Crypt Of The Everflame (Inactive)

Game Master PJP

"One of the keys in the pool there has an aura of magic. I would have to remove my armor to fetch it, can one of you help me with that to speed things up a little? Or if one of you is a talented swimmer..."

"Can't say I've ever been much of a swimmer, but I can give it a go? But you'd probably be best, you know what key it is. They all look pretty similar to me." He said with a disappointing look on his face. "Can tie a rope around you and pull you out if it gets too much? Probably not what she wanted to hear, but not much he could do.

However if the pool isn't that deep then she could use my crowbaw to try dragging it toward her. Heres hoping is like a normal fountain and it's shallow, haha.

The pool is 40' deep. (Oops - what is the range for detect magic?)

Ember makes a very eloquent face at the thought of going IN the WATER. Gross. It's so... wet and stuff.

"I nominate my brother," she says cheerfully. "Though I guess Belondia could manage as well. We might need something to weight you down with, it's deep."

Det Magic has 60' range. :)

"Maybe it's easiest if I go. I won't be able to guide anyone to find the key after they're down there. But I also doubt I can keep my concentration and swim at the same time. I also don't know if I would be able to recast the spell underwater. If I keep my armor on and let it take me to the bottom, do we have enough rope to connect me to the surface? I can tug on the rope when I have the key, and you can pull me up."

We have more than enough rope. Sorry to send you down there. Just sink as fast as you can, grab the key and we'll pull you back up with haste." Belondia swings his pack off his back and takes out his last rope. Tie two together so we definitely have the room go get down there? I doubt it's right at an edge so she'll have to move toward it."

Skip to the checks and finding the key? Saves the back and forth now we know where it is?

Sounds like a plan. As far as I can tell being underwater doesn't matter for maintaining the spell. Correct me if I'm wrong. Anything other than perception relevant?

Vigny ties off and recasts Detect Magic. She concentrates 3 rounds to hone in on the key and then jumps in.

Can I take 10 on the perception roll? Looks like a character can hold their breath for 2 rounds per point of CON, so can I take 20?

Cinder gives a sideway glance at his sister. He shrugs as he starts the process of removing armor, only to stop once Vigny volunteers. She's right, I would have to grab them all without any guidance.

"One tug when you have it. Two tugs for trouble. Three tugs should you need me there in a hurry." the male ifrit offers.

Your plan is a sound one, and other than being prepared for the pressure associated with diving 40' in the dark!

But you manage to not panic, grab the key (along with a few others) and are pulled to safety. You are wet and a little shaky, but otherwise fine.

Once out Belondia returns to his pack, taking out the blanket from his bed roll and then throws it around Vigny's shoulders. "Well done, lass. If you got the right one that is? Not doubting you of course, just checking. Oh and by the way, I think we should go down that door. He says pointing to the door in south we corner of the room.

I put my marker at the door I mean

Belondia checks the door for sounds, and it is unlocked.

This long corridor is flanked by a row of human statues, set into alcoves on each side. The statues look like Kassen, and each one holds a longsword out in front of it. The blades of roughly half the statues are wrapped in leather padding.

Checking every square for traps to the best of my ability.

"Nicely done," Ember says with a light punch to Vigny's shoulder. "Better you than me. Can't stand the water."

Squinting down the now-revealed hallway, Ember looks bemused. "Looks like half of 'em are set up just to bruise? That's considerate. Maybe that's for the villagers who'd normally be doing this? And let's just say I'm not gonna be at all surprised if they come to life and swing at us, for I don't see why the blades would be padded at all, otherwise."

Ember cracks her knuckles and looks around the hall as well, wondering if there's any means by which the statues might be controlled.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

Belondia nods in agreement with Ember and he expectations of the tunnel. "Aye, there's always a reason behind something g like this. Even if they're only here to bludgeon and they do swing. It would still kill the kids if they came out this way. If that happens then this place is just mad."

