PFS: The Godsmouth Heresy (Inactive)

Game Master R D

The doors have the same arcane lock. But we already know that Cornelia can open them when she takes 20. Whenever she opens the door, you recognize the entry room.

Cornelia blushes in embarrassment at Olga's words. "Oh, yes of course. Silly me."

Once they have determined they have come back around to the doors they had avoided earlier, the young acolyte nods her agreement with the paladin. "Agreed, sir. Let us continue on. I am eager to explore the rest of this intriguing place. All the riddles are most exciting!"

Sounds good...let's hit the big circular room and head east, then.

I am sooo lost! Sir Dydimus whines as he follows the party. We really should be making a map of this place or something.

The map so far.

"Indeed, Sir Dydimus. These catacombs are vast. I have been trying to keep track of all this, but like you, sometimes lose track of where we are."

He strokes his thick beard with a gauntlet. "Though I would like to try the eastern door. That is the side that is locked beyond our ability to open it...perhaps there is a clue in that."

He begins moving toward the eastern door of the circular chamber.

I am making a map. I thought it would help with the "reporting" part. Olga replies.

"Good thinking, Olga. I had not thought to keep a map!" She smiles at the half-orc. She begins back-tracking into the massive cathedral. "Let us examine that east door! There were also those stairs we have not checked when we came into the cathedral." She proceeds over to the east door and examines it!

Through the door at the east side of the cathedral.

The ceiling opens up between two staircases in this wide corridor, creating a shaft above the hallway. Ten feet up, the shaft appears to connect to another passage above running north-south. A grisly heap of decaying body parts lies at the bottom of the shaft. The air is rank with the smell of rot, corruption, and pungent chemicals.

Cornelia recoils from the overpowering reek coming from pile of body parts. "Oh my! What... what is going on here?!"

Ethendril's nose wrinkles in disgust as he looks at the heap.

"Is someone throwing this down the shaft? If so, to what purpose?" he wonders.

He pokes through the pile with his blade to see if there are any additional clues.

perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

There are body parts down there. When Cornelia and Ethendril approach:

A hand crawls out of the pit and grabs at the Oracle! They have a climb speed. It crawls right up to her neck!

Claw: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14, Damage: 1d1 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Cornelia takes 2 HP of damage, and the hand begins to tighten around her throat.

CMB: 1d20 ⇒ 5

Fortunately, she avoids its choking grasp at the last second. Cornelia, you are up. (Actually, the whole party is up!) The diminutive creature (the hand) is in Cornelia's square.

(This is the scene.)

Crawl back to the Abyss you wretched demon!
Sir Dydimus slashes at the severed hand.
Rapier w/ Arcane Strike
Attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13
Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Not sure if there's a chance to move into a flanking position...if so, I'll move to flank.

"What evil is this?!" Ethendril exclaims as the severed hands move to attack. Nevertheless, he quickly springs to action, swinging his greatsword in a wide arc.

Greatsword Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14 for damage: 2d6 + 6 ⇒ (5, 5) + 6 = 16

Cornelia's terrified scream is cut short as the dismembered hand begins to squeeze her throat tight; however, just as her face begins to turn red she is able to pry the fingers off. She then springs her dagger into her hand and stabs at the horrible thing!

Attack: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Sir Dydimus attacks heroically and just misses his target.

Ethendril swings mightily and the power of good obliterates his enemy.

Cornelia pokes at the hand with her dagger. But she's so skeeved out by the nasty, clammy thing that she misses.

Serwe warns the party that these are Crawling Hands. Once they mark you as a target they will never, ever give up. The party will have to destroy them or they will never stop coming after you. They are fast, and they can climb anything.

Crawling Hand Green: 20 -- DEAD (again)
Cornelia: 17
Sir Dydimus: 16
Ethendril: 16
Olga: 14
Serwe: 11
Crawling Hand Blue: 6
Crawling Hand Red: 2

Olga is up!, This is round 1.

