>>803536
We want a shore-side staging area to initiate the attack from (so we don't leave an open portal to the ship) in the ambush, which would allow a closer ward check.

It occurs to me we then have 3 retreat options as necessary: (1) step back through the original portal, (2) open new portal somewhere on land or (3) portal to open water, and then in all three cases hold it till it closes then portal to the ship.

>coordinate with the town
Unless we plan to aid their defense directly (Maru using battle-hymn, or Daniel casting bless to buff defenders?) I think that complicates more than it helps.

Maru is gonna stay put on the boat- she'd likely make things worse if she went down with Vos and "Viste". Hore seems eager for the fight though, and it might help to have 3 people down there with you. We're assuming you can just portal in, do a bit of stabbing and portal out but wizards are tricky business. We can't assume the caster is going to be a pushover just because you have the advantage of surprise. Prepare yourself mentally at least for an actual fight.

Can Maru give everyone a pep talk, and apply a dose of bardic inspiration to each person on the away team? She should have enough if only 2-3 of them are going, but I wasn't sure how long it lasted

>>803513
>no life-threatening abilities
Pressure point techniques can temporarily paralyze a limb; lacking a functional hand to perform necessary gestures impairs the ability to cast many spells. While they're distracted wondering how you did that, and by watching a miscast spell backfire, shove something sharp into their unarmored neck, or maybe a kidney, with surgical precision.

>>803552
Maru's inspired rage applies equally to all allies in earshot, no matter how many that is, for a flat rate of 1 breath per 6 seconds in combat. It's a song you sing during the battle, not rationed out beforehand. If you're planning tricky stuff with the bandit's rear area or command structure, best place to put Maru might be among the town's defenders, rallying a big distracting counterattack. Heroic fury doesn't necessarily mix well with disciplined hit-and-fade tactics.

>>803556
Gottcha, I misunderstood the nature of the ability; I was under the impression it worked like a 5e bard ability that either gave people extra dice on rolls or let them re-roll certain die. I thought it was a completely separate ability from her the song of rage aspect of her guitar.

I agree though, it seems counter intuitive to send the person who makes everyone angry and bloodlust and want to fight and kill more into the bandit army slaughtering civilians. Maru also doesn't want to go in and summon her ax, but that's mainly because she uses it when she bears malice towards someone, and wants to cause them pain or kill them. She doesn't want to kill the bandits, and thusly doesn't want to go down and use her ax. She doesn't have any knuckle dusters or anything like that for unarmed combat though, so she's not gonna do much good down on shore for the goals the team wants to accomplish.

>>803559
All allies in earshot. It won't affect the bandits, just make the defenders more willing and able to fight back.

>>803556
Considering morale and being less battle hardened than the bandits (even if the No Civilian Elves trope is potentially in effect, depending on the makeup of the village) is likely one of the defender's big disadvantages, this seems like a good idea to me.

Possibly drop Hore and Maria in town too, for the shock and awe effect of pyrotechnics coming over the wall?

Unexpectedly strong resistance with unexpected firepower followed by a surprise attack from the rear by alien looking creatures with strange magic (Viste already has been mistaken for a bound demon, Vos is pretty wild looking, and I bet the shimmering planes of force effect of the mage armor only exacerbates things) is probably our best bet for someone deciding "this is not the easy target we expected / this is not the opposition we planned for" and sounding a retreat. Or for bandit forces breaking in a panic.

If we score a psychological victory or break enemy morale we potentially score a win. I think we'll be forced to withdraw if we don't though. As Ji said, we can hurt the bandits, but we lack the power to win a straight up fight versus an army.

Maria is mostly good for melting down individual enemies, and Daniel can probably heal people (while also keeping his AC up with Coat of Many Stars).

I'll leave the tactics up to everyone else, I'm terrible at that sort of thing.

