Clebsch's Reign of Winter

Game Master Clebsch RoW

The Dawn Piper dodges slightly and evades Anadrien's first arrow. The second one glances off the fey's tough skin.

Rurik remains caught up in the aqueous orb.

Rurik still has an action but he cannot move and is entangled and under water, prone, with perhaps other limitations appropriate to being in a 10 foot sphere of water, such as penalties to perception.

Domitian may also take his action. He is currently standing in waist deep water while the piper stands on a rock that is level with the water surface. There is room on the rock for Domitian to move five feet, but it costs 10 feet of movement and exposes him to an AOO.

After that, it is the piper's turn.

Despite being stuck in waist deep water, Dom attempts two slashes, trusting his upper body strength to deal some damage.

Falcata, Heroism: 1d20 + 14 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 14 + 2 = 35; Damage: 1d8 + 7 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 7 + 5 = 20
Falcata, Heroism: 1d20 + 9 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 9 + 2 = 15; Damage: 1d8 + 7 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 7 + 5 = 17
Crit?: 1d20 + 14 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 14 + 2 = 34; Crit Damage: 2d8 + 14 ⇒ (7, 4) + 14 = 25

Both manage to diminish the damage from the thorns but still some of the thorns drive into their flesh. Dom takes 4 damage, the Spriggan takes 9. Both are prone.

Edit to previous post: Rurik takes 4 non-lethal damage from the effects of being in the aqueous orb.

Erland and Ingrit are up. Melee will continue until Spriggan's situation resolves. If Ingrit can make a DC 16 Reflex Save, she can get out of the aqueous orb. Wapeti and Erland can attempt an aid action to give her a +2 by sticking an antler or hand close enough for her to grab it. If she fails, she takes 2d6 non-lethal damage.

On his turn, the Spriggan attempts to flee the area by going clockwise around the pool and into the path to the north.

Ingrit orients herself in the swirling water, kicking hard, and breaking through the surface, to exit the aqueous orb, taking a deep breath as she catches her bearings on the ground, before standing up.

Reflex: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (10) + 9 = 19

"Flee, Spriggan, and leave this place now."

Erland reaches a hand towards Ingrit as she pulls herself free from the watery spell.

"So, that's two of these nodes defeated. Whats next?"

As Erland gives his warning, Dom does not pursue the spriggan, though he does not interfere if someone else does.

"Time to heal up and prepare for the next node," says Dom. He checks the dawn piper for anything important, just in case.

Rurik also gets to the edge of the orb and exists taking no further injury.

The spriggan does indeed flee, never to return. As the water soaks into the ground, 8 pearls each worth 100 gp are found, as well as a feather that gives off a magical aura when checking for magic. Closer inspection reveals it to be a feather token of a swan boat.

Anybody who is now wet and without cold resistance, should find a way to get dry to avoid risking taking non-lethal damage from being cold and wet.

Returning to solid ground, Dom does his best to wring out his wet furs. He was cold, but endured it well enough. It was a reminder of his father's northern blood, even if he had grown up in Taldor. "Ingrit, Rurik, are you okay? That water magic was powerful."

Updated the loot sheet.

"That was... quick. Domitian, do you want to go ahead and destroy all our foes? We can wait here in relative comfort while you dispatch them."

The gleam in Anadrien's eye betrays her amusement, and when the others have taken care of their sodden state, she turns to consider the paths.

"One more piper to go, correct? Shall we make a similar approach?"

Good to continue.

"I'm fine, or at least, better than I was a few moments ago." Ingrit replies, doing her best to wring out her wet hair, and squeeze the water out of her winter wolf cloak before it freezes. "Cold, but I've been colder, definitely glad I can hold my breath for a good bit.

"Maybe once we get to the but we can get a fire going. Let's get this over with."

Cold Res 2. Not happy but otherwise fine

"I wish I had some magic to help out, but fire spells simply don't come to me, and I never picked up the trick I've read about that wizards do. The one where you can clean and dirty, dry or dampen, all those simple little tricks. Sorry."

