All's Well that Ends in a Well, V.2 (Inactive)

Game Master Choon

You guys are hilarious. :)

In response to Catarya's suggestion of bringing the planks: The woods seemed to complain of our weight, I would not trust it again unless we do something to strengthen the planks - maybe stack them and lash them together or something?

Grelthe looks confused for a moment at Melkar's comment, then gets the joke and turns deeper hue of green as she laughs awkwardly.

Talking to Grelthe, Zadira asks Would it help to get another bed?

... She looks up and sees Melkar grinning, and says

I mean for the *bridge* Melkar. The bridge.

Grethle looks completely bewildered, honestly has no idea. Engineering is not her forte.

I don't know, but the only reason this one reached far enough was that we could go across the corner - not sure how useful any of this would be to try to cross a pit trap the long distance. In the long run, it might be simpler to just jump down into them and climb back up the other side? In any case, there are no traps blocking our exploration to the east, so we can discuss this as we come to it, if need be.

GM Choon question: the pit traps appear to be 20' by 20' is that right? And based on Zadira's fall damage from the first trap, I'm assuming 20' deep as well?

Yes, they are.

The door is opened and noting happens. The party carefully enters. This room contains 5 circular pools, each of which is 5 ft. in diameter
and has a 1 ft. tall stone lip. Once the characters have entered the room, they notice a hole beside the north door of the room; it was obviously once a much smaller murder hole used to guard the door, but it has been partially battered away, and the opening is now about one foot by two feet large.
As soon as the party is through the door you notice a worrying buzzing noise...
2d6 ⇒ (3, 1) = 4
Four Stirges burst from the former murder hole and are upon the party in no time!

Catarya may act, then it's the stirges, then the whole party.

If you approach any of the wells in the room, please check the matching spoiler for a possible effect.

"Blood birds!" Catarya shouts.

Catary lashes out with her daggers at the stirge in the corner.
Fighting Defensively; AC is now 24. The stirges are still flat-footed so sneak attack should apply. Aiming at the one to the north of me. If the first attack drops it the second attack will aim at the one next to Zadira and Kayla.

dagger 1, -4 Fighting defensively: 1d20 + 9 - 4 ⇒ (10) + 9 - 4 = 151d6 + 1d8 ⇒ (4) + (7) = 11
dagger 2, -4 Fighting defensively: 1d20 + 9 - 4 ⇒ (20) + 9 - 4 = 251d6 + 1d8 ⇒ (4) + (1) = 5
dagger 2 crit?: 1d20 + 9 - 4 ⇒ (9) + 9 - 4 = 141d6 ⇒ 3

If the stirge to the north goes down:

Catarya sidles into the corner, placing her back to the wall. She eyes the stirges, trying to recall their weaknesses.

Knowledge (arcana) untrained: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11

Her first dagger strike misses, but the second strikes hard. The stirge attempts to lash out oat her in reply, but falls to the ground.
Brought to 0 by your attack, took action and passed out so no step, unfortunately.
Everyone: Stirges have AC 16 and 5 hp each. Feel free to flavor your hits yourself!

The remaining three stirges swarm Catarya and Kayla!
3d20 ⇒ (9, 10, 15) = 34
The one attacking Catarya can't get a grip, but Kayla turns out to be a flat-footed smorgasbord. Two of the stirges get their little clawed feet into her!
The attached Stirges' Ac is 12 as they are technically grappled

Grelthe will move in front of Kayla and attempt to smash one of the stirges (the red bordered one, why not) attached to her.
Flail Attack: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13
Flail damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
For a moment it looks as if Grelthe is going to miss and hit Kayla shoulder, but at the last moment her flail cleanly smashes one of the stirges away from Kayla, and it falls to the ground in bits.

If Zadira is right next to that stirge, she takes a 5-foot step backward and then shoots.

Attack Stirge Yellow: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27
damage to Yellow: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

That's with Point-Blank and Focused Shot

Oh, possible crit. Roll to confirm.

