DM Delmoth's Strange Aeons (Inactive)

Game Master Delmoth

Tempted to take Toughness to totally take the Hp Title!

Allegra's Summary:
+20 hp (d8+2 for the base level, +13 from Con bump)
All her main skills up +1
ABP stat bumps into Con and Cha
5th level spells! Planning on prepping Breath of Life and Angelic Aspect, but Righteous Might is also super tempting, with a handful of other close behind.
Feat: Armor Focus, mostly as a prereq for advanced armor training later.

Dervak will make one switch on spells - taking Ride the Waves as a 4th-level spell instead of Dimensional Blade.

It's a long-lasting buff, and it can be cast on others, and we know there is a great evil in the lake.

Isn't there a Feat to extend Hex range to 60'?

Or Split Hex Feat....thinking Split Hex...because that 2nd target could be 60' from Theo...lol.

Mara would like to buy a Mossy Disk ioun stone (+5 to Knowledge Dungeoneering) from Hoshbagh : 5000 GP.
If available, she would also like to buy a Wayfinder (500 GP) to store it in.

I am under the impression that the Trap area is in the lower floor? Will allow us to clear oit of range first if it is upstairs also.

Mara would like to buy a Mossy Disk ioun stone (+5 to Knowledge Dungeoneering) from Hoshbagh : 5000 GP.

If available, she would also like to buy a Wayfinder (500 GP) to store it in.

Wayfinder: 1d100 ⇒ 87

Yes on both. Sorry I didn't answer sooner.

Theo would like to have had 15(?) minutes to study another SM 5 for an empty slot?

Babau Olympics!

You can spend all the time you want. I don't know what kind of buffs you have going so keep that in mind.

Mara's Barkskin and Heroism buffs on herself, Allegra and Dervak last a total of 2 hours and 10 minutes each.

We can wait. It's not major. He has plenty of other Hellspawn to call.

Allegra has a ton of uses of her blessings which rarely get used and can summon lawful outsiders and resolute creatures for a minute each. They're fairly under-levelled at this point though so out of combat uses might be best.

no update from me today, work is Hell today.

Work is dumb. I'm also driving 4 hours tonight to take my mom to the dr. tomorrow, no post until Sunday? Maybe Sat afternoon if I get back early.

So here is my shot at statting up our Horn of Valhalla fighters. I didn't give them any archetypes, as I think that could lead to them being more powerful than they should be. Like if you could summon 2d4 Drill Sergeants, each with a useful shareable teamwork feat. As it is, Armored Sacrifice is a potent ability that may make them actual assets in combat on occasion.

Nobody knows how Peyhori-Han first bound the spirits into the Horn, or where they came from. The fighters seem to be echoes of warriors from another world; they can speak Common or Skald with a hard-to-place accent, but sometimes speak of unknown lands with names like Anglund or Danemarch. A glimpse of fear crosses their faces when they draw upon their hazy memories of the past. Something happened to their world, and the phantom existence of these eight in the Horn may be all that remains.

The warriors are all seemingly Ulfen humans, strong of limb and skilled with the axe. Much to Theo's delight, they are also fond of card games. Their names are Aslaug, Bjorn, Canute, Danwulf, Ecbert, Floki, Gunnhild, and Helga.

Horn of Valhalla Ftr4
Str 18, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8 Using the NPC Heroic Array of 15/14/13/12/10/8
HP 34 (4d10+12)
Saves: F+6/R+2/W+2
Feats: Weapon Focus (Battleaxe), Dodge, Shield Focus, Advanced Armor Training (Armored Sacrifice), Weapon Specialization (Battleaxe), Outflank (from free fighter retrain of 2nd-level bonus feat)
Melee Attack: MW Battleaxe +10 (1d8+6/x3)
Ranged Attack: MW Throwing Axe +6 (1d6+4)
AC 21 (+6 armor, +3 shield, +1 Dex, +1 Dodge)
Skills: Climb +11, Swim +11, Profession (Gambler) +8; ACP -4

The concept is that the horn is Valhalla for these warriors. Their world ended (possibly through something having to do with Great Old Ones), but they get to live on in the horn, to fight, die, and be reborn. Naturally, the characters from Vikings seemed a good inspiration. Ecbert was not a Viking of course, but such an interesting character that he had to be be the pick for 'E'.

Thanks! I should really watch that show one of these days.

That is so fantastic, Dervak! So much flavor! And, you gave them ranks in Gambling...lol!

Thank you!

Mara, there is room behind her for Dervak. I'll pull out the map further this afternoon. Feel free to change up your actions since it doesn't make a lot of sense with Allegra moving through the blade barrier.

Allegra short of teleportation there is no direct way to Weiralai without crossing the blade barrier. I do like the ideas of ping ponging her across her own spell though, lol.

I'm okay with just eating the blade barrier, I rolled the save, and I've got the movement to move in and avoid an AoO, which was my primary concern.

I'm happy taking the teleport too!

I'm not sure if Mara is aware that Dervak is cursed. My understanding is that removing it will require a Remove Curse spell with a 29 on the Caster Level check. Mara will need to roll a 16 or better, so it's likely to take a few tries. She can memorize 6 3rd lvl spells/day.

@Mara - CiCi dispelled the curse with Break Enchantment, which she happened to have as a spell known.

OK, I guess we just have to deal with the thing in the lake.

I am hoping for a lady offering a sword.

