Crypt Of The Everflame (Inactive)

Game Master PJP

Ayo's eyes go to each of her fellow Pathfinders and note their reactions to her grave honesty, but gives no response.

She moves to the front of the group once more. Upon seeing the beetle, she slowly draws her katana and lowers herself into a fighting stance. She turns towards her allies and nods towards the creature, waiting to get an okay to begin combat.

Vigny quietly draws her sword and prepares her buckler as well. She gives Ayo a nod.

Ember's sword is ready. She makes a face at the beetle, and nods her desire to go in and kill it before it can make off with that poor wretch's body.

GM, what map slide are we on? I see our figures on two, but not the room or the beetle we're looking into, I think.

Correct - sorry, I didn't get this room up on the map yet. Slide 1 and 2 kind of make 1 map, with some overlap. Slide three is a full level map, so I am going to move that to slide 1, and we will need to zoom in, but let's use that for now.

Round 1: (Bold may act)
Ayo, Cinder, Ember, Vigny
Beetle

"Eeyyy ugly! Leave that body alone!"

Ember sprints forward, leading her with her new sword.

Charge, trait bonus, mwk weapon: 1d20 + 5 + 2 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 5 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 18
Damage + sneak attack: 2d6 ⇒ (6, 3) = 9

AC 15 for the round

Good hit, but doesn't dispatch it...

I'm last but I'll go ahead and post. Cinder, feel free to move Vigny back a space on the map and take it if you want since you're ahead of my initiative. I missed anyway :/

Vigny rushes behind the others circling to find a place near enough to swing at the bug. She goes to the far wall and turns on the bug, slashing with her longsword. Her sword catches the bug's carapace at a glancing angle and fails to penetrate it unfortunately.

Attack: 1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 3 + 1 = 7

Damage: 1d8 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 3 + 1 = 9

Ayo charges forward and swings, the sword moving through the air with power but no particularly great amount of technique or grace.

Attack with Mwk Cold Iron Katana (charge): 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 5 + 2 = 17
Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

Ayo slashes the beast for another impressive hit, but still it fights on.

Cinder?

It's okay Vigny, we'll roll with the post order. :)

Cinder moves into the room, unable to get a line on the beast, he waits for an opening.

Ready to attack the beast if it gets into range.

If only Cinder had an opening...

The beetle rears up and sprays a 10' cone of acid at the party.

Acid Damage: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 3) = 8
Vigny is out of the area, but everyone else can make a Reflec DC 13 save for half damage.

Round 12: (Bold may act)
Ayo (pending reflex save), Cinder(pending reflex save), Ember(pending reflex save), Vigny
Beetle (15 dmg)

Reflex!: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

Cinder waits for an opening behind his sister... and gets surprised by the acid spray.

He takes a step back, leaning against the wall, and tries to recover.

Staggered

Reflex: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Ember has always been the faster sibling. She curses at the sting of the acid, but manages to avoid it. (Probably that's why Cinder got the brunt of it-- she ducked.)

She takes an angry slash with her sword, then steps back.

Mwk blade: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

Probably she misses. "Cinder! You okay?!"

Reflex Save: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9
Ayo takes only 3 acid damage because of her acid resistance

Ayo clunkily attempts to step out of the spray of acid, but the woman lacks agility to match her strength and presence.

She whips the acid off of her arm and shield, her mouth turned up in disgust.

"Enough! You waste my time, insect!"

She throws a slash across the length of the beetle's back.

Attack with Mwk Cold Iron Katana: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18
Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

Ayo finishes off the bug as Cinder looks for a place to sit down and rest.

Combat over

You quickly search the room, and other than guessing that the corpse was a member of the village, you find nothing else of interest.

"Nice hit," Ember grunts in Ayo's direction, all of her attention focused on her brother. "Vigny! Bring that wand of mine here, he caught the blast of that acid pretty damn bad!"

If Vigny still has channels to spare I think enough of us are hurt it could be worthwhile. Failing that, still happy to continue to use charges from my wand for the group... though Ayo probably has her own. :P

Ember does throw a glance over at the body, trying to determine male or female, to get some notion of if it's the lost sister.

