Beyond the Eyes of the Iron Gods: An Iron Gods Adventure Path (Inactive)

Game Master Terquem

Round 1…

The Beetles advance on the party

As the Beetles move closer some of them leap into the air, fly a short distance and then land. Two insects land close to John and Unbolath and nip at the men's legs

Bite Attack vs John: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 1 = 18
Bite Attack vs Unbolath: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

John feels a painful pinch above his boot

Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 1

Azariah moved across, taking a slice at one of the bugs with the long-bladed scythe she carried. Maybe this will be a better showing than against the machine from earlier...

To Hit: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14
Damage: 2d4 + 6 ⇒ (4, 2) + 6 = 12

Unbolath will attack to the northeast beetle. I added some numbers and letters to the map to facilitate clarity.

If said beetle (C1) is already dispatched by his turn he target east at C2 or will take a 5' move or more to reach an appropriate target.

Power Attack, Greatsword: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

Damage: 2d6 + 9 ⇒ (5, 5) + 9 = 19

"OUCH! That little bugger is gonna die! He pulls out his dagger and stabs the creature attacking him.

Dagger: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 19 Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 3

Ritmush seems to be in thought as he looks at the bugs and draws a club. "Ima beat one up an' call it skippeh' he's gon'ah be meh pet." ritmush states as he looks over the bugs in question seeming to be deciding on which one he intended to inflict ownership on. The human muttering magic as he does so and greasing the largest collection of bugs he can see.

Ritmush has just drawn a weapon. Standard action to cast grease. Likely targeting yellow,teal,pink and purple with the effect. Do any of the bugs have something unique about them? Assuming it doesn't get smashed ritmush would want the one with something like a broken mandible or an interesting discoloration.

Kleora was caught off guard by the sudden attack of the bugs, she wasn't even finished dressing and already she had to defend herself from attack, figured. She saw that her companions had already sprung into action and so she did the only thing that made sense given her repertoire of spells, she focused and, once again, a patch of grease appeared beneath the feat of her enemies.

Casting grease, DC 14 reflex to stay standing.

That's a lot of grease

Aren't those five foot squares?

Yes, but as so often happens in PbP games, two different characters have decided to cast Grease at the same time...

LOL! So THAT'S what happened.

See that sounds like we need someone else to cast grease as well. There is never enough grease. They even made a greater version just so you could have more. Though really with 2 10ft bursts we are likely going to be able to force each of the fire beetles still alive to avoid falling on their faces.

round 1, wrap up

Ritmush summons up a patch of magical grease on the sand and the bugs begin to move their legs rapidly as they try to stay upright

Save is DC 15?: 1d20 ⇒ 7
Save is DC 15?: 1d20 ⇒ 8
Save is DC 15?: 1d20 ⇒ 3
Save is DC 15?: 1d20 ⇒ 7
Save is DC 15?: 1d20 ⇒ 3
Save is DC 15?: 1d20 ⇒ 14
Save is DC 15?: 1d20 ⇒ 6

All of the bugs slip in the grease and fall on their bodies as they struggle in place

Azariah advances swinging her scythe and deftly slices one of the beetles in two.

John takes out a dagger and stabs down at the beetle near his leg. He skewers the thing, but it does not die, and begins to squirm about pinned by the blade

Unbolath strides onto the beach, careful of the grease and smashes another with his sword

With her line of site obscured a bit by all those in front of her, Kleora looks to the right, and sees a clear area where the bugs might advance on the rest of the group. She quickly speaks a few arcane words and covers that part of the beach in grease as well

round 2…

The squirming beetle on John’s dagger twists and turns and tries to bite his hand

Bite vs John: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8
But the insect, large as it is, cannot get its head around in the right way

Acrobatics Skill Check: 1d20 ⇒ 1
Acrobatics Skill Check: 1d20 ⇒ 6
Acrobatics Skill Check: 1d20 ⇒ 9
Acrobatics Skill Check: 1d20 ⇒ 10
Acrobatics Skill Check: 1d20 ⇒ 6

One of the beetles manages to get back on its feet and slowly moves through the grease coming close to Ritmush and Kleora

Stella takes a step behind Azariah

Ritmush examines the bug in front of him and the one nearest him seeming to be attempting to divine something he considered important. "Eh, ye'll do." The scruffy, waterloged human says as he swings with his club.
Wallop: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 121d6 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

"Oh no you don't!" John calls out as he pulls the dagger out of the bug and stabs it all the way through.

