DM-Camris' WRATH of the RIGHTEOUS Part 1: The Worldwound Gambit (table 2) (Inactive)

Game Master Camris

Karthak's visage splits with a thoothy smile as he hears Irabeth's words:"That's what I hoped to hear lass! They'll pay for their foul treason! And more importantly, we know where they hide! The foul betrayer Staunton Vhane ordered his servants to steal an holy sword we pried from their grasp. More importantly he his orders spoke about the places the betrayers lair in: Nyserian Manor, Topaz Solutions, and the Tower of Estrod. I say we rest and then we clean the filth!" as he speaks the inquisitor hands Irabeth Staunton Vhane and comments:"Vhane's betrayal is what brought me back to Kenabres. I look forward to the day I can make him pay for what he did"

"Then once you have rested and filled your bellies I would implore you to clear out these dens of villainy. I can't spare the men at the moment, but I do have coin I can reward you with. We also have many merchants who have taken refuge here. If you have good to trade with them I know they can pay with good coin."

"Yes" kathak says with emphasis "Dealing with them will be our duty and pleasure... and maybe besides the merchants you have also some clerics? We are in need of help dealing with poisoning"

Rest and food... now that is what I came here for. Leave the vengeance to the others.

"Don't think yourself well out of it yet, my friend," Jokum rumbles, clapping Xaivan on the shoulder. "I have a feeling they may have need of your skills to scout and clear out the Templars' hideouts. Besides--getting rid of them may be the only way you can enjoy your rest and food. I have full faith in your abilities." If not my own...but I've delivered them to safety. My job is done, and it's for the best. He looks down at his nails--which seem longer every time he looks--and shudders.

Glancing around, Jokum adds, "Rest should be taken before any attempt is made to attack the Templars though. And several of us--particularly you, Karthak--need a healer's hands. Let us sleep soundly this night, at least."

When the opportunity presents itself, Jokum will seek out a private conference with Irabeth...

"That we don have plenty of. Not much good in a fight for the most part but the novices can heal most minor injuries."

Tess is as quiet as usual as Karthak's righteous indignation finally has an opportunity to boil over. In the pocket of her dress, her fingers turn the pendant of Baphomet over and over- no matter how long she holds it, the amulet remains cold to the touch- but Anevia's wife believes the dwarf without another word, so she lets the moment pass without bringing it to their attention.

Her growling stomach startles her from the reverie she had sunk into. She pulls her hand from her pocket distractedly, and leans over to the blind wizard leaning on her staff. "Sir Aravashnial, we shall see you to your dwelling shortly, but would you care for some food or rest among these crusaders?"

Her curiosity itches to be satisfied, but she reminds herself of a tenet of Nethys's studies: The nourishment of thy body shall be assuaged; only with a healthy body can a healthy mind seek truth.

Pollux remained quiet throughout most of the exchanges. When they encountered the woman, he thought better than to speak, for he had seen slaves sacrificed before to grasp the attention of an inattentive god. When they entered the Defender's Heart inn, he again thought better, for his God's symbol still hung proudly from his chest. At this time he felt himself almost longing for the cave again, for at least there he had proven his devotion to the cause. He had proven he was strong.

As the others talked he looked around, hoping to see a familiar face or two. Where was Kyra? Where was the girl who attempted to dance all over his God's good name. He was proud to see the milk he had spilt still staining the the floorboards... Though that pride turned to disgust as he noticed it was not cleaned yet. Where was Kelden, the sensible one? Even if they had only just met, they were the closest Pollux had come to making friends before Terendelev's fall. After a quick glance at Ce-Eshna reminded him that not all of the Dawnflower Trio had fallen in the recent spate of attacks, Pollux's heart warmed some.

However, he knew silence was going to get him nowhere, so once the planning had been done, he approaches Irabeth and Anevia.

"It is good to see you lovers reunited." he begins, pretending not to notice any eyes that may have fallen on his symbol. "However there is something I would like to ask of you. To my eternal shame, I am not ready for what lies ahead. Even if I rest, I fear I'll be disadvantaged. Might you, or any of these good men who sit around us, be willing to spare me a spear and a mace, both of cold iron? They are simple weapons and I am willing to pay good coin for them both."

He takes a deep breath and holds his head up high, hoping his resolve can head off any annoyed onlookers.

