DM Zyren's Heart of Riddles (Inactive)

Game Master Zyrenity

The weapon in your hand shatters as you hit the cave wall. A moment later you feel your blood running down your chest - too bad, a part of the broken blade hs opened your throat - you're dead, no stabilize roll allowed. Hrhr!

Damn....that sucks...

Bree lashes out at the trog twice more, determined to finish this off as quickly as possible.

Masterwork Dagger 1d20 + 3 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (1) + 3 + 1 - 2 = 3
Damage 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Well bloody freaking hell. Critical Fumble Check
Masterwork Dagger 1d20 + 3 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (4) + 3 + 1 - 2 = 6
Damage 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Masterwork Dagger 1d20 + 3 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (14) + 3 + 1 - 2 = 16
Damage 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Sable uses his crossbow one more.

Crossbow 1d20 + 3 - 4 ⇒ (8) + 3 - 4 = 7
Damage 1d8 ⇒ 7

Sable has returned! Thank you, Bree!

Sebastian offers moral support from the back

You're quite welcome, love. Anytime.

Corvax is now 2 rds behind

Bree puts her dagger between the eyes of her attacker and with a gurgle the trog goes down.
The other two keep on attacking desperately.

Troglodyte attacking Kabal / Bite 1d20 - 3 ⇒ (19) - 3 = 16
Damage1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Troglodyte attacking Kabal / Club 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
Damage1d6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Troglodyte attacking Kabal / Claw 1d20 - 3 ⇒ (5) - 3 = 2
Damage1d4 ⇒ 1

Troglodyte attacking Bree/ Bite 1d20 - 3 ⇒ (2) - 3 = -1
Damage1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Troglodyte attacking Bree / Club 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
Damage1d6 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

Troglodyte attacking Bree / Claw 1d20 - 3 ⇒ (13) - 3 = 10
Damage1d4 ⇒ 1

RD 6 Order

Bree
Sable
Kabal
Winter
Sebastian
Corvax
Troglodyte

Battle Mat

Emboldened by the steel armor protecting him from the trogs very ineffective tactics; Kabal laughed and responded with another attack of his own.

Power Attack - 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21

Damage - 1d8 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 5 + 2 = 15

This time hitting the lizard man instead of the stone wall.

A fountain of blood later the trog slumps to the ground, nearly cut into two.

Sable coughs, "Seems their innards reek as much as their outers. Not even Korax would feast on these entrails. How fares everyone? All I can see are shoulders and sword swings."

Sable loads his crossbow again, and looks back behind he and Sebastian where the wight emerged.

Perception 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (10) + 9 = 19

Winter delays until the end of the round, in case more come etc...

Please, someone take over Corvax for now...

Corvax had lost his breath from being stuck in the tunnel and was slow to come around but when he did it was like whirlwind of brutality.

Attacking trog at O,24 round 4

Sword - 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19
Damage - 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

Same trog if its not dead yet. round 5

Sword - 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17
Damage - 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

With a painful growl the last trog goes down and lies still in a pool of blood.

Thx

By all the damned gods looking down on us with smiling faces. I odnt know about you all but the offer of selling the Goblin is sounding better and better if our basement is going to crawl with lizard men like so. Blood and Ashes but I'd never get a sound nights sleep. We shoudl ask for more money though...

His tirade trailed off as he examined the chip his falcata now had on its blade from hitting against the stone walls.

Damn!..but theres no time for fixing that now...

He'll sheath his sword and start looting the bodies.

speaking of which; did we score anything from the last bunch?

i will expand your search to the two rooms in which the trogs stayed.

After searching the trogs and the caves they had lived lived in, you find the following:

47 silver pieces
8 clubs

Sorry :(

^ No worries!

Bah! These damn things are hardly worth killing. I cant believe Saul was trying to escape to down here. He wouldve been cut to pieces by himself.

"Then these aren't what he was escaping to... let us push on"

Channel/Heal on all...
1d6 ⇒ 4
1d6 ⇒ 5

The eastern portion of this chamber has collapsed in a tumble of rubble and earth. The collapse partially obscures the chamber but dioes leave room to access the tunnel exiting to the south-west.

Caverns

to those just in front of him, "Well you see, they are not quite lizards or reptiles...more amphibian if I had to guess. More like cave newts..but Gods if I am going to hang around this smelly cave to find out."

(HP 23/26)Bree whispers her gratitude to Winter for his healing, as the bruises that were already forming ease up and seem to fade away.

"If they're smart enough to wear weapons, and to have silver than they are smart enough to have formed some sort of alliance... perhaps Saul would not have been threatened by them. Perhaps it was to their protection he thought he was fleeing."

Kabal couldnt wrap his thick head around the idea of Saul being in cohoots with these 'newts' as Sebastian called them.

Well he shouldve paid them more. I cant think of a bunch of scalies with sticks being much protection but he was headed down here all right. Gods I could use some fresh air! Lets keep moving.

Caverns

The following tunnel leads down and you notice several small puddles on the ground. The water drips from the ceiling and you can hear the sound of the fast-flowing Velashtu River above your heads. Some of the cracks in the ceiling seem large and relatively new...suddenly you don't feel safe anymore.

