DM Jesse's Temple of Elemental Evil PbP, Pathfinder style

Game Master Jesse Heinig

The room beyond is packed with racks, boxes, crates, and barrels. It seems like a well-stocked supply room -- for a small army.

You catalog the contents (which takes several minutes, as there's a lot here) and find that it contains, all in good condition:
* 50 spears
* 10 glaives
* 6 guisarmes
* 3 battle axes
* 70 black capes with a yellow eye ringed in fire sewed in the center of the back
* Many containers of provisions (cheese, hardtack, bacon, smoked fish, etc.)
* 120 arrows
* 200 crossbow bolts

None of it is masterwork, but it is all serviceable.

With some time Zinnath opens the other door as well and discovers a matching room with more supplies:
* 30 light wooden shields
* 12 leather armor
* Several barrels of salted meat
* 2 5-gallon kegs of brandy (worth 80 gp each)

Neither room seems to have any other doors or exits.

Fezzik eyes all the equipment, wondering how much will fit in the cart at a time. "What we take first?" he asks.

This is probably a couple loads of stuff - just the bulk alone means that carrying the polearms and spears in the cart will take up a lot of space, even though Fezzik has a prodigious carrying capacity.

The obvious solution is to take the most valuable stuff in the first load, then come back and (if everything is still there) take the rest in the second load.

All: "The food!"

While not as large as Fezzik, Deko was strong in his own right and grabbed the most important item he saw. With a grunt of effort, he bent over and, wrapping a large arm around both, lifted the barrels of brandy. "Deko good to go, got good stuff here!"

Any objections to taking the food supplies first?

And hiding the rest!

And hiding the rest!

Where?

I'm the good idea dragon, not the implementation dragon.

Objection!

"Leave the food for now!" Bataleigha growls. "The cultists can't do much damage if their army attacks Hommlet wielding strips of salted pork!"

The cleric of Pelor stows her shield temporarily and lifts a couple crates of crossbow bolts to take out to the wagon. Then she orders the rescued prisoners to help carry loot out to the wagon. (The captured bandit, too, if he's still around.)

Fezzik is about to grab some of the foodstuff when Bat speaks and he immediately freezes at the sound of her voice. "Hmm, you smart," he says to her as he grabs as many polearms as he can instead.

Bat exercises some basic sense and starts herding everyone into rounding up the weapons. The group takes all of the arrows, bolts, and spears, as well as the guisarmes and glaives. For now you'll have to leave the remainder for a second trip. (Deko, of course, carries the barrel of brandy, presumably sipping at it as the trip continues.)

Fortunately, it only takes you about two hours to get back to Hommlet with Fezzik pulling the cart full of weapons.

Who do you want to talk to? Common sense says that showing up at the smith's doorstep with an army's worth of weapons and trying to hawk them will raise some questions.

Each party member gains an additional 100 xp for freeing the hostages.

The human merchants are overjoyed when they see Hommlet - laughing, jumping up and down, hugging each other.

"You've saved us from a terrible fate," says one. "We'll call in some favors so we can get back to Dyvers. I promise we won't forget."

The gnome is quieter, morose, and introspective. He may be a bit shaken by how close he came to death. Upon arrival in Hommlet, he gestures for Enoby to lean over to talk to him and says, "I have to return to my people in the Kron Hills, but I would never have escaped without your help. While you keep some dubious company, you were kind to me and I won't forget that. Please, take this." He takes an iron ring off one of his fingers and holds it out to her. "It's not magical, but the design on it will let other gnomes know that you helped one of our own."

I figure we talk to Burne and show him the war stash. Maybe he'll buy it up for the local militia to use.

All: "I think the food would have been a better choice. There is an ancient phrase amongst dragons that 'an army flies on its stomachs.' Until now, I had never considered what it really meant. Ahh well."

Leaning in to hear the gnome out, Enoby is more than a little taken aback by the sincerity of the gesture. Earning the trust of surfacers was occurring more and more since she had elected to oppose the cult, and it remained jarring every time.

She accepts the ring gracefully. "Thank you, sir. I was... glad... to be of help."

Enoby: "Shmoozer!"

The gnome clarifies to Enoby, "Our kin have long been enemies in the deep parts of the earth, and I want them to know that you are counted among our friends."

Since Bat seems to be the keeper of good ideas, you return to the keep-under-construction and report to Burne and Rufus. You explain in brief that you found a secret room in the dungeon and fought an ogre, and rescued several prisoners.

Burne is a bit taken aback by the massive haul of weaponry. "All this? In the old moathouse? Right under our very noses! Why, I can hardly imagine... I must consult my divining tools," he splutters.

