GM Fez's Hell' Rebels (Inactive)

Game Master Nathan Hartshorn

Suddenly hit by a chilling gut feeling Lirotha runs back to the hall where the Silver Ravens faced and defeated the cultists...which requires at least half a minute, having to circumnavigate the pit trap. She finds as she left it. Dead bodies all around and grottesque, half completed representations of fiendish entities carved into statues and devil language scripted on the walls. Only 2 things are missing. The strange mask the cult leader was wearing. And Luculla Gens, who for all intents and purposes disappeared into thin air without leaving traces of her presence...

For the record, the boy used the word "witch" not "hag", you don't really know if he meant Loculla or the woman in the mask you killed, although one detail he mentioned seems to indicate Loculla being more than she let you believe. When you met her before Loculla had an eyepatch. And changelings have eyes of different colours. If you had spent some time examining the cultists you killed, you would have discovered that all of them were actually changelings

Frustrated beyond all imagining, Lirotha will scream at a wall nearby, hands clenched in rage.

"She PLAYED US! I will kill that hag-spawn slowly with the dullest knife I can find!"

”We will get to her eventually. We need to keep going before my Mutagen expires. Let’s press forward.”

Nodding at Oren's pronouncement, Lirotha moves.

"Yes. Search everywhere, but do not go alone. Keep a look out for secret doors and such. Such deceitful people are going to want to hide anything valuable. We also need to find some way to collapse or seal this lair if possible. The last thing we need is some new cancer moving in after we leave."

Visibly shaking with anger, Lirotha leads the way, carefully avoiding the pit.

Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (8) + 13 = 21

OK, you are going north, right? Do you know there's a room you haven't explored yet behind the dais where Luculla was? And btw what's going to happen to the 2 terrified twins? Are you kleaving them alone in their cell? Anyway...

Led by Lirotha the Silver Ravens bypass the pit and starts searching the room with great care.

Valrani perception check: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (8) + 11 = 19

Valrani searches everywhere but can't seem to find anything...

Perception 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10

Oren looks around as well.

We're taking the twins with us. I'm sorry but Elurious is probably best to deal with them for now. We can't leave them behind. The plan is to search each room in turn as completely as possible. Then seal the area behind us somehow. Everybody make perception checks.

Rocco stays toward the back with Elurius and the twins, while he sends Kurglunn up toward the front. This would at least help keep the boys from being completely terrified, and he'd be better able to protect the group.

Rocco Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26
Kurglunn Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19

I don't know how well that will work but anyway...

None of you can find anything out of the ordinary with the place, or at least more out of the ordinary than alredy it is. The twins look around with terrified eyes while shaking with fear. It's clear they are on the verge of a complete breakdown...

You have 2 closed doors you can see. One in the back of the cultist's lair, the other on your right

@Rocco: what does Kurglunn do?

Dangit, I think I started a post for this game sometime over the weekend, but never posted it. Sorry!

Lirotha, you read my mind on what to do about the Twins!

Elurius gives a small sig of relief as she realizes that the two boys were supposed to look like each other. She gives them a smile and continues to work on washing them off, while singing a soothing lullaby in some form of Tien.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (3) + 16 = 19

Once the two are in a condition to be moving, she gives them a warm smile asking, "♫You two want to tag along with us? I can try keeping you safe and it's a lot less scary with friends!♫"

Given that some of the group had already run back to the ritual room, Elurius points at the door at the back, suggesting melodically, ♫"Hmm, while we're here, let's check this out!"♫

Perception: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (6) - 1 = 5

She makes sure to try keeping her eyes peeled, but given her fickle nature, she gets distracted by almost everything. But she does pick up n the twins being extremely nervous. She loops an arm around either one and pulls them in close. ♫"Don't worry boys! We've done this hundreds of times and there's not a safer place to be on the planet then right next to us! Just stay next to me and you'll be prectically invincible!"♫

Bluff to show they're completely safe with her: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (11) + 14 = 25

Hmm, we seem to have an abundance of rope, we could probably block doorways with rope. It won't stop someone, but it will help us detemine if they've gone through an area we've been before!

Not a bad idea Elurious, but it will take too much time. I just want to finish this area and get out. With the kids here, we need to extra careful until we can get them out.

Lirotha moves to the closest door to the right and pushes it open.

"Let's finish this."