Sorry for the delay.

Olga will use Creeping Vines on her GreatAxe: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14 for 1d12 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12 damage, plus entangle, versus the
Red => 1, Blue => 2 ===> 1d2 ⇒ 1 hand.

Creeping Vines (DC 13) (Su) As a swift action on melee hit, foe is held in place and entangled (Ref neg).

I'm going to pre-post since I may not be all that available tomorrow...

Ethendril continues his holy assault at the nearest severed hand.

Greatsword Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21 for damage: 2d6 + 6 ⇒ (6, 3) + 6 = 15

Between Olga and Ethendril, both remaining hands are dispatched. (They could not have killed anyone in only 1 round.)

Ahead the hallway goes splits to the north and south. Where to?

Cornelia winces against the pain in her throat as she swallows following the completion of battle. She rubs her throat as she looks at her comrades. "Thank you all. I do believe you saved my life."

"I'm glad you are okay. Those things were scary." Ethendril says.
"I think we should try south and see what was behind that door we couldn't open," the paladin adds.

That was so cool! I wish I could have kept one as a pet! Imagine how 'handy' that would be! Sir Dydimus says laughing at his own joke.

The party takes a moment to heal before proceeding.
____________________________________________________________

The party heads down the long southern hallway. It is completely dark here. About 85 feet down the hall two alcoves flank either side of the corridor. (Unless you have something special that I didn't recognize in your character stats, party members won't see this until it's too late--even those with darkvision.) As the party approaches 4 skeletal archers step out and attack! (Party members will perceive this as arrows coming out of the darkness. Only Serwe and Olga could possibly see the skeletons--except that Ethendril and Dydimus are always in front.)

This is the surprise round. (Sorry folks. There was no way for you to know, but this combat is a lot easier if you come from the other direction where there's a corner and cover. Right now you're in a l-o-o-o-n-g hallway, and you have no idea what's shooting at you.)

Bow (Blue) at Ethendril: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22, Hits: Arrow (Blue): 1d8 ⇒ 3
Bow (Green) at Dydimus: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16, Hits: Arrow (Green): 1d8 ⇒ 7
Bow (Orange) at Cornelia: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6, Miss!
Bow (Red) at Olga: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14, Hits: Arrow (Red): 1d8 ⇒ 8
(Ouch!)
____________________________________________________________

Round 1 starts:

Bow (Blue) at Ethendril: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12, Miss!
Bow (Green) at Dydimus: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4, Miss!
(Whew!)

Cornelia is up! This is round 1. (MAP)

Just an FYI, Cornelia also has Darkvision due to her Revelation. Also, with Magic Stone could Cornelia cast that on sling bullets instead of a pebble? And not to be a pain, but shouldn't the attacks against Olga and Cornerlia suffer a -4 penalty due to soft cover provided by Ethendril and Dydimus?

Cornelia lets out a cry of surprise when she suddenly sees so many arrows fly at them from out of the darkness. She watches in horror as almost all of her comrades take wounds. "Fall back into the cathedral!" She draws out her sling as she backs around the corner into the cathedral.

> Just an FYI, Cornelia also has Darkvision due to her Revelation.

Cool! Thanks for the reminder.

> Also, with Magic Stone could Cornelia cast that on sling bullets instead of a pebble?

No. But I'm happy so say that there are plenty of loose pebbles around the crypt. You could have picked up several; I'm fine with just saying that it happened at some point during your exploration--they're already on your person. :-)

> And not to be a pain, but shouldn't the attacks against Olga and Cornerlia suffer a -4 penalty due to soft cover provided by Ethendril and Dydimus?

