Clebsch GM Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path

Game Master Clebsch73

Aw hell, I misunderstood. I thought Neatholm was hours away. With it being this close, it might be better to just go back to the town and rest. We could take this free back for judgment now very easily.

Let's take a vote, out of character, and have our characters abide by that. I don't think anyone has declared a firm commitment to one or the other so far.

I vote we stay and camp here. We're down to our last resources, but we're not completely spent, and I think that even if we get attacked in our camp, we have enough resources to weather an assault. Aravashnial's magic makes a powerful ace-in-the hole we can fall back on if we get really pressed too.

Actually, thinking about it... I had assumed Aravashnial, unable to prepare spells from his spellbook without sight, couldn't regain any of his magic. But if he has a Bonded Item (he hasn't mentioned a familiar, so presumably he does), he could get one spell back per day with it, even if he uses up his magic entirely. So he should at least have regained the summon monster II he spent back in the Toragdan shrine.

I agree with staying here. Avelina would prefer to keep the pressure on the cultists as much as possible.

Karas Will abide by whatever the others choose though I think running the captives back to Neatholm is a good idea.

If we stay here, what are we going to do with the prisoners for the evening?

Anarya can make sure they don't die without spending any healing resources, and they aren't going anywhere while unconscious. We'll keep an eye on them to see if any wake up from natural healing overnight, and we can KO 'em again if they don't cooperate. Might be worth tying them up.

Is the route from Neatholm straightforward? I didn't catch that it was that close either. Within an hour, we could be back. I like the idea of keeping the pressure on the cultists, but we haven't explored everything below; there is potential that they could surround us. We could come back with a couple things to help, like a portable ram and thunderstones.

Guys, we are getting slammed with a winter snow and ice storm. If the power goes out, I might be really scarce for a few days. Just wanted to let you know up front. Please feel free to run Ellena as necessary. Hopefully, we will miss the worst of it, but it could get ugly.

Here is a LINK to the post that explained the trip from Neathholm to the lair, if it helps get oriented. The book says it takes about 25 minutes to negotiate with the party limited by Anevia moving at 15. Someone could probably do it in half the time if moving 30.

If it will help move things along, it won't matter much one way or the other whether you stay or leave, but it might make more sense to keep in the lair to better control the situation. If you leave, the cultist in the upper level might be able to get back and report to the others what you are capable of and give them an edge in the defense of their lair.

I could roll for wandering monsters, but I don't want to prolong the time it takes to get to the next part, so don't worry about that either. The fun stuff starts when you explore new parts of the lair, so get rested and let me know when you want to move on to a new room and what you do between now and then.

I'll probably have a lot of time to post as we have a winter storm just starting to drop snow on us. But if the power goes out, I may not be posting at all. We usually don't lose power for long where we live, but you never know. Might be a board game weekend.

Guys, we are getting slammed with a winter snow and ice storm. If the power goes out, I might be really scarce for a few days. Just wanted to let you know up front. Please feel free to run Ellena as necessary. Hopefully, we will miss the worst of it, but it could get ugly.

Same here. Snowed in - hopefully I keep Internet and can post a ton. :)

With Clebsch's recommendation and several votes, let's call it for staying here in the lair. I think we should CdG the lizard too. Anarya will use a combination of the Heal skill (and a channel energy if she deems it necessary) to keep the prisoners alive. We have food from their own stores to feed them too.

Anarya will treat any prisoners with respect, though if any spout off blasphemies against the good deities, she might be prone to get extremely defensive and angry. She cannot understand why someone would reject the blessing that Iomedae and other righteous faiths offer freely to mortals - she's rarely been exposed to other faiths and, as a matter of fact, might never have knowingly encountered a follower of any evil god before today.

I'll make a post narrating events through to the point where it is the start of the next day. If anyone has filth fever, the symptoms will hold off for a few hours, which should be enough to get you through the next melees. When I posted earlier, the snow was just starting and it's already now completely covering the grass and piling up noticeably on the car.

Be safe; be warm. I hope all goes well for both of you. It is rainy and low 50's here. Because, you know, Seattle.

Karas isn't really in the headspace to coup de grace at the moment. He has had a lot of time with people who worship evil and not by choice! lol

I'll post when I get home this evening. I am starting Mummy's Mask in F2F today :)

I have excluded the non-masterwork items from the loot sheet. Indicate if you'd like to carry them. I'm ready to kick some cultist ass, and a heroism casting would go a long way for a Goblin/Kobold Franti.

Tauni, keep in mind if I am invisible, my next attack denies Dex, is a sneak attack, and an additional +2 to my attack roll. If I am small, heroed and invisible, thats a d20+14 on my attack roll against denied Dex, ie, a hit. I can even do a Bow Sneak attack at +13 for a 2d6 against my target if I'm a bit far away.

Agreed, it can be powerful. We'll see. It may be best to hold it in reserve a bit if we need you to get around and flank someone, or cut off retreat, or disrupt a spellcaster.

I hadn't realized we had another Masterwork Chain Shirt. Dibs! That'll help Anarya.

Any ideas on getting through the door other than bashing it in? Have we made sure there is no other room that might lead to an alternative entrance? If not, Ellena will be happy to kick in the door.

Franti has no ability damage at present. He did not lose any wisdom from the Haunting mist and so had only lost 1 Constitution point from the poison. That healed overnight.

I'm looking forward to this part. I think it should be an interesting battle.

Edit: Did Karas heal up the remaining damage with a potion or spell?

Also, anyone activating a scale? I'll post the text for what you see when the door opens later this afternoon or early evening. Time to shovel the walk.

