No, the pretty one is Lyrie. Nualia is the boss. She's after something in the lower chambers below, but I'm not sure what. I've never been down there. She warned me never to go further than these rooms, and I saw way. To the south, she has a temple room or something there some sort of dog beasts guard. Scared the piss out of me, they did. They're howlin' will put chills down anyone's back. Over in the east cave there's some sort of wiggly monster, from what I've heard from the gobs, so I didn't even look.
I'm just a mercenary, paid to protect the premises around here and the pretty lady you just scared off. Yeah, Nualia asked me to help plan the assult on the town. Paid me well enough to do so. But, you know, maybe not the best decision I've made. I know the people there didn't really deserve that. I didn't realize you all were from there though. I'd like to help if I can.
He has +1 Banded Mail and 400gp worth of gold, misc gear, etc.
The party knocks out the fighter. Brenton blocks the southern door on the eastern wall, but the wizard escapes through a northern door, running down some stairs. As you rush forward to look down the stairs, you see she's already left your sight. (I'll have to update the map later...got busy here.)
It's always a trap - the damn treasure box just sitting there is always a trap. Can't it ever just be a treasure chest with a monster guarding it, for the sake of Pete?
Something typical, expected and totally cliche...in the Asmodeus Knot?? I think KNOT! Get it? I Keel me!!!!
Corellon does his best to move through the mirror quietly...as others follow behind him. As he touches the mirror, he finds himself in the unfamiliar room right in front of the beautiful chest.
Suddenly the chest opens up! Instead of treasures, however, Corellon sees teeth and a long tongue! The mimic attacks with surprise!!!
1d20 + 12 ⇒ (9) + 12 = 211d8 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10. The chest bites the rogue and attempts to hold on! Reflex Save!!
Behind the party, the "Dragon" wakes up. It sees Corellon struggle and the shocked look on the others' faces. It starts laughing as it fades away...in its place, a laughing devil creature hovers in the air, pointing at the heroes. 30' away, 15 feet up.
Combat actions for Corellon, Beppo and Aemon!
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Kyle continues to enjoy a very hot and relaxing bubble bath!
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Tessai enters the sewers, carrying an unconscious tiefling. Janiven joins her, instructing the others to stay at the hide out. A smaller party, she argues, will attract much less attention.
Yeah...knowledge check. Without an understanding of monsters you see from either personal experience or book story, a person really doesn't know much difference between the various monsters.
Ayup. I've said this before, my mutant powers assure me abnormally high rolls. That's why smart players have me roll their hero points (Did you see that natural 20 handle animal?) .
Of course, 10 rolls is hardly a scientific definition of a sampling. You should do my battle with the outcast king. I had what...30+ rolls in that battle? I ran that through. I got an average of 9.5 (a d20 should produce an average of 10.5), so maybe the dice roller is just repaying me back for those crappy rolls with interest. :P
I have this before...dice can absolutely make or break an encounter, especially when save or die spells are flying.
1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18
Through sheer determination, the gritty fighter seems unphased by Brenton's pleas for divine intervention. Zeriak jumps back and shoots him again. Another arrow sticks out of the man's armor, though his determination remains.
Enemy Turn I'll take care of him, the woman in the back yells. She makes an arcane gesture at Zeriak. Relfex Save!!
The fighter gets in Brenton's face and attacks!
1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 231d10 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15 You gods will not protect you from my wrath! the men yells as he cuts into Brenton.
Status 35' Zeriax (21/21 Reflex Save Pending),
30' Hardegon (-3/27 Prone, Bleed, Fort Save, KO),
5' Brenton (5/20 Shield),
PFL Orik (Hurt, ),
EFL' 20' Lyrie (Perfect, 3 Images),
The rugged fighter shakes off the spell. Hardegon moves further back while Zeriak pelts him with arrows. Only one arrow manages to pierce the well armored man (wearing Banded armor).
You're next The man growls at the archer.
Enemy Turn
The lady in the back sees Hardegon moving away.
Not so fast, Slick! 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Another glowing orb flies through the air, knocking the rogue to the ground.
The armored man swings his massive sword at the zen archer!
1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 151d10 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 12
And barely misses.
Corellon and the crew look further in to roped mirror. They see what appears to be a small dragon or wyvern sleeping in the opposing corner. There's a door on another wall. You still don't recognize the room...it could be anywhere.
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To keep timelines somewhat shored up...I won't continue Tessai's line at the moment. In reality, it would have taken at least half a minute to talk things out with Janiven, make a decision, unlock the necessary doors, etc ... and the guys above are taking about that much time to make this decision here...
Just have a moment here...since Brenton mentioned a possible conditional move for Hardaegon...if he were to take Brenton's advice, Hardaegon may post something like this... (Using the spoiler tags here}
If the baddie becomes held:
A smile comes across my face. I'm not ready to leave yet, but I think you are.
