Crypt Of The Everflame (Inactive)

Game Master PJP

Vigny smiles at Ayo and puts her hand on her shoulder. "The first person who entered that room, whoever it might have been, was going to be stricken by that shadow. Think of yourself as someone who shielded the rest of us from suffering. That's how I think of you."

"The man holed up in the storage room has been safe enough for a while. I say we rest there for a little while so Ayo can regain some strength. From what he said it sounds like we will need it."

OK, so it looks to me like the general feeling is to get a nights rest.
Rest wasn't easy to come by, since the current occupant babbled incoherently all night, but you made do.

Consider it done, and up date your info accordingly - it was an uneventful night.

"Can't help her if we're not in a position to help ourselves." Cinder shrugs as he heads back for a rest.

After the night passes
"Do we search out the rest of this place before looking back into the smoke?"

Sorry busy days!

Ember sleeps like the dead other than her watch and wakes the next morning grimacing and rubbing out sore spots on her shoulders.

"Yeah, I don't wanna tangle with that thing until or unless we absolutely gotta," she says, eyeing Ayo to see if the other woman is moving any easier. "Let's try the other side of the crypt, I think there's still doors there we ain't opened."

(Moved on map -- I don't believe we actually made it into the area marked 7? but I could be wrong. If we haven't yet:)

Ember looks the door over...

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

"Looks fine to me." She moves to open the door.

You are correct - not been in 7 yet. Not sure why it wasn't covered...

The door is locked, but one of your keys does open it.

A small stone bench sits in the center of this dusty chamber. On the far wall is a faded mural depicting the hero Kassen defeating the mercenaries at the entrance to this crypt, with his blade piercing the chest of the mercenary leader. These figures stand alone in the center of a scene of carnage, with dead villagers and mercenaries all around them.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Lost in his own thoughts, Cinder accepts his sister's scouting of the area.

Examining the murals and then the bench, he moves towards the opposite side of the room to listen for sounds down the adjoining corridor.

Percepion: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Vigny follows Ember and Cinder along. Daydreaming about sunlight and fresh air.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

Ayo's eyes glaze over the mural as she continues to brood over her current weakness. She just walks alongside Ember.

"This so-and-so will follow."

I think we actually did make it to this room earlier, lol. Back here. Anyway, sorry I've been so slow, guys! Take 10 on that DC 15 Perception.

"Huh Kassen an' that other fellow got real similar necklaces," Ember says. "Also I have a strange sense of deja vu..." ;)

Curiously she moves down the corridor that they previously had discarded in favor of returning to the front rooms. "Okay, we got this other door here..."

Checking for traps: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

"Come on, folks, let's see what's on the other side of it, yeah?"

As she waits for the others to join her in the hall, Ember gives a little chin lift and peer at Ayo. "Why do you call yourself that? So-and-so? That's not very flattering."

Will try the door when everyone is ready

I am not too sure how this was supposed to work in this module, but we will give it a go...

A single pillar in the center of the room supports this wide, domed chamber. The pillar is surrounded by a pit, but a stone bridge crosses the pit on the south side. Dozens of arrows jut from holes in the pillar, facing every direction.

There is a door to the east (which you can tell is the door you could not open from the other side), and another to the south.

We are going to now work round by round. You have 1 round to describe what you do.

Ember hesitates. "Am I the only one that thinks that thing is about to spit out arrows at us like nobody's business?"

Frowning, she slams the door shut again. "--let's just test--"

She listens for the sound of arrows hitting the door in question.

About 6 seconds later, you do hear a whirring sound followed by a few thumps in the door. It continues for almost 2 minutes. Then stops.

Lamest trap ever.

You open the door, and see blunt arrows littering the floor in every direction, but the pillar in the center has stopped.

Lol, and well done game sis! :)

"Well done. Is it safe to explore now?"

It is... but there is nothing else really to see here.

The door south is locked. (DC 20 to open)

Should we go ahead and try all the keys we have just in case we get lucky?

"Yeah, that's a good plan," Ember agrees with Vigny, and just grins at her brother. "'s why I'm the smart one, Cinder!"

She sticks with Vigny while they try the keys, just in case something happens.

None of the keys work, however during the time you are trying, the door suddenly snaps open. (10 rounds after the last arrow).

A continuous carving of mourners runs along the walls here, leading to a staircase on the south side of the room.

