DM B's PFS PbP Serpent's Skull (Inactive)

Game Master Beckett

"be right with you Fraggy!"

Will wait to see if Frag gets free before picking a target. Also, Begus: HOW ABOUT SOME KNOWLEDGE, EH? LOL

Begus does a quick cross referencing in his head to see what these things are:

kn:nature: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (12) + 11 = 23

Begus does a quick cross referencing in his head to see what these things are:

kn:nature: 23 = 23

It's a little late at this point, but you would have known these things are living, sentient Plants that act very much like real Lions. :P (the spoiler was a bit earlier in the last page).

"I'll break your limbs and burn your twigs you blasted lawn ornament!" CMB to break free: AAAARRRRRGHHHHH: 37 = 37

Frag nearly knocks the Thorny Lion down as he bursts free of it's grasp, and is pretty sure it may attempt to turn and flee, having seen two of it's pride mates outright destroyed, and it and the other one now looking very damaged. An easy meal this was not.

If KULIK's Take 10 Sense Motive of 36 tells him they're about to flee, KULIK will ready an action to activate bane: plants and attack if they make any threatening move instead of running away. If not, he will full attack.

I'm fine with effectively Taking 10 on that, and yes, it's fairly obvious, so I'd say a 15ish would make it.

KULIK trains his bow but does not loose an arrow, knowing the plant beasts to be ready to run. Go then, little ones, he thinks. He keeps the bowstring taut, ready to defend his companions if needed, but seeing no sense in further loss of life if they are turning tail.

Dora will end her calling out tactical inspirations.

They run but we may not see the last of them.

Was Rathen going to allow them to flee as well?

ROUND 2

Thorny Lion BLUE (-50), Thorny Lion YELLOW (-50)
-
Dora (-12) , Boots (), Jaggar (-13) , Begus (), Frag (-49) , Kulik (Ready), Rathen (-29)

Rathen delays, allowing them to leave

If not otherwise engaged, both of the lion's retreat deeper into the cave, allowing you an opportunity to explore more, heal, and prepare for any further threats, should you choose.

You can only see a bit into what lays beyond in the next area, but what you can seems to true for the rest. Every surface in this chamber is covered with some sort of mold, lichen, or fungal growth. Pale white tendrils of rootlike growths hang from the ceiling or lie on the floor, drawing nourishment from the matted compost there. Shelf fungi grow from the walls to prodigious size, and one variety of puffball fungus actually gives off a pale luminosity. The atmosphere is thick with the humid smells of rot and mold. The puff ball mushrooms give the room dim lighting.

Further down, you can see a long curved hallway.

Dora will cast a pair of cure light wounds to patch a couple scratches.

Clear : 2d8 + 2 ⇒ (5, 4) + 2 = 11

Despite wanting to appear completely uninjured, Frag is covered in a thousand tiny cuts. "Before we can continue can someone patch me together?"

"Those things were unpleasant. I could also use a bit of healing magic. Here, use my wand..."

Assuming someone helps with the healing.
CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

Begus takes 10 on the know checks and shares everything with a DC of 21 or lower.

Jaggar strides over to Frag and slaps the man on the shoulder accidentally spurting more blood out from one of Frags wounds, "Heck of a fight!" he mutters out smiling. He then offers Frag his heal stick if he does not already have one.

KULIK will use his wand on Frag while Dora uses Rathen's wand on the rogue.
Go ahead an roll to heal up, Frag, and I'll mark off the charges.

Unfortunatly, its seems that you may need to pass through these carnivoroys plants to proceed down through the room and into the tunnel.

<will edit map when able, but its essentially running the gauntlet, except they are mobile, if slow. No Init just yet, though.>

Dora gladly plies the wands to heal the injured.

roll your own if you have a wand she will use for anyone .

"Lets hope those were not the kittens ."

Now that he's patched up, Rathen looks to the task ahead. "We've got to figure a way through this mess of nature. If what Begus says about the Basidirond is true, it's going to pose a problem. I've no interest in any involuntary hallucinations, so we either light the room up with more magic, run through it quick as can be, or... I'm not sure what else. We've still got those shrubs to deal with."

The rogue rests his hands on the hilts of his weapons, shifting from foot to foot. An idea comes across to him. To Begus he says, "Mr. Wizard, would you allow me to borrow that fancy ring of yours for a minute or two? I can scout ahead invisibly, then come back and let everyone know what we're running into. Thoughts?"

