In the Shadows There Is Light
Game Master James Martin

Fleur is at range, not directly next to her... do I still need a save?

If you're not closer than 10 feet, than you're good. As for the concentration check, you can cast defensively to avoid taking AoO. The DC is 15 plus twice the level of the spell.

I would be more than 10' away. No reason for me to close to hand-to-hand when I can summon at range.

Only the summoned hound falls, although Kers feels a wave of sudden sleepiness pass over him!

Next round?

I have already taken my round #2 action

[Fleur, still unable to get a flank on the old woman, throws another dart at her]

1d20 + 3 - 4 ⇒ (18) + 3 - 4 = 17 dmg if hits 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Round 2:
Old woman 19
Fleur 18
Xochtli 17
Israfel 15
Kers 14

Fleur's dart hits the old woman, sticking in the fat of her arm and tearing the flesh as it falls out. The old woman shrieks in anger and curses you all!

Khabli falls asleep, snoring loudly on the floor as Israfel conjures an acid orb, but misses the old woman. From the floor, Kers swings his axe awkwardly, but catches the old woman in the thigh, cutting deeply into her. She crumples to the floor, crying out in pain and cursing the lot of you. As she falls, you here her say, "My children. Kill them, my children..."

Init: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

Round 3:
Fleur 18
Xochtli 17
Israfel 15
Kers 14
Dolls 11

How many dolls are there?

There are three sitting at the table.

Ah

Round 2
Xochtli would have dropped the kettle and pulled a dagger out to attack the woman on her turn.

attack:1d20 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 1 = 13

damage:1d4 - 1 ⇒ (4) - 1 = 3
sneak attack:1d6 ⇒ 4

Round 3
Since the woman obviously is less threat prone Xochtli is going to hold back and see what the dolls do, if they advance then she will attack.

when/if it comes up
attack:1d20 - 1 ⇒ (8) - 1 = 7

damage:1d4 - 1 ⇒ (4) - 1 = 3

Fleur moves forward,draws her sword and attacks the prone woman, hoping to perhaps silence her before the dolls animate and attack? If she is unconscious by the time FLeur's attack hits, consider this a CDG attempt

1d20 + 1 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 1 + 4 = 14 dmg if that hits 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

As the dolls come to life, Israfel refocuses her attention and hurls another globe of the viscous fluid.

Acid Splash: 1d20 ⇒ 13 Touch
Damage: 1d3 ⇒ 1

Fleur steps forward and cuts the head from the old woman with a swift chop. At the table, the dolls shudder, but seem to be convulsing, almost as if they are at war with themselves. One of them raises it hands to you.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

Kers sees the dolls moving and this mixed with the earlier idea that these might be villagers causes him to consider carefully.

"I will have no part in a butchery of these villagers, if that is what they are." he says to the others. My father taught me that the evil of a witch died with her. Let us hope it is so.

To the dolls he says with menace, Do not move dolls!

sense motive 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

"They don't seem to want to attack us... maybe the true evil did die with the witch, as you say..." As with Kers, Fleur takes no action against the dolls, though she does stand ready in case they DO attack.

"Do you think they might turn back into villagers now that she's dead?" She asks Kers.

At Ker's command, the dolls cease to move and go still. You notice the one who raised its arms has a sewn mouth, that is stitched shut. It seems to strain at these stitches, as if trying to speak.

However long you wait, the dolls do not change and the villagers do not return. The old woman is dead, though and her corpse lies at your feet.

Xochtli steps forward with her dagger and if allowed, carefully cuts the stitches open on the dolls mouth.

The doll holds very still as Xocktli cuts the stitches. As soon as she is done, the doll speaks, in a very high pitched female voice.

"Thank you. Thank you for killing the witch. Thank you for freeing my voice. Please, destroy us. You must smash the gems inside each of us. It holds our soul." The two other dolls, made without mouths, nod vigorously.

Kers horror is not even slightly hidden. Let us restore you instead! How is that done? he asks almost pleadingly.

The doll seems resigned to its fate. "She has destroyed our bodies and imprisoned our souls. There is nothing to restore."

Kers wrinkles his nose. I will have no part in this! he says and he walks away, wondering if Allain is still there and why he did not help in the fight against the hag.

Allain waits outside the town walls. He watches the trees, and the dolls on the wall. Seeing Ker's look, he shrugs, "This is a cursed place. I will not enter its walls."

Xochtli pauses, "...then destroying them is an act of mercy so your souls can continue on... as much as I dislike it. It must be done... Israfel... Fleur?" She turns to the other to woman. " There are a lot of dolls here... it seems to be up to us ladies to manage this."

"As you say, an act of mercy." And at that, she cuts into the chest of the first doll to retrieve gem, hoping it is where a heart might be. If it's not there, she'll search til she finds it... then places it carefully on the ground and stomps on it with her boot heel, hoping to deliver the doll's soul from its bondage.

"It may be a mercy, but it is not pleasant to think this was once a thriving town of probably mostly good-hearted folk."

Tearing into the doll's chest reveals a blood red piece of glass, which is easily crushed beneath the heel. With each smashed gem, a faint sigh can be heard.

Looking around the room, it seems that this was the only house with living dolls. You find a small workbench with sewing equipment and a straw basket full of red glass gems.

Fleur begins to crush the rest of the red glass pieces so they cannot be used in such a fashion again by some other witch.

With a sigh, she finishes the task. Then points to the dolls on the walls. "Do you think they also have gems? We should crush those as well, if they do.

