Clebsch GM Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path (Inactive)

Game Master Clebsch73

Avelina's blinding light only blinded the one confronting Karas. The other two ducked their heads and avoided the worst of the glare. Their flesh sizzled and gave off wisps of smoke, filling the air with the smell of char.

The salamanders show no signs of giving up the fight, so Tauni should cast her storm spell if she wants.

Hearing no sign that they're willing to talk, Tauni unleashed her spell.

Targeting the back of the little chamber they are in, as far back as possible to minimize friendly fire.

Damage 3d6 ⇒ (5, 2, 2) = 9 bludgeoning and 2d6 ⇒ (3, 1) = 4

No saving throw, nine round duration of difficult terrain in the effect.

Spell Resistance does help. If any have it, here's some rolls:
1d20 + 9 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 9 + 4 = 25
1d20 + 9 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 9 + 4 = 20
1d20 + 9 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 9 + 4 = 26

Anarya grimaced as pain from Karas and Ellena's wounds flowed into her, clutching tightly to the structure of the lift to keep herself from falling. (Karas and Ellena each heal 5.) Atop the lift, she concentrated on the magic of Terendelev's scale as silvery mist began to flow around her. It spilled out over the edge of the lift, swirling gracefully down to the floor below. Supported by its magic, she rose to her feet, knowing it would keep her safe from falling, and stepped off the edge to begin a gradual descent to the floor below.

Standard Action: levitate from her scale, CL 19th. Move action: stand up from prone. 5-foot-step if needed to step off the lift and hover beside it in the air - on her next turn she'll be able to descend safely to the ground.

Tauni's ice storm rained down damaging hail on the trapped salamanders in the cave. Unfortunately, the edge of the storm also pelted Karas.

Salamanders have no SR. They took 15 damage while Karas took 9, which is split 5 and 4 between Anarya and Karas. Karas and Ellena heal 5.

Karas is the last to act this round. The ground in the cave is difficult terrain. The Salamander in front of him is blinded.

The steaming silver Tiefling growled as spears were thrust at him and dove on the nearest Salamander.

Full Attack Action: Start on 2, if 2 falls 5ft into his square and attack 6 with remaining attacks

Claw Attack 1, PA, Magic: 1d20 + 18 - 3 ⇒ (7) + 18 - 3 = 22
Claw Damage 1, PA, 1d6 cold: 1d8 + 12 + 6 + 1d6 ⇒ (4) + 12 + 6 + (3) = 25

Claw Attack 2, PA, Magic: 1d20 + 18 - 3 ⇒ (5) + 18 - 3 = 20
Claw Damage 1, PA, 1d6 cold: 1d8 + 12 + 6 + 1d6 ⇒ (2) + 12 + 6 + (2) = 22

Claw Attack 2, PA, Magic: 1d20 + 13 - 3 ⇒ (10) + 13 - 3 = 20
Claw Damage 1, PA, 1d6 cold: 1d8 + 12 + 6 + 1d6 ⇒ (5) + 12 + 6 + (3) = 26

Rending Claws: 1d6 ⇒ 5

Bite Attack, PA, Magic: 1d20 + 16 - 3 ⇒ (20) + 16 - 3 = 33
Bite Damage, PA, 1d6 cold: 1d6 + 16 + 6 + 1d6 ⇒ (4) + 16 + 6 + (6) = 32

Karas clawed his way through the blind salamander and then advanced over his dying body to nearly kill one of the remaining Salamanders.

The last attack was a critical threat which my rolls confirmed. Did 76 to S2 taking it negative. Did another 67 to the S3. S3 is down to his last hp.

The cornered salamanders fought hard, but could manage only a single spear thrust that penetrated Karas' armor and defenses. 9 divided between Karas and Anarya.

If anyone wants to add something to the masterclass in putting down Salamanders that Karas is demonstrating, do so. Otherwise, Karas can post and probably finish them off. S3 has 1 hp, S6 has 68. Both have AC 22.

"Damn," Raine said with a headshake as she watched the brutal battling and Karas tearing the salamanders a new one. "Think I'll save my arrows. He has this."

Ellena enjoyed watching her tiefling friend carving through the evil demons, and granted him the right to finish the last two off.

Avelina stood back, hanging on Ellena’s arm, trusting Karas to make short work of the remaining enemies.

Salamanders are evil outsiders but not demons, FWIW.

