Tark's Council of Thieves: Rebels with a Cause (Inactive)

Game Master Tark the Ork

HP 39/42

Reflex 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14 ooooh!

Aerieth draws her bow and fires at Bloodlesses porcudemon.

I assume my Mage Armor is up. Duration is 4 hours and I think that I cast it as soon as we began exploring.

Attack-bow: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13 vs FF I believe
Damage: 1d8 + 1d6 ⇒ (7) + (2) = 9

Sorry for the short post. Been swamped at work the past few days.

Aerieths and Bloodlesses combined efforts manage to drop the first of the howlers with little trouble.

The southern howler easily shakes off the ill aimed bolt of bingo and the curse of teo as Bejis steps before them with that intense look he gets on his face before things get very bloody. He rages and moves while readying an action to attack if it gets within reach.

The other two howlers approach cuatiously before they rear up and unleash a long grating howl that reverberates through your soul and tries to tear at your very being. The walls themselves vibrate and no doubt now the entire complex is aware of your presence.

Everyone needs to make two DC12 will saves or be cursed and take 1 Wis damage. Bloodless does not need to make saves.

Bejis's saves.

1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15 1
1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6 2
Bloodless has 1 wis damage
GOOD GUYS ARE UP!

MAP!

If these are fear-based saves, Teo gets an additional +2 on each save, which I have not included.

Will save 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10
Will save 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

LOL, I hope these are fear-based saves!

The strange noises tear at Teo, as she attempts to fight them off. She noticed her hex had no effect on the monsters, so she tried a different tact...making it easier for Bloodless to strike the creature. She intoned a magic that Ruprecht had unlocked for her long ago, and reached out to Bloodless, hoping to change his fortune for the better.

Fortune Hex on Bloodless for the next round.

Seeing Bejis charging the Howler without aid, Aerieth move (to -E/61) behind him and fires another arrow at the beast.

Will Save: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17 <-- +2 more if this is an enchantment or charm type effect
Will Save: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13 <-- +2 more if this is an enchantment or charm type effect

Attack: 1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 7 + 1 = 11
Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7 <-- +1 for point blank shot.

Aerieth fights off the frightening sound, but it throws off her aim nonetheless.

R2

Bloodless pushes forward to press the assault (-I66)

Fortune on attack
Attack 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
Attack 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12
Will take the first roll
Damage 2d6 + 10 ⇒ (6, 1) + 10 = 17

Scraps moves in and attacks too... (-J66)
Attack 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13
Trip? 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17
Damage 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Will Save: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6
Will Save: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

Raising his crossbow Bingo quickly cycles the handcrank and reloads the crossbow. Bringing the stock upto his cheek the gnome takes aim at the howler just infront of Bejis and fires.

Attack Roll 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23
Possible Crit Roll 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11
Damage Roll 1d6 ⇒ 2

Failed will save: -1 Wisdom

Bejis grunts as the howls assault his ears and responds with a blood curdling howl of his own as he brings his sword heavily down upon his foe who is already sprouting more arrows in its flesh. Taking his own penance in the form of piercing quills Bejis backs off just enough to keep himself from enduring having to try and remove one of the razor sharp and barbed blades from himself. Bloodless meets similar success and similar pain 2 damage and make a reflex save DC14 to prevent from getting it stuck in you.

Everyone else fires arrows and spells with varying degrees of effect.

The howler's in turn strike back and strike hard. Bloodless's opponent lunging forward and catching the aasimar by surprise as it locks a maw around his forearm and lunges forward driving its quills into his flesh and mangling his arm. 16 damage plus make the reflex save again.

Bejis fares slightly better as the howler pushes in with snapping jaws 5 damage ot bejis. it catches him in the elbow only to recieve a sharp kick to the neck that drives it back before it can give bejis further pain.

Goodguys are up!

MAP

Aerieth nocks and fires another arrow at the howler hoping that they can take it down before the thing gets another bite at Bejis.

