DM Feral's Player's Choice (Inactive)

Game Master Feral

"Ooh, look what I found!"

Might make sense to clear the caves in case we need to retreat back here?

What's a re-treat? Is that when I do something good and Hope Crusher gives me a reward?

Retreating is when everyone but the raging dwarf is badly injured and they flee to safety. I think we should clear the caves first. Also, a courtyard is pretty open.

But... the raging dwarf normally gets hurt bad!

Caves first it is. Let's do this.

Moving further into the caves, it becomes clear that nobody has been this way in many years. The walls of this fairly dry cavern contain twenty seven-foot-wide, two-foot-high niches, in each of which rests the ancient body of a long-dead humanoid. The skeletons bear ceremonial armor and weapons. One of the bodies has been pulled from its niche and lies in a jumble on the ground.

Light spills in through a crack in a wall to the south which suggests another false section of wall, but before the party can investigate and angry hateful presence fills the air. Two translucent, ghostly figures made from mist drift into view, their faces distorted by wrath into a hideous mask. ”The punished us as traitors but we will have our revenge!” one shrieks.

Ventus: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22
Eli: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17
Jess: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18
Pirknok: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17
Kaplan: 1d20 ⇒ 12
Badguys: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8

The party is up.

Kaplan sends a bolt of flame at one of the spirits. "May Sarenrae's flames purify you and bring you peace at last, tortured spirits!"

Fire Bolt (RT) 1/7: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21; Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8 fire damage

Pirknok draws his sword and moves to the front of the group, preparing to strike at the first ghost to come into range.

Readied (PA): 1d20 + 14 - 3 ⇒ (1) + 14 - 3 = 12
Sigh...

"This isn't good," Jessamy mutters.

"We're not the ones who punished you! We're here to help!"

Jessamy whips her swords out in case her words fail to move the ghosts.

+1 mithril short sword (TWF): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26
Damage: 1d6 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 2 + 4 = 12
Sneak attack: 4d4 ⇒ (3, 1, 3, 4) = 11

+1 mithril short sword (TWF): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 12
Damage: 1d6 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 2 + 4 = 10
Sneak attack: 4d4 ⇒ (2, 2, 4, 4) = 12

+1 mithril short sword (TWF): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
Damage: 1d6 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 2 + 4 = 11
Sneak attack: 4d4 ⇒ (2, 4, 4, 3) = 13

+1 mithril short sword (TWF): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11
Damage: 1d6 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 4 = 7
Sneak attack: 4d4 ⇒ (1, 3, 4, 1) = 9

"I thought we were done with the dead!" Ventus said, drawing the Impaler and staring down the ghosts.

Readied Action:
Impaler of Thorns (Favored Enemy): 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (2) + 18 = 20
1d8 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18

Jess I'm going to read that as a ready since they're not in melee range.

Eli retrieves and quickly imbibes a mutagen.

The ghosts drift forward with murderous intent. Pirknok, Ventus, and Jess's attacks gouge their misty forms but seem to only be partially effective. Kaplan's flames are similarly dampened.

The vengeful dead reach out for the group's defenders.

Touch Vs Pirknok: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (19) + 12 = 31
Negative Energy Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 3

Touch Vs Ventus: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (16) + 12 = 28
Negative Energy Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 7

In addition, both warriors feel instantly drained as if a chunk of their very souls have been torn away. The misty figures grin at one another in satisfaction. Two negative levels each.

The party is up.

Wow, ouch...
HP: 72/81, 2 negative levels

Pirknok grunts in surprise and pain as he feels his energy lessen. Taking a deep breath, he tries to collect himself for two swings against the creature in front of him, but his strength fails him.

Attack (PA, neg. levels): 1d20 + 14 - 3 - 2 ⇒ (3) + 14 - 3 - 2 = 12
Iterative (PA, neg. levels): 1d20 + 9 - 3 - 2 ⇒ (7) + 9 - 3 - 2 = 11

Paling at the draining touch Ventus tries to rally himself against the vicious dead.

Impaler 1: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (1) + 12 = 13
1d8 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8
Shield 1: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (16) + 15 = 31
1d6 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8

Impaler 2: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16
1d8 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13
Shield 2: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (18) + 10 = 28
1d6 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

HP: 51/58, 2 Neg Levels

Kaplan draws on his knowledge to try and identify the enemy.

