DM Talomyr's Serpent's Skull (Inactive)

Game Master Talomyr

"What is it doing all the way our here?" Dereje wonders aloud, frowning at the thought. "Let's move in, but be on your guard. There could be more around, or worse, one of the plants that created them"

Hana switches to her hankyu and draws a bead on the poor creature, waiting for the signal to fire.

Fire when ready. You each have a full round's worth of actions before it will do anything.

Lawdrak nods and whirls his sling into a throw...

1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21
1d4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Hana: Shortbow attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

Wiffff...

Hana takes aim with her bow, but the shot goes well wide of the creature.

Lawdrak's aim is true with his sling, but blunt rock seems to bounce off the creature's body.

The creature slowly turns your direction after the attacks.

Dereje, Mum, and Adara have actions remaining before the creature.

Estietre moves off to the side of the group and nearer to the creature. She extends one hand and wiggles her upturned fingers until the minor menace is enveloped by a softly twinkling nimbus.
She shrugs as she firmly grips the spear .. "Might help..."

move within 30' and use Stardust... -1 to attacks for a round.

Paging Adara and Dereje...

Dereje closes in on the yellow musk creeper until he reaches optimal range, and then attempts to blast it with his pistol.

Moving within 20 ft. of it before firing.

Pistol Touch Attack (PBS): 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 6 + 1 = 16
Damage (PBS): 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Adara casts guidance on herself and draws a javelin.

Dereje moves in closer to the creature and fires an accurate shot, but the bullet seems to pass through the creature with a cloud of dust, but little other effect.

Finally taking notice of the party the creature turns in your direction as its body begins to shift in form. The creature seems to grow slightly taller and broader at the shoulders as its arms grow into whip-like tendrils.

Clarification on the tendrils, they are long enough that you can assume the creature, while still a medium creature, likely has at least a 10 foot reach with the tendrils. From the attacks that have not been overly effective, you can gather that it may require slashing weapons to be fully effective. The party is up.

Dereje lowers his smoking gun, an eyebrow raised in response to the zombie's unexpected transformation.

"It seems that we have little choice but to cut it down," the paladin comments, having noted the creature's apparent resistance to their other forms of attack. Without hesitation, he draws his cutlass and closes the distance between himself and the zombie, delivering a precise but shallow cut.

Cutlass Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24
Critical Confirm?: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 1

Hana drops her small bow and draws her katana as she moves cautiously into combat range.

Drop bow as free action, standard action for Total Defense, move action to close with the monster, draw weapon as part of move. This brings AC up to 21 for its attacks of opportunity as I move in past its reach.

Lawdrak draws his dagger and moves out through a wide arc around the creature. IF it lashes out at Dejere, he steps in close. If not, he waits outside of its reach. As he moves, he whistles, clicks, and points his intructions to Sharpmaw.

LAwdark will take a double move. IF the thing attacks Dejere and NOT Hana, Lawdrak will move to flank with Dejere.

Following his human's lead and instructions, Sharpmaw will take a double move to get into a flank with Hana, regardless of who the thing attacks.

The creature lashes out athe Dereje, but fails to make contact. Dereje, with a quick flick of the wrist hacks into the creature, finally managing to damage the mindless beast. Meanwhile, Hana, Lawdrak and Sharpmaw move into position around the musk creeper zombie.

Mum is up before the creature.

Is Adara lower in the initiative, or does she have an action?

Sorry, brain cramp on my part. Adara has her action before the creature too.

Adara moves to a non-threatened square and casts guidance on Hana.

Estietre conjures a glob of mud in her palm. and hurls it at the creature's face.

ranged touch attack vs foe in melee: 1d20 + 3 - 4 ⇒ (14) + 3 - 4 = 13

Adara moves up and provides Hana a bit of magical aid, while Estietre winds up and hurls a glob of mud toward the creature, covering the creature's face in a thick layer of sticky mud.

Blinded by the mud, the "zombie" lashes out with both tendrils where it last saw Dereje but flails ineffectively.

The party is up vs. a blinded creature

Don't forget your flanks, folks!

Lawdrak steps in and slashes with his crude, heavy dagger.

1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14
slashing: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Toothy time!

Bite: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21
slashing: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10

Now inside the creature's reach, Hana brings her katana around in a fast slash.

Katana attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Wiff again...

Dereje dodges the blinded zombie's clumsy strikes before closing in with another slash of his cutlass.

Cutlass Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9 Another +2 if there's a flank.
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 2

Dereje dodges the blinded zombie's clumsy strikes before closing in with another slash of his cutlass.

[dice=Cutlass Attack]1d20+4 Another +2 if there's a flank.
[dice=Damage]1d6

You currently have a flank with Lawdrak. Likewise, Hana has one with Sharpmaw.

Not that I expect it helps with that roll, but guidance would also add to her attack if Hana wanted to use it with the flanking bonus.

Zombies usually have a crappy AC. Flanking + guidance gets me to AC 10, which is probably not enough, but...

Katana damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

Estietre moves to get a clear shot, then fires a thin missile of ice from her finger.

ranged touch vs foe in melee: 1d20 + 3 - 4 ⇒ (4) + 3 - 4 = 3

Zombies usually have a crappy AC. Flanking + guidance gets me to AC 10, which is probably not enough, but...

