Aubrey's Eberron campaign. (Inactive)

Game Master Aubrey the Malformed

The gibbet is more than 55' down the causeway, so I will assume that Gil and Kazadar gingerly move juuuust within range. They manage not to trap trigger any traps, although Gil didn't see any so there can't be any to worry about.

Gil and Kazadar concentrate on the gibbet. They pick up relatively minor auras from some of the armour and other equipment the corpse has, but nothing from the gibbet itself.

Ezreal rubs his temples while frowning. "Yes of course. That makes much more sense. Each of the Shrines have been the domain of a rather powerful guardian. I suppose I have become so used to checking every corner for traps that I see nothing else at this point." He shakes his head. "Although in this case the terrain will be just as dangerous should a guardian try to knock us off the causeway."

"I could attempt to feed it with a summoned creature, but I am loathe to burn such a powerful ally like that. I have a suspicion that when the creature vanished on the point of death the guardian might still become enraged."

"OK. In that case, let's go back and get the dead guys, and then exchange one of them for the skeleton in the gibbet. After that, we expect the worst..."

The adventurers head back, grab the corpse of the dead wizard, and drag it back through the cell block and through the lair of the necromental (I'm assuming you take Ez with you to utter the pass phrase again). Then they take a deep breath and walk towards the gibbet.

OK, who's doing this? Are you all going, or are you just going to sacrifice a few of the party?

Gil will go, mostly to try to discern any overlooked traps, but she will cast fly on herself first. Anyone else?

Janosz throws the dead sorcerer's body over his shoulder and crab-walks it over to the gibbet. "Here goes nothing..."

I'll swing the gibbet over the causeway and pull the armoured skellington out. If nothing happens, I'll then put the dead, still-fleshed guy into the cage, swing him out over the sea of worms and drop him in. At that point, somehing's bound to happen... While the worms are thus distracted, everybody hauls ass across the bridge, grabbing the skeleton along the way and exit through the door. When we're safely on the other side, we can store the dead knight in the tent for later burial.

sounds good to me

Floating along with Janosz, then, careful to remain above the causeway, just a foot or two in the air. She studies the path intently.

Perception vs traps: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (18) + 17 = 35

Ezreal remains floating midair above the causeway. "Let us find out how content the beast is to take an easy meal."

Janosz carries the corpse up to the gallows. He gingerly puts his hand on the winch and begins lowering the gibbet. The mechanism squeaks noisily, in need of some maintenance.

There is a stirring in the rustling sea of grubs. A metallic leviathan rises up out of the muck with a grinding rumble, coated with streaks of corrosion and slime. Its body is composed of round, torus-shaped segments, stacked upon one another like a worm. Rings of backward-pointing spikes three feet long jut from each segment. Its body flexes as it heaves itself up to regard Janosz, stray grubs dropping from it to plop back into the swarm. Three green-glowing eyes, evenly spaced about a circular orifice, stare down dumbly from ten feet above him. More spikes twitch around the mouth.

Knowledge (Arcana) or Knowledge (Dungeoneering), DC 23:

"Hmm. This is some kind of heavily customized iron golem. I was not expecting that. "

Kn Arcana: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (13) + 23 = 36

Yeah, you weren't expecting a killer wormbot!

Janosz keeps working on the gibbet. "I'm surprised too. It's too big to, ah, pluck the sacrifice out of the cage by itself, so I guess it'll vomit grubs all over the body instead. We might want to stand back a bit when that happens so we don't get caught by the spatter."

Knowledge (Arcana): 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (16) + 16 = 32

Perception for other threats/movement: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (9) + 14 = 23

Janosz discovers he is half-right. The worm golem doesn't wait for him to complete stringing up the sacrificial corpse, and vomits a swarm of rot grubs over him.

Roll initiative. Map to follow.

Initiative 11+7=18.

"Oh, really? Really?! Not even going to give me the chance to leave a sacrifice?" Janosz does his best to dive out of the way of the spume of maggots, dropping the dead sorcerer in the process. "F$*! you, steel-worm! I killed your cousin in the Mournlands; I'll kill you here."

Init: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18

Init: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (7) + 9 = 16.

Initiative: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

For a more specific knowledge check on iron golems should I use the one above or roll a separate one?

