Carrion Crown Blues: Broken Moon

Game Master Kartari

Round: 2, Initiative: 10

The hits take me to zero, so I don’t actually drop or lose my weapon, and Caracoti goes before me in initiative so I think I’m all good with a whopping 6hp by the time I'm up.

Govannon stares as the creature fill his poor form with spikes. He falters, but does not quite fall as Caracoti steps up. ”Thanks for that Caracoti - you’re a life saver! And than you too for the luck! Let’s see if I can make it worthwhile.”

He concentrates briefly (swift) on his bow, ensorcelling it with his magics* and then he shoots at the great flying beast.

Longbow (magic): 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 4 + 1 = 23 (arcane) -OR- Longbow (magic): 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 4 + 1 = 20 (arcane)
damage: 1d8 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 4 + 1 = 13 (arcane)

*Arcane Pool for +1 enchantment on the weapon.

Round 3

Aliseya continues to stare wickedly after the manticore whips Gov on its second flyby. Repeating her unintelligible verse, she cackles while now breaking another bone on her freakish bone doll, disjointing it's hip this time. As she loudly crackles, the flying beast howls in pain from another broken bone.

Cast boneshaker again, damaging and causing it to drop 5 ft. Fort vs DC 16 for half damage and no 5 ft. drop:
Bone-Breaking Damage: 4d6 ⇒ (2, 2, 2, 3) = 9

Having done what he could for the Swamper, Aleks moves toward Gov, still hoping the beast will come lower so that he can reach it with his knives. Next time you get a chance, pick up a bow, you fool.

Init order: Zelda, Caracotl, Aliseya, Govannon, Naught, Aleksander, Adversary

Round 2

Zelda feathers the beast with another arrow. Caracotl heals Govannon. Aliseya calls upon her divine energy to break the creature's bones. Govannon enchants his bow and sinks an arrow deep in the beast's flank.

The beast glares with evil intelligence at Govannon before tucking it's wings and swooping in for a fly by attack on the magus. The creature's jaws miss but both claws rend Govannon deeply (17 points damage). The creature then swoops back up into the air.

Caracotl may take an attack of opportunity.

Round 3 actions please.

Round: 3, Initiative: 10

His first rend drops Govannon. Does he continue with his second attack? Feels like Gov’ might have pissed him off enough to do so. :)

Govannon flops to the ground like a spent carcass. He’s not quite a carcass, not like the prison dungeon, but he’s close. He whimpers as he collapses, dropping his bow and lying prone, bleeding out onto the green grass.

Con: 1d20 + 2 - 11 ⇒ (11) + 2 - 11 = 2 vs DC 10 to stabilize

And he ticks a little closer to death...

Zelda attempt to add new feather to this strange creature.

Bow: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 2

Stepping up to the wounded warrior-mage, Aleks lays a hand on him, doing what he can to heal his wounds, even as it stings his own hand.

Lay on Hands: 1d6 ⇒ 3

to hit AOO: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23
damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Caracotl will move down and channel positive energy excluding the beast of with selective channeling of course.

Channel: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 6) = 11

Round 3

Caracotl smacks the beast hard as it swoops past. Zelda again hits the creature with another arrow. As the beast turns for another attack, Aliseya uses her bone fetish to snap its wing, which sends the manticore plummeting to the ground with a resounding thump.

Caracotl and Aleksander then converge on Govannon to heal the magus back to consciousness.

1600 xp

Govannon, bloody and covered with dirt, comes to under the wondrous healing of the party and immediately stands, grabs his bow, and looking for the beast. ”Is it circling around? Where is it?” he calls, ready for action.

Turning to the wounded monster, Aleksander says "It is time you passed on to Pharasma's Boneyard, foul creature." With that, he steps up and slashes at the beast with his daggers.

Declaring Smite Evil on the beast, then five-foot step and full attack. Smite raises my AC +4 to 23, adds +4 to attack and +3 to damage.

Attack: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11
Damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

Attack: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (9) + 10 = 19
Damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

Aliseya cackles again as the creature falls to the ground. Her eyes glaze over, her face relaxes, and her arms go slack.

The bone doll hangs loosely from her drooping hand when suddenly Ali blinks a few times and comes back to herself. Looking around at her friends, she sees Gov being tended to. She then realizes something is in her hand and holds it up to see.