Dagger: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 1 = 15 Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 1

Azariah swung at the bug nearest her. Mostly because she wasn't agile enough in her bulky armour to dare the grease.

Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15
Damage: 2d4 + 6 ⇒ (2, 4) + 6 = 12

Stella stood stunned at all this and would look at everything. Unfortunately, as much as she would love to spark the grease and catch it on fire, that spell was lost in the tombs some where. Maybe she could talk to them about researching such a spell.

Dragging her mind out of the rabbit hole it had gone down she opened her mouth and hesitantly started to sing to help boost her allies.

+1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls.

Kleora was far too close to these beetles for comfort so she moved back to the cave wall and sent a blast of acid at the closest of the bugs.

acid splash @ purple: 1d20 + 2 - 4 ⇒ (3) + 2 - 4 = 11d3 ⇒ 1

Unbolath takes another swing at a nearby bug. Red bug first priority, yellow bug second, third option is to walk around grease and attack blue bug.

MW Greatsword, power attack, inspired: 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 5 + 1 = 13

Damage: power attack, inspired: 2d6 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (5, 3) + 9 + 1 = 18

Round 2, wrap up

Ritmush smashes the bug that advanced toward he and Kleora
John pulls back on his dagger and plunges it again killing the bug at his feet

With another pass of her scythe Azariah slices off the head of a bug as it struggles in the grease

A soft voice is heard in the cave. Stella listens to the echo of her words and adjusts her tone slightly. The adjustment is just right and it causes her soft, near whispered words to resonate and rebound all across the cave. It is a song of courage and determination made more powerful by the acoustics of the natural features of the cave.

Kleora struggles to move back in the shallow water and tries to launce a magical attack at the beetles, but her footing is not sure and she slips, almost falling backward, sending the attack high over the insects
Unbolath brings down the great sword once again obliterating another bug

Only the magenta bug remains

The last fire beetle struggles to get to its feet

Acrobatics: 1d20 ⇒ 3

but cannot

Unwilling to risk the grease without a pressing need, Azariah instead prepared to destroy the bug if it came close.

Hold Action - attack if it enters range.

Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21
Damage: 2d4 + 6 ⇒ (2, 1) + 6 = 9

Ritmush looks to his crushed bug with a frown, scanning the field and spying the remaining live bug. "Ah-ha!" The human calls as he moves toward the creature with a smile on his lips.
Acrobatics: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22
Gliding over the grease like it hardly exists the human attempts to gently bludgeon the hapless creature into unconsciousness.
Thwock: 1d20 + 2 + 4 - 4 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 2 + 4 - 4 + 1 = 171d6 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 + 1 = 8

With a quick step, a crouch, and a push with one foot, Ritmush slides across the grease toward the last remaining fire beetle. He comes to a stop right next to the insect and with a well timed blow, stuns the insect without killing it.

Unbolath wipes the beetle goo from his sword and waits for the grease to disappear or be removed. "Was anyone harmed?"

Stella stops her singing and would shake her head. "Umm, no...thank you." She would finish getting her stuff together before moving to one of the beetles carefully her Halo dimming slightly as she looked to see if the bugs still glowed. "We can use the glands as light sources. I have one but it is always good for everyone to be prepared."

"Interesting," Azariah murmured as she cleaned off the scythe, "I wonder how that works? Some kind of chemical reaction based on there diet and mineral content, maybe?"

"It is a mixture of both and bioluminescence that is natural to them. Now there are other types that can take it further and use it as a weapon but these are the generic variety." She would pull out her dagger and tries to carefully remove the glands from them.

Survival?: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15

She did it as carefully as she could.

Relieved at the defeat of the bugs Kleora dismissed the grease she had conjured and said, "Excellent, now I can finish dressing." She proceeded to do exactly that, getting her dress pulled back on and closed up. It took her only a few minutes before she said, "There, much better. are we ready to proceed then?"

While people are dressing and doing insect necropsy, Unbolath will step around the corner to the north to see what is there. (On map its where those bush things are). He will also try to investigate the crack/cave where the beetles came from. Sometimes these things drag bodies or refuse into their nest and can contain valuables.

