The stairs do lead to the next level, but this encounter is still part of the Tower Ruins.
As Frēodwēn begins to inspire the group once again, Xakon strides ahead and attacks one of the flat-footed creatures, but with his defensive fighting posture makes fighting more difficult and he misses.
Jirah then moves into Xakon's old position, and casts a spell. She then directs a beam of positive energy at one of the creatures that leaves a large hole in its chest. Despite its injuries, it's still active. That did crit despite the cover and melee penalties.
Lady Sugarsnap/Truffles, Mudk, Sivantanpisil. The creatures are visible if you have line of sight.
Mudk unfortunately misses with his flame attack, while Sivantanpisil and Sugarsnap wait for a better opportunity to strike. Truffles makes his way down the stairs to protect them both.
Both ghastly goblins focus on Xakon, attempting to slam him with their cold, clammy hands. Neither have much success thanks to the rogue's defensive stance.
GM Screen:
Slam Black:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12 Slam White:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10
Initiative (Round 2)
Lady Sugarsnap/Truffles <= Up
Mudk <= Up
Xakon <= Up
Sivantanpisil <= Up
Frēodwēn <= Up
Jirah [1 dmg] <= Up
2 Goblins?
Although Frēodwēn has trouble hitting one of the creatures with his arrow, he does realize that these goblins are actually zombies. He can inform the group that they move slowly in the combat and that slashing weapons work the best to destroy them.
Mudk fires another bolt of fire at the damaged creature and burns it further, but yet it still remains standing.
Remaining in a defensive stance and rolling to the north to open up some space, Xakon's attempt to skewer the zombie with his rapier fails to hit.
Jirah speaks to her allies.
I have a Burning Hands spell prepared, but I need to stand where you are, Mud, to get them both! Xakon, you'd need to be out of the way as well.
She then draws her bow, and looses an arrow at the goblin she hit with the Disrupt Undead spell.
Attack:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20 Damage:1d8 ⇒ 1
Jirah's arrow hits the goblin zombie, but its rugged dead hide seems to shrug off the projectile with no injury.
Currently unable to see any targets from their positions on the stairs, Sivantanpisil and Lady Sugarsnap continue to wait. Truffles remains on guard in front of them.
The two zombies continue to mindlessly attack Xakon, but only manage to strike his protective armor and/or the air.
GM Screen:
Slam 1:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4 Slam 2:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11
Initiative (Round 3)
Lady Sugarsnap/Truffles <= Up
Mudk <= Up
Xakon <= Up
Sivantanpisil <= Up
Frēodwēn <= Up
Jirah [1 dmg] <= Up
2 Zombie Goblins
Mudk steps forward and taps Xakon with the protection from evil wand.
"There you go my friends, come closer and smite us with your awesome. Unleash the power of your burning passion on these enemies of ours, our Jirah. Burning in the fires of fire lights the fire of my fire-less hope. I welcome the pain and the agony as preparation for a better place."
If I'm unable to post in time for the next initiative please assume that I'll either heal me/xakon if urgent, or I'll use the wand again on myself.
Moved myself to give Jirah positioning, hopefully its where she wanted.
Jirah shakes her head.
You want me to cast a flaming inferno on your heads? Very well...
She steps forward, then, and holds her hands out in front of her, chanting. Suddenly, a blast of fire erupts, filling the hall and doorway with fire!
Aiming the cone so it hits both zombies, unfortunately, it would also hit Mud and Xakon. Burning Hands, DC 14 Reflex for half damage. Burning Hands Damage:1d4 ⇒ 1
"Thanks for the tip and the protection spell. I feel warm and tingly now!
Xakon attempts to duck Jirahs flames while dropping his rapier and grabbing his dagger. He quickly slices at the most wounded undead leaving his defensive stance.
If you have to make a roll to hit with your spell, then it can crit.
Mudk moves forward and opens himself up to attacks from the zombies. One of the creatures manage to hit him rather severely with its fists. He then uses Xakon's wand to cast Protection from Evil on the Rogue. Mudk takes 5 damage from a slam. You can't use acrobatics in Medium armor, or I'd have given you a roll for it.
Jirah casts another spell and a fan of flames scorches everyone below her, but both zombies remain standing.
Sivantanpisil also casts a spell which launches acid at the damaged zombie, hitting it and destroying it. Although it doesn't matter in this instance, why would the acid damage last more than one round?
Xakon turns his attention to the last zombie with his dagger, slicing into the mindless undead.
Human Cleric/9 - Core | Int +4 | Per +14 | AC 22/20fl/13t | HP 49/66| Fort +10 | Ref +10 | Will +14 | CMB: +10, CMD:23 | Move 50' | Normal Vision
GM Harker wrote:
Although it doesn't matter in this instance, why would the acid damage last more than one round?
I have acid in my backpack and using it as a alchemical reagent for the spell. Looking it up I was wrong. I can use it as a "focus" for +1 damage and/or use it as a "material" component for a 2nd round of damage. However, if you use it as a material compenent, it is expended with the spell. I had forgotten that the extra round was not a focus effect. Since I only have one vial of acid, I only should use it as a focus and not a material component. These rules are in the Adventurer's Armory. Lots of different alchemical components can be used to affect spells. Alchemist's Fire can be used with Burning Hands to set one person on fire as though they had been hit with the alchemist's fire. Some compents, like acid, can be used on many different spells. Acid can affect Acid Arrow, Acid Fog, Acid Splash, Dispel Magic, Grease and Wall of Ice. In most cases, it is a material component and consumed.
