DM Puppet Master's Humble Bundle Welcome Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Anon A Mouse

Whoops, sorry. Saw Carrakas' HP count in his tagline and thought he needed healing.

Disappointed that Shreya can't talk, Marzela calms her down and explains what happened, apologizing for not being able to restore her voice. After she is able to cope again, Marzela pulls out her journal, ink, and a pen and asks if she can write down for them what is going on in the town.

Pretty sure I was hurt from the previous day still, unless I missed a healing somewhere else.

Carrakas shakes his head grimly as the crazy man willingly passes away, and nods in firm agreement with Jaed's complaint. He redons his folding armor, just in case, and stands guard while Marzela deals with Shreya.

Shreya vehemently shakes her head and pushes the paper and pen back towards Marzela.

"Really? They cut your throat and you still cover up for them?" Jaed says aware that she won't probably understand him.

"What now? Next time they come for us they will bring something more than just rope to tie us."

"Or she's afraid," says Lily. "She's already lost her voice. She has to stay and live here after we leave, and so many of them got away... and some of them were locals. Who's going to protect her when they come back?"

Marzela puts her stuff back away.

Okay, you don't have to do anything you don't want to do. Can you tell us anything? Will they come back here? Are you in danger? Do you want to come with us so that you don't get murdered?

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (5) + 21 = 26

Will they come back here?

Shreya shrugs, uncertain.

Are you in danger?

She nods.

Do you want to come with us so that you don't get murdered?

She violently shakes her head, clearly terrified of such an idea. Given that you guys are trying to find the cult HQ, not exactly the safest of her options, haha.

From the background, Finnrick steps up. "If they are worried about retribution, I could stay behind to protect them. Perhaps with time and my own healing abilities, I might be able to fix her vocal cords."

They? Are there other villagers still here?

If the answer is yes (and for the storyline since we have to leave him behind), she tells Finnrick that is a good idea and is happy she will be able to be fully healed. But she also goes to find someone else that might be willing to tell them what the crap is going on in this town.

Shreya nods. But also you definitely saw children playing in the village and you were definitely not attacked by any children.

Marzela goes around to the huts to see who is left and if there is anyone to get information from.

Perception: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (12) + 21 = 33 (add +4 if they are hiding)

This is assuming we were able to sleep long enough for everyone to restore spells and stuff. If not, we might want to finish that first.

"If you are sure about that, Finnrick, you'd better not stay in this village. Maybe you could backtrack to that shrine we passed in our way here and wait for us there."

Jaed escorts Marzela during her search for other villagers.

You all go back to sleep and finish resting without incident. In the morning, the village is eerily quiet. Your calls to the people of the village are met with silence. However, Marzela's keen hearing reveals that there do appear to be some people left, hiding in huts. The doors to which seem to be locked, jammed, or barricaded from the inside.

Finnrick nods his head at Jaed's suggestion. "Depending on how many people yet remain in the village, that may be a good idea. Though I fear if there are too many and we are beset by that tigerman again, I may not be able to protect them all on the journey."

Marzela knocks on the door of one of the huts where she hears movement.

She speaks clearly and loudly, but not in a yelling or accusatory way... only to be heard inside.

Hello in there.

We won't hurt you, and you don't even have to come out if you don't want to. We just want to know how we can help you. The other villagers are gone. They hurt Shreya, but we were able to save her. She can't talk right now, but she says that she is in danger. If you tell us what is going on, maybe we can help.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (10) + 21 = 31

There's a long silence. You hear some faint scrapings of furniture. It almost seems like you're not going to get a response when a hesitant woman's voice calls out from inside the hut. "I-I am sorry the other villagers attacked you. B-but please, do not harm us! We do not worship Dhalavei as they do. I just want to raise my two young boys in peace. I-We wanted to warn you, but if we had, we would have surely been killed. Please, my sons are both so young. Too young to be taken from this world or be separated from their mother. We wish simply to raise our goats and continue our simple lives. If the others think we are housing you, they will surely kill us all. Please leave us be."

We won't harm any of you. Just tell us where they went, and we will make sure they don't come back to kill you or your sons.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (2) + 21 = 23

Blah, horrible roll. If needed, I'll go around to some other huts, trying to get location information. Also, I think we forgot to loot the bodies... if they are still there. Wondering if they have cultist stuff to identify them or something like that. We should probably also drag them out of the village.

Luckily, your previous roll shifted her attitude enough, so you still succeed.

