HydroGuy

| HP: 17/46 | AC: 17 | PP: 16 Conditions Concentration: The tortle inhales deeply with a hissing gasp, and roars with rage as it furiously clambers to its feet. It lashes out at the air with it's filthy claws as it tries to reorient itself to the battlefield. Finally, after several moments, it realizes that it's foe is no longer a threat, and begins to calm. It slumps to the ground, it's shoulders raising and lowering with steady rhythm. "Big Man had big fists. Kuannur know no foes like this." It shakes its head gingerly from side to side, rubbing it firmly. "Apologies friends. Korbann is not accustomed to such failure. Need a moment to rest. Speak with spirits." It opens a crude leather pouch and retrieves a cluster of spanish moss. Cradling the lump in it's hands, it chants in a hissing dialect of the sylvan tongue, revealing a wriggling mass of bulbous engorged leeches. "Ahh. A fine blessing." It stuffs the lot of them into it's mouth, black ichor dribbling from the corners of it's lips while it chews. Actions Heal +7 HP Cast Goodberry, and eat them all, +10 HP OOC Short rest anyone

| HP: 45/45 | AC: 19 | Touch: 14 | Flat-footed: 19 Conditions Chailel: Spirit Sight (See ethereal creatures), Draconic Aura (30ft, Fast healing 1 if < 1/2) Favored Enemies: Evil Outsider (+4), Undead (+2) Concentration: n/a Chatterbox: Otis: N/A The old man's cheeks turn a bright scarlet as he chuckles heartily, stuffing more bread in his mouth between breaths and shaking his head. "Ha! Kids..." He reaches down to give the dog several solid thumps on the flank, the beast responding with a tired moan and briefly lifting its massive head to look around through drooping eyelids. It licks its jowls with several sickening smacks, yawns, and sets the loose flaps of flesh back down in a pool of their own stringy drool. "Aye lad! 'N a fine one at that! Prime specimen o' athletic perfection this 'n." He leans forward, covering one side of his mouth as if to somehow block the tiefling woman from reading his lips, and proceeds to whisper... loudly. "Gotta touch o' tha divine in 'im! Aint a fiend alive he can't snuffle out!" He gives the young man a wink and chuckles again. "Well... cept maybe fer tha ones that can cover their scent." Actions OOC

If you're Good, maybe Enlightened Spirit would fit. It's a little more Warlock for your Warlock. Keeps the low management theme with mostly passive abilities, adds a couple additional auras to help your friends and debuff your enemies, and frees up a few of your invocations by giving you similar abilities. Just be careful how you stack the levels, if both sides advance EB at the same time you only get one of them, but if you stagger them... you get all of the d6's.

Marshall is a common pick to get the double-Charisma aura, which can really help get your minimum UMD roll up there to get early access to some of it's uses, and boost your early level face-ness. Most people find the rest of the class pretty disappointing and pop back out after that. Not trying to dissuade you, if you like it and want to do it, go ham. If you like the idea of buffing your allies with auras and providing some other support, I might also suggest looking at the Dragon Shaman. Kind of meh from a stand alone view, but also not bad as a gestalt. D10 HD, Decent breath weapon, good saves, some paladin style healing that synergizes with Charisma, and a couple decent auras. They can also swap one of their auras for a low level Draconic Invocation.

With a decent Intelligence, Factotum is great for this as well. Many of it's active features are non-actions that you simply add to other actions that you take. Combined with the fact that your primary resource refills after every encounter makes them almost at-will in practice. With the mountain of skill points and every skill as a class skill, you can make very effective use of Knowledge Devotion for consistent +X to all of your Attack and Damage rolls, offsetting slightly lower physical stats.

Hideous Blow is usually sort of a trap, but I'm sure the niche builds here could do something with it. If you're doing a single standard attack + channeled spell + EB (assuming all the wording makes it work together) it could be a significant nova/smite, but it doesn't work with full attacks so it'll compete with the higher level channeling, when you get there. There are some other melee options to consider too. Eldritch claws gets you two hits per round, but never any more than that, and of course Eldritch Glaive gets a full attack with reach and touch, but it has it's own limitations. You just need to choose an option and build around it. But yeah, the fact that you can use Warlock effectively, even with negative Charisma, and get a pile of passive/at-will features, makes it a great secondary class. Even a melee brute with no Dex, who is all about the full attacks, can benefit from a slot-less ranged weapon that targets touch AC for those turns when they are still moving into position.