Rurik is not blessed with any innate ability to tolerate cold, so when no one is able to quickly dry him off, he begins to suffer from hypothermia from the heat his body is losing to his cold, wet garments. 5 points non-lethal damage. This can only be recovered after he can get out of the cold and warm up. He will have to make another roll in 1 hour, a DC 16 fortitude save.

Assuming the party continues back around to the northeast:

Walking back through the ruined earth font, the group arrives at a wide open space between the unnatural forest that runs generally north. Two houses can be seen in the distance. Scouting with the owl reveals no activity at the house to the northeast. A group of humanoids (3 men and 3 women) sit around a fire in front of the house to the northwest. They appear to be enjoying themselves with drink, song, and flirting. Any further movement through the clearing will likely be noticed by the party around the campfire.

Choose your area to investigate. Map labeled "M8" for the house in the NE corner. M9-M10 for the house to the NW and the font beyond.

Could we guess that the group by the campfire is aware of the third piper, due to being within 100 feet or so of them?

"Looks like we must pass the camp so as to reach our third target," whispers Anadrien. "Shall we attempt an open approach? I doubt we can all creep past such a large group with impunity."

Do the humanoids look well armed, like an adventuring party?

"If we do approach, best to be prepared. Can't stay I trust these folks camping in the middle of this strange forest."

Rurik shivers as he says, "I guess that was a mighty blow, though I couldn't see much," as he splutters and spits out water.

"Is there any way we can warm up? This cold is already sinking into my bones."

"Once we deal with them, friendly or not, perhaps you can spend a bit of time at the campfire." Ingrit suggests, seeing Rurik's shivering. "You're right Anadrien, and I'd rather not start things off by simply firing at potentiallu innocent travelers."

"That sounds reasonable. We should make sure anyone who wants to get out of this cursed place can do so. Perhaps they have some intelligence to share about the pipers or the hut itself?"

Erland looks at Rurik and wishes he had some resistance magic or warming spells prepared.

Having agreed amongst themselves, Anadrien sets off, no weapons in hand, a friendly smile upon her face.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (20) + 11 = 31

"Hello friends," she calls from a safe distance, pitching her voice low so as to not startle them, and making sure that when they turn they can see she approaches openly. "There's no good way to approach strangers at a campfire without alarming them, but I can swear to you I'm doing my level best."

Her smile is lopsided, and a curl of black hair hangs before her elfin face. Eyes glimmering with good humor, she approaches slowly, doing her best to read their reaction.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16

If they don't leap to their feet with weapons drawn...

"We're simply passing through. My friend has received a soaking, and is fast growing dangerously cold. Do you mind if he warms himself by your fire for a spell? We promise not to inconvenience you and shall soon be on our way."

"You are too trusting. This is a dangerous course." Refusing to let her advance alone, Dom follows alongside Anadrien, warily.
Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11
He's too on edge to see beyond what he perceives to be danger.

Ingrit hangs back a bit, once again mounted atop Wapiti, giving her a better angle to shoot, should things go awry, though she keeps her bow across her lap for the moment, leaving things to Anadrien's honeyed tongue.

Having agreed amongst themselves, Anadrien sets off, no weapons in hand, a friendly smile upon her face.

"Hello friends," she calls from a safe distance, pitching her voice low so as to not startle them, and making sure that when they turn they can see she approaches openly. "There's no good way to approach strangers at a campfire without alarming them, but I can swear to you I'm doing my level best."

Her smile is lopsided, and a curl of black hair hangs before her elfin face. Eyes glimmering with good humor, she approaches slowly, doing her best to read their reaction.

"We're simply passing through. My friend has received a soaking, and is fast growing dangerously cold. Do you mind if he warms himself by your fire for a spell? We promise not to inconvenience you and shall soon be on our way."

