Curse of the Crimson Throne / Edge of Anarchy (Aardvark DM) (Inactive)
Game Master Troy Malovich

Round 1, 20/20hp, 16 AC, no effects

Copper waits for Pravlox to go by since he is before me in the init order, lol, then heads back the way they came, towards the sounds of combat.

"Go look through the books, he said. We'll see what's behind the door, he said. Sheesh!"

I assume it will take 2 move actions to get to where I can see the others and the bad guy. If I can see them, then...

As Copper gets back to where Rutter and Felgar are fighting the monster, Copper takes the scene in, trying to think of anything he may know about it that could be helpful.
Knowledge Arcana 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15

"Rutter, Felgar, I think that is a Carrion Golem. They are known to carry disease, so be careful!"

Round 2, AC 17, HP -4, diseased (?), stabilized unconscious

Fort save 1 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Stabilization check 1d20 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (17) + 1 - 4 = 14

As the creature hits Rutter a second time in nearly as many seconds, Rutter's subconscious takes over. His years of experience guide his reaction: - always pass out face first so you don't choke on your own vomit. An invaluable lesson from the streets and Shingles of Korvosa that probably saved Rutter's life again, as the nausea overcomes his collapsed, unconscious form.

Will get a post up later today.

Round 1, Pravlox

Pravlox will double move to get to the combat.

Knowledge (arcana) 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10

Rex snakes his neck past the bulk of Felgar to nip at the hideous creature. The bite falls short, however.

Rex bite at Golem 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

The golem itself continues to swing violently at Felgar, rage blinding it to any other course of action. Its clumsy but powerful limbs fail to do anything more than pummel at the dawrf in his armor ineffectively.

Attack 1 on Felgar 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9, Attack 2 on Felgar 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15

MAP

[ooc]Round 2: HP: 24/33, AC: 18, Furious Focus, Power Att, Overhand Chop[/dice]

Felgar continues to lay into the Golem.

Waraxe ATT: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27
Waraxe DAM: 1d10 + 4 + 4 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 4 + 4 + 3 = 12

The creature roars in anger at Felgar's hit, a dry, open slash across its thigh.

Assume Neva is delaying given her condition, Pravlox, Rex, and Copper take your actions and I'll sort them in order.

Neva is delaying, yes. Sorry, I missed that it was my turn or I would have posted this earlier.

Round 2, 20/20hp, 16 AC, Mage Armor

As Rutter falls to the floor, Copper calls out in an annoyed tone, "For the love of the gods. Why does he never listen to me?"

The young man aims his wand of Magic Missile at the creature and fires off a jolt of magical energy. Confused by the innefectiveness of the magic, Copper decides to put the wand away and think of something else.

Seth is aware of what those higher Knowledge: Arcana DC's likely reveal about this thing. Copper, unfortunately, doesn't. :P

Round 2

Rex will strike at the creature once more as Pravlox moves up and watches, unable to do anything more.

bite 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20
damage 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

Pravlox is able to try and identify the disgusting creature, but he is much less familiar with it than Copper appears to be.

Know Arcana 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10

The thing seems slightly more irritated at being bitten by Rex, but maintains its angry focus on trying to hit Felgar. Waving the shoanti limb as he swings with one arm uselessly, before connecting with the second.

Attack 1 on Felgar 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10, Attack 2 on Felgar 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25, damage 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

It's taken 18 damage so far.

Neva instinctively fumbled at her belt for the wand of cure light wounds. Grasping it tightly, she shuffled a few feet closer to the sounds of battle.

"Rutter? I don't hear you!"

"That'd be because he got slapped upside the head real good. He's down on the ground near Felgar. Pravlox, can you help me get Rutter back here to Neva?"

Round 3: HP: 19/33, AC: 18, Furious Focus, Power Att, Overhand Chop

Felgar continues, after becoming infuriate with the golem injuring his person, to lay into the Golem.

Waraxe ATT: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21
Waraxe DAM: 1d10 + 4 + 4 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 4 + 4 + 3 = 21

@Felgar: Nice!

Felgar's powerful strike has a phenomenal, albeit disturbing, effect. He splits the beast at the shoulder, leaving the left arm attached to one side of the torso, and the head and right arm to the other. It is not enough to stop the thing though, and it looks as if it is still ready to try and push the fight.

39 damage taken thus far. Copper, Rex, Pravlox.

Round 3, 20/20hp, 16 AC, Mage Armor

Where is Rutter? Underneath Rex?

Copper moves over towards Rutter and attempts to drag him away from the fighting, all the while trying to stay out of Felgar and Rex's way while they fight.

Sadly, Copper, Rutter is under the Carrion Golem, as he never made it out of the square and then the Golem stepped up to face Felgar.

WIll get a post up later tonight. Week's been hectic trying to get my new computer set up.