| HP: 43/45 | AC: 19 | Touch: 14 | Flat-footed: 19 Conditions Chailel: Spirit Sight (See ethereal creatures), Dex Damage (-1), Draconic Aura (30ft, Fast healing 1 if < 1/2) Favored Enemies: Evil Outsider (+4), Undead (+2) Concentration: n/a Chatterbox: Dex Damage (-1) Otis: N/A Chailel stops, looks at his feet, and sighs before turning back around. "Well, I reckon with an invitation like that it's a good thing we didn't bring that infernal gargoyle with us... I'd wager it'd have ya in six 'r seven pieces already... 'n those'd be charred to a crisp... Course, then ya'd probably all blame that on tha humans too, even though ya asked for it, n' we'd be no closer ta gettin' our answers." He winces slightly as he tucks his spear into his armpit, contorting his other arm into a position to rub his shoulder in wide circular motions. "I reckon I'll have ta agree with my friend here. I can't see how you puffin' yerself up with magic 'n pummelin' on a broke old man... or a feller one-quarter yer size, proves anything... 'cept maybe who's got more muscles than brains." He gives the questionable shoulder a few big rotations of his arm and seems to find some level of comfort. "No, I think we'll stick ta findin' real evidence. Besides, that there wound on yer belly still looks sorta fresh... Might give us an unfair advantage... plus we'd hate ta aggravate it and delay the healin' process. Must o' been painful..." He chews one corner of his lip, then chuckles. "Course, that's good fer ya though, aint it?" He gives the man a little smile. "What happened? Somethin' y'all do intentionally?" He holds his hand up to his brow and makes a show of looking over the crowd. "Don't look it... Matter o' fact... seems like he's tha only one. Whatever it was, must be damn near fatal to most folks! Pain is one thing... almost-certain-death seems like an awful big risk ta take ta prove yer faith. Seems counterintuitive ta growin' yer congregation too! Hard ta believe it'd be a common practice among yer whole church." He plunges his knurled fingers into his beard and scratches at this chin. "Hmm, must be a locally grown extreme, yeah?" He shrugs heavily. "But, then again, I am still in tha to learnin' stage... Tryin' ta wrap my noodle round all tha ins 'n outs... as it were." Actions OOC

3.5 at least has some "hard and fast" numbers for most of the skill checks, but it does still leave a lot to the DM/Game Setting so it's power level can really be anywhere on the spectrum, it's just hard to predict where until it's "too late" so to speak. With Gestalt, UMD can be easily supercharged. Just go straight Warlock down one side. It's already a solid class on it's own, with reliable damage output and some solid at-will abilities, but Being able to Take-10 and "Fake" almost any requirement is excellent.

| HP: 56/56 | AC: 18 | Touch: 13 | Flat-footed: 15 | DR: 2/Cold Iron Conditions Darkvision 60ft, See Invisibility, Entropic Shield (20%), Leave no tracks, Can't be tracked by smell, Comprehend Languages (Written only), Endure Elements Concentration: n/a Henry hikes up his trousers by the belt, and tugs the straps on his pack a bit tighter. "I'll give you some backup." With a flick of his wrist he vanishes from sight. "I doubt I can move quite as fast, but I can do this all I want." There is some gentle shuffling of fabric, as if he attempted to add some extra flourish or posing, followed by a sigh of apparent realization that it was for naught. "If you do get in a pinch... I'll distract them from a distance... give you a chance to escape." Actions Standard: Invocation, Walk Unseen (Invisibility, Duration 24 hours) Join in on the scouting run. OOC Inspiration (10/10)

| HP: 60/60 | AC: 21 | Touch: 12 | Flat-footed: 18 Conditions Invisible (Duration: 5 minutes), Silence (Duration: 5 minutes) Stance: Island of Blades (All allies flank from any adjacent space) Disguise: Middle-class, Middle-age, Half-elf, Farlsteadian merchant Concentration: Silent Image (Secret Door/Wall, Will DC20) Noran gently coaxes his companions against the door and takes a step back to examine the scene. Satisfied with his examination, he shimmies in next to them and begins to slowly gesticulate another spell. The silence forcing him to concentrate on it's words inside the confines of his own mind. Eventually, the others see an exact facsimile of the wall containing the door, projected just shy of it's surface. With his ruse completed, he presses the door's control brick, ushers the others inside quickly, then closes the door once again. Actions Full Round: Cast Silent Image with Silent Spell Metamagic (Lvl 2, Will DC20 upon interaction) Open door, go in, close door. OOC d20 Rerolls (1)

