The two chain devils nearer Kass blinked and assumed bemused faces for a moment. The bedeviled devils seemed to teeter almost physically for a moment, rocking forward and back on the heels of their bare feet, then one snarled, "Helped along to the Hells, with certainty!"<br/><br/>Aria sprinted into the room and pushed off one heel, taking flight. She slid out her kukris, crossing them before her in a crescent pattern and triggering the weakness-seeking magic of her black bracers. She almost landed on the fiery ram's back (perhaps she would have if not for thought of getting burned), slicing the weapons the length of its neck and back.<br/><br/>The beast seemed to blow apart in a roar of flame - albeit harmless - and just as Kass expected, the flames imploded into a bipedal, adamantine-armored form, just through the stubborn doorway from herself (and perhaps-deliberately using a column in a bid to foil any second charge Aria might make.)<br/><br/>It had the ruddy-hued, muscular body like perhaps a pit fiend or fire giant, yet its head remained as much like a ram's as anything else, with the curling horns wreathed in wild, red hair.<br/><br/>It carried a long-hafted and double bladed greataxe, and like Hashmal had with his hammer, pounded the flat of the weapon against its own armor and roared.<br/><br/><strong>I am Belias, the executioner. I bring thee down to the fires of the Nine!</strong><br/><br/>It threw out a hand and unleashed a fire storm like the giantess's outside, nearly filling the floors of the chamber, all around Aria and through the doorway to blanket Kass.<br/><br/>The four chain devils laughed uproariously and poured forth, heedless and enjoying it even as the flames licked harmlessly across their own devil-flesh.<br/><br/>They stared down Aria - and the evil, masculine features of their faces shifted. Aria suddenly was faced with four copies a visage she had never really seen before but at once, somehow, knew: the erinyes-devil face of her own great-grandmother. the faces laughed and taunt ed in Infernal, voices suddenly feminine but almost as deep-pitched and no less evil.<br/><br/>Aria's first instinct was to try to steel her mind against it - then something sparked or snapped in her mind, and she flinched physically. She had a brief out-of-body sensation - as if she were standing to the side, watching the psychological torment be directed pointlessly at the column behind her - and then a difficult-to-describe sense that something intangible had<em>missed</em>her.<br/><br/>None of the kytons quite approached her to lash with its chains, though: instead, they moved along the long wall, and gestured theatrically, and many of the chains hanging about the chamber came alive like snakes. They sprouted cruelly barbed razor edges and even extended, one old skeleton falling out of their grasp and shattering, to whip and rake and lash.<br/><br/>Aria, having just bobbed around a column to protect herself from Belias's inferno, thought a chain-melee with these endless devils couldn't gotten worse than what she experienced in the sky - but this was. Over a dozen chains struck as she danced lik ea girl skipping rope; jumping over, sidestepping, ducking, and mercifully blinking out as most of the chains passed through it. Three struck at intervals, spinning her around with their force, razor-slashed across her hip and face.<br/><br/><br/>No, not currently theatening.<br/><br/>two kytons targeted make their Will saves (it was close, and they were lucky)<br/><br/><br/><span class="bbc_u">Aria</span><br/>charge ram; draw kukris, activate deathstrike bracers, full attack<br/>oh mods 45/40/35/30 (23 bab 13 dex -2 twf 1 weapon 2 charge 2 blink 2 sacred 4 inspire courage); dmg 1d4+15 (1 weapon 1 str 7 insightful strike 2 sacred 4 inspire courage)<br/>mh same +4 atk and +5 dmg (subtlety, str)<br/><br/>alternating hands:<br/>http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2986165/ (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2986165/)<br/>mh1 hit 107+5<br/>oh1 phase<br/>mh2 hit 102+5<br/>oh2  hit 112<br/>mh3 phase<br/>oh3 phase<br/>mh4 hit 100+5<br/>oh4 hit 108<br/>destroyed<br/><br/><span class="bbc_u">Belias</span><br/>Fire Storm at Aria and Kass, 51 fire damage, reflex DC 25 for evasion<br/>(Aria - 10r, saves)<br/><br/><span class="bbc_u">kytons</span><br/>4x unnerving gaze at Aria, Will DC 25 or -2 attack<br/>Aria (first use of Dextrous Will!) rolls 16, 4, 17, 20, (saves, and the 4 wouldn't have w/o DW or w/o Inspire Heroics)<br/><br/>16x dancing chains<br/><br/>1 atk 45  miss (thanks to Inspire Heroics!)<br/>2 atk 40 miss<br/>3 blink<br/>4 blink<br/>5 atk 47 (just on the nose!) dmg 17<br/>6 blink<br/>7 blink<br/>8 blink<br/>9 blink<br/>10 blink<br/>11 blink<br/>12 atk 43 miss (thanks again to Inspire Heroics)<br/>13 blink<br/>14 blink<br/>15 atk 41 miss<br/>16 blink<br/><br/>Aria at 17 dmg (from 253 to 236 hp)<br/><br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: courier;"><br/><br/>                                                             X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X<br/>                                                             X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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X X X X X X d . . d X X X X X X X X X<br/>24 X X X X X X X X X d d d d X X X X X X . . . . . . . . . . X X X X X X d . . d X X X X X X X X X<br/>   X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . d . . . . . . K . . . . . . . X X X X<br/>   X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X<br/>   X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X<br/>   X X X X . . . X X . . . