Week 23
Misty returns in time for a …. BOSS BATTLE! Palador, head of gym, has challenged us, though Iliqua has offered to 1v1 him. The rest of the party are … hesitant to agree to this.
Skin slightly green, two large mantis-like mandibles, and eyes with hexagon like shapes in them, Palador stares at the party from the other side of the room.
1 - Zer0 strides into the room, about half way to Palador, and holds his action in case he comes within striking range.
Misty attempts to hide, and casts Shadow Rake - hitting and doing a decent amount of damage.
Palador offers up 3 burdens, Misty, Sorrel and Iliqua take them, not knowing what they yet do. He then moves up to Zer0, who takes his held action, doing a reasonable amount of damage. Two of his attacks miss, and he teleports away back to his original position.
Sorrel attempts to find out what the burdens are - Burden of Command, Movement, and Of the Past, attached to Sorrel, Misty and Iliqua in order. She casts Bless on Iliqua, Misty, herself and Zer0, then moves behind one of the barricades. Her spiritual weapon is brought into being next to Palador, making an attack but the Burden of Command takes over and redirects the damage to Zer0. The burden fades from Sorrel.
Jaxzon runs further into the room and hurls and javelin at Palador, missing. A martial check to find out immunities, getting none with some uncertainty.
Iliqua moves into the room, tries to cast False Life, but the Burder of Past kicks in and stuns him for this turn, then fades.
2 - Zer0 moves up to melee range, and swings but misses.
Misty finds out what her current burden is - any movement incurs a hefty damage penalty (4d6). She pulls out her crossbow and fires but misses, and her burden fades.
Palador once again offers up the burdens - Zer0 takes the Burden of the Past, Sorrel claiming the others (Movement and Command). He then rushes off to attack Sorrel, Zer0 gets an opportunity attack that hits and does another decent amount of damage. He hits and does major damage, and gets a mark of unknown value. A second attack misses.
Sorrel shouts about trying something and casts Cure Wounds on Palador, who accepts it gracefully.
Jaxzon runs to Palador but misses, however, Sorrel gives him a natrual 20 to use - he applies Wrathful Smite to his blade, and pumps a Divine Smite into it - 71 points of damage and causing fear. Palador mentions he didn’t want to use an ability so soon and teleports back to the center, rewinding time back to before the damage is taken.
Iliqua re-activates Bladesong having lost it due to the stun, then uses a martial check to find out an exact armour class, but fails to find anything useful. He then casts False Life to gain some health, and moves behind another barricade.
3 - Zer0 swings again and misses, but uses a martial check to find out some abilities - the Burdens, graceful parry, sever, and former self (rewind time). Traits include melee adept, mage adept, ruthless (actively tries to finish off downed foes) and deadly combo (moves that stack damage).
Misty tries to shoot with her crossbow, Palador rushes toward her and uses graceful parry to deflect the attempt and hit her, doing a small amount of damage.
Palador again rushes off to attack Sorrel, Zer0 misses with an opportunity attack. Burdens are again offered, Zer0 takes The Past again, Iliqua takes Command, Misty takes Movement. Two attacks on Sorrel miss, Iliqua throws out a burn about losing his touch, eliciting an agreement from Palador.
Sorrel takes a drink from a vial with red glitter in it, a wisdom save fails and her eyes glint with power, her hair catch fire, fingernails grow and burn, her fangs grow and she gains some fire based attacks, some which regain health. An urge overtakes her and she drinks the second does - gaining a bloodfury that means if no enemies are left, she will attack any others that are near.
She moves into a flanking position and rakes with her new fingernails that Palador parries and ripostes, knocking her unconcious. An elven shadow seems to step into Palador, appearing to return some level of “humanity” to him.
Jaxzon swings and hits, and pumps his last Divine Smite into it - doing a reasonable amount of damage. A martial check to find out damage levels gets a 1/4 value.
Iliqua asks what Palador’s dexterity bonus is - +5 is the result. He moves closer and casts blur on himself, and moves URA around.