"Ew!"

She jerks the doll away from her. Landing in the mud, it seems to be made from actual bones, the bones of who knows what.

"Creepy. Everyone okay?" She wonders about the local man, helping him to his feet if he is now conscious.

I'm assuming the manticore is slain.

You find the stunned manticore laying among the numerous graves that fill the area between the trees. Aleksander quickly ends the creatures life through a coup de grace.

Nearby, you find the creature's newly constructed nest. Within the nest you find the body of a dwarven traveler. The corpse wears a colorful patchwork coat with numerous pockets. Hanging from its belt is a silver flask and felt purse.

Govannon quickly casts Ablative Barrier, when it's clear the immediate danger has passed. He's not so sure about the rest of the island, and he's weak, so he doesn't want to take any chances.

He'll put away his bow and straighten up. "Can someone help me with the wand? I can't use it, but I need to use it if you know what I mean." he grins lopsidedly.

CLW: 6d8 + 6 ⇒ (2, 7, 5, 4, 5, 7) + 6 = 36 (six charges used please)

Refreshed, and protected, he turns to the nest, casting Detect Magic to examine the contents. "Poor bugger. Didn't have friends to back him up."

He removes anything of value and identifies what he can. (Take-10 Spellcraft = 20 to ID any magics.)

Zelda grabs the coat and searches through the pockets.
"Lets see what this fellow was carrying shall we?"

Govannon and Zelda find a flask of oil of keen edge, a package of bodybalm, a sliver hip flask containing brandy worth 30 gp and a crimson felt purse containing 31 pp and 22 gp. You find a masterwork shortsword and a wand of ghost sound (22 charges) laying on the ground near the corpse.

You find the remains of an old campsite on the south east side of the island.

The rest of the island has been revealed on Roll 20

Govannon holds up each item as he finds it, but when he gets to the flask, he opens it, sniffs it, and takes a swig. Ahhhh.

He holds it up for anyone else to have some, before pocketing it for now. ”Anyone want any of this stuff?” he passes items around, and then straightens up. Stretching, he draws his scimitar and suggests, ”Let’s see what else this place has to offer shall we?”

When everyone is ready, he presses on, searching the island for clues, with his blade at the ready - for the first pass anyway.

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10

What is bodynalm? I can't find it anywhere...

Bodybalm is form the Adventurer's Armory.

Govannon, you don't find anything of interest around the graves or campsite.

Ali raises a brow and smiles at Zelda's rather clepty first reaction to spotting a dead dwarf. "I guess he won't have any use for it anymore," she remarks, then does a respectful spiral gesture to wish the man a good journey to the Boneland.

She then grabs the flask of brandy from Gov and downs a sizeable gulp herself. "I really needed that." She nods to the dwarf in thanks before passing it to whomever else wants a swig.

It then occurs to her that, "I know, like, he's not quite tall enough to pass for Mr. Golem in jail," she calls him a better name than Beast here, "but maybe we're looking at the real culprit. He's got no armor, so maybe he was one of those wizards or something, and used that wand to pretend a big monster was going on a murdering spree? Huh..." Ali's not so sure she should have wished him a peaceful journey to the afterlife now...

...

As they begin to search the island, probably beginning with the campfire, Ali says to her friends, "I'm thinking maybe instead of a gator killing the Beast, who is very much not dead, maybe what the witnesses saw was really that creature we just killed, and maybe they were seeing the dwarven man instead of Gollie. I mean, like, obviously the Beast wasn't killed here, and the only evidence we have for someone being killed by a big creature is that dwarven fellow..."

Where's the guy who took us here? Still unconscious?

"I hope we can find some clue as to what really happened on this island. I think this dwarf is to small to be mistaken for Mr. Golem but we might find more clues if we search."

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23
Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12
Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25
Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23
Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17
I have added a few perceptions rolls in case they are needed for something

Lazne is still unconscious.

Around the campsite, Zelda finds a waterskin half full of wine, the aged remnants of some trail rations and a glass vial. The bottom of the vial contains the dried remains of a green substance that smells vaguely of carrots.

