8-22: The Fleshwarped Queen (CORE) (Inactive)

Game Master Baerlie

"Soralyon is one of the Empyreal Lords. He's the the keeper of magical secrets." the priest answers. "The true reason for Thassilon's destruction has been lost to time. The earthfall finally destroyed it, but there are theories that it was already torn apart before."

Apart from being hungry and thirsty, the preist is ok. Mardonius hands him food and soon color returns into the priests face.

Ready to enter the ruins beyond?

Sounds good to me :-)

"A keeper of Secrets? That certainly has my attention..."

It's a shame that he is not a legal option for the CORE campaign ;-)

"I hope your efforts to keep yourself alive work. So, what'd y'all say? I think, without further ado, we should get into the thick of it!"

By the way, you can worship him, if you receive no mechanical benefit from it.

True, but I meant that he is not a legal option for anything that matters. Technically, I could say that I worship the Great She Elephant, as long as I was not trying to get a mechanical benefit out of it...

"Ok, sure. You keep the door open, and we'll see if we can find out why you can't lock it. Just do what you can to make sure we can get back out. Shredder, you ready?" says Alaric.

Polanco breathes a big sigh of relief - he didn't really understand what anyone was saying just then, but underground tombs well.....he didn't mean to brag but Aw hells yes, lets go into the ruin so I can finally earn my payday!

He didn't pay the newcomer much mind, and in fact tried not to talk to him at all. Wasn't good with strangers, nope.

You enter the ruins beyond the door. The entire facility is bathed in normal light, drawing its illumination from continual flame spells cast upon sconces spaced every 15 feet along the walls. The ceilings are 8 feet tall in passageways and 15 feet tall in rooms.

The wider passageway narrows here and continues to the east. Dim flickering flames dance around the walls, illuminating unadorned polished stone. A door is at the eastern end of the hall.

Between you and the door on the other end of the hall you spot something weird: somebody drove sharp metal spikes into a salvaged tabletop and then, speared a series of ancient texts upon the spikes so that their pages remain open and visible.

going to set up the map later today

map is set up, you have to scroll to the bottom

swapped order a bit... Alaric should be next to Shredder.

"Huh. Books on spikes? Were goblins destroying books? I mean, they are afraid of reading and all." says Alaric. "Shredder, heel!"

Alaric will move up within 10', and see if he notices anything else.
perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12

Stephen, suspecting something weird, carefully looks over the area.

Perception: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (12) + 14 = 26.

swapped order a bit... Alaric should be next to Shredder.

Thanks!

While Alaric spots just a pile of books, Stephen sees more. A tripwire is installed near the floor. Somebody mounted the slab on a makeshift hinge in such a way that it swings down and smashes anyone entering the chokepoint if they trigger a tripwire.

Stephen nods towards the trap.

"Tere? Do you think you could disable that?"

Polanco picks his nose as he waits for the trapping to get done.

Pretty nice not to have it explode in his face for once

DC20 to disable it

The elf pulls out a set of tools and considers the tripwire.

His bonus with mw tools is +11; if he can take 10, it's done.

Also, sorry for the delay--yesterday was my wife's birthday, so I didn't have much time to post after work.

As Tere starts working on the trap, Alaric starts considering what sort of critter he could summon that could trip it as well. 'It is a way of disarming...'

Yeah, he's that kind of druid.

Tere takes his time to disable the book trap. Although the books are mostly ruined, but one of them is still in good shape.

Stephen eagerly takes a closer look at the book that is (mostly) intact.

The book radiates strong conjuration magic, inside a metal plate inscribed with mystical words in Draconic is glued to the cover.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (5) + 11 = 16.

Stephen shrugs.

"Oh well. Something to look at later..."

He then nods in the direction of the corridor.

"Shall we continue?"

Polanco nods at Stephen So far just a normal tomb...

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9

"Magic, you say? Hm... no, doesn't seem like anything I know about. Probably not interesting enough."

Tere puts away his tools wordlessly, then motions for Polanco and heads east down the corridor to the door.

A hallway runs north and south here, its walls carved with images of fire and destruction. Humanoids from many races peer out from the flames in the upper portions of the carvings, their faces alight with excruciating pain. The lower two feet of the carvings show other figures on hands and knees, their faces toward the north, the brutal fires just above their backs.

Near the center of the hallway on a low plinth stands the statue of a cruel-faced woman wielding a ranseur in her right hand. Her left hand gestures to the south, giving the impression it is the source of the carved flames.

A large bronze plaque is affixed to the southern wall of the passage, covered in spiky, spidery runes.

Mardonius looks closely at the intricate carvings on the wall. Upon closer inspection on the statue, he notices that the markings on the face portion is not natural. He shares this to the party.

"It would seem that some mischievous being decided to give the runelord a smile," he says, shaking his head in disbelief.

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20

Polanco nods, remembering the body they found earlier. Och, that be jes like the goblins that harry us in the Five Mountains they do. Des'crate all our ancient tombs and burial sights like the thrice damned pests they are.

Polanco produces a nail file and instinctively begins to try nd fix the damage done to the statue but then remembers their task Och, the preservationing work can wait for later.

He gives a respectful bow to the runelord Excuse our intrusion ye ragin' queen

And gingerly walks past her, hoping she's not enchanted.

"The plaque says: 'Humble yourself and show the respect Runelord Alaznist is due'."

Stephen then prostrates himself before the statue, following which he follows Polanco.

perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17

"That's goblin artwork," Alaric says, then spits on the floor.

He then looks in awe at Stephen's antics. "Gotta be safe if the goblins made it past."

However, he waits to see if it really is safe.

Tere likewise bows to the statue before passing.

Polanco, Stephen and Tere move past the statue without any incidents.

