Dragonlance: Heroes of a New Age

Game Master Shalafi2412

I'm dumb. That post from GM ninja'd mine. Even though it was 10 mins or so before mine was open while I was going through work emails and stuff and working on the post. So I didn't see his. I see now where your coming from sorry :)

LOL, no worries. I do that sometimes as well. I had to delete a post a week ago by Alathea that was so late it just made no sense! :-)

Gabriel, The Leviathan has more reach than your Lance. It has a reach of 4 squares due to its massive size. Also its target is the ship itself not Gabriel directly so he can't efficiently brace against it. It basically used its Ram Special attack on the ship itself not Gabriel directly. Still that's one hell of an attack by Gabriel. The Leviathan is both evil and undead so it would be very vulnerable to that kind of attack. Now I don't mean to not give Gabriel his time to shine but much like Dragons of Autumn and the Draconians at Xak the encounter is stacked so that you're not meant to beat it. This is a scripted encounter (With some adjustments due to the nature of Terivalis's relationship with Nuitari)

The heroes are stripped of their gear by the invaders. In addition, both Della and Swift are robbed of the few magical items they have and are added to the pile. Veylora takes an account of the items and gives special look at the Dragonlance her eyes widening and says to the party "My my, the craftsmanship of this is exquisite for a surface craft. You certainly have claimed an unusual trove of treasures for a group of defilers. Best I make sure they're well taken care of."

She gives orders to the Dargonesti to wrap up the equipment and then takes out a waterproof bag of holding and has all the gear stuffed inside.

The Leviathan then moves up to the ship and then opens its mouth. Inside the gaping maw of the creature you see is dead black flesh and shadow. Lankaos then points his trident at the whale and says in common "Step into the mouth prisoners. You have my assurances that no harm shall come within and you shall be able to breathe air within. This shall be the means you will be brought to our village as prisoners."

Captain Swift says to the party, "Sir Gabriel, Lady Alathea, Lady Athola, Jor Majere. Know that I never wished any of this upon you. Know I would have gladly fought by your side against these interlopers to save my ship and crew. I owe you a great debt for doing this and know if you ever escape you can call on me anytime if you ever need a trip on the sea. May the Gods see to your liberation."

He gives a respectful bow to the party in thanks,

Veylora scoffs at the Captain's words and says "Their liberation is at the whim of Zura human. Don't give them false hope and try my patience further. Just be fortunate that you will get out of here alive with only the sacrifice of a few magical items. Few are granted such mercy from Zura for even associating with defilers. You had best hope we do not cross paths in the future or you will meet the fate you narrowly dodged today."

She then incants some magical words and the storm starts to abate from the sky as the magic is undone. She then points to the open mouth of the Leviathan, "As for the rest of you, get into the mouth of the beast."

Alathea steps into the mouth with a prayer to Zivilyn on her lips to watch over she and her companions. Indeed, the sea witch oversteps her bounds with this action...

Athola walks behind Alathea into the mouth of the dead whale, all the time wondering what is going to happen next at the village.

In the meantime, back at the Tower of the Blood Sea, you are lead through the halls and corridors who few have seen in hundreds of years. While much has been repaired, there are still cracks and chunks here and there that have yet to be mended including a few unsealed holes. It does appear there is some magical barrier around this tower acting as both an air bubble to breathe as well as keeping the waters of the Blood Sea from re-flooding the structure. Eventually the group arrives in a massive chamber which you suspect is the Hall of Audience that was spoken about. Indeed on a massive throne crafted of solid obsidian and encrusted with numerous gemstones is none other than Nuitari in his human guise sitting in his chair like royalty at the head of the chamber. There is another Wizard in here however it seems. A black robed individual also is there seemingly conversing with Nuitari but turns a look to you as you arrive.