The Path to the Black Stars ritual looks rather tricky! DC 40 Knowledge Arcana, Dungeoneering and Nobility checks! I'm glad that I decided to have Mara take Mental Prowess (Intelligence), and pour the extra skill points into Knowledge Dungeoneering (since I don't think anyone was covering that). It seemed to be in line with her Foe of the Strange campaign trait.

Even Theo, who is Int-based, will need to roll well to hit DC 40. With Encouraging Heroism, he can get +26 Arcana.

There is a bonus for spellcasters on occult rituals that would be +3 at CL 13, so that helps. And the four secondary casters can give another +1. That does bring Theo up to a +30, meaning 55% chance for Arcana. I don't think anybody is any good at Knowledge (Nobility) but you normally only need to make half the checks. The rules do suggest that the GM can be tougher on that in a horror campaign to varying degrees, so if the GM decides we need to go 6-for-6, that is not going to happen.

A scroll of Grand Destiny would help. I had thought about taking that spell for Dervak, but he has only a very limited selection of Brd/Mag spells.

Are Aid rolls allowed on skill checks for rituals?

Casting Occult Rituals

No aid rolls are allowed for the ritual skill checks.

It sounds like the unread sections in the Necronomicon may provide further bonuses.

With Threefold Aspect and Encouraging Heroism, Mara has +23 Dungeoneering. With +3 for the primary caster level, and another +1 for four secondaries, she has +27 (40 % chance of success for the Dungeoneering check).

Note that the +4 competence bonus from Grand Destiny wouldn't stack with the competence bonuses from Ioun Stones (Mara's Mossy Disk gives her +5 to Knowledge Dungeoneering).

EDIT: I suppose a Ring of Revelation with the Knowledge of the Ages Time Mystery Revelation could give her 2 re-rolls with a +8 insight bonus.

@Mara - if we level up before doing the ritual, can you get that revelation naturally?

Yes, I do get a Revelation of the Past at 14th lvl (replaces Wandering Hex - 2 hexes).

So, we fight the Beastie in the Lake, then level up (or die; but, definitely one of those), and put all my Ranks in a Knowledge we need, and do rituals?

We also need to explore the upper city to find the Stelae to do the first (easier) ritual. We might find the ghost's sword somewhere up there.

If we could level up and then fight the Great Old One, we might have a better chance. But if the GM thinks that where we are would make for a good exciting fight, and he'd have to buff the Beastie in the Lake were we to level, then I'd say fight it now.

So, we just spent 8 hours reading, then 8 hours resting, then we get exploring for the 1st Stelae, fight its guardian, do some fun ritual, find a sword, fight the Beastie, do more rituals, cross over?

You already found the 1st Stelae.

Being the professional he is, Theo would like to keep pretending that we haven't; and look good finding it....again.

Alright well I guess I can run Upianshe's encounter again.

No, I'm good thanks.

She was tough!

Okay, should we go try the easier ritual on the first Stelae?

Dervak's spell prep for the biggest fight of his life:
As we approach the lake:

Shield, Longarm
See Invisibility
Tactical Adaptation (Aquatic Combatant)
Ride the Waves

If the water is murky he will cast Echolocation. A few more I might do depending on the situation.

Who is going to need Mara to cast Ride the Waves on them?

Theophilus would be grateful for Ride the Waves; but, he has his bling (Necklace of Adaptation).

Dervak would be really grateful for a second one, cast at CL12, if you can spare it (in addition to his own cast at CL13).
If he gets hit with a Dispel, having the same buff twice at different CLs is really helpful.

Tactical Adaptation he can make up with Barroom Brawler if it gets dispelled.

Freedom of Movement might help if anyone can spare it, since Dervak relies on a 2-handed weapon and cannot afford to be grappled. It's a fair bet that Xhamen-Dor has Grab... tentacles are a big thing with these Mythos guys. Dervak will try to not get hit at all, but that is probably an unrealistic goal.

Dervak did you acquire a madness while we were in the dream cycle?

I don't think so.

He woke up before Bokrug killed Rowan and Mara.

He was very nearly killed by the dragon on the moon, but not quite (went down to -10). In the second fight with the dragon, he used Fighting Defensively most of the time to specifically avoid the madness from getting killed in the Dreamlands. Now rid of the Dark Whisper and rather enjoying being in full control of his mind, Dervak actually fears madness more than death.

And he survived the fight against the nightmare doubles.

That's what I thought as well. Ok good to know

If you don't put your buffs in your tag line can you get me a list?

Sort of expecting a Greater Dispel Magic given how many buffs we have...
Dervak has:
See Invisibility
Shield
Longarm
Tactical Adaptation (Aquatic Combatant)
Ride the Waves
Ride the Waves again
Keen Edge
Heroism
Lucky Number
Feather Step
Barkskin
Freedom of Movement
Channel Vigor

Mara's Buffs:
Ant Haul
Barkskin
Heroism
Lucky Number
Remove Fear
Ride the Waves

Angelic Aspect
Death Ward
Ride the Waves
Freedom of Movement
Aid
Defending Bone
Communal Protection from Chaos
Shield of Faith
Protection from Evil
Extended Magic Vestment
Endure Elements
Barkskin
Heroism
Lucky Number
Remove Fear

Does Ci Ci need to be towed? Or can she hang on to someone's belt while they pull her forward?

Does Mara have any idea if the Unspeakable Presence can be countered/temporarily suppressed by Unbreakable Heart?

I'm assuming prot evil/chaos aren't helping either...