No. There's no attack penalty. Rather, the target gets an AC bonus. (I know, I know: not much difference. :-) But it matters when both 1) the player applies a bonus and 2) the GM applies a penalty. I've seen that happen at tables before--thus giving the player an effective +8 instead of +4.) That said, I posted that Cornelia was missed. So no difference to her. I did forget to apply the +4 to Olga. So, she's not actually hurt, yet. Thanks for pointing that out. :-D

Reviewing the goings on above, I realize that I gave Dydimus and Ethendril longbow damage instead of shortbow! Whew! What a day for mistakes! Here are your new, ACTUAL damages:

Ethendril: 1d6 ⇒ 1
Dydimus: 1d6 ⇒ 2
____________________________________________________________

Also, now that combat has started:

Red Dog Thing Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11
Blue Dog Thing Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20
Red Dog Thing enters initiative: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22
Blue Dog Thing enters initiative: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

New Sorted Initiatives with damages:
Blue Skeleton: 25
Green Skeleton: 22
Red Dog Thing: 22
Cornelia: 20
Orange Skeleton: 18
Olga: 16
Serwe: 12
Red Skeleton: 11
Blue Dog Thing: 10
Sir Dydimus: 6 (2 HP Damage so far)
Ethendril: 4 (1 HP Damage so far)

The party can hear the approach of more creatures from the hallway to the north.
____________________________________________________________

Orange shoots...

Pick a target: Ethendril = 1, Dydimus = 2, Olga = 3, Cornelia = 4

Target: 1d4 ⇒ 2 , Sir Dydimus it is!

Orange shoots at Sir Dydimus: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21, Arrow: 1d6 ⇒ 5

New Sorted Initiatives with damages:
Blue Skeleton: 25
Green Skeleton: 22
Red Dog Thing: 22
Cornelia: 20
Orange Skeleton: 18
Olga: 16
Serwe: 12
Red Skeleton: 11
Blue Dog Thing: 10
Sir Dydimus: 6 (7 HP Damage so far)
Ethendril: 4 (1 HP Damage so far)

Olga is up! This is round 1. (MAP)

No problem, I know it's an odd ability for a human to have so I figured I'd mention it! Also, sweeeeet, thanks for the pebbles! Annnnnd, you actually make a really good point on the difference between AC bonus and penalty to attack. I got those a little mixed up. Lastly... more enemies?! Oh crap!

Yeah. :-( Your tactic is sound though. If you go back into the cathedral, the bad guys can only attack you from one side, not two.

"Fall back to the cathedral!" Ethendril shouts as he tries to cut his way past any of the dogs approaching from the north.

Greatsword Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23 for damage: 2d6 + 6 ⇒ (1, 2) + 6 = 9

Very busy day today, leaving in 10 minutes. Everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving and I'll post more tonight or tomorrow.

Swift action, cast Sacred Weapon on my bow.
Pull out the bow and shoot at blue. Shortbow: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20 for 1d8 ⇒ 5 damage.

I might have made the pictures off-center, not very good with moving them this weekend.

Olga bravely moves forward. Her arrow strikes true, but it doesn't look like the skeleton took any damage.

Following Enthedril's order, Serwe doubles moves back to the Catherdral.

Blue Skeleton: 25
Green Skeleton: 22
Red Dog Thing: 22
Cornelia: 20
Orange Skeleton: 18
Olga: 16
Serwe: 12
Red Skeleton: 11
Blue Dog Thing: 10 (9 HP Damage so far)
Sir Dydimus: 6 (7 HP Damage so far)
Ethendril: 4 (1 HP Damage so far)

The Red Skeleton moves up and fires: Shortbow: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12, Miss!

The blue dog-thing charges Ethendril. (Cornelia may make an attack of opportunity, if she wishes.)

Bite+Charge: 1d20 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 2 = 5, Miss

As it attacks, the foul smell of corruption assails the Paladin. Whatever it is, this thing is clearly undead. The paladin strikes true (using your rolls from before), but the horror still stands. He notices that it has throbbing pustules all over its body. When he strikes, one erupts, and the liquid foulness splashes on the human: Fortitude: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8 (Uh oh!) Duration: 1d6 ⇒ 5 Ethendril is sickened for five rounds! Fortitude: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24 Thankfully, he avoids any further ill effects from the assault.