Viste steps out of a portal behind the bandit leader, on top of a roughly elephant-sized boulder where he's looking over the battlefield, and sticks her sword through his back. Misses his spine by about the width of three fingers. She can feel the blade as it punctures through a heavy leather coat, the muscles below his right shoulderblade, scrapes between ribs, the frothy pink meringue of a lung, more ribs, pectoral muscle, two more layers of armor-weight leather, and finally emerges to open air on the other side. A surge of triumphant pride sets the blade flickering out of phase as she slashes up and to the left, so his heart and spinal cord only get a ghostly tickle instead of being cleaved in half, but even so, that's not the sort of wound normal people just walk away from. The motion carries through to flick his blood across the crowd of his followers.

Apparently this bandit leader is not a normal person. He turns to face her, and his expression is pure rage, without a trace of confusion or fear, even when he tries to speak and nothing but gurgling red foam comes out. Apart from the hole through his chest, he's got a mark on his forehead, like somebody carved a complicated symbol with a dull knife and then kept trying to re-do it for weeks until it got infected, His left sideburn and about two-thirds of his right jaw are clean shaven, while the rest is a scraggly mess of two-inch-long unkempt beard. His coat is dark mottled orange, which might make decent camouflage and light armor for scouts or couriers in certain rocky deserts, or autumnal woodlands, but against a backdrop of gloriously verdant cropland and dark grey stone it clashes. His eyes are pure cobalt-glass blue, without whites or pupils. He's got a sword of his own, a bronze scimitar with five jangling rings along the back edge and strange crooked protrusions from the handguard. He's holding the blade low, almost horizontal, and slipping his left hand into a coat pocket.

rolled 1, 6, 3 = 10

---

>>804828
Slithering in after Viste, Vos will attempt to grapple the bandit leader when he sees things haven't gone entirely according to plan.

>>804856
Upon emerging from the portal, Vos is stunned for a few crucial seconds by the aura-sight equivalent of crashing into a cartload of manure.

rolled 5, 6, 1 = 12

---

So. Physically tough enough and/or magically reinforced enough to fight on through what would normally be a fatal injury. Current inability to speak is good- casting often has a spoken component, and it prevents him from speaking orders. Possible enchanted weapon- rings on the back edge couldn't serve much other practical purpose.

He'll likely pursue if we tried to disengage, and we're committed at this point. If he refuses to die properly I suppose we take him to pieces until he can't fight back, or until we can destroy what's reinforcing him (rune on the forehead?).

If he's a construct, or artificially augmented, or an undead, Tittivila's blessing might be harmful to what's keeping him together once Vos gets a grip on him.

>what do
>slipping his left hand into a coat pocket
Well, if he thinks whatever is in his pocket is worth having in the middle of a fight, it's probably worth trying to deny him it.

Let's try and disable, main, or otherwise injure his left arm. (If we're facing reach other, and Viste is left handed while he's holding his sword right handed, his left side is the hardest for him to guard until he pivots to put his off hand behind him. Which he might not immediately do if he's trying to bring a weapon or tool to bear from the left).

rolled 2, 6, 4 = 12

---

Stepping out from one of the portals Viste chained together to drop everyone off, Maru goes along with her part of the plan, rally the towns defenders for a big counter attack, hopefully ensuring that it takes some pressure off Davina Hore and Vos if they get surrounded.

Rolling to make it to the defenders, convince them I'm on their side, and doll a breath of inspired song to unify their forces and make a push against the attackers.

rolled 6, 5, 2 = 13

---

>>804866
Not sure if I'm stunned for this whole round. I'll post an action just in case.