Is the room in the bottom right of the room where everyone's pawn is currently located the room where we found the twins?
If so, I think we're good for this room. Let's move to the door at the end of the eastern corridor, right outside the big chamber where we fought all the cultists and "saved Luculla". I think that's what Lirotha is actually suggesting.
In that case...

Kurglunn stands beside Lirotha, ready to face whatever is on the other side of the eastern door, while Rocco remains just a few paces behind the phantom to support him.

Lirotha pushes at the double doors. They don't move one inch as it's immediately apparent they are locked shut!

A pair of immense iron doors stands closed here. A short message has been written onto the doors in precise script, along with a symbol of an armored fish.

As you know that's the Order of the Torrent's symbol, probably left here decades ago by the hellknight armigers when they sealed these doors after their raid on the Lucky Bones. The script confirms this as it reads:"“These doors sealed by the Order of the Torrent; all holdings within awaiting arbitration. Lady of Graves, have mercy on the souls of those who perished within, and may the Guildmasters of the Gray Spiders burn for their sins.”

”Sounds like there’s a ton of undead in there from the warnings. How about we leave them alone for the time being? Keep them locked in and head to a different room?”

No Disable Device on that, then? Interesting...

Rocco steps up and looks at the sealed doors. "Eh...I dunno about this, guys. I don't think this is your typical lock. K, how about you poke your head in and see if you can see anything worth checking out in there."

Kurglunn nods and pushes his head through the door, peering inside the sealed chamber for anything unusual.
Kurglunn has Darkvision 60ft

Kurglunn Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

Elurius gives a slight shudder as the mention of undead comes up. In a slow dirge like song she comments, ♫"The doors are sealed, right? Then maybe we can leave them, and the undead in there, for later? Let's find where that woman went, first!"♫

As he tries to push through the door Kurglunn feels magical energy cursing into the metal, yet he manages to pass anyway.

The ectoplasm can see 2 corridors running north and east from his position, both ending at closed double doors. There's nothing else Kurglunn can see... but that does not mean he's alone as the long, mournful moans of a few dozen starving souls sigh out in greeting. The air also feels noticeably colder—only a few degrees above freezing, in fact. Distant gasps and moans and the sound of chewing and gasping periodically echo through the halls as well...

Ugg...undead galore it seems. I would love to clear it out, just for the possible treasure they may have, but we need to get the kids out first. Moving out to check the last doors and area we haven't searched. Was there anything in the pit? Rocco was down there for moment or two, and he may have seen some leftover treasures?

Once Rocco reports what Kurglunn sees and hears, Lirotha shakes her head sadly then waves everyone away from the door then whispers to them away from the kids ears.

"We need to avoid that hall for now. Let's finish the search of the remaining areas then get the kids out of here. We can probably come back tomorrow to deal with the undead once we've rested. We certainly can't afford for those creatures to get loose and make their way up into the city somehow. Undead have a tendency to make more and we'd soon enough have an epidemic of undead in a surprisingly short time."

”Leave them locked up. We can come back and finish them later. Let’s keep the search for the kids for now.”. Oren moves with Lirotha to check out the unexplored area.

Kurglunn retreats from the undead-filled room in absolute terror, phasing back through the door and quivering behind his smaller companion, while he explains what he found beyond the door.

Rocco comforts the phantom and adds in, "I think you're right, Lirotha. We came here to find the kids, which we've done, so I say we get out while they're still relatively safe and unharmed. We can come back tomorrow to clean this place up properly."

There's just 2 rooms you havent' visited yet. I pointed them out on the map. Please tell me which one you wish to explore first

Are we planning to leave the hideout first to get the boys out of here, or do we want to do more exploration first?

Let's visit the two rooms first. The closest one first then the other. Then we leave.

Lead by Lirotha you go west and open one of the rooms you ignored while chasing down the cultists. If you were expecting something grandiose as the shrine of Mahathallah you recently defiled, you are in for a surprise. Floor-to-ceiling shelving lines the walls of the storage space, although little beyond cobwebs and dust-covered fragments remain on the shelves. A large nest of filthy rags, soiled clothing, and moldy pillows lies in a heap to the west.

Perception 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27

”The clothing is in pretty good shape to be in a nest of undead and demons, strange,” Oren mused as she looked through the room

As soon as Elurius hears about the massive amounts of undead eyond the doors, her face goes a shade paler and she soon ushers the kids off away from the group giving the group some time to discuss things without them over hearing. She instead tries to distract the two with songs and small magic tricks with her cantrips.

