DM Kaavek’s Scales of War (Inactive)

Game Master Kaavek

I don't think we ever discussed who was holding the wand, so it looks like Cecilia will now retroactively have it in her possession.

Knowledge (Local): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19

Seeing the extent of the dwarf's injuries, the bard carefully retrieves the wand that Zerriksa had given them. Calling upon the magic stored within the small crystalline rod, Cecilia gently taps Adronsius on the forehead.

Cure Light Wounds: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

With at least a few of the dwarf's injuries now healed, Cecilia was going to give Adronsius a hand getting back up onto his feet, only to then realise just how much blood still covered the alchemist's body. She awkwardly took a step back.

"It sounds like we have a lot more ground to cover." The bard said, putting the wand back into her pocket. "Let us be off. We can discuss any further details on the way.

The dwarf's description had been almost alarmingly accurate. Cecilia was impressed that someone in the process of being kidnapped could remember so many little details. The bard now had a pretty good idea of where they needed to go.

Zalindra is glad that someone else knows where they are going, since she is kind of all turned around, and might get lost if she tried to make it back out on her own.

She waits for someone to set out, and then follows.

Aelion had remained respectfully silent as the dwarf was tended, and kept watch for any uninvited interruptions. He also checked the fountain, just in case - though he didn't dare take a drink. He'd seen Adronsius, if only in passing, in the city, but hadn't realized what a sharp mind lay within the alchemist's noggin. Or maybe it was just natural for dwarves to know what they were about when underground, just as he wouldn't get lost out in the wilderness above.

Far above, he thought with a pang.

"That's very helpful. Thank you," he told the dwarf as they set out, and he joined Cecilia in the lead. "Can you describe the priestess? Are any of you familiar enough with the churches in town to recognize her?"

"I thought he was talking about the woman we just freed from that circle? How many more people have these bastards taken?!"

Wait, WAS that a priestess? I thought she was a witch? ...Maybe I'm just splitting hairs, haha. :P

Priestess... witch... I know a False Focus-using Hex Channeler witch build that alleges 'Same Difference' to the notion.

That said, the witch we rescued was downstairs. This priestess seems to be up some stairs. But, then, there are a lot of stairs in this place.

Dayana hums and nods, "The quicker we find the last of the prisoners, the quicker we can be out of this place. —And get them back to safety in Brindol, of course."

"I'm in no condition to fight, even if I had the tools for it. Best I try and catch up with the rest of your companions." Adronsius states gruffly.

"The goblin leader calls himself Sinruth, fancies himself the second coming of Azarr Kul by the sounds of it. Does his best to look the part too, he's a biggin', no blood of the dragon in him that I could make out though. Just a big boned hob I'd say."

Turning to address Aelion as the elf spoke up, he continues.

The priestess? Aye, she was one of your kind. Dressed in blue, dark skinned, from beyond the Brown Hills I'd wager. She bore the mark of Ioun on her robes."

Aelion frowned. One of us? Is she Tiri Kitor? "Thank you again, Adronsius, for your insight. If she's the last hostage, we'll rejoin you soon enough, out in the sunlight. But we have to be sure there are no others."

He sighed. He had been hoping they'd have a chance to discover what the goblins wanted with the artifacts they'd stolen. Still, saving lives was not an ignoble pursuit, so he sucked it up and prepared to move on.

Cecilia knew that she had heard the name Sinruth at least once before. It seemed like this particular hobgoblin was the common thread tying these various groups together.

"I agree with both Miss Elerye and Mister Kinandev. The longer we delay, the less chance we have of finding the remaining prisoners." Cecilia said, waving her broad-brimmed hat in the direction of the door. "Let us continue with our good work, and make a tale worth singing about while we're at it."

Assuming the party were now ready to continue, the bard leads the merry band of adventurers back to the entrance hall, dropping off the alchemist on the way. Not wishing to provoke the goblin family in their sleeping quarters, Cecilia opts to instead take a slightly more roundabout route. She leads the party down the stairs into the pit where they fought the drakes, before climbing the rope back up into the crypt above. Continuing up the spiral staircase, the eight adventurers soon find themselves back in the icy hallway where they encountered the chained and undead guard captain.

Whip still in her hands, the bard advances up the so far unexplored staircase, eager to see what daring acts of heroism she would be called upon to perform next.

Onward and upward! Whether the party is ready or not, Cecilia is eager to confront the ones responsible for all these evil deeds. :P

Even deviating from the path Adronsius had described, the dwarf's memory of the catacomb layout was so sharp that Cecilia was able to lead the group right to the set of stairs he had described leading up to the upper level.