Cinder's reflexively charges at the door, almost lifting his leg to kick at nothing. Slightly embarrassed, he stops and examines the room from the doorway, slowly edging his way in.

"Seems clear." he says smoothly, as if he forgot his momentary burst of adrenaline.

"Oh! I'm not sure I like that! Vigny exclaims when the door opens suddenly. She's not terribly happy about formerly locked doors just opening for them. Especially when they've already crossed paths with a shadow in this place.

Ayo nudges her way to the front.

"This so-and-so shall go first. In the event there is a trap, her loss would be felt the least."

Not waiting for an answer, she continues forward into the room, sword and shield drawn.

As you enter, four bloody skeletons drag themselves from behind pillars in the room, reaching their long claws at you.

Round 1: (Bold may act)
Ember, Cinder
Skeletons
Ayo (5 strength dmg), Vigny

"Aw, you shouldn't talk about yourself like-- oh hey more bone guys!"

Ember darts forward, chanting one of the arena songs. "Look to the left! Look to the right! Stand-up-sit-down fight fight fight!"

She slips into position behind the slow skeleton and smashes her knee into the base of the undead's exposed spine.

Unarmed strike vs flatfooted red: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7
Damage, sneak attack: 2d6 ⇒ (6, 6) = 12

...well, she tries to smash her knee into its spine. She's a little off-balance, and kicks hard, but inaccurately.

"Rah rah... crunch." the ifrit dryly follows up his sister's chant.

Darting forward, he tries to drive a knee into the skeleton.

Unarmed Strike vs flatfooted red: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24
for: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6 and sneak attack: 1d6 ⇒ 6
Unarmed Strike vs flatfooted red, to confirm: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20 for: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9
12 damage, or 21 on a crit confirm! Woo!

Vigny reaches over to touch Ayo's katana, blessing it.

Holy Strike (minor): At 1st level, you can touch one weapon and bless it with the power of purity and goodness. For 1 minute, this weapon glows green, white, or yellow-gold and deals an additional 1d6 points of damage against evil creatures. During this time, it's treated as good for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. This additional damage doesn't stack with the additional damage from the holy weapon special ability.

"--bah," Ember says at Cinder's successful blow. "You only got that cuz I distracted it!"

Cinder nods in agreement. "You're good at that."

Ayo?

Cinder, of course, blasted his skeleton to bits...

Ayo wasn't bolded, so I thought the skeletons went before her?

Yep - you are right. Apparently I lost my mind, what little of it I still have... Vigny jumped ahead - no problem, but no action for round 2 yet.

The bloody skeletons move to attack.

Yellow attacks Ember: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20
Damage: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

Green attacks Cinder: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14

Blue attacks Vigny: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10

Now, Ayo can go, then right into round 2.

Round 1: (Bold may act)
Ayo (5 strength dmg), Vigny

Round 2: (Bold may act)
Ember, Cinder (3 dmg)
Skeletons
Ayo (5 strength dmg), Vigny

Cinder steps forward once again, lashing out a red-tinged elbow at foe who struck his sister.

Unarmed Strike vs Yellow: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11 for Unarmed Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4 Whiff!

"Your turn."

Yes, I wanted Ayo to be sure to know about the weapon enhancement before she took her turn. Figured it would be fine since it was just a buff for Vigny's turn.

Ayo begins to move to sheathe her sword and fall back to her cestus, her typical weapon against skeltons, but Vigny's blessing makes her pause, shrug, and return to her normal fighting stance.

She steps forward, a swing of her katana riding the wave of motion.

Attack vs Blue with Mwk Cold Iron Katana (str damage): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22
Damage (str damage, blessing): 1d8 + 1 + 1d6 ⇒ (6) + 1 + (2) = 9
Crit Confirm: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16
Crit Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

Ayo blasts through the blue-dy skeleton like a hot knife through butter, and prepares for the next one.

Spell didn't overcome the DR, but the 18 damage far exceeded what you needed despite non-bludgeoning DR.

Still waiting on Ember before the skellies attack back.

Sorry! My bad

Ember tries a complicated roll to get into a better position regarding the skeleton...

Acrobatics vs Yellow's CMD: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18

...and comes up out of the roll with a brutal elbow to its skull.