The men cheer Anadrien's words and wave everyone to come close gather at the fire. Two them stand and begin to drag a large log closer to the fire on which up to three of the newcomers can sit. The third man fishes in his pack and comes up with a collection of metal cups. The women smile and one of them calls out, "Well met, soon to be friends! Our fire is warm and our wine is plentiful. Please come and make yourselves comfortable."

The men wear clothes suggesting they are well off middle class merchants.
Their only obvious weapons are knives in sheaths on their belts, although sticks of firewood could be used as clubs. They are several sheets to the wind, telling jokes and sipping red wine from an assortment of cups and mugs.

The women are all quite attractive, with hair the same color as their wine, which they have in fiasco covered bottles. One of the women picks up several branches from a large pile of firewood nearby and adds them to make the fire burn brighter and warmer. The women have no weapons.

See map M9-M10 and move tokens as you wish.

"Thank you for your hospitality, new friends. We appreciate the aid and the fire warmth. Perhaps I can be of assistance? Are any of you injured? I can help to soothe those wounds if so."

Dom begins to approach, but slowly. He was glad they did not appear to have serious weapons, though if they used magic they would not need it. "What brings you to this place? This is hardly the place for trade."

Anadrien draws closer as well, hiding her suspicion as best she can behind a warm smile.

"We'll accept the warmth, but I fear must pass on the wine. We've hard work yet before us, and the joys of the moment would only lead to regret once we're forced to leave your company."

Extending her hands to the blaze, she peers down the way toward where the Dawn Piper must be waiting - does it seem aware of their presence here?

Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (20) + 13 = 33

She then sets to examining their new friends, looking for some sign of things being awry, with that being anything from them being illusions to incongruous signs of their not being what they claim.

Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (12) + 13 = 25

I moved everyone approximately two double move actions to get everyone closer to the campfire group. Adjust your PCs position as you like. So the dialogue to come can be considered to take place over several regular turns. I've place a marker showing where the log the men set out for people to sit on. I've also place markers showing where additional firewood is piled.

"Welcome welcome!" a young man says as the group approaches. He is slender with a deerskin jacket over well made wool pants and polished leather shoes. He has the scraggly beard that makes up for in length what it lacks in area, extending mostly from his jawline, chin, and upper lip. "Mah name'sh Kolton but m'friendsh call me Colt." He gestures toward himself with his right hand which holds a wooden mug. Wine splashes on his chest, which he barely notices.

"That'sh Zack," he adds, pointing toward a man seated by the house wearing a fancy red and pink jerkin with coal black curly hair, cut short, with a bushy moustache. Zack leers at Anadrien and raises his eyebrows a couple of times in a creepy greeting.

"And that fine looking gen'lemon over there ..." Colt loses track of where the third man is and pauses until he turns around and spots him standing to the west of the fire. "That'sh my main man, Brendon." Brendon is tall, handsome, with red hair and a well trimmed beard. Brendon is standing very close to one of the women and does not appear to notice that he's being introduced as he is preoccupied with leaning in and giving the woman a peck on the cheek. She giggles at his flirting.

Anadrien draws closer as well, hiding her suspicion as best she can behind a warm smile.

"We'll accept the warmth, but I fear must pass on the wine. We've hard work yet before us, and the joys of the moment would only lead to regret once we're forced to leave your company."

Colt looks a bit surprised that Anadrien doesn't want any wine, but waves his hand dismissively. "Yer loss. More fer ush. And these are our new friends, Elzeble... Elizable ... Elzbeth, Joliphetta, an' Mari." He points first to the woman next to Brendon. She is almost as tall as Brendon, wearing a fine burgundy gown with an embroidered placard hanging down the middle of the front. She has a fur-lined coat and her red hair is bundled loosely into four braids wrapped in strips of gold fabric. She has a couple of fine rings and a circlet across her forehead. She looks up at the newcomers with a slightly bored look, but smiles after a moment.

