DM Carbide's Giantslayer

Game Master John Woodford

Svarog, you actually notice something--there are tracks in the debris on the floor that suggest someone, either an orc or half-orc, has been back and forth between the two rows of beds--mostly at the southwest end.

"Tracks," Svarog grunted to the others, moving closer to see where they ended. "Orc, or half-orc."

Svarog will poke around to see if he can find whatever the half-orc/orc was after.

Haftor says an appropriate blessing at the altar, and takes 10 (for a 13) Perception to aid Svarog. (Should be 24 total.)

Svarog and Haftor are following the tracks down the aisle between the two rows of beds when the stench of burning flesh returns, much more strongly. Suddenly they (and everyone else in the room) see burnt human corpses appear on the bedframes. The corpses sit up and scream, their mouths full of fire and ashes.

DC 14 Will save or frightened and fleeing the area at full speed for three rounds; if the save is made, shaken for one round.

Will DC14: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

Oh, man. Svarog's gonna be embarrassed by this day FOREVER.

"The dead bring fire! Run!" Svarog shouted and jumped back, turning and shouldering past those at the door as he fled.

Come to think of it, if Lidda is within reach, Svarog will grab her and carry her out, too. He's worried she won't get away quickly enough with those short legs. ;)

will 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19

A shaken character takes a –2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks. Shaken is a less severe state of fear than frightened or panicked.

Haftor backs out of the room, a look of concern on his face. "What manner of deviltry be this?"

Haftor did not take any ranks in Knowledge (Religion), so he can't make this check. Anyone have it?

None of you have the skill.

*facepalm* We're the Golarion equivalent of the Keystone Kops.

Kira watches in absolute surprise as Svarog rushes out of the room screaming of fire and the dead. Standing outside of the room she takes a look in from her side of the door frame (and presumably seeing nothing) before turning back and yelling, "There's nothing there Svarog!"

Her eyes turning over to Haftor, Kira shakes her head, "If there's some kind of deviltry at work, maybe best we just skip this room. I don't possess the tools or knowledge to deal with that kind of malfeasance."

Ha. That's what I get for assuming other people will take Knowledge skills.

Will save, DC 14: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

Jarrek fled the room along with Svarog.

Haftor, as you back out of the room you see the spectral figures fading away into smoke and dispersing.

Halfway to the Mwangi Expanse, Svarog's pride will catch up with him, and he'll stop and put Lidda down, muttering about "enchanter's pranks."

I guess he'll have to suck it up and go back and apologize for running away like an elephant from a mouse to Kira and Lidda. But Svarog doesn't apologize! He scowls, and privately vows to do better.

DM, did the orc tracks look like the orc ran away? Where to?

Svarog, from what you saw of the tracks before the manifestation, it looked as though they were made by someone who was trying to be stealthy--careful placement to avoid debris on the floor, planting toes first, and the like. This was only the case in the southwestern half of the aisle between the rows of beds, though.

Trunau natives and those with the skill, give me a Knowledge (Local) check.

ETA: A Diplomacy check to gather information will also work, and can be made untrained.

Kn:Local: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8 Back to being ornery, are we, RNG?

Hmm. So the orc... didn't want to wake up the ghosts? Is it possible to sneak past ghosts? There aren't any other tracks in the room, right?

K:local: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8 +2 concerning orcs
Diplomacy: 1d20 ⇒ 2

Svarog is too grumpy about having run away to be cordial.

Hmm. So the orc... didn't want to wake up the ghosts? Is it possible to sneak past ghosts? There aren't any other tracks in the room, right?

If you had someone with Knowledge (Religion), you might be able to answer one of those questions. There have definitely been more than just orcs (or half-orcs) through here, but most of those tracks are at least several weeks old, and the only tracks in the aisle are orcish and no more than a couple of days old.

Haftor frowns for a few more seconds, watching the manifestation fade away, then turns to the group. "Unquiet souls?" He shrugs. These things are beyond my ken."

We can go around the haunted room and hit the door on the SE wall, maybe?

Svarog eventually returned, grim face warning against mention of his flight. With him, he brought Lidda, whom he had carried away in his alarm at the undead.

He glanced at Jarrek, who had also fled, and nodded agreement with Haftor's plan to examine another room, for now. Both embarassment and fear fresh in his mind, he hadn't quite gathered the will to risk both again.

I'd suggest that someone sneaky try to ease past where the ghosts were, but Svarog would rather eat a sword than suggest someone else do something he feels he ought to. If we don't find anything in the next few rooms, we can always come back and try. Pity everything burned, otherwise we could throw some blankets on the floor to try and be quieter.

Eh. If it's a Haunt it won't matter how sneaky the PC is. IC it makes sense to avoid the room full of ghosts, too.

