. He drives the end of each weapon into the Zilean's form and plows into him, putting all his weight and force into impaling him before trampling him into the ground.

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Combat:

Rolf gave a sigh of relief as the illusion was swept away. He felt that his earlier assessment had been accurate: With the main attraction eliminated, the big top brought down, his sleight of hand revealed, and the full audience arrayed against him, the Great and Powerful Zilean was reduced to a stage magician who was running out of tricks. Between Zthulan’s healing, and him and the others deflecting the fireball’s energy back at Zilean, (with Horizon giving SIGNIFICANT retailiation even without his tendrils), Rolf felt much more hopeful.

“Alright, you Paladins show him a mighty smiting, and I’ll show him what a PROPER fireball looks like,” Rolf said as he shot his wand of fireballs at the lich.

…It turned out the “proper” fireball wasn’t the most impressive display, but it was the thought that counted.

Rolf Combat:

Rolf Stats:

Stanley had found things rather confusing recently. After being woken back up by his friends, Stanley had been told to rest up while the others went on ahead. Stanley had always been taught that a paladin should always be ready to support his friends. However, he had also been told that a dead paladin wasn’t very helpful, so he agreed. He promised himself that he would rest only until he was given a clear sign from his god that his comrades needed his assistance.

The sound of a giant explosion from the center of the camp seemed to be a straightforward sign. Stanley had been a bit confused at seeing a house-sized mass of flesh, but he followed the lead of the others and joined the fray. Exploding piles of flesh, skeleton hounds, a pretty fire lady, the masked man growing black tendrils, an undead elephant, two devas, and a lich who seemed to like jokes.

After the giant fleshthing was defeated, Stanley was content. However, he became confused again when it seemed that the wizard was casting a spell on one of the paladins with malicious intent, with the bard shooting an arrow. Had their friends turned evil? Then it turned out the paladin was actually the lich in disguise! Had the lich turned good? Stanley was fairly certain that lichdom and paladinhood were mutually exclusive ideologies.

But now battle had begun once again, and Stanley struck at the lich with a comforting certainty.

Stanley Combat:

Stanley Stats:

Summary: Zilean takes 8 damage from Rolf and 31 damage from Stanley

Forget paranoia for now, I'll just start the ball rolling again.

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Jeraylia opts to charge Zilean while he's drained, drawing a final arrow as she closes in.

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Combat:

Results: Gathered energy.

Jeraylia:

Sorry about that, had to finish up some exams.

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Knowing that retaliation is soon to be happening, Zthulan continues to try and bolster the teams defenses.

Combat:

Status:

Horizon, still basically on top of the lich, swings at him with his weapons- but only manages glancing blows from this range, rather anti-climactically.

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combat:

Rolf decided that the more people they had bashing the lich, the sooner they'd be rid of him. He conjured up the summoning circle to summon Adara once more.

Rolf's Combat:

"Rolfie, I know you can't get enough of me, but a girl's gotta have some down time, too." Adara sighed. "Oh, this joker again. Alrighty, let's do this." Adara started swinging her sword at Zilean.

Adara's Combat:

Stanley wondered if he had done the right thing in doing his standard Smiting rather than follow his fellow paladins' lead of their full-on charge. However, he noticed that while the others had to take a moment to catch their breath, he was free to keep on Smiting, so he stopped worrying about it.

Stanley's Combat:

Stats:

Summary: Rolf summons Adara, Adara does 2 damage, and Stanley does 17 damage.

Two standards from gathered energy. Not sure if I've done this particular one before...

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"Pelor, 'bout to kill a man.
Sight an arrow to his head.
Pluck the string and then he's dead.
Pelor, life had just returned.
But he's gone and thrown it a~ll away.

Pelor, oooo~oo
Gonna have to make him cry,
'Cause he will be back in his grave tomorrow.
Carry on, carry on.
Forget this little nutter."

She lets fly her last arrow and drops her bow and sets her hands upon her sheathed sword as she continues to charge forward.

---

Combat:

Results: Zilean subjected to Mocking Melody (Save Ends). Zilean takes 4 damage and subjected to Demand Duel.

Jeraylia:

"Why, that certainly did a number of me! Now I think it's my turn again. Let's start with... the shiny one!", the crazed lich mocks, as it unleashes an array of evil magic, filling everyone with dread, and striking Siph down with a ray of power!

Combat:

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Siph is KO'd. Zilean is bloodied. Aura is activated. Do your triggers, Jerry.

REACTIONS!
Yoyoyo, time to partay! 4d8's coming up! -3 for each roll, though. Since I guess they are separate attacks.
4d8 (mocking melody+demand duel) = 10 (6(-3) + 7(-3) + 6(-3) +1(-3))
no crits >:[

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Jeryalia takes advantage of the fact Zilean has ignored her, and strides through the thick miasmic aura that streams off the lich. She drops her stance a mite lower and then surges past him in a mighty spring.
"Battōjutsu: Sōryūsen," the bard states, calmly resheathing her blade.

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Results: 10 damage to Zilean including negatives.

Momentarily freezing at the potency of Zilean's Aura, Zthulan rebounds the moment he sees Siph fall.

Spoiler:

Status:

Horizon, still within arms reach, is just tired enough to simply feel put off by the Lich ignoring him in favor of attacking the others. He swings his scimitar again, embedding it into Zileans skeletal spine, and then uses a blow of his kukri to dislodge it.

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combat:

Horizon's blow, against all odds, successfully dislodges the undead creature's spine. This, combined with all the earlier trauma, causes all but the skull of the creature to fall apart as a pile of bones, which then promptly disintegrate, apparently aging rapidly. The skull itself, still very animate and floating, casually floats out of Horizon's destructive reach. 

"Ahahah, GOOD JOB! You've left me broken and practically helpless. PerfectperfectperfectPERFECT, the floating skull giggles. "Now, this is hardly a flattering position to be left in, so... Teeh Tea Ehff Emmm.", it cryptically speaks, it's eye-flames flashing momentarily, then quickly 'extinguishing', followed by the animated skull falling to the ground with a clatter.

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Combat over, I guess.  

(:-I)

Horizon watches the skull float off, and then drop. Assuming Zilean is actually gone, he sighs. "I didn't even hit him that hard." There is a clatter as his twin blades fall to the ground, followed by his helmet, which he then falls back on as a seat. Head in one hand, he takes a deep breath, and does his best to focus on the present. "TTFM? Any ideas?" He stares at the skull, mumbling. "Thanks for the- no wrong order. Time to... find myself? Hmm..."

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Is there a check to roll for this, or do I keep guessing?
Tea Time for Me
Ta Ta for meow
Thanks to Fear Magic
Ten Tiny Floating Men

Sighing in relief Zthulan quickly rushes over to Siph and tends to his wounds.  "That skull, I want it.  If that was Zilean's skull since his incarceration there is a chance it can be of some use.  Though the inherit risk of Zilean using it is there."  While healing he briefly ponders upon the lichs last statement.  "Take that, Fleshy mortals?"

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To to revive Siph.
Heal: 11 + 13

"...Wait, he's...just gone? Just like that?" Rolf carefully approaches the skull and tries to discern if there's any magic left within. He also wonders if he's heard Zilean's parting phrase used before.

Rolling Arcana...4 (1d20) + 14 = 18.
Rolling Streetsmarts...12 (1d20) + 10 = 22