Chronicles of Arcania: B/X Homebrew game.

Game Master Peet

Couldn't someone just open it by sliding the cover off with their shield. If I do it, then the creature will have an opportunity to get us before I can turn it.

Brathas thinks it highly unlikely there are any traps on this hidden door, but he gives a quick look before pushing it open.

Assuming that what he then finds inside is a sarcophagus, he'd be willing to use the haft of Ana's halberd to push the sarcophagus lid off. That way there would be a bit of distance between him and whatever is inside. A halberd isn't a 10' pole but it's something.

Couldn't someone just open it by sliding the cover off with their shield. If I do it, then the creature will have an opportunity to get us before I can turn it.

Wallia we are not standing in front of the casket but rather the door to the room.

Fair enough, but my point is still applicable.

Ana positions one foot against the foot and pushes solidly, her weapon still at the ready.

Brathas checks again, but finds no traps.

The group opens the door. Beyond is an "L" shaped room, the mirror image of the queen's tomb to the west.

The walls of this room are bare. In the center of this room is an oblong box made of stone slabs. The room seems empty.

The group steps into the room, and then,

Suddenly, rising out of the stone box is a translucent, ghost like figure. The pale figure has glowing red eyes and a large, dark mouth.

The creature begins to wail, and you can all feel an icy, death-like chill!

Round 1 Initiative
Block 1: Ana, Brathas, Ferrous, Fistep, Wallia, Zynazyr.
Block 2: The creature

Everyone is up! The creature rolled a 4 for initiative.

"A ghost!"
Brathas readies a shot with a magic arrow in case Wallia's turning fails (10 left before the shot).

I sent you a PM. If your ruling is no, then would my character have realized that it cannot be turned or not?

As they prepare to enter the room, Zynazyr nods at Brathas' question. "As I did before, I can summon the warrior spirit to help."

Once in the room, he carefully looks around. When the ghost rises our of the box and begins to wail, he wonders if they will regret entering this tomb, as a shiver runs down his spine.

He looks to Wallia for direction on their plan of attack. If we are staying to fight, Zynazyr will cast Binding to summon the warrior spirit.

I sent you a PM. If your ruling is no, then would my character have realized that it cannot be turned or not?

I responded to your PM. You haven't identified it, but Ana has.

If I have not realized that the turning did not work, I will be trying to turn.

If I am able to understand it did not work, I will try to sling at it 17 - 1d20 - 1 ⇒ 17 - (20) - 1 = -4 if hits 1d4 ⇒ 3

Steps over to make room for Ana and swings a sword at it...

THACO: 14 - 1d20 ⇒ 14 - (11) = 3
Damage: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6
Initiative: 2d6 ⇒ (3, 5) = 8

"It is a banshee! It isn't undead! Their wail portends the death of certain families or it mourns them after death. Magical weapons are required to do it harm." Ana explains. "It isn't native to this plane of existence."

When wallia hears from Ana that the spirit is not an undead creature, he strikes with his sling. But the sling bullet passes right through the strange creature! Likewise, Fistep cuts at the creature, and his blade passes right through, leaving the creature unharmed!

But Brathas takes a shot, and his arrow strikes the ghostly creature. There is a flash, and the creature reels!

Zynazyr conjures a Warrior Spirit from the Astral Plane. It strikes at the creature from behind! But the warrior spirit thrashes madly, failing to land a blow.

Warrior Spirit: 18 - 2 - 1d20 ⇒ 18 - 2 - (1) = 15
Warrior Spirit: 18 - 2 - 1d20 ⇒ 18 - 2 - (3) = 13

Round 1 Initiative
Block 1: Ana, Ferrous, Brathas, Fistep, Wallia, Zynazyr.
Block 2: The Banshee(-3)

Ana and Ferrous are up. Fortunately they both have magic weapons!

I gave Fistep my magic short sword again, like last time.
I know he rolled as if it were his Normal Sword but perhaps that was just habit?

