Clebsch GM Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path

Game Master Clebsch73

After a few delays, I finally have my computer up.

More of Karas' wounds were healed by Anarya (11 points), who joined him in the fight. Karas, however found the little guy nimble and quick and hard to hit.

The rogue who received some kind of spell from the cultist advanced on Karas with renewed vigor and confidence. His short sword flashed quick and vicious, cutting Karas once more. 5 points.

Raine, Ellena, Avelina are up.

Ellena took a 5' step to the northwest, pinching the closest opponent between she and Anarya. Her sword arm had been very busy, but she wasn’t tired just yet. She cleaved downward atthe rogue.

Power attack with Radiance 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22
Damage 1d8 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15

Ellen cuts the goblin down more in size, leaving him lying on the floor bleeding and unconscious.

From her new position at the top of the stairwell-- standing over poor Tauni's unconscious body-- Raine quickly took in which cultists were still standing. Figuring that Karas had the one nearest him, she nocked and loosed at the cultist who stood blinking. Raine resumed her usual grim-faced silence.

Rapid shot vs Scyther #3: 1d20 + 9 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 9 - 2 + 1 = 9 (Vwish)

Rapid shot vs Scyther #3: 1d20 + 9 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 9 - 2 + 1 = 22
Damage: 1d8 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 3 + 1 = 11

(If cover would still be in play here, I haven't applied it on these shots.)

No cover when the cover is relatively low and close.

The first arrow Raine fired from the top of the stairs went wide when her grip of the arrow slipped before she got the string drawn fully. The second arrow fired true and hit the torso of the last standing cultist, who collapsed calling out to Deskari for help.

Avelina is up. There is only one opponent left in sight: the rogue who just hit Karas.

Avelina cheered up as she saw her foes thin down to one. She loosed one last crossbow bolt.

Attack with Light Crossbow (bless, into melee): 1d20 + 3 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (20) + 3 + 1 - 4 = 20
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 4
Crit Confirm: 1d20 + 3 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (20) + 3 + 1 - 4 = 20
Crit Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 5

Avelina's crossbow bolt hits the last defender of the landing in the throat. He gurgles something as he falls to the ground. 9 damage, tiefling rogue 2 is dying.

At least one enemy remains on the level at present not visible. Post actions in any order but for now limit of one round's worth of activity per PC. Raine knows that the door on the south wall of the landing, nearest the stairs, leads to a room which has a stairway that connects to the third level. It would be a fair guess that the ward stone is in that direction. It's also a safe bet that anything hiding in nearby rooms is not interested in leaving the relative safety of the room to do battle; in any case, the mongrel folk rangers can be brought in to protect your rear if you choose to advance toward the third level without clearing out the other rooms.

Anyone who moves to the west end of the landing may remove the long rectangle covering the southwest N-S hallway.

Heal (Using Healer's Kit): 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 4 + 2 = 13

Anarya rushed to Tauni's side the moment hostilities stopped. Pulling out her healer's kit, the white leather pouch stamped with the symbol of Iomedae, she examined the young woman's symptoms. She lifted an eyelid, lifted and dropped her hand a few inches, and took careful note of the cast to her skin.

"She's been poisoned... drow sleeping venom. It's critical we stop the progression now." She grabbed a pinch of two herbs she'd gathered herself and stuck them under the unconscious wizard's tongue. This done, she reached up and removed the shield-emblem necklace she'd received in the tunnels beneath Kenabres and put it around Tauni's neck. "The amulet's magic should help her as well."

Heal check (+4 to Fort Save). Aegis of recovery for +2 to saves against ongoing effects. I don't have the actions this round but I'm going to also cast Guidance for another +1.

For when it is time...

Fort save 1d20 + 3 + 4 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 3 + 4 + 2 + 1 = 13

Raine trusted that Karas and Ellena could keep anything from spilling from the other rooms onto them at least immediately, and crouched next to the unconscious woman's form as Anarya rushed to tend to her as well.

Heal: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18

"Yeah, you're right about that poison. Damn! What were you thinking, running ahead like that," Raine said with a headshake... to a woman who couldn't hear her. "Here, we've got to keep that poison from reaching her heart-- let's position her better."

