Among the Dead (Inactive)

Game Master Baerlie

We will punish these evil people

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Caelben just nods, trying to absorb the information provided..processing it slowly

"Tajan is ready" the monk for such he remains for now simply states. He nods at Adinomo "The new haircut suits you. Alas such fripperies are denied to me" he adds somewhat mournfully

"As far as I'm informed you already met him. You saved his life in the opera of Oppara. He was one of the nobles, I think you remember him when you see him. Hustavan was once a consul of the empire and carried the title Magistros. He was present in the House of the Immortal Son when the Society saved Oppara from the cultists. He’s fallen on hard times since — hard enough that he joined the cultists out of desperation. His recent messages to our lodge in Oppara indicate that something in the cult has changed and he wants out, so he’s given us their location in exchange for us keeping him safe and bringing him back to Absalom, where he will likely spend his days scrubbing floors in Skyreach, but I think you can trust him. But unfortunately we know nothing about the temple itself."

This Hustavan is the annoying noble guy who gave orders when you tried to save the people in the opera.

So, after a hurried early morning rush to gather supplies in Absalom, several days in the blustery Inner Sea, and another spent weaving through the bureaucracy of the Taldan customs rituals, you find yourself walking through a chilly, early morning rain storm and approaching what the vagabond locals say is the location of the burned-out temple to Sarenrae.

"An ounce of hardship and the noble cast their souls into the void. I will enjoy rescuing him." Evarice turns and prepares her bow.

Rain patters down in sheets over the scorched skeleton of a once majestic temple. Walls of thick, blackened masonry stand tall and abandoned, with gaping wounds revealing where stained glass windows once caught the morning sun. The roof has collapsed and most of its remnants are long gone. Only large, immovable remnants of the crumbling masonry remain in the rubble piles scattered throughout the ruin.

"Shall I go in first? I can move rather silently if I want..."

Without waiting for an answer the halfling is gone.

Stealth take 10: 10 + 14 = 24
Perception take 10: 10 + 8 = 18

Evarice prepares her bow and looks carefully.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

There is a lot of soot here.

perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

"I agree, Eva. Lots of soot, and rubble. Definitely rubble."

"If you think it;s wise to go in without the rest of you nearby."

Caelben hangs back to not disturb the sneaky approach

Letting the others sneak bartholimu waits for the all clear but ready to charge

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"Lots of rain and soot. Not a good combination" says Tajan

He leaps up onto the broken pillar in front of him to get a better look at the temple interior

acroobatics: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

He teeters trying to keep his balance for a moment...

We are obviously saving the good rolls for later

"Hmmm, not much to see here, I'd better scout a bit more..."

Adinomo scouts ahead while the rest follows in some distance.

All that remains inside this ruin are rocks and chunks of wood either too worn down and ruined to be of use or too heavy to carry away. There are signs that this place has been used in the past for shelter, but it has since completely collapsed, and most of the residents of the vagabond camp seem to give it wide berth. Two sets of ruined stairs in the temples south wall lead up to a once proud pulpit. At the back of the pulpit, an enormous stone lid, several hundred pounds in weight, has been pulled off a set of stairs leading down into darkness.

Suddenly you hear dogs growling and barking while a man shouts. "Please help me!" The man stands on the pulpit, surrounded by three dogs. He’s wielding a long piece of wet, rotting wood and is just barely keeping the dogs at bay.

"Why do the dogs want..." Evarice lets out an arrow as a warning shot.
She's purposely missing the dogs.

Assuming the rubble is difficult terrain, I double move into the building.

Lilyth moved into the building, stumbling over the rubble as she hurried to get the dogs off of the man at the pulpit. She shouted at the dogs to get their attention.

"Over here, you mangy mutts! Leave off!"

Looks to make his way carefully up the fallen pillar and then move to the yellow dog in a double move
"Shoo! Bad dog!"
likely checks
climb: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21
acrobatics: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

Caelben moves forward with the others, trying to scare the dogs away

Hearing that the others have also heard the dogs Adinomo silently moves forward while drawing his rapier.