Carved into the last three steps of the staircase are the words Von Adrez, Kauthin, and Crypt. Once Cecilia is high enough to see into the chamber at the top of the stairs, she
can make out the bas-relief images of humans laden with baskets, bags,
and boxes, all depicted walking clockwise around the room.

Two goblins stand guard at the centre of the chamber, hobgoblin guards stand in the middle of the room, while a third, robed goblin discusses something in hushed tones with a hob behind them.

Zalindra takes a shot at the robed goblin.

Attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15
Damage: 1d8 + 1d6 ⇒ (7) + (4) = 11 (Sneak Attack)

The suddenness of Zalindra's attack caught Cecilia by surprise just like their enemies. Still, it only took the bard a moment to follow up, brandishing her crimson whip as she began to slowly advance on the goblins.

"Followers of Sinruth, this is your one and only warning. Surrender to us now or face our combined might!"

Yes. Cecilia thought, a satisfied smile upon her face as she approached That line had contained just the right amount of heroic intensity.

Aelion's eyes narrowed at the thought of giving quarter to this goblin scum. They didn't deserve mercy... but the faster they were neutralized, the faster the hostages would be saved, he grudgingly admitted to himself.

But they hadn't surrendered yet.

Quick as a blink, he too fired on them.

MW longbow flurry 1: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6
dmg 1: 1d8 ⇒ 3

MW longbow flurry 2: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9
dmg 2: 1d8 ⇒ 1

A little too quick. His sudden anger had cost him his chance to kill them.

Breathe, Aelion. Breathe. The elf tried to calm himself. He'd been far too volatile since Bryn's death; his shoddy archery was the price he paid for it.

Rhona stepped forward bringing her War axe forward menacingly as she shows the goblins and hoblins her axe, Hew the Goblin Cleaver!

Intimidate: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 1 = 14

COMBAT ROUND 1
Battle Map

Zalindra sends an arrow flying into the chamber just as the goblins spot the intruders and turn to face the stairs. The hooded goblin spins around and the arrow slides through its robe, stopping with a thud in its leather vest.

As the goblins grip their spears tightly, Rhona and Cecilia emerge from the stairs and make their threats, leaving the two closest goblins quaking in their boots.

Jathal, Dayana, Ingra, and Morgrym are up with their Round 1 actions.

Active Effects:
Braziers in the northeast and southeast corners of the room cast bright light across the chamber.

Shooting at Green hat.

longbow: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 1 Why me?

Dayana blows a hard exhale through her nose. She carefully works her way to the mouth of the room and focuses a cold, hard glare onto the blue-capped goblin.

Will Save vs. Evil Eye: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (17) - 1 = 16Success for partial effect! Goblin (Blue)'s AC is reduced by 2, down to 14, for 1 round!

Move up 20ft.; use Evil Eye.

Morgrym tapped Ingra, then with a roar that was as effective in dwarven as common he raced into the room shield first.
Move 40ft. Become target...

Ingra follows Morgrym going left as he went right and striking at the (blue) goblin with her greatsword.

Attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20
Damage: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (4, 5) + 3 = 12

She cleaves it in two, it's tiny goblin innards spilling onto the stone floor.

"Take that yer vermin!" she exclaims, happy to finally have begun the game.

"Это один!" she shouts, facing the next goblin with a grin on her face.

COMBAT ROUND 1
Battle Map

Jathal grazes the green capped goblin with an arrow, while Dayana shrouds its partner beneath the cruel gaze of the evil eye. Ingra wastes no time in taking advantage of this advantage, leaving a gruesome mess where the creature once stood.

Still shaken from the ferocity of the assault, the goblin in the green cap steps up to avenge his brother, jabbing at Ingra with his spear.

Meanwhile, the hobgoblin advances on the charging dwarf as the cloaked goblin behind him shrieks and brings down an aura of unnatural darkness to envelop the northern half of the chamber.

In the cloud of darkness, the hob swings his sword low, catching Morgrym just below the right knee (3 Damage).

Active Effects:
Braziers in the northeast and southeast corners of the room cast bright light across the chamber. An aura of Darkness flows out from the goblin cave druid.

Guessing that everyone is up again; please forgive me if I am jumping the gun.

Zalindra moves and shoots at the robed goblin again.

Attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 1

Dayana turns her baleful gaze to the hobgoblin.

Will Save vs. Evil Eye: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12 Hobgoblin's AC is reduced by 2, down to 14, for 7 rounds!