John cleans off his dagger and sheathes it. "That was some welcome to this place. We'll need to be more careful." He then begins to load his musket and make ready to kill anything that bothers them.

Ritmush dispels his portion of the goo as he gleefully picks up the stunned bug. Though the concept of how precisely he was going to carry around a beetle the size of a chunky house cat had not occurred until he picked it up. The scruffy one prods his newly collected bug before tying it off to the top of his pack with a scarf and some thick gauge wire.

" Nah, ah'm fine. Twinkle's is still twitchin' so ah' think he's alright too. No ideah' wha' sorta gobbldy g$@! yer' talkin' bout'm buh they sure do look cool. Anyone know wha' these thin's eat?"[b]
With that the human looks over in the direction of Kleora
[b]" Dunno why yer' wearin' tha' flowy' thin down here. Askin' ta trip on a root er' somethin. Pant'r useful."

Stella finds that the glands in the abdomens of the bugs still give out a significant amount of light, as much as a large candle in fact, illuminating an area out to about ten feet from where they lie.

Working carefully Stella is able to remove the glands from a beetle in just a few moments.

While Kleora dresses, now that the threat is over, Unbolath ask if anyone is injured, when no one responds to his question he takes a few steps to the north and glances around the corner. He can see the source of the spring water here, coming directly out of cracks in the wall to the north, while to his right he sees another, somewhat narrower, beach. This beach is covered in a grey-green moss which rises in three different locations in small mounds. Unsure of the safety in this direction, Unbolath returns to the first area and moves toward the cracks in the wall where the fire beetles had emerged. He peers in as best he can looking for anything that might be a clue to the fate of any others who might have come this way, but the cracks are empty.

Ritmush secures a still living fire beetle to the top of his staff, shedding light in a circle around him and then begins talking to the others, though what he is trying to say is almost incomprehensible.
There is a ledge, some six or seven feet high, to the east, and with the light from the fire beetle glands you can see stalagmites there and a cave mouth extending to the east into darkness. Climbing up to this ledge should not be difficult, particularly with all the hands available to boost people up one by one.

Ensuring his new pet Twinkle was unlikely to fall off and die Ritmush looks around. Seeing a ledge the short one decides that he needs to be on top of that ledge. Using his newly crafted bug-on-a-stick the scruffy human levers himself in an upward direction.
Climb: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11
" We' gonna stan' aroun an' geh' allah' these bug bits? Cuz *grunt* if so I'm *strain* ah- Ahm'a go see wha's in this hole ovah here while yah do that Alreadh' gotah' ligh' after all. Bettah' one too."

Whenever he returns to the others, he can assist in boosting people up to the ledge

"Seems all clear around the corner, except for a few piles of moss." (He was curious if the distinct mounds contained any secrets, but kept focus on the task at hand).

"And all that work you went through to find a lantern, seems like your replacement will suffice..." Unbolath remarks to Ritmush, in a rare and awkward attempt at humor when he notices the lad's Staff o' the Fire Beetle.

"You head up first and I'll go last and cover the rear then you can help me up" John says to the group.

Ritmush tilts his head at Unbolath as he talks looking to his new stick and grinning at the comment. Though for those paying attention there is a flash of darker emotions glinting in the young ones features before they are snuffed. Now if only I could look at that lantern without remembering what those people did to that poor ratperson. Don't een know where Kerminiyah got off to but while she was a jerk that other rat person. Thokka or whatever the heck her name was, she didn't deserve that.

" Seems kina' weird place fer moss. Thou' ah doubt bugs lik' this'd keep loot. An' yeah ah suppose meh Bug-onna'-stick will suffice fer when ah can't use them glow' balls ah' mine." Ritmush replies as he wags the stick back and fourth a bit looking at the object with a smile.
"Makes meh' feel lik' onea them all powah fill beard-y types. 'Beware foul brigand for thou stand in the presence of Hsumtir the Archwizard of fire!' " the scruffy human states, puffing out his chest and planting his staff in a faux dynamic pose enunciating with all his skill to add weight to his new image of 'archwizard'. Though that only lasts a scant moment before Ritmush snorts at his own pompous presentation, his voice wavering as he chuckled in between breaths.
" Ah.. aah. Mebeh ah' shoul' -heh- get meh a hat. All them -Ha- beard-y types need ah' hat."