How are we doing on resources? We're out of healing, right? And a couple of us have Ability damage. It's a little embarrassing to retreat from the first level of the dungeon but we might want to consider it if we're out of heals.

Jarrek nods at Haftor. "I like to fight things full of blood and ichor. Ghosts?" He shakes his head. "Let's leave the dead alone for now. We can come back if we need to."

I'm in meetings pretty much all day today, so posting will be very light after this.

Kira and Lidda recall that among those of their acquaintances who used to hang out at the Plague House, the majority said nothing about this room. Two of the ones who did (and who in fact recommended it as a good place for making out) were otherwise real jerks.

The party retreats from the haunted sanctuary and circles back past the spider body to the iron door in the southeast wall. As you form up prior to opening it, Lidda tugs on Svarog's belt to get his attention. "Shhh...I think I hear something moving in there."

Svarog immediately pushed Lidda behind him and readied his sword. He jerked his head at the door as explanation, assuming everyone had heard Lidda's warning.

Shall we kick down the door and run at whatever screaming bloody murder with our weapons raised, or just listen at the door for now? Svarog isn't especially sympathetic about how much wounds hurt, but he is aware that they make it harder to win a fight. What do the rest of you say?
Just in case, Svarog will listen at the door for now.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13 +2 vs. orcs

Eh. If it's a Haunt it won't matter how sneaky the PC is. IC it makes sense to avoid the room full of ghosts, too.

Yeah, it does sound wacky. I just don't know why else a lone orc/half-orc would be sneaking around right there, since apparently there wasn't anyone else in the room to avoid alerting... maybe they didn't want to be heard by locals canoodling somewhere in the building? That's all I could come up with. There must be something they wanted in there, regardless of why they were walking carefully...

Unless that was a red herring, and it was just a local trying to prove how brave they were. :P Probably got scared off like us. At least, if a commoner wasn't scared off, Svarog will be humiliated forever and ever. And ever.

Svarog doesn't hear anything initially, but once the party quiets down he thinks he can hear scratching from the other side of the door.

Honestly, this haunt can be fooled by stealth. No kidding.

You mean I was right? o_0; Haha, haunts are the weirdest. Maybe the ghosts don't want to be disturbed in their eternal rest. Can't blame 'em, right? If someone woke me up in the middle of the night, flames would blast out of my mouth, too. :P How are the rest of you at sneaking?

Also, is the scratching on the door, or somewhere else in the next room? Scratching sounds like more vermin, to me...

Svarog shared his findings with the others, very quietly. He eyed Haftor and Jarrek. "Maybe we should find healing, and come back," he said with, for him, great diplomacy.

I like the idea of haunts, but the mechanics just don't work for me. Especially how difficult they are to permanently 'disarm'. For their CR they're ridiculously hard to solve.

Jarrek grins at Svarog. "One more room, Svarog. What's the worst that could be in there?" The big man's grin shows that he knows he's tempting fate.

The door opens to reveal a quartet of dog-sized, filthy, mangy rodents. Red eyes glitter in the light as they gaze malevolently up at you.

Round 1:

Initiative order
Lidda-delaying
Svarog
Kira
Rats!
Haftor
Svarog

Lidda figures that the one she can see is going down, and delays until the way is cleared a bit.

Svarog and Kira are up!

O-kay! I was thinking vermin as in "more bugs," but definitely not a complaint. I guess with a name like the Plague House, we were bound to run into some rats. ROUS, too... hmm. All the vermin here are too big. Nobody drink any water they find! ;P

Svarog immediately stabbed at the nearest one with his sword...

longsword 2h: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
dmg: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11

...neatly killing the floorboard.

"If I were the sort to believe in curses, I'd finish burning this place," he growled, wrenching his blade free of the wood.

I'm assuming the second Svarog on the Initiative list is Jarrek?

Geez, everything in here does ability damage. That's tough to deal with at level 1.

It's being a day, I guess. Yes, it's Jarrek. Fortunately, the rats don't...at least, not right away. The onset time for filth fever is 1-3 days.

Round 1 (ongoing):

Initiative order
Lidda-delaying
Svarog-acted
Kira
Rats!
Haftor
Jarrek

Taken by surprise at the rat's proximity, Svarog misses it. Lidda stares at the stubborn rat, and feels a tug as something takes hold of the creature.

Kira to go!

Assuming he doesn't run away again, Haftor will touch Svarog's weapon and bless it.

Earth Blessing
Acid Strike (minor): touch one weapon and enhance it with acidic potency.
For 1 minute, this weapon emits acrid fumes that deal an additional 1d4 points of acid damage with each strike.

Round 1 (ongoing; rearranged):

Initiative order
Kira-delaying
Rats!-acted
Haftor-acted
Jarrek
Svarog-
Lidda-

Kira waits for the rats to get into position. All four cluster by the door, and the ones that can reach Svarog bite at him. The impact of his sword in the floor was enough to distract them, though, and none hit. Haftor calls on his patron to fill Svarog's sword with corrosive power.