Attack-longbow: 1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 7 + 1 = 10
Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Unfortunately the howls are throwing off her aim.

Teo moves up 20' toward Bloodless. "Keep at it, big guy. I'll keep healing you, if you keep pounding away at that thing," she adds as she uses yet another hex from her personal bag of tricks, healing the warrior of some of his damage.

Use Healing hex on Bloodless. CLW 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

Muttering under his breath What have I got in my pocket? Bingo shoves his hand into his pack before withdrawing a Wand of Cure Light Wounds and moves up twenty feet towards Bejis.

R3

HP 30/42

Reflex 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20
Reflex 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21

Bloodless swings again...
Attack 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8
Damage 2d6 + 10 ⇒ (5, 4) + 10 = 19
But the effort of dodging all the quills has clearly preoccupied him.

Scraps also attacks...
Attack 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13
Trip? 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8
Damage 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Thanks for the heal!

Aerieth and Bloodless prove ineffectual as the howlers start getting their straide and pushing forward with quill and fang. Even bejis fails to do more than slice apart the air as the howler he faces ducks away from a decapitating blow. They then lunge.

Bejis gets bitten only barely managing to pull away tearing more flesh but avoiding the quills 10 damage.

Bloodless also manages to avoid the quills. But the cost is dire. The howler bites him savagely across the throat barely missing a vital vein.

Bloodless is crit for 13 damage

Good guys are up!

MAP!

R4

HP 17/42

Ouch, these things is naaaasty!

Bloodles, ironically covered in blood, takes another brutal chop at the creature, taking the fight to the very edge...

Attack 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17
Damage 2d6 + 10 ⇒ (3, 6) + 10 = 19

Scraps also attempts to find a likely spot to sink a fang into...
Attack 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14
Trip? 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10
Damage 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Moving up behind Bejis, Bingo activates the wand of cure light wounds causing the barbarian pit fighter to be flooded with healing energys.

Cure Light Wounds: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

There you are good man! The oracle chipperly pipes up, while nervously shuffling away from the demonic wolf-porcupine.

Teo pulls her wand of healing while moving up to Bloodless. "I'll keep you standing so long as you keep pounding on that nasty thing!"

CLW 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

Need a post from our trickster before we can move on.

Oops, sorry. Did not know you were waiting on me.

Lets take them down. One shot at a time.

Aerieth draws back her bow and fires again.

Attack-longbow: 1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 7 + 1 = 24
Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8

From reading the backlog, it looks like Bejis took 5 HP, followed by 10 HP, then is healed by Bingo for 5 HP and has been raging for 4 rounds.

Bejis makes an affirmative sounding grunt as he feels Bingo's spell ease some of the wounds away, letting it lead into a roar as he swings with all his strength into the Howler.

Assuming his target is still alive, otherwise, he'll do his best to move to reinforce Bloodless.
Greatsword, 2H, PA: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22 for 2d6 + 13 ⇒ (1, 4) + 13 = 18

Status: HP: 49/59; Raging for 4 rounds; Rages/day remaining: 9/13

My maptool and related files are all on my other computer so I am looking to get all that transferred today. will update tonight.

Bloodless takes an additional four damage from the spines (reflex save again to avoid getting impaled) but the pain is worth it as he manages to hack the creatures head cleanly off the stump spewing a thick stream of black blood before collapsing at your feet.

The last of the hwolers falls before the combined might of blade and arrow BEjis again taking immediate retribution from the creature as its spines seek flesh and blood )reflex save for you too).

After saves bad guys are down and combat is over!

"Very impressive, Bloodless. You are a brute! You don't look very well, however," the witch notes, keeping her healing wand in her hand.

Go ahead and roll the charges until you are at full strength, Bloodless, then let me know how many charges to mark off the wand.

Bloodless is more like a bloody mess.

Reflex - 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11 - Fail.

