The boastful fist-clanging of Hasmal suddenly became a dull thumping again - and given back his physiological voice, the creature roared in rage.<br/><br/><strong>Witch! Misuser of magics! The arcane knowledge without that mind shall be dispersed when your brains are smeared 'cross the floor by my maul!</strong><br/><br/>Behind it, the flying Aria pivoted around her column - hooking an ankle around the cylindrical stone as she did so, seeming not only undelayed by the stone but to 'slingshot' herself by it - and sailed straight for the back of the towering creature's stag-horned head.<br/><br/>The sunblade lanced through the side of its throat, then ripped itself free only to twist around and under the beard, slicing across the front of its throat like an urban citizen being pounced upon by a throat-slitting common mugger. Aria sliced the smaller kukri across the back of its neck in an S between several adjacent pairs of vertebrae. The creature's roar become a spewing of mud-brown and mud-thick blood, and it fell forward heavily. Its adamantine-armored body landed with a deafening clang, and the partially-severed head popped off at the impact. The stag-horns arrested its roll, leaving it face-down in its own blood at Kass's feet.<br/><br/>"By the gods!" Aria groaned, twisting around in flight to peer skeptically around the great chamber, "<em>Thank</em>you for dispelling that golem-wannabe! I would've dismissed the blink, but it actually takes a moment of inward focus and would've delayed me."<br/><br/>She felt her ribs ache again from the earlier pounce, and groaned, "Its armor and maul are magic, and the mindflayers have the same as the others."<br/><br/>In their movements about the chamber, Kass and Aria would have noticed a second man (if he could still be called that) immersed in another sarcophagus-turned-vat, and like the first seeming halfway in anatomy between humanoid man and aberrant illithid. Aria flew over the female human who'd been dropped in a vat by the falling mindflayers, sheathing her weapons and groaning, "She still looks human..." She gestured to indicate that she was willing to pull her and-or the others out of the greenish-blue viscous liquids if Kass was, and also shrugged to indicate she wasn't entirely sure what this all meant or what to do with them.<br/><br/>They would also notice yet another pair of door-blocks at the far side of the chamber, opposite the throne, leading towards the northwestern part of the pyramid - as well as a pair at the north end of their chamber's east wall, facing the pyramid's center. And curiously, above those, the room had a fourth pair in the<em>ceiling</em>. Aria pointed to her eyes and then certain wall-runes near each, indicating the same auras as in the last chamber, likely magic triggers to open them.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>The enemy moved (after Aria) specifically to prevent her full attacking or charging from her position (and you're also right that twisted charge saves her; failing that she'd need to use a charge from the belt of battle or quicksilver boots). If she'd stopped one square to the east to maintain NS sightline, he'd have then stopped one square west (directly S of the column) to obstruct a charge from her position.<br/><br/>Prior to that she was trying to get behind him (as far as she could go), ideally preventing him from backing into the corner (and becoming unflankable) so they could flank him a round or two after that. (Her 'penetrating strike' alternate class feature is the ability to deal 1/2 damage from the sneak attack dice when flanking a sneak-attack-immune creature.)<br/><br/>He instead moved toward Kass, for the above reason and to try to harry her spellcasting (of course, at this level you can take 1 on concentration so that's hopeless). He's not too worried about being flanked b/c Iron Body normally protects you from sneak attack (and he didn't anticipate Kass's dispel, or that Aria has the 'penetrating strike' alternate class feature; that would be total metagaming on his part!)<br/><br/>I wonder if a blinker can charge through objects (as long as they make the 50% chances and have LoS - i.e. had maybe partial cover but not total cover). Probably not (and risky in any case).<br/><br/>(Aria's referencing that dismissing a spell is a standard action, I believe.)<br/><br/>Perfect move IMO btw, both the positioning and the Dispel (the perfect counter to this 'Oh noes!' buff).<br/><br/>Aria: haste and (twisted) charge; draw kukri of subtlety and sunblade for fa<br/>mh 51/51/46/41/36, oh 50/45/40 (22 bab 13 dex 5 or 4 weapons 2 blink 4 flanking 2 charge -2 twf 4 inspire courage 1 haste)<br/>mh attacks<br/>http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2958805/ (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2958805/)<br/>hit hit miss miss crit<br/>oh attacks<br/>http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2958813/ (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2958813/)<br/>hit hit miss<br/>dmg (mh = 1d4+18, oh = 1d10+16) 4x mh + 2x oh + 5x sa - 5x3 (DR from adamantine full plate)<br/>http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2958819/ (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2958819/)<br/>= 517 - 15 + 2 Str + 2 Con, slain<br/><br/><br/>(In earlier map forgot to mark the NE set of doors. The set in the ceiling form a 20' square above those, from cols 15-18 and rows 20-23).<br/><br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: courier;"><br/>     1              6                12                18<br/>24 X X X X X X X X X d d d d X X X X X X<br/>   X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . d<br/>   X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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 <br/>18 X X X X . . . . . A . . . . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . X<br/>   X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . X<br/>   X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . X<br/>   X X X X . . . X X K . . . X X . . . X X . . . . . . . . X<br/>   X X X X . . . X X . . . . X X . . . X X . . . . . . . . X<br/>   X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . X<br/>12 X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . X<br/>   X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . X<br/>   X X X X . . . X X . . . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . d<br/>   X X X X . . . X X . . . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . d<br/>   X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . d<br/>   X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . d<br/> 6 X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . X<br/>   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<br/>   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<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</span>