Bad to the Bones (A Rappan Athuk campaign) (Inactive)

Game Master Eric Swanson

Well that was awful.

Is there a different direction to go once we retreat a whole bunch, clean up, and rest?

Perhaps after exploring the rat chamber we'll find something.

Hey ppls,

Just a note to let you know I will be off until next Monday for a family trip. Will be able to check games, but probably not able to post.

Feel free to bot me if needed ;)

It's extremely rare that I am unable to post for more than one day, so if I'm unexpectedly gone again, please send me a PM.

On my phone I've accidentally turned notifications off a few times now. while trying to check new posts. That little x is way too close to the new post number.

Merry Christmas everyone!! :D

And Yuletide blessings upon you all!

Merry Christmas to everyone except that guy that Keil just killed for his liver.

It's not Kiel's fault that guy didn't like his present.

Merry Christmas all!

Happy New Year peoples!!

*scowls* "Hmph. May the new year be prosperous for us all!"

I'm not kissing any of you.

A hug?

I'm not kissing any of you.

Don't worry, I am pretty sure that the goblins ate the mistletoe.

Hey guys. Going on Vacation tomorrow. Will be on a cruise so no access. Its a 5 day so I will check back in on the 26th. Please bot me and move us forward, oh and try and keep me alive :)

Enjoy it Arlok! :D

In the interest of party unity (and the fact this could be a tough fight) I will pause the game until Arlok returns.

I'm ok with him being botted. He doesn't really have tricks yet. I mean it would suck to die why not playing him but only thing that would change would be dice I roll as to someone else :) Up to you but I'm fine with the game going forward.

I'm also leaving on a trip on Saturday and will be gone until the 29th.

I'm also fine with being botted. The scouts are doing the majority of the posting right now anyway.

At the words "tough fight" Brok turns to run away.

"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale..."

hahaha Keil, nice one dang!

If the GM says 'pause', I say we pause ;)

Varg begins to clap when he hears that the party is to applause, when he realizes that Arlok and Grey seem to have lost their minds (diminutive as they may be), he stops and looks at Book and Grezzor figuring that this must be some type of goblin thing.

Arlok back, let the fun continue. :)

Wohooo!! How were those vacations man?

Great. Looking to book the next cruise now :)

Go ahead and start. I'll be able to post today and tomorrow. Sunday I'm going to be driving all day again, then monday im home and back to normal.

OK game is back on! Update later this evening.

Ok, rather than using a Cheating Death option for 2 points Keil could go for something spectacular. Referencing the Hero Points using Hero Points list, Keil could avoid a lot of pain spending the same number of points. For the first point, he would need a moment of Inspiration warning/reminding him of the impending nature of what... ... "hear and feel a distinct rumbling noise that begin to reverberate even over the noise of the river"...means (I admit I overlooked that in the description) and another point to take an Extra Action to dive out of the way before the worm emerges. How does this sound for a start?

My fear in just plopping down two Villian points to Cheat Death is then Keil will probably still just be lying on the cavern floor, stable yet unconscious doing his best to impersonate a morsel for the worm to eat at its leisure.

The thing is, if you do NOT spend them, you'll just continue on being digested... Unless we can hit it hard and fast enough to get you out somehow.

If you spend them, maybe we can draw its attention elsewhere, if we hurt it hard enough? I'll wait for your decision :D

This thing is hitting with +25 on its attacks and 4d8+20 on damage. Unless we can somehow take it out in 1-2 rounds, we are toast.

The goblin in me says do whatever it takes to run.

Shame I didn't roll a decent knowledge check to know what a purple worm was.

I really hope this thing has less than 20 hit dice.

OK since you managed to dispatch a CR 12 monster, you all just leveled up to 5th level! Congrats!

Keep in mind this will take effect once you have rested for the day. Please post a summary of your changes in this thread (along with your HP roll).

A reminder: Hit Points are rolled for. If you do not like your roll, you may spend a Hero Point for a re-roll. You must accept the re-roll regardless of the roll.

Cool - was typing a note when your save, or mis-save that is, went low. Was going to recommend using misfortune hex before the slumber hex.

WOOHOO!

With all the vermin poo-monsters and fungus and other sleep-immune stuff we've been facing lately I've been feeling a bit like I haven't contributed much beyond crafting lately. I'm feeling pretty vindicated right now.

Also, I'm about to have the coolest pet ever...

HP: 1d8 ⇒ 8 <-- nice, moderate decrease in chance of instant death.

Will begin working on leveling tonight.

HP: 1d6 ⇒ 5

Not too shabby :D

hp: 1d10 ⇒ 10

Finally Brok gets a good hp roll

HP: 1d12 ⇒ 9, Glad that worked out. We would have had to run and leave Keil hoping it didn't follow otherwise :)

Should Brok get a pet or no pet?