He clears his throat, hoping not to anger any peaceful spirits that may call this place home.

Once Vigny has caught up on her breathing and gotten reasonably warm and dry again, she joins the others looking at the doors. The corridor with the statues doesn't look promising.

"I'll say it again. I know this is a fairly isolated place, but this coming of age event is more than a little crazy."

Cinder nods along with the voiced concerns of the statue room's purpose.

"If they move of their own accord or some town-made mechanism, I doubt the villagers would appreciate us wrecking their future holidays by destroying them."

"Not sure I care," Ember countered her brother's words cheerfully. "Pretty sure that this thing went off its 'training exercise' thing when the undead started attacking us. Either something's gone horribly wrong with their cute ritual, ooorrr they sent us into a deathtrap. I don't mind breaking it either way."

Well, I wasn't sure, but I think you did it correct rolling for each square. You do get a +2 for stonecutting, but unfortunately, the trap was located on your lowest roll...

There is a pressure plate located between the third pair of statues. Stepping on this plate causes all of the statues to suddenly swing their swords downward, making attacks against anyone caught between them (in this case, Ember and Belondia).

Trap, Belondia: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11

Trap, Ember: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23
Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Also, now that the trap has been triggered, the swords remain in place, creating a barrier that is difficult to navigate, as creatures must climb over the angled swords. Treat the squares between the northernmost four statues as difficult terrain. Anyone attempting to climb between the southern four statues must make a DC 10 Acrobatics or Escape Artist check to avoid taking 1d4 points of damage from the blades.

Belondia drips his shield over the swords of the last staue and tries his best to hop over the blades and avoid injury.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 6 - 5 ⇒ (14) + 6 - 5 = 15

Once over the blades he picks his shield back up and positions himself to aid his allies over. If they allow him to aid in lifting then as they jump.

Like put my arms under your shoulders and lift as you jump to aid another over the blades?

"Ugh, this is SUCH an irritating place!"

Thoroughly tired of the constant minor injuries the journey has piled on the group, she removes her armor in order to best try avoiding being cut on the blades she now has to cross.
She happily accepts Belondia's help in getting across.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 1 + 2 = 11

Once on the other side, she joins Belondia in helping the others across before beginning the process of redonning her armor.

Acrobatics, ACP: 1d20 + 5 - 2 ⇒ (7) + 5 - 2 = 10

Ember tenses as the blades bash into his sister. When he sees her shrug off most of it's impact, he relaxes slightly.

"That's done, I suppose." he notes aloud, as the mechanisms don't reset. He takes a running start and hops along the statues' wrists, clearing them to the other side.

Sorry for my slowness!

Grimacing at her fresh injury, Ember decides it's not that bad and proceeds to twist and turn her way through the statues.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 3 - 1 ⇒ (11) + 3 - 1 = 13

One half of this lofty chamber has a lowered floor, with stairs on either side to reach the bottom. Standing opposite the door is a tall wooden statue of Kassen grasping a gigantic wooden shield in each hand. One of the shields is inscribed with the word “home,” while the other reads “family.”

This module is written in a way that makes PbP a bit difficult, so we are going to try this. From now on, describe your actions in terms of rounds. You can "plan ahead" and post multiple rounds at once, and you can ready actions as well, but I think it might help keeping track of where everyone is at any given time. For example, if I were Ember I would see that on the map she has not yet entered the room. If she wanted to go and explore the statue, with her speed of 30, she might say "Round 1 I move in and to the left (east) to the top of the stairs. If nothing happens, I continue to move 30 feet down the stairs and to the statue. (double move)", or she could say "I step in 5' and load my crossbow, ready to shoot anything that moves." Once I have everyone's actions, I will describe what happens for as many rounds as I can.

Ember lets out a whistle at the giant statue, and takes a few steps into the room, looking around. "Vigny, is that thing magic?" she asks.