"Those things were a bit furious"

CLW hits...
1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
1d8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8
1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8
1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

1 extra for the failed save/impale I suppose...
1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

6 it is!

Oh dear, oh dear! Well this simply won't do! Prattlers the steadfast gnome. Your bleeding all over the place! Gesturing with his wand of cure light wounds the diminutive, bespectacled gnome begins to gesture deftly at Bejis with the wand causing his wounds to mend.

Cast cure light wounds: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
Cast cure light wounds: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Cast cure light wounds: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

As Bingo hears Bloodless mutter about the howlers being furious, the gnome gives a too wide smile. Well of course they are furious! Did you see how ugly they were? I would be furious if I was that ugly too!

I can heal the wis damage caused by the howlers, but to be honest I think we should save my lesser restoration's unless we really need it.

Teo administered the healing required by Bloodless. "Does your side need more healing over there, Bingo? My wand is ready, if necessary..."

No, no I think we are fine for now. Perhaps later, but we are fine for now. Thank you for the concern however my dear. Glancing at each of the party members in turn to make sure that no one is missing a limb or bleeding where they shouldn’t the gnome gives a nod of satisfaction and quite murmur of a prayer to Desna before he takes in the "hall of soft fluffy kittens that mew helplessly as they paw at your knees for milk". Ah! A Library! Oh this is excellent. Who knows what kind of proscribed tales that would otherwise taint ones soul we can find here. Ha Ha ha.... I'm kidding... probably! Still should be interesting. Grumbling about a lack of humor in Cheliax, the former book-binder and press-gnome readjusts his spectacles begins examine his surroundings in greater detail.

Perception 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (15) + 11 = 26
I'll also have detect magic up and running to help locate anything magical that I might otherwise miss

Teo, I have 15 charges left on the wand of cure light wounds and I have 8 potential uses of cure light wounds a day from my Oracle with a 1d8 + 4, as well and 4 potential uses of cure moderate wounds. I'm ok for now, but I'll let you know if I need some help with the heaver lifting.

Reflex: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19

Bejis slumps down, resting his greatsword while catching his breath. "Thanks, Bingo"

After a short while, he stands back up. "Library? Anything look interesting here?" Bejis looks around the room.
Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20

Aerieth also begins to inspect the room to see if there is anything of use, or of value.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29

Knowledge(all): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15 <-- add +1 for arcana/planes/religion

While the others inspect the actual library, Teo checks the strange monsters to see if any of their magical auras remained. Or any nifty items they might have had remained the little halfling thinks with a grin.

For those of you that failed that quill save. HAve fun. :D

Whenever a creature takes damage from a howler’s
quill attack or quill defense, he must make a DC 14 Reflex save
or bits of the quills break off in his flesh, causing the target
to become sickened until the quill fragments are removed.
Removing quill fragments requires a DC 20 Heal check made
as a full-round action—on a failed check, the quills are still
removed but the process causes 1d4+1 points of damage. The
save DC is Dexterity-based.

Teo finds that the howlers are basically what you see, bundles of quils and hate but little else.

Aerieth and Bejis has more luck. The shelves of the library are sparse and the few books on them have a common theme; torture. Torture, it seems, is rendered into an artform by the many volumes that are left here. Torture for magic. Torture for religion. Torture for the extraction of information. Torture for vengeance. And especially torture for entertainment. Most of them are old, and fragile with pages on the verge of falling out even as you pick through them.

The one book that doesn't have a theme on torture appears untouched by the passage of time. It is a red leather bound book with gold embossing titled; Drowned Jabe and His Miserable Brothers and Sisters

Just a brief page through revels some elaborate and colorful illustrations of a nature so sick and twisted as it takes some effort to pull your gaze away from the disturbing images. Though the book itself does not appear to radiate any actual malice or magic.

Aerieth looks at the strange book for a few moments and then turns to Bejis:
Seems like something that your former female companions would have enjoyed.

