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He should have fallen on his sword. That would have been the sensible thing to do.
Punched his ticket for Elysium right away, no waiting around.
He thought they'd only kill him.
Why did he think that? How stupid was he? Why in the world did he think that?
And now instead of his next great adventure he's flubbed a save against dominate person.
It's mostly the spellcasters who are still fighting, the chaff having been largely cleared or cowed.
Salgar Irevotnin is (still) unconscious but (still) stable.
Heroic Julaei Cangi in the next room over casts fly on herself and moves to the door - because she heard a fireball through the wall and she's remembering that Master Delmore controls half the shadows barring the way into the Vault and it would be catastrophic if she died -
Maganrad Hestrigsen picks himself up again (his lamprey-like roustabout detached in the face of Reebs's vision of Hell), and considers the hazards of a career in law enforcement.
He's carrying a scroll of aqueous orb - the city pays wizards that can use those to carry them.
He gets started on fighting the fire.
Invisible Aram Zey of the Pathfinders investigates the miraculous horses' saddlebags, and -
Adventurers live by the law of "finders keepers."
Aram Zey is no thief. When he was ten years old he found a coin purse with a dozen Absalom crests in it, and went to some pains to find its proper owner.
But if there's a pretty jewel which lies unclaimed, he does think his claim as good as any other.
...Aram Zey has more than 20 Intelligence. He's aware, even if he wishes he weren't, that these horses and provisions all belong to the Field Marshall, who was hit by deity-level magic at nearly the same time that they appeared.
...Aram Zey has more than 20 Intelligence. He's objectively too smart to steal from a god.
Aram Zey is no thief. Aram Zey is no idiot.
But.
He's also never been tempted with five wish-grade diamonds before.
So maybe by the end of the day he'll have had to revise his self-estimation down to "Aram Zey is no petty thief" and "Aram Zey is no idiot - unless you tempt him with the wealth of a small nation".
Or maybe he'll pocket them for now and if someone asks he'll say he was only holding them to keep them safe.
- meanwhile -
FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK SHADOWS FUCK
Zenobia Zenderholm goes to pat her pockets - looking for the keys to her house - doorkeys are valid Abadaran holy symbols - but her flammable pockets were reduced to cinders around her much more resilient body, and any keys they once contained have been destroyed by the heat as surely as the coins she was carrying were fused into one undifferentiated lump by her feet.
The Guard Chaplain! Lady Jeggare will have a holy symbol around her neck...
...A holy symbol which will also have been melted by the fireball.
The Arbiter jumps down from the table and starts looking on the ground for the holy symbol that Glorio Arkona cast away in two separate halves.
"Kill the shadows!" shouts Samudra Arkona, who's third in command here after Glorio and Melyia, and you know what that sounds like a pretty good idea. Lord Arkona's guards get right on that; they're objectively a bigger threat than Maralictor Briasus or Archbishop Ornher Reebs.
Shadows have on average 19 hp. A CL 7 sorcerer's magic missile launches four missiles which combined do an average of 14 damage. (Force damage isn't halved against shadows, but it doesn't really need to be, since force spells don't do a lot of damage to begin with.)
Glorio Arkona was protected by four sorcerers with 7 CL; they can between them destroy on average three spherical shadows in a vacuum this round.
There are, alas, no spherical shadows to be found. Undead use Charisma to determine their hitpoints, and Charisma varies between individuals.
You've your choice of targets, and while to you they seem identical, each of them has a life and a story which brought them to this point:
Murennia Ahala (CE female shadow, woodworker) 3d6+4 = 20 Charisma, 3d8+15 = 33 hp
Tefsa Issaleb (CE female shadow, "stable master") 3d6+4 = 19 Charisma, 3d8+12 = 29 hp
Ichab Julus (CE male shadow, fisherman) 3d6+4 = 18 Charisma, 3d8+12 = 19 hp
Astria Serva (NE female shadow, maid) 3d6+4 = 12 Charisma, 3d8+3 = 19 hp
Cecco Cator (CE male shadow, Sable Company Marine) 3d6+4 = 11 Charisma, 3d8+0 = 21 hp
Taupir Tappo (NE male shadow, tailor) 3d6+4 = 16 Charisma, 3d8+9 = 22 hp
They choose to focus 1d6 = 1 Murennia Ahala, who probably isn't but might 1d6 = 1 wow, ok, snake eyes. They choose to focus Murennia Ahala, who takes most all their magic missiles to drop, and who happens to be the shadow as got the last hit in on our dead swarm summoner.