"I think there would be magic from them if they were, we should have Israfel check... otherwise I think we're done here." She walks towards the door, "I am sure the men are waiting."

"Right, Israfel can check them." She sighs, shrugs and follows Xochtli out the door. "Funny how men have no stomach for some things..."

Struck mute my the sheer horror of the witch's magic, Israfel silently marches up the stairs to the top of the wall where she carefully examines each doll for any signs of magic.

Detect Magic

Israfel calls upon her innate magic to examine each doll in the village, but none glow with magic. It would seem that the old woman was stopped before she could convert more of the villagers into constructs. How she changed them into dolls to begin with is a question you cannot answer. Perhaps the old woman's body will shed light upon that question.

"Israfel, you might want to look at the body of the old woman while you still have your spell active - see if she carries anything magical."

With the threat of perhaps being attacked by more dolls mitigated, Fleur goes back into the room with the old woman's body and searches her thoroughly for anything that Israfel's detect magic spell doesn't turn up.

The body of the old woman has shrunken slightly in death, her features becoming more hag-like. A search of her reveals a long thin-bladed blood-stained dagger, two bracers she wore strapped to her ankles, a small leather bound book that gives you a shudder when you touch it and a small idol of Izrador. In addition she carried a pack filled with dried meat of an indeterminate origin, needles and thread, a pouch full of 17 gold and a pouch full of small pockets, all filled with herbs.

Israfel's detection reveals that the dagger, bracers and book all glow with magic.

Still struck silent by the scope of the hags vile acts, Israfel quickly examines it, the dagger and the bracers. Hopefully some scense can be made of the horrible crime that has been committed here.

"The book feels 'wrong'. Maybe we should burn it?" Fleur looks at Israfel with one brow lofted questioningly.

Israfel frowns Your probably right about the book, it reeks of Necromancy. As for the other items, both are enchanted. The dagger will allow you to use your speed and reflexes more effectively in a fight. The bracers will protect the wearer is if wearing armor.

Fleur, you and Xochtii should probably take a look at them.

As for the book. we can either burn is or take it back to the Druid. I am sure he would be better equipped to handle such an item than we are.

"I wear no armor, so I could really use the bracers, maybe Xochtli would like the dagger? I will defer to your judgment about the book as to what is best to do with it. My preference would be just to burn it, but if you think it best to let the druid dispose of it, then so be it."

Fleur takes the rest of the items that are of generic use - the coins and the pouch of herbs, the needles and thread. "These of course might come in handy, but I wouldn't touch the meat. I have a bad feeling about it. I don't want to know what kind of meat it truly is."

"Whatever we choose to do with the book, I suggest we do it and get out of this town. It's still creepy, even though the old woman is dead."

"I could certainly make good use of the dagger, the symbol on the book concerns me... I wonder if this was some sort of experiment but I think everyone should be present before we glance the book over at all. We should see if it has information and if not just burn it." Xochtli replies softly.

They are yours then. says Israfel as she hands the dagger to Xochtii and the bracers to Fleur. I will carry the book in my bag until we can return it to the druid.

Fleur slips the bracers on her arms and straps them on. "These will do nicely I think, thank you." She gives a slight shudder as Israfel handles the book, but says nothing more about it, since the plan for it is sound enough.

"Shall we go then? Or should we do something with the remaining dolls. It feels wrong to leave them just up on the walls, kind of like leaving the dead unburied, since they are all that is left of this village. Or should we leave them to 'guard' their old homes?"

"The dolls are empty puppets there is nothing we can do with them since we already took care of the gems, I might suggest we sent word to the last town next time we are in a city that they might send someone with more time then us to handle things there though." Xochtli explains after slipping the dagger into an empty dagger sheath, regretting not retrieving the one she threw days before but at least it is replaced now.

The elf and Kers meet the women on the far side of the village after skirting well away from the button eyes of the dolls on the wall. The day is getting on so all begin walking down the road. Several times they take shelter in the undergrowth as they think they hear a rider, but it turns out to be false alarms.

Two days and nights of walking and camping find you cresting a hill in the midafternoon of the third day, overlooking a small thriving river town. Barges are tied to docks and halflings sing work songs as they sling cargo on and off the barges.

A low wall and gate stand at the road. The guards likely haven't been able to see you yet. What would you like to do?

Xochtli peers down at the docks and halflings, "Well here we are... let's see what we can do here." She adjusts her hood and begins walking forward.

"Ah, the halfling town. Good to arrive at last. As you say, let's see what arrangements we can make here. Fleur sets off at Xochtli's side.

Israfel draws her hood close about her, uneasy about a walking into such a busy town on the edge of the shadows domain.

We should walk carefully. If the shadow has eyes anywhere, it will be in a busy town such as this.

Kers follows, his eyes scanning left and right and behind for danger.

Allain pulls his hood up after tying a bandana around his ears. He immediately changes his bearing, going from regal to slouching. Together you all walk toward the gates. As you get closer, a plump halfling walks out from the gate and leans against it. He looks at you with an amused smile.

"So, what brings a band of long-legs to our fair town on this fine day? Looking for a bit of sport? I should warn you, start trouble and we'll finish it." He gestures over his shoulder and suddenly six halflings armed with loaded slings pop up from the wall, ready to unleash a barrage of hurt on any enemies. The plump halfling smiles, which is not a reassuring look on him. "So?"

Xochtli offers the halfing a friendly smile, "We've no intention of the sort... we're... looking for an adventurous ride on one of your barges actually."

Kers says nothing, but looks left and right and behind for trouble.