Diplomacy(to avoid, I dunno, people thinking I'm sinister): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24

While you eat everyone eagerly listens to the details of your time beneath the city. Irabeth explains, "After the death of many of the commanders up at the Cathedral I am now in charge of the Eagle Watch, at least, until the Mendevian army arrives to help reclaim the city. I knows that word got out about the attack, but Nerosyan and other cities along the border are facing their own plights-so far."

"I cannot tell you how much it pleases me to hear that the "First Decedents will aid us against the onslaught of demons, I'll dispatch a group of knights to finalize the arrangements in the morning."

"Fear not, for none of the other border cities have suffered as great a defeat as Kenabres, and while our city's wardstone has been destroyed and that as a result, the remaining network of wardstones remains though has diminished in power to a shadow of its former strength."

"I thank Iomedae daily for the our enemy's destructive treachery. Had the demons made as focused an attack on Nerosyan as they did on Kenabres, things would be dire indeed."

At the mention the Templars and their safe houses, Irabeth becomes very interested. The Templars of the Ivory Labyrinth are, in her opinion, one of the most dangerous elements of the
enemy. " They have spies everywhere," she says, " and have apparently been among us for decades. Only recently has proof of their presence been manifesting. I personally managed to root out one oft heir more powerful members the leader of a group called the Hammers of Heaven. We all thought of Staunton Vhane as a model crusader, but as far as I was able to discern, he's been working for the demons for decades. There's even evidence he may have been the one to betray Drezen 75 years ago. They knighted me for that discovery, but I'm still not sure why, since he slipped through my fingers and is out there still, causing who knows how much more damage ... " Irabeth trails off here for a moment before she shakes her head to clear her thoughts. " You seem to have some experience with him as well master dwarf. If you can rot them out from these safe-houses I'll find some way to reward such service to our cause. "

There are enough merchants in the place that the PCs can even sell off their unwanted treasure and purchase new gear and supplies-you can assume that anything costing 100gp or less is readily available for purchase, and that anything beyond that up to a maximum of 2,500gp has a 75% chance of being available for sale.

That said, there are many low-level clerics and paladins of Iomedae, Sarenrae, and Torag present, and they provide healing free of charge-any PC who has hit point damage or ability score damage can have that damage healed for free during a stay here.

@ Pollux: To your surprise you get little more than a few odd looks. Seems that they accept you given the company you entered with.

After a while Ce-Eshna returns, red eyed. She moves next to Tess and stands quietly. under her breath she mutters, "He isn't here, why isn't he here?"

Kimroth comes up quietly behind her Speaking softly as he sets down several tankards. "Miss, many of the survivors fled the city. It's mostly fighting folk here at the Inn. Don't give up."

As Irabeth speaks Karthak nods vigorously:"Yes, Vhane is a stain of dwarven collective honor. A stain I mean to cleanse." he sighs and continues:"But that's a tought for another day, for now we need to handle the traitors and save Kenabres. Tomorrow we shall see Aravashnial back to his home, and then start to cleanse the filth. We know where they hide!"

Karthak will just keep the items he has and ask for the free healing and restoration that can be provided. I believe he owes quite the sum to the group anyway. Also we should decide what to do with the longsword. Giving it to Irabeth seems a wise decision, especially if she can help us imo"

Jokum smiles at Karthak's zeal. "That is a good plan, my friend...for tomorrow. I am sure you will do well with it. In the meantime, let us rest, and heal."

Turning away from the others, Jokum explores the inn, but keeps an eye constantly on Irabeth. Tonight, I will ask her about my unmaking...

I think we can move forward safely. Unless something happens during the night we should leave at dawn, fully rested and healed to see Aravashnial back to his home, and then see what happens, right?

Alrigth then
Traveling from the Inn at first light to the Library...
1d100 ⇒ 82
1d100 ⇒ 34
1d100 ⇒ 90
Wow you guys have all the fun encounters real fast. :) At least that'll be good for leveling.

While moving through the streets your hear shouts of alarm and panic from a nearby shop.

Here we go again. The halfling tries to determine the cause of the alarm but he won't go alone.

Karthak rushes inside the shop weapons on the ready motioning for the others to follow:"Let's settle this quickly!"