Vigny is a warpriest so no channeling, and no fervor until 2nd level. The wand it is.

Cinder (x2): 2d8 + 2 ⇒ (1, 6) + 2 = 9

Ember: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

Ayo: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Anyone need another tap?

"Many thanks." the male ifrit offers in gratitude. "That was painful."

Good here!

"Is that our friend's sibling?"

Ayo waves away Vigny's wand and draws her own.

"Keep your wand. I would not ask you to use yours when it is not necessary."

CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

(Herp derp, that's right re: warpriests. My brain was off.)

Once they've completed their inspection of the unfortunate soul who was beetle-eaten (and assuming it's not Dimira) Ember looks her brother over as if to be sure he really is truly okay, then nods her thanks to Vigny's usage of the wand. "Right then..."

Ember moves to the stairs, peering down them (up them?) to see where they lead. "Looks like we've got these stairs, or that door to the south wall."

Perception for traps on that south door: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

The body is that of a male, so not the sister you seek.

The stairs to the west lead up, connect to the stairs in room 9.

The door to the south is unlocked and untrapped... Ember is certain. Trying the door, you smell intense smoke.

The remains of a small fire smolder in the center of this broad chamber, letting off a plume of oily smoke. Fed by a heap of burning gear, debris, and more than few bones, the fire casts a flickering light across the walls of this room, partially obscured by the veil of smoke.

The smoke in this chamber is quite harsh, causing eyes to water and breathing to become labored. Living creatures in this room take a –2 penalty on Perception checks and on attack rolls. Any living creature that spends more than 1 minute in this room must make a DC 10 Fortitude save or be overcome with coughing fits (treat as nauseated) for 1d4 rounds. Every additional minute requires another check, with the DC increased by +2 for each previous check.

Ayo digs out a piece of parchement and covers her mouth, wedging the edges of the paper into her collar and under the sides of her helmet. She puts on her smoked goggles to protect her eyes.

She ventures just close enough to get a visual on the fire itself, then casts Create Water on it to try to douse it.

Cinder readies to charge should someone be foolish enough to attempt harming the samurai.

"Do they think we would assume this to be the fire we were sent for?"

Vigny waits to see if the fire can be doused before she enters the room. Even a whiff of the smoke is enough to make it clear it's noxious.

She does point out "You should be cautious and go no further than you need to for watering the fire Ayo. I doubt the crew from the village decided to burn their own gear."

Ayo goes in, and the smoke still gets to her. (Need to make a fort save, but get +2 for your precautions.)

Ayo is able to cast her spell, and the water puts out the flames, but also results in a billowing puff of smoke, making the situation worse. In addition, something flies out of the shadows to attack Ayo, sapping a bit of her strength.

Incorporeal Touch Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21
Strength Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 1

Incorporeal Touch Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20
Strength Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 6

The shadow continues to wail on Ayo, and then flies off.

Round 1: (Bold may act)
Shadow
Ayo (7 strength dmg), Cinder, Ember, Vigny

When Vigny sees the shadow thing she tries to identify what it might be.

K Religion: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18

OUch! Sorry, Ayo! I moved myself into the hall leading into the smoky room if that's permitted, since otherwise we wouldn't have been able to see the room description I think.

"What the hell is that?!" Ember shouts, seeing only a vague blackness.

Delaying until the results of Vigny's check

how can it be harmed?

Incorporeal: Creatures with the incorporeal condition do not have a physical body. Incorporeal creatures are immune to all nonmagical attack forms. Incorporeal creatures take half damage (50%) from magic weapons, spells, spell-like effects, and supernatural effects. Incorporeal creatures take full damage from other incorporeal creatures and effects, as well as all force effects.

Fortitude Save (+2): 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 6 + 2 = 16

Ayo grits her teeth as her strength is sapped not once, but twice.

Knowledge (religion) to ID monster: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 4 + 2 = 16

"Fall back! There's some manner of incorporeal creature in here."

Ayo withdraws back into the previous room, breathing heavily.