Kira and Jarrek can act, and then Svarog and Lidda can act again!

Rats: AC 14 T 14 FF 11

Falchion: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6 For the love of....
Damage: 2d4 + 3 ⇒ (2, 4) + 3 = 9

Jarrek swings his oversized blade at the closest rat but is unable to connect with the little beast.

Svarog grunted, slashing at the beasts again.

longsword 2h: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7
dmg + acid: 1d8 + 3 + 1d4 ⇒ (3) + 3 + (2) = 8

*Maybe there is something to this "curse" superstition...*

Sorry friends, got tied up in a huge amount of overtime work this weekend. New server rollouts can be quite a chore sometimes

Attacking the one in the middle back of the pack
Touch Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24
Damage: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7
Touch Critical: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12
Crit Damage: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11

6 splash damage, DC 14 reflex save for half.

Kira grips her next bomb tightly as she waits for the right moment before winding back her arm and tossing the bomb into the middle of the pack of rats.

Round 1 (ongoing; rearranged):

Initiative order
Rats!-acted
Kira-acted
Haftor-acted
Jarrek-acted
Svarog-acted
Lidda-

Kira expertly lofts a bomb into the midst of the rat pack. Her target obligingly tries to snatch it out of the air; its jaws close on the bomb just as it detonates. That rat is now a rather messy smear on the floor; unfortunately, its body shielded the rear pair from the worst of the blast. The one in front, though, has the singular ill fortune to take a piece of the first rat's jaw through its throat, and collapses in a bloody heap.

Lidda can act!

Rats: AC 14 T 14 FF 11
Red: -3 HP
Blue: -3 HP

Botting Lidda again to keep things moving.

The halfling stares disconcertingly at the blue rat, which fails to be affected.

Round 2 (ongoing):

Initiative order
Rats!-acted
Kira-
Haftor-
Jarrek-
Svarog-
Lidda-

The rats move up to attack Svarog, but the ranger is ready for them and survives unscathed.

Party up! Jarrek, don't forget the rats have cover against you.

Rats: AC 14 T 14 FF 11
Red: -3 HP
Blue: -3 HP

Haftor casts a quick blessing on Svarog, calling on Torag for his guidance.

casts guidance for the +1 on an attack

longsword 2h + guidance: 1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 3 + 1 = 6
dmg + acid: 1d8 + 3 + 1d4 ⇒ (7) + 3 + (4) = 14

Torag must not have been impressed by Svarog's fighting so far, for his blessing was withheld. Svarog himself was increasingly red-faced at the incompetence he was displaying.

Sorry, totally missed that. Can he try to use Fascinate on one of the rats, if he can't attack it?

Yes, fascinate will work on a rat. It won't work on these now, though, since they're already in combat.

Kira levels her crossbow once again as she waits for the exact moment... a solid THWIP! sounding out as she pulls the trigger.

Attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13
Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

Round 2 (ongoing):

Initiative order
Rats!-acted
Kira-acted
Haftor-acted
Jarrek-
Svarog-acted
Lidda-

The party's attacks on the rats prove fruitless thus far. Lidda and Jarrek to go! Jarrek, you can attack a rat with a -4 penalty to hit.

Jarrek tried to smash one of the rats with his falchion around the corner of the doorframe.

Falchion: 1d20 + 3 - 4 ⇒ (15) + 3 - 4 = 14
Damage: 2d4 + 3 ⇒ (3, 4) + 3 = 10

Round 2 (ongoing):

Initiative order
Rats!-acted
Kira-acted
Haftor-acted
Jarrek-acted
Svarog-acted
Lidda-

Jarrek splatters the rat in front of the door!

Lidda stares at the remaining rat.

Round 3 (ongoing):

Initiative order
Rat!-acted
Kira-
Haftor-
Jarrek-
Svarog-
Lidda-

The last rat attempts to bite Svarog again, and misses.

Party up!

Rat: AC 14 T 14 FF 11 -3 HP

Haftor has settled into an expression of grim determination as he casts another blessing on Svarog.

guidance again

2h longsword + guidance: 1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 3 + 1 = 20
dmg + acid: 1d8 + 3 + 1d4 ⇒ (3) + 3 + (2) = 8

Svarog wasn't one to pray, even to the gods of the dwarves, whom he respected, but he could feel Torag's grudging guidance as he stabbed at another rat - *Probably annoyed to be asked to bless a human dealing with vermin,* he thought - and skewered the little creature with his smoking blade.

The last rat falls to Svarog's sword, and the Plague House goes silent save for the panting breaths of the party.

Congratulations! You've survived to reach second level!