Galad joins the others next to the door as the spirit drifts up to the with and gleefully slashes at her, to the extant that the shade of a deva can look gleeful.
Move Galad to GG16 and the spirit to EE11, and use Stalker's Strike on Z (vs Fort, +1/2 Int to attack because target is bloodied)1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24
Dannad braves the flailing tendrils, take a few minor burns for his troubles, and take advantage of Zeb'oltha's current vulnerability. With cruel precision, he slices open the witch's throat, ending her vile existence.
Sly Flourish; 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (15) + 12 = 27 vs. AC for 1d4 + 9 + 2d8 ⇒ (3) + 9 + (5, 4) = 21 damage.
END OF COMBAT
Experience:
750 Total Experience % 5 = 150 each for this fight.
I'm also giving a 500XP story reward for killing the infamous Witch of Punjar.
New Individual Totals = 1075 XP; Welcome to Level 2!
Galad serenely strides into the room as the spirit dissolves back into the aether. "So, the witch has been slain." He then silently begins to search through the witch's belongings, the sense of deja vu that he had since he first entered this city buzzing in the back of his head.
I'm updated. Perception, and using Memories of A Thousand Lifetimes along with it:1d20 + 1d6 + 10 ⇒ (5) + (5) + 10 = 20
Save v damage against self.
1d20 ⇒ 7 - -5
1d20 ⇒ 10 - success
Dagobert eventually manages to staunch his own violent nosebleed and takes a moment to restore himself. Breathing hard, he ventures into the room and has a look around.
1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11 - Perception.
"I can see why Arthuro never took to her. Very unhealthful."
Using 2 surges to get back to full. 4 surges left. I'll update him later today.
The party takes refuge inside the witch's lair from the drizzling rain outside. The smell in the smoky room is unpleasant and the copious amounts of blood on the walls has left a metallic taste upon the air.
Repeat of the room description:
The chamber before you is littered with the remnants of eldritch wizardry. Shattered vials, broken canopic jars, bits of bone, and the glowing slime of demon-kin are scattered about the rough wooden floor. The walls of the chamber are covered in bizarre diagrams drawn in chalk and blood, and the whole place is lit by a glowing head floating in a jar of blue liquid.
Galad and Dagobert:
You recognize the glowing head in the jar at the center of room. It is the only thing left of Arthuro, his face contorted in a terrifying grimace.
In addition to Arthuro's head, you notice another large jar on a nearby table that is turned toward the wall.
Everyone:
Anyone searching the room make a DC 15 perception check and roll 1d6. In addition, Zeb'oltha was wearing cloth armor which remains surprisingly intact and wielding a rod and sickle.
Dagobert's roll should be +8. Haven't updated his profile yet, just in case he can use the rod or the armour :) - and assuming he can identify either of them.
The large jar Galad reaches for is a curious thing, with one half being blacked out and the other half still being clear. Turning it away from the wall reveals a perfectly fresh looking reptilian eyeball that seems to follow you as you move around the room. The eye is quite large, and would take two hands to hold steadily.
Dagobert spends his time investigating Zeb'oltha's possessions.
Dagobert:
The cloth armor is +1 Cloth Armor but unremarkable otherwise.
The rod, however, is of particular interest, and simply touching it seems to make your skin crawl. It is topped with a demonic ram's head and seems to be made mostly of iron. What you hold is an extremely rare Skull Rod that has made it's way out of the pits somehow and into Zeb'oltha's possession. It allows an infernal warlock to regain the use of an encounter power once a day. Doing so expends a charge from the rod, which currently has 12 charges remaining.
Dagobert's AC would be lower with the cloth armor. With his current Dex and Int scores he'd only have an AC of 14 at Level 2 as opposed to having AC 17 with his current chainmail.
Dagobert:
I apologize that there isn't much in the way of magic items for Dagobert in this campaign so far. I've been going strictly by the book, which was written about a year before Invokers even existed. We may be able to work something out with the rod though, for fairness sake. Perhaps a cleansing ritual or something could reverse its effects and make it useful for invokers.