Round 1: move into room (moved token on map) and make an active perception check

Per: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

Round 2: If seeing no trouble, move down stairs (S, S, S, E) to statue's base and do another per check

Per 2: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

Eyes like an eagle, here!

Perfect description - let's see what everyone else wants to do...

Cinder follows his sister into the room and turns off look down the center of the room to the lower floor.

Round 1: move to ledge and peer down
Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

"What is the purpose of these single word inscriptions?"

Round 2: If it looks safe, move to the lower floor with Ember.

Apologies for the delay in posting, had a few really busy days this week.

With having to re-don her armor after crossing the blades, Vigny is slower to get going than the others. When she arrives at the room, she walks around on the upper ledge while looking about.

Round 1: Perception check, especially the stuff in the upper right corner, if that's supposed to be stuff and not just the map.

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18

When Ember brings up the statue, Vigny walks over beside her and casts Detect Magic "Let's see what I can see..."

Round 2: Use detect magic to sweep the room, then concentrate on the statue.

Belondia?

Sorry, I should not have waited this long for Belondia's response. We will bot him until he reappears.

Belondia follows Vigny, and takes a look up the stairs (which lead to a hallway).

As Vigny prepares to cast detect magic, Ember and Cinder walk onto the lower floow from the stairs. As they do so, the statue coems to life! And the steps rotate forming 2 slides. Luckily, no one was on them to fall.

Round 3: (Bold may act)
Vigny, Ember, Cinder, Belondia
Statue

As Vigny was preparing to cast, she may continue to do so or change her action (which is technically round 2 action, but given her init, this is tidier.

Don't see the statue 'fig' on the map, please place accordingly.

Cinder watches as the statue starts to move. Unlikely such magic would be used for a test of youths.

He darts forward, sliding on his knees beneath the statue's arms. Ending the slide with a hop, he spins on his feet to face the statue's rear, and uses the momentum to drive an elbow into base of the statue's neck.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7 Would likely provoke unless the we're still at a status of ~the statue hasn't acted yet~
Unarmed Strike: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19
Unarmed Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

Sorry about that... icon is there now, and it is large.

Cinder trips over himself, but the statue is still flat-footed, so Cinder closes the distance anyway. He smacks the statue hard in the back of the head, but it only seems to leave a small dent.

Ember knows nothing about magic, but she sees her brother rushing into position and hurries to follow suit.

"You forgot the extra kidney punch!" she yells to Cinder. (You should get sneak attack since it was FF, bro. :)]

Ember skirts the statue that hasn't yet reacted to their presence and aims a knee of her own at the 'kidneys.'

"...then again it doesn't have any, probably, but there's got to be a stress point to hit here somewhere..."

Attack, flank, trait: 1d20 + 5 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 5 + 2 + 1 = 13
Damage with SA: 2d6 ⇒ (2, 3) = 5

The punch seems solid but doesn't appear to do any damage.

Vigny drops her concentration on Detect Magic.

Well, question answered.

As she moves in beside Ember she draws her longsword and takes a hack at the statue come to life.

Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18

Damage: 1d8 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 3 + 1 = 5

I realized I've been leaving off a +1 for attack from Weapon Focus: Longsword, and a +1 for damage from the trait Weapon Training this whole time!

Ref save: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 1 = 17
Vigny scores a solid hit, hacking out a wedge of statue.

Ref save: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9
Belondia grabs his great axe and slides down the slide, slipping as he goes and falling to the bottom, prone.

Round 4: (Bold may act)
Vigny, Ember, Cinder, Belondia(prone)
Statue

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11

Encouraged by her first strike, Vigny switches to a two-handed grip on her sword and hacks again.

Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Damage: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 4 + 1 = 6

Missing this time, Vigny yells to the others "It's wooden, so do you think it burns well?"

"Dunno," Ember grunts. "If we can just hit it hard that'll probably work too... fighting a statue that's on fire may not be too fun if your skin's not fireproof."

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21

"--hey! There's a keyhole here on the back!" she yells, glancing at it as she readies another strike. "We got that key still?"