(In case those Heal boosts can stack, though it looks like Tauni might have made the save regardless. Also, this is IC 'castigation' not OOC, I as a player find it fun when we take risks sometimes!)

Raine gestured with her bow even as she tried to adjust Tauni's position with her other hand. "That door there leads to stair that connects to the third story. My money's on the wardstone being there. But we should clear rooms before rushing ahead."

So Tauni will recover her consciousness after a few more rounds. While the rescue was heroic and prudent, Tauni had her sanctuary effect from Terendelev's scale up, which would have made it unlikely that anyone would have given her a CDG. I was initially going to have them just pull her into the NW room and use her as a hostage if threatened and for some cult ritual sacrifice if they survived the battle (something I did not expect to happen).

While you could clear the level, I can tell you this will involve a few more fights which will add at least a month to the play time. I'm hoping you draw on the ranger force led by Irabeth to guard your back and keep pressing toward the wardstone. While you can manage a rest to recover spells and other limited resources, from a dramatic point of view, I would recommend you push on, keeping in mind that time to carry out your mission is being bought with crusader lives by keeping the enemy busy fighting in other parts of the city. I think you can manage to deal with the enemies you will face if you head for the wardstone, although it's your call whether to do that or not.

With the current foes defeated and out if sight, Karas slumped against the wall fatigued.

He watched the others begin to check on T auni and heard Raine's insight.

He tried to keep a watch as he caught his breath and tenderly touched his wounds. It was hard to tell which blood was his and which was the enemies. These wounds were almost grave enough to put him down had it not been for Anarya's light.

He looked to the angel treating the unconscious wizard and smiled. He could wait.

Besides, a little breather will be precious given the grave situation likely awaiting above.

Anarya shook her head. "We have to get to the fragment of the Wardstone. If we secure that, we can retreat safely. We have no telling how close Areelu Vorlesh is to achieving her goal of corrupting it." She looked down the hallway Raine had indicated. "I have plenty of strength left. No one is going to die on my watch." She looked at Karas, seeing the tiefling once again looking at her. A flutter of excitement jumped up in her chest once again at meeting his gaze. The muscular warrior always seemed to be gazing in her direction when she looked. She tore her gaze away and looked to the others. "Once Tauni recovers, I think we should press on to the Wardstone. Let's use whatever healing supplies we can before we press on, and I will keep your wounds healed once more fighting starts."

After a half minute, Tauni began to respond to the ministrations of Anarya and recovered consciousness, suffering from a bit of a headache, but otherwise she had only a minor wound to show for her trouble.

Irabeth advanced up the stairs, cleared away the caltrops, and placed them in a bag, which she left on the floor for someone to take. As she worked she looked around at the carnage on the landing.

"How is everyone?" she asked. "Let us know how we can help."

"You're alright, Tauni." Anarya said with a smile as her patient came to. "You were hit with a sleeping poison, but it should be out of your system now. Everyone is safe." She let the wizard gather her wits for a moment before pressing her. "Do you feel strong enough to get up? Can you fight? There are still enemies ahead."

"Sir Irabeth," Anarya said, rising once she was finished helping Tauni to her feet. "The wardstone is close. We can push forward, but there may still be threats from other rooms in the garrison. Can you and your soldiers protect our flank?"

As Tauni sat up, her face flushed red. "Oh, I am so embarrassed. I know that seemed reckless, but I thought I was warded. But that one was just maniacal!" She put a hand on Anarya's knee as she said "Thank you, my friend. I'll try to be more careful next time."

Then Tauni rose to her feet carefully, making sure there wasn't any residual affects from the poison. After checking to make sure Cobblepaw was okay, she said "I can fight. Are we ready to press on, then?"

As he gained his breath he felt an annoying tap against the side of his head.

He waved it off once but it smacked him harder, giving it a startled and confused look he saw his tail trying to give home a potion.

He smacked his forehead with his palm, took the potion, and drank it.

cmw potion: 2d8 + 5 ⇒ (8, 8) + 5 = 21

In a stroke of luck he could only thank Her for, all of his wounds sealed.

