Foxglove Townhouse
You're all in an, oak-paneled dining room lit with about a dozen candles, arranged around a long table of dark wood enjoying the hearty, thick stew.
Nibbling at stew-soaked bread, Iesha smiles at your confused response. "Aldern ... should I still call you that? Can't you see? They don't understand what they're seeing."
Aldern frowns. "I think we're finished here and I find this form difficult to maintain. They're not telling us everything but we can squeeze out what we need, I'll warrant."
With that, the couple stands and their countenance is swiftly changing, to something hairless and leathery with faces dominated by grotesque and unsettling whorls and slits instead of actual features. At once, they lunge together towards Ned.
Can you guys give me your Init bonuses? I'm a little out of date
Init +2 (+4 in forest) Special: Terrain Bond (Ex) Allies within LOS and hearing gain +2 Initiative, Perception, Stealth, Survival and don't leave tracks within your favored terrain (Forest).
For the purpose of this combat, init is +2
Not the Foxgloves I take it. What exactly are you then?
Straight up +4 for Lleidr.
Init Is in heading bar and roll twice and give me the best Init
A KNO Dungeoneering check would be an appropriate skill for these aberrations.
Init Order:
monsters
Nich
Lleidr
Selia
Ned
Standing suddenly, the seating bench is thrown to the floor. Flailing arms tip bowls and knock crockery off the table, where they smash at your feet. The table top is covered in puddles of dripping food.
The monster you previously identified as Iesha swings at Ned, but misses. The false Aldern smashes a meaty, leathery hand into Ned (5 hp dmg), and grips Ned's arm in its other hand. The grip is vise-like, threatening to snap the bone.
"Say what you know, old man, and your passing will be fast."
Ex-Iesha warns in a strange gurgling voice, "You cannot win here. Our lady will harvest this city, as she did in Sandpoint. You would be fools to fight us."
No change in the map, other than Ned having the grappled condition. So I'm using the same map image as before.
Zilt, can you indicate which of the monsters has grappled Ned?
The southern most one. But the monster doesn't have the grappled condition.
Lleidr doesn't recognize this type of aberration.
For knowlege dungeonering, Neds roll would be a 25
I hope those double doors open out of the dining room...
Lleidr will push open the doors to the south of him to make room to 5' step to southwest and flank the monster grappling with Ned. (Right? He's still in combat, just with some penalties and restrictions?)
Once in place, and with almost as much motivation from the tragedy of the wasted food as from the threat to his elderly companion, Lleidr will draw the FoE, enhance it with Arcane Strike, and strike out at the aberration.
, also grants +2 dodge bonus to AC for one round (AC 20/touch 17/ff n/a)
"I've heard of these things, Faceless stalkers. Crushing weapons don't work well against them, stab or slash them.
Nicholae attacks the one holding Ned.
Power attack for
just need actions from Selia
After Selia acts Ned will designate the stalker as a favorite enemy and attempt to break the grapple
If successful, he'll quickdraw his greatsword
Selia hears Ned's warning, and responds "How do you think it will fare against magic?"
With that, she casts a magic missle at the psuedo-Aldern.
Ned, your action is successful.
I forgot to mention this earlier, but I'm going out of town for Thanksgiving starting tomorrow and I'll be offline till Sunday evening. I'll resolve the next round tomorrow morning and then we'll resume action on Monday, 11/30.
Have a great holiday!
And, I forgot one thing ... the faceless stalker has drained 1 CON (this is CON damage, not drain) during the first round from Ned by virtue of latching onto him; tiny needle-sharp suckers line the monster's hands.
Foxglove Townhouse, Dining Room, Round 1 cont
One stalker jabs an elbow into Nich's arm, throwing off his aim with his sword.
Lleidr ducks into the hallway and then reappears behind the other stalker, sliding his blade deep into what might be the creature's ribs. Its howls boom off the room's rich paneling.
Selia dodges a couple of swipes from the monsters (2 missed AoOs!), and completes a spell, causing a bright arcane bolt of energy to smack into Lleidr's target.
Ned twists himself free, though his own blood runs and drips off his arm where the creature had grabbed him. His greatsword is readied, and you recognize a glint of fear in the thing's eyes.
Round 2 ...
The ex-Iesha delivers a real pounding, smacking Ned hard (18 points dmg). It wraps long leathery fingers around Ned's other arm, and you can feel your endurance dripping away (1 CON dmg).
"Ignore the small one for now. Grab this one with me ... we'll knock them out one by one."
"I don't take orders from you, youngling. And, I know how to fight." The former Aldern turns on Lleidr in fury, but in spinning around, he's off-balance, and his fists flail the empty air.
So .. Ned is grappled once again :(
So, once again, we'll pick it back up on Monday, 11/30. Happy Thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving :)
Lleidr will enhance the FoE with Arcane Strike again and take another jab at the erzat Aldern.
, also grants +2 dodge bonus to AC for 1 round (AC 20, touch 17, ff n/a)
Nicholae again attacks the one attacking Ned hoping to benefit from its grappled state.
Power attack for
Crit?
for
Actually ... if I'm reading the Grab rules correctly, Ned gets the grappled condition but the grabber does not. However, the grabber is taking a -20 penalty to maintain the grapple.
from PFSRD Grab, "The creature has the option to conduct the grapple normally, or simply use the part of its body it used in the grab to hold the opponent. If it chooses to do the latter, it takes a –20 penalty on its CMB check to make and maintain the grapple, but does not gain the grappled condition itself."
