Adventure Path Reign of Winter

Game Master Almonihah

As her wounds heal over and the pain disappears, Quasit visibly relaxes her posture and takes a deep cleansing breath. "Thanks" she says to Findurel.

"We're lucky we caught two of them asleep. I hate to imagine fighting them all four at once. C'mom, lets get across the hall while Bulvi is still big."

Quasit will move to the eastern doors off the foyer and wait for the party to assemble there.

After a quick search of the rooms, Fin nods to Quasit. ”Aye, Q, we had best keep moving...”

Bow ready, Fin follows Quasit, keeping alert and covering her at the eastern doors...

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (11) + 11 = 22

Tezuzu looks at Selena flatly before walking up to the dead troll in front of him. He draws out a dagger and collects a portion of it's hair that is only slightly singed courtesy of the optimistic fire-bender and stuffs it quickly into his robes. He then looks up at Selena and says quietly under his breath. "What were you thinking trying to wrestle a troll? You could've gotten yourself killed." As he gets up to pass by her and help the rest of the group do a quick search.

He will give Quasit a raised eyebrow and mention quite plainly "You get hurt a lot don't you." before exiting the room.

As he passes Sakitu he will mention "Thanks for getting out of the way when I asked....oh and thank you for the magic."

Pausing at the door as Findurel readies his bow Tezuzu will speak a few hushed words as his amulet glows bright with Light He slips the knot he tied on the door earlier and speaks another set of words and his hand begins to glow ghostly pale. Touch of Fatigue

He will nod at Quasit and ready for the door to be breached.

Selena responds to Tezuzu flatly "I'm a witch. I can hurt with but a touch, and landing on people is touching them. As for risking death, I've been dead before. I have no fear of it."

He will give Quasit a raised eyebrow and mention quite plainly "You get hurt a lot don't you." before exiting the room.

"These days I seem to." she answers with a sigh. "You know, I got into my fair share of scrapes on the streets back home, but that was... you know, lunks with clubs and stuff. And then I come to Heldren and suddenly its monsters galore: zombies, trolls, tickle-worms, giant weasels, you name it. I'm no warrior, Tezuzu. I'm living on borrowed time at this point, I know that. But I guess, in the long run, aren't we all?" She gives the tengu a rather sad and plaintive look.

Selena responds to Tezuzu flatly "I'm a witch. I can hurt with but a touch, and landing on people is touching them. As for risking death, I've been dead before. I have no fear of it."

Quasit just can't help but roll her eyes.

"She says crap like that all the time." she mutters to Tezuzu. "You'll get used to it."

Fin smirks. ”Don’t let her fool you, Tez...Q’s too stubborn to die. She’ll outlive us all...and I’m an Elf...”

As Fin healed Quasit, Maka's concerns about the battle melted away, leaving only her excitement.

Fin sighs in relief and looks to Maka, ”You might want to put some fire on these bodies, just in case...”

"Oh right they can heal!" With a flurry of strikes Maka sent a blast of fire to each of the troll corpses while the others checked the area.

------

"We're lucky we caught two of them asleep. I hate to imagine fighting them all four at once. C'mom, lets get across the hall while Bulvi is still big."

"I bet we could take 5 or 6 at once!"

I'm no warrior

"What are you talking about, you're great at fighting! Most people die when they get their guts ripped out, you got a great scar and are about to go do some more whooping."

------

Selena responds to Tezuzu flatly "I'm a witch. I can hurt with but a touch, and landing on people is touching them. As for risking death, I've been dead before. I have no fear of it."

"If you've died before is it more or less likely you'll come back again?" Maka wondered aloud.

Ready to move to the next room when y'all are.

"What are you talking about, you're great at fighting! Most people die when they get their guts ripped out, you got a great scar and are about to go do some more whooping."

"I've got enough scars, thank you. I just mean I'm not the sort of person who can stand toe to toe with another really good fighter and duke it out, with armor and shields and all that. And I suck at pain. The wound is completely healed and I still kinda want to cry, just remembering it."

"I know where to stick a sword to get a job done, and I'm not afraid to do it. Not any more. But I'd be a lot happier if I never had to do it again."