The second woman sits with Zack. She has red hair as well and green eyes, with a green scarf and a jacket covered in orange and red patches shaped like maple leaves. She raises her cup of wine in salute. The third woman is a buxom young woman showing plenty of cleavage, wearing a red head scarf with her thick red hair flowing down on all sides. She brings a bottle of wine over and offers to fill cups the cups set out by Colt. Regardless of Anadrien's refusal, she still fills a cup and offers to one of the others.

"Thank you for your hospitality, new friends. We appreciate the aid and the fire warmth. Perhaps I can be of assistance? Are any of you injured? I can help to soothe those wounds if so."

Colt laughs and points at Zack, saying, "Zack'sh a pain in the butt. Kin ya fix that fer ush?"

No one appears wounded nor does anyone say anything in response to Erland's offer.

"What brings you to this place? This is hardly the place for trade."

Brendon breaks away from Elsbeth to help Mari with the wine. "Well, this strange forest grew up around our shop," he explains, glancing for a moment at the trees behind the house, "We've been afraid to leave the house fer fear o' monsters an such. We're not sure what happened, but perhaps it's the end times the skalds all sing about. Any way, these find ladies have joined us, so we're protectin' them and their showing their 'preciation with this fine wine and teachin' us some songs and dirty jokes. Tell 'em the one 'bout the bear, the witch, an' the frozen chastity belt!" Elsbeth blushes and the men all begin to laugh and snort.

Mari and Joliphetta stroll over to help Rurik get a seat by the fire, offering to take his coat and prop it up on some branches to dry near the fire.

Anadrien notices the dawn piper lurking about ten feet up in the large tree. This one appears female. The ground around the tree has a thick carpet of golden leaves around it. A breeze constantly stirs up the leaves and swirls them around the base of the tree. This make the ground effectively covered in light undergrowth. She does not notice anything about the six people that would suggest they are not what they appear to be, six humans making the best of a bad situation.

Once the group seems ensconced, Rurik shuffles forward to take a place near the fire as best he can. He edges back and forth between getting so close that he becomes flushed and then backing up and starting to shiver again, as he hopes for it to slowly dry out his clothing.

"Thank you," he says genuinely. "I took a tumble and I fear that the cold would have done me in had it not been for your fire."

"Well, we need to keep you dry and try to warm you up, Rurik. Try and rotate around, let's get those clothes off as much as possible and we can wrap you up in some blankets for now."

Dom is glad to let Rurik settle into the fire under Erland's care. Hopefully he could recover his strength. In truth, Dom too was glad for the fire and moves toward it to dry off, basking in its warmth. Though he is still not ready to sit down yet. The men seemed jovial but the women had stayed quiet. "A pleasure to meet you all. Ladies, if this isn't your shop, what brings you here?"

As everyone starts settling by the fire, Ingrit dismounts, walking Wapiti to a spot where he could forage, as she sits between Joliphetta and Elsbeth. "Thank you for your hospitality."

"A pleasure to meet you all. Ladies, if this isn't your shop, what brings you here?"

Mari says, We were in a wine shop when these trees just, like, erupted outa the ground! We were sent to get wine for a party an' well, we hid in the shop an' got good an' sloshed. We passed out an' the trees were still here. We heard some sounds like people gettin' attacked, so we got drunk again." She giggles, takes a healthy drink from her cup, and continues after offering cups to Dom and Erland.

"So anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, so then when we came to again, we were hungry an' we saw these three gentlemen lookin' around. We brought them some wine an' they had some food, so we hid for a while, but it seemed quiet, so we made a fire and ... here we are!" She giggles again.

She notices Dom cringing a little every time a breeze sweeps through the area, which it does regularly, coming from the large tree to the west where the Dawn Piper is. "Let me help you out of those wet clothes," Mari says and begins to try to unbutton Dom's jacket. She leans close to him as she does so. She smells of lavender and heather.