Stealth: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (16) + 14 = 30

Moving 20 feet per round, half speed towards the dogs, leaving my icon at the entrance. I think initiative is in order...

You try to get the dog's attention while Tajan climbs up to the platform. One of the dogs turns around to attack the monk.

Round 1
Lilyth
Adinomo
-----
Dog blue
-----
Evarice
Bartholimu
-----
Dog yellow
Dog red
-----
Tajan
Caelben
-----
Hustavan

attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16
damage: 1d8 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

Lilyth, seeing that she hadn't yet gotten the dogs' attention, decided to take the next step. She took it, and then jabbed at one of the dogs with her spear.

Stabbing at top-most dog.

Adinomo runs as fast as he can up the stairs while drawing his rapier

Evarice stabs at the dog at the platform and the animal drops down to her feet, covering the floor with blood. Adinomo rushes up the stairs, closer to the dogs while drawing his rapier.

The dog with the blue collar gets past his companion and bites Tajan.
Bite: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14

Round 1
Lilyth
Adinomo
-----
Dog blue
-----
Evarice
Bartholimu
-----
Dog yellow
Dog red defeated
-----
Tajan
Caelben
-----
Hustavan

Evarice runs around the smashed pew and attacks the closest dog, with the yellow collar.

"We're coming! Protect yourself!"

Longbow, into Melee: 1d20 + 6 - 4 ⇒ (4) + 6 - 4 = 6
Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

Evarice's arrow plops against the ground, in the dog's general location. Give or take.

Caelben watches the combat as it progresses..waiting for his moment to jump in

Letting the others sneak bartholimu waits for the all clear but ready to charge

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I believe the difficult terrain will make charging difficult so bartolimu will move up and attack red with his Glaive

glaive attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12
glaive damage: 1d10 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17

works for me... Sorry for no post. Bought house Friday and have been painting and moving. Still working on house but should be able to check daily now

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Evarice shoots an arrow at the closest dog, but misses the target. Also Bartholimu's attack is successful. The dog tries to dodge aside but the attack was hard enough to hit the animal.
Just found out that red is already defeated, but I forgot to remove it from the map. Bartholimu instead attacks yellow which is also flat footed so a 12 hits.

Round 1
Lilyth
Adinomo
-----
Dog blue
-----
Evarice
Bartholimu
-----
Dog yellow defeated
-----
Tajan
Caelben
-----
Hustavan

Caelben, spear at the ready double times it up some stairs towards the last dog, trying to draw it's attention away from the man it's attacking

(double move)

[b]"Lie DOWN"[b] Tajan commands as he tries to bat the the remaining dog with his fists (Striking non lethally)
flurry attack: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9
flurry attack: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11
(actual striking of any description would be good)
very optimistic damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

Caelben moves up the stairs while Tajan tries to bat the remaining dog. It seems to be more hugging than batting. The remaining dog bites Tajan.
Bite vs. Tajan: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16 Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Round 1
Lilyth
Adinomo
-----
Dog blue
-----
Evarice
Bartholimu
Tajan
Caelben
-----
Hustavan

I think that since the dog went our entire party can act now? Or at least Lilyth and Adinomo can do something?

Caelben moves closer to the dog and tries to scare it away by sticking his spear at it

Unsure how the fallen pillar? counts....I'll assume it just provides cover

To hit AC dog with cover: 1d20 + 4 - 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 - 4 = 14
Piercing damage if hit: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Caelben sticks his spear into the remaining dog and the dog drops.

combat over

Hustavan drops to his knees and begins sobbing. He is a broken shell of his once proud, arrogant self. "Thanks for saving my life!"

"Of course, sir. We never leave people behind. Remember the Opera house a few months ago?"

Humility is the first step to recovery.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

"I know things have gotten kind of bad for you. But you must not lose hope." She helps him up. "As long as you breathe you are always growing." She smiles.