4 - Zer0 asks about the rewind time ability, he can return to a state of his last turn, which resets each time he downs an enemy. He holds his action in the event that Palador returns to melee range.
Misty shoots again, hitting and getting sneak attack, but rolling poorly and doing a small amount of damage, and attempts to hide again.
Palador turns and attacks Jaxzon with sever, doing a fair amount of damage and giving him a mark. The second attack misses. Burden of the Past goes to Zer0, Misty takes Movement, and Jaxzon takes Command.
Sorrel fails a death save.
Jaxzon tries to heal Sorrel with lay on hands using only 1 point - Burden of Command steals that and gives it to Palador instead. He then drinks a potion, and the burden activates again, stealing the healing once more. An attempt to move provokes an opportunity attack, which hits and knocks him unconcious.
Iliqua moves into melee range with Palador, then moves URA closer to Jaxzon to grab a potion. He casts Booming Blade and attacks, but misses.
5 - Zer0 rushes to flank with Iliqua and swings, hitting and doing a bunch of damage. A martial check on the Burden of Past - any spells cast that Palador can see, causes the stun.
Misty tries to hide again, failing miserably. Another shot with her crossbow, but misses.
Palador again offers his Burdens, Past and Movement goes to Misty, Command goes to Palador, giving him advantage on attacks. He looks at Iliqua, and hits doing a chunk of damage and giving him a mark. A second attack also targets Iliqua, but misses.
Sorrel nails a death save, returning to life with one health. She stands up and attacks with a bite and hits, doing a small amount of damage and heals Sorrel - information about fire vulnerability is gained. She casts healing word to gain some more health.
Jaxzon succeeds on a death save.
Iliqua gets URA to feed a potion to Jaxzon, bringing him back to conciousness. Another Booming Blade gets parried and riposted, almost bringing Iliqua to unconciousness.
6 - Zer0 hits and does another big set of damage.
Misty attempts to hide again, succeeding this time. A crossbow attack misses.
Palador again offers his burdens, Movement and the Past goes to Misty again, Command going to Sorrel. Palador attacks Zer0, missing with the first, but hitting with the second using Sever, taking half of his remaining health, and giving him a mark.
Sorrel’s goddess talks to her, offering a favour which is accepted - Palador’s former self seems to have been disabled, and blocking his ability to rewind time. A martial check to find out what Command does fails. She holds an action to perform an unarmed attack until the Command burden fades. This kicks in immediately, resulting in a critical failure, and damaging Zer0 instead.
Jaxzon stands up, climbs the barricade and uses his shield ability to give Zer0, Sorrel and Iliqua the dodge action. A potion is taken to regain some health.
Iliqua uses a martial check to find out vulnerabilities, which turn out to be fire and lightning. He jumps in front of Jaxzon and casts Aganazzar’s Scorcher, Palador’s dex save fails, taking double damage. He drinks a healing potion to regain some health.
7 - Zer0 strikes again, doing a decent amount of damage, but doesn’t kill him.
Misty tries to hide again, succeeding once more. A crossbow attack hits and does a good amount of damage, but still doesn’t finish him off.
Palador mutters to himself about taking his student with him if he is to die. Misty takes all three burdens. A sever attack is blocked by the shield spell, but the mark knocks him unconcious. The second attack claims two death saves.
Sorrel tries an unarmed attack is parried and riposted, knocking her out again.
Jaxzon asks for remaining health with a martial check, looking very close to death. He moves a little closer and attacks, hitting and bringing him even closer to death. He pushes Iliqua out of range.
Iliqua’s final death save succeeds and stabilises him.
8 - Zer0 hits again, but still fails to kill him. Uses second wind to regain some health.
Misty attacks with her crossbow, hitting and finally killing Palador, bringing a tough battle to the end.
Sorrel critically fails a death save. Jaxzon heals Iliqua. Zer0 grabs a potion and feeds it to Sorrel. Misty searches the body and finds a key.
Level five is achieved, and the scene ends.