Findurel finds gold: 4d10 ⇒ (1, 8, 1, 2) = 12 among the four ice trolls. In the larger room there are several chests.

Fin wrinkles up his face as the smell assaults his nose upon opening the chest. He arches an eyebrow upon skimming through the sketchbook...

”Hmm...you should should check this out....these members of Jadwiga Elvanna are...quite impressive. This could be quite embarrassing if circulated. And it might be valuable to our allies...or to Elvanna’s political enemies...”

Upon spying the bones, Fin feels heat rising to his face, as he squeezes his bow tightly, muttering, ”Those bastards! These are human bones...I fear I may know why they keep children here...”

He takes a closer look at the bones...

Heal: 10 + 5 = 15 (Taking 10)

Fin wrinkles up his face as the smell assaults his nose upon opening the chest. He arches an eyebrow upon skimming through the sketchbook...

”Hmm...you should should check this out....these members of Jadwiga Elvanna are...quite impressive. This could be quite embarrassing if circulated. And it might be valuable to our allies...or to Elvanna’s political enemies...”

This sounds way too interesting to pass up. Quasit leaves the door and checks the sketchbook Findurel is looking at. She gives a low whistle and shakes her head.

"The trolls have... witch porn? Trolls indeed. Yikes, now I've seen everything."

*turns a page*

"Oh come on, legs don't bend that way..."

*turns a page*

"Oooh man, her back must give her a lot of trouble."

*turns a page... then has to flip the sketchbook sideways to let the extra page flip out*

"With a melon...?"

I nominate Bulvi to open the door!

Tezuzu eyes the book for a brief moment before recoiling in horror "Oh my what foul, degenerate, disgusting, uncouth, abomination is....." his eyes go wide and he becomes fixated. He bends down to get closer look and stammers out his beak gaping "How does that even fit in..." before he corrects his posture abruptly averts his eyes and makes a fake coughing sound "Quasit, what do you think those trolls used this for? Be mindful of any... sticky pages...... Oh and you should wash your hands after handling that."

I nominate bulvi as well. Tez can't touch things with Touch of Fatigue in his hand. Also Tez might find door handles gross.

"Oh ew ew ew!!" says Quasit. "Gross old trolls!"

She kicks one of their dead bodies.

"I think it's a cantaloupe!" Bulvi chuckled.

Once the door was checked for traps by Quasit Bulvi opened it. As the throwing as hurled towards him and Bulvi brought his shield up, the axe sinking into it. "Right then, we can deal with another one." Bulvi begins to step into the room...

I suspect initiative

"That sketchbook might also be used as blackmail." Selena remarks offhandedly as she approaches the bones to look closer.

Heal: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18

"Seems a bit extreme, but then someone used kids to make guardian dolls. Something to be stopped for sure, but I don't know if it was planned or even allowed. The children were not exactly in bonds earlier, and if they were expected to be a meal, I'd think they would be bound in some way." she looks rather clinically emotionless as she looks over the bones, even using detect magic.

Fin, covering the doors when Bulvi opened ‘em, reacts by firing at the troll that threw the axe...

Since Fin was covering the doors, this would be his reaction since he had his bow ready...if not allowed before initiative, then this will be his first round action...

Longbow: 1d20 + 10 + 1 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (19) + 10 + 1 + 1 - 2 = 29
Damage: 1d8 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 1 + 1 + 1 + 4 = 15

You guys are prolific posters!!!

Sakitu tries to get a peek at the book that everyone seems to be looking at. Everyone seems to be inadvertently blocking her view. "What is it? What's in the book?" she asks. Finally she catches a glimpse between Quasit's and Fin's waist. It only takes a moment for her to realize what she's seeking and her face flushes red.

"What? Uh. Why is that here?" She asks the question but it's obvious that she doesn't really want to know. She's grateful when everyone's attention turns to getting into the next room.