Hmmmmmm, pets are the coolest thing ever. This being the dungeon it is though, what pet are you planning on getting?

If it is one which will be involved in combat, better invest to keep it as strong as possible. If more for scouting, I think you can get a pretty good mileage without a crazy investment.

if you decide to get a pet, make sure it's one that won't mind hanging around with my pets. Can rangers get giant spiders or scorpions as pets?

Don't forget about the Boon Companion feat if you go the pet route.

1d6 ⇒ 5 HP.

I think I'm all leveled up. Gained third level spells and took Ability Focus Slumber Hex as my feat. At this point I have all the DC boosting character options that I'm aware of, so from here out I can start focusing my resources toward phase two of my build. Minion army!

I didn't think I'd be starting out with a purple worm though. That's pretty nuts. Once we are done checking it's stomach, I'll undeadify it.

GM, does a purple worm have a skeleton, or only it's exoskeletal plates?

Boon Companion is why Brok has waited from 4th to 5th to make the decision.

Dungeon Rovers have giant scorpions, giant centipedes, giant slugs, goblin dogs, and snakes as available options.

With most of those you need the stat bonus to Int to make it controllable, so it has to be effective level 4 or it'll keep trying to eat everyone.

Options I have considered:

Giant Slug - because it is ridiculous. A goblin with a lance on the back of a giant slug.

Giant Scorpion - probably the best combat form available. Gets big, changes Brok's role some from scouting to mounted combat. Having a large critter along hasn't seemed to be an issue on most of the maps we've fought on.

Goblin Dog - stays medium. not a great combat form. Keep's Brok in the scouting game. Possibly upgrade to a Warg later via Monstrous Mount, then I'd have a talking dog.....

GM, does a purple worm have a skeleton, or only it's exoskeletal plates?

The Purple worm does not have a skeleton, only the exoplates. Remember you need to take your 8 hour rest in order to officially level up.

Praetor Grey wrote:

GM, does a purple worm have a skeleton, or only it's exoskeletal plates?

The Purple worm does not have a skeleton, only the exoplates. Remember you need to take your 8 hour rest in order to officially level up.

Yep. I wasn't planning on waiting. I was going to use a scroll of Desecrate and a scroll of Animate Dead right now. My paranoia as a player is telling me that if I wait something might happen that will force me to abandon this awesome corpse before I can minion-ize it.

In a Desecrate area I can raise up to 16 hit dice with one casting of Animate Dead. Purple Worms have exactly 16 HD, so unless this one is a super-worm, this should work out.

Skeletons require bones, and Exoskeletons require a creature be Vermin, so Zombie is the only allowed template. Zombies are the least powerful of the templated undead, and are also pretty smelly and gross. However, they do have the advantage that their variants are all made with a flat cost in resources or extra spells cast which don't increase their effective hid dice cost when animating them.

The cost will be 300 GP worth of spell reagents, some alchemical supplies, and two rather expensive scrolls. basically, the majority of my loot so far is going into raising this thing, so I really hope it works. For that trade I'll end up with an Alchemical Brain Eater Purple Worm Zombie, which basically gives the standard zombie-ness, plus a bit of extra AC and the Grab ability seemed appropriate for something that is mostly mouth.

It will be CR 8, which is impressive, but still within the realm of what our group can deal with if it somehow gets turned on us. The perpetual Staggered condition means we can at least run away if we have to. I thought of a few ways to make it even stronger, but a smart necromancer never runs around with minions they can't destroy if they need to. Also, I don't want a pet creature to overshadow the group.

As with Shade, if this ends up making the game less fun, I have no problem destroying the zombie worm.

Praetor: Keep in mind this is a Gargantuan sized creature, which means it has Space 20 ft. In other words it is 20' wide. Most of the corridors you have traveled in are only 10' wide or even less, so there is no way it can travel behind you, like Ranulfus can. Since it does have a Burrow speed still you could order it to burrow along behind you but there would be no way to communicate with it while doing so.

Also keep in mind your mission does rely on a degree of stealth. There is NO way you will be able to sneak up on anything while this worm is behind you. And trust me...you do not want the entire forces of Orcus arrayed against you.

I would strongly discourage this course of action, but again, it is your call.

Crud. When the GM says "strongly discourage" I know to listen.

I was thinking that I would keep it burrowed, and communicate with it via particular patterns of foot stomps on the ground. It would still have tremor sense so it would know where I was as long as it was within 60 feet. Also, if I made it a Relentless zombie it could follow me by scent. Then I'd just call it up whenever we had an encounter in an area that was big enough to accommodate it.

Oh well. I'll leave it behind. I really hope it has some decent loot.