Pravlox just continues to watch as Rex tries once more to bite the creature.

attack 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
damage 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Rex, surprised by the fact that it still stands with a rend so great, acts to bite as an afterthought. The creature seems to not notice, it merely swings on in mindless rage, dropping the tattooed arm it held, to swing at Felgar with both limbs yet again. The swings are weak, and the left barely moves due to how tenuous a hold it still has to the torso.

Attack 1 on Felgar 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16, Attack 2 on Felgar 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9

[ooc]Round 4: HP: 19/33, AC: 18, Furious Focus, Power Att, Overhand Chop

Felgar hoping to finish of the Golem, lays into it again.

Waraxe ATT: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23
Waraxe DAM: 1d10 + 4 + 4 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 4 + 4 + 3 = 21

Felgar's next swing lays into the gap left by his last, finishing the split, which is just enough to disperse whatever foul magics had animated it in the first place. The two halves of the creature crumple to lay atop Rutter's prone form, and the threat seems to have been removed. Laying amongst the piles is also the last piece of the requested body. The cavern's denizens, all but the missing necromancer, look to have been cleared out.

As the sounds of combat disappeared, Neva tugged on Copper to lead her where she could help.

Got wand out, I have two channels left, let's gather up the wounded.

Mi'Lady, I could be usin' some a'dat healin'.

Copper steadily but quickly guides Neva over to where Rutter lays, after having Felgar push the remains of the larger creature off of the halfling.

If there are no enemies about, I'll set about for some healing
Channel #1: 2d6 ⇒ (4, 4) = 8
Channel #2: 2d6 ⇒ (6, 3) = 9

Who's still hurt?

Pravlox just watches quietly as Rex scowls at the dissected creature. "So who knows how to deal with an animated hand, as I don't think that returning it in it's current state would go over well?"

Rutter comes to with a start, and after looking around to see the dead... thing, he stands more slowly, and starts wiping the vomit from his face. "Thanks." He collects his kukri. "So, we got all of the Shoanti?"

After Pravlox raises the question of de-animating the hand, Rutter looks to Neva expectantly before realizing his mistake. "We're looking at you, Neva," he describes.

As the healing energy flowed around her, Neva felt a pleasing sense of peace and well-being. As it faded, however, she again became aware of the stench and cloying air of the foul tunnels. Pravlox's question made her shiver slightly as she imagined what the hand must look like. She sighed ruefully at Rutter's comment.

"Uh, I'm not really sure. Perhaps if it is an undead creation, like the skeletons, I can harm it with healing magic. If its more like a golem, I don't know what I can do. I can't really examine it", she added, waving towards her eyes.

She held her wand up. "We could try 'healing' it with this. If it's undead, it won't like that one bit. Maybe we can make it stop...", she paused and shivered again. "...moving."

With a touch of the wand the tenuous hold that the negative energy had over the limb and torso is forced from the remains. It falls still, no longer thrashing about, but still no less disturbing. It looks as if you have all the parts requested, or you will after you gather the legs left in the otyugh's chamber. All that is left to do is finish whatever else you have planned here in the caverns, and then return with the body.

"I'd still like a chance to look over that other room and the bookshelf, if we can manage to go five minutes without getting attacked by something."

You be thinkin' that was our fault? I be thinkin' we just saved yer hide so you can stuff yer nose in those books.

"I suppose we can always search them, but honestly, I suspect it will be a typical necromantic library unless he keeps his personal journals stored amongst his other books."

"So we burn 'em. And destroy all his equipment. I want to hurt him." Rutter leads the way back to the lab, and starts looking for anything that's not already broken.

"I never said it was anyone's fault, thank you very much." Copper says as he begins casting a spell to be able to detect any magical auras that remin in the place.

"Allow me a few seconds in each room to make sure there is nothing magical we might take with us before you toss the rest."

Assuming no objections, Copper will make a thorough sweep of each room as the group goes, using Detect Magic to see if he can locate anything useful.

Hmph! Be at it then.

Neva rolled her eyes at her "boys". She quickly realized that, when you're blind, this just makes you dizzy. However, she couldn't stop a small smile from forming on her lips.

I'm just glad we all still alive.

"I don't care what we do, as long as we get out of here quickly. Felgar, would you please lead me? Copper will have his hands busy with his divinatory work, and Rutter will apparently be playing with fire."

'Course Mi'Lady.

Felgar gently grabs Neva by the elbow and leads her on.

As Felgar leads Neva, and by her side Linus and Alana, out of the catacombs via the way they came in, the others do one last sweep of the place. Copper walks through the rooms with an eye on any magical auras that stand out due to his spell, while Rutter primarily looks for things to destroy and burn, putting as much hurt on Rolth as he can with the man unavailable to take the hurt personally. Beyond smashing all of his tools for both surgery and alchemy, and setting all the books alight, there isn't much damage to be done. Copper finds nothing of value that they haven't already picked up.

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As the group meets back up with the others up top, they see that Linus and Alana have already left, and are informed that the man volunteered to walk the young lady home. The day has been a long one, you started early with a request from Field Marshal Kroft to recover the young lady Trinia Sabor.