Still relatively safe behind her barricaded door, the woman hesitantly calls out. "T-they life in the steep, mountainous hills to the east. It's less than a day's travel from here. I-I don't think anyone knows where exactly, but there's a path that we've been f-forbidden from taking that must lead to them." She gives a brief description of where this path is.

The bodies are still there. They don't really have anything to identify them, though they're all dressed similarly to the local villagers. They don't seem to be carrying much: a few copper pieces, the odd knife, and a few people have masterwork clubs (5 in total). They all have scars suggesting they they at least had some martial training (enough for 1 level of the NPC class warrior), but otherwise look like a mix of farmers and shephards.

Marzela thanks the woman and tells her that they will try to make sure that the town is safe from retribution.

Okay, what do you think, you guys... should we bury these guys for the village, even though they were bad guys, or should we go straight for the path to the east?

We can bury the corpses although the other villagers will probably take care of that when we leave so I would go directly to the path. However, I would not take the direct route to the hills because they will be obviously watching that path.

@DM: How long would it take to go around and approach the hills from the North or South?

The path starts not that far from the village (maybe 10 or so minutes out) and then heads east into the mountains (as opposed to traveling east for a day and then getting to the path mentioned, which is how I think you interpreted it), so you wouldn't really lose much time trying to "go around" there. You could try to take an indirect route where you only occasionally go back to where you think the path is to confirm you're heading in the correct direction, but then you're going to have to make survival checks to avoid losing where the path is. How much time you lose would depend on how far away from the path you'd want to travel.

Understood, thanks. Without Finnrick those survival checks are going to be harder. But considering that the cultists already know that we are here they will be watching the path so a direct approach may be too risky. What do you guys think?

My guess is that they have some sort of base or dungeon or something up ahead and they aren't planning an ambush. But of course they ambushed us on the way up and here in the village, so being paranoid is sounding wiser and wiser. :) Thing is... I think they have the advantage in difficult terrain, and even if we face a group, if we can actually face them rather than all of this guerilla tactic stuff, we might have a chance. I say, let's go find out where they are hiding, and try to fight them in a place they are willing to defend, rather than trying to fight them as they run away. ... But I totally could be wrong. Any other opinions?

Lily says, "I have to put these bodies to rest... the last thing we need is for the dead to come back and haunt the poor survivors of this village. I may not know all the details of the local religions but at the very least I can give them a reasonable burial or cremation."

I may actually get use out of Profession: Mortician.

Ok, no objection from my side. Let's go to knock on their door and fight some cultists. If we get ambushed in our way there, we'll deal with it the best we can. Jaed can lead the group in case we come across any traps.

Jaed would prefer to spend his time killing cultists instead of burying them but he offers to help Lily anyway.

Marzela nods at Lily's statement, and pitches in to help.

@Lily: You used Prof(Mortician) for a heal-type check on dead bodies earlier. :-P Though if you'd like to roll to see how good your funeral rites are, you can go ahead, and I'll create some flavor text based on your roll.

After the ceremony/saying goodbye to Finnrick, which I'll handle together
The group heads off, following the woman's instructions to find the 'path'. It's probably a good thing she gave you instructions as it's fairly subtle. It looks like the cultists put effort into hiding the trail, but only for the first half-mile or so out of the village. After that it gets a little easier to follow. As the path heads into the hills, it starts to get narrower and more twisted. The elephants start to get more and more uncomfortable until finally, Bala offers to wait for your return a little further back. He claims it's because the elephants trying to squeeze through the narrow passages will slow you down too much, but it's pretty clear that he's afraid and doesn't want to continue onwards. He helps you unpack enough rations to last you several more days from the elephants before leading the beasts down to a slightly wider part of the trail to wait for your return.

You continue your journey on foot for several hours, the path taking you up and down increasingly taller hills. As the narrow path descends into a steep valley, the sickly smell of carrion overwhelms the stagnant air. A hauntingly dense ground mist floats over the thick undergrowth. In the dim light, through shadows cast by the high peaks surrounding the ravine and copious tree cover, the grisly form of a mass grave comes into view.

Marzela addresses the group

Do you guys think that grave is all the villagers that left town?

She activates her ioun torch to brighten things up a bit, and keeps her bow ready as they descend into the valley.

The village was sized for maybe 20-30 people. The grave has closer to a hundred bodies in it. So even if the villagers that left town were in it, it wouldn't account for all the bodies.

Good to know, thanks.

"Those are a lot of bodies. These guys are nuts," Jaed says carefully approaching the grave. He keeps an eye of the surroundings for any signs of movement.

Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (15) + 13 = 28 +8 for traps

As you descend into the valley, the stench of decay and rot grows stronger and stronger, making all the most hearty of you gag and retch. Now that you're closer, you can make out the bodies piled among the trees more clearly. Some are partially buried in the clay soil, but most have simply been dumped here to rot. There are victims of all ages, races, and genders, though most seem to be middle-aged human men. They have one thing in common: their throats and jaws are eaten away by acid. A few are recent, but judging by the festering decomposition of most of the bodies and the putrefying stench of decay, the majority of the corpses have been here for at least weeks if not months.

Ever vigilant, Jaed notices one of the dead bodies begin twitching. He manages to shout out a warning as a number of the corpses begin to slowly rise, turning to look at all of you.

Jaed is up. It's not a surprise round; he's just the only one who won initiative. DC 11 Religion check for knowledge. First slide has been updated with the map.

Knowledge Religion: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20

You should pick 2 things from the knowledge checks sheet

"Lily, I think these things may come under you area of expertise. Any ideas?"

Jaed moves and attacks the zombie? closest to Lily and Marzela.

Flaming sword: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (18) + 13 = 31
damage: 1d6 + 6 + 1d6 ⇒ (2) + 6 + (1) = 9 last d6 is fire damage
Sneak attack: 4d6 ⇒ (4, 4, 4, 1) = 13

Resistances and Immunities

They are indeed zombies. They have DC 5/slashing and have the typical undead immunities

Jaed runs up to what is indeed a zombie and immediately strikes it down. As he looks up to determine his next foe, he catches the eye of one of the zombies. The creature's eyes flash menacingly as their gaze meets before it moves further away.

Regular damage: 2d10 ⇒ (6, 1) = 7
Cha damage: 1d4 ⇒ 4

@Jaed: DC 19 Fort save to negate the Cha damage, but it doesn't affect the regular damage.

Round 1
- Jaed
- ???
- Marzela, Lily, Carrakas
- Zombies

Marzela, Lily, and Carrakas are up. In addition, people can make a second knowledge check, DC 19 Religion for the creature that just attacked Jaed (highlighted in red on the map). Remember that for every 5 by which you beat the DC, you get to pick an extra thing from the knowledge list.

Knowledge Religion on red zombie: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

Marzela delays until after the zombies, planning to allow them to come closer before channelling positive energy to kill them. She tells Lily what she is planning softly, so that they can coordinate their efforts if needed.

Initial Knowledge (religion): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18

Special attacks, please.

Followup Knowledge (religion): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25

Intelligence level?

"Zombies and... hang on..." says Lily as she hustles to keep up. She pauses and unleashes a wave of necromantic power.

Ready action to Turn undead! DC 15 Will save or panicked, all undead within 30' of me. I Turn after the undead move.

Since it's easier and groups everybody's initiatives together, I'm going to have Carrakas delay as well. Also going to treat the readied action as a delay since each zombie takes its full action before the next zombie acts, meaning the readied action wouldn't trigger until the last zombie finished its move, thus splitting the block into 13 zombies and 1 zombie, which would be awkward without really gaining anything.

Zombies: No special attacks
The other creature is a vetala. It's a variety of ghost known to arise if a murder victim doesn't receive the proper funerary rites performed over its remains. It has a 10 Int.

The zombies shamble closer to the group, though only a few manage to get close enough to attack.

Carrakas 1, charge: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 4 + 2 = 7
Carrakas 2, charge: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 4 + 2 = 25
Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

Jaed 1, charge: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 4 + 2 = 7
Jaed 2, charge: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 4 + 2 = 12

Will saves, DC 15: 10d20 ⇒ (2, 18, 9, 10, 8, 10, 7, 8, 1, 12) = 85 Blue zombies will be the ones that failed

Round 2
- Lily, Marzela, Carrakas, Jaed
- Vetala
- Zombies

Marzela, Carrakas, and Jaed are up (though Lily also still has her move action if she wants to use it). Jaed still has a fort save and Carrakas maybe but probably didn't take some damage.

Marzela channels to harm the zombies.

Channel: 6d6 ⇒ (3, 6, 6, 5, 5, 5) = 30

Zombies get a DC 18 Will save for half damage. I put a circle on the board that is a 30 feet radius centered on me to show what area I should be affecting. Same circle could be used for Lily's turning, although of course it will have to be moved to wherever Lily decides to stand.

Yeah, no damage from that. Am going to wait to post my action until I see who is still standing after Marzela and Lily. Yous guys sure can make with all of the killing of whats been killed already, gotta say!

I'm not moving yet.