Over Irabeth's shoulder Anarya saw Karas's tail tapping him on the head with a potion bottle like it had a life of its own. The tiefling waved it away like it was a nagging bother, before relenting and consuming the healing concoction. She couldn't help but smile, seeing the fearsome warrior act in such a manner. He's so different when he's not fighting, she thought.

...

"Sir Irabeth," Anarya said, rising once she was finished helping Tauni to her feet. "The wardstone is close. We can push forward, but there may still be threats from other rooms in the garrison. Can you and your soldiers protect our flank?"

The paladin gave a nod and allowed herself a hopeful smile, "Iomedae bless you all, we're on it!"

The mongrel folk threaded through the group and took up positions near the doors that might contain enemies. When one looked down the hall leading south from the west end of the landing, he grunted and ducked out of the way of a crossbow bolt, then sent an arrow flying back. His attack was quickly joined by another mongrel folk archer.

After a flurry of ineffective exchanges of arrows and crossbow bolts, Wenduag dropped her bow and drew her machete and charged down the hall. The conflict ended with the tiefling rogue giving up a grunt of pain and all was quiet again. Wenduag took a moment to make sure the rogue was dead, wiped her machete on his robe, and returned, picking up her bow and nodding to all that the problem was dealt with.

One of the rangers looked over the pile of papers on the table in the war room to the northeast of the landing. She called out to Irabeth who stepped in and after looking at some of the documents returned and said, "We are fortunate. The room contains many documents on reports of our troop movements throughout Mendev and not a few indications of our defenses and tactics. Depriving the enemy of these reports will be a great blow to their tactical planning."

"Thank you, Wenduag." Anarya smiled at the former cultist, proud of her. The healer looked from her to each of the mongrelfolk gathered here, fighting for a city that might have shunned them in safer times, and a surge of pride for these noble fighters swelled in her heart. She knew she stood in the presence of heroes. They would overcome the forces of evil lurking above, guarding their stolen treasure.

"You have all risked so much," she said as the crusaders prepared to press on. "We will endeavor to do no less." She met the gaze of each fighter in turn, ending with a look of respect to Wenduag who had come so far from their first meeting. "If Mendev falls, so falls the world - but we shall not let it. The demons' plans are laid bare. Today, strike a blow to them from which their vile invasion will not recover." Her halo grew slowly in intensity as she spoke, until it cast the entire room in a soft, bright light. "We will ensure no other city suffers Kenabres's fate - and with the garrison taken we will reclaim its streets by the sword until all demons fear the light of the crusade."

Picking up her weapons, she looked to her friends. "Let's go save the world."

Immediately before we move to the next area, Anarya is going to cast protection from evil on Karas and use her campaign-trait shield spell on herself. She already has corruption resistance (good) up from before (4 hour duration). Finally, she uses her wand of bless, and taps Karas, Raine, and Ellena with guidance in that order, imbuing each with a tiny spark of her light.

Avelina clapped her hands together decisively.

"Let us continue on. I may still call upon the Inheritor's magicks a while longer. Clearly, the Inheritor has shown us Her Blessing. She has even seen fit to grant me exceptional aim with the crossbow! Well, at least for one shot."

She stood back as Anarya gave her speech. Avelina had her Dramatic Speech earlier before the battle, and she was happy to let someone else take this one. Avelina's readings had given her a belief that Grand Battles such as this required a certain quota of dramatic speeches, and she was happy to not have to bear the responsibility of fulfilling that quota all on her own.

Ellena was tired, but she wasn’t going to show fatigue around her brave friends. When Irabeth declared the others ready to hold the group’s gains in position so far, Ellena felt compelled to soldier ahead.

”Every room has had defenders laying in wait so far. Might as well let me go first and try to hold the off the rest of you, once Raine makes sure there are no traps. The Inheritor favors bravery after all!”

Karas stood refreshed and said nothing as the others had their brave speeches.

He smiled and stepped past Anarya, laying a hand on her shoulder briefly as he passed, to stand behind Ellena.

He cracked his knuckles and nodded to the stalwart paladin to lead on.

"Welcome back," Raine muttered at Tauni once the other woman was on her feet again. In response to the heartfelt and inspiring words of Anarya and the others, Raine just fingered her remaining arrows and nodded, her eyes burning with grim determination.