Tauni tried to help Karas in his gruesome task.

Firing a ray of frost at salamander 3. Ranged touch attack 1d20 + 6 - 4 ⇒ (4) + 6 - 4 = 6, Damage 1d3 + 0 ⇒ (2) + 0 = 2

Anarya finishes her descent to the chamber floor and channels some of her light to heal the wounds she's been accumulating from her allies.

Cure Moderate Wounds: 2d8 + 9 + 4 ⇒ (4, 4) + 9 + 4 = 21

If Karas doesn’t post, I’ll try to have Ellena help dispatch the baddies tomorrow afternoon,

do you need me to roll this out?

do you need me to roll this out?

I thought you might want to. I'll run the dice just to give a proper account and allow for the small chance Karas might sustain further injury.

Karas pushed on with the grim task of finishing off the forge defenders. He tried to sink both sets of claws into the one that was almost dead. The creature's tough skin prevented one of the attacks from drawing blood, but the other ripped out vital arteries in his throat and he died a few seconds later.

Pushing on, Karas was able to rip at the remaining defender, further wounding him.

The last stand continued as the salamander made valient attempts to attack Karas, but he was not able to land a spear attack or smack him with his snake-tail.

Karas finished him off by digging his claws into the hot flesh of the outsider, pulling him close, and biting his exposed neck.

The heat from the salamander slightly burned Karas's mouth despite his resistance to fire damage. 1 damage to Karas.

FYI: those were advanced salamanders and I doubled the numbers. That's how I'm having to adjust things to make it challenging.

totally understand. I had to do similar when I ran this

Each of the salamanders had a spear as a weapon, but they were not enchanted or even masterwork weapons.

The forge chamber connected with two small vaults to the east and west. All three chambers held a variety of weapons and gear of varying quality, but many weapon racks lay empty, as well. While all of these weapons were inferior to the gear of the heroes, the weapons would provide important supplies when the siege changes into a rebuilding effort, assuming the heroes could clear out the rest of the dungeon.

The armor and weapons stored here are worth 10 units of Goods, and can be of use in the next adventure when the PCs aid in the rebuilding of Drezen.

Tauni and Karas recognized that the forge was being used to corrupt good and/or lawful weapons and artifacts into evil/chaotic versions that could be used by the forces of the abyss. They also recognized it could be used to do the reverse. Understanding that process would take time and study of Staunton's notes. More immediately relevent, however, they knew abyssal infusion affecting the entire dungeon could be neutralized by casting two spells simultaneously or one after the other. The spells required were Dispel Evil and Dispel Chaos.

Sosiel should be 9th level now, so he could be called in to cast the spells if you want to take the time to return to the surface and fetch him. He'd likely have to rest and prepare the spells, so it would take an extra day. The forces in the dungeon aren't going anywhere, so it's up to you if you want to do that. But they might be up to mischief so giving them more time might create new problems. You can get to the next room and try to check it out without being noticed if you want an idea about what is next.

Status after the fight
Anarya (17 lethal, 4 nonlethal)
Ellena (11 lethal)
Karas (12 lethal)
The rest have no injuries.

I'll have the next section up later today. You'll need to get back up to the transport cage and take it across the forge to the next room to the SW.

As the violence comes to an end, Anarya's healing light spreads over the party.

Channel Energy: 7d6 ⇒ (4, 6, 2, 6, 2, 2, 3) = 25 And that will top all of us off.

Anarya will be able to cast the spells to dispel the magic on the dungeon by expending mythic power at level 10, but currently that magic is beyond her.

"I'm ready to press on, if we don't want to take the time to break the enchantment on this place. If we're forced to retreat later, we can always talk to Sosiel then."

Raine picked her way through the room after the others, stepping over the smoking bodies of the salamanders with care, and whistling a bit as she looked around the chamber.

"Lots of good steel in here. It'll be a sight better in the hands of our army then in these blighters' claws...."

She listened to the explanation of the way that corruptions could be removed from special weapons, and those weapons made into tools for good. "Damn, that'd sure be somethin'..."

As the group discussed whether Sosiel should come down now, or later, Raine frowned, and checked the arrows still in her quiver. "I'm good t'keep goin'. Might as well get this place cleared out entirely before we ask anyone else to come down and do anythin' that could take a while, yeh?