Kn(Religion): 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (18) + 13 = 31

Kaplan recognizes these creatures as spectres, the spiritual remnants of evil men too angry to enter the afterlife. They have a powerful draining touch and an aura that wards off wildlife but are powerless in sunlight.

"Fall back!" the elder dwarf shouts, taking steps back to the opening that leads to the courtyard.

Great, thank, Feral. That's exactly what I meant!

Heeding the dwarf's advice, Jessamy backs away from the ghosts toward the courtyard.

All I can do is five foot back, but I will.

Wishing I took Force Bombs now! X/

Eli moves back. "What can we do against these things?" he says.

We're sortof already committed... I suggest we try to kill them as fast as possible before we have to deal with 6-8 negative levels instead of 2-4.

"Sunlight is their weakness. If you are slain by one, you will soon join them," Kaplan tells Eli.

As the majority of the party retreats back down the hallway, the hateful spectres claw at Pirknok and Ventus again. ”Suffer as we have! Join us!”

Touch Vs Pirknok: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (13) + 12 = 25
Negative Energy Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 4

Touch Vs Ventus: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (12) + 12 = 24
Negative Energy Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 5

Plus two more negative levels each.

The party is up.

HP: 58/71, 4 negative levels...

The dwarf grunts in pain as he feels more of his energy being sapped away. "Leave me uhlone!" he cries, feeling abandoned by his friends and drained by the creature's touch. Grunting in rage and frustration, he tries to back away from the creature before it can harm him further. Withdraw to E23 if the rest of the group is set on that path.

I really think retreating is the wrong choice here. They'll probably just charge and keep killing us with their auto-hit attacks.

"I can't hurt these things at all!" he says, "We're going to either have to try to kill them or retreat out into the courtyard and face the Ogres or back through the waterfall."

Draw and drink an extended extract of Shield. AC 25, touch AC 19

You can damage them, they just take half damage from non-force effects.

Seeing the difficulty faced by Ventus and Pirknok, Kaplan heads forward again to lend them some aid. Move to F19

Jessamy looks concerned as the group seems to struggle to make up its mind. Realizing they're not falling back afterward, she rushes forward to get ready to attack.

Move to E-12

Impaler 1: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (5) + 10 = 15
1d8 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7
Shield 1: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (11) + 13 = 24
1d6 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

Impaler 2: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22
1d8 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10
Shield 2: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13
1d6 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7
HP: 36/48, 4 neg levels

Retcon

Pirknok grunts in pain, but keeps swinging at the creature in front of him. "NO! Yer gunna die!!"

Raging dorf. HP now 82/95.
Attack (rage, PA, negative levels): 1d20 + 16 - 3 - 4 ⇒ (9) + 16 - 3 - 4 = 18 (+2 if they cast spells or have SLAs)
Damage: 1d8 + 20 ⇒ (5) + 20 = 25 (see above)

Iterative (rage, PA, negative levels): 1d20 + 11 - 3 - 4 ⇒ (15) + 11 - 3 - 4 = 19 (+2, blah blah)
Damage: 1d8 + 20 ⇒ (6) + 20 = 26 (+2?)

Ventus and Pirknok's combined attacks destroys the more tattered of the two undead spirits. The other attacks again with a vengeance.

Target: 1d2 ⇒ 1

Touch Vs Pirknok: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (18) + 12 = 30
Negative Energy Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 2

Plus two more negative levels.

The party is up.

HP: 70/85, 6 negative levels

Pirknok growls again and tries to bring his mind back to the task at hand, even as he feels himself nearing the edge of nothingness.

Please don't do that again. :(

Attack (rage, negative levels): 1d20 + 16 - 6 ⇒ (12) + 16 - 6 = 22 (+2?)
Damage: 1d8 + 11 ⇒ (3) + 11 = 14 (+2?)

Iterative (rage, negative levels): 1d20 + 11 - 6 ⇒ (1) + 11 - 6 = 6

Then 5' step back and hope someone else can finish it off.