Ethendril has a move action remaining, if he wishes to take it. Sir Dydimus is up! This is round 1. (MAP)

I didn't make my actions very clear, sorry. After Cornelia drew her sling she was going to move back into the Cathedral near where Serwe is located. And some reason I did not think to move her on the map. I will move her into proper position in a bit when I can get to my PC. So alas no AoO, actually she wouldn't have one anyway since he is only holding her sling. So next round I'll be doing some Magic Stone action... I think we should all fall back, take out the dogs and let the skelos come to us. That way Cornelia can get a few ranged attacks in without all the massive penalties. Magic Stone hit undead for 2d6+2 :)

Ethendril waits to see if Sir Dydimus dispatches the nasty creature before deciding whether to move. if he kills it, I'll try to move back to cathedral. Regardless, we should all try to move back...

Sorry, Dydimus is not good at dispatching monsters.

Fear not Companions! We shall win the day and all shall here of our glory! Dydimus calls as he rolls forward to flank the dog with Ethendril

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14
Inspire Courage: +1 Attacks and damage

OK. I've moved Cornelia. Dydimus successfully flanks the undead dog-thing. Ethendril is up.

Thanks for moving Cornelia. Rough day yesterday, I'll spare the details. And let's get back here before you guys get skewered with arrows!

Ethendril is unable to overcome the sickness that has overcome him. His eyes water as he tries to battle on.

Greatsword Attack: 1d20 + 5 - 2 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 5 - 2 + 2 + 1 = 10 for damage: 2d6 + 6 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (3, 3) + 6 - 2 + 1 = 11

I'll also take a 5' step toward the cathedral. I think we need to work our way back to the cathedral...everyone try to use your moves to get back, even if it's just 5' at a time. Between these creatures and the archers, we're in a bad situation here.

Ethendril swings with holy indignation at the undead creature, but misses. This finishes round 1.

Blue Skeleton: 25
Green Skeleton: 22
Red Dog Thing: 22
Cornelia: 20
Orange Skeleton: 18
Olga: 16
Serwe: 12
Red Skeleton: 11
Blue Dog Thing: 10 (9 HP Damage so far)
Sir Dydimus: 6 (7 HP Damage so far)
Ethendril: 4 (1 HP Damage so far)

The enemy closes in.

Blue Skeleton: Shortbow: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14, Miss!
Green Skeleton: Shortbow: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3, Miss!
Red Dog-thing: Bite+Charge: 1d20 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 + 2 = 9, Miss!

Cornelia is up! This is round 2. (MAP)

Cornelia quickly removes three stones from her sling-bullet pouch and closes her hands around the stones while calling out to the strange powers which seemed so interested in her life. An eldritch light shines from between the gaps in her fingers and when she opens her hands again, the three stones have changed into perfect spheres, glowing with power! She slips one of the stones into her sling and prepares to attack!

Casting Magic Stone. Movement action to load the magic stone into her sling.

Orange moves and shoots at the nearest target: Shortbow: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21, Arrow: 1d6 ⇒ 1

Olga suffers a whopping 1 HP of damage.

Blue Skeleton: 25
Green Skeleton: 22
Red Dog Thing: 22
Cornelia: 20
Orange Skeleton: 18
Olga: 16
Serwe: 12
Red Skeleton: 11
Blue Dog Thing: 10 (9 HP Damage so far)
Sir Dydimus: 6 (7 HP Damage so far)
Ethendril: 4 (1 HP Damage so far)

Olga is up! This is round 2. (MAP)

Olga moves up and swings her Greataxe: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8 for 1d12 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10 points of damage to blue. I think?

Olga swings mightily at the undead dog-thing (that nobody has tried to identify) and misses!