Looking at the rules in Adventurer's Armory, it says that the acid flask just provides +1 damage, it does not say anything about prolonging the duration. It is also just a focus, so it does not expend the flask.
Frēodwēn, you can't see the last zombie from your current position, that's probably why you delayed. Would you care to do anything else?
Xakon is probably right, utilizing the rules for acid flasks in the Adventurer's Armory would be using equipment outside of the Core rules.
Frustrated perhaps by the spiral bottleneck, Frēodwēn and Lady Sugarsnap both opt to delay acting this time, although the bard continues to inspire the party.
The goblin zombie groans and thrusts his arms out at Xakon, but lacks the accuracy to hit the well armored Rogue.
GM Screen:
X 1 M 2:1d2 ⇒ 1 Slam:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16
Initiative (Round 4)
Lady Sugarsnap/Truffles <= Up
Mudk [6 dmg] <= Up
Xakon [1 dmg] <= Up
Sivantanpisil <= Up
Frēodwēn <= Up
Jirah [1 dmg] <= Up
Zombie Goblin
I believe your dice rolls are your character's self-fulfilling prophecy at this point. :-)
Mudk attempts to put Xakon's wand to offensive use, but his hand slips as he tries to touch the zombie with it. Although he does not drop the wand, he does not come close to touching it.
FYI, that doesn't use a charge because you didn't touch with it.
Jirah attempts to make her way to an open area, and attack the zombie with a melee weapon. (And also to let someone else step into her vacated spot.)
Move action through Mud's square, provoking. Then, Acrobatics into the empty square adjacent to the zombie. I would roll two Acrobatics to avoid, but I think that would take too much movement and prevemt me from getting where I want to be. Once there, draw Holy Water from Bandolier. Retrieve stored item action doesn't provoke, I believe.
Jirah, as we've previously discussed, a bandolier is not a legal item under core rules.
Xakon slices into the zombie with his dagger, doing further damage to the undead.
While Frēodwēn continues to inspire the party, Jirah moves in to surround the zombie, opening herself up to attack from the creature. It slams into her with its fists, leaving her with some future heavy bruising. Jirah takes 2 damage from the attack of opportunity. Let me know if you want to change your second action now since you don't have a bandolier. It's pretty unlikely the zombie has Combat Reflexes, based on its slow nature.
Lady Sugarsnap and Truffles continue to guard the party's rear.
Sivantanpisil casts another spell and hurls acid at the zombie, but thanks to the nearby wall shielding the undead, the caustic fluid misses.
The zombie now turns its attention to Mudk and tries to bash him with its fists. The dwarf easily evades its attack.
GM Screen:
1 M 2 X 3 J:1d3 ⇒ 1 Slam:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13
Initiative (Round 5)
Lady Sugarsnap/Truffles <= Up
Mudk [6 dmg] <= Up
Xakon [1 dmg] <= Up
Sivantanpisil <= Up
Frēodwēn <= Up
Jirah [3 dmg] <= Up
Zombie Goblin
With one last swipe of his dagger, Xakon finally finishes off the zombie.
Combat Over
As mindless undead, neither of the goblin zombies carry any valuables. The door they were guarding appears to be the entrance to the next lower level. Since the Pathfinder Society only charged you with exploring the top level, it's probably best to avoid investigating that area for now.
Moving back up the stairs, it would appear the next set of doors moving left or counterclockwise would be where I placed the 'X' on the map. If you'd prefer a different set of doors, let me know. I'll update later when I have more time.
Mudk holds up his holy symbol, calls everyone in close and releases a healing burst.
channel energy:1d6 ⇒ 5
"Aha. See, this world clearly still has problems, because I'm alive. You are alive. And you are alive. And even you. So clearly the world hasn't figured out that the true and just thing would be to kill us and instead we must bumble around like we do until we have saved the world from itself with our worthless efforts. Let us go up and mayhap because of our failure here we can reverse our actions and try something better. This way is more likely to kill us I think. Lets go right and onward to death!"
An arrow on the map to show where I'm voting for going.
Sugar never even really knew what was being fought. She takes a moment to pet Truffles and lets him sniff around the room they are currently in while Mudk moves on to the next room.
Truffles Perception just in case, with scent:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24
All of Mudk's rants confuses Sugar, she doesn't know if she should be alive or dead now. hoping he isn't a prophet.
Since no one objected, we'll go with Mudk's suggestion for the next room.
Truffles appears to Sugarsnap to be somewhat disgusted by the scent of zombie, but doesn't discover anything new in the room with undead.
Moving back to the top the stairs, Mudk leads the group right this time instead of left. Coming to the next unexplored room barred by a door, Frēodwēn casts a small protection spell on everyone before Mudk leads the group in checking for traps.
Although no deadly device is found on the door, behind it can be heard the sound of what appears to be some type of quarrel in the Goblin language. Opening the door, Mudk sees two tables with benches lie scattered around what seems to be a mess hall. Decaying food of an indescribable nature sits on the tables. At the southern end of the chamber, doors exit to the east and the west.
He also notes two goblins pulling aggressively on the ends of the loose hindquarter that came from some hairy animal. The goblins look to the door with confused expressions.