No, that'll do. Ez:

init: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

Map.

Hopefully reasonably self-explanatory - dark grey are the cavern walls, light grey is the causeway, light green is the worms. GA is the gallows. I've placed Janosz and worm golem, please place yourselves on the map. You are entering from the top of the map.

Initiatives:

Janosz 17+
Ezreal 17
Gelb 16
Gil 7+
Kazadar 7

My plan is to initially get some distance between it and myself. My best guess is that it can swallow foes or do that stick-on-spikes trick those Mournlands golems had; as I can be a pretty effective combatant against this thing, I need a Freedom of movement spell cast on me to avoid being eaten/impaled. Combined, that means I'll run towards Gil my first turn.

Does Gil learn anything additional with her Arcana roll earlier (32)?

how far down could we place ourseves? Also, anyone opposed to me increasing my size? I may need reach if it doesnt come closer. Janosz, check out my Freedom's Call domain power. It might help you here and there, but i assumeyoull wanna be farther away from me than that. I didnt prepare freedom of movement.

Gil accompanied the ranger out toward the gallows, searching for traps and triggers as they moved. She should be within 15', I'm guessing. How high is the ceiling in here?

Gil can read Ez's spoiler above. The ceiling is about 30' high in the middle but it's a tube so it gets lower the further you are from the centre.

Re Kazadar, last he said he was standing within 55' of the gallows to scan it with Detect Magic.

Worm Golem 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (18) - 1 = 17

Initiative
Janosz 17+
Ezreal 17
Worm Golem 17-
Gelb 16
Gil 7+
Kazadar 7

I've moved the golem slightly as I realized it needed to complete its action at the start of the combat. Also, it has just disgorged a rot grub swarm all over Janosz. The swarm persists until defeated (or you run away). Also, Janosz needs to make a DC 19 Fort save or he is infested with rot grubs. If he is infested, Janosz needs to make a DC 19 Fort save each round he is in the swarm and for 1d6 rounds afterwards or he takes 1d4 CON damage. People can try a DC 17 Knowledge (Dungeoneering) check for more information on rot grubs:

I12
And my init is actually 18 so I'll start us off...
Are the doors on both sides still open? Assuming they are at the moment.

"Frogshanks, I can do very little to stop a golem directly. I suggest everyone keep moving for the door. The gallows may have been meant only to offer a distraction while cultists run for it. I'll try to offer a different kind of distraction." Ezreal begins tracing arcane sigils through the air and chanting in a low voice.

5' to H11
Casting Defensively in case it can still reach me:
Defensive Casting DC 27: 1d20 + 12 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 12 + 8 = 28
1 round Casting: Summon Monster VI

Initiative
Ezreal 18
Janosz 17+
Worm Golem 17-
Gelb 16
Gil 7+
Kazadar 7

Maybe Vatters just couldn't believe anyone was faster than Janosz.

Janosz

Map updated.

"Got it." Janosz takes off towards the exit, trailing worms.

Fort save to avoid infestation 8+12=20. Now, my understanding is that since I'm acting before it on the initial round of combat, the golem does not get an AoO on me. Thus, I move to I8 (I have 40' move) and pop it once with my bow.

Attack roll 11+22=AC 33, damage 1d8+3+1d6 electricity=6+5 electrical. Though the arrow just bounces off, the energy damage should apply. Next round, worm...

Golem!

Since it attacked you first, I don't think it does apply in this instance. You can reconsider your move (or try something funky with Acrobatics).

Meh. My acrobatics skill is really good, but it might not be good enough to get past this thing. I'll just withdraw all the way to I1 and save the attacks for next turn.

Gelb is at J1.

Knowledge (Dungeoneering): 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (6) + 18 = 24

"Any energy effect should destroy the grubs on a victim, but it will harm the victim, as well... Or our new friend the cleric might be able to remove disease and remove them?"

Gil starts in I14, about two feet off the ground.

I5, please.

"Given time for prayer, I could remove disease today."

i could prep one remove disease today, given 15 minutes. on the topic of energy attacks, we should still have protection from fire on.

Worm time.
Did Janosz mean to withdraw back the way we came from?