Luckily for you, it is enough against a blinded, flanked zombie

Taking advantage of their positioning and the glob of mud still stuck to the face of the creature courtesy of Estietre, Sharpmaw, Hana, Dereje, and Lawdrak all land significant blows against the tentacled creature.

Following the swift barrage, the lifeless creature falls to the ground in a multitude of parts.

Combat over.

Go Team Survivor!

Adara looks over the mess of the former plant-controlled person.

"Was that enough? Or do we need to burn it to prevent the plant from returning?"

"We did not take such measures the last time we encountered these creatures," Dereje says with a shrug, holstering his pistol. His sword remains in hand however, Adara's remark having given him some pause.

"Where shall we head next?"

Hana thinks for a few moments, then says slowly, "The... infection that makes these creatures must come from somewhere. We should find and destroy it, if possible... so that none of us are taken over."

"We did not take such measures the last time we encountered these creatures," Dereje says with a shrug, holstering his pistol. His sword remains in hand however, Adara's remark having given him some pause.

"My concern lie in that we are seeing this corruption yet again, and not so close by our original encounter with the plant to easily be excused."

I think I'm right about this statement...?

"The... infection that makes these creatures must come from somewhere. We should find and destroy it, if possible... so that none of us are taken over."

Adara nods with a serious expression. "I can agree with your feelings on this, Hana, but unless we have a clear lead on the source now, we will probably simply need to deal with it as we come across it."

Gesturing to the remains with the spark of flame dancing across her fingers, the oracle says, "I do believe that this poor soul deserves the cleansing of immolation and a rite to scatter their ashes against the corruption which stole life from them."

"My concern lie in that we are seeing this corruption yet again, and not so close by our original encounter with the plant to easily be excused."

I think I'm right about this statement...?

You are correct. The area where you fought the first yellow musk creeper and its minions is a 20-30 minute hike from your current location.

"It might have spread. Or there might very well be more of these plants on this island," Dereje suggests, running a hand over his beard. Hm. It has been quite some time since my last shave. "Still, I do suppose a cremation is in order, before we move on."

Adara will gather some combustible materials and help clear an area where the plant corpse can be safely burned.

She glances around at the others waiting for someone to move the corpse in position. Only a slight expression of distaste as she looks at it gives away how loathe she is to touch the creature herself.

Gathering dried materials is somewhat of a chore, but eventually you find sufficient material to build a small pyre. As the body is moved into place a small sapling is noticed within the corpse. Perhaps it would not have been too much longer until the creature began to grow into a new musk creeper plant.

Where to?

Ha!

When the musk creeper sapling is discovered, Adara crows triumphantly and smirks as she ignites the carnivorous plant with a snap of her fingers.

Continue moving along our original trajectory would probably be the simplest.

No objections!

Works for me

The party continues on along the coast line searching for anything of note that will help them get off of the Shiv. Adara, still overly proud of being proved right about the yellow musk creeper creature, fails to notice a snare before it is too late. A rope made of vine cinches around her ankle as she is forcefully swept up into the tree line where she is rudely greeted by a pair of sharp wooden spikes.

It all happens too quickly for anyone to do much to stand surprised at the sight of Adara bleeding and hanging upside down from a tree, ten feet in the air.

Adara is grappled, ten feet in the air. She also takes 9 damage from the spikes she slammed into.

"Erk," Adara emits a rather undignified sound, too stunned to move for a moment.

Mum gasps, and rushes to help Adara.
"Heavens! I will help get her down. Eyes peeled to be sure the trap setter is not about.. lying in wait."

(any roll needed to free her?) 1d20 ⇒ 14

Hana draws her sword and keeps an eye out for any hidden attackers.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

There are no obvious signs of who is responsible for setting the trap, but based on the pliability of the vines used, it must be fairly recent.

No need for a roll to get her down, but I do need to know how you intend to get her down. The vine-rope that is around ankle is roughly 10 feet in the air (i.e. out of normal reach of everyone but Adara).

Adara feels the blood begin rushing to her head as well as running down her body and staining her clothes. Groggily, she looks around and tries to get a better sense of what is happening.

How did I get here?

Events had occurred so quickly. Her predicament slowly replayed in her mind's eye. She looked down at her feet...no, [/i]up[/i]. The pressure on her ankle was unbearable. She reached up to try and grab the vine above it so she could at ease the ache.

Perception: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (16) + 0 = 16

What kind of check do you need for Adara to reach up and grab the vine holding her and begin pulling herself up like a rope until she's upright? Acrobatics? Straight Str? My hope is she will be able to see how the vine is attached and direct the others or just climb over to the tree and dislodge herself if there is a way.

Do a straight strength check DC 12. If you hit DC 15 you can reach and attempt an Escape Artist roll if you would like. The perception roll you have already made is suffice for being able to direct a companion how to free you, assuming you make the at least the DC 12 strength check. Keep in mind, you are still upside down and 10ft in the air.

"I could try shooting through the vine, but someone would have to catch Lady Adara," Dereje suggests, looking up at the treeline with concern. His gun remains holstered, but it's apparent that he's already lining up the shot in his head.

I do believe the rope should have a relatively low AC, since it's an unattended object.