"Suddenly my wings feel even more cramped. Let us press onward lest a flood make our journey quicker than we're ready for."

Sable examines the cracks as the party passes under them.

Perception 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15

Knowledge (nature) 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (9) + 11 = 20

Your short investigation confirms your first thoughts, you think the ceiling is already pretty instable...it might collapse every moment.

"Maybe we should just go back? If it floods, maybe that will take care of the problem for us."

At Bree's mention of floods Kabal's heart almost seized in his massive chest. Visions of a heaving boat in swelling seas and all that endless water had him in cold sweats...not that he'd ever admit it.

You really think Saul was headed this way? What about that other tunnel?

"I don't want to think what Saul was capable of if he was making deals with a wight...But it might be safer to check that out while waiting to see if this place to gives up the ghost."

I'm taking this as a GM TPK warning about the cracks...

"Whatever lurks ahead of us in this tunnel had best be a fish then, for things will soon flood no doubts. Back toward where that wight came from then, and to ensure that there is not a lair of them beneath our house."

My TPK warnings are rather blunt :) No, it was just a warning that you have to hurry up, the bad boys don't sleep.

Battle Mat

The small cave is empty, but an ancient looking treasure chest sits in the middle of a small pool, surrounded by several skeletons and rotten corpses wearing the garments of pirates and sailors...

Huh...our basement is a gods damned mess. Looks like many have fallen trying to get to that treasure. Stay sharp.

Kabal will move further into the chamber with his falcata out and shield at the ready. move to AE, 24

Perception - 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18

You cannot spot any obvious wounds. No arrows or spears sticking in the corpses and you wonder what has killed these poor souls. Maybe it was all the work of the single wight that "lived" in this cavern.

Detect Poison and Magic, announce results to group... assuming all is clear

"One of you more worldly companions wish to check for traps?"

Yup, all is clear.

Feeling the various sets of eyes from her group shift to her, Bree shrugs, "I don't do traps, and I am not going over there."

Sebastian squeezes forward. "I don't really have the tools for it, but I once had to open a locked wardrobe case 5 minutes before curtain....I little bit of pressure seems to help my nerves...

Disable Device -> 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20

Using his dagger he scrapes away at the rust and tries probing the lock. "Well, this is the best I can do with out tools." Putting the dagger away he gives the lock a tug.

With a *plop* the chest snaps open. inside it, wrapped in some old cloth, are two large fire opals. Even though they must have been down here for many years, their crimson red fire is absolutely untarnished.

"Ahhhh. Definitely worth the stink we had to put up with." Sebastian pulls out the gems and holding them up for the others to see.

Appraise -> 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19

Each of them worth about 250 gp.

Kabal was impressed with how quickly the bard opened the chest. His fat fingers wouldnt have been able to do that...guess I couldve just bashed the chest apart...

Is that it? That big box for a couple of puny stones? What now? Risk the tunnel flooding or back to the Goblin?

"We can probably get 500 gold for these. So not too shabby. But let's see..."

Sebastian will give the chest the once over, checking its dimensions and solidness.

Perception -> 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27
Take '10' on Know. Engineering -> 10 + 8 = 18

Indeed, after some knocking and inspecting, Sebastian finds a false bottom. Inside is a small book with some very old certifictes of debt. They are signed by the Free Bank of Magnimar and dated with 4601.

The total sum on all certificates is 2500 gp...without interest.

"Ho! Trying to get tricky here aren't you....So what do we have here...Whoa! A bad place to do any bookkeeping, but we have bonds of credit for 2500 gold with the Free Bank of Magnimar!"

He will then flip through the book trying to see if it has any significance other than money-holder.

"Sebastian, were you on the inside or the outside of that wardrobe?"

Sable looks over the shiny gems while Sebastian examines them, then is drawn to the finding of the book.

"How dated is the material? Do you believe it is still valid?"

Sebastian will pass the notes over as he continues to look at the book. "Careful. They seem to date before Aroden's fall. But if the bank is still there, no reason they aren't still good, pity though that they bear no interest."

Besides the certificates, the book is empty. Its structure (two columns on all pages)though hints at the fact that it was intended to be used as some kind of book of household or business accounts.

Bree cocks an eyebrow before licking her lips and quietly saying, "I really think we should keep moving."

"Well if Saul wasn't headed here, it must have been through the trogs..Gods knows why. We made a fair day's profit, but did not solve the mystery of Saul's intentions nor the identity of his compatriots, not counting the Trogs. I could be for pushing on...still a little bit of magic left in me, and I hope a bit of luck"

Bree cocks an eyebrow before licking her lips and quietly saying, "I really think we should keep moving."

"So is it pressing forward or turning our tailfeathers and heading back up to the Goblin? We only backtracked at your behest, and gods know how long the cavern ceilings will hold. Personally I'd love to see this flight through and find out more of what the one-taloned grackle was up to."

"Then let us push past the Troglodytes and see who or what it was he was running to, we shall not tarry, we shall take our bias for action and move like the wind"

Winter hurries the group back past the fallen trogs and pushes on...