Can I cast the ice spell on my sling and the bullets remain magical or would it be a one shot deal?

Brathas did call handing off the magic sword to Fistep a few posts back.
Seeing normal weapon pass through the creature harmlessly. Ferrous grits his teeth and places his star spangled shield before him as he rushes head long into the wailing creature.
Shield Bash: 17 - 1d20 ⇒ 17 - (15) = 2
Damage: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

Did I do that correct LCDM?

Ana swings her sword with a hint of regret.

THAC0 15: 15 - 1d20 ⇒ 15 - (19) = -4 Damage: 1d10 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

Nice hit Ana!

I gave Fistep my magic short sword again, like last time. I know he rolled as if it were his Normal Sword but perhaps that was just habit?

You did indeed, but perhaps Fistep didn't notice:

Brathas will again give his magic short sword to Fistep and draw his bow.

I'm going to assume that Fistep decided to try his normal sword first on the off chance that it would work, since it does almost 2x the damage. Fistep: If you want to use the magic shortsword it will do 1d6+2 damage. Because it has a +1 enchantment you will hit as often as you would with your normal sword (same THAC0).

Can I cast the ice spell on my sling and the bullets remain magical or would it be a one shot deal?

Wallia: produce cold could be cast on a weapon to add 1d3 cold damage per hit. But it wouldn't make the weapon magical, so if the weapon wasn't magical already the 1d3 is the only damage you would get. On the other hand, you can just shoot bolts of cold that do 1d4 damage. The spell will last for 3 rounds and you just shoot one per round.

However: the banshee's wail is already making you feel an "icy chill." So the creature may use cold and if so may be resistant to cold. But you can also cast resist cold!

Ana and Ferrous move in, and strike at the creature. Both attacks hit, and the creature shrieks!

But it's wailing only gets louder. it seems as if the noise is crystallizing in the air itself, and everyone in the room feels the pain!

Ana, Ferrous, and Zynazyr: 2 damage. The Warrior Spirit also takes 2 damage.

Brathas, Fistep, and Wallia: 1 damage.

The stabbing pain of the horrible sound makes everone cringe, though some more than others. As Zynazyr struggles with the pain, he realizes he has lost concentration on his spell!

Zynazyr: the warrior spirit is no longer under your control and will try to kill you if it can. But the good news is you don't have to concentrate any more.

Round 2 Initiative
Block 1: Ana (-2), Ferrous (-2),
Block 2: Warrior Spirit (-2), Banshee (-20)
Block 3: Brathas (-1), Fistep (-1), Wallia (-1), Zynazyr (-2).

Ana and Ferrous are up.

Ferrous swings his shield arm wildly into the shrieking form before him.
ShieldBash: 17 - 1d20 ⇒ 17 - (14) = 3
Damage: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
His magically shield somehow making physical contact with the spirit and smashing into it. The dwarf continues past the banshee and moving to fight side by side with the warrior spirit and taking up a flanking position with Fistep and Ana.

HP updated. Ferrous will be in for a surprise when the spirit attacks him.

I think we have figured out how to get Ferrous to actually land hits... don't use a regular weapon!

Ferrous strikes the banshee again with his shield. The creature screeches and shrinks back. It begins to flicker strangely.

Round 2 Initiative
Block 1: Ana (-2), Ferrous (-2),
Block 2: Warrior Spirit (-2), Banshee (-25)
Block 3: Brathas (-1), Fistep (-1), Wallia (-1), Zynazyr (-2).

Ana is up.

Yeah looks like I missed that. I'll go ahead and take it and attack with it on my next turn.

Brathas wrote:

I gave Fistep my magic short sword again, like last time. I know he rolled as if it were his Normal Sword but perhaps that was just habit?

You did indeed, but perhaps Fistep didn't notice:

Brathas wrote:

Brathas will again give his magic short sword to Fistep and draw his bow.