So, long story short.... I had a few things happen yesterday. I haven't had any time, unfortunately, to sit down and write them out in more detail, but it does mean some changes must happen here. For now, it means that my postings will be more sparatic. I still expect to be able to post at most of the major posting times, but postings in between those times will drop significantly from me. That means that, in order to keep things moving, you all may need to put conditional spoilers at times if you have a question. (If I see a monster, I do (Spoiler)XYZ otherwise I do (Spoiler)ABC).
I'll post more details as I get the time, but, for now, everyone please continue to do your best to keep things moving.
So, long story short.... I had a few things happen yesterday. I haven't had any time, unfortunately, to sit down and write them out in more detail, but it does mean some changes must happen here. For now, it means that my postings will be more sparatic. I still expect to be able to post at most of the major posting times, but postings in between those times will drop significantly from me. That means that, in order to keep things moving, you all may need to put conditional spoilers at times if you have a question. (If I see a monster, I do (Spoiler)XYZ otherwise I do (Spoiler)ABC).
I'll post more details as I get the time, but, for now, everyone please continue to do your best to keep things moving.
As Kyle relaxes Corellon and Beppo look at the treasure. As he puts his mirror through the other mirror, he does his best to look around. The room is only dimly lit. He sees what appears to be a large lizard like creature in the opposing corner.
Perception check!
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Tessai begins to run through the sewers using her knowledge of the lay of the city to find the shortest, yet safest route, as running into shadow beasts would not help out the situation at all at the moment.
Round 1
Hardegon stabs the stout man in front of him. Despite aiming right for the kidneys, the man barely reacts. Clearly he is either trained to take pain well, or has been doing so for some time. Zeriak shoots the wizard in the back, and misses, though one of the arrows causes one of her doubles to disappear.
Enemy Turn
The powerful attack keeps his attention of the rogue.
1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 251d10 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13
He his the rogue hard, hitting some very tender flesh between the ribs. The lady in the back sees the rogue hurting bad, and take the opportunity to finish him off. She pulls out a wand and points at him. A vibrant orb of light flashes through the air and strikes him.
You stare into the mirror. You don't recognize the room that the treasure is in. It could be any stone room, really. The chest itself, however, is quite ornate. You've not seen anything like it. You're sure that the chest alone would fetch a fine price.
Hardegon listens to the door, but doesn't hear anything. He slowly opens it and he's surprised by two people who try to cut him down where he stands!
So, a couple of things here... first, if you don't "hear anything," you'll notice that I just have you open the door. Otherwise, I wait another posting period for people to say "Now I open the door." This is consistent with what I've been doing thus far, but wanted to point it out since there's actually baddies behind this one. Yes, they rolled really high stealth checks vs. Hardegon's perception...keep in mind, as well, DC of perception increases by 5 for shut door.
Enemies get the surprise round. In my Pbp's, enemies always go last except in cases where they get surprise. In those cases, they get a full round attack (think of it as them winning initiative rather than a surprise round). Conversely, when the party suprises a foe, they get a surprise round standard action AND a full round initial action, both in a row).
Two new pics are in the NPC folder...Orik and Lyrie.
A rugged looking sword wielder stands by the door, and attacks the first thing he sees, Hardegon!
1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 231d10 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10
He strikes him suddenly, but thankfully the blade doesn't cut too deep. Leave our fortress now, cur. You are not welcome here!
Behind him, a dark skinned lady stands with a scroll in her hands. There are multiple images of her side by side, making it impossible to tell which is the real one. She makes a gesture, utters a syllable, and Hardegon's begins to feel a little woozy!
The far wall of this otherwise empty chamber is fitted with three mirrors about 6' tall and 3' wide each.
The left mirror shows a steel treasure chest in a dimly lit room. It has very fine, gold moldings in the shape of various birds' heads. The chest is closed and appears to be locked. It sits upon a stone floor with a stone wall behind it.
The right mirror shows Kyle's bedroom in the mansion. It is dark, and quiet. A woman sleeps quietly in the bed, though it is hard to make out her features due to the lack of light.
The middle mirror shows the hideout. There you see Janiven and several of the other children gathered in a tight circle around a bettered Black Devil. Janiven appears to be doing her best to bandage the tiefling, but looks exasperated.
The party moves down into a room in the dungeon level.
A large wooden worktable sits in the middle of this room, its surface cluttered with scrolls, books, stone tablets covered with dense, spiky runes, and fragments of carvings that appear to have been chipped off of statues or bas-reliefs. To the north, a floor-to-ceiling set of wooden shelves sags with picks, shovels, brushes, lanterns, and other equipment one might expect to see at an archaeological site.
