Aubrey's Rise of the Runelords campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Aubrey the Malformed

Yes, although it can move freely through stone so it might not be much of an advantage.

I think I'll do that. 5' step to H20 before 'pushing' the G19 cube out of the way. That should expose4 the forgefiend to Hudak's tender mercies.

Return of the Forge-Fiend: 25
Camlo: 22
Elisile: 19 +
Enga: 19
Sefayll: 17
Illes: 14 +
Alwyn: 14
Demiarchos: 13
Golem: 10
Hudak: 9

I wasn't paying attention and got skipped there, but it is better to delay until after Alwyn in any case.

The moment the forge fiend is revealed, Illes opens up with a sonic assault on its mind. Undulating waves of chittering screeches, wailing, laughing children, breaking glass, and kittens meowing hammer away at whatever auditory senses the thing might have.

SA: Cacophonous Call DC 21+2 = 23 DC Will
(+2 is from captivating melody which auto succeeds for a 2nd level spell, costs 2 rounds of perform)
Fail = Nauseated for 11 rounds
Inspire Courage continues at +5/+5
Performance 37/29

Map updated.

Hmm, I just checked the spell description for stone shape - you can affect 10 cubic feet plus one per level, so 21 cubic feet in Alwyn's case. A 5' cube of stone is 5 x 5 x 5 cu ft, or 125 cu ft, so Alwyn could barely scratch the surface of the stone. I think Alwyn will need to think of something else to do. Which also means that Illes will need to. Sorry, should have checked before.

I'm preparing an attack for when the forgefiend comes for me.

"Take cover, little mortal!" With a burst of laughter, Demiarchos barfs flame all over the golem.

Move to I/J 27-27 before incinerating the golem and, unfortunately, Camlo. Fire damage: 10d6 ⇒ (3, 6, 5, 1, 3, 5, 6, 5, 1, 4) = 39. Reflex 21 halves/negates the damage, which should be a cinch for Camlo.

Readied action to do the same when it emerges.

Reflex save 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23

Whoa! A nimble golem.

Someone the golem avoids the main blast of Demiarchos' breath, more by chance than anything else. It pounds stoically on Enga's defenses.

Two slams on Enga
Slam 1 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (6) + 22 = 28 to hit, damage 2d10 + 9 ⇒ (6, 6) + 9 = 21
Slam 2 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (6) + 22 = 28 to hit, damage 2d10 + 9 ⇒ (2, 3) + 9 = 14

No move; I keep using my Lunge feat.
Attack 1: 11+22+5(bard)-3(Power Attack)=AC 35, damage 1d10+19+9(PA)+5(bard)=40.
Attack 2: 12+17+5(bard)-3(Power Attack)=AC 31, damage 1d10+19+9(PA)+5(bard)=39.
Attack 3: 14+12+5(bard)-3(Power Attack)=AC 26, damage 1d10+19+9(PA)+5(bard)=37.
Attack 4 (bonus from Haste):12+22+5(bard)-3(Power Attack)=AC 36, damage 1d10+19+9(PA)+5(bard)=39.

Forgefiend!

Enga staggers under the golem's blows, blood leaking from her mouth and nose.

Hudak decides that playing with the stone golem has to stop before someone gets seriously hurt. A series of mighty blows - one, two, three, four - and the golem is just rubble.

Yet again, we see how crap fighters are, completely unable to do anything compared to an uber-wizard.

The forgefiend does not emerge again from the wall.

End of combat. 1,828xp each.

Illes stands frozen, eyes scanning the wall for some time waiting for the forge fiend's return before finally loosening up. "Oh hell." He walks over and taps Elisile, "How are we going to fix long ears here. I don't have a song for this."

"Smash her up into small pieces, easier to carry around," suggests Enga, poking the smashed golem with her spear.

No, don't do that! Elisile's horrified frozen expression seems to say.

I have no idea in the short term. Some of these flesh to stone things wear off after a bit, others are more permanent. Maybe drag her away from the wall to hopefully avoid more forge fiend surprise attacks and wait to see what happens.

"If the tales are to be trusted, this is a long-term concern. Given time, we should be able to reverse it. However, I lack the resources to do it currently. Perhaps Alwyn's god will give him what he needs, given time for prayer? We need to heal up and determine our course of action - find a position we can defend and hope the scanderig doesn't ambush us, or proceed forward without her for the moment."

"We're way too close to Mokmurian to stop now. More or less standing in his foyer with a trail of bodies stretching down the trail. Alarms will be going off and that forge fiend isnt going to let us rest."

"Then we proceed with a statue. I'm loathe to leave her if we can avoid it. Alwyn, do you have anything prepared to remedy her condition?"

Does anyone have Stone Salve?

Apparently not.

OK, so what are you going to do with Elisile?

Sorry, I meant to reply. No, Sefayll is woefully unprepared for an adventuring career. I failed to equip her with anything useful like that. As near as I can tell, I got her a weapon, some armor, her helm, and a shove out the door.

"Hmm... Well, the spell I intended to dig the forgefiend out of the wall with can reshape just about any stone object. So I can make Elisile into a wheel! That way she can roll with us."