Mardonius observes his companions before following suite. "An interesting ritual." He then kneels and follows the rest of the party.

Assuming everybody got it, that bowing or kneeling before the statue does the trick... ;)

There's a double door on the other side.

Polanco offers the door Tere.

Laddye, lets ye have a poke and peak at this here door jes in case Dem goblins rigged it with fire

Alaric consents to bow and move on. 'Silly runelords. Think they are so powerful, even 10000 years after their demise.' He tries to get Shredder to do the same.

I am assuming that will need to be a push, since it really isn't a trick?

handle animal to push!: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (8) + 11 = 19

...

In his usual quiet way, Tere nods at the dwarf and advances carefully towards the door, keeping an eye out for traps.

Perception check, add +1 for traps: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10

Oops.

Polanco then confidently opens the door, paddle and shield in handm ready to whack the goblin menace.

Tere scans the door for traps and it's safe. Polanco opens the door to a large room.

This large room’s walls are decorated with carvings extolling the virtues of wrath: scenes abound of warriors crushing their opponents with a combination of martial and magical skill. Above all these warriors stands the magnificent figure of a striking woman clad in armor and wielding a ranseur. Her face is contorted in a mixture of rage and elation, and she stands atop a veritable mountain of corpses.

In sharp contrast to the intricate beauty of the carvings, the contents of the room are in shambles. Broken tables and chairs litter the floor, once-magnificent banners are torn and strewn about, and several small fires smolder throughout the room. Anything that can be burned is blackened with soot, and anything breakable has been shattered into tiny pieces. The pungent smell of an animal warren permeates the entire room.

A perpetual haze fills the room.

Two fleshy creatures lurk in this room, they are hungry and turn towards warm bodies.

Round 1
Lasair
Shredder
Mardonius
Tere
Stephen
Alaric
Polanco
-----
Greenie
Ears

Stephen tries to work out what the creatures are.

Knowledge(WTH): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17.

survival: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (3) + 10 = 13
kn:nature?: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13

"I don't know what those things are..."

Without a differing command, Shredder guards Alaric.

Alaric sees a threat, so casts barkskin on himself.

AC updated on tagline.

"Shredder, Attack!"

Auto-succeed on command, will take effect on Shredder's next turn.

I'm assuming we start inside the room, so I moved my token a few feet from the door.

Walking towards one of the creatures green border, Mardonius cracks his knuckles and says a silent prayer at the start of combat. Irori's fists guide me! He pounds the creature with his fists.

Unarmed: 1d20 ⇒ 20

Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 5

Nice one

Crit Confirm: 1d20 ⇒ 1 <<< Meh!

Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 6

Drawing his sword and closing with the nearest enemy, Tere slices at it with a two-handed slash.

Curve blade to foe: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16
Damage, if applicable: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

Sneak attack damage, if applicable: 1d6 ⇒ 6

Also, if Tere hits and does sneak attack damage, he inflicts a bleeding wound, bleed 1.

Polanco moves forward toward the green slime and waits for it to move.

The idea here is not so much to attack just yet - his wee stubby legs make that hard - but to draw the ire of the creature to keep the brains safe.

Stephen knows that these creatures are hungry fleshes, oozes. When they move they leave a slimy, slippery trail. you may ask one question

Alaric confirms that these are oozes. One of them has ears on it.

Shredder protects Alaric while the man casts a spell on himself. Mardonius moves up the the greenish pile of tumorous flesh and attacks it with his fists. The Cleric's fists sink deeply into the flesh and are covered with pinkish goo when pulled out of the creature. Tere swings at the flesh blob and hits, but somehow this hit heals the creature's wounds. Polanco moves closer to the greenish flesh creature.
oozes are immune to crits or sneak attacks

Round 1
Lasair
Shredder
Mardonius
Tere
Stephen
Alaric
Polanco
-----
Greenie -7HP
Ears

Well, if these are hungry fleshes, their signature ability is what I would be after - i.e., how to avoid their regeneration...

Not sure what you mean with 'signature ability', but if you mean 'special abilities', here it is:

Reactive Regeneration (Ex) Whenever a hungry flesh takes
piercing or slashing damage, it regenerates 3 hit points.

Slime Trail (Ex) A hungry flesh leaves behind a trail of slime
that acts as a grease spell (DC 14). The slime dries up after
1 minute. The save DC is Constitution-based.

"No piercing or slashing? No problem!"

Lasair slides into the room, conjuring up an acidic orb which he hurls at the blue slime before hunkering down behind a table.

Acid Orb - into melee: 1d20 + 4 - 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 - 4 = 8, Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 4

Lasair moves into the room and begins to shoot acid orbs at the oozes and hits.

The hungry fleshes begin to slam at the Pathfinders in front of them. Both fleshes hit their targets, Mardonius suffers from serious wounds. The bluish pile of flesh grapples Polanco.
green vs. Mardonius: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23 Damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
blue vs. Polanco: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20 Damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
+ grab

Crit confirm green: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21 Crit Damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

free grapple vs. Mardonius: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9
free grapple vs. Polanco: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27

Round 2
Lasair
Shredder
Mardonius -8HP
Tere
Stephen (+ R1 action if he wants to)
Alaric
Polanco (grappled)
-----
Greenie -7HP
Ears -4HP (grappled)

sorry & glad that green did not manage to grapple Mardonius

Stephen, hoping for a miracle, tosses acid at the oozes.

Acid Splash: 1d20 + 2 - 4 ⇒ (8) + 2 - 4 = 6, for 1d3 ⇒ 3 Acid damage.
Acid Splash: 1d20 + 2 - 4 ⇒ (9) + 2 - 4 = 7, for 1d3 ⇒ 3 Acid damage.

Unfortunately, I can Grease and Glitterdust - neither of which is especially effective against oozes...