Nuitari looks much like he did before, a pale human in a black robe with a black beard although most of his features are obscured in shadow and he carries his obsidian staff that seems to either emanate darkness or absorb the light around it to be in perpetual shadow. As for the other wizard, he a tall individual, muscular but also with a rather light build and has angular features relating to that of an elf although somewhat less pronounced, probably a half-breed or someone with elvish heritage in his ancestry. His skin is light brown, his hair pitch black and his eyes a dark brown. He gives a curious look to Terevalis and the Kobold with him but says nothing, letting Nuitari take the lead. Basalt Darkeye gives a respectful bow and says to Nutari. "I have brought our guests as requested great Ungod."

Nuitari's voice echos deeply through the chamber as he addresses you, "Terevalis Unctio of House Mystic and Master Yap High Wizard of Kobolds. Allow me to personally welcome you to the Tower of the Blood Sea. You are among the privileged to know about this place and while I would have preferred to reveal this secret to you later... events in the world have become more shall we say... complicated. You have already met Basalt Darkeye, black robe of the Theiwar and one of the few of his race to ever serve me directly and most of all loyally. The other wizard among us is High Wizard Caele, another favored of the Black Robes that has earned my favor through uncommon loyalty and thus given the privilege be one of the caretakers of this tower and hopefully its master once the preparations are complete. You should honor both these wizards before you for they resisted the temptation of the foul wild sorcery and in the time of my...distraction held true to the precepts of the Orders of High Sorcery suffering the loss of their magic yet enduring and surviving in this Age of Mortals. They will serve me, just as the both of you will do so as well."

His turns a cold gaze to master Yap, "Master Yap, Step Forward!"

Master Yap shutters and grovels before Nuitari and spits out. "Yes oh Great Nuitari, God of the Black Moon."

Nuitari says, "I have shown you great clemency giving you the honor of being the High Wizard of the Kobolds. It seems though your trip to the Mire has slowed your progress on the mission I have assigned and made it more difficult to fulfill the role you are to play."

Master Yap grovels, "I...I am sorry Great Nuitari, I got stuck in the Mire, it was not my fault I swear!"

Nuitari's voice raises with a tinge of anger "SILENCE! I know full well what has delayed you. If it was anything of your own fault, I would see you suffer! Still as you have associated with the Heroes of Destiny there will need to be a change of plans if you are to infiltrate the ranks of the Betrayer as I have ordered you to do. If he knows of your affiliation with the heroes then he might just slay you where your stand. We will have to engineer a Betrayal of our own to buy your way into whatever graces that Liche possesses."

He reaches into his robes and pulls out a large iron nail and tosses it at Yap as it lands on the ground next to the Kobold's feet.

Nuitari then says, "When the party of adventurers arrives at the battlefield near the ruins of Qwes, stab this nail into the ground and it will animate a field of skeletons. It should pose little threat to them but will be a good enough ruse to make the Liche believe you've allied with him. Join the side of the Betrayer as planned and gather what intelligence you can on his operations from within."

Yap picks up the nail and quickly, nods a lot in agreement. "Yes yes Lord Nuitari, it shall be done. I shall do everything you say." He pockets the nail and grovels.

Nuitari looks back to Terevalis, "I can trust you will play along with this deception as well Terevalis? Do not seek vengeance for such acts done by Master Yap for they are done under my orders. As you have overheard, Master Yap's current task is to gather information on the activities of Chemosh and his minions and this can best be done by putting one of our own into his ranks."

Jor seeing the might of the beast and soon appearance of strange elves, shrugs his shoulders as he looks at the others. "Well, this is just getting more and more interesting... in its own chaotic way. Bless you all for this golden adventure" speaking sarcastically at the end to himself, Jor scrutinize the opponent before giving his own stuff away.

Cold goosepumps and look of annoyance passing as he takes a look again at elves and then at the big beast "into mouth... of that? I have seen a lot of scrub holes but this... pure madness" and starts to curse to himself for ever admitting to come this kind of adventure "should have charged gold for this"

The elf nods at hearing Nuitari's request. What else would you have me to do, My Lord?