May Tittivila soothe this man's damaged soul, Vos will go for the grapple again. If Viste can't finish him with the next strike, it might be wise to pull him through a portal to finish the job on the other side.

rolled 3, 2, 1 = 6

---

Hore quickly scans the battlefield for a sniper, aims while everyone is distracted by the Bandit Leader and Viste, and fires her new sniper plasma round! As the bandits quickly turn in her direction, Hore uses her terrifying presence and a frightening Gnoll laugh, demanding the bandits run lest she @#$% their corpses and bury the living in pools of ... well, she's out of scorpions. Guess she'll have to make do with the crate of week-starved poison-drugged rats! Oh, they've finally reached the tipping point where they alternate between bashing their heads to dull the pain and eating the pregnant rats, fetuses and all!!!

Hore will stick close to Vos as she snipes out archers. The bandits stupid enough to charge in get a cone attack followed by Hore's expertise in close-quarters crowd control.

>>804881
There's a watchtower with an iron bell that's clearly audible everywhere in town. It was already ringing, of course, just in case anyone was still asleep in hed who might have otherwise been able to contribute to the defense, but Maru takes over for some junior monk and adds a more complex rhythm to the tintinnabulation.
>>804911
Hore, meanwhile, is up on the wall, setting fire to anyone on the attacking side who looks like a squad leader or siege engineer.

>>804875
Viste's sword cuts into the bandit leader's left upper arm, drawing more blood, but not quite deep enough to sever muscles around the shoulder joint and stop him from lifting the arm. He counterattacks, lunging between her and the portal she arrived through, then a series of broad sweeping slashes, forcing her to retreat onto the precariously sloped edge of the boulder, but she simply opens a new portal positioned to outflank him. He can't quite pivot around fast enough to face her, but flips the scimitar into a reversed grip to deflect a second backstab.
>>804884
Following Viste's cue, Vos grabs the bandit leader's left arm, attempting to twist it around into some less useful and/or more painful position, with limited success. The possessed man flicks his thumb to remove the cork from a shot-glass-sized bottle and moves it, inch by inch, closer to his lips.

Viste simultaneously goes on the offensive, but he deflects every serious attack, sees right through the subtlest feints, even manages a riposte to test her own defenses... all while distracted by trying to handle that potion, partly immobilized by a grappler, AND mortally wounded. You're not sure you can take this guy.

rolled 2, 6, 6 = 14

---

>You're not sure you can take this guy.
No, I'm not. But I'm also pretty sure that means we can't disengage unless he lets us. Plan "portal to the ocean" might work, assuming he can't walk on water, or fly.

>a shot-glass-sized bottle and moves it, inch by inch, closer to his lips
Then we have a few seconds before it gets there, and Vos is already in touch range with a grapple.

"Bless his hand."

Call it Tittivila's judgement. If he's truly irredeemable, or if he's using necromancy or some other foul art to reinforce his body (and resist change) the blessing will harm him. If he can change? It's his chance at redemption- to adapt or die. To be other than the bandit he has been, or to die fighting to cling to the past.

On our more practical level all we need is for him to fumble, drop or spill the potion. Less than a radical reconstruction of his hand (or arm) could accomplish that. A radical reconstruction (flipper, hoof) surely will.

Another possible tactic might be to open a portal to Hore for a fire-cone attack. The bandit boss can't dodge an AOE attack while grappled, Vos' mage armor should shield him from the worst of it, and if the potion-bottle shatters from the heat, or the potion is boiled off, it's no good to the boss.

Roll for continued swordplay.

rolled 1, 5, 5 = 11

---

>>804911
>>804942
Hore is doing fairly well with one arm, burying her axe in an enemy, followed by a cone of plasma or a sniper shot at an enemy in the back row, then drawing her axe or a dropped weapon and continuing again. But her arm is getting tired, and the frequent plasma blasts are generating more heat than the cooldown can compensate for. When was the last time she ever fought in a war with one hand tied? Oh that's right, never.