At the sight of the troll she pulls an arrow on her bow and shoots at it.

shortbow@L5,PBS,into melee, precise shot: 1d20 + 5 + 1 - 4 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 5 + 1 - 4 + 4 = 15
damage,PBS: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

"Seems a bit extreme, but then someone used kids to make guardian dolls. Something to be stopped for sure, but I don't know if it was planned or even allowed. The children were not exactly in bonds earlier, and if they were expected to be a meal, I'd think they would be bound in some way."

Heal Skill: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20

Tezuzu adds analyzing the situation "Children are rather easy to manipulate; and young livestock are often praised for the tenderness of their flesh. It would be easy to fatten them up without them even knowing their fate."

----------

"What? Uh. Why is that here?" She asks the question but it's obvious that she doesn't really want to know. She's grateful when everyone's attention turns to getting into the next room.

Upon hearing the question Tezuzu happily begins to explain "Well you see Sakitu, it's all perfectly healthy, when a male troll gets lonely..." he abruptly stops his explanation a little embarrassed not realizing the rhetorical nature of the question and wanders off back to the door they are attempting to breach and gets ready.

Selena Snoe Yelizaveta wrote:

"Seems a bit extreme, but then someone used kids to make guardian dolls. Something to be stopped for sure, but I don't know if it was planned or even allowed. The children were not exactly in bonds earlier, and if they were expected to be a meal, I'd think they would be bound in some way."

Tezuzu adds analyzing the situation "Children are rather easy to manipulate; and young livestock are often praised for the tenderness of their flesh. It would be easy to fatten them up without them even knowing their fate."

"Even if they knew why they were here, what could they do? Held prisoner by trolls 5 times their size, plus a witch and a dragon? In a town filled with Mirror Men and spies? Where could they go? How could they hide? Most likely they're all orphans anyway, and no one would miss them. Sometimes terror doesn't make you run -- sometimes it just makes you stay right where you are. And you just hope they eat the other kid before you."

There's a strain of bitterness in her voice as Quasit says this. With an angry shake of her head, she leaves the room.

Maka giggled at the provocative drawings with the others. "We should make copies and put them all over the city! Also Bulvi we should get Tezuzu to make you big again later and try this one. Not the melon one, the leg one. It should work if we do it backwards and upside down."

-----

The discovery of the children's bones soured Maka's good mood. Palpable Anger flowed from Maka. Not like her usual anger, which came and left in bright flashes. This rage was deeper, quiet, building like the pressure inside a volcano. The large women gathered the bones and arranged them in a manor she deemed respectful, muttering Vudrani prayers as she did so. By the time she was done, a nimbus of flames and heat rolled off of Maka.

She followed the group quietly as they moved on to explore the rest of the tower. As the troll's axe sunk in to Bulvi's shield, Maka roared in fury and unleashed a blast of fire at the troll.

Fire Blast vs Touch AC; Elemental Overflow: 1d20 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 9 + 1 = 20
Fire; Elemental Overflow: 2d6 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (3, 4) + 2 + 2 = 11

The axe glances of Bulvi's armor, leaving globs of saliva behind. Findurel's arrow and Maka's fire go flying and find their mark. The ice troll and hound retreat through the doors.

Full round of actions for everyone.

Fin moves 30’ into the middle of the room to cover the doors to the north. ”We need to pursue before they can prepare for us...Bulvi, you wish to do the honors again? These bastards are gonna die...those bones were the bones of children...”

"We've got you covered." Maka growled as she moved to the set of double doors to the north, ready to send more fire at the first enemy she saw.

The ice troll and hound retreat through the doors.

which doors?

Map updated. Northern doors. Please feel free to update your positions if you like considering the full round given. The doors were open so everyone would have seen that the trollhound was waiting at the doorway.

With the doors open you see a third creature within the room the ice troll has moved into. The thick-bodied, white-furred creature wears bearskins and has an axe in one of its hands.

Bulvi ducked his head to get through the door frame. As his allies rushed about... and navigated the furniture with their normal sized bodies he reached in and took a swipe at the dog thing.
Power Attack +1 Longsword: 1d20 + 9 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 9 - 1 + 1 = 14
Damage: 2d6 + 11 + 1 ⇒ (6, 2) + 11 + 1 = 20

Quasit double moves to the far side of the doors and waits for her chance to strike.