I'm going to assume that Fistep decided to try his normal sword first on the off chance that it would work, since it does almost 2x the damage. Fistep: If you want to use the magic shortsword it will do 1d6+2 damage. Because it has a +1 enchantment you will hit as often as you would with your normal sword (same THAC0).

Anabot takes another swing with her two-handed sword.

Two-handed Sword: 15 - 1d20 ⇒ 15 - (15) = 01d10 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15

Her blade cleaves through the strange creature, and it seems to burn away with a pale blue fire, breaking into little fragments like burning paper. In the blink of an eye nothing remains.

The warrior spirit is still engraged, however, and it pushes past Ferrous and charges towards the corner, flailing at Zynazyr with it's mallet-like hands! Amazingly, both of the creature's attack miss Zynazyr, who shrinks back into the corner to evade.

Spirit: 18 - 1d20 ⇒ 18 - (10) = 8
Spirit: 18 - 1d20 ⇒ 18 - (6) = 12

The Spirit has not used defensive movement, which means any attacks against it until its next action have a +2 to hit. Attacks from the south side of the spirit count as coming from behind and get another +2 to hit (or +4 for Brathas, who may backstab).

The spirit has AC 4 and 7 HP left.

Round 2 Initiative
Block 1: Ana (-2), Ferrous (-2),
Block 2: Warrior Spirit (-2), Banshee (-40, gone)
Block 3: Brathas (-1), Fistep (-1), Wallia (-1), Zynazyr (-2).

Brathas, Fistep, Wallia, and Zynazyr are up.

Wallia 5 ft steps back slings 17 - 1d30 - 1 - 2 ⇒ 17 - (27) - 1 - 2 = -13 if hits 1d4 ⇒ 4

Brathas drops his bow, draws a dagger, and strikes the spirit creature from behind.
THAC0 15, +4: 15 - 1d20 - 4 ⇒ 15 - (19) - 4 = -8
Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 3

Backstab Bonus Attack, +4: 15 - 1d20 - 4 ⇒ 15 - (4) - 4 = 7
Miss.

Moves forward and swings with the shortsword.

THACO: 15 - 1 - 1d20 ⇒ 15 - 1 - (17) = -3
Damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
Initiative: 2d6 ⇒ (6, 3) = 9

Wallia 5 ft steps back slings 17 - 1d30 - 1 - 2 ⇒ 17 - (27) - 1 - 2 = -13 if hits 1d4 ⇒ 4

Wallia: Wow! A natural 27! Yeah, a d30 might skew the results a bit. Let me fix that for you:

Wallia: 17 - 3 - 1d20 ⇒ 17 - 3 - (1) = 13

Wallia tries to strike the creature with a sling bullet but he fumbles the bullet which drops on the floor.

Brathas: I'm sure I mentioned it somewhere though it may have gotten lost in the general noise. But a dagger (or any concealable weapon) grants an extra bonus attack when attacking from behind - even if you don't have the backstab ability. So if you use a dagger to backstab you get two bonus attacks instead of one.

Backstab Bonus Attack, +4: 15 - 1d20 - 4 ⇒ 15 - (16) - 4 = -51d4 ⇒ 2

Brathas comes up behind the spirit and with a flurry of stabs strikes the spirit twice.

Fistep comes in and strikes with Brathas' shortsword driving it into the ectoplasmic form. With that, the spirit collapses in on itself, splashing onto the floor. Soon all the fluid seems to evaporate, leaving nothing behind.

Combat Over.

3:00 PM, Day 8

After resting for a few moments, the party examines the room. A search of the room finds nothing aside from the sarcophagus, and no traps, magic, or evil are detected, so the group pushes the lid of the sarcophagus to one side.

Within lays a corpse lying in state. The corpse has a suit of plate mail on and holds a bare sword over its chest with the blade pointing downwards towards the feet. The corpse is withered and the shroud and tabard are little more than dry rags that crumble at the touch, but the sword and armor are in pristine condition.