Crit Confirm on Yellow: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8

Well, that is a definite no... dead anyway, just doesn't quite explode. :)

If you're referring to the yellow-bordered one, yes that is grappling Kayla, so you are adjacent

Except they are 10 foot squares, so we don't really know that, right? I can take a 5 foot step back and my character remains in the same square.

ah good point, I constantly forget that

I have re-sized the tokens for clarity

Ooooh... Rappan Athuk suddenly seems so much more huge and overwhelming. :)

And the part you're exploring? It's basically the front porch.

Yikes. And also Yay. :)

assuming that Kayla is no longer attached to these things (did she take any damage?)

kayla flips back, away from the danger as she checks herself for damage.

She has one of her blades out ready to attack if any of those big bugs gets near her.

No damage.

Melkar and Catarya to act. One Stirge left flying

"Good work!" Melkar approves of the others, then swings fiercely at the remaining stirge.

scythe: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11
damage: 2d4 + 14 ⇒ (3, 2) + 14 = 19

Bleh.

Ouch, Sorry Melkar.

Her first dagger strike misses, but the second strikes hard. The stirge attempts to lash out oat her in reply, but falls to the ground.

Brought to 0 by your attack, took action and passed out so no step, unfortunately.
Everyone: Stirges have AC 16 and 5 hp each. Feel free to flavor your hits yourself!

The stirges were flat-footed when I attacked, so the first shot should have been a hit unless their DEX is 10 or less (I rolled a 15).

Not sure it really matters, since both of the ones you attacked are now dead. Let's kill the last one so we can move on.

They're tiny. Flat footed AC was 12.
Edit: from now on, please roll damage and attack on seperate lines. I took your fanfare for your attack result.
The last stirge falls to an unnoticed wound. The room is yours to explore!

Zadira walks up and looks into the well in front of them. Well C

What does she see? Spoiler says no immediate effect, so I'm assuming I don't die, and get the time to look. :)

It takes you a moment to get a feel for the pool's magic. You determine that any magic item dunked into this pool glows with a faint reddish light that details it's properties whereas any mundane item will just get wet. The pool’s supply of divination magic is not unlimited.

Basically it's an auto-identifier

Edit: from now on, please roll damage and attack on seperate lines. I took your fanfare for your attack result.

Okay, no problem.

Anyone remember the really old D&D module B1: In Search of the Unknown? This room reminds me of that.

"A magic pool? What about te oters?"

Catarya waves her hand over her eyes and they begin to glow a faint blue.

Casting detect magic. Not going to approach within 5' of a pool until I have had a look. I don't think I'm the best at this in the party so others are welcome to join in.

spellcraft A: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12
spellcraft B: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23
spellcraft D: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28
spellcraft E: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16

I don't have ranks in Knowledge (arcana), if that is what would be used.

When Catarya approaches A she suddenly runs out of the room screaming. A few seconds later she comes back in.
All within 5' run in terror for 3 rounds, no save.
She then moves on to B. The water in this pool is illusionary, concealing a shaft down into the darkness. Iron rungs are set into the stones to serve as a ladder.

Pool D seems enchanted to assist anyone who drinks from it for a time.

Pool E seems to be similarly enchanted, though you can't tell its effect.

About B: Um, is that the well that the people in town were warning us not to go down?

Since she screamed at A, I don't think I will go there, but to identify E:

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

It is meant to alert body chemistry similar to the other, but that's all the magic is giving you about either of them.

You doubt that's the Well as you're not technically in Rappan Athuk.

Hmm. Well, hmm. ...

Zadira drinks from E.

As the last Stirge falls, Grelthe stomps on the one closest to her Filthy creature!

She relaxes as her companions search the magic pools, and therefore jumps in surprise as Catarya exits the room screaming, her curiosity making her start to head cautiously towards A to see what frightened Catarya so, but she returns before Grelthe reaches it and (I assume) warns her away from it.

Asks Cataraya What did you see that frightened you so?