How do you feel about just saying 2 charges = 11 HP? I'll roll them otherwise, no worries.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Begus smiles at Rathen, "sounds like a solid plan. this place is getting more exciting by the moment!

He slips his ring off and hands it to the sneakthief. "This ring as saved my life more than once. I hope it takes just as good care of you. Oh, and don't get dead. invisible corpses are hard to find!

Rathen puts the ring on and activates it like he's seen the gnome do so many times before. He immediately becomes invisible. The rogue then crouches down and pads quietly forward. He keeps an eye out for dangers, items of interest, and other pieces of information useful to the party.

With the +20 to Invisibility while moving, Rathen will take 10 on Stealth for 50. He'll also take 10 on Perception for 39, or 43 vs traps. I drew out his route on the map, but obviously he'll stop along the way if something happens.

As Rathen rush through the gauntlet down the hallway, each of the 6 plants seems to open up, releasing what at first appears to be a very fine dust in a small explosion, but within mere seconds the cloud of what seemed like ash becomes nearly invisible. A few of the plants attempt to lash out at him, almost as if they could sense his presence.

Having been warned by Begus about the spore clouds, <I'm presuming> Rathen does not stop until he feels he is safe from the cloud, BUT, about halfway on his journey, after making it around the corner, he finds himself in a very dangerous position between the proverbial rock and hard place. Stopping early would leave him, alone, in the middle of the strange plant creatures and risky their cloud. But, just beyond him, one of the two thorny lions that had fled is being attacked by, what appears to be some sort of unholy alliance between a wolf-sized cricket and, perhaps a shark. Not only one, but an entire pack of them. The second thorny lion that had fled now lies dead near the first, struggling to fight off the 8 of these creatures.

A few stop feeding on the remains of the killed thorny lion, noticing the Basidirond releasing their spore clouds in a distinct row, (just as the invisible Rathen passes near them). They look about, spooked, but unable to detect Rathen.

Now what?

Well this is messy. Oh well, time to slip back.

Rathen quickly and quietly slips back through the gauntlet of Basidironds, tumbling to avoid attacks as he moves. He holds his breath before plunging through the clouds, only stopping when he reaches the group.

Take 10 on Stealth for 50 to move quietly/invisibly, and take 10 on Acrobatics for 35 to tumble to avoid the attacks. Going to assume that I'll need to make a Fort save though, so here goes...

Fort save: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (4) + 13 = 17

"Please tell me we dont have to go up that way?" Jaggar asks the others after seeing the spores...

Have two games just about to reach the end. Is it okay with everyone if I try to focus on these two so I can finish them up, and hopefully have more time for this one?

That works. I've pushed my bandwidth before. It's not worth turning the game into a chore. Do it. I'll be here ready to go. I *might* need Frag for Gen Con... we'll see. That's it though.

What Frag said.

that gives Jaggar a bit of a respite so he can sit down and sip from his flask

Sorry, work and illness have kept me from posting much.

Rathen quickly and quietly slips back to the group, avoiding, as far as he knows, the dangerous spore clouds to report to the party what he found. Even now, you can still hear what seems to be wood being snapped, and doubt the Thorny Lion will last much longer, not against so many foes.

Juliver looks worried, but is trying to put on a strong face, and comments "I'm with you until the end. Whatever you decide here. Can we sneak by, do you think? If not, perhaps a few well places lightning strikes for fireballs?"

Rathen removes the ring of invisibility, popping back into view. He hands it back to Begus. "Thanks. That's a neat little toy."

To Juliver he nods. "We won't need to worry about those thorny lions, but there's a whole host of other creatures past the Basidironds. They looked like something between a shark and a massive cricket. Never seen the likes of them before. Maybe they'll weaken against the nasty shrubbery, but I doubt it."

Turning back to Begus, Rathen says, "I know I keep asking this, but you interested in putting all that explosive magic in your head to use? Maybe first with the Basidironds in the spore cloud? If we can clear them out of the way, then Frag and Jaggar can make mincemeat out of the stuff beyond them. What say you, Mr. Wizard?"

"Begus will zap them... and good. I know you can do it! ."

Begus hears the call for some firepower and obliges:

target will be center square purple occupies

'esplosion: 10d6 + 4 ⇒ (2, 1, 5, 4, 4, 3, 2, 1, 5, 4) + 4 = 35

"... not bad..." Jaggar observes...

Dora marvels at the explosion, waiting to see if anything crawls out.

If everyone is okay with it, I'm thinking about sort of skipping this fight. It's a lot of creatures which are not individually too difficult but, because it's basically three encounters in one, I think it will be a lot more tedious than fun.