Elsbeth and Joliphetta sit on either side of Rurik, leaning their warm bodies close to help warm him up. They each offer him a cup of wine. "The wine will warm ya up, Father," Elsbeth says. She has evidently noticed Rurik's holy symbol and assumes he is a priest or cleric.

"Yer not onna those stuffy priests who preach against enjoyin' the pleasures of the flesh, are ya?" Joliphetta coos and tries to line up to give Rurik a kiss on the lips.

"She's a real good kissser, Father," Brandon says.

"They all are!" Colt calls out.

"Amen to that, brother!" Zack adds.

Both the women and men are sipping wine. The men seem more drunk than the women but all give some signs of inebriation. And each of the new comers has had a cup of wine offered from either one of the men or one of the women.

"What are you doin' in these deep dark woods?" Mari asks the group. "Have you been outside in the city lately? We've got a bet goin' about whether these are the end times or if the queen has been deposed."

While these conversation are going, Brandon sidles up between Ingrit and Wapiti, tries to give her a pat on the tush, and says, "Hey, babe, you've got red hair too. You fit right in. Fine looking animal."

Joliphetta notices Fisk and wiggles her fingers trying to entice him over. "Hey pretty kitty! What's your name?"

"I'm n-n-not against k-k-kissing, but I'm n-n-nearly dead of the c-c-c-cold," stammers Rurik. "C-c-could you a-a-at least let m-m-me recover f-f-first?"

"Well, I won't say no to a little bit of care," say Dom, as he lets Mari take off his wet jacket and finally sit down. Mari soon gets to his breastplate, though, and that is something Dom dares not remove. "Still on duty," he say simply.

When Mari asks their purpose, Dom offers a reply while avoiding revealing too much. "We're looking to get through these strange woods," he says. "The trees like growing, though, so it hasn't been too easy. If you're looking for a way out, we could probably get you all back the way we came."

"His name is Fiske, and he loves to eat fish. If you have a bit, I'm sure he'll nibble it out of your palm."

Erland smiles at the woman nit keeps his attention towards Rurik. He trusts Fiske will let him know anything sketchy going on.

As amused and somewhat entertained as she is by watching Dom and Rurik, deal with the amorous ladies, Ingrit is caught completely off-guard as Brandon attempts to cop a feel. ”I…what? Yes…he is, fierce too.” she sputters, too surprised to be anywhere near as intimidating as she intended, yet something in her tone causes Wapiti to look up, snorting as she locks eyes on the man.

Intimidate: 1d20 ⇒ 1

Anadrien can't help but grow more suspicious the more amorous and genial their new friends prove to be. She remains on her feet, a little back from the fire, with an angle on the Dawn Piper so that she can keep its clearing in her line of sight.

When nobody is looking, she surreptitiously casts Detect Magic on the group as a whole.

The party by the fire continues on with the merchants drinking more of the sweet red wine offered by the women. The men make passes at the women and the women do not seem to mind.

Rurik and Dom manage to dry their clothes and warm up. Around this time, as Dom and Rurik stand up to stretch, Elsbeth drains a cup of wine in several big gulps, obviously relishing the taste and intoxication. She gives an almost feral sounding howl of satisfaction before lowering her cup to pour more from her bottle. The bottle, however, is empty and when she discovers this, anger spreads across her face like a rash.

The other two women react by howling, like wolves call and response. Suddenly, all three shake and their faces distort turning into beast-like caricatures of humans and their fingers develop long sharp claws.

Monster Lore will be posted next for Erland and Ingrit.
Domitian, Erland, Anadrien, and Rurik get a surprise round action (1 move or standard action).

Erland and Ingrit recognize the creatures. They both can read the general information. Ingrit can see 2 spoilers and Erland can see 3.

A cold breeze whips around Erlands feet, blowing his cloak and hair from below.

"Treachery and betrayal, oh what a surprise. These fey are Baccae and will dri k your blood as soon as that wine. Slay them quickly."