She nodded once at Ellena's mention of possible traps, and duly moved forward to take a look at the door that led south.

Current perception vs traps should be a +20 (base +14, +2 from heightened awareness, +2 vs traps, +2 in Kenabres). Per past protocol, I'll let Clebsch roll my check.

Raine looked over the door and felt confident there were no traps. The door, however, was locked. Pulling out her tools Raine set about trying to get past the lock. It took four tries but she managed to unlock the door.

As the door swung open, it revealed a relatively unadorned room dominated by a large basin toward the south wall. The basin was about eight feet wide, made of alabaster, and its outside was carved with images of warriors around a raised sun, holding longswords aloft. According to Raine's briefing, the basin was sometimes used as a scrying pool.

Of greater concern, however, was another set of warriors wearing crusader armor and standing around the basin staring down at a mess of bloody entrails festering in the basin. The sound of buzzing lies filled the area. When the door opened, they turned to regard you and then began to move toward the door. As they turned, their bodies were bloodied from wounds that revealed the entrails in the basin were once inside the crusaders and the crusaders must surely be undead.

A stairway runs along the north and west walls, going up.

There is no surprise round. Initiative order below. Bold may act.

Tauni
Avelina
Undead 3
Karas
Undead 5
Undead 6
Undead 1
Anarya
Undead 4
Undead 2
Raine
Ellena

"And so the crucial battle for the wardstone of Kenabres began. The heroes advanced, being forced by the evil of the city's occupiers to fight the undead remains of former allies."

The storyteller launched into the narrative that would culminate in the fateful attempt to destroy the wardstone, an event that would change the direction of the Worldwound Incursion. It was already dark and a fire illuminated the storyteller and the faces of the rapt villagers who were listening with great concentration. The children who had never heard the story before frowned at the description of the zombies. This was to be one of the most frightening parts of the story for the younger children, but all who listened were deemed old enough to be able to hear the story for the first time.

Tauni pulled up her crossbow and loaded a bolt. "Zombies. It is harder to hurt them with blades, but they are amongst the least of the undead." Her tone is steady, and it doesn't seem like she is too concerned about them.

Avelina grinned as she saw how tightly the undead were gathered, a perfect arrangement for her new favorite spell. Yet once she realized they were mere zombies, a fact confirmed by the well-read Tauni, she thought better of it. With only the power for one more Radiant Dawn, she held back, trusting she would need her magic for whatever greater foe commanded those undead fodder.

Delaying for now

The closest zombie raised its greatclub and advanced toward the door. It was rather slow, however, and did not attack as soon as it got there, as if walking required a lot of concentration so none was left for fighting.

Round 1
Tauni (bless)(readies crossbow)
Avelina (bless)(delays)
Zombie 3 (moves)
Karas (PFE, guidance)
Zombie 5
Zombie 6
Zombie 1
Anarya (shield, CR)
Zombie 4
Zombie 2
Raine (bless)
Ellena (bless, guidance)

Karas is up.

Karas looked at the wretched corpse before him and tried to conserve his strength against the lesser foe. He struck out with his cold-iron longsword.

longsword, bless, guidance: 1d20 + 7 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 7 + 1 + 1 = 28
longsword in 2 hands: 1d8 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 3 + 1 = 11

crit confirm longsword, bless, guidance: 1d20 + 7 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 7 + 1 + 1 = 13
crit longsword in 2 hands: 1d8 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 3 + 1 = 11

Karas made a deep cut with his longsword, but the wound did not bleed and the undead soldier did not fall. The crit did not confirm; 11 damage.

Three more zombies shamble toward the door.

Anarya is up.

I'm going to suggest that anyone who wants to make an attack on the zomblies, authorize me to make rolls for you or make about six rolls in advance. I'll make rolls for the zombies at the doors and try speed up this melee. If anyone has any ideas of ways to push the zombies back from the entrance, post that as well.

Anyone making ranged attacks, the zombies will get cover.

Sounds good to me, DM. You can make the rolls for me. Ellena is here to cut through the zombies!