While searching in the trees and brush along the southwest shore of the island, Zelda finds a hidden coracle. A length of rope stretches from the boat into the waters below. Within the coracle, Zelda notices dried blood on the bottom of the boat. The coracle contains an oar and a moldy leather travel bag with a damp artisan's outfit (a shirt, breeches, shoes and a cloth apron) inside. She also finds a vile object - what appears to be a detached human face!

Govannon looks down on the detached human face, "Dear god! That's not normal. There's certainly something going on here, but what I cannot fathom."

Just in case, he casts Detect Magic on the lot.

"Such a slaughter will breed evil. I will rouse Lazne"
Caracotl will use wand charges to heal Lazne and hopefully rouse him from consciousness.

clw: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (2, 3) + 2 = 7

8? charges. Including Gov unless someonelse has taken them

Ali points at the carroty remnants of the glass vial in response to Zel. "Maybe the dwarf, like, drank a potion to make him bigger?"

She looks at Gov, "Can you, like, tell?"

"Ew!" she sourly remarks when she spots the detached face for herself.

Peering at the apparent face with disgusted curiousity, Aleks concentrates on it to determine if it is, as he suspects, tainted with evil. Detect Evil, move action variant, concentrating on the face

Lazne regain consciousness. "What was that thing? I swear it wasn't here before. Ain't usually no one on this isle but the dead."

The detached face is neither magical or evil. The face appears to have been surgically removed from it's owner.

Zelda drops the face.
"That is truly disgusting. Why would anyone do something like that?.
I do know one thing, the beast does not have the knowledge to do something like that!

I think we need to find out what is on the other end of this rope. Please keep an eye out for creatures while I see what is on the other end of this rope. I would hate to become some creatures dinner."

Zelda cautiously begins to more toward the hidden end of the rope.

Govannon gets close to Zelda, blade out, and readies to help her if she needs it.

"This is all very strange." he murmurs under his breath.

"Let's take all this stuff back with us, maybe it'll make some sense to the lawyer. I must confess though, that it makes no sense to me as yet."

"I assume one needs uhm raw materials to make a flesh golem, perhaps this is the result of that." Caracotl tries to give small smile of confidence, but is finding it increasingly difficult to smile at all.
"Was all this carnage here the last time you were here Lazne?"

Lazne shakes his head at Caracotl. "No, I don't remember seeing the coracle. But of course, we didn't look."

Zelda is unable to pull up the rope by herself. After much heaving, Zelda and Govannon are able to pull the rope up to reveal a large sack at the end. The sack holds some rope, a gag, a rusted lantern, a trio of heavy knives, and a rusted shovel.

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23

Govannon stands upright and stretches after the brief exertion. "Look there, the bag is bloody as well. Curiouser and curiouser. Can anyone tell a story with these things? I am still at a loss."

He thinks hard on the problem, and tries to sift the clues. He places them in his mind into separate compartments and turns them over, viewing them from all sides. Yet when he tries to combine them, they just fall apart - no clear cohesion exists.

Int check for a clue?: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

...sadly, his mind is not as sharp as his eye, and he remains in the dark.

If the island has been thoroughly searched, he suggests, "Do you think there's more to be learned in the town? I think we've learned what we can here."

Scratching his head, Aleksander looks back to the others, surprise evident on his face. "Well, I can say that the face is not tainted with evil. I must say, I'm surprised."

This looks like the work of someone skilled at surgery does it not. This is very strange. Lets take one more careful look around the island to make sure we have not missed anything before we leave.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

Zelda identifies that six graves in the boneyard appear to have been tampered with. The graves sag into the ground as though they had collapsed from below - leaving wide depressions in the muddy
earth.

Aliseya looks in the direction of the six tampered graves. Taking notice of any names inscribed on the headstones, she reads them aloud, looking to Lazne for recognition. "Do you know if anything interesting happened with these people in life?"

Ali then has a look on her face, as if a light bulb went off in her head... but she is simultaneously unable to believe what she is about to suggest as their next course of action.

She looks around for a shovel.

"I... uhm... think we need to, ehh... you know. See the bodies? Or maybe," looking back at the surgically removed face with an expression of dread disgust, "what's left of them."

Looking back to Gov, "Raw materials." With a shiver of disgust, "Ew."

"Perhaps the beast or another was uhhhh put together?, born?, constructed here?."