As darkness engulfed almost half of the room, Cecilia could only frown. She assumed the dwarves could see in the dark, but the humans and elves certainly couldn't.

With a few words and gestures the bard conjured up some light, and then immediately sent it into the all encompassing darkness. Unfortunately the magic did not work as she had imagined. Cecilia was surprised to find that the goblin's spell was apparently more powerful than her own, the Aura of Darkness swallowing up her Dancing Lights like they had never even existed.

Eager to strike back, Cecilia advanced forward, whip still in hand.

Standard Action: Cast Dancing Lights Spell , Move Action: Move 20 Feet

Aelion had advanced when Cecilia summoned light, anticipating the end of the darkness with an arrow nocked. When her lights vanished, he paused in surprise; but not for long. Taking up position in the room, he readied his bow for a shot when a target presented itself.

Readied attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5 Sigh.
dmg: 1d8 ⇒ 4

Rhona moves up into the darkness next to Ingra. She tries to stay halfway in the dark as she then pushes forward.

Would her going further in basing her movement to go after the other goblin being further back. Do I run into them and if so do I get an attack if so

Hew!: 1d20 + 5 + 1 + 2 - 4 ⇒ (14) + 5 + 1 + 2 - 4 = 18
damage: 1d10 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 + 2 = 14

Morgrym's relief at the dark is short lived. With a scream of harnessed rage at the pain in his leg 'Curse not having real armor!' He takes the foe he is offered - and unleashes his warhammer at the nearby Hob.

warhammer: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15 damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

Since I don't have Precise shot yet. :(

With the confusion of melee swirling around her Jathal picked out a solitary target and fired.

Firing at the Red hat.

Bow: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

Saying something foul in Elven as her shot flew wide.

Ingra scoffs, her eyes unaffected by the magical darkness.

She swings at the next goblin.

Attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15
Damage: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (2, 5) + 3 = 10

Unfortunately, she slips the previous goblin, causing her attack to barely miss its friend.

"Mən növbəti dəfə qaçırmayacağam."

Switching your attack to the Hobgoblin Ingra, as Rhona has already dealt with that target. So that's a hit.

COMBAT ROUND 2
Battle Map

Hew Goblin Cleaver drinks deeply as Rhona bisects the goblin in green.
Just the Hobgoblin and Cave Druid remain, and the party closes in on their foes. Zalindra steps forward and sends an arrow through the hand of the goblin spell caster.
Dayana curses the Hob, leaving it open to attacks from Morgrym and Ingra.

The hobgoblin grunts as the cuts sink deep, but the violence inspires the monstrous warrior and he brings his sword down hard across the front of Morgrym's face (10 Damage). The druid, motivated by the gruesome display, steps up behind his commander and lashes out to counter Ingra, slicing down into her shoulder with its wicked scimitar (5 Damage).

Active Effects:
Braziers in the northeast and southeast corners of the room cast bright light across the chamber. An aura of Darkness flows out from the goblin cave druid.
The Hobgoblin is subject to Dayana’s Evil Eye and its AC is reduced by 2, down to 14 for 7 rounds.

Morgrym drops like a stone as the sword slams home.

Zalindra can't see the caster very well anymore, but she moves and still attempts to hit him, aiming at where he used to be, hoping that is still him.

Zalindra moves and shoots at the robed goblin again.

Attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 1

Miss chance: 1d100 ⇒ 73

As the darkness slowly surrounded her, Cecilia began to look around uncertainly. She could perceive the battle taking place ahead of her, having just few moments ago heard a grunt of pain from a goblin, closely followed by the clash of steel and a loud thump as a body hit the floor. The bard hesitated to strike blindly into a fight, but she felt that she had little choice.

Trying to line herself up correctly, Cecilia called out a warning. "Anyone in front of me had better duck now!" And with those words she cracked her crimson whip, attempting to strike the goblin she had heard just a few seconds ago.

Disarm Attempt Vs Hobgoblin CMD 15: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12
Miss Chance: 1d100 ⇒ 85

But despite her best efforts, Cecilia failed to strike her foe. At least she was fairly certain that she had not hit one of her allies by mistake. That would have been truly embarrassing.

Free Action: 5 Foot-Step , Standard Action: Unsuccessfully Attempted to Disarm Hobgoblin with Whip

Dayana hisses with distaste as she watches Morgrym hit the ground and Cecilia unsuccessfully flail with her whip. The Changeling retrieves the longbow from her back, takes aim, and...

