Badly injured in a haunted castle. Hide in the janitor's closet to rest 8 hrs?


Advice


Basic party argument of what to do next:

Situation: Level 3-4. We're effectively in a haunted castle. We were first attacked by small earth elementals, then by lizard folk, and now by some sort of ethereal jaunting while spider with a human face. The first two sets were [relatively] easy, but this last left me with -7 con, and left the others worse (more squishy).

And we didn't defeat it, either. Basically, one of the party members effectively cast a spell to make it friendly towards us, but then collapsed unconscious right after doing so (ongoing con damage from poison). When we got the caster back up, the magical beast was gone, but is presumably friendly for 3 hours.

Our options are to
(1) hole up somewhere and heal up (afore mentioned janitor's closet).
(2) scout around, then rest.
(3) scout around, secure the area using remaining fire power. then rest.

The main difference between #1 and #3 is that with #3, we'll be opening up doors, and maybe asking for trouble (i.e. traps and foes). But would these foes not come for us anyway? Is there any reason to believe that we have a chance of being left alone by the other denizens on the floor?

I suppose it makes sense, since if we're in the castle, we're likely a threat, and as long as we're unknown to the denizens, we're likely to be avoided.


If by "left me with -7 con" you mean your constitution ability has been reduced by 7, it's going to take a lot more than 8 hours to heal that up, and level 3-4 is a bit low to have a bunch of lesser restorations handy.

If you have the means to heal con damage from a wand or a scroll, I'd use it now.

Every two points of con damage is going to cost you one hit point per level too.


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What about

(4) Realize that you might be in over your head, leave the castle to heal up completely, and come back at the problem with a new approach?


A few factors work in your favor here. Opponents of this level are unlikely to be able to find you without conducting a thorough search. A thorough search, especially with reduced manpower, is a lot of work and the overall level of ineffectiveness you seem to have demonstrated might only warrant a more cursory search. If you can retreat to an out of the way room that was previously locked and can be made so again, you might be able to get a night's rest with nothing more frightening than someone trying the door (and finding it appropriately locked).

That of course presumes A) intelligent but non-fanatical foes B) A castle large enough for there to be a lot of rooms C) no one snores like a buzzsaw. If its a real haunting though, I wouldn't expect any plan of action to pay off. Being cut off at every turn and worn to exhaustion is a classic trope of the horror story.


..and no habitants have "scent".....unless that door is effectively sealed (ie-stuff the cracks with bandages, cloaks, etc)


joeyfixit wrote:

What about

(4) Realize that you might be in over your head, leave the castle to heal up completely, and come back at the problem with a new approach?

This sounds like a bright idea to me. Without very judicious use of magic I (as a DM) would at some point have the monster find you in the castle. They know you were there, they fought you and you killed some of them. When that monster is no longer charmed he's going to tell his friends and they will look for you, and they will want to suck the marrow from your bones. If you had access to powerful magic you might be able to set magical traps and alarms etc and set up a defense, but you're still going to get attacked. Remember, if PCs can't take a 20 to search for things, so can the enemies. This means they will find you eventually, and I think somewhere in an 8 hour time span is enough to accomplish this.

Retreat is your best option. Retreat and heal. Then regroup and formulate a new plan of attack. Perhaps some potions or scrolls are in order to counteract poison or whatever else caused everyone so much trouble.

Personally I think sleeping in a dunegon/castle/whatever full of enemies is a terrible idea that players should never be allowed to get away with without using lots of magic to protect them overnight. It just seems crazy to me that the idea to sleep with the enemy all around ever seems sensible. Though I guess my frustration with this is usually because I see PCs blow through all their spells and x/day abilities and then expect to be able to sleep to restore their powers when and where they want to. That isn't your case though, and you are legitimately in trouble with having suffered that much con damage, still retreating and resting seem like the best bet.


As a player, I'd suggest leaving the castle until you level up at least.

As a GM, I'd make that closet haunted too...


joeyfixit wrote:

What about

(4) Realize that you might be in over your head, leave the castle to heal up completely, and come back at the problem with a new approach?

He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day.

There's no shame in booking it and coming back when you're more prepared.


Jeegus, that escalated quickly.

Small Earth elemental: CR 1. Easy fight for level 3-4 guys.

Lizardfolk: CR 1. Same here.

Phase Spider: CR 5. Difficult fight (though very doable). Poison's pretty darn nasty.

I figure what happened there was you stumbled across the boss/miniboss before you were supposed (and thus weren't expecting to find it). I could be wrong, but it's possible this is less a case of "dungeon you can't handle" and more a case of "Whoops we skipped ahead a bit and almost ate it".

Finding some way to secure the janitor's closet (or even better, a more defensible area) is definitely an option. Remember to set one of your BDFs or other non-spellcasters on watch through the whole night in shifts. Preferably ones with a good Perception score.

Silver Crusade

Intelligent foes that can walk through earth and ethereally move are going to find you in an 8-hour span, though you can try coaching your appeal to the GM in that the janitor's closet appears undisturbed and a place not ever visited.

There should always be an option #4, flee and live another day.

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