So if he chose to take the -20 on CMB to make the attack or maintain the hold, he dosen't gain the grappled condition.
Ah ok, yes, then the monster and Ned are both Grappled. I read the rule wrong and thought the penalty only applied to after the grab attempt was made.
We need actions from Ned and Selia to proceed. Hope you all had a great holiday!
Close quarters prevent Selia from casting many of her spells without letting her guard down, but using a wand will not, so she draws her wand of magic missles, and fires off one at the "youngling".
Ned will try and break free again...
Foxglove Townhouse, Dining Room, Round 2 cont
Nich's sword punches through the creature's tough leathery hide and bites deep.
Lleidr wields the Fang with expert finesse and delivers another wound, dodging the stalker's ropey swinging arms.
Selia's arcane blast catches the monster right in the face.
And, Ned breaks free from the stalker's grasp once again.
Round 3
The older stalker misses Ned, but the younger one, the one attacked by Lleidr, finally connects with a heavy blow (5 hp dmg), but the halfling twists away before the monsters fingers can wrap around Lleidr's arm.
Same map as before ... no changes, except that no one is now grappled.
Round 3
hp: 42
"For what it's worth, I agree with your fake wife that you should ignore the small one!"
But in case it doesn't listen to him, Lleidr will enhance the FoE with Arcane Strike again and continue poking at the same faceless stalker.
, also grants +2 dodge bonus to AC for 1 round (AC 20, touch 17, ff n/a)
"Keep your mitts to yourself!"
(favorite enemy, monster hunter, power attack)
(not confirmed :-(
Selia simply blasts the creature again with a magic missile. We can ask questions after one is down...
The cleric of Iomadae seeks to capitialise on Neds hit and strikes the same foe.
Attack for
Foxglove Townhouse, Dining Room, Round 2 cont
Nich's blade scrapes the monster's tough leathery hide, to no visible effect.
Lleidr needles his opponent once more, further enraging the monster.
Selia delivers another arcane blast from her wand.
Ned gives the grabbing stalker a devastating blow, nearly driving the monster to its knees.
Round 3
"Quick, before it's too late. Help me!" the northern-most stalker says. It reaches out, striking Ned (13 points dmg) but misses when trying to grab again.
"Help yourself. I can't wait to see what the saws make of this little one." the southern stalker says, delivering another blow to Lleidr, and this time, grabbing hold of the halfling (4 points dmg plus 1 Con dmg).
hp: 38
Adj CON: 12 (no modification)
grappled [no movement, -4 DEX (DEX 15, -2 ranged/DEX attacks, -2 AC > AC 16/touch 13/ff n/a, -2 Initiative), -2 all attacks, no AoO's]
"Arg!"
Lleidr's monkey familiar will appear (move equivalent action) and with a shriek launch itself at the stalker's hand grasping the halfling.
, target: 10
"You should focus more on what we're going to make of you!"Lleidr snarls through the pain. He will enhance the FoE with Arcane Strike (swift action) and stab at the monster holding him.
, also grants +2 dodge bonus to AC for 1 round (AC 18, touch 15, ff n/a)
"Now what did I tell you about being grabby..."
(favored, monster hunter, power attack)
Even though we don't have a post from Selia & Nich yet ... that's enough damage to fell both these Faceless Stalkers.
Next steps?
"It's a little gory, but especially now that we're in a larger city, do you all think there are parts or something that could be harvested from these creatures to sell to spellcasters?"
Also, is there any of that stew and bread left? Waste not, want not...
"Let's take a look around. Hopefully they didn't know we were coming. Maybe they left some clue about whats going on.
If there's bread to salvage, Lleidr will make sure to give Arg a little to snack on before returning him to his tattoo state.
"Oh, yeah, clues!"
Lleidr will take a look around, too.
Foxglove Townhouse, Third Floor
Yes, there's enough leftover stew to be satiated, for a few hours at least.
A search of the home turns up little of interest. It is obvious that a party of folks, perhaps these stalkers, has already searched the townhouse.
One odd thing you notice: in the third floor study, the mantel features a pair of roaring lion heads which are exact matches of the lion head on the bronze key you found in the caverns of Foxglove Manor. There's a keyhole in the back of one lion's throat.
Lleidr will pull over a chair to get up to them and examine the mantel for traps.
You find no evidence of traps.
Let's get that key in the hole then.
Foxglove Townhouse, Early Evening
The key unlocks a hidden cache below the lion figure containing a few items of interest:
- 200 pp
- a shallow wooden case containing legal papers, inluding a deed
- under the case is a thin ledger, documenting many mundane events; however, several near the end are odd at first glance. Nearly a dozen weekly entries from the prior 3 months are labelled 'Iesha's Trip to Absalom', with payment indicated to 'B-7' for 200 gp on each instance. Payment was left each Oathday at midnight at someplace called 'the Seven's Sawmill'.
That coin should be easy to divide :)
Lleider won't bother mouthing out all those words just to fail at figuring out what the deed is, but hopefully someone will try to explain it to him.
Do we know what Absalom is?
The stalker Lleidr was fighting said something about what the saws would make out of him. I suppose that could be related to the Seven's Sawmill?
The deed was dated the 6th of Abadias, 4624. What's todays date?