"I'd like to keep 'em on the run while we got the chance. Be nice if we had some way to send a magic message thing up to the surface, but I know I don't."

"I think I could manage it, but it would be taxing - I'd rather save my strength for the fights to come. And if he wouldn't be able to do anything about it until tomorrow, there's no reason for urgency."

Anarya could use mythic power to cast sending, but it's hardly worth it.

"Makes sense, Anarya. Let's keep goin' then?" Raine say with a glance to the others.

I think if two PCs can agree on a specific course of action, let's assume for simplicity's sake that that is what is decided? Might help us keep forward momentum there.

Elllena nods in agreement with the others. ”It looks like we are pressing ahead then. Probably a good idea since Anarya’s healing has me good as new.”

When the group gathered up into formation again, Ellena volunteered to lead them ahead yet again.

While looking through the eastern forge maintenance room, Tauni's familiar, Cobblepaw, sitting on her shoulder, twitched his ears when she passed the eastern wall and chittered excitedly. Tauni spent a moment studying the apparently solid stone wall and then noticed small seams, almost invisible.

The secret door she discovered did not appear to be trapped, as confirmed by Raine. It opened on a well-oiled pivot into the room, revealing a small passageway only five by five feet. a second secret door could be opened into the room or hall to the easst.

Think about whether you want to explore the room to the southwest or the room beyond the secret door. Also, make sure you've healed up and accounted for the healing resources necessary.

We're all healed up and I've marked all the expended spells and ability uses on my sheet. That last channel topped everybody off.

"Good! Goddess willing, we'll drive all the evil from this place tonight."

Rule of 2 as Raine suggested sounds good. If it's good enough for the Sith, it's good enough for us!

Avelina adjusted her gloves and made sure she was entirely clean of filth. "Let us continue. I suggest the secret door first. You never know when a villain may be planning on using it to sneak up behind us for an ambush or to scurry away!"

Secret door or the cable car to the next room? You've got time to make perception checks near either door for indications of what might be on the other side.

I like the rule of 2

After taking his post fight breather, Karas looked around the room in amazement. "I mean a secret door usually hides things they dont want found so I'm happy finding them."

He hovered near Anarya as they investigated the forge,"We could get a whole lot of power back into the crusaders hands with this thing. I'm all for it when we can get Sosiel and everyone else in but pressing on is good."

"Aye, let's see what they're hiding!" Raine agreed with an eager nod, riding the adrenaline high of their relatively easy conquest so far. She took up a spot as the rearguard, an arrow on her string.

”So the secret door, first then? Fine by me.”. Ellena steps to the front and leads the group as it starts the exploration of the area.

Swaths of pulsating red lichen illuminated this long, 30-foot-high, alcove-lined hall. The alcoves themselves displayed elaborate, colorful murals of demonic entities, each with inscriptions chiseled into the stone below them. At the far end of the hall stands a massive iron framework that displayed a red banner, the famous Sword of Valor.

Each of the murals on the walls depicted the demon lord Deskari mutilating and savaging a different deity—Iomedae, Sarenrae, Torag, Desna, and Shelyn.

A larger alcove was not directly visible, but several large insectoid limbs could be seen, evidently part of a large statue.

The secret door through which all this could be viewed was 20 feet above the floor, about midway of the west wall. No creatures could be seen in the room, which was silent. Faint sounds of chanting could be heard in the distance, but it was hard to tell from what direction.

Map is labeled G11.

" ... that's it, right?" Raine said in a hoarse whisper as they caught their first glimpse of the Sword of Valor. " 's what we came for? Can't be this easy to just climb on down and get it though... can it?"

”It might be a fake, but there’s only one way to find out for sure. We need to go get it. Who’s with me?”

"Can we look around the room to see if anything invisible's hidin'? Check for magic on it? Maybe it's an illusion," Raine said with uncertainty. "And we oughta have a quick way to get people back up if we can-- maybe you lot have magic for that, I mostly have a rope. Or maybe we can blockade the entrances into the room, so nothin' can come at us as we're getting the banner?"

Tauni stepped up closer to the entrance, and cast a spell on herself that caused her eyes to flare with blue light. She looked around the room below intently.

She already extended see invisible going, and now she is adding extended arcane sight to the mix. Perception 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (17) + 16 = 33

Tauni scanned the room from the high perch of the secret entrance. Looking first at the banner and then up and down the length of the grand hall. Others looked through the opening as well, in case anyone could see anything odd.