Eli draws a bomb and advances down the corridor, lobbing it towards the remaining spectre.

Bomb! Strafe bomb. 1d20 + 2 + 6 + 2 + 1 + 1 - 6 ⇒ (5) + 2 + 6 + 2 + 1 + 1 - 6 = 11
4d6 + 6 ⇒ (5, 4, 4, 2) + 6 = 21 10 damage on a miss, DC 20 Ref half

Kaplan lets off another fire bolt at the specter.

Fire Bolt (RT) 2/7: 1d20 + 6 - 4 ⇒ (20) + 6 - 4 = 22; Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8 fire damage

Edit:Confirm: 1d20 + 6 - 4 ⇒ (20) + 6 - 4 = 22; Extra Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8

Impaler 1: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (5) + 10 = 15
1d8 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8
Shield 1: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (4) + 13 = 17
1d6 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8

Impaler 2: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16
1d8 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8
Shield 2: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19
1d6 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

HP: 36/48, 4 neg levels

Looking nervous about what these things have done to her companions, Jessamy steps up and slashes with her swords.

+1 mithril short sword (TWF): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17
Damage: 1d6 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 4 = 7
Sneak attack: 4d4 ⇒ (4, 2, 4, 2) = 12

+1 mithril short sword (TWF): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27
Damage: 1d6 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 2 + 4 = 12
Sneak attack: 4d4 ⇒ (1, 2, 2, 1) = 6

+1 mithril short sword (TWF): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
Damage: 1d6 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 2 + 4 = 10
Sneak attack: 4d4 ⇒ (4, 1, 4, 4) = 13

+1 mithril short sword (TWF): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10
Damage: 1d6 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 2 + 4 = 9
Sneak attack: 4d4 ⇒ (3, 4, 4, 3) = 14

Despite the creature's insubstantial form, the party's combined attacked swiftly finish it off.

Besides the crashing waterfall to the south, the caves are quiet once again.

HP: 46/61, 6 negative levels

Pirknok leans heavily against the wall as the last creature is slain. "Urnghh..." he grunts. "Jus' give me five minutes ta rest... then... gotta go fight thuh ogres..."

While Pirknok catches his breath, Jessamy looks around the area.

"If there were ghosts here, there must be some reason, right?"

Perception (+3 vs. traps): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (12) + 11 = 23

"They said they were executed as traitors or somesuch," Ventus says, looking only marginally better than Pirknok.
HP: 36/48, 4 neg levels

A search of the chamber uncovers many additional long dead Black Arrows - these ones resting peacefully. Behind one coffin Jess uncovers a small pouch of assorted gems, likely one of the ranger's hidden cache.

"Hm, my power isn't enough to help against the effects of the specters' attacks," Kaplan rues.

Thoughts, anyone? We probably need to deal with the fort today before the J-guy Kreeg goes to retrieve the rangers, but Ventus is looking at a -4 to everything and Pirknok is looking at a -6 to everything, with no way of remedying them. That seems pretty rough and like a possibly-not-good idea.

Hrm. It looks like I forgot to mention some treasure. In the room with the shocking bow there was also two scrolls, restoration and remove disease.

Those didn't happen to be as 2xrestoration and 0xremove disease, did they?

Nope.

#HopeCrushing

:(

It's night time, right? We could rest overnight (and hope the ogres won't leave in the interim) and hope you get saves tomorrow (not sure why you didn't get them when you got hit with the negative levels). Going out in the morning may actually be of some advantage if we think the ogres are nocturnal...

I guess we could set up watches to make sure they don't leave, and rest in here... but if we fail the saves we're sortof worse off.

At least now we have one restoration... we can use that before we sleep, and one of us will be good to go. I'm still afraid to rest, though.

Thoughts?

You're our primary damage dealer and frontliner but you also have the higher fort save. I could go either way but you may be the best choice for the restoration.

Resting might be disastrous but going on without will be more difficult. I think we'd better use the scroll on Adventus and press on. Pirknok has rage to offset the penalties somewhat and we'll just have to be more on top of healing him. Do we have any other buffs to help offset his penalties?

I'm fine not resting and continuing on, but I'm still wondering if you can get saves. No strong opinion on who should use the scroll.