Not waiting for a response-- the keyhole will still be there in six more seconds, probably-- she draws her new blade and strikes with it.

Attack, flank, trait, mwk: 1d20 + 5 + 2 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 5 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 22
Damage: 2d6 ⇒ (6, 6) = 12

Unarmed Strike: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 4 + 2 = 8
Unarmed Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6
Sneak Attack: 1d6 ⇒ 1

Interesting. I've been wrong before!

The ifrit tries to drive his boot into the back of the statue's legs.

Let's see if that key works out.

Vigny and Cinder make little progress, but Ember takes a decent sized chunk out of the creature with her blade.

Belondia stands up (move), and comes at the statue(move) with his axe in both hands.

The wooden construct uses both shields to slam into different targets. Cinder narrowly blocks it, but Ember takes a shield right to the face!

Slam vs Ember: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22
Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

Slam vs Cinder: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14

Round 5: (Bold may act)
Ember, Cinder, Belondia, Vigny
Statue (12 dmg)

Unarmed Strike: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 4 + 2 = 13
Unarmed Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7
Sneak Attack Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 2

Cinder spins with the force of the shield slam, spinning in the air and trying to land his foot onto the statue's forearm.

"Who has the key?"

Vigny takes another swing.

"I was figuring more on standing back and watching it burn, not touching it. But, a keyhole sounds way more promising. Who does have the key?"

Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

"....didn't you fish the key out?" Ember wheezes to Vigny with some distraction, after having just caught a brutal shield to the face. She spits blood onto the stone floor.

"Don't think any of us grabbed it off you, so... still, if you ain't got the key, I wouldn't turn down a poke from my wand..."

Ember adopts a defensive posture as she strikes again, trying to avoid another face-bruising smash.

Attack: 1d20 + 5 + 2 + 1 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (1) + 5 + 2 + 1 + 1 - 4 = 6 Welp. Nat 1s, yay

AC = 19 for the round

If you would like to use the key, you will need to first grapple the statue.

As everyone else misses, Belondia takes a swing with his great axe. He connects, taking a good size chunk of wood out, but it still looks strong.

Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22
Damage: 1d12 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16

Shields slamm out again.
Slam Attack vs Belondia: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22
Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Fate: 1d3 ⇒ 1
Slam Attack vs Ember: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15 Miss

Round 6: (Bold may act)
Ember, Cinder, Belondia, Vigny
Statue (28 dmg)

Nadij watches the statue dodge and shrug off his attacks, and jumps on the statue's back, trying to hold it's arms in place with his legs.

Provoking
Grapple: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18
Oooo!

AoO Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24
Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

Cinder takes a nasty shield slam to the face, but manages to push through and grab the construct. It is grappled!

Normally, you would need to defend an escape, and then one more grapple to insert the key. But maybe someone else can help you out?

Round 6: (Bold may act)
Ember, Cinder (8 dmg), Belondia, Vigny
Statue (28 dmg)

With the quick shouted conversation making her realize that she in fact still has the key, Vigny digs it out of her pouch.

I'm not sure how this times out exactly but Vigny will be all about getting that key in the golem. DM feel free to break the following up as it needs to be to fit.

With the key in her hand she drops her longsword, hoping to take advantage of Cinder's clutch on the wooden statue. She steps to the rear and moves in close to stick the key in the opening on the golem's back. Once it's fitted, she tries turning it.

Should I be rolling my own grapple or a separate assist? Either way:

Grapple: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 1 = 14

Ember tries to grab the other arm to let Vigny have access to the keyhole.

The assist is good, so Vigny gets +4 on her grapple attempt to get the key in the hole.

Grapple: 1d20 + 3 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 3 + 4 = 26

I'm gonna bet that's a success :)

Vigny manages to cling to the statue, one arm wrapped around its neck, long enough to insert and turn the key!

The wooden knight drops its shields, and then ceases movement completely.