"A beard might be necessary as well." Unbolath notes deadpan.

" If ah' wanted somethin' tah trip ovah or ligh' on fiyah, sure" Ritmush fires back as he mimes having a beard.

"Perhaps that is why wizards have beards, as a sign of their competence. They can function despite the handicap. "

John chuckles at the exchange and says, "But the beard and the pointy hat give you away. Everyone knows you're a wizard then. Better to go without them and fool everyone I think."

Stella cleaned off her hands and would finish dressing herself as she listened to the conversation. Grinning at it she thought back to the bards tales she had heard and decided she would make up her own based on this conversation and group.

"Indeed they do but that can also intimidate people into leaving you alone. I have seen it happen." Chuckles lightly.

Moving to the ledge to see who was going up next. She figured going in the middle was better since she was pretty squishy.

Ritmush leans on his stick and grins as he helps anyone attempting to get up the cliff.
" Ah wondah if they puff'em up likeah' cat when they see ah' notha' wizard wit' a bigger beard."

Kleora finished dressing herself, though the sight of seeing Stella do the same was highly distracting and left her a bit flushed. She followed the other woman as she took her place in line to go up and stood behind her. "I think it's more because the typical image of a wizard is a wizened old man with a beard, the men try to emulate that over time." Her tone was amused then as she continued, "You'll never see a lady wizard looking like that because unlike men women don't become wizened as they age, they become crones and no woman wants to be called a crone."

With only a minimal amount of effort, helping each other with reaching hands, or a braced knee, the group ascends the short wall and with the light from the beetle glands they take stock of the area.

The ceiling here is low. The tallest members of the group find they must bend their necks a bit to avoid hitting the ceiling. The ceiling is filled with stalactites, while the floor is chocked with stalagmites. The dark shadows stretch out toward the east from here suggesting the chamber is a deep cave, though traversing this area will be slow, it will not be impossible.

Ritmush grins at the human woman as she speaks
" Yeah buh' they still wanna' be'm cuz nobody wans'tah get on tha' bad sideah someon'll turn ya inta ah wombat when riled. Jus' like how tha' folk's wit' a mean streak to em' don' much appreciate bein' called on it buh still do it."

As the group progesses ritmush, staff of firebug in hand, uses his summoned lanterns or lighted stick to banish the darkness as they moved. Though if given the option he'll certainly prod rocks or dark corners just to see what sort of crawly things happened to appear from his actions.

The going is slow, very slow, but inch by inch the large group manages to move through the heavily congested area.

As they continue to move eastward the space between the stalagmites grows and the ceiling rises.

When they have gone about thirty feet the passageway suddenly becomes narrow to the point that only one person at a time can pass through, but beyond this narrow choke point those in the lead can see that the cavern opens up considerably, and the floor begins to angle downward.

They can also see a body, lying on the cavern floor just past the constriction point. There are patches of dried blood on the rocks and sand all around the body.

Upon seeing the body John advised, "Careful as you move forward. Whatever killed him may still be around. I'll try and cover you but it'll be difficult. Oh, and noisy if I need to fire."

Azariah nodded, and moved cautiously towards the body. If nothing else, information on what had killed them might be invaluable. Especially since it was more than likely still around...

Heal: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

Kleora smiled in amusement at Ritmush and replied, "Yep, and don't you forget it." She followed as the group made their way deeper into the caves taking, a place right behind Stella, a wary eye out, and when she saw the body decided that she was more than happy to wait while others dealt with figuring out why it had died. As she stood there she glanced over at Ritmush's bug on a stick and asked, "So what do you plan to do if your pet there wakes up?"

While others examine the body, Unbolath keeps a close eye out. His bow is strung and ready, sword drawn. His black eyes pierce the darkness well beyond the extent of the light sources the group has.

"Well if yah wan' quiet mah crossbow's don well fer meh before. Yah any good wit one?" the short one chatters to John.
The young mage then looking to his newly crafted staff and shrugs.
" ah'd figured bribin' 'em with bacon or a second thumpin'd keep Twinkle here all friendleh'."
The idea that cat sized insects did not like bacon being an obvious impossibility.