Using flight hex as surprise action.

"Damn it! Bacchae!" Ingrit shouts in alarm. "Wild women whose love for wine and revelry is only surpassed by the feral fury...the wine keeps them calm, without it they'll be looking to tear out our hearts..the men especially! They're fae, the bite of cold iron hurts them most."

I'll pick Damage Resistance and Immunities.

Dom is startled by the transformation, but is fortunate enough to act quickly. "Back, fiends!" he shouts. Guided by Ingrit's wise words, Dom draws his cold-iron falcata and takes a sidestep.

"Of course," sighs Anadrien. "Here comes their sudden but inevitable betrayal."

Dropping to one knee, she looses two arrows at the closest one.

Attack Rapid Shot Point Blank: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15
Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7
Attack Rapid Shot Point Blank: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20
Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10

This is a surprise round, so just one arrow can be fired. Rapid shot requires a full round action.

As the quickest of the group prepare for battle, Anadrien gets off an arrow at Joliphetta, who is standing only a few feet away. The shot is rushed and the arrow loses much of its momentum as it nears the fey, causing only a flesh wound. 2 damage after DR.

[oox]Rurik has a surprise round action.[/oox]

Rurik releases a quick bless spell to aid his companions in fighting off the malicious fey.

Minor Ret-Con: Both Anadrien and Rurik are in the threat range of one of the Baccae, so they will both take attacks of opportunity if they do what they've posted. Rurik cannot take a 5-foot step in any direction that would put him out of threat range. He could cast defensively. Anadrien could take a five-foot step NW and fire at any of the Baccae, but her allies will give them cover or in the case of Rurik, since he is threatened by Elsbeth to the west, Anadrien would be firing into potential melee, so her shot will take a -4 whichever baccae she targets. That will make her shot miss.

If either Anadrien or Rurik want to change their actions, let me know. I don't consider any of the Baccae flat-footed, since their transformations triggered the surprise round.

Cast defensively: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14

Rudrik botches his spell.

Anadrien has precise shot, so no penalty for firing into melee. Although without the ability to rapid shot, casting a spell might be a more attractive option.

Sorry for the delay. I've been waiting for Anadrien to indicate if she wants to retcon her action. I've had a lot on my plate this past week, so I waited for a response or a good chance to work out the next post. It's a bit complicated, so I wanted a good block of time to be sure I worked it out properly.

As Anadrien tries to shot Joliphetta, the beastly baccae snaps at the bard and draws blood. 8 damage to Anadrien.

Does taking damage from an AOO while making a ranged attack apply a penalty on the ranged attack, as it does while making a combat maneuver? If so, Anadrien's arrow misses; otherwise it hits for 2. I saw no indication that Andarien is using cold iron, so DR subtracts five from her damage.

Brandon and Zack drop their drinks and flee around to the side of the house, while Joliphetta howls with rage and then grabs a large branch.

Ingrit has a surprise round action next.

Only thing that AoO damage affects is concentration for spell casting and CMD for maneuver checks. Ranged attacks and movement are fine you just take the damage.

Taking a quick step backward, Ingrit fires a cold iron arrow at Elsbeth, as Wapiti moves into a better position to protect her.

5ft step
+1 Composite Longbow/PBS: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (3) + 14 = 17
Cold Iron: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8

Ingrit's arrow hits Elsbeth in the leg. 8 damage.

While Colt cowers in fear near the house, the other two women slip into a state of rage, like berserkers, their features becoming ever more feral.

A birdlike figure takes flight from a hidden perch in a tree just south of the clearing. It descends and flies toward Anadrien from the west. It is a strange beast with the body of a stag, wings like an eagle, a head like a wolf with antlers like a buck. It gores Anadrien as it passes by and then rises to ten feet above the ground. 9 Damage to Anadrien plus see spoiler below.

Domitian and Rurik may make an AOO against the creature as it passes.

Domitian and Erland are up next