Mission 3: Siege of Nakakuni Castle

[Sajuuk]

(Still kinda stumped on what to do here, move Shigeru as far as he can go towards the Archer tower at 30' speed doing double moves each round. I want to get to the top of it where I've got clear shots at things.)

[Zanaikin]

( Marty: Can I assume you're using the Soar extract then? Since you can't just walk down the inner walls, and the inner gate is on the far east side of the castle... also, Yumi will also take a Booster Personal Moderate Cure, and a Personal Disappear infusion ).
( Judson: decent number, may not be quite as many as you think, remember this map isn't 3D, and those walls are 25ft high ).

The spearman takes a stab at Yuuta as he shifted positions but missed, right before Yuuta buried his shortsword inbetween his ribs. He then fell over from the ramp and down the walls. Yuuta's next stab then ended the life of the spear ashigaru behind the first in one hit. But during this time three more charged up the ramp; two of them thrusted out with their spears, but both of them missed again...
(sheesh, I'm failing on nat20s now <_<)

When the mage began to conjure another ramp, Yumi shot out again, but this time it completely bounced off his wards. Yumi then took aim and sent an arrow in straight into his vitals, badly injuring the mage, who then created yet another ramp before retreating behind a line of spearmen to take cover. Both of the new ramps were next to Yuuta, expanding who was once a 5ft-wide force ramp into a 15ft wide one.

Several more squads of ninjas rushed in from the shadows, and Yuuta could notice that they were under the cover of invisibility. They then tossed more bombs onto the battlements, three of them directly at Yuuta this time. Yuuta dodges all three, but the force of the explosion tore holes into the wooden battlements and shattered entire sections of cover (Dave: 3 reflex saves this time, each one against DC18 or take 9 force damage each time)

Meanwhile, spearmen continued to charge up the ramps, and another wave of ashigaru spears rushed forth to begin scaling the walls...

Over the telecomm, you could hear the cursing of several officers as more explosions resounded from all across the western and northern walls. The casualties inflicted by the waves of bombs weren't heavy, but they were ripping holes in the battlements that would allow the enemy to charge through without squeezing in first. Hiraga Tsunami was also reporting heavy casualties to the musketeer squad, as the enemy seems to be throwing extra bombs her way and was determined to rid of those gunners...

The ninjas followed it up with yet another volley of arrows before withdrawing away from the wall lighting and into the shadows. None of them managed to strike Yuuta.

Terasaka's display of prowess, combined with his aura, left two of the spearmen on the ladder and all five that was climbing the walls backing off in fright. The seven of them then jumped to the bottom of the wall, not even caring about the painful impact, and bolted towards the southwest.



Overall, the communications channel seems to be reporting that the walls were holding; the enemy was taking heavy casualties trying to scale them but weren't making any breakthroughs; although the fighting on the north wall was extremely brutal as the ballistae had opened up several holes in the battlements even before the waves of bombs. At this time, the final line of troops, ~100 heavily-armored samurai facing the western walls (and another ~150 to the north), finally cleared the tree line and was moving into the battle, while even more spellcasters (although these were shadowcasters wearing ninja clothes) began to create ramps up the walls--- in fact, 4 more of them suddenly came into existence in and around the party's area within seconds.

"Ryouma, we'll need those reserves up here soon!" Yuzuru's voice could be heard over the channel.
"Half the archers have already been shifted to support you. I'm not devoting the rest until I see Kikkawa! Barely 100 of her ninjas have entered the main engagement so far! Where are the rest of them!?"

( round 8 and 9 actions from everyone please )


[EDIT: The shadowcasters are ~100ft out and staying away from the torches carried by the other soldiers. Every so while you can see their outlines when their magic flares to conjure the ramps. On a Perception check (DC20) you can see their exact square, but the darkness still obscures their exact location]

[Sajuuk]

(Yeah, assume I'm using my Soar extract then. But I'm not beelining for the tower, I'm doing my best to stay in cover.)

[Sajuuk]

After getting to the tower, Shigeru pops up over the wall long enough to fire a bomb at the officer in A24 before ducking back down.

