[OoC: Re Taunting: I can't find anything in the rules for taunting. And likely tricking an intelligent creature into do something against it's nature for more than a moment (like with feint) would require a feat. But looking up Kender Taunt (From Dragonlance) that race uses a bluff check to taunt an opponent. If the opponent fails the check then he gets a -1 penalty on his attack rolls and AC until your next action. An enemy distracted by your taunts is likely to direct his next attack at you, but is under no compulsion to do so. Using the Bluff skill to taunt a foe requires a standard action, but does not provoke an attack of opportunity. I'm willing to allow this under the same house rule as, Diplomacy doesn't overcome reality. And the opponent should get either a Will save or a Sense Motive to resist. I don't believe things like this should be just based upon a skill check to resist. Life experience should also come into it. It is more likely that a unskilled 1st level character would be tricked than a more experienced unskilled 20th level character. Also, these will be secret rolls.]
While Betimi moves around the pillar, Nacesh reloads his crossbow. [This round it required a Standard action to break out of the web so you still had a move action. So all Nacesh can do right now is reload his crossbow until the new round starts after Selina and Tomeal's actions.]
Enraged at the nerve of pray harming it, Unreth stops playing with it's food. Suddenly a long wicked looking stinger [which Piper mentioned back in post #709] erupts from Mardak's back. Your companion's cries of agony quiet as his body goes limp [Hp's: -4] and a shower of blood rain down upon the floor beneath him, leaving only Unreth's cackles of joy echoing throughout the cavern. Then with a sickening crunch, Mardak's lifeless body crashes to the cold stone ground [Hp's: -15].
[OoC: In case you're wondering how Unreth got to attack again, he's always been able to attack twice but he's only been attacking once in a round because he's been 'playing' with what he thinks is his food. Now that he's been hit, he's pissed off and has now brought his stinger into play. For this round I split his attacks up between posts as a surprise but it's all part of the same attack action as when he just bit Mardak for 4 damage. ]
Selina attempts to anger the creature into drawing it off the ceiling but the creature just snickers at her feeble attempts. [I felt I should show the rolls this time. I didn't want you thinking I didn't give your attempt a chance.]
Tomeal winces as he watches Mardak crash to the ground with a sickening crunch. He wouldn't want any of his companions to die but if one had to go, he wasn't shedding any tears over fate's choice. Tomeal then launches another arrow but misses again! Growling in anger, Tomeal calls out, "Do you think this might be a good time for some of us to drink some of that stuff we picked up a while back? You know the stuff Jonath drank not too long ago?"
[NEW ROUND! Betimi, Nacesh, Jonath, and Gilley's turns!]
Deciding that she cannot afford to miss, Betimi quickly loads her crossbow, then steps 5' closer and fires. Unfortunately her shot goes wide.
[OoC avoiding range increment penaltie of the thrown crystal, and gaining the crossbows further 2 penalty to the foe's armour/natural armour. Her movement puts her at J7]
[Light crossbow attack [1d20+5] = 4+5 = 9]
Jonath looks on sadly as Mardak's body plummets to the ground. The man had been obnoxious and erratic, but he'd been their companion, and didn't deserve such a fate. Alas, many in this world met fates they didn't deserve, and at least Mardak had chosen such a dangerous life willingly, unlike so many others who met their fate through no fault of their own.
He releases the sling, sending the bullet zinging through the air. His aim was square, but the lead sphere bounces off the creature's carapace with hardly a scratch. Slings were not known to be the most powerful of weapons, and the small size of this one combined with the meager amount of power he was able to impart into it resulted in a dismal weapon. Unfortunately, with the enemy hiding high up on the ceiling, he had no better options at the moment, so all he could do was hope to lure it down or let his companions with more effective ranged weapons take care of it.
OOC - what potion indeed? the only reference to potions was about 7 pages back and it referred to my scroll of Reduce Person which was not used on Mardak after all]
After fumbling so long with the web and loading his crossbow, he suddenly changes his mind.
"Dodge this, bastard," he says, drawing a yew wand from his belt.
"Visseras!" he utters and a sizzling green bolt of pure energy darts towards the she-vermin, unavoidable, hurting it. Magic Missile [1d4+1] = 2+1 = 3
[OoC: Tomeal called the liquid Jonath drank, "stuff." He didnt mention it was a potion. Tomeal was talking about the Antitoxin Jonath drank while he was running around checking for traps. You guys found a few (I think 5) bottles of Antitoxin which lasts an hour. Tomeal figured if party members were unsure what to do they could at least drink the Antitoxin to protect against future bite and stinger attacks.]
[OoC: I just checked and after Jonath drank one there are 3 antitoxins left. ]
Betimi moves a little closer then fires a bolt from her crossbow. Unfortunately the shot goes wide and gets stuck in some webbing.
Nacesh fishes around on his body where he stashed the wand. Suddenly he feels a strange tingling sensation like static as the wand practically leaps into his hand. In that instant he brandishes it and utters the command, "Visseras!" The wand complies, causing two scintillating emerald green bolts of energy to explode from the glowing jewel at its tip. They helix between each other at blinding speed until they both slam unerringly into the giant creature above you all. [I added your damaging into my roll for a total of 8pts!] Unreth howls in pain as the wand's magic catches him by surprise.
"Wicked wretch," Unreth screams in rage. "I will savor the slop from your dedicated corpse. Then each and every one of you will learn the true agony of being dissolved and feasted upon from the inside out!"
Mardak bleeds a little more from his lifeless body.
Jonath then lets loose the bullet from his sling. It glances off the Spider's exoskeleton causing minor damage. [1pt minimum]
Then a split second later, Gilley follows up with another solid shot that punctures deep into the creatures outer shell.
After taking a severe pummeling in one round, Ureth howls with rage then leeps effortlessly to the ground. Without looking back, Unreth scurries to the south-west and vanishes behind the sheets of webbing in the south wall. [K3]
Selina and Tomeal's turns.
You can try to follow Unreth through the sheets of webbing
Regroup with the others to decide what to do next.
Run away and let Piper immortalized you with song: "When danger reared it's ugly head the adventurers turned around and fled..."
Selina, now utterly Furious at the cowardly cretin that murdered one of her companions in cold blood and then had the nerve to not come down and face proper justice, unleashes a vicious scream at the retreating carapace. Moving off after it, she steps over Mardak's still form and rages violently at it.
"COWARD! DAMN YOUR DISGUSTING, VERMINOUS EYES. COME BACK HERE AND GET WHAT'S COMING TO YOU! I'LL RIP YOUR DAMNED LEGS OFF AND BEAT YOUR HEAD IN WITH THEM IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!"
She moves over Mardak's form and then approaches the webbing with shield raised and mace brandished angrily. She takes a swing at the Web in front of her.
[OoC: A medium sized (5x5) unattended soft object is actually very easy to hit. I believe it's considered to have a Dex of Zero plus any size modifiers. So the webbing has about an AC 5. Unfortunately webbing has Damage reduction...]
Selina howls with rage and charges after the giant spider. She stops just short of the web and begins bashing at the sticky wall with her morningstar. Unfortunately her weapon just gets tangled up in the webbing causing her to struggle to have to break it free.
Tomeal had paused to see what course of action Selina was leaning toward when the woman howled with rage and started beating the sticky wall of web. He takes a split second to admire her tenacity and then charges at the web with all his strength. Tomeal easily tears through the wall but skids to a stop when he sees more webbing.
When someone brings some light over to where Selina and Tomeal are standing, you can see a set of rough stairs leading deeper into the ground that's filled with sheets and sheets of sticky web.
[OoC: Pausing combat while you guys decide what to do next.]
]
]