By the time the group starts moving again, luckily away from the doors of doom, Elurius' face has recovered and she humms a small tune to the boys to keep them calm. As the door for the other room creaks open she gives a small sigh of disapointment. ♫"Ah, this is boring... Unless, maybe..."♫ She sings a short wordless tune, with her eyes closed before opening them to reveal them glowing a soft silver. She scans the room looking for anything magical.

Casting detect magic!

Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (8) + 13 = 21

Rocco Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11
Kurglunn Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

Both Rocco and Kurglunn have a hard time seeing into the small storage room beyond their crowd of companions. "So what, there's a bunch of rags and stuff?" Rocco says as he tries to get a better view. "Pass. Come on, let's check that other door up that northern passage and get out of here."

None of you can find anything more than the rags inside the small room. Al least Elurius is able to confirm the cloak magical nature though.

Once done searching Rocco leads you back to the hall where you met Loculla and the cultists before opening the door on the eastern wall.
Standing right at the entrance you can appreciate how the place seems to be a combination bedchamber and personal shrine. A portable cot bedecked with furs and a feather mattress sits to the southwest, while to the southeast stands a small semicircular desk on the top of which lies a miniature altar, a statuette of a skeletal woman with fleshless wings, and several books and scrolls. A wooden stand in the corner to the east supports a gold-plated human skull, its top removed so that it can serve as a basin for what appears to be watered-down blood.

Perception 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (10) + 9 = 19

Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (1) + 13 = 14

Ouch.

Elurius gives a smile as her guess turns out right! ♫"YES! I love hidden magic items. They're like buried treasure! ... though not if they’re this dirty and ratty and is that a dead rat! EWWWWWWWWW!"♫ She conjures a enough water to flood the pit trap in an initial attempt to get the thing clean while sending the boys digging around for a large bucket to give the ratty and dirty cloak a very thorough cleaning. She hangs the cloak up to dry across the entrance to the room and then proceeds to the next room.

Elurius wanders into the room, looking everything over, before plopping down on the bed and stretching like a cat. ♫"My my, this is sumptuous! Look at the feather bed, and a desk even. Someone was living very well for hiding out! If the bed isn’t cursed, can I claim it?”♫

Knowledge (Religion): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24
She then jumps off the bed and peruses the collected reading material. She tosses books into a growing pile on the floor one by one after examining them. ♫"Argh, she has nothing but books and stuff of her beloved 'My-hat-hallelujah'! Geeze think she was obessed, or even possesed! I'd expect at least one dirty picture if nothing else!"♫

Shaking her head, Lirotha turns to Rocco.

"Unless anything here is of value, we should go. What do you think Pipsqeak?"

Lirotha will step inside to get a better look.

Appraise(Unskilled): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19

Pereption: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25
Appraise: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12
Cast Detect Magic to scan the room

Rocco scans the room for things of mundane and magical value, and ultimately agrees with Lirotha. "Yeah, that sounds about right, Miss Hag. Loot what we can and get the hell out of dodge!"

Oren follows along, ready to defend the group as necessary!

As Lirotha sets foot inside the room an explosion of cacophonous sounds assaults her senses and anyone else's near her...

Everyone standing near the door: roll a DC17 reflex save. On success you suffer half of 3d8 ⇒ (8, 3, 4) = 15 damage. If you fail you take the whole amount of damage instead

Once you regain your senses you start searching the room. It's clear the gold-plated skull is worth a decent sum and also contains 4 doses of what seems like preserved water. The statuette of Mahathallah is worth some money to, and Rocco also notices it to be hollow inside. After tampering with it a bit the halfling suceeds in opening the base. Within a lead-lined interior is a single scroll...

Reflex 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24

Oren dodges most of the sound attack, clasping both hands over her ears!

Reflex: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

"AHHHGGHHH!"

Lirotha nearly collapses from the pain, hands over her now bleeding ears.

With a moan her wounds quickly subside.

Healing Hex: 2d8 + 5 ⇒ (8, 3) + 5 = 16

Elurius stops moving into the room and covers her ears as the screech eminates out.