I didn't initially. But after thinking about it, it makes sense to do so, primarily because I don't think we can get out of here until we beat the golem (we've been unable to leave previous temples until we've defeated their guardians). I need something to keep me from being swallowed - after that, the fight is on.

I've got your FoM, but I may not live long enough to deliver it.

Withdrawal from combat only really works for the first square you leave. If you move through another threatened square, you still cop an AoO. Given the worm golem's reach, you will move through plenty of threatened squares so it gets its AoO on you.

Worm golem's AoO
Slam 1d20 + 28 ⇒ (13) + 28 = 41 to hit, damage 2d10 + 16 ⇒ (2, 1) + 16 = 19

Then, for want of other targets, it goes for Gil
Slam 1 1d20 + 28 ⇒ (16) + 28 = 44 to hit, damage 2d10 + 16 ⇒ (6, 10) + 16 = 32
Slam 2 1d20 + 28 ⇒ (15) + 28 = 43 to hit, damage 2d10 + 16 ⇒ (8, 6) + 16 = 30

The golem attacks, simply smashing its head down on enemies to flatten them against the causeway.

Gelb.

Map updated.

Still favoring his wand, Gelb unleashes bolts of energy at the worm golem.

Standard: activate wand of magic missiles (9th) at worm golem.
Damage: 5d4 + 5 ⇒ (2, 2, 3, 2, 3) + 5 = 17.
Move: nil.

Gil

Ouch! Not as bas as I feared, though.

well, with the golem's +28 to hit, my armor means nothing. guess i should fight the swarms? or just stand there and eat as much damage as i can?

Gil already needs serious healing. Other than that, you need to keep me and Ezreal alive and fighting. Not sure what Gelb can offer here; hwever, golems can be sneak attacked now.

And, yeah, with that attack bonus, it'll hit us on every attack roll (my AC is pretty damn good, and it still hits me on a roll of 3 or better). We need to keep moving about and deny it full attack actions.

alright, how far is Gil down? Says 70/70 that i see

Gil is crushed into the causeway. It's all she can do to roll over so her hands are free, take a shaky breath to steady herself, and let her hands fly through familiar gestures, but with a twist.

Casting invisibility defensively using her metamorphic spell (time) ability to make it a quickened spell that lasts for only one round.

Concentration check, DC 19: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (19) + 16 = 35

She uses her active fly spell to move away from the wormbot 30' (to E10 with a 5' elevation gain) and using the rest of a double move to move out of the room. (Hoping by all that's holy and a few that aren't that it doesn't have see invisibility).

Her voice comes up behind the Janosz and Gelb, "Golems like this are immune to much magic or may even use it to gain strength. Observe carefully to make sure your arcane missiles are harming it and not healing it."

She will reappear one round after casting the spell.

alright, how far is Gil down? Says 70/70 that i see

She got hit twice for 62 pont of damage by the wormbot. So - 8/70.

Kazadar moves forward towards the fray to I9. He knows his short legs, magically fortified as they are, still will not reach the girl in time, so he reaches for the rod at his belt before converting some of his prepared spell energy into a curative invocation. dropping Chain of Perdition for Curse Serious Wounds.

cure serious wounds: 3d8 + 11 ⇒ (4, 3, 8) + 11 = 26 on Gil, using a charge from my Lesser Metamagic Rod of Reach

would have moved further, but didnt want to encourage the monster to spit up a glob of grubs by being next to Ezreal.

When Ezreal completes his spell a massive craggy boulder appears on the causeway. It suddenly launches up on legs while two enormous granite arms unfold from the sides slamming together on both sides of the worm.

In the meantime the Karrnathi mage swoops in quickly teleporting Gil and himself out of harm's way.

Huge Earth Elemental
Centered on J11
Earth Mastery is included. If the golem is not considered to be touching the ground underneath that mess of worms, -1 to hit and damage

Slam, Power Attack: 1d20 + 17 - 3 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 17 - 3 + 1 = 20
Slam, Power Attack: 1d20 + 17 - 3 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 17 - 3 + 1 = 31, Damage: 2d8 + 9 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (5, 6) + 9 + 6 + 1 = 27

Fly to H13
Defensive Casting vs DC 23: 1d20 + 12 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 12 + 8 = 26
Dimension Door Ezreal to I31 and Gil to J31

Janosz