Serwe moves back and holds the door open for her companions to retreat.
____________________________________________________________

The Red Skeleton fires its bow and its arrow finds its mark! Shortbow: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22, Arrow: 1d6 ⇒ 6 (How you doing, Olga? You've taken multiple arrows at this point!)
____________________________________________________________

The Blue Dog-Thing makes a full attack on Ethendril:
Claw: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4, Miss!
Claw: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20, Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Bite: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8, Miss!

The paladin suffers a grievous wound!
____________________________________________________________

Blue Skeleton: 25
Green Skeleton: 22
Red Dog Thing: 22
Cornelia: 20
Orange Skeleton: 18
Olga: 16 (7 HP damage so far)
Serwe: 12
Red Skeleton: 11
Blue Dog Thing: 10 (9 HP damage so far)
Sir Dydimus: 6 (7 HP damage so far)
Ethendril: 4 (6 HP damage so far)
____________________________________________________________

Dydimus and Ethendril are up! (MAP)

End this thing Ethendril We need to retreat! Dydimus swipes at the back of the dog hoping to distract it so the paladin can land a killing blow.

Free Action to continue Inspire Courage
Aid Attack: 1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 7 + 1 = 22 vs. Blue
OK Ethendril you get a +5 on this attack!
Then 5ft step, draw my wand of CLW, and cover the retreat.

Ethendril, though still sickened by the noxious creature, responds to Dydimus' entreaties, his greatsword slicing deeply into the creature's side. He also moves to retreat, with several wounds bleeding profusely.

"Fall back!" he orders.

Greatsword Attack: 1d20 + 5 - 2 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 - 2 + 5 = 26 for damage: 2d6 + 6 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (3, 6) + 6 - 2 + 1 = 14

I'll move back as far as I can after my attack.

knowledge religion untrained: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (16) - 1 = 15

Ethendril identifies this as a Festroog. It's a type of undead. Whenever you attack it, you risk being infected by its corrupting taint.

The paladin's sword strikes true and the unholy horror is destroyed. Unfortunately, its sickening pustules cover the human in ick. Fort Save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6 (Uh oh... Do you have any re-roll stuff, Ethendril?)

Also, if you move past Red, you'll provoke an attack of opportunity.
____________________________________________________________

The Blue and Green Skeletons drop their bows and attack Olga. They get 2 claw attacks, each.
Claw: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3, Miss!
Claw: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13, Miss!
Claw: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7, Miss!
Claw: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22, Damage: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

And Olga falls unconscious!
____________________________________________________________

The Red festroog attacks Sir Dydimus:
Claw: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9, Miss!
Claw: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4, Miss!
Bite: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11, Miss!

But the wily halfling manages to avoid getting mauled!
____________________________________________________________

Blue Skeleton
Green Skeleton
Red Dog Thing
Cornelia
Orange Skeleton
Olga: (11 HP damage so far)
Serwe
Red Skeleton
Blue Dog Thing: (VANQUISHED!)
Sir Dydimus: (7 HP damage so far)
Ethendril: (6 HP damage so far)
____________________________________________________________

Cornelia is up! (MAP)

I've moved to take a 5' step into a potential flank with Didymus. Also, no re-rolls, unfortunately. :( Also, I'm not totally sure Olga wanted to be all the way up there by herself. She said to 'move up and attack blue,' but I'm guessing she meant the blue dog I just killed, not blue skeleton. If she did mean blue skeleton, I'm not sure why she's running so far ahead by herself. :P

Especially when Cornelia told you guys to fall back two rounds ago.. -_- lol

Sure. That makes sense. I've adjusted her location. Unfortunately, I'm going to say that she's still unconscious.

Going forward though, please make sure to move your "tokens" appropriately on the map, everybody. :-)

Sorry. I've been away and unable to move myself and started a new job where I can't check at work. I am going to to have to rely on other folks for logic checks on me.

Cornelia, you checked in but didn't take your turn...yo are still up! :)