Initiative check: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22

Initiative if needed

Overnight, Tess crafts her very first potion. Daww.

50 gp --> Potion of cause fear, CL 2.

The sun's warmth the following morning glowed almost as brightly as her freshly-scrubbed face. Tess was positively beaming all throughout the morning's preparations- that man had visited her dreams again, congratulating her on her first successful brewing and gifting her with knowledge of a new spell. The glass of pale golden fluid glimmered at her hip as they began their day's travels; she walked alongside Aravashnial again, and her own darkwood staff matched the plain one she'd lent him, stride for stride.

Initiative: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

"What's going on?" The normally-alert girl snapped out of her reverie (she'd been exulting in her dreams again) as the dwarf suddenly breaks formation.

Jokum looks haggard that morning, as though he'd slept only fitfully. But he takes his place at the front of the party without comment, carrying the new ranseur in hand.

As they stalk through the empty city, Jokum replays last night's conversation with Irabeth over and over again in his head. What could this all mean? ...What do I do now? As he feels the sunlight on his skin, though, he begins to bring himself back to the group he's walking with: the same people who made it out of the darkness with him. His friends--his only friends, really.

Initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

When the sounds start coming from a nearby shop, though, he's still mostly wrapped up in his own head...

Initiative: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5 All the cool kids are doing it so I should too.

Initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

"Fine Fittings" The shop is a combination tailor/clothing store that specializes in particularly fancy clothing, and the shop has recently attracted the attention of a passing demon-rat-faced humanoid demon. The cries come from a human couple who are trapped inside with the demon.
Demon: 1d20 ⇒ 10
Map updated

To no one's surprise Karthak barges inside the shop yelling a warcry:"By Torag! Foul abomination, DIE!!!"

Knowledge roll(planes): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

Attack roll: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25
Damage roll: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13

On his turn, Pollux, awakened from his lull, will cast inspire courage on the party.

Not quite sure what the order is, but sure!

Jokum leaps forward with his ranseur and stabs at the demon, attempting to provoke it into attacking him rather than the shopkeepers.

Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11
Damage: 2d4 + 4 ⇒ (2, 4) + 4 = 10

Sorry lot on my plate the last week.
Order
Karthak- burst in shouting and hits. (-13 hp)
Definitely not of this world but you don't recognize this kind of creature.
Demon- lets out a shriek of pain, and lashes out, not at you but your weapon! Bite(Sunder): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15Damage: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10,
With supernatural strength the demon tears apart the axe utterly destroying it! 1-handed hafted weapon Hardness 5 Hp 5
With the axe destroyed the claws seek flesh.
claw: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16 Damage: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6 claw: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26 Damage: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

Everyone else-
Pollux- inspire courage
Xaivan-?
Jokum -misses
Tess-?

Xavian finds his way in an shoots!

Bow: 1d20 + 8 - 4 - 4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 8 - 4 - 4 + 1 = 5 for Arrow: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Tess stumbles on her dress as she scurries through the door. She assesses the outsider with a glance....

Knowledge (arcana): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

...but her brain is foggy from their restful evening. Get it together!

She takes a deep breath to calm herself and inspects the room, taking in the fine silks and fancy trappings. What would such a horrid creature want in here?

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20 What does the creature seem to want?

Carefully, she removes the tiny flask of liquid from her hip.

MA to 1 square NE of Karthak; MA to retrieve potion of cause fear.

Always forget I can do this...

Jokum states at the rat-faced horror as it easily bites through Karthak's ax. What is this?!

Knowledge (Planes): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23

initiative: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15
Maneuvering to get close, Ce-Eshna risks a shot even with the dwarf in proximity.
Attack: 1d20 + 8 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (15) + 8 + 1 - 4 = 20
Damage: 1d8 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 + 1 = 9

The dwarf looks at the haft of the axe before throwing it away and drawing his war hammer instead:"You'll pat dearly for that!"

Attack roll: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18
Damage roll: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11

Free action: drop destroyed weapon.
Movement action: draw masterwork warhammer.
Standard action: attack!

Jokum bellows. "Come, demon! Face me instead!" If I can't find out what demon rides in me, perhaps I can at least get myself killed fighting others... He stabs at the thing again with the ranseur!

Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19
Damage: 2d4 + 4 ⇒ (3, 2) + 4 = 9

Tess leers at the demon, her eyes drawn in a vicious glare. "You are outnumbered! Only a fool would fight on by himself."

SA to use Evil Eye hex to inflict -2 penalty on saves for 7 rounds (Will DC 15 to reduce to 1 round)

Round 1
Karthak- burst in shouting and hits. (-13 hp)
Definitely not of this world but you don't recognize this kind of creature.
Demon- lets out a shriek of pain, and lashes out, not at you but your weapon! Bite(Sunder): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15Damage: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10,
With supernatural strength the demon tears apart the axe utterly destroying it! 1-handed hafted weapon Hardness 5 Hp 5
With the axe destroyed the claws seek flesh.
claw: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16 Damage: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6 claw: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26 Damage: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

Everyone else-
Pollux- inspire courage
Xaivan-misses
Jokum -misses

Round 2

Karthak drops the ruins of his axe and draws his warhammer! AoO: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13 It snaps its jaw at the hammer but misses.
The hammer comes down hard (-23hp)

Bite: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20 Damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8 plus mutilation
claw: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15 Damage: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
claw: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19 Damage: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Pollux-
Xaivan-
Jokum -
Tess-
Karthak-

I suppose he attacked only Karthak, right? If so Karthak is at -1 hp already

Xavian moves around so he has a clear shot!

Bow: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27 for Arrow: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

When Karthak had his second turn, my Evil Eye went off, right?

Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12
Damage: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

Knowledge(Planes): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

Pollux moves in and attacks with his new longspear, hoping to draw the creature away from Karthak. "It is an Abrikandalu!"

I'm assuming with a 15 Pollux will recognize its weakness for ____. If so I communicate that with the rest of the party.

I was operating under the same understanding as Tess re: my last attack. Let us know if we've misplaced ourselves in the space-time-initiative continuum!

mmmh.... despite being down I suppose I still have to take Fort check against disfigurement after all... with Karthak's charisma of 8 I would not want any further drop on the stat...)

The dwarf hits the demon again beofre falling to the onslaught of his attacks. Karthak drops on the shops floor but doesn't seem to bleed... much!

Fort check: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13

Stabilize: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22

You actions are for round 2, I didn't put them there because I thought you may want to change them seeing Karthak went down.

Jokum's, ah...not much with the healing hands, so I think that action still works. Thanks though! :)

Pollux- Miss
Xaivan- Hit (-25hp)
Jokum - Hit (-34hp)

Jokum dispatches the demon.

Jokum immediately throws the ranseur aside and kneels by Karthak. Seeing that the dwarf has, thankfully, stabilized, he breathes a sigh of relief. "Pollux! Tess!" he calls. "He needs more healing than field medicine can give..."

Xaivan will search the demon in case it may have something of use that could aid their fallen ally... or the halfling's lust for treasure.

Pollux tap Karthak with his wand as soon as he sees the demon fall, nodding at Jokum as he does so. He then inspects the demon, delivering the coup de grace if it isn't already dead. As Karthak stirs awake, feeling quite evil, Pollux explains the situation. "It was an Abrinkandalu. It went after Brother Karthak's weapon at first because it saw its own reflection. If any of you have a mirror, it might be of use should we face another one. They are deathly afraid of them."

Taking his own advice, Pollux searches the room for a mirror, even looking at Terendelev's scale. As Karthak comes to his feet, Pollux explains to him how infernal healing works and asks him, respectfully, to take another hit from the wand.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14

Wand of Infernal Healing (49/50) or (48/50). Will fix my sheet to reflect this when I get home this evening. Also, should we level now?

Go ahead and level up now,

The Loumises are very grateful-the demon's left them with little stock to reward you with, but they immediately offer each of you a fine outfit worth 100 gp each as thanks. While the shop sported several fine large mirrors little remains from them.

Jokum blinks in surprise when the shopkeepers hand him the fine garments. What on earth am I supposed to do with these? But he brushes the thought aside to watch carefully as Pollux heals Karthak.

"I don't have a mirror of any kind," he comments to Pollux, "but if we meet any more of them, I'll be sure to keep that in mind." Watching as Karthak stands unsteadily, he adds, "You should take the healing Pollux offers, my friend--we need to keep moving if we're to reach Aravashnial's house."