Hore shouts to the nearby town guards to rally around her, and switches to sniper mode. Viste and the others had better finish this fight soon, or she'll abandon her position and attempt to escort them out of the combat zone. She could shoot the Bandit Leader, but given all the magic and enchantments and buffs he stuffed into himself, Hore is fairly certain the bolt would be absorbed or reflect back at her or curve around into Vos' head or turn those baby bees into boot squash. Hore will fire at the Bandit Leader if Vos or Viste yells at her to take the damn shot.

rolled 1, 5, 3 = 9

---

>>804956
>"Bless his hand."

Vos nods and performs the flesh blessing. Roll is to channel a flood of uncontrolled divine mutagenic energy through this bandit leader's hand, allowing Tittivila's judgement to flow freely.

>>804956
Blades lock together, and he's just about to use those hilt-barbs to twist Viste's sword out of her hand...
>>804973
...when his left arm melts into a club-ended tentacle, with a pocket of skin fully enclosing the potion vial. Vos lets go, and the bandit leader obligingly punches himself in the face.

rolled 1, 2, 5 = 8

---

Hore is far from exhausted but she's still losing steam as her stamina depletes and her pistol overheats. She resorts to her throwing knives to give herself time to recuperate.

Roll to determine how well she is currently doing, now that she's on the defensive.

rolled 6, 2, 5 = 13

---

>>/questdis/112024
>Well, he just punched himself in the face. Can you stab him now?
Indeed.

Viste will exploit her foe's temporary disadvantage to escape from lock and score what additional damage she can.

rolled 2, 3, 6 = 11

---

No more screwing around. Vos will pick his spear back up and run it through the bandit leader's side while he's engaged with Viste.

>>805118
The bandits were expecting a relatively easy victory. Now that they're facing unexpected ferocity from the town guards, and sniper fire, and their leader's distracted by a duel, morale is starting to crumble.

A sixteen-year-old girl flies up onto the wall. She's got a row of tiny red dragon scales down the bridge of her nose, a softball-sized glob of smoldering purple goo floating over her left hand, and a slinky black dress that seems completely inappropriate for battlefield conditions right up until one of Hore's thrown knives bounces off it without leaving a mark.

>>805168
His head's recoiling from the punch, and that reversed grip would make it difficult to parry high-angle attacks even if his blade wasn't so far out of line as it is at the moment. Viste sees, and seizes, what seems like the best opening she's gotten since the fight started: a thrust to the throat that might very well take the bandit leader's head clean off.
>rolled 6, 2, 5 = 13
He catches the blade with the fused lump of his off-hand. The tip penetrates tumorous flesh to strike glass inside. An oversized blister tears open, the potion vial pops out, lands in his mouth. Tentacle-arm tightens around the sword, wrenching it out of her hand. He kicks her in the stomach, hard enough to knock her back to the edge of the platform furthest from those three existing portals, while pivoting to face Vos.

>>805170
And not a moment too soon. He half-dodges the spear aimed at his own gut, catching it between the two layers of the front of his coat, then coughs, spits out a now-empty potion vial along with quite a lot of frothy blood, and croaks "We had a deal, eel-man. Or are you not from around here?"

rolled 2, 2, 3 = 7

---

>>805232
Vos will immediately and viciously bull rush the bandit leader with intent to tackle him off the boulder on which the three are fighting.

Vos will try to land in such a way as to not squish his bee children.

rolled 2, 3, 3 = 8

---

>>804942
Maru has been doing her best to observe the chaos as she rallys the people from her place in the bell tower, but after about 30 seconds she can't sit by while everyone endangers themselves.

She Davina and Vos seem to be in deep shit with the bandit leader, but if whoever this chick with the black night gown and the force field has magic, that's a serious threat to our livelihood. Maru makes the call, and goes to try to neutralize the caster. If the wall is tall enough that a fall looks like it may leave her unable to move afterwards, she's going to try to run full speed at the girl and try to tackle her.

If the wall looks like a reasonable distance to fall, say 20 feet or less, Maru is going to try to tackle this girl off the wall.