"We need to know about the cult. You know, the one that attacked the Opera House. Do you know where they hide out?"

Lilyth was happy to let Evarice talk to the man. It seemed that her companions were at least as effective fighting together as they had been in the opera house. That was good. Much more likely that they would all survive this mess.

"You are welcome, are you alright?"

"As long as you breathe you are always growing."

"I prefer to be small..."

Diplomacy Aid Evarice: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

Adinomo comes out of hiding "I am sure they can't hide as good as I can. If you can help us out we would be in your debt"

Tajan wraps some cloth round the bite on his hand "Are you also injured sir?" he asks as he looks round for more dogs

perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

"We can't let our guard down just yet"

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At Bartholimu's words Caelben straigthens and get's a better grip on his spear as he looks around for more signs of danger

Perception: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (2) + 0 = 2

"Only minor scratches." Hustavan answers.

"The hideout is down these stairs behind you. But be carful, the cultists set up a lot of traps, they are killing each other with them. I fled and I haven't been down there for two weeks now, but they have a a ragged dead thing with skin like blood and eyes like fire down there!" he continues, obviously nervous when telling you about the creature.

Traps? Damn, I should I have studied the finer details of trapfinding, but nooo, I spent more time with the faith. You can't win them all...

"We'll keep our eyes peeled. The fact that they have so little self-preservation they would kill themselves like that..." she shakes her head. "They must be desperate."

"Hustavan, your humility serves you well. Can you seek refuge somewhere? If not you should stay on our ship until we return."

Once that's settled with, Evarice turns to Adinomo. "I didn't mean grow, literally. I just meant that he's growing in character. Um. He...it's okay to be short. I mean, relatively. Not that being tall is a problem either.." she turns a slight shade of pink, embarrassed.

"Oh, I prefer to come with you. Maybe you need my assistance with something." Hustavan answers.

At the motion of traps Adinomo starts rummaging in his belt pouch, he checks for something and then closes his belt pouch again "I can deal with the traps. And don't worry Evarice, I was just messing with you" he answers with a pat on her back, as high as he can reach.

When the noble answers that he wants to accompany them Adinoma asks Hustavan "And what is your area of expertise?"

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

"Getting into trouble and then needing help out of it, from our experience. Seriously man, why don't you sit this one out?"

Lilyth hoists her spear and moves towards the stairs, waiting for Adinomo to scout them before descending.

Adinomo slowly and meticulously checks for traps before descending. At every crossing or door he takes his time, while moving more quickly down the straight sections

Perception take 20 for 28 at places where traps are likely, everything that is not a straight hallway
Take 10 in the straight sections for 18

"Without me you would not know where to find the hideout! So don't treat me like this, woman! I've been down there already, but if you don't want my help, go and die in the crypt." Hustavan answers.

Lilyth and Adinomo move down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs is a small room. Two female statues stand in the middle of the room; their arms were broken off and are missing, and their facial features were long ago scraped away.

A small amount of light reaches this room from above, casting the entire room in shadowy illumination. Three tunnels lead away from here — a wide tunnel to the north and two smaller passages to the west and east.

Adinomo finds an arrow trap installed in front of you. DC20 DD to disable

Adinomo disables the trap take 10 for 20 ;-) and stands up, asking the man "So, where is this hideout?

He tries to see if there are any tracks leading to one of the three tunnels

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15

trapfinding standard of practice will be in force for the entire dungeon as set out in previous post

"Good job on finding that trap Adinomo. Let's keep up the good work"

Caelben follows _safely behind_ Adinomo

"Ah, now you want my help? I thought you are oh so well skilled guys. Pff... Look for a hidden door in the wall behind you!" Hustavan answers, obviously annoyed.

Adinomo disables the trap blocking the passage to the north and tries to find tracks. He hears some noise from the north eastern part of the crypt. A few feet behind the two statues he finds a tripped rock fall trap, two sets of pale, cold feet stick out from the debris, and a coagulated rivulet of blood oozes forth from beneath it.