Unarmed strike, flank, trait: 1d20 + 5 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 5 + 2 + 1 = 28
Confirm?: 1d20 + 5 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 5 + 2 + 1 = 14

Normal damage: 2d6 ⇒ (2, 3) = 5
Extra damage if 14 confirms: 1d6 ⇒ 6

And yellow goes down too!

Green swipes its nasty claws at Ayo, not even scratching armor.

Attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12
Attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

Round 2: (Bold may act)
Ayo (5 strength dmg), Vigny

Round 3: (Bold may act)
Ember, Cinder (3 dmg)
Skeleton
Ayo (5 strength dmg), Vigny

Ember grins as one skeleton falls. She takes an adjusting step-and-kick, driving her heel towards the exposed spine of the next skeleton.

Unarmed, flank, trait: 1d20 + 5 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 5 + 2 + 1 = 22
Damage, sneak attack: 2d6 ⇒ (3, 4) = 7

Ember crushes its skull, ending the threat... for now....

Out of combat. Assuming you head down the stairs...

At the bottom of the stairs is a circular chamber with three passageways leading from it. In the center is a small stone pedestal. The sound of dripping water can be heard coming from the eastern passageway, while the stench of rot emanates from the west.

The floor bears an inscription spiraling out from the pillar and written in Common. It reads: “To the south you might take your ease, to rest and reflect on Kassen’s deeds. To the east lies the wheel, to open the gate. To the west is the resting place of Kassen, hero of the Fangwood.”

Vigny gapes open-mouthed at the others and lowers her sword since there's nothing left to do.

The male ifrit gives his sister and Ayo an approving nod and heads to the bottom of the stairs.

Reading the pillar he steps towards the west and waits for Ayo to lead the way.

Sorry, busy weekend!

Ember flashes Vigny a grin but trots over to her. "Can you use that voodoo stick of mine on me a second? I got scratched a little that time."

(Assuming Vigny willingly activates Ember's wand:)

CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

"Better, thanks! Right, so south, east, and west, huh? We could leave it to chance."

She pulls out a three-sided coin (hey, it could happen) and gives it a flip.

1-S, 2-E, 3-W: 1d3 ⇒ 2

Vigny uses the wand on Ember then follows along. She has no real opinion on which way to go, so Ember's choice is fine with her.

Ember and Cinder seem to be headed different directions. Are you splitting up?

Investigating the eastern passage, you find that it begins to slope down a bit after leaving this chamber and that water has collected in the corridor, growing deeper as the passage continues. This is the source of the dripping noise, as the ceiling appears to be leaking in many places.

To the south, nothing can be heard or seen.

To the west, the stench of rot grows stronger the closer you get to the mouth of the corridor, but nothing can be heard from that direction.

I'm not that foolish...

Cinder sighs as his sister leads in the exact opposite direction than he had intended... but realizes he has no emotional tie to being in the lead.

He follows along east.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15

"That is an odd sound. Perhaps someone is choking?"

Ayo pauses, briefly ceasing her brooding, and cranes her ear towards the east.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21

She meets Cinder's gaze and nods, brandishing her katana and moving to the front.

(Ember just likes annoying you, Cinder. Or her typist missed the west thing. >___>)

Ember stays behind Ayo, blade drawn, peering around.

Per: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8

She doesn't hear whatever her brother is talking about, but she stays ready all the same.

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14

Vigny follows along at the rear, waiting for something to to happen.

The east hall turns north or south. To the north, a door. To the south, a room with a foot of water in it.

A strange blue fungus covers the walls, ceiling, and pillars of this waterlogged chamber. Its wispy strands stretch out from the wall like roots dangling in the air, twitching and swaying in an unseen breeze. Floating in the water are four decaying corpses—three large rats and one giant frog—with strange burn marks all over their bodies.

The ifrit's eyes scans the room curiously, concerned with the depth of the water and what it may be hiding.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Suspecting a trap but unable to identify it's source, he whispers back to his sister, "This seems like something you'd be good at Emb."

That doesn't seem good. I'd imagine the rats and frog lived here. So if they're dead we should be very careful."

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

"Maybe we should find a stick and poke the water with it..."

Gosh, this week.

Ember looks around with her nose wrinkled. "I don't like the looks of those little dead rats either, Vigny. That fungus looks like a nasty hanging spiderweb, too. Anyone got a torch? Maybe it'll burn."

Perception for anything amiss: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18