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . d . . . X X . . . . X X . . . X X X X<br/>   X X X X . . . X X . . . . X X . . . X X X X X X X X X X X X . . . X X . . . . X X . . . X X X X<br/>18 X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X<br/>   X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X<br/>   X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X<br/>   X X X X . . . X X . . . . X X . . . X X . . . . . . . . X X . . . X X . . . . X X . . . X X X X<br/>   X X X X . . . X X . . . . X X . . . X X . . . . . . . . X X . . . X X . . . . X X . . . X X X X<br/>   X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X<br/>12 X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X<br/>   X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X<br/>   X X X X . . . X X . . . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . d d . . . X X . . . . X X . . . X X X X<br/>   X X X X . . . X X . . . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . d d . . . X X . . . . X X . . . X X X X<br/>   X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . d d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X<br/>   X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . d d . . . . . . . . . . . D D D X X X X<br/> 6 X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . D D D X X X X <br/>   X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . D D D X X X X<br/>   X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X . . . . . . . . X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X<br/>   X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X . . . . . . . . X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X<br/>   X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X d d d d X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X<br/> 1 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X d d d d X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X<br/></span><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Shaky: that's true, she hasn't (except Ray of  Light - but touch attacks are so easy to make; most creatures have low touch AC and will be hit 95% of the time by any high level character. Average monter touch AC might actually get lower at higher Challenge Ratings, due to size.).<br/><br/>Leveled-up-sheet and ideas look great overall. Also nifty to note is that a Cha +5 tome and the next point at L28 will give her a mod of +13 and thus three L7, L8, and L9 spell slots each.<br/><br/>Might consider some charges of lion's pounce in combination with a belt of battle / quicksilver boots, for situations when the enemy is more than 1x move speed away (the main advantage of a charge is getting to go 2x + attack.) I suppose Lion's Charge could even be put in the runestaff for a dirt-cheap 200 gp x 2^2 = 800 gp. I believe that 'casting' a spell from a runestaff doesn't require a 'free hand', just the runestaff in-hand, like with a staff or wand, so she could have the sword in the other. (And lion's charge has no somatic component - probably b/c of it did, TWFers couldn't effectively use it, which would be retarded for a ranger spell since all rangers have TWF or archery feats..) IIRC one of her abilities - Snowflake Wardance I think - says the weapon has to be wielded in one hand, but not that the other one has to be free (whereas some other things, like Duelist class features, require both).<br/><br/>Of course, when the enemy's far away, or even when it's not, she always has a variety of ranged spells to use.<br/><br/>re: stuff in hand and dropping the bow - always remember that a character can put something away as a move action ( I know the Anya thing was a unique situation where her hands were already full) and a a spellcaster, having 'only' a standard action left lets you do almost everything well anyway (whereas a TWFer is very dependent on making full attacks, hence Aria's obsessive kitting out with pounce / move+full attack magic, long range sneak attack magic, twisted charge, and other things to try to get a full attack almost every round). And in most non-aerial battles you can safely just drop something and pick it up after the fight (Aria's done this a few times).<br/><br/><br/>btw, one neat thing I noticed about Epic Spellcasting: it seems to favor spontaneous casters, since they (like with their regular spells) can spontaneously use any available epic spell slot to cast any epic spell they have developed. And since the number of epic spells known is the same for spontaneous and prepared casters (it's just the number you have previously developed) you don't have the usual downside of being a spontaneous caster (having a smaller repertoire than a prepared caster). So a bard like Kass or sorc seems strictly better off than a cleric/druid/wizard!  (I guess wizards have a slight advantage in that Spellcraft is Int-based.)<br/><br/>Another nice thing about bard/sorc epic casting is they have more convenient spell-slot-refreshing rules than wizards (who take a little longer) or clerics and druids (who have a particular time of day).