>>805248
The Knight of Tittivila pushes off with his tail like a coil spring, chitinous claw pinching the bandit's sword aside. It cuts into the joint, but that's nothing a bit of healing goo won't fix. The two of them fall together through the portal by which Viste initially arrived, then out of a tall tree, after which Vos rides the bandit leader like a toboggan, head-first down a rocky slope toward the beachside staging area. They come to a stop surrounded by Yisheng Ji, the Agate siblings, and half a dozen halberd-wielding guardsmen from the town (acting as liaisons).

The bandit leader is, amazingly, still alive, conscious, even manages to squirm out from under Vos and stand up on his own, but is looking much worse for wear. He shakily spreads his hands in a nonthreatening manner, but still has the sword's hilt hooked over one thumb.

rolled 1, 3, 4 = 8

---

Realizing that Maru is just twenty feet away from air-assassinating the dragon girl, Hore opts for a distraction. Hore aims her plasma pistol at the bandit leader, looks at the girl, and says with a gnollish grin:

"You had better surrender now. Because when I'm done with him, he will beg me to kill you, for fear of how far I can defile YOU."

Hore aimed for center mass... but as the dragon girl charges, Hore fired without looking, requiring a bolt of green more than a direct hit (hoping to get the attention of the gang), and shifts her target to the dragon girl, grabbing her axe and chopping the girl in the lower torso just as Maru connects.

rolled 5, 5, 6 = 16

---

Vos will quickly snatch the bandit's sword away and pat him down for anymore weapons. I assume getting back up to the portal is unlikely, but can Vos see Viste from here?

rolled 5, 4, 6 = 15

---

So I can I assume the bandit chief dropped my sword somewhere in that tackle and fall and an Invisible Maid has returned it to my side?

>He shakily spreads his hands in a nonthreatening manner, but still has the sword's hilt hooked over one thumb.
Viste arrives on scene, portalling through portals.

"If you would yield, surrender your weapon."

Stay on high alert, here. As long as this man is armed, and even when he isn't, he remains dangerous.

>>805296
Belltower is near the center of town, not attached to the wall. Which path is Maru taking on her way to assist Hore: back-tracing the portals through which they initially deployed, jumping between rooftops, or the slow safe way down at street level?

>>805415
Viste falls off the boulder into a mob of dozens of angry bandits armed with spears and axes. Her sword hasn't returned just yet.

>>805400
>rolled 5, 5, 6 = 16
Vos retrieves his spear and both swords from the surrendering bandit leader, sets them aside, and spends a minute or so thoroughly searching the man without locating any items of interest. He's pretty sure that if there were weapons or other dangerous surprises hidden in that voluminous long-sleeved coat, he would've found them.

The spear's still where he left it, in plain sight out on the sand, but, despite all the witnesses, and clear illumination provided by the Agate siblings amid the fading pink-orange glory of sunset, nobody's quite sure where either of those two swords went.

rolled 2, 1, 4 = 7

---

>>805524
Ah, thanks for the clarification, I thought they were attached. In that case, given that the portals likely decayed before Maru decided to leave the bell tower, Maru will change tactics. She'll yell out to Hore, assuming she can see the surrender of the bandit leader and davinas tumble into a pile of armed bandits before she leaves the bell tower.

"OY! LOOKS LIKE WE GOT WAT WE CAME FOR, TIME TO BUG OUT. IF WE GET SEPERATED, HEAD FROUGH DE SWAMPS TOWARDS BADON AND FIND AFHUR."

The second sentence is a bluff, made with the hope of misleading or confusing any of the numerous foes within earshot, but notably the mage. Hopefully Hore realizes she's not actually implying that they backtrack on land to meet up with someone they've never referenced or mentioned before.