Fort save: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15

Jaed attacks the zombies in front of him. If they are already dead by Marzela's channel he will instead double move next to the vetala.

Flaming sword: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (14) + 11 = 25
damage: 1d6 + 6 + 1d6 ⇒ (2) + 6 + (6) = 14 last d6 is fire damage
Frost sword: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (10) + 11 = 21
damage: 1d6 + 6 + 1d6 ⇒ (3) + 6 + (4) = 13 last d6 is cold damage
Flaming sword: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24
damage: 1d6 + 6 + 1d6 ⇒ (3) + 6 + (1) = 10 last d6 is fire damage

Not going to bother rolling because half damage kills them anyway

In a burst of light, Marzela vanquishes many of the zombies surrounding her. Carrakas can take his action and Jaed is free to move himself towards the Vetala since Marzela killed his zombies.

Moved. By the way, does Marzela's channel also heal? I assumed so but I remember something about healing and harming being mutually exclusive.

Carrakas looks around with a manic grin on his face as Marzela just demolishes the field. "Well that was handy!" He steps a little closer to the next nearest zombie and sends a couple of quick jabs flying in with his kinetic whip.

Full attack with Kinetic Whip Electric Blast
Attack 1 vs Touch AC: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (16) + 15 = 31
Damage 1: 4d6 + 2 ⇒ (1, 3, 6, 4) + 2 = 16
Attack 2 vs Touch AC: 1d20 + 15 - 5 ⇒ (8) + 15 - 5 = 18
Damage 2: 4d6 + 2 ⇒ (6, 6, 5, 5) + 2 = 24
[ooc]Pretty sure he dead...[/dice]

No, it doesn't also heal, sorry. Unfortunately you have to choose one or the other. I channeled to heal yesterday though, after the battle and before we finished sleeping, so I think everyone was healed up.

Marzela is correct; channeling either heals or damages, not both. So Jaed still has the 7 damage from the vetala's attack.

Carrakas smashes yet another zombie as Jaed rushes towards the vetala. The undead creature simply grins as it raises one arm. Before your eyes, yet more of the dead bodies littering the area jerk forward into life. It cackles eerily as its newly risen minions charge the rogue, surrounding him.

Charge attacks vs Jaed: 5d20 ⇒ (1, 4, 20, 15, 12) = 52
Crit confirm: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 4 + 2 = 26
Damage: 2d6 + 8 ⇒ (2, 2) + 8 = 12

The one remaining panicked undead flees as one who resisted Lily's turning charges her, one that was too far away to be affected charges Carrakas, and one that was newly created charges Marzela.

Charge vs Lily: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 4 + 2 = 14
Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Charge vs Carrakas: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 4 + 2 = 10
Charge vs Marzela: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 4 + 2 = 15

And then since Jaed is going to begin his turn within 30ft of the vetala, he suffers from its gaze attack again at the beginning of his turn.

Damage: 2d10 ⇒ (3, 6) = 9
Cha damage: 1d4 ⇒ 4 With another DC 19 fort save to negate the Cha damage. Remember that if the damage reaches your ability score (looks like 10 for Jaed), you fall unconscious

Round 3
- Lily, Marzela, Carrakas, Jaed
- Vetala
- Zombies

Party is up

Since I used kinetic whip, it stays out for the round for AoOs, and it also has a 10ft reach. Therefore, I should get an AoO on the zombie that charged me as it moves from 10ft away from me (a threatened space) to 5ft away from me.

Carrakas sends his electric whip flying in at the charging zombie before it gets close, zapping him like a bug.
Attack vs Touch AC: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (10) + 15 = 25
Damage: 4d6 + 2 ⇒ (6, 3, 4, 2) + 2 = 17

He then turns and blade rushes over to the zombie in front of Marzela.
Attack vs Touch AC, Blade Rush: 1d20 + 15 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 15 + 2 = 22
Damage: 4d6 + 2 ⇒ (3, 6, 6, 5) + 2 = 22

After slicing the head off of her zombie as well, he gestures towards Jaed and says "Go help him! I'll cover the rear."

I put a red circle on the zombies I think I killed
-2AC for the round, and no kinetic whip, so only shield bash AoOs

Marzela moves farther away from Lily so she doesn't interfere with her turning, and close enough to the Vetala that she can reach his area with a spell.

She casts Raging Rubble.

Spell text HERE. It is basically a rock swarm. It causes 1d6 damage to anything within it:

Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 5

It also causes distraction. DC 12 Fort save to ignore the distraction. Lasts concentration+2 rounds.

Which one on the map is the vetala?