Slain by Elf

Fresh from our overnight rest, Chain Devils notwithstanding, we head deeper in to the cave network, with our Ninja and Mage at the front scouting. You may think that sending a Mage to scout is a really bad idea, and you'd be right. He completely failed to spot a Bone Devil until it attacked our Fighter, Grot. Feeble pleas from the Mage that the Bone Devil was inivisible and thus hard to detect were ignored, and his reputation as a scout remains as it was.

But at least the devil chose to attack our Fighter, so that we have an advantage from the start! Sure, it may have stabbed him with its scorpion-like, poison-filled tail, and clawed him a bit, but wait until Grot gets his bearings, then we'll see some action. Unfortunately, the action we see is Grot running away in fear, because of the devil's aura. Before we have had a chance to do anything Grot has disappeared in to the gloom of the tunnel. Plan Rescue Grot was put in to action, with even the Mage agreeing that having Grot around would be 'a good idea'. The Cleric has Expeditious Retreat cast on her, and removes the fear from Grot, with the mage running along behind ready to use Dimension Door to get them all back safely.

In the meantime, the rest of us have to placate the devil. Our Ninja steps up bravely, as brave as it is to have an armour class of 33 with the total defence action, and tries to distract the devil, whilst myself and the archer back-off a little. As good an action as this seems, when the Bone Devil creates a Wall of Ice that separates the Ninja and itself from everyone else things don't seem quite so good any more. Still, at least some of us had a nice, protective Wall of Ice between us and danger. The Archer's sense of team-spirit somehow extending towards the wannabe rogue, he hacks a small hole in the wall and the Ninja manages to squeeze through, leaving the Bone Devil behind.

At this point, the other three return, somewhat bemused to have a Wall of Ice in front of them. Grot peers through the hole in the wall and notices that the Bone Devil isn't there any more. The Cleric's knowledge of these devils helped us realise that we needed to overcome spell resistance and damage reduction, but she couldn't recall whether they could teleport. Having a good idea that they could go invisible she decides to cast Invisibility Purge, so that we can see it beyond the wall and fire through the hole.

After murmuring the incantions and making some gestures, the Cleric assures us that nothing can be invisible within a certain range from her. We peer again through the hole, a little cautious that it may be close and will lash out. There is an eery silence as our faces push closer, trying to discern whereabouts the devil had positioned itself. Try as we might, we just cannot see it. At least, not until we hear a snarl, and realise that it does indeed have the ability to teleport, and is right behind us! Spinning around, we have a Bone Devil in front of us and a Wall of Ice behind us: it's time for action!

The Ninja uses his Ghost Step ability and starts to move forward to attack, but then embarrassedly realises that Invisibility Purge means he is still visible. With a 'No, I meant to do that' determination he enters melee anyway, with the total defence action. Grot takes a step forward, Hasted and with a newly blessed weapon. He swings once, twice, three times, and gets three solid hits, one of which is critical! Needless to say, he didn't use Power Attack. Nevertheless, the Bone Devil is cut in to chunks with those three huge hits and drops to the cave floor.

It all seemed a little anticlimatic for all the commotion caused.

This entry was posted on 23rd February 2006 at 11.21 pm and is filed under Dungeons & Dragons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.