Caracotl returns to the corpse of the beast they killed earlier and inspects it for signs of surgery or stitching

heal check?: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16 If you want a perception check its +2

"I see what you mean." Govannon rolls up his sleeves and begins digging with whatever's available - his wooden bowl if he must. "They might have constructed another flesh golem. Good idea."

He's careful as he gets closer to the coffins - he doesn't want to do any harm, and wants to see what harm may have already been done.

"Let me understand the facts.
One, Someone was here taking parts of bodies for some reason.

Is this correct? Zelda looks at Lazne waiting for a reply.

Aliseya, there are no headstones - the graves are unmarked.

Caracotl finds no signs of surgery on the manticore.

Govannon finds that each of the graves are empty. It appears that the bodies have been removed.

Lazne shrugs his shoulders at Zelda, "I ain't no detective."

Aleks shakes his head. "We can't be sure that the "beast" seen by the locals was the one removing the bodies. It could even have been the thing created from the bodies, or a bodyguard of the grave robber. But surely, the "beast" the villagers saw and the missing bodies are connected somehow."

Zelda looks surprised at Aleksander response
"Why what make you think the beast was anywhere near here. Just because someone was creating creature here does not mean the beast has anything to do with this. If one person can create these golem creatures than others must be able to as well. This could be someone who is not connected to the the beast at all.

What I see, indicates this could not have been done by the beast. The beast had the IQ of a child, not someone who can preform surgery as what ever was here could do. Then we need to add that what was here was seen being dragged into the river to be eaten.

Aleksander looks confused. "You misunderstand, my lady. I don't think that the Beast we met had anything to do with this. I am merely using 'beast'" he says, miming air quotes with his hands "to describe what the locals saw. It might be that they saw another flesh golem, created from these bodies here or a third such creature, created elswhere, who was guarding whatever being was pillaging graves here. But I doubt the being who was doing the grave robbing is the one attacked by the caiman. We can't assume we're so lucky as to have a simple gator end this threat for us."

"Yeah, it certainly seems like there's more going on here than one lone golem on a rampage. This is thought out, and planned. Nothing in his manner suggested he was capable of such planning."

He climbs out of the empty grave and cleans himself up with a quick casting of Prestidigitation.

"I still can't figure out what all this leads to, but let's get what information we can back to town. I think we've learned all we can here."

1500

You arrive back at Lepidstat without incident.

How would you like to spend the remainder of the day?

"Lets head back to our stuffy friend Kapple. He needs our evidence ASAP."

Before parting ways with Lazne in Morast.

Hanging back a bit and letting the others progress Caracotl turns to Lazne and in a matter of fact tone, asks "Are you still sure about your testimony? Strange things are afoot in your swamp. Beasts, besides the one you claim to have seen, are there. Those that could, would, and almost did kill you, if not for the grace of Desna and Pharasma. Think about that day, and in the courthouse look to the one labeled Beast, I doubt he will match memory. If there is any doubt you have express it before you cause undo pain."
not waiting for a response he bows to the swamp elder and walks to his mount.

Back in Lepidstat
"Unfortunately it doesn't prove very much, at least not enough. We should try and find another 'eye' witness as well."

"I agree. Our path must take two forks simultaneously. First we must prove the golems innocence, but we must also find the guilty party. Someone is committing evil freely - and getting away with it. Not good."

He walks with the others to Kapple's office, hoping the information they bring will at least throw some reasonable doubt into the mix. With luck, the party will do even better investigating the next crime and some pieces might start falling into place.

Lazne looks Caracotl in the eye, "I know what I saw that night and it was the beast. I saw him with my own eyes. Sure, there's lot's of beasts in the world, but I done saw him - you can't say otherwise."

* * *

The next morning you meet Kapple at his office prior to the trial. "Your job today will be to present evidence when you're called. I'll take care of everything else - I just need you to give me something to work with. Are you ready? Oh, by the way, no magic in the court - if they catch you, you'll be charged with contempt of court, which will be a death sentence for the beast. Do you understand? Do you have any questions?"[/b]

"Well there goes my plan. The incantation I know to prevent lying is quite obvious. Unfortunately all I can see is that our evidence suggests a 3rd party. Will that be enough? "

If we have time before the trail. I would love to find someone who can tell me what is in this vial we found.