Nirvana's been having a busy day.
Neutral Good's argument in the case of Murennia Ahala is that she was supernaturally compelled to do Evil, which is a substantially mitigating factor.
The court's argument for Chaotic Evil is that Murennia Ahala had to be supernaturally compelled to do less Evil than was her preference, leapt eagerly at the chance to do what Evil she was allowed, and that lack of opportunity does not a Good person make.
Nirvana's argument is that Murennia didn't choose to be someone who wanted to do Evil.
The argument for Chaotic Evil is that that's true for literally every Evil creature ever and the court affirms that no we aren't sending them all to Nirvana no matter how many times you ask.
Perception 1d20+19 = 20 did they... did they just destroy the shadow that created spawn? She can't tell for sure, but thinks that they very well may have.
Why did Delmore bring shadows into the room? Who was nuts enough to fireball her when they're all depending on her to hold the Vault? - was that the wizard Delmore set those shadows on?
She wants to tell Delmore to take her shadows and get the hell out of here. But the shadow Delmore just created needs instruction, if that's possible - she can't count on it being possible.
Random tenth level characters like Cressida Kroft aren't particularly advantaged to win against a single CR 3 shadow. Those things are terrifying.
(Against a shadow, which is immune most weapons and takes half damage from magic weapons, Kroft's average damage per swing with her commandeered +1 spellstoring longsword is ~8.7 out of 19 average hp. (Two-handing it with Power Attack; it's not like the shield would help her here.) And then if the shadow tags her for 3 Strength damage (it ignores her armor) (which is why she didn't bother putting it on this morning; why take the Armor Check Penalty?), Kroft's damage per swing drops to ~2.6 out of 19 average hp.
Ending up in melee with a shadow is the lose condition. Cressida Kroft is alive because she's avoided it so far; last night she was another archer - better at it than many but worse than the real specialists.)
She hastens towards the burning carnage (...which is emphatically not good for her headache, by the by), and orders "DELMORE, WITHDRAW YOUR SHADOWS. SAMUDRA, READY YOUR MEN TO DESTROY THE ONE SPAWNING IN."
(Of course she knows Samudra Arkona's name. She knows everyone's name. She'd like to also know his mother's maiden name and his favorite wine - for the file - but House Arkona keeps some secrets even from her.)
Stows her Quick Draw Shield while moving, and raises a hand to catch the thrown compass her Spellmaster was working on,
And mentally adds "go through the entire Vault and check everyone's pockets for shadows" to her to-do list right after "handle everything which urgently needs to be addressed in a matter of rounds".
It'll exaust their detect undead capacity, unless there's an alignment-detecting paladin or inquisitor in the Vault, which she knows for a fact that there... which she knows for a fact that there is.
(Cressida adds squeeing over having magic! to the to-do list somewhere after "die of old age.")
(But the very moment she's gotten that done, it'll be squee-o'clock.)
You seem to be laboring under some extreme misapprehensions vis a vis whether or not you're the boss of me.
I think we should cooperate with the police, Master Delmore.
They're only here to help.
Aren't shadows supposed to be Chaotic Evil? I think I'm a victim of false advertising.
You should report it to the Bureau of Weights and Measures! They can advise you on which steps to take next.
...You are without a doubt the most mild-mannered sin against Pharasma's Creation I have had the displeasure of working with to date.
I'm really sorry to hear that. If you tell me how I can improve, I can try to do better?
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