Full round action to withdraw

You withdraw from the room, and the creature does not follow you.

After Ayo is back in the room with them, Vigny motions the others to follow her back to the room where they had killed the large insect.

Her face is pale rather than the usual almost, sort of, a little tanned. Her eyes are wide.

"This is very bad. That is a shadow. An undead creature with no solid form. It saps away one's strength with it's touch. When it takes the last of your strength, you die and become the same as it. Regular weapons cannot touch it, only magical ones. We have none of those."

"I do have a vial of oil which will make a weapon temporarily magical when it is applied, but there is only enough for one weapon. I also have one flask of holy water, which I think might harm it. Unless any or you have more, I don't believe we can fight this shadow right now. Thanks to the Accidental God it did not follow us. Maybe it is tied to the room in some way."

"Given some time, I can make more holy water, but for that I would need some powdered silver. If I could make a couple of flasks it could be a great help. I would need time for preparation, two days to be ready with the water. But Ayo will need time to recover her strength as well. Time may also rid the room of smoke. It will take everything of our best to defeat it, and the smoke will work to its advantage."

"If we wait, the chances of finding that man's sister alive drop. If we continue, we have to avoid that room for the present. What do you all think?"

Ember throws glances back over her shoulder several times as they withdraw from the room, tense against it following. She looks sidelong at Ayo-- the other woman seems drawn and weakened to her eyes.

"I got some of that magic oil too... but look what it did to Ayo here in just a few seconds! If it ain't gonna follow us, then let's not go poke at it. There's a lot of other doors in this place first. Can't we do anything for Captain here? She looks about fit to keel over," Ember says brusquely.

(stat damage is rough for 1st levels :( I say we definitely avoid the shadow for now)

Cinder winces as the shadow events unfold.

"That seemed unpleasant." After giving a few moments for Ayo to recover, he continues "Why did it not follow you into here?"

"Two of us could prepare to harm it in some manner. Perhaps a hit and run could be employed here, though I don't know who would want to play bait."

Ayo takes off her goggles and pulls the parchment off her mouth. She stares back towards the room.

"I could take another hit like that and still stand. But doing so now would just be...unnecessary."

I have that scroll of lesser restoration we found. Do I have the permission of the party to use it?

You have my permission!

Yes, go ahead and use it!

Enjoy!

Go ahead and roll 1d4 Ayo...

Lesser Restoration Scroll: 1d4 ⇒ 1

Ayo just stares at the expended scroll, the last vestiges of its magic fading away. She pondered why she had such luck.

"Ya still look pretty miserable there," Ember informs Ayo, with a 'sucks to be you' expression. "You need to take a breather?"

Turning to the others she says, "We can backtrack and check some of those other tunnels, yeah?"

If there's no objections, she leads the way back through the tunnels to one of the ones they had bypassed earlier.

Moved on map. Checking for traps as she goes:

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

Cinder shrugs and follows his sister.

Vigny moves along as well, but she is getting concerned that a pause for rest may be needed.

"We should think about resting soon. We have the wand, but Ayo could use some time to recover more. I've also almost exhausted my spells."

The room you met the villager in was actually designed to be a place to rest up. It is relatively secure.

The hallway Ember is checking ends in a door, with no way to open it.

Ember struggle with the door a little before shrugging. "This way's dead end for now. Rest? You wanna rest in here, with that shadowy-thing about?"

She shudders. "If we're gonna try and sleep, I say we do it back out in the fresh air. 'Course, that sister might die while we're nappin'. If she ain't already."

Ember picks at something between her teeth with her pinky nail. "We got doors on the other side of that big room we ain't tried yet. I'd be up for tackling them before we tap out, but what's everyone else think? You still look pretty ragged there, Captain." She directs the last words at Ayo but looks to her brother to hear his views.

"I'm happy enough to leave it up to Ayo, but we're in worse shape now than we were this morning, and we'll keep getting weaker as time passes. Tends to make everything potentially more fatal."

Ayo's eyes fall to the ground.

"This unworthy fool standing before you is little help to you as she is. She shall do as you all wish."

And so the plan is?