Oh yeah, scale active, let's say goblin on one, kobold on two.
form: 1d2 ⇒ 1
Li'l Gobby form it is.

I just want to say that when I was riding home from my first session of Mummy's Mask last night, I literally squeed in the car when I saw Anarya and Karas' internal monologues about each other!

I'm so happy that her shipping is becoming a thing!

*fist pump*

Lol Avelina. Glad to help.

@GM: I should be 2 down from max due to An arts channeling before we slept for 5 and sleeping recovering 2. Am I wrong in this?

I think I misunderstood the question sorry. Karas is not using anything to heal the remaining 2 points of damage on him before combat.

@GM: I should be 2 down from max due to An arts channeling before we slept for 5 and sleeping recovering 2. Am I wrong in this?

I'm wrong. I was looking at the before sleeping status I posted when I should have looked at the post-sleep status.

I put the light indicators on the icons of the same characters who had light the last time: Anarya, Franti, Horgus, and Avelina. If anyone else has light, indicate it in your post. You can assume you had it prepared before the door was opened.

No light for me this time, I am dark-visioned and don't want to waste my last sunrod. I'll remove it from my character now.

I just nat-20-times-3-crit-in-a-surprise-round killed my boyfriend's paladin in the WotR game I'm GMing. The cultist who hit Ellena got luckier this time. Ouch.

I ended up manufacturing a way for him to survive because the character is so new and we had such a huge arc for him planned out, but he's kinda demoralized he had to survive via GM fiat. So that happened. :/

Question, does fast healing kick in the same round I start a Bloodrage? Ie would I heal the same round I start it?

It makes no sense that it wouldn't, IMO.

Franti's Armasse Makeup, Neatholm Warpaint, and Cultist Lair Makeup.

Cool images! Are we to assume a white base layer for each of them?

Only the Cultist Lair used white as its base thus far, the others using a pale gold. I'll probably shift up the base colors soon, maybe go with something a bit more impactful or go silver/gold two-face. Eventually it will get crazy enough that I shouldn't be allowed to do diplomacy checks unless it is done to change the attitude of clowns or children.

I love this group.

Paladin: "I shall go first. It is surely dangerous, but I will risk my own life."

Wizard: "Perhaps we should outwit them with stealth and cleverness."

Bloodrager: "GERONIMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!"

lol Bloodragers gonna rage. :) totally wrote recklessness into the character. I'm sorry about that.

Never be sorry about that. Karas rules.

Absolutely. I love it! If I could revise my post to read "How about Franti goes- Hey, where's Karas?" I totally would!

Lol thanks guys. :)

Would it be too cliche to say I'm not trapped down there with them. They're trapped down there with me!

Lol

Would it be too cliche to say I'm not trapped down there with them. They're trapped down there with me!

Lol

Cliche? Eh, maybe. Awesome? Heck yah!

I'll get the Mongrelman 8's action after lunch today.

That time of the month again folks. I'm heading out to Indiana to kill zombies for a weekend and wont have access to internet until Sunday evening.

To keep the combat moving DM please see the spoiler.

Good luck in zombie-land. Should be able to keep things going for Karas.

Just for the record, my last post took me about 4 hours to compose, proof-read, and edit. The situation is very complicated, so please don't post out of order at least until the darkness is dealt with. Lots going on at once and those without darkvision will be at certain disadvantages. If you have any questions about what your character knows, see, or hears, post it in the gameplay thread under a spoiler and I'll respond under a spoiler.

Good luck. I'm having fun trying to keep everybody off their toes, but I think you are doing well so far.

Uh, bad s%+# is probably going to happen to me in the next round. I see a couple AoEs and maybe a regular strike or two in the next turn. I would like to use my remaining hero point to re-roll my will save.
Heroic, Resistant Will: 1d20 - 1 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (2) - 1 + 2 + 1 = 4

Welp, there that Hero Point goes.

You're handling things great, GM! I would like to get the darkness resolved as much for your sanity as our safety ;)

I appreciate how difficult this sort of combat is to run, and I can see the hard work you've put in!

Well, I can see it. Anarya can't. She's about as screwed in darkness as can be, since she can't even hear what's going on. I knew giving up darkvision would come back to bite me, but even though the halo is much weaker, it's so cool I couldn't resist. Eventually she'll be able to cast daylight, but it's going to be a painful few levels.

Tauni did have a natural 20 for prescience, but that expired before she started looking for the arrow or bolt. When she makes a prescience roll, she has to use it before the start of her next turn. I made the prescience roll that round to help her get past the two saves she had to make, bypassing the grease and handling the drop. If she didn't use it for either of those actions, or use it in response to a foe before her next turn, it would be lost

The other thing I considered was using True Strike to get the effect vs. concealment, but I wasn't sure how that would interact.

I was going to make the point that as this is the Boss battle for this part of the AP, the chances of character death are higher and a real possibility if a few rolls stack up against a character. I was going to suggest people make use of the hero point and say that going forward, I'm going to slow down the posts and allow some time after an enemy action that causes damage or other risk, to allow PCs a chance to use a hero point. Alas, Desna is not smiling on Franti at the moment, so we'll see what happens.

As a sometime writer of action adventure fiction, I know that it's a good technique to make there come a point in a battle when it seems all is lost. Then things turn around.

In the best RP situations, that point evolves naturally. I think we are at that point in this battle. We'll see what might turn things around. One that you know may be coming is Aravashial summoning some help with his conjuration spells. That will balance things out. If Tauni found the darkness object, that will mean only one more round of darkness. The enemy still has a few tricks, to be sure, but nothing that should overpower. Hang in there.

Edit: Still it wouldn't hurt to review your options for using the hero points.