So do we have a preference? Either Austin and/or Henry can sneak over and take a look at what we're up against? Or shall we just roll tide over toward the evil-undead-snake-woman-monster? I'm leaning toward #1, I should be able to identify any key weaknesses, and those of us that can prepare situational counters will be able to do so.

| HP: 45/45 | AC: 19 | Touch: 14 | Flat-footed: 19 Conditions Chailel: Spirit Sight (See ethereal creatures), Draconic Aura (30ft, Fast healing 1 if < 1/2) Favored Enemies: Evil Outsider (+4), Undead (+2) Concentration: n/a Chatterbox: Otis: N/A Chailel pipes up from a nearby perch, leaning back in his chair with his filthy, bare feet on the table. "Fortunately... or I reckon, unfortunately fer those who don't care much fer adventure, that's about the normal way o' things round here." He tears a large chunk of bread from a loaf and stuffs it in his mouth, crumbs rolling down his beard and scattering across the floor. The bits only last a moment however, as the massive hound underneath him stirs just enough to snuffle them up and collapse again with a groan. "Lots o' folks runnin' from somethin' or toward somethin' or crossin' some boundary and gettin' all jumbled up. But, fear not... It's a decent enough place all told. Tha... cosmopolitan... nature o' tha inhabitants can take a little gettin' used to..." He gives the fiendish woman a little wink. "but, it serves as proof that most anyone can change fer tha better." He gives the little elven woman a big toothy grin. "Everything here's on the house... otherwise I'd be screwed." His cheeks turn a bright scarlet as he chuckles jovially. "So unless you've got qualms about tha orderin' process itself... I reckon you'll be able ta fend fer yerself jest fine... should the need arise." Actions OOC

I mean... Anyone got revivify...? That said, Mr. Ogre Man has been rolling quite well and got a decent set of hits in, so most of the near death experience is on him...

| HP: 0/46 | AC: 17 | PP: 16 Conditions Concentration: Making Death Saves: Success (x/3) Fail (1/3) With a final gasp, the tortle slumps unconscious under the ogre's shifting bulk. Actions Take Damage, 13 (Remainder 12/46 = no death) Death Saving Throw #1 (Fail) OOC

| HP: 43/45 | AC: 19 | Touch: 14 | Flat-footed: 19 Conditions Chailel: Spirit Sight (See ethereal creatures), Dex Damage (-1), Draconic Aura (30ft, Fast healing 1 if < 1/2) Favored Enemies: Evil Outsider (+4), Undead (+2) Concentration: n/a Chatterbox: Dex Damage (-1) Otis: N/A Chailel lets out another little sigh. Looking past their leader he addresses the group. "Whelp. Seems like ya'll have pretty much made up yer mind about which path ya'd rather follow. I reckon most folk turn down their noses at endurin' pain n' sufferin' fer their own betterment, n' I wager they turn their noses down on ya'll while their at it... I'm sure Tokan Dor won't mind ya evolvin' yer beliefs into threatenin' it on others instead... but you 'n yer leader here would know better 'n me." He shrugs as he turns back to his comrades, still speaking loudly enough for the mob to hear. "We came here ta talk ta Narlvog, 'n we talked to 'im. He maintains his innocence n' gave us plenty ta consider... Besides, we've still got a few folks worth questionin' before we go placin' blame." He begins to walk away, his hounds paws slapping the cobblestones dully as they move, he pats it heavily on the flank and continues. "C'mon brother. Let's see if we can't track down them spiky bug fellers. The ones layin' parasitic eggs in folks' bellies!" He chuckles slightly. "Maybe we'll get lucky 'n one o' them will confess without much fuss." He pauses and calls back over his shoulder. "Ya'll seen anyone fitttin' that description millin' around? I gather their species is called Xill, if that helps, n' they have a habit o' disappearin' into thin air. It's a good bet one o' them actually made the killin' blow on Ms. Groak, left a pretty unique wound on her abdomen." He leaves the confrontation in earnest and begins to whistle his off key tune, briefly interjecting one final time on his way out of the area. "Supposedly one is hangin' out nearby... goes by the name Jezim if memory serves. I reckon you'll call for us if he... it... turns up? If they're willin' ta murder one o' tha leaders o' this community n' try ta frame another in the process, I doubt anyone on this side o' tha river is safe... Hell... could be workin' fer tha humans fer all we know." Actions Try to Discern the spell he's casting. Try to find the "wounded" hobgoblin from last night in the crowd. Leave OOC If I can't dissuade them from supporting his violent rhetoric, maybe I can at least sow some distrust for whatever is happening with Xill...