Aria looped into a hover, veering out from the direct path of Kass and Anya. She drew and fired her bow at the nearest, 'invisible' mindflayer, triggering the magic which transiently far-focused her sight at the moment of each arrow. An arrow flew down through hundreds of feet of air, skewing the illithid through a milky eye. Her second arrow punctured the other, and the creature arched its back in a sudden spasm. Abruptly the hovering body dropped, free-falling through the air towards the west slope of the pyramid far below.<br/><br/>Aria sighted the next-nearest mindflayer, further away. Her next material arrow seemed destined to strike the creature - but veered away from it, deflected by mage armor or some such effect.<br/><br/>It cast, to no visible effect - until, such as Kass and Anya caught up with her, Aria realized that the six mindflayers had appeared invisibly just above her! "The six are fifteen yards above us, all invisible!" Aria shouted. While the visible visages of the six mindflayers continued to float down far below and to the east, their ghostly-translucent selves just above released some very real magics.<br/><br/>Five if the 'invisible' mindflayers began fanning out and flying downward to form a ring around the girls; as they did, two sent mind blasts rippling down over the girls, and three others hurled down force orbs at Aria.<br/><br/>The tiefling recognized that they had a similar look to the crushing claw Zeromus had used; more force effects chosen to hit her while blinking. One missed and sailed by Aria, who spun while hovering to avoid two more accurate orbs. She twisted so that one passed inches in front of her nose and another just behind her spine.<br/><br/>"They're fanning out laterally around us!" Aria pointed, reaching for more arrows.<br/><br/>Anya went rigid after the illithid mind-blasts, grip on Kass slackening suddenly.<br/><br/>Far below, the six left-behind and plainly visible 'copies' of these illithids continued to float down, as did the lone human, and furthest below above the river, the two yet-again-casting mindflayers accompanied by the kytons.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Note: in the last battle or two (and her sheet) I had Aria's BAB as 22. It's 21. (L23 with 1 lost from Rogue-1 and 1 from the even epic level at 22).<br/><br/>Also, I believe I've been wrong about the Force property and Blinking. Force effects extend onto the ethereal plane...but not from the ethereal to the material! So while the bow is useful for other blinkers, it doesn't help with her own blinking. Oh well. That was my main rationale for taking Force, but the DR-bypassing aspect is also very nice. The Seeking property of the bow says it bypasses miss chances, but I don't think it's meant to apply to this...<br/><br/>It doesn't quite cause an IC inconsistency - maybe she's just gotten lucky with those 20% so far...<br/><br/>Assuming Kass 'runs' down 180' again (incidentally puts her level with Aria).<br/><br/>Nearest mindflayer (the invis one) is at altitude 1140'. (Two posts ago I said 1040', but since before that I said it started at 1200' and floated down 60', hopefully the typo was evident). Also 60' west.<br/><br/>Last round Aria descended from altitude 2130' to 1770', and Kass/Anya from 2130' to 1950'.<br/><br/>This puts Aria at distance 630' + 1/2 * 60' = 690' from the mindflayer, which is 6 comp longbow range increments (110' each) for a -12 attack penalty.<br/>(DnD diagonal movement alternates 5' per square and 10' per square, working out to distance = longer component + 1/2 shorter component. Obviously the true distance is sqrt(X^2 + Y^2) but max(X,Y) + 1/2 min(X,Y) is a surprisingly good approximation in most cases. It's like using 1.5 instead of 1.41.. for the square root of 2.)<br/><br/>Too bad she doesn't have Far Shot, then almost everything else would be in range, which would be awesome.<br/><br/>Aria: sniper's shot and full attack, mods 25/20/15/10 (21 bab 13 dex 1 weapon 2 blink -12 range), base dmg 1d8+3<br/><br/>http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2971032/ (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2971032/)<br/><br/>mh1 atk 31 84<br/>mh2 atk 22 94 slain<br/>The next-nearest, eastern group of mindflayers are at altitude 880' and 300' east  (distance from Aria = 890' + 1/2 300' = 1040' , or 9 range increments for a -18 penatly)<br/>mh3 phaseout<br/>mh4 atk 18 miss<br/><br/><br/><span class="bbc_u">East six mindflayers</span><br/><br/>group Teleports to 45' above Kass, Anya and Aria<br/>(they are invisible, leaving visible Mislead images at their old location)<br/>two use Mind Blast on Kass, Anya and Aria<br/>Will DC 22 or stunned<br/>Aria phases out for one, mind blank protects vs the other<br/>Rolled Will saves for Anya; she failed both<br/>(Stunned, she will no longer be grabbing onto Kass with her own hands)<br/><br/>three cast Orb of Force on Aria<br/>(as force effects, they can strike her while ethereal, and so the ranged touch attack rolls have only a 20% miss chance. It would be 0% if they could strike and see an ethereal target. The Magic Missiles earlier had no 20% miss chance b/c they have no attack roll.)<br/>ranged touch attacks:<br/>1st miss due to blink<br/>2nd atk 29 miss<br/>3rd atk 22 miss<br/><br/><br/>5 of the mindflayers fly diagonally downward, spread around the girls at their same altitude, each 45' away from them laterally and forming 5 points of a hexagon around the girls. (One is 45' south at the same altitude, the others are 35' east or west + 20' north or south.)<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>ORB OF FORCE<br/>Conjuration (Creation) [Force]<br/>Level: Sorcerer/wizard 4<br/>Components: V, S<br/>Casting Time: 1 standard action<br/>Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)<br/>Effect: One orb of force<br/>Duration: Instantaneous<br/>Saving Throw: None<br/>Spell Resistance: No<br/>As you gather the energies of the spell, you<br/>feel against your palm a spherical weight<br/>that seems almost bonded to your skin.<br/>The sphere grows, until with a final precise<br/>movement, you release the translucent<br/>blue orb, sending it hurtling toward your<br/>intended target.<br/>You create a globe of force 3 inches<br/>across, which streaks from your palm<br/>toward your target. You must succeed on<br/>a ranged touch attack to hit the target.<br/>The orb deals 1d6 points of damage per<br/>caster level (maximum 10d6).<br/><br/><br/><br/>Charges update:<br/>(feel free to correct)<br/><br/><span class="bbc_u">Kass</span><br/>1 stunning surge<br/>4 BMs? (2 snowflake wardance and 1 inspire heroics and 1 inspire courage?)<br/><br/>spell slots<br/>0th: Detect Magic (oh, when she Detect Magic'ed, the auras of the 'door runes' were moderate transmutation)<br/>4th: 2x Dim Door, Resonating Bolt<br/>5th: Cacophonic Burst, Gr Blink, 2x Gr Dispel, Teleport<br/>6th: Heaven's Trumpet<br/>(So she's used 5/5 of her 5th level slots, but of course as a spont caster she can always use a 6th or 7th level slot to cast a 5th level spell, and when it's the right spell for the job, don't feel it's somehow 'wasteful' to do so.)<br/><br/><span class="bbc_u">Aria</span><br/>used golem strike 3/5, haste 7/10, sniper's shot 2/20, deathstrike bracers 2/6, healing belt 3/3, 'anklet' of translocation 1/2<br/><br/>lesser vigor wands: 24 and 22 charges left (from the two she started with; the Sharrans' looted ones all still are unused)<br/>lesser restoration wand: 42 charges left<br/>