With Begus's Fireball clearing out half of the First area, followed by ranged attacks from safety, two Chain Lightnings will basically destroy almost all of the opposition, leaving a few stragglers that the party's heavy hitters can put down with minimal threat or harm.

After the smoke begins to clear, Juliver steps forward to help heal up the warriors. No one really took any significant injuries, but once they are taken care of, you get a chance to take a quick look around. From what you can gather, it seems that those thorny lions had occasionally ventured outwards, capturing animals and occasional stragglers to feast upon, and typically dragging them back here.

Likey their den is a bit deeper into the caves, but it seems some of their victims had been stolen by the Deathcap Jumpers, and what little remained was then scavenged by the Basidironds. All of the bones you find in the area seemed to have been cracked open, and even the marrow within has been removed.

It also seems that between the three terrors, even the victims gear has been eaten, though, near one of the corpses, you spot a small satchel covered in fungus, probably having fallen under the bloom and been concealed. The satchel comes out easily, but rips open as it does. It seems the fungus has nearly eaten through it's hardened leather, weakening the satchel, but not yet harming any of the contents inside.

While this is not the time sit down and read the entire volume, a quick flip through of the book inside, really the only item of importance, (the rest is just small personal items, pencils, paper, a shaving razor, etc. . .), suggests it's personal journal to someone named Urschlar Vohkavi. The book itself, while not magical, is wrapped in a black leathery and scaled hide. Begus points out that it is written in Azlanti, and believes that it might very well be over a thousand years old, written by an actual Azlanti prior to Earthfall based on the handwriting and certain styles that are not currently understood about the dead language.

It requires either the ability to Read Azlanti or a DC 30 Linguistics check, which I think only Begus can make, but, now is really not the time. Something to bring back and study later.

With your wounds taken care of, you move on further into the cave, to where the cave lions had been attempting to flee. This chamber gives off an overpowering reek of compost and decay. Steps descend into what was once perhaps a pool or bath, but is now a pond of strangely mottled organic sludge. Rising from the center of the mass is a tree-like growth with a trunk of cracked, warty gray bark and a splay of knotty, withered branches. Though the sludge and decay in this room are disgusting, they are not harmful. The pool is 2 feet deep, and is considered a shallow bog for movement purposes, requiring 2 squares of movement to move into or through a square and increasing the DC of any Acrobatics checks by 2.

The tree-like growth in the center of the pool is actually an ancient polyp-like organism similar to a sea anemone, which mutated and has now adapted to this high-nutrient, non-aquatic environment. It feeds on the decomposing soup of the pool but is only too happy to supplement its diet with any other organisms that get within its reach (such as the occasional deathcap jumper whose piled up husks you see either floating I the pool or along it's edge). As you walk into the room, it begins to move, sensing your presence, sending a long vine out to try to snatch one of you, but you are just outside of it's reach. . .

The Tree-Like Creature is Huge, with a 15ft Space, and as far as you can tell, a 15ft Reach.

It clearly has four vine-like tentacles and a very savage looking mouth in the center of it's somewhat flower-shaped head, though it is currently closed and fairly well concealed to make the creature appear to be a non-threatening plant.

SURPRISE ROUND <So only a Move or Standard Action>
Rathen (), Kulik (), Begus ()
Tree-Like Growth ()

ROUND 1
Rathen (), Kulik (), Begus ()
Tree-Like Growth ()
Jaggar (), Dora (), Boots (), Frag ()

If only it where this easy. . .

Rathen takes a step forward, pulls a cold iron dagger from a spring-loaded sheath, and hurls it at the tree creature.
Dagger throw, one range increment: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (16) + 13 = 29
Damage: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Sneak Attack: 6d6 ⇒ (6, 1, 3, 2, 4, 3) = 19

After the deft throw he quick draws his gladii and glances at KULIK. "I think it's your time to shine, archer."

As Rathen steps in closer, possibly at risk of being within the thing's reach, he quickly draws and flings a simple dagger at the "tree". Unexpectidly, the dagger, such a minute weapon in comparison to the massive thing seems to cut deep through it's two inch think, (if not more), natural armored trunk. Oddly, rather than seeing the insides of a plant you might expect, or a thud as the dagger hits a wood-like hardness, it seems to sink into a sort of flesh, similar to what you might see in a worm or snake, and draws red blood.

"That... can't be normal."

No, that does not seem normal at all, Rathen! Dora exclaims

bardic kn:nature: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24

But the halfling woman cannot quite recall anything more of the creature.