Hawkseer opens the jar and it seems to stare up and glare at him with malice once his intentions are clear.
As he stabs his dagger down into the thing, inky blood disperses and fills the jar. The eye continues to stare, though now it looks wracked with pain. Over a dozen stabs of the dagger are required until the thing appears lifeless and dead.
Hawkseer:
Your dagger now has several pits in the metal, as if some kind of acid had been eating away at it.
I'm going to give you all the rest of today to look around a bit more and decide what you're going to do next. Some kind of decision by tomorrow would be great so we can move things along.
Any other exits from La Belle Z'boltha's hellhole? Check various ways into the Beggar King's hovels and head on in I think. Are we level 2 as of now, or only after we've had an extended rest?
Let's say you're level 2 as far as bonuses, feats, and hit points are concerned. You won't get your new utility powers until after an extended rest though.
From your inspections thus far, the way you came in seems to be the only entrance.
The party makes their way back through the soggy courtyard and into the warehouse.
Scattered piles of moldy hay litter the warehouse floor. The walls and ceiling are charred black with soot from some past fire. Streams of water drip from holes in the ceiling, pooling in cold puddles on the muddy floor. A ladder stands in one corner of the chamber, rising to a loft.
Looks like everyone's updated their character profiles, but I'd still like copies of your character builder files if you ahve them. Please e-mail them to me or upload them to iPlay4E and send me a link.
The warehouse is mostly filled with bits and ends that could be the throwaways from Arthuro's collection. Spears, swords, and other armaments make up the bulk of the goods.
Looking up at the ladder to the loft, the halfling's face drains of what little emotion it had left.
"Blighted fool of an architect what designed this place is lucky to be long dead, otherwise I'd pay him that favour..." he mutters under his breath. "Feel like we're in a maze for some ferret or monkey with all this up an' down, up an' down nonsense."
Scanning the room carefully, he proceeds to the base of the ladder.
"I'm supposing you'd like me to take a peak first, eh?"
You've noticed that all of this demesne is not actually one building, but several that have been amalgamated over the years into a single structure. There are several places where walls have been patched into each other and unmatching architecture has been forced together with cheap masonry. They haven't been constructed together so much as collapsed into each other. A great deal of Smoke is like this.
"I'm supposing you'd like me to take a peak first, eh?"
"That seems like a good idea. Like many nests, the structure has probably evolved. I doubt this has been planned in any intentional way, you know. Humans and rats are much the same in many ways. There are parallels to be drawn."
Dagobert pontificates to take his mind of Arthuro's horrible fate. He rustles through the supplies, extracting anything still edible.
Dannad slings off his small backpack and pulls out a folded up piece of dark mottled fabric. As he spreads it out, he picks a pair of gloves and what looks like wrappings for his boots out of the fabric. After wrapping his boots, he pulls the larger fabric over his head like a poncho. Clenching a belt around it, he stretches to make sure he can still move freely before pulling on his gloves, settling his pack back on his back, and mounting the stairs.
Stealth check, 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (9) + 11 = 20 to scale the ladder silently at a careful pace. 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 1 = 18 Perception for the first check of a yard high section of the ladder as he climbs it.
Dannad does not detect any obvious traps as he scales the ladder. After about 5 minutes of careful scaling, he reaches the top and the door, which can be pushed in but is currently locked.
Dagobert keeps a close eye on the loft and the surroundings as Dannad makes his careful ascend, but he spots nothing amiss at the moment.
Since the loft door pushes in (so one doesn't smack themselves in the head while standing on the ladder), there are no hinges or mechanisms to get at from this side. The lock itself appears to be a simple key lock.
Dannad reaches down to his belt and pulls out his kit of thieves' tools, which he unrolls on the top rung of the ladder. Eying the lock, he selects a few tools and sets to work.
1d20 + 13 ⇒ (14) + 13 = 27 Thievery check to unlock the door.
Dannad's mastery shows itself once again as he expertly pops the lock in about 5 minutes with barely an audible sound as the last tumbler falls into place.