After that, she'll rush to Davinas aid, and from about 40 feet away, use her pen knife to score herself, summon her ax, and cast compel hostility on one of the bandits threatening Viste
" 'EY EEL-FUCKERS, I 'OPE YA 'AD FUN PLAYIN WIF MY PET DEMON, CAUSE ITS DE LAST FING YA EVER GONNA GET TO DO."

rolled 4, 5, 6 = 15

---

>>805554
Hore's been in enough raids to know that open communication is usually cream-filled with blatant lies because soldiers are conditioned to believe superior officers, even if those officers happen to be on the opposing side. Makes playing both sides easier when there's little to no chance of the infantry realizing they're just pieces of meat for the generals to fry and feed each other. So, the time has come to retreat. Good. Hore can't fight three minutes longer without risking her fingers - and consequently, her life.

Still, this girl seems familiar. Hore has never seen her before. But she has heard stories. As the heiress to a grand fortune, Azure trusts less than a dozen people, Hore most of all. But there was one who came in at a close second.

Hore begins a conversation with the dragon girl as she retreats, ordering the town guard to fall back with her:

"And so the die is cast, two unrepentant sinners cast on different flags with no cause but the ones we whim to follow. You know - excuse me for a moment. VOS! TAKE OFF HIS COAT, IT MIGHT HAVE NINJA GAS SPELL-WEAVED INSIDE OR SOMETHING!!! Right. You know, a little birdie told me a story about a friend she made, someone who I could trust if we ever met: the step-daughter of a legendary bandit king, an aspiring elementalist who dreamt of becoming a dragoness made of pure aether. You wouldn't happen to know the one about the parrot harpy and the pig-faced orc, would you?"

rolled 1, 1, 6 = 8

---

>>805524
He must think Vos is an idiot. Unless the sword grew legs and walked away, the bandit obviously figured out some way to retrieve it.

Normally the eel-man would play this silly game, but Davina hasn't yet returned and something must have gone wrong. "I do not have time for hide and seek. Please give me your sword, or I will invoke wrath of Tittivila once again."

rolled 4, 1, 4 = 9

---

>>805378
>>805524
>>805581
Oh, I get to do something. While the bandit chief is being pinned by Vos, Yisheng Ji will seize control of his skeleton and force his joints to dislocate themselves so he doesn't go anywhere for the time being.

Then, Yisheng Ji will enshroud himself with divine sanctuary and dart out over the battlefield to locate Viste. Or perhaps more accurately, he'll look for the two very large and noisy individuals who are accompanying Viste and then scan their locales.

>>805554
Maru Red leads a wedge formation of town guards and militia, cutting into the heart of the invading army toward Viste's last known position. Enough of the bandits are dead, maimed, or fleeing that they've lost overall cohesion, but there are still some pockets of resistance.

>>805557
Such as that sorceress, who nails Hore in the upper back with a glob of boiling acid (turning away from your nearest opponent to talk to someone else presents certain dangers) and spouts a witticism hinging on the word "scald."

rolled 5, 6, 1 = 12

---

>>805677
It seemed to me that Hore had her eyes trained on the dragon girl the whole time, and was charging in for melee attacks with her ax either before during or after her little speech implying a connection to Azure.

Maru, leading the towns defenders focuses on trying to encircle the bandits attacking Davina to hopefully giver her a chance to get her sword

rolled 3, 2, 2 = 7

---

>Viste falls off the boulder into a mob of dozens of angry bandits armed with spears and axes. Her sword hasn't returned just yet.
Draw a dagger, and attempt to portal out of trouble. Fleeing until she gets her sword back or reunites with allies (Maru's wedge, perhaps) is a more attractive option than trying to hold her ground against multiple opponents with superior reach.

Let's not head atop the wall, or back to the staging area. Opening a direct route for enemy combatants to either of those locations seems like a bad idea.

rolled 4, 2, 4 = 10

---

This is going to be costly.

Hore quickly throws herself into melee range, flailing the axe around. But she is charging her plasma pistol. At the right time, she'll open her hand and fire, regardless of the damage to the axe.