Nobody else noticed anything unusual about the room.

"I mean... it can't be THAT easy right?" the tiefling looked about cautiously before muttering a spell hardening his skin to Iron.

cast Ironskin

"Perhaps not. Should the banner be bathed in evocation magic? It could be a trap, like a fireball. And the small alcoves, there is some illusion magic there. It could be covering some sort of guardians."

The relic was far enough away that if it was a trap, it would be hard to spot the tell-tale indications from fifty feet away.

There was a set of double doors to the southeast corner of the room, connecting to a room or hall that lay east of the south end of the room. There might be other features on the east wall that could not be seen from the high vantage point in the same wall. The larger alcove on the east side of the room had more to it than could be seen from the secret door.

Note: the map is rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise from the normal north at the top orientation of the other maps. The secret door is in the east wall facing west, with south to the right and north to the left.

GM

Ellena whispered to the others. ”The banner detects strongly of Good. If it’s not what we are looking for, it’s still a powerful item of Good and we should reclaim it. I’ll lead the way if everyone agrees.”

Anarya nods, replying in a normal tone - not aware the others are keeping their voices down. "I think we should be wary of those alcoves as we approach. If they're hiding something invisible, I should be able to strip it from them - though I can't do much for other forms of illusion."

To the rest of the party: Do we have any sort of way to fly, to be able to get back up to this secret door swiftly if we need to? It'd suck to get attacked once we're down there and have no easy way of egress other than to fight our way out through unexplored chambers. Raine can't contribute anything to that other than, like, a rope. I know there's a scale that lets one person levitate, but beyond that I don't OOCly know our party resources all that well.

Avelina brandished her longsword, testing the weight in her hand idly. "If it is a trap, then what better way to strip the vigor from the demons' sails than to walk right into it and soundly defeat all of them without an effort? No need to overthink or overplan; the Inheritor has chosen us! No evil can stand before us."

In an emergency, Tauni could use mythic power to cast dimension door to transport herself and up to three of the others. Anarya can levitate for the next ~18 minutes, so she can ascend again if needed.

Go for it.

"Hold on a moment. I think I have a way to get us all down." And back up again, if necessary. She concentrates for a moment, touching each of the companions in turn. As her touch pulls away from each person, they noticed that her fingers seemed sticky.

Using a mythic power to cast communal spider climb. Duration ten minutes each except Karas, Raine and Ellena, who get twenty minutes each.

She demonstrates quickly how to use the power of the spell on the wall of the tunnel. "Try not to think about it too much. Just run where you want to, and let the magic take care of the details of sticking and unsticking."

Nice! Wizards for the win.

"That's damned useful," Raine says with a grin at the other woman. "Now I'm ready to do this. Let's go."

Bow on her back, Raine experiments with climbing, and sets out... on the wall itself, staying above ground as she amuses herself with her new gecko-like abilities.

I'll move towards the banner, but stop 20 feet out and look for traps again.

Ellena, quite tickled with the weird sensation of the magic, smiled as she followed Raine. ”If you see anything, shout it out, Raine and I’ll take care of it!”. She experimented with the climbing magic, trying to hold on with one hand.

Karas shivered a little before smiling and testing his grip on the wall opposite of raine and following at her pace down the hallway.

Anarya tries out the climbing magic, delighted with how easily it lets her scurry across the wall's surface. The wisps of silver cloud from Terendelev's scale still cling to her as she moves - a comforting reminder that even if she somehow fell, the draconic magic would carry her down safely. She follows behind the others, staying towards the back of the group - clinging to the walls just like Karas and Raine.

A few features of the spell to keep in mind: The affected creature must have its hands free to climb in this manner. The subject gains a climb speed of 20 feet and a +8 racial bonus on Climb skill checks; furthermore, it need not make Climb checks to traverse a vertical or horizontal surface (even upside down).

So no one cannot move with a weapon or shield deployed.

I moved Raine 2 rounds of double move to get her to 20 feet from the banner. I put Raine first, Ellena second. I assumed Avelina would follow Ellena, then Karas, then Anarya. Change it round if you would have assumed a different order.

Lighting is dim unless a specific light source is deployed. I'll assume Anarya's halo is on for those without darkvision. So light is normal within 40 feet of Anarya, dim beyond.

I'll post the results of new perception checks later today. Gotta get to work.