I also assume everyone is sharing their knowledge from checks freely with the party, if anyone wants to be secretive I guess let us know what you *aren't* sharing

That magic item identification pool may come in handy later, if we are not able to identify something we loot from this place.
Assuming the info about D was shared, Grelthe will drink from D.

Both of you make me a Fort save.

Fort Save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20

Whew. Hopefully I didn't die?

dammit
Fort Save: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17

Don't die Grelthe. You're too young to die.

As the group seems to be checking the pools, and Zadira running away was warning enough to keep her distance from that one.

I think there is a door that was not checked out, so...

Kayla moves to check the door examining it for any traps.

find the trap: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (17) + 12 = 29

Zadira feels poison the moment the liquid hits her stomach. She fights off the initial effects, but can still feel her stomach clenching.
save Fortitude DC 18 onset 10 minutes; frequency 1/minute for 6 minutes effect 1d6 Dex damage, creatures reduced to 0 Dexterity suffocate; cure 2 consecutive saves. I'll let you know when to save again

Grethle, meanwhile, feels oddly energized.
Drinking from that well give a +2 attack and saves for 24 hours. Unfortunately, drinking from either well makes you immune to the magic of both.

Kayla examines the door and finds nothing suspicious.

Melkar watches the women sample from the two wells with great interest. Zidara's expression tells him all he needs to know- he takes a big sip from Grelthe's well instead.

"This room must have belonged to some entity of great magical power, no? I think whatever is down that well must be either very useful or very deadly. Probably both."

I've been poisoned...

Would a heal check do anything here? Or an antidote kit? I think that is just for venom, but not sure.

She holds her stomach. Oh. Don't drink this one. I examined it. I thought it might heal me, because I have been feeling weak. Now everything is worse...

She stumbles closer to the rest of the party, not looking well at all.

confident the door is safe, Kayla turns to inform the others when Zadira drops to the floor.

rushing over, she weaves some of her innate magic.

detect poison spell to verify she is in fact poisoned.

She is, in fact, poisoned. She isn't even suffering the full effects yet.

Kayla makes her sit still, ok, i am pretty knowledgable with this stuff...well actually the reverse...lets not talk about that right now.

as she tries to keep her comfortable Kayla starts to pull some odds an ends from her pouches.

mixing several things together she tries to concoct some antidote.

heal?: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15

Here, drink this, Your chances of survival are about one in a thousand, so here’s what you do. You forget the thousand, and you concentrate on the one, you.

heal check was too low to help so you do not get the +4 on your next save, sorry, I tried

One in a thousand? Kayla, you sure know how to make a girl feel better.

If I die, I die. Go see what you found behind door number one. You can come back and tell me about it.

She's kind of babbling. She knows she isn't dying quite yet, but the fear is getting to her.

Not knowing whether it will work, Zadira breaks out her healer's kit and Antidote kit again, and gives it a go.

Heal: 1d20 + 5 + 2 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 5 + 2 + 3 = 27 <--+2 healer's kit, +3 antidote kit

I just looked it up and antidote kits work on poison in general, not just venom. Maybe I was thinking snakebite kit because of the giant snake.

Kayla sits beside Zadira, and pulls out a couple of her pastries as well as a chocolate bar.

splitting the chocolate in half she gives half to Zadira as well as a taiyaki pastry.

I don't want you to die, you are one of my only friends that I had in a long time.

With Kayla's help a possible antidote is concocted, but it remains to be seen if it will actually work.
You get +4 on your rolls! I'll let you know when to start rolling.

Thanks Kayla. She smiles at her friend and eats the pastry, hoping that she won't barf it back up and ruin the moment.

Grelthe immediately starts hopping up and down in place and throws a couple punches Man, I feel like I could take on the whole dungeon right now... then turns around to see Zadira, and her face falls out of concern for her companion. She hovers near her & Kayla, pacing, unable to help, but trying not to be in the way.

She is going to go look through the hole next to the door (where the stirges came from) to look at the room beyond (how big is it, any visible doors, any other enemies).
Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19