Nuritari now turns his attention to Terevalis and says once again with an authoritative voice, "Yes, it is time to deal with the complication that has recently developed. Your actions at the Mire have caught the attention of my sister Zeboim and it is attention you do not want to have, especially when sailing in domain where she is strongest. She was also rather angered that her efforts to secure the child born as a result of a pact is now impossible. This brought her eye and attention upon your party and now she has joined the great game exerting her own influence on current affairs. Zeobim has called on the power of the Leviathan named Malmanas and three of her powerful agents, the Mahkwahb Witch Veylora, The Aboleth Oxpachta and her favored Yrasda Cleric Makwur-Sal. Fortunately for them, Zeboim can't risk killing your colleagues outright lest she face censure from the other Gods. Zeobim will like hold them ransom until such a time she can barter some powerful favors for their safe release from the other Gods. There is also a concern of the various artifacts that have been claimed. More than likely her agents will seek to subvert their power to their own ends. Hence why I have intervened as you bear the Staff of Magnus and never would I allow my sister steal what belongs to the Orders of High Sorcery. Thus I called both of you here before Zeboim's agents would claim you and all you possess. Fortunately, as far as Zeboim and her agents know, you merely used your own arcane powers thus my hand in this still remains hidden."

Nuitari lets this sink in and says, "While normally I would not get involved, if I leave things as they are my efforts to undermine the plans of Chemosh will become far more difficult. In addition, my sister Zeboim would likely become more powerful and I would rather keep the status que among the Gods rather than see either one of them become ascendant. Thus I will provide you assistance in facilitating a rescue of your captured colleagues and most of all relics that have been claimed. My aid will be indirect however as to not tip my influence. You will be provided the resources you need to accomplish this mission as well as use of the Chamber of Eyes which will allow you to find where your colleagues are held and provide you with enough knowledge to teleport you to that location through the proper spell. More than likely they will be held in a place at least partially underwater thus I would suggest requisitioning spells that would allow survival in such environments. And if Zeboim's agents meet their end as a result of the prison break, well heroes do what they do I suppose." He gives a sly grin on his face to that one.

My Lord, not to offer an excuse but I did attempt to convince the human woman to return what was promised to your sister, the Dragon Turtle, to her. The knight and the Zivilynite however attempted to take the place of the child and then Chislev and accursed Kiri Jolith interfered. Surely the Sea Queen is aware of my actions.

Yet My Lord, your part in this is genius. The knight and others will know that they owe their freedom to those of the Black Robes and the power of the Black Moon. Yes, this is brilliant! However, it would be imprudent for us to talk about this location. Your gifts, from saving us to helping us to release the others Re indeed appreciated, welcomed and thanked for, Nuitari, God of the Black Moon. Though a question for you if I should be so bold to impose upon your munifiscience? As a member of the Conclave would it not be among my duties, at the next Conclave to report that you have raised this Tower?

Nuitari says in response to Terevalis, "No excuse is needed Terevalis. Whatever the case may be, my sister did not get what she wanted and she has found someone convenient to send her ire. Odds are this is but an excuse she is using to Justify her actions against you. Even if the child was given to my sister, there is no guarantee that she wouldn't still covet the relics your party carries with them. In any case, this is an issue that needs to be dealt."

Nuitari to the request of Terevalis says, "For now the other orders are ignorant on the existence of this tower and until preparations are ready I wish to keep it that way. Of course, Lunitari and Solinari know about this tower but we have made a tentative agreement that the Tower of the Blood Sea will belong to the Order of the Black Robes. Of course, there is a chance that the wizards of the other robes might object to one order claiming rulership of an entire tower of High Sorcery, hence the need for secrecy till such a time we can establish roots here and strengthen the claim of the Tower to such a degree that none would dare oppose our claim. Master Yap, High Wizard Cale and Basalt are currently operating off the books so to speak although eventually they will have a place in the new order once their current tasks are fulfilled. I do find it ironic that the tower that once stood within the most righteous city of Ishtar will eventually become the seat of power for the Order of the Black Robes. A further insult to the Kingpriest of old I suppose."