So creature age was the only discernible thing about the bones? No indication of how long the creatures have been dead?

"Not so easy to fatten up kids around here. Danger is far more familiar to kids up here, and everyone knows about how kidnapped kids are basically never seen again. Besides, they were playing out in the yard, that's called an opportunity to run."

With Quasit's addendum "What a southern..." she cut off her response with the renewal of combat, but she didn't sound like she particularly agreed with Quasit.

Selena will follow along but hanging back and try out a ray of frost on the hound, to see how well it works.

1d20 + 5d3 ⇒ (5) + (2, 3, 2, 3, 3) = 18

With mage armor, my AC is 17 at the moment.

Bulvi's strike misses and the ray of ice hits, but doesn't seem to do any harm.

@Maka, confirming your positioning is correct? Trying to figure out attacks for NPCs. Also, chosen targets for Maka and Find for readied attacks?

Tezuzu will move along with Quasit and strike against the Trollhound his claw clenched into a fist. Yang follows up with a clumsy bite.

Would someone move Tez and his fox next to Quasit and Maka. Updating the map on mobile is pretty impossible for me, Thanks

Position is good, if the door is already open and we can see the 3 opponents, Maka would just attack instead of waiting. Spend a point of Burn to Activate Fan of Flames and hit all 3 enemies.

As Maka approached the room the troll fled to, she stopped and took a deep breath. Her chest painfully expanded at the rush of air, for a moment seeming impossibly large. With a roar, she released a gout of flames from her mouth. Filling the room with fire and leaving little place for her foes to retreat to.

Fan of Flames: 15ft cone, DC16 Reflex 1/2 dmg: 2d6 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (5, 4) + 2 + 2 = 13

The hound lashed out at Tezuzu as he attacks (Readied atk. bite: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9, miss.). Although the trollhound is burnt by Maka's attack. Tezuzu is unable to connect, thrown off by the snapping jaw of the creature. The white furred creature steps forward swinging wildly with its battle axe (5 ft step, attack and miss).

Sorry Maka, your post came up while I was getting this one ready. I just used your readied attack on the trollhound. You may use your cone attack this round if you like. Doors open inward so only trollhound and white furred creature are in range.

Round one: Findurel is up.

Did my arrow hit, I'm assuming not.

Sakitu moves into the room, focused on defeating the monsters. She fires another arrow at the trollhound.

shortbow@trollhound,PBS,into melee,precise: 1d20 + 5 + 1 - 4 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 5 + 1 - 4 + 4 = 19
damage,PBS: 1d6 ⇒ 2

No problem, Fan of flames this round sounds good. Add a move action to gather power so she doesn't take the point of burn.

Seeing the trollhound appears to be handled by his friends, Fin will fire both at the white-furred creature...

Would my attack in my readied action go off first or is this in addition? If I get a second attack it's below:

Longbow: 1d20 + 10 + 1 + 1 - 2 - 2 ⇒ (13) + 10 + 1 + 1 - 2 - 2 = 21
Damage: 1d8 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 1 + 1 + 1 + 4 = 13

Findurel follows his first shot with a second, striking the white-furred creature twice. The ice troll's arm rises from behind the door. Although you cannot make out the bulk of the troll, you can see that it has found a human child someplace in the room and is now holding the child up in the air behind hound and white-furred creature. Its axe blade appears from behind the door and is held very near the already frightened child's face. The trollhound waits ready to attack at its master call.

Round One: Bulvi, Maka, Tezuzu, Sakitu, Quasit, and Selena are up.

Quasit had been trying to stay inconspicuous beside the door, but seeing the child held up and threatened like this is more than she can bear, and she lets out a squeak of alarm.

"Saki! Daze it!"

Waiting to see what the folks ahead of me do before Quasit jumps in

Maka has stunning fist to try as well. @DM, if we manage to stun the troll would we have a chance to catch the kid?