Ugly!

Bloodless gets to work with a bit of first aid, attempting to remove the spines whilst the others search...

Heal 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

Which he manages to do.

"Interesting books, I wonder what Drovalid would make of them"
Bloodless absentmindedly pockets a treatise on torture for entertainment.

Bloodless absentmindedly pockets a treatise on torture for entertainment.

I figured that between Calla and Asmodia you would have had enough torture.

Hes just trying to understand them better

Are we assuming the rooms are getting searched for traps before we start touching stuff?

Looking at the red leather bound book, "What's special about this book? Does some kind of magic preserve it?"

"If it is protected by magic, the magic is beyond my capability to understand. Although seeing the subject matter, I doubt I want to understand much about those sickos anyway."

"On the contrary, the study of what drives them gives insights to what can be used against them. It gives us a picture of their fears"

Bloodless pays a bit more attention in case of traps
Perception 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (9) + 11 = 20

Then examines the red book.

"So why is this one different? A book on drowning methods?"

Its interesting that despite having been kept in a cool and dry location such as this library, there doesn't seem to be any wear or ageing in this tome, unlike all of the others. Notes Bingomite running his hand along the spine of the volume. It's horrific, but more importantly it doesn't fit with the rest of these lovely tomes.

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (13) + 11 = 24
Profession (printer): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15

Studiously examining the actual paper and bindings Bingo checks Drowned Jabe and His Miserable Brothers and Sisters for any watermarks, or indications of where it was published, while calling upon his experience as a book-binder and publisher to aid him.

Bingomite finds no author and recognizes no printer. Indeed the book is immaculate. Unnervingly so. Even a brief browse through the illustrations to determine the artist proves fruitless. DEspite this Bingo does read a few passages, even if the details of a simultaneous drowning/rape of a would be thief are a bit too much to say out loud in female company, and finds that the author does go on quite a bit about the necrology and ecology of the undead, particularly laced ons and their wretched ilk effectively giving a +2 circumstance bonus on know religion checks in the case of undead. There are numerous gruesome deaths and the perpetrator of all of these are the former Lord MAyor of Westrcown before Aberian. A mad sorcerer who was a closet psychotic. Which is to say where he kept the bodies.

Bingo estimates that such a rare volume could fetch a handsome sum. More so if the author might be identified.

Bejis casts his gaze across the shelves. "Should we burn all these works? There is no good that can come from these. But I don't know if we want to disturb this place any more than we must.

Aerieth listens to Bejis and shakes her head: We do not know where we are or how to get out. I do not think that creating a huge blaze with lots of smoke is a wise idea. When we are done her and know how to return to Westcrown, then I would happily return here to light this place ablaze.

"That makes sense, Aerieth. Without finding what we are looking for, and having a clear way out of this place, I wouldn't disturb anything too much. Clues could be anywhere, even in these awful books."

Clues could be anywhere, even in these awful books."

"Still, this is evil work. If we find the information we need, we should be sure to do something about it."

Bloodless urges everyone to move on after securing his research material and goes to inspect the westernmost door.

"Alrighty, let's keep going. Look alert, Bloodless."

Cast Guidance on Bloodless.

Bejis is assuming everything here is trapped, and waiting for the 'all clear' to be given.

Aerieth moves with Bloodless and examines the door for any traps or other hazardous entities.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29

Starring back with both wonder and hesitation at the books Bingo sighs. Even books as horrible as this shouldn't be left here to rot, but there's nothing to be done about it now. Yes, well right then. Lets move on.

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (10) + 11 = 21

As Aerieth gives the okay the door is opened to reveal a large square shaped spiral stair case leading both up and down from your position. Two open paths up and to the north and down and to the south lead from here. Directly across midway between the two is a shadowy alcove where two solid black mirror surfaces are screwed into the wall.

Bejis points to the mirrors. "That looks ominous. Think they're other portals? Traps?"