After you turned her over to the guard, you were asked to recover the remains of a Shoanti youth, Gaekhen, to return to a Way-Keeper for the Skoan-Quah named Thousand Bones. This all to avoid an elevation of hostilities between the locals and the neighboring Shoanti. As you exit The Gray the sun is in the process of dropping toward the horizon, somewhere closing in on time for supper.

It seems the streets are abuzz with good cheer, oddly enough, and it doesn't take long for word to carry that Trinia's trial has concluded. Queen Ileosa has announced that the assassin will be executed at sunset, and many of Korvosa's nobles, military officers, and anyone of real import has been invited to Castle Korvosa's public courtyard to witness the event.

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Returning to the Citadel with the 'body' you were sent to retrieve, the Field Marshal looks both relieved and concerned. "Well, I knew I could rely on you guys, and you have done so much for me this day, but I fear I have still more to ask of you. I shall not be remiss, here is your payment for the services you performed, and I will see that Thousand Bones gets the remains, and the smell of them goes with them." She hands over the thousand gold offered at this job's request.

"Now, as you've doubtless heard, it was concluded that the young lady was found guilty. Sadly, I can not say for certain the veracity of these claims. The trial was removed from my purview by the Queen's personal guard, Sabina. She had come to collect the girl almost as soon as we had her in custody. Now they have declared her guilty, and she will be visiting the headsman at sunset. Something about this whole affair just doesn't sit right by me, and the way things have been going lately in Korvosa, I'm worried that the execution might trigger another riot. I would appreciate it if you all would be willing to be there, and just keep an eye on the situation? It's not really a mission, or a job I can offer to pay you for, but I would be grateful. You will have time to get cleaned up, and grab a bite before it takes place, about a good three to four hours."

Personally, I be needin' my share of the payment, strong ale and sleep fer a few hours.

"Yeah, and we need to see about taking care of Neva's blindness. Caused by magic, so maybe cured by magic?" Rutter looks to Copper and Neva for confirmation, his only cue to his theory was that Neva didn't seem too distraught by being struck blind.

Thinking about the painter, though, Rutter asked, "So y'all never found out if she was guilty, huh? I'll guess we'll find out at the execution... if she's executed, she was guilty."

"I guess we can make sure the axe is sharp enough. I heard it's pretty gruesome if they don't use a sharp-enough blade. Other than that, not sure what else we can do. Where they keepin' her before the execution? No reason, just Copper might wanna say goodbye. They were pretty sweet on each other."He looks over at Copper with a big grin, "Hey, maybe they allow conjugal visits?"

Neva suppressed a snort when the Field Marshall asks her to "keep an eye" on the execution. I won't be very useful for that.

At Rutter's comment, she nodded. "Divine magic is capable of such healing, but I am not capable of such magic. Field Marshal, is there anyone who can help a poor, blind midwife?"

After the response, Neva sighed at Rutter's musings on guilt and axes. This "justice" is bad, even for Korvosa, but this is the way kings and queens, and its beyond me. The saddest part is the effect it has on Korvosa's children.

With this last thought, she shuffled over and placed a kind, comforting hand on Rutter's head.

Pravlox is just happy to be out of that fetid dungeon; even growing up on the streets, it still was one of the more annoying experiences he had ever had the pleasure of having. At the mention of the execution, he suppresses a groan. Something about the circumstances felt a bit off, and he doubted the execution would fix anything, even if it did somehow manage to go off without a hitch. Still, he was well used to long days, and it was bound to be interesting, so he didn't see much problem with it, though Rex would definitely not be present.

Cressida looks generally concerned at the mention of Neva's blindness, "Unfortunately, most of ours trained in the healing arts are rather novice in their practice. Mostly the tending of small wounds here and there. You would probably be best served by one of your order."

As Rutter mentions the execution, she looks at him as if he may just not be getting it. "We had no opportunity to test her guilt, as Sabina took the prisoner with her to have the queen's own determine her guilt."

"The reason an execution is being held, is because THEY declared her guilty, and she will be beheaded this evening at sunset. If, like Felgar here, you would prefer to just collect your payment and call it a day, then you are well within your right. I'll just send someone else to observe the ceremony. Grau sure seems to have been trying to return to good graces after his little episode." At this last she seems to go back to her paperwork.

She handed the payment over already in the last post.

"I see no reason not to attend the execution. Right or wrong, it is bound to attract a fair bit of attention, and events may give end up giving clues as to what is really happening."

If I be needed to tag along, the so be it, but I'll still be wantin' some ale.

So, who's going to the execution? Also, what, if anything, are you doing either before or instead of going?

Neva will search for a member of the Church of Pharasma who might be able to help her see again (perhaps back in the Grey?).

After that, she's willing to go to the execution. She is upset by the apparent injustice for Trinia, but is a bit jaded about how the law works for the poor. Also, Neva's not sure how she might stop the queen's forces from executing a prisoner, especially if she's still blind and exhausted. But if Kroft thinks it's important, Neva's willing to go.