Rufus takes time from his busy schedule drilling with the guards and makes an appearance as well. He is a brawny man, still sweaty from combat practice when he arrives, and still in his heavy plate armor. He has a small moustache and slightly graying dark hair. Rufus gives the weapons a critical eye and says, "These were turned out by the same set of smiths - they're not a haphazard collection. Someone not far from here has an entire operation arming for war. It's not the work of Brother Smyth here in town - the moathouse was going to be a staging ground, likely for an attack on Hommlet itself." He does a quick count of the weapons and says, "Based on these numbers, they would've given the Badgers some serious trouble, especially if they had special troops like that ogre you mentioned fighting."

"One thing is clear," says Rufus in his gravelly tone, "Hommlet is under serious threat. This cult business is obviously more widespread than we thought, and much better organized and armed. We need you to find and eliminate whatever resistance is left in the moathouse and track it back to its source. I'm going to divert some of our construction resources to improving the defenses along the keep's eastern edge and make sure that the Badgers are drilled on siege equipment there." He strides over to Fezzik and claps him on the back. "Fezzik, this is excellent work. I'm promoting you to sergeant. I'll send notice to the captain. You can requisition a squad of Badgers if you need extra manpower - the usual, four men, armed and armored."

"The rest of you, we'll take these weapons off your hands, of course. I'll give you fair compensation for them," says Rufus.

Burne, not to be outdone, says, "Yes, I will need a detailed map of the moathouse dungeons, my apprentice!" He addresses Zinnath vocally. "And the cloaks you described are obviously the symbols of the cult. We should make it a priority to retake the moathouse and turn it to our own advantage. Search it thoroughly! Leave no stone unturned!" He scuttles off to his lab with a gesture indicating that you should wait for a moment, then returns with a pair of small scroll tubes. "Use these, should the need arise."

Burne provides the party with two scrolls of detect secret doors. When you bring the remaining load of materials back - which is a non-issue, really, so we can paper over that - Rufus disburses 300 gold pieces to the party, and true to his word gives Fezzik a sergeant's badge and the authority to requisition up to four men-at-arms from the Badgers at a time, if desired.

Downtime? Or back to the dungeon? :D

Deko counted out his new gold carefully, making sure to remember to reuse each finger as it went over 10. With a please look as he successfully counted out all 300 pieces, only having to restart a few times, he looked up at the others with a grin. "Deko buy drink before group go back!" he exclaimed, indicating that he would pay for them all, before turning around and smashing his face against the wall.

All: "Ummm, Master Burne, you know I have terrible penmanship, and am an even worse artist. Perhaps one of my companions can make the map for you?"

(At Burne's)

Burne waves dismissively at Zinnath. "Of course, that's why you have minions."

Zinnath preens a little.

All: "Indeed! Minions!"

Are my lock picks ready?

Zinnath will work on finding the hidden spaces we've missed with his prodigious Perception skill!

Zinnath preens a little.

All: "Indeed! Minions!"

Are my lock picks ready?

Zinnath will work on finding the hidden spaces we've missed with his prodigious Perception skill!

Yes, you have your delicate little tools now.

Zinnath conducts a very careful search of the chambers, which takes quite a while. There's a lot of boring standing around, and scribbling with a charcoal stick on parchment to make a crude map of the moathouse dungeons.

Eventually the group discovers a second secret door on the opposite side of the small chamber where the secret staircase descends from the black chamber above. This makes sense -- most keeps have a secret exit in case of siege. This must be another way out!

Beyond the secret door to the west, a set of steps descends further into the unknown dungeons, then turns slightly at the end of the stairs...

Set up your order, and let me know who's mapping! Of course you could always wait until you clean out the dungeons and then go back and map them, but if you do that, I will erase the map behind you as you go.

Fezzik, let me know if you want a group of spear-carriers to join your expedition.

Fezzik beams with pride at his promotion and shows everyone his new badge.

Fezzik "Congratulations."

"Well done and well-earned," Bataleigha says to Fezzik.

She's quietly annoyed that her recent mentor had no praise for her efforts thus far.

She's quietly annoyed that her recent mentor had no praise for her efforts thus far.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (2) + 0 = 2

"Well done and well-earned," Bataleigha says to Fezzik.

She's quietly annoyed that her recent mentor had no praise for her efforts thus far.

Heh heh heh.

"I can't believe I got enlisted as the designated mapper!" Bataleigha grouses as she uses her magical shield as a sort of drawing table, sketching the place as the party moves deeper into the dungeon.