He gives a slight chuckle at that one and then continues, "Once the Tower of the Blood sea is fully functional members of the other orders will eventually be given leeway to make use of its resources, so long as they understand that it the Order of the Black Robes rule here. This tower will be our seat of power in this new age and from here we shall work to further our goals. Here is my command Masters Terevalis and Yap, tell no one beyond those who are present in this tower of what you have learned here until such a time to release you from this obligation. Swear that you will in the name of the Black Moon lest you face my displeasure and punishment."

You feel power behind Nuitari's words you sense that agreeing to this will bind you to a Geas. It appears Nuitari is rather adamant to keep the truth of this tower secret.

Yap yells out, "Yes! I swear in the name of the Black Moon Nuitari that I will not reveal the secrets of the Tower of the Blood Sea!"

No worries, I kind of guess it was scripted. Just wanted to make a point they may not have the upper hand. I never thought about reach I just though about a giant whale slamming its head against the hull and Gabriel standing there to greet it :)

Gabriel offers a nod to the captain.

"Your words are kind. May Kiri-Jolith watch over you as he does me. Now don't make more of a fuss over us. We can handle ourselves."

He says as he steps into the maw of the great beast.

"Farewell Captain Swift."

Then in elven he speaks.

"Come you keep Zura waiting. Is she not eager to collect her prize?"

Ah yes to cover one more thing. The amulet from the Oracles actually vanishes from Gabriel's neck before he can remove it himself. It appears the Oracles didn't want to lose the amulet it seems. He feels some weight lifted in the process as though the burden of the amulet is lifted Just one thing the game does not address. This event usually happens before the 30 days pass thus almost guaranteeing it will violate the terms. Hence I'ed say the Oracles would just summon the amulet back to them early for reasons you've not yet discovered as you didn't delve too deeply into what the amulet actually is.

Back at the ship, our heroes all step into the foul mouth of these massive monster. While you can breathe the air is rancid within. You see the massive mouth close and you find yourselves in pitch darkness. Soon afterwards you all feel dizzy and lose consciousness.

Usually you'ed get a fortitude save but you'ed have to make it every round and its a pretty high DC, you'ed eventually fail.

An unknown amount of time passes before you all wake up. You find yourselves in individual cells which appear to be made of hardened coral with a barred door made of hardened bone and with no field of vision to see what's in other cells. You all find yourselves dressed in rags and and having any remaining equipment removed. Yes this does include both Alathea's and Gabriels medallion of faith. In addition both Gabriel and Alathea see that there is a symbol of something painted on their chests in black ink that has dried and stuck to your skin which appears to be the symbol of Zeobim. The effect of this is that A. You can't cast divine spells beyond the 3rd level without a medallion and B. The ink on your chest prevents you from using divine magic at all until it is removed. It appears that they took precautions to make sure you couldn't magic your way out of your cells.

As for your accommodations, they are quite spartan. There is a small hole to do your business and cloth cot on the floor with an old looking blanket. You hear some weird croaking language outside your cells. Taking a look you see a group four, for lack of a better word "Fish Men" with tridents although one has a large pole-arm that has a crab-claw like head at the end of it. Knowledge Nature will give you more on these strange creatures. What do you do?

You are in an Air Filled chamber by the way.

I so swear my Lord, by yourself and the Moon which gives us Power.

Athola not amused at all her gear being removed, looks about her cell for anything that could be used as make shift lock picks.

Perception: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (12) + 14 = 26

Alright, no reason to hesitate. So Gabriel has his smites since the above didn't happen with the whale but he still used a LoH after to heal some of the damage. I guess the question would be is it a new day? Does he have all his LoH back? I only ask for tracking purposes for what is about to happen.

Gabriel backs up against the wall.

"Only four guards. These fools know not of the power of Kiri-Jolith."

He looks to the others and smiles.

"EST SULARUS OTH MITHAS"

He charges forward and kicks the door at the latch point. Calling on the aid of his order and Kiri-Jolith.
Spending Hero Point for +8 luck bonus to roll

Break Door: 1d20 + 7 + 2 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 7 + 2 + 8 = 31 So that breaks steel door so I assume it does the coral as well.