(Attack A24: 1d20+14 = 27)
(Attack B24: 1d20+14 = 34 -> 44. Crit Confirmation: 26)
(Damage A24: 7d6+7 = 28 fire, plus catch on fire for 3d6 fire/round (DC22 REF to extinguish))
(Damage B24: 7d6+7 = 28 fire (56 fire if it crits), plus catch on fire for 3d6 fire/round (DC22 REF to extinguish))
(Splash Damage to A25 and anyone within 10' of A24 or B24 that might be off-map: 14 fire, DC 20 REF for half)

(Second Round)
Shigeru launches another bomb at the officer, aiming to take him out quickly.

(Attack A24: 1d20+14 = 26)
(Attack B24: 1d20+14 = 25)
(Damage A24: 7d6+7 = 38 fire, plus catch on fire for 3d6 fire/round (DC22 REF to extinguish))
(Damage B24: 7d6+7 = 32, plus catch on fire for 3d6 fire/round (DC22 REF to extinguish))
(Splash Damage to A25 and anyone within 10' of A24 or B24 that might be off-map: 14 fire, DC 20 REF for half)


GM Edit: The spearman actually managed to put out the fire rather easily after the first bomb, but as the explosion from the second bomb cleared, both the officer and the spearman lay motionless (and still on fire) on the ground. The troops in this area of the wall suddenly looked a lot less confident with the loss of their commander...

[Laharl]

Yuuta continues his acrobatic fighting, this time tumbling before striking the spearman in L21.

Acrobatics: 28
Attack: 33
Damage: 36

AC: 43, +3 guard, +4 vs movement AOOs

He then repeats the process if L21 is still alive. If not, he targets L22 and ends up in L21.

Acrobatics: 42
Attack: 25
Damage: 31

AC: 43, +3 guard, +4 vs movement AOOs

[GM Edit: it took two more stabs, but Yuuta successfully downs another spearman...]

[TheDude51]

Terasaka moves up to M17, bringing his aura over as many of the climbing spearmen as he can. On the second round he uses Dazzling Display.
Intimidate: 1d20+21 = 27

[Zanaikin]

( Sorry for delay, been in California for an Google interview trip xP )

Terasaka's presence frightens the 5 spearmen in the first wave of climbers, who jumped back down onto their comrades before running away... the second row who took the impact pulled themselves back up to start climbing again, but they were visibly shaken... (Judson: you get an AoO if you wanna take).

Todoroki takes a step up to Yumi; his skin looked even more green and leafy than normal, while the vines that grows around his arms came to life began to attack those climbing up the ladder. The first spearmen was killed after being pierced several times and fell down the walls.

Meanwhile, Yumi took two aimed shots towards the invisible mage amongst the shield-line 100ft away... but didn't seem to score a kill (in fact she was under a lot of cover fire from the archers below).



Two spearmen attack Yuuta, followed by one more spearmen charging up the ramps to attack him, but he easily dodges all three of them.

Still hidden in the darkness, the shadowcasters release two blasts of antimagic each at Terasaka and Yuuta, shattering protective wards and ripping into them with surges of released magical energy...
( Dave's buffs dispelled: Recitation, Mass Resist Energy[Fire], See Invisibility; you also take 9pts of pure magical damage )
( Judson's buffs dispelled: Recitation, Aura of Doom, Shield of Faith; you also take 9pts of pure magical damage )
( same rules for seeing shadowcasters as last round--- see end of my last post )

Four shikigami are conjured into the air and flies straight over the wall battlements, stopping over the inside courtyard 10ft above the ground. You could also see another dozen shikigami doing the exact same up the western walls; although to the north they were quickly destroyed by the much larger group of shikigami conjured by Tougou's summoner Ogawa Matsuri...

To the north, enemy spearmen were finally pushing onto the western wall battlements after taking heavy casualties and the fighting was getting fiercer by the second. Those that climbed up were still badly outnumbered and getting killed left and right, but they weren't getting killed fast enough... furthermore, the samurai of the 3rd line was now coming within 100ft.