>>805581
>Unless the sword grew legs and walked away
He claims it did just that, for it was a type of earthbound demon called 'raktavarna' which can disguise itself as a bejeweled weapon or art object (in order to infiltrate treasure hoards), secrete memory-stealing poison, and share it's senses with a distant master. The bandit leader also glibly explains that the sword's departure is a sign his patron has disavowed and forsaken him, presumably due to this pathetic failure at what should have been an easy task, and as such he'd be willing to share what he knows of that former patron's active schemes and potential weaknesses - in exchange for leniency, or other appropriate considerations, that is.

>>805718
Vos casts the spell successfully, and the bandit leader looks quizzically down at his own right hand as it reaches over to grip his relatively unchanged left upper arm. His solid blue eyes go wide, and after the left shoulder audibly pops out of it's socket he screams, briefly, through clenched teeth. As his rubbery left arm reaches over to repeat the process, he mutters "no, no, no..." and grimaces in anticipation, but doesn't scream a second time. He remains stiffly upright like a soldier at attention until both hands reach down toward his right hip, at which point he falls to his knees on the sand, with a faint smell of burning hair. "What the fuck! Can't you people even afford proper manacles?" Then he licks his upper lip, wiping away a bit of snot or blood that was dripping from his nose.

Maria Agate sanctimoniously points out that suffering of the flesh purifies the soul, which the bandit leader rebuts with an assertion that he likes his soul just fine the way it is, same way he prefers beer you can actually taste over distilled spirits strong enough to strip paint. She offers to pop his shoulders back in and provide some magical healing after he submits to being tied up with ropes, and he agrees.

>>805724
Hore jumps off the town wall, scrambles up the side of a barn-sized head of cabbage, and runs along falling stalks of wheat as thick as redwood trees in pursuit of the sorceress, forcing her to retreat and make full use of the evasive options inherent in effortless aerial mobility, even scoring a few glancing hits. Eventually the chase leads into a dark loamy-walled tunnel (something as the back of Hore's mind wonders where all these giant plants are coming from, and what just happened to the sky) where the sorceress seems to be exhausted and cornered, when suddenly a thick wall of some fungal material snaps shut between them like jaws. Applying plasma to the fungus produces noxious smoke and rapid regrowth rather than any immediately useful result.

>>805718
Viste draws her (clean and freshly polished) sword along with a main-gauche, flips back up onto her feet, and prepares to defend against an army... which has mysteriously vanished. How convenient. The elephant-sized boulder is still there at her back, but now it's in the center of an equilateral triangle of massive ancient trees whose roots form six archways wide enough for wagons. Sunlight is streaming straight down through a canopy of leaves (wasn't it late evening a moment ago?) about 150' overhead.

>>805681
Maru Red cleaves one of the bandits in half at the waist, producing an earthshaking power chord, then steps over his body onto a rope bridge and meets Hore Wutashi coming the other way. Both handrails of the bridge have some sort of yellowish-gray gourds hanging off as if they grew there, each gourd carved with a single letter in High Draconic.

>>805589
>dart out over the battlefield to locate Viste
Yisheng Ji glides in and perches on one support rope/vine/handrail of the bridge (Maru's right, Hore's left). Viste is 60' directly below him, and the other side of the bridge is on fire.

rolled 4, 6, 6 = 16

---

>>805987
>a type of earthbound demon called 'raktavarna'
Sounds plausible. Vos would like to hear more about this 'raktavarna', as well as the deal the bandit mentioned after things settle down.

>Vos casts the spell successfully
I know it's probably a typo but for the record Ji is the one who forced the guy to pull apart his own skeleton!

>Tied up now
Vos will tell Maria and Daniel to keep a close eye on the bandit leader, then he'll rush back into the battlefield which is apparently looking a little more edible than he recalls. Roll is to reunite with his friends.