It would seem you guys have explored all of this floor. The stairs going up, in both cases, were small watchtowers with goblin stuff that you've already seen. Only direction you have not explored goes down.
You try to find some way to open it, but you do not see on. When you roll it, you here clanking inside, as if there were smaller items rattling around. But, you cannot find a way to open it.
Zeriak listens to the door, and hears nothing. Opening the door, he sees that a round table and a few chairs are this room’s only furnishings. In the other room, you find a staircase leading down into darker depths.
Map updated. Red arrows lead to lower floors. Blue arrows lead to higher floors/towers. Yellow area is current location/direction.
I read your post, and decided to survey and listen in the area around door 3.
[ooc]I made the comment because you didn't even say anything about the mask on the ground...I thought Zeriax was worried about Meg. At least you posted, though :)
Seeing that he has time, Corellon steadies his hand and continues to tap the tumblers until he gets them in the exact position. Finally, he gets a satisfying click out of each one.
Inside one chest are several pounds of long-outdated investment papers, lists of debts, and various notes on blackmail victims—while once totaling nearly 120,000 gp in value, these papers are now worthless thanks to the passage of time and the deaths of most involved. Of greater value are this chest’s other contents, including several valuable books. These books include an early Andoren philosophy book worth 200 gp, an illustrated scenic journey through Osirion worth 230 gp, a three-volume work on the teachings of a spirit naga entitled the Libra Malfactum worth 400 gp, and a spellbook containing 30 spells (Random: 10 of 1st level, 10 of 2nd level, seven of 3rd level, and three of 4th level). Under the books is a layer of 1,300 gp, along with a narrow ivory box with a carved lid depicting an army of golems destroying a city wall. The box is worth 800 gp, and it contains a golem bane scarab and a wand
The other chest contains only one object—what you believe to be the fabled Chelish Crux. This strange and baffling object appears as a wooden and metal dodecahedron (similar in shape to a d12) that measures about 6 inches in diameter— each face of the crux is carved with a different rune, and when one looks upon the thing, the observer has the unsettling sensation that he can see too many or too few sides at once.
tems now...
+1 Keen Long Sword
+1 Defending Long Sword
+1 Cold Iron Axe
Wand of Cat's Grace (15 charges)
Ring of Father Fall
Crown of Blasting
2930gp of Misc treasure/coin
Spell book (10/10/7/3 Random)
? Wand
Hmmm...only one post this period? And I'm not sure if Zeriax read my post. LOL. Let's try again. Please remember, there is a posting period between 6pm-10am EST. Thank you.
Hahahahaha. Right? Well, dividing up zero gold by one more still comes out to zero, so you won't be losing out on a whole lot!
Regardless on whether you sell or keep the stuff you find in here (and something tells me there may be more...after all, there ARE two more chests), I reckon the overall average party gold value is going up substantially here. I'll be interested in running HL on this and seeing where you all stand. Before this room, 2 were above the recommended level, and the rest were below.
You look around and you find some feed in one of the nearby storage places. It looks like it was saved for the rabbits, but you figure enough of it may satisfy even a horse. You move forward.
You move forward through the closed door to the north. The hallway bends around. The further you move on, the darker it gets. Many of the doors along the way are already open, which strikes you as odd since the vast majority of doors you've come across so far were either closed or locked. Tossed to one side, in what appears to be a waste room, you spot a mask. Looking closely at it, you recognize it as Megekki's.
Map Updated. Two new discovered closed doors labeled.
One thing I've noticed is that there are few enemy casters in these APs, so you don't usually feel forced to have one of your own to balance the scales, so to speak. There's little doubt that some encounters would be a lot easier if you had one (especially one who cast the right spell at the right time).
And I hate for players to feel like they have to play something they don't want to play.
My believe since the beginning (and reinforced later with lots of play) is that you don't HAVE to have a "balanced" party, but that some encounters may be harder (or possibly a higher chance of being deadly) if you do not. It's kinda like playing up. That kinda happened here with no real high AC 'tanky' type. (A wizard wouldn't have been too much help in all liklihood outside of buffs if he had any left. This thing had nasty SR).
Regardless, that's why I usually allow parties to take an NPC with them to fill a 'hole' if they wish. You'll share loot with the NPC, but if you feel it's necessary to fill a particular role, I leave that as an option over forcing someone to play a class they'd rather not fill. If that's a direction you all want to go, let me know. (I'd rather not, as it only makes things a bit more complicated, but at the same time, I don't want you all to feel penalized either).
Make sure to declare actions if you want to take them...I hate to presume that y'all are doing something based on conversation. It's fine to make suggestions to one another, but if you constantly seek approval on everything you do, this will get REAL slow :P
GM-JCServant