Reflex save: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8

She doubles over and lets out a scream that almost matches the pitch of the sound. ♫"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Blood dripping from her ears, Elurius stands up and huffs. ♫"I'm liking this woman less and less!"♫

As soon as Rocco pulls the scroll out of the statue, though, Elurius's attention rivets to the piece of paper. She hums a short melody and then examines the paper. ♫"My, a Raise Dead scroll! That will be good to have in an emergency. Anyone mind if I keep this? No? Thank-you!"♫

With barely anytime for people to resond to her question, Elurius soon is fishing a mid-sized chest from her small purse-like bag. She opens the chest and adds the scroll to a large selelction of other scrolls, before losing it and sliping it back into the bagis should have no rigt fitting into.

Reflex Rocco: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24
Reflex Kurglunn: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25

Both Rocco and Kurglunn are stunned by the blast of sound, but each of them had grown up with family that spent a good deal of time shouting things back and forth, so they know how to protect their ears at list a little bit.

As Rocco pulls the scroll from the hollowed out statue, he examines its magical aura with care.

Detect Magic+Spellcraft: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

Almost before he can finish, though, Elurius has plucked the scroll from his hands and stowed it away. "Alright-y then, we came, we saw, we looted. Can we get outta here now?"

Lirotha shakes her head, and then moves to Elurius.

Healing Hex: 2d8 + 5 ⇒ (8, 7) + 5 = 20

After a short while later you realize you can't keep the twins holed down this horror place anymore and quickly make your exit from the dubious establishment.

It's early morning as you get back on Kintargo's surface. You lose no time and deliver the twins safely home in the dilapidated Iudeimus Tenement, while this time managing to avoid the nosy manager. The Shellets are incredibly grateful for what you did and they offer make good on their word, offering you all their savings in reward (which amount to a mere 14 gp, 23 sp, and 38 cp).

"We know it's not much but it's all we have got right now" Morten and Cessei Shellet tell you between tears of joy. "We'll find a way to give you more, promise! And rest assured everyone will hear of your good deeds! You are saints! Our beautiful boys returned unharmed just when we had lost hope! Thank you!"

Do you take the money?

Nope. Not enough to matter. I would rather them out spreading the good word of the Silver Ravens!

Waving the money off, Lirtoha looks at them seriously.

"No money. Just keep your little pretties close! Pass on what you have learned here, and keep an eye out for trouble! Pass along any news you think is worth hearing to the Silver Ravens' people. Tell our story to others who feel forgotten by the Chelaxians. We cannot fix every problem, but with the commoners of this city helping, we may be able to get Kintargo free once more from the clutches of the devils and their kin!"

Agree with Lirotha. Don’t take their money.

"You kidding?" Rocco laughs as the Shellets offer all their worldly goods in payment, "We just spent all that time looking for your boys, and now you wanna throw all your money at us so they'll starve? No way. You guys keep it. And like my homely friend here said, pass on the word that the Silver Ravens are here for the people of this city, even when the government turns its back on them."

Valrani shakes herself out of the stuper she had been in since the encounter with the demons.

Smiling at the other Ravens, she joins in turning down the offered reward.

"Knowing they are back with you is more than enough reward for us."

Elurius smiles at the couple, politely shaking her head in refusal. ♫"We could never take your life savings! You should treat them to a nice meal instead. It'd make me much happier to know that they had a nice hot meal and time with their family!"♫

She takes note of their place and address, just in case she ever had a few extra complimentary opera tickets, before turning to the rest of the ravens and asking, ♫"Well, should we rest up and then get ready for the... undead room tonight?"♫

"You are heroes. True heroes. I don't know what to say if not... thank you!" Cessei Shellet says between sobs and tears. As you leave, the overjoyed parents swear everyone in Kintargo will know about your good deeds.

They keep to their word. Thanks to the tales of heroism the Shellets spread through the city in the next few days 3d6 + 20 ⇒ (3, 3, 2) + 20 = 28 supporters join with the Silver Ravens, determined to end Barzillai's tyranny once and for all. Note that the new supporters will be added at the end of the next rebellion phase in addition to the normal amount you gain

As you return to the wasp nest Laria greets you with a concerned expression on her face:"You have got mail" she says handing you an evenlope sealed with blue wax bearing the symbol of a rose on a bloody field...

Oren takes the note and rips it open. ”Seems that the undead will have to wait. This missive seems much more interesting,” the warrior says as she hands the note off to the others.

Reading the note.

"The Rose? This is big! If we can get the Rose's support...? Everybody get some rest! We have a job tomorrow afternoon to do. The Cult of Milani could definitely help sway the city in our favor! The undead are not going anywhere right now."