"No?"

Sefayll frowns at the idea and shakes her head slightly. "Do you have some form of magical transport? You know, for when you, ah, free large items from their undeserving owners?"

I assume no one has Stone Salve – hmmm, good thing to purchase next time … Stone to Flesh is unfortunately not available to any of our spellcasters, and this sort of petrification is not reversible by Dispel Magic. Hopefully some of the bad guys here pack some Stone Salve just in case of any mishaps with their pet forge fiend …

I think we did have a portable hole or something at one point, I seem to recall us packing the giant sized polearm in it? Unless Vethran kept it. Otherwise, maybe Hudak can drag statue Elisile (carefully) around, and you can stash her somewhere if you find a safe looking area? I’ll continue playing Enga in the meantime.

"Perhaps we could hide her in the hidden shrine in the room where she caught up with us - where we fought the lamias?"

"Well, she makes pretty statue. Pretty enough Giants wont notice anyway."

So is it your decision to stash her in the shrine?

I feel a bit bad about this. She followed halfway across Varisia to be with you guys, and now she's turned to stone. I could have sworn someone had stone salve. Ah well.

That may well be as safe a place as any - hopefully far enough away that the forge fiend won't come by and smash her BUT the group will need to pass through that size altering room to get back there.

It was probably Vethran who had stone salve, sounds like something Fatey would have thought of.

OK, please make a party decision. Unfortunately, this party doesn't have a multidimensional tent or a portable hole, which is something of an oversight.

I'm for leaving Elsile back where it's less obvious, even if that means going back through the weird room. Camlo wont be much help moving her.

"Lets move her quickly, so we can on with this."

I suggest we move gradually through the weird room so we don't have everyone incapacitated at the same time.

Yeah, let's move her there. I can use Stone shape to loosen her from the floor, if necessary. After that, it is healing time.

Unfortunately, this party doesn't have a multidimensional tent or a portable hole, which is something of an oversight.

This is not meant as a complaint - but does this adventure path seem very light on treasure? We all feel a bit underequipped.

We have a party of 6 (have had more and less than that at times) and are possibly dividing treasure based on adventures written for a party of 4. Elisile seems a bit light on gear / wealth but I have missed a bit.

I seem to remember this AP being a bit slated for being treasure light. Certainly the first volume, you had to hit *every* monster to get wealt by level for a party of four.... Not sure as it went on.

A couple of levels ago you actually flogged some quite expensive gear and equipped yourselves to be reasonably level-appropriate. I tend to be a bit stingy on the treasure side mainly because at the end of an encounter, unless the treasure is already detailed, I more often than not can't be bothered to generate any due to natural laziness, and you have (until recently) been moving through areas which I had created (your long walk from Hook Mountain to Jorgenfist) and therefore have been a bit treasure-light. Also, lately you've been killing mooks rather than bosses, which are usually the big sources of treasure. So you might be a bit low on gear. I haven't noticed it affect your performances particularly, I'll be honest, except maybe for the crap fighter.

OK, so if you are stashing Eli upstairs...

The group pick up the unfortunately stoned elf and heft her out of the room. They are prepared for the weirdness of the previous room and move through it with little trouble. Their muscles are aching a bit as they make it back up the spiral ramp, since the petrified version of Elisile is significantly heavier than the flesh-and-blood version. Fortunately, the alarm doesn't appear to have been raised - clearly the main part of the garrison prefers to avoid the darker depths of Jorgenfist - and they are able to secrete here in a corner by the dead lamias. They then return to the depths.

OK, you return back to the cauldron room without further incident.

Is there a visible way out from the cauldron room? Anyone want to search the place or check out the big cauldron?

Camlo will have a quick look around.

Perception: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (7) + 15 = 22

Yes, there's a corridor onwards.

And?

Onwards!

Unless one of the magic people want to investigate the cauldron first.

Sefayll had cast detect magic when we first entered, but the golem obviously got her attention. She will cast it again when they return through the room.

Sefayll:

"It is indeed magical. And very powerful. and very heavy. Without studying it, I don't know that it can aid us today. It would more likely only slow us down."

"I would like to gather it up before we leave, should the opportunity present itself."

"Yeah, later, we do lots cooking, now we go."

"Yes, my friend, exactly. Now we go."

Walking further, the chill in the next room isn’t quite enough to frost the floors and walls, but it’s certainly enough to frost the breath. The room itself contains what must be two dozen large suits of armor mounted on what appear to be frozen or preserved ogres, trolls, and hill giants, all staged as if rallying for war.

Are they about to come and get us? Why's it so cold?

Perception: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (15) + 15 = 30

Enga peers around, looking in particular for exits and any sign of movement from the armour-clad giant corpses.

Perception: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (19) + 16 = 35

“If lucky, they come to life and we fight again, yes friend?” The kobold sounds enthusiastic, but is looking a bit injured and ragged after all these battles.

"Ahh, yes. If we are lucky..."

Luck seems to be with the adventurers... As some of the figures jerk into undead life.

Roll initiative.

“Huzzah!”

Initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5