I am at a convention so I don't have much time to post but Anarya wants to channel positive energy to harm undead. Her fury at seeing the desecrated bodies causes her halo to burn like holy fire.

Clear to make rolls for my. Karas is just gonna use the longsword.

Also at a convention this weekend, as is Avelina's player (since she's coming to my convention!). I'll throw six rolls here, Raine is easy since it's a lot of 'shoot arrows, move as needed, shoot more arrows.' But given she has no slashing arrows, Raine will avoid rapidshot since it'll be just burning through lots of ammo for little damage.

Anarya's righteous fury flared at the sight of so many crusaders' bodies defiled and used for evil. Positive energy flowed from her past her allies and through the zombies.

The holy energy weakens the zombies to the east side of the room subject to the burst of energy. Zombies 1 and 2 have total cover and so are not affected. 6 points damage.

The zombie that Karas cut collapsed. Two more zombies were on their way toward the fight and filled in the space vacated by the fallen one.

Raine, Tauni, and Avelina shot at the zombies through the door but missed.

Karas attacks again with his longsword and misses.
Anarya sent more positive energy at the undead and weakened them further.

The zombies swung greatclubs and greatswords at Karas but they failed to hit.

More arrows and crossbow bolts flew past Karas but the field of battle was too cramped to get a clear shot.

End of Round 2.

Karas cut down the zombie in the doorway and advanced into the crowd of undead. Ellena stepped up into Karas spot and attempted to hit one of the zombies in the room around the door frame, but could hit.

All the zombies attacked Karas and two of them hit him with greatswords. The third missed.

The archers fired again and this time Avelina got one of her crossbow bolts to hit, but the undead was not harmed by the piercing attack.

Karas advanced to one side of the fray and attack again, but the sword was stopped by the crusader armor the undead still wore. Ellena cut down the zombie to the east and moved into the place the zombie had stood to avoid being flanked.

The next zombie attacks missed.

Pause here. Post if you'd like to change any tactic used on your behalf. Anarya can do another channel, but I did not want to use any more of this limited resource. It is possible that one more channel energy could put the rest of the zombies down, as they've generally been failing the will saves. The first two damage rolls for channel energy were pretty low.

I think I can trust Karas and Ellena to finish them without consumables. Cast guidance, step forward, deliver as a free action to Ellena, and step back. Can't safely get a heal to Karas without provoking or using another channel.

Anarya steps forward to the doorframe to deliver another glimmer of her light to Ellena, and steps back to clear the line of fire for Raine.

Everything looks good to me. Keep Chopping them down, DM.

good here

Same here!

Agreed!

I got plenty of arrows yet, so yeah, if you want to speed this one forward feel free, GM

The zombies were unable to make anymore effective attacks, while Ellena, Karas, and Raine all were successful in damaging the remaining three zombies until finally the undead crusaders were finally able to rest.

Raine's arrow hit zombie 6 for 7 damage, which destroyed it. Ellena hit zombie 2 for 8 damage, which destroyed it. Raine hit zombie 1 with an arrow for 6 points. Karas finished it off with another 8. No further threats appear in this room. You may explore it or move elsewhere.

Raine edged cautiously into the room after the all-clear was given by the others. "Let's do a quick scan then keep moving. Don't wanna give them time to muster more defense than just corpses." Her grey eyes shrewdly darted over the walls and between the eviscerated undead. "Nice basin. Used for scrying I think. Probably could use a long hard cleanse before decent folk can use it again."

Perception for anything else of interest in the zombie room: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (15) + 18 = 33

If nothing jumped out at her, she nodded back towards the hall.

At the approval of Raine, Ellena advanced behind her. Im nearly exhausted. They have to be feeling it, too, the brave warrior thought to herself, not daring to say a word and mention it to the rest. Perhaps it was almost over.

Karas couldn't help but winced at ththe d scene of undead crusaders. He didn't have yo like them all but no one deserved this.

"I agree with Raine, keep up momentum."

Tauni felt a pang of regret at leaving the crusader remains, but agreed with the wisdom of moving on.

This is no time for sentimentality! she chided herself.

She checked that her crossbow was ready before following the others further into the fortress.