he helm-faced Zeromus swept the claw-weapon hand trailing after Kass, clearly intending to try to parry the sword, a moment too slow as it broke a rift in a joint of the adamantine armor and pierced through tough flesh underneath. The helm vibrated as the entity within roared, and droplets of blood spurted out only to float like orbs through the zero-gravity chamber.<br/><br/><strong>You are next.</strong><br/><br/>Aria vanished from within the force grip of the spell, making a short teleportive hop towards the side of Zeromus opposite Kass. She flew, making an arc and maintaining momentum, driving sword-force into the back of the giant where helm met body. The kukri and sunblade slid in and twisted around inside to grisly spine-grinding noises, and Aria grunted as the giant flipped its helmed head back and used a twist of its armored shoulder to push her away again.<br/><br/>It arced its hand, flinging a second barrage of magic missiles at the tiefling, even while gesturing in a way that seemed to send the floating claw of force towards Kass. The thing snapped at her, but then seemed to stop just shy and pull away again from Kass, like repelling magnets - probably the ring-magic the Sharran-temple mimic had used to freely house itself within an ooze.<br/><br/>Zeromus swiveled his head, seeming passingly perplexed by the different ways its two foes had each dealt with the force claw.<br/><br/><strong>Passing trickery. The candle of the condemned can only burn for so long.</strong><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Yay! WB!<br/><br/>It is Huge; the crab was Gargantuan<br/><br/>Kass hits; dmg 29 - 3 (DR)<br/><br/>Aria: activate translocation boots (to teleport 2e and 1s), then twisted charge (4e then 2n) and fa with kukri and sunblade<br/><br/>mh mods 44/39/34/29 (inc. charge and twf and flanking and subtlety) oh mods 43/38/33<br/>(22 bab 13 dex 5 or 4 weapon -2 twf 2 charge 4 flanking)<br/>dmg oh 1d4+14, oh 1d10+12<br/><br/>http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2966860/ (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2966860/)<br/>mh1 atk 54 dmg 103-3(DR) + staggered, tot 126<br/>mh2 atk 53 dmg 85-3 tot 208<br/>mh3 nat1<br/>mh4 atk 32 miss<br/><br/>http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2966861/ (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2966861/)<br/>oh1 atk 60 dmg 89 tot 297<br/>oh2 atk 51 dmg 91 tot 386<br/>oh3 nat20 threat 35 noncrit dmg 112-3 tot 495<br/><br/>Blink's +2 is not included in the attack modifiers b/c Zeromus has Blind-Fight - meaning that Aria doesn't get an attack bonus for blinking, AND blinking alone wouldn't suffice for sneak attack! Nice positioning with Kass and flanking once again. And I'm glad for twisted charge - the translocation consumed Aria's swift action, so she wouldn't have been able to use the boots' 'quicksilver' ability nor the belt of battle for a swift-move instead of a charge (since a normal charge has to go towards the nearest square - sw of Zeromus - from which the only 'flanking' square would be ne, which is within a wall!). This is the main reason I bought a Persisted lion's charge item for her in Tsurlagol was not b/c I thought the would need more than 20 uses per day that makes it worth it pricewise, but so that lion's charge wouldn't consume her swift action every time she used it, thus making it impossible to use with golem strike, deathstrike bracers, etc.)<br/><br/>I don't know to what a degree a character is aware of all the mods and counters affecting their attack - in this case whether Aria would recognize Zeromus has Blind-Fight or some other ability which is not giving her the as-invisible-attacker bonuses from blink. She would use twisted charge anyway, of course, b/c the flanking is another +4 to attack anyway, and you never know when an enemy has an ability like Blind-Fight or Uncanny Dodge which will foil the 'denied Dex bonus to AC' trigger for sneak attack (whereas with consuming a belt of battle or quicksilver boots charge, if she'd been able to, it's no a no-brainer b/c of the limited charges and the lack of +2 from charging in that case.)<br/><br/><br/><br/>Zeromus:<br/>redirects crushing hand (a move action) to Kass<br/>touch attack 49<br/>grapple check 56<br/>(no chance of grapple or crushing dmg, due to her Freedom of Movement)<br/>quickened empowered MM at Aria, 21 dmg<br/>(no other action b/c he's staggered)<br/><br/><br/><br/>Aria at altitude 25', Kass at 25', Zeromus at 20'<br/>(I put Kass at the middle of his altitude, so it'd be hardest for him to move out from between them)<br/><br/><br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: courier;"><br/>                                       X X X X X X X X X X X X<br/>                                       d . . . . . . . . . . d<br/>                                       d . . . . . . . . . . d<br/>                                       d . . . . . . . K . . d<br/>                                       d . . . . . . . Z Z Z d<br/>   1         6          12          18 X . . . . . . . Z Z Z X<br/>24 X X X X X X X X X d d d d X X X X X X . . . . . . . Z Z Z X<br/>   X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . k . . . . . . . . . A . d<br/>   X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . a . . . . . . . . . . . d<br/>   X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . d<br/>   X X X X . . . X X . . . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . d<br/>   X X X X . . . X X . . . . X X . . . X X X X X X X X X X X X</span>