Zinnath cranes his neck over Bat's head and suggests, "the room is a little longer than that, dimensionally speaking, given how wide you have drawn it. Your perspective is way off. What the heck is that symbol there? It looks like the letter S though the wall!"

Zinnath cranes his neck over Bat's head and suggests, "the room is a little longer than that, dimensionally speaking, given how wide you have drawn it. Your perspective is way off. What the heck is that symbol there? It looks like the letter S though the wall!"

The funny part of this, to me, is that since Zinnath is a flying creature, he probably has better distance/perspective perception than anyone else in the group.

That's why I'm calling her out!

Apologies for the delay, this part of the map is kinda screwed up due to a diagonal hall that doesn't seem to want to fit right.

Apologies for the delay, this part of the map is kinda screwed up due to a diagonal hall that doesn't seem to want to fit right.

How can we expect Bat to chart such a thing?

Zinnath flits ahead, then comes back to Fezzik, who is squeezing through the diagonal hallway. Ahead the passages twist and turn, with one fork off to the west and one fork doubling back east.

Which way?

Enoby adopts a mock serious tone, and mischievous grin taking shape across her face. "Little Dragon, I suggest you leave Bataleigha to her work, lest you are also looking to be a very squished dragon."

"Deko make stick man!" Deko said happily they wandered around the dungeons, pointing to a crude stick man drawn in the dirt. "Stick man guard back!"

Following happily along, Kyrie reinforces Enoby's wisdom. "Indeed, Zinnath. As the wise man says: 'Mess ye not in the affairs of clerics, for thou art squishy and in need of healing.'

You wouldn't want the cleric to forget about you when the healing comes out, would you?" she asks sweetly.

All: "Luckily, I think she is too nice to be mean like that."

Kyrie tilts her head cutely. 'But won't you feel all founded-dumb if you're wrong.' ;)

How exactly she managed to emote in a thought-speak is not entirely clear.

"Oh, our mighty dragon is no fool," Bat says with a smirk as the others warn Zinnath about the dangers involved in pissing her off. "He knows that I have to stow my mace to draw these diagonal passageways and irregular rooms."

"Always go right and you can't go wrong," she quotes from an old adage as they come to a choice of ways, pointing as well just in case Fezzik and/or Deko choose their 'other right.'

The passage winds east, then north, and eventually heads toward a moderately large room with three doors at the far end and another short hall to the east. From this distance the room seems to be empty - you do your best to get a look from the far end of the hall before you head into possible danger.

Map updated. What next? Searching? Stumbling drunkenly into the room (Deko)? Try a door? Something else?

Kyrie walks next to Bats and says, "Why don't you let me do the mapping? Surely your mace and shield are of far greater use than whatever I might carry?"

"A fine idea!" Bataleigha says with a relieved grin, handing the mapping materials to Kyrie. "Besides, you seem to hold your own better against Zinnath's little jibes than I."

[Mentally to Zinnath]: Care to scout ahead a bit here and let us know if there are any dangers lurking?

Kyrie thanks Bats. She considers offering to cast Light or something to aid Zinnath...but then remembers that a dragon is far, far, FAR superior to a simple human, and simply remains quiet.

=p

Kyrie...considers offering to cast Light or something to aid Zinnath...

Just for the record, Bat usually casts light on her mace when traveling in dark places; in this instance, since her mace was stowed, she'd have cast it on her shield.

Yeah, and I was thinking of casting it on a pebble so he could take it along with him. But he has freekin' blindsight, it would actually be detrimental. ^_^

Zinnath scouts ahead as requested, and reports back whatever he finds.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12+1 vs traps
Stealth: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (4) + 20 = 24 +4 in forests

Enoby brings up the rear guard, bow drawn and arrow knocked. She directs her keen elven senses towards ensuring the group is not ambushed.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25

Zinnath flits forward, then returns quietly. Thanks to his excellent stealth, he is not spotted.

Though the chamber with the three doors is devoid of inhabitants, to the east is an irregular room with several humanoids in it. They are large, hairy, and muscular, with long snouts, animal-like ears and furry manes, and digitigrade legs. Some of them are sitting against the rough-hewn walls, others pacing back and forth, speaking to one another in a yipping, growling language.

Map updated - I've added some brown space to delineate the walls, so it's easier to tell where you can walk and where you can't.

"Hi doggy! Nice doggy!" Deko said happily at the sight of the creatures. "Deko want doggy! Deko take care of doggy, keep it fed and clean!"

To be clear, Zinnath scouted ahead, spotted the creatures, and came back to report to the party. So Deko hasn't seen them yet. :)