The sword has an inscription on the blade:
βροντον

The armor has an inscription near the collar:
Αστραπον

Atop the man's head is a jeweled golden crown, matching the style of the queen's crown but bulkier and more masculine. Ferrous thinks it is worth about 5000 gp.

Ana and Zynazyr failed to detect magic here but the condition of the weapon and armor suggests that they are indeed magical.

Do you want to have Ana and Zynazyr spend another 10 minutes trying to identify them?

Aside from that, what is next?
* Visit an unexplored area on this level?
* * The Beetle Lair (B)?
* * The hallway past the haunts (E)?
* * The fire-keeper's coffin (F)?
* Go downstairs?
* * Via the stairs (D)?
* * Via the Trap door (T)?
* Return to camp for the day?
* Something else?

Had a typo and then Goblins in the computer. Yes we should give them another ten minutes

Wallia says, "Does anyone need any healing?"

"I believe we all took some injury from the King's phantom. I can continue on, but if you would like me to attempt the magic trap on that last sarcophagus we passed earlier, some healing would be appreciated."
Give the mages another 10 minutes, then if we want to go to F Brathas would need healing.

Ana would like to take another 10 minutes to try to examine the items again.

"I believe we all took some injury from the King's phantom. I can continue on, but if you would like me to attempt the magic trap on that last sarcophagus we passed earlier, some healing would be appreciated."

Give the mages another 10 minutes, then if we want to go to F Brathas would need healing.

really? :| you still have more hitpoints than I have total!

It might be a good idea to get some more food before we continue down any further. There was that nest of fire beetles maybe we could lure out a few at a time.

3:10 PM, Day 8

Ana and Zynazyr spend a turn poring over the new finds.

5d6 ⇒ (5, 1, 5, 5, 5) = 21

Zynazyr confirms that the armor is magical, though he does not yet know what the enchantment is. Neither he nor Ana are able to determine if the sword is magical (though you suspect it is).

So what is next?
* Visit an unexplored area on this level?
* * The Beetle Lair (B)?
* * The hallway past the haunts (E)?
* * The fire-keeper's coffin (F)?
* Go downstairs?
* * Via the stairs (D)?
* * Via the Trap door (T)?
* Return to camp for the day?
* Something else?

Sounds like Brathas prefers F and Ferrous suggests B.

really? :| you still have more hitpoints than I have total!

Oh yeah, you need healing too. But Brathas will be the one trying to open the magically trapped sarcophagus and I am pretty scared of how much damage that might do so I'd rather be at full.

Wallia heals whomever needs it 1d6 ⇒ 3

Let's go to the fire place.

Wallia, who are you healing?
Fistep is at 12/17.
Brathas is at 17/23.
Ferrous is actually down the most, but has the most, at 28/37.
You, Ana, and Zynazyr all just took 1 or 2 from the banshee. You don't have any damage recorded on your stat line so I don't know if you were injured earlier.

I took one point of damage. I will heal both Brathas and Fistep. Ferrous is has more HP left than one our maxes.

1d6 ⇒ 5

Ferrous shrugs off any offers of healing.

Cure light wounds heals 1d6+1 so add 1 to those results.

I think that puts Fistep at 16 and Brathas at full.

Ana's hit points are correctly reflected in her stat block.

For future reference I wouldn't worry about Ferrous hitpoints until he hits single digits. Of course if we are camping for a night and there is extra healing spells than use them but in general he is good until he gets down to about 25%. Let's do a vote where do we go?
A. Down a level
B. kill some beetles get some food.
C. Go try to disarm/trigger magical trap on fire-keeper's coffin at F.

so far 1 vote for B and 1 vote for C.

Ana would be interested in either descending another level or else figuring out a way to handle the fire-keeper trap.

down

Agree with Ana

Okay, we have for votes (note Ana voted twice):

Fire Room: Brathas, Ana, Wallia
Beetles: Ferrous
Down: Fistep, Ana

So we will go with the fire room.