Attack: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (4) - 2 = 2

... misses wildly. Her noodle arms simply weren't meant for bows.

"За Morgrym!"

And with that she attacks the hobgoblin.

Attack: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 2 + 1 = 17 (whoops. Forgot about my hatred trait)

Damage: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (2, 6) + 3 = 11

And with a mighty swing of her greatsword she cleaves the remaining life out of the hobgoblin, avenging her fallen kin.

"That's two! If you finish off this one, we go to the living quarters for a tie breaker!"

Rhona moves around her fellow dwarf her eyes full of focused hatred and lashes at the Goblin.

Hew Attack: 1d20 + 5 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 5 + 1 + 2 = 14
damage: 1d10 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

miss chance?
Miss: 1d100 ⇒ 32

Unwilling to simply fire blindly into the dark and risk accidentally shooting one of the rescuers, Aelion remained outside the globe of shadows, waiting for a chance to loose an arrow that had a chance of striking.

Delay.

Jathal aims carefully at the Hobgoblin.

Bow - Shooting into melee + PBS: 1d20 + 4 - 4 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 4 - 4 + 1 = 14
Damage + PBS: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

I'm going to actually have to go to melee I think.

COMBAT ROUND 3
Battle Map

Ingra drops the hobgoblin and the rest of the group converge on the remaining foe.

Feeling the pressure of the group closing around him, the cave druid lashes out frantically at the nearest target with his scimitar, failing to land a hit.

Active Effects:
Braziers in the northeast and southeast corners of the room cast bright light across the chamber. An aura of Darkness flows out from the goblin cave druid.

With so much fighting still taking place amongst the darkness, Cecilia doesn't even try to intervene. Instead she chooses to fill the room with one last bard song, hoping to inspire her allies with a few verses. A ballad that she had once heard sung as a cautionary tale to children.

"Goblins chew and goblins bite.
Goblins cut and goblins fight.
Goblins race and goblins jump.
Goblins slash and goblins bump.
These are the things that goblins do.
So we strike them down before they hurt you."

The words were simple, but enough to carry the last of the bard's magic to the ears of her companions. She just hoped it would make a difference.

Standard Action: Begin Bardic Performance (Inspire Courage). Everyone within 30 feet gains +1 to Attack and Damage Rolls, and +1 against Charm and Fear Effects.

Rhona not feeling anything taste the steel of her axe strikes out again.
Hews' Awesomeness: 1d20 + 5 + 1 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 5 + 1 + 1 + 2 = 10
Damage: 1d10 + 2 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 2 + 2 + 1 = 15

Forgot to add my Favored enemy bonus into the damage

Percentiles: 1d100 ⇒ 61

Zalindra sees Aelion stop shooting, and so she does too, worried that she will hit an ally.

Delay.

Dayana flexes her jaw, then her fingers, as she eyes the remaining goblin. She adjusts her position, coming up in front of Cecilia before working on taking another shot with her longbow.

Longbow Attack: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (18) - 1 = 17
Longbow Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 6

The bard's song seems to embolden her quite well, or at least enough to counteract her noodle-arms. "Encircle the damn thing so it doesn't escape!"

Drawing her curveblade for the first in a long time Jathal advances on the Goblin and swings at him.
Attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17
Damage: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10

She tries to get between the Goblin and Morgrym.

Ingra turns her attention to the lone goblin druid.

"Скажи мне, Гоблин, ты боишься? Вы не будете долго."

And she swings to finish the battle.

Attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Damage: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (6, 3) + 3 = 12

Unfortunately, her over-confidence gave the Goblin a away of dodging her attack. Missing after saying such a thing made her glad she spoke in goblin, and she hoped not many of the others had understood.

Zalindra hears Ingra's boast in Goblin, but she can't see what is going on. She feels certain that the goblin is near death, so she isn't as worried about not being able to see well enough to shoot.

Hearing Dayana's cry, Aelion hurried forward, into the dark, planning to feel his way along the wall and close the doors. Relying on his ears to avoid stumbling into anyone, he reached out with his free hand, seeking stone and wood. "Coming through!"

Dayana sends her arrow into the darkness, piercing the druid's belly and leaving in hunched over in pain.

As the group closes in, Jathal dances around her foe to the tune of Cecilia's chant and brings her curveblade down through the goblin's neck.

As the creature's head hits the flagstones with a thud, the darkness surrounding it dissipates like a fog bank in the morning sun.

The room falls still and quiet.

Zalindra searches the bodies for useful supplies.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12