The most obvious obstacle is that the ice troll is behind the trollhound and white-furred creature. So it would be difficult for Maka to get within reach of the troll. Stunning fist would be a melee attack unless there is a feat at play that I'm not aware of. Ranged and spellcasting is of course an option as troll is in line of sight for everyone accept Bulvi, Maka and Findurel. There is a chance that the child might be cut by the axe, but not killed if the troll simply dropped the child. Keep in mind the troll would also likely drop it's axe. The group is also mindful of the snarling trollhound.

Tezuzu will speak in a strained tone ”Nobody do anything too rash, he has taken a hostage and is demanding we put our weapons down. Let’s try talking first at least.”

Tezuzu will respond in Giant

Sense Motive (Any answer I5 gives): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23

While I would be up for stunning fisting this Troll-jerk too; from a narrative standpoint. However from a game standpoint if it has a readied action that probably means it will get off the kill shot before we can get close enough to throw the punch. My DC on it is 16 and I can misfortune at the same time. I’m willing to run in and take the AOOs of course if need be, but Tez will do so as a last resort if talking goes badly

Dang, I was on the wrong side of initiative for this incident...

Whispering to Tezuzu, Fin says, "Keep him talking long enough for me to put an arrow in the the hand that holds the child..."

The ice troll bellows, "Drop weapons! I hear brothers deaths. Save others." The troll gestures with the body of the child and its axe at the doors behind hound and white-furred creature.

So daze has an HD cap of 4 or below. With the health of the last few trolls we’ve fought they will almost certainly have more than that. So it probably won’t do diddly. If anyone has Command, Hold person, or color spray those would all work in a pinch. Otherwise we might be limited to stunning fist. That’s even provided we can get an action off before it offs the hostage. Disarm might be useful too, but the trolls natural attacks probably aren’t much less deadly to a kid than a battle axe....

I am really anxious to see how this plays out. Good move GM hats off to you.

At Quasit's suggestion, magic start to surge in Sakitu's hand. She holds off on casting the dazing spell though at Tezuzu's command. Sakitu marvels at the strange and guttural sounds that come out of the monk's beak as he replies in giant.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (11) + 0 = 11

Hearing the troll's response doesn't make her feel any better.

What kind of knowledge could I roll here to determine if my daze spell might affect the troll? It only affects humanoids and creatures with 5hd or less. I'll role a Knowledge(aracna) in the spoiler, just in case that would help me. My ooc knowledge knows things, but I'm trying to keep that separate from my ic knowledge. Tezuzu, can you do the Sense Motive?

"Tell us who and what remains between us and the dragon without lies nor deceit and I will accept your bargain of the hostages lives in exchange for yours." Selena speaks in her best "I'm master here" voice. She's truthful too should it matter.

diplomacy if needed: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19

Yea I know that's not quite what he said, but Selena hopes it puts him off guard and to show her supreme confidence in handling these beasts. And if they accept, so much the better.

The words come out in a rush of anger as you see droplets of blood forming where the claws of the troll grip the child. The creature is struggling to control itself. "You kill. You demand. Drop weapons. Talk after."

Knowledge (local) will get you specific info on ice trolls. Also, just from the battle any of the characters with a heal skill would be able to support Tezuzu's conjecture that they ice trolls are to strong for daze.

Already did my sense motive. ;) I think it's reasonable to know the limitations of your own magic or at the very least the knowledge that it's not fail-proof and is vague notion it's effective against guards or goblins but has a drastically less of a chance to work against the powerful. Knowing for certain would be OOC knowledge so a roll might apply, but being doubtful seems reasonable to me at least.

Tezuzu calmly raises his hands as if to show no weapons "It is frightened......perhaps we do what it says. If it tries anything we can probably still defeat it even unarmed."

Edit: I have a rank in heal....

Tezuzu will look back at Sakitu "These trolls are likely too strong for simple enchantments, I would reconsider if I were you....unless its a very strong enchantment."

Selena puts the sword in her belt. "Do you really think it will make a difference? The outcome will be the same. You have already lost, all that remains is to see whether you live or die. Do you think you have any power here? Saving the hostages is just a bonus, nothing more and certainly not worth surrendering for. And we all know you would just kill them eventually anyway. I'd rather see their deaths make way for victory than accept defeat to buy them a mere few days more of life."