>>806035
>probably a typo
Yes. I have had less and lower-quality food than I would prefer, this past week or so. Probably related.
>Roll is to reunite with his friends.
>rolled 4, 6, 6 = 16
Even taking into account the fact that it's some sort of non-Euclidean nightmare vortex, Decaro Vos manages to get himself hopelessly lost in those new woods with remarkable speed and efficiency. Two hours later, the first sapient creature he encounters is a sixteen-year-old girl with a slinky black dress, a row of red scales down the bridge of her nose, and fresh scars and welts all along her forearms. She seems immensely relieved, and greets him as a long-lost ally.

rolled 6, 4, 2 = 12

---

Maru, upon seeing the magical fungus land sprout around them, is worried.
"Shite. Dat bint probly cast some sort a spell to keep us seperated while she and co get out of 'ere"
Upon conferring with Hore that the grill woman cannot blast them out, and that it didn't look as though the dragon lady was responsible, she is more delighted than ever before to see Ju. Exclamations of joy, a quick sharing of her take on the situation, and the reuniting of everyone makes this situation sufficiently more tolerable. She calls out to Davina and tries to get everyone in the same place, most likely through portals

rolled 2, 6, 3 = 11

---

Hore mutters under her breath. The sorceress has field advantage. If she grew this thing, then she could easily snipe Hore. She hopes she can talk to the sorceress later, but for now it is time to leave.

Hore heads for the exit, moving abnormally for fear of cheap shots from behind again, looking for traps and noting any scientific anomalies. This strange plant phenomenon around her is worth a small study.

Roll for perception check.

rolled 1, 4, 2 = 7

---

>>806037
Vos greets the dragon girl with the same warmness, giving his name and offering to heal her arms with healing goo. He asks what happened to her, how she got here, and if she's seen his companions.

>>806070
>perception check
>rolled 2, 6, 3 = 11
Everything smells like a compost heap or freshly-plowed field, only more so. No birdsong, nor old tracks, nor small animal smells, almost like the whole place was created from nothing moments earlier. If the sorceress did this, she'd have to be capable of at least 5th or 6th circle magic, despite showing no sign of anything above 3rd in the actual battle. There's no clouds or blue sky up above the canopy of leaves, just dazzling golden glare. The six ground-level archways and two bridge passages aren't as well lit, so it's hard to see anything more than a few feet inside without another light source, or angling some big mirror to redirect sunlight, or simply walking in there and waiting for your eyes to adjust.

>>806148
She graciously accepts the healing, and offers to use some magic of her own to thoroughly explain everything she can remember about the excitement of the past few days, in less than ten seconds from an outside perspective. Only catch is, the spell requires kissing. With, y'know, tongues.

>rolled 1, 4, 2 = 7
Vos has never heard of a spell which works like that, and he has heard pf http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/demon/succubus Nonetheless, she seems sincere, and only faintly evil.

rolled 1, 2, 5 = 8

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>>807002
>succubus?
>With, y'know, tongues.
Pfff a smooth seductress! Vos says he is willing to try the spell. (assuming aura sight isn't raising any bright red flags) He points out his lack of a tongue though. Vos also points out that the dragon girl has not told him her name yet.

>>807070
Don't forget the alien style second jaw down there. Makes for a hell of a surprise when playing tonsil jockey

Viste will take advantage of this (momentary?) lull in hostilities and disappearance of her enemies to reapply the cantrip on her sword.

>[Maru] calls out to Davina and tries to get everyone in the same place, most likely through portals
>There's no clouds or blue sky up above the canopy of leaves, just dazzling golden glare.
If the bridge above isn't hidden from sight by the glare of the sky, she'll accommodate by opening a portal from the ground to bridge.

>the other side of the bridge is on fire
The handrail (vinerail?) directly across from Ji, or one of the ends, behind Hore or Maru?

rolled 5, 3, 2 = 10

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Hore is absentminded again. She's busy studying the local flora out of curiousity. Roll to determine if she discovers anything useful.