"That thing is hideous.... family of yours Fraggy?"

"Nay, but I wonder if it tastes good with salt."

"I would not get too close to it...I don't like the looks of those branches or vines ."

KULIK doesn't know what the mysterious plant creature thing is, but Rathen says to attack, so KULIK activates his judgment ability (sacred justice and sacred destruction) and launches an arrow at the plant creature thing!

+3 adaptive holy composite longbow, Point Blank Shot, Deadly Aim, sacred justice: 1d20 + 19 + 1 - 3 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 19 + 1 - 3 + 3 = 26
dmg, PBS, Deadly Aim, sacred destruction: 1d8 + 8 + 1 + 6 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 8 + 1 + 6 + 4 = 26
plus holy if applicable: 2d6 ⇒ (6, 3) = 9

If we are in rounds, Dora will definitely start singing for +2/+2

marked off fireball and chain lightning x2 for the fast forward
Begus leans on his vast knowledge of all things...
kn:nature: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (7) + 11 = 18

Not knowing what this thing is, he knows that plants hate cold so he tried a cone of cold.

cold damage: 12d6 + 3 ⇒ (4, 1, 1, 4, 4, 2, 4, 3, 3, 6, 5, 6) + 3 = 46

reflex save of 23 for half.

If we are in rounds, Dora will definitely start singing for +2/+2

We are in rounds, but you will need to wait until your character is up to start it, unless you have a method of starting a song before you have a chance to act normally.

plus holy if applicable: 9 = 9

It does not, so you can save yourself a bit of typing if you like, or continue to include it as needed.

REPOSTED FROM ABOVEAs Rathen steps in closer, possibly at risk of being within the thing's reach, he quickly draws and flings a simple dagger at the "tree". Unexpectantly, the dagger, such a minute weapon in comparison to the massive thing seems to cut deep through it's two inch think, (if not more), natural armored trunk. Oddly, rather than seeing the insides of a plant you might expect, or a thud as the dagger hits a wood-like hardness, it seems to sink into a sort of flesh, similar to what you might see in a worm or snake, and draws red blood.

Kulik's arrow likewise cuts right through and goes deep, finding soft flesh beneath, and Begus approaches, the spidery words of a spell causing a small, localized blizzard to spring into existence from his outstretched hand directly at the large tree-like being.

Refl DC 23: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23 <takes half>

Despite all of this, the creature seems only winded, and slowly advances towards the party and vomits forth the contents of it's stomach, burn all that it touches.
Acid Spray to all but Dora and Boots: 12d6 ⇒ (2, 6, 1, 5, 1, 4, 1, 3, 3, 6, 1, 4) = 37

ROUND 1
Rathen (-37), Kulik (-37), Begus (-37)
Tree-Like Growth (-72)
Jaggar (-37), Dora (), Boots (), Frag (-37)

Frag licks the acid. THIS is a target that was made for blades. HP 111

KULIK has heard nothing about what this creature is, and he doesn't know either, so he simply begins to shoot some more.

+3 adaptive holy composite longbow, Manyshot, Rapid Shot, Point Blank Shot, Deadly Aim, sacred justice: 1d20 + 19 - 2 + 1 - 3 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 19 - 2 + 1 - 3 + 3 = 32
dmg, PBS, Deadly Aim, sacred destruction: 1d8 + 8 + 1 + 6 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 8 + 1 + 6 + 4 = 20
plus Manyshot: 1d8 + 8 + 1 + 6 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 8 + 1 + 6 + 4 = 23

+3 adaptive holy composite longbow, Rapid Shot, Point Blank Shot, Deadly Aim, sacred justice: 1d20 + 19 - 2 + 1 - 3 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 19 - 2 + 1 - 3 + 3 = 38
confirm?: 1d20 + 19 - 2 + 1 - 3 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 19 - 2 + 1 - 3 + 3 = 38
dmg, PBS, Deadly Aim, sacred destruction: 1d8 + 8 + 1 + 6 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 8 + 1 + 6 + 4 = 24
plus crit dmg, if applicable: 2d8 + 38 ⇒ (8, 5) + 38 = 51

+3 adaptive holy composite longbow, Rapid Shot, Point Blank Shot, Deadly Aim, sacred justice: 1d20 + 14 - 2 + 1 - 3 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 14 - 2 + 1 - 3 + 3 = 18
dmg, PBS, Deadly Aim, sacred destruction: 1d8 + 8 + 1 + 6 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 8 + 1 + 6 + 4 = 22