( Dave, Judson, Marty: round 10 actions please )

[Sajuuk]

(Perception Check to see the Shadowcasters: 1d20+14 = 22)

Shigeru launches a bomb at the shadowcasters (hitting one of them directly, other takes splash damage)
(Attack: 1d20+15 = 29)
(Damage: 7d6+7 = 32 fire, plus catch on fire for 3d6 fire/round (DC22 to extinguish)
(Splash Damage: 14 fire, DC20 Ref for half)

[GM: Shigeru's bomb strikes one of the shadowcasters, igniting him and burning him to death seconds later... his flaming body also illuminating the other three in the area... ]

[TheDude51]

AoO:
Attack: 1d20+27 = 33
Damage: 3d8+16 = 31

Terasaka moves down to M22 and attacks the spearman at L23.

Attack (PA): 1d20+22 = 35
Damage: 3d8+20 = 35

[Laharl]

Yuuta continues tumbling and stabbing stuff. He holds his position.

Acrobatics: 37
Attack: 26
Damage: 26

AC: 37

[Zanaikin]

Terasaka hits and badly injures one of the spearmen as he tried to withdraw, sending him tumbling down the walls and dying from the impact as he crashed hard into the ground below. After moving, his morningstar smashes into yet another injured spearmen and kills him. But another climbs up the ladder in his place... (Judson: another AoO)

The four spearmen near Terasaka attacks him, and one of them manages to actually hit (Judson: take 9 piercing damage)

Yuuta manages to kill the spearmen in front of him whom was trying to push through the thorn wall layer. Four spearmen near Yuuta then attacks him, but one came close to hitting which Yuuta parried aside with his sword (Guard).

Yumi takes one more aimed shot towards the invisible summoner out there, and this time finally nails the target as the shikigami he summoned and four of the ramps vanished, sending a number of spearmen who had been on them falling down onto the ground below... Meanwhile Todoroki moves to the southwest corner before knocking off and killing another climber...



The three shadowcasters (and several ninjas) who were illuminated by Shigeru's bomb scattered back into the darkness, then conjured three more ramps. (DC20 perception check to see one of them during casting; still enshrouded in darkness; none of them are adjacent to other targets)

The samurai were beginning to move up the ramps and into position to climb the ladders... meanwhile the two squads of ninjas returned, firing more arrows from invisibility. The last of the gunners and crossbows on this part of the battlements (except those in tower) went down. Furthermore, Yuuta gets struck by one shot from the volley aimed at him, while Terasaka takes another.
( Dave: take 36 piercing damage [crit] )
( Judson: take 34 piercing damage [crit] )

Fighting continues up and down the line... and over the telecomm, both Tougou and Yuzuru sends their reserve veteran spearmen units into the fray...



( Marty, Dave, Judson: round 11 actions please... )
( also, two perception checks from you Marty for next round. )

[Laharl]

Yuuta is in a lot of pain after that one and takes a 5' step back to chug the Personal Moderate Cure extract he got from Shigeru.

(That crit knocked me down to 7 HP...)

AC: 32

[Zanaikin]

( Dave/Judson: as per , both of those hits are no longer crits and downgraded to 12 piercing damage each. Thank the battlements/Wall-of-Thorns' improved cover =P )

[TheDude51]

AoO:
Attack: 1d20+22 = 34
Damage: 3d8+20 = 35

The light hit from the spearman activates Terasaka's curse, and his wounds begin to slowly knit themselves together. Terasaka steps to M14 and recasts Shield of Faith.

Concentration (cast defensively): 1d20+22 = 35

AC: 35
HP: 47/70

[GM: Terasaka knocks the soldier back down the walls, dead from the impact, as he tried to climb over... ]

[Sajuuk]

(Perception 1: 1d20+14 = 26)
(Perception 2: 1d20+14 = 31)

(Perception Check to see the Shadowcasters: 1d20+14 = 25)

Shigeru launches a bomb another shadowcaster.
(Attack: 1d20+15 = 23)
(Damage: 7d6+7 = 38 fire, plus catch on fire for 3d6 fire/round (DC22 to extinguish)
(10' Radius Splash Damage: 14 fire, DC20 Ref for half)