He then looks to the guards eyeing their tridents.

I will need to take one away

After the exchange with the Lord of the Black Moon, his wizard will inquire of the Theiwar where the Chamber of Seeing is that he might use it per the orders of Nuitari.

Nutari did mention that High Wizard Caele is the currently favored to become the Master of the Tower in a previous post.

Nuitari says, "Good... now it is time for preparations. This I will delegate to one of the keepers as my time here is brief for there is other affairs that gather my attention. Master Yap will accompany you as well until such a time his role is ready to be fulfilled."

Nuitari looks to Caele and says, "High Wizard Caele, provide Masters Televalis and Yap access to scrolls and items they will need as well as a place to study their spells. Give them a day to prepare their spells and then take them to the Chamber of Eyes and assist them in finding where their colleagues are being held. Make sure they are provided with a teleportation scroll so they can arrive quickly at their destination."

Caele gives a bow and says, "By your command Lord Nuitari"

Nuitari looks back to Basalt, "High Wizard Basalt, proceed with further reparations and preparations of the tower. Your task with our guests is done for now."

Basalt gives a respectful bow and says, "Aye, this place still needs the eye of a good dwarven craftsman to getter this place into shape. I appreciate ya coming to see us Ungod and I be glad to continue me work on da tower."

Nuitari gives a slight nod in agreement and then says Terevalis, "You role in the game is yet to be fulfilled Terevalis. Know that I will be watching."

With that he taps his staff and his body transforms into shadow, flies up into the ceiling and disappears. You suspect he's gone back to his place in the heavens.

Basalt looks to Caele, "I recon you got these two handled on yer own. I'll get to da task the Ungod wants."

He then looks to Terevalis and Yap, "Grand to meet both of ya and looking forward to working with ye once this bloody tower is up and running."

With that he heads out of the room, leaving Terevalis and Yap with Caele.

Caele looks at Terevalis sizing him up looking intrigued and then speaks in elvish, although not of the purity of a full blooded Silvanesti, "Interesting to see yet another elf whose turned to the Black Moon. I know Dalamar and have worked under him in the past. It is rather puzzling why the exalted position as Master of the Black would be given to him. In terms of power Dalamar's skill cannot be questioned. The problem is his loyalty, considering his various betrayals of the ideals of the Orders of High Sorcery, not mentioning him being one of the first Sorcerers of the Age of Mortals. I heard that you have been elected the head of the Renegade Hunters. Rather a large role to fill in this time when renegade behavior is so heavily embraced. I presume that since you gained such prestige you also avoided the deception of Sorcery during the past age, am I correct?"

Meanwhile back at the prison who knows where....

Athola sees that she probably could break off a piece of the coral from the wall sand it down and probably make a makeshift lockpick, although it will be an inferior tool (-2 on the check)

It is also inferior to just busting out. DId you miss my post?

Alathea looks for anything in the chamber that can allow her to begin scraping the ink off of her chest. Painful as it may be, she still has her Channels to aid her in healing any damage the scraping may cause...

Athola wraps the blanket around her one fist and checks what the guards are up to, that is, they are not looking in her direction before hitting the coral wall at an angle to break off a piece of coral. Once done, she begin working it on the floor and rugged walls to shape it.

While the guards are not looking in her direction she works on picking the lock.

Disable device: 1d20 + 24 - 2 ⇒ (15) + 24 - 2 = 37

Looks like I missed the post of Gabriel just kicking in the door. However yes it is a day later because it took a day to get to where you are and I want Terevalis to show up soon as well. As for the ink, it doesn't just scrape off, it really stuck to your skin. You're going to have to use some real good cleaning supplies to get it off. It takes more than just using a dry rag to remove unless you're willing to cut the skin off your body.

Looks like I missed the post of Gabriel just kicking in the door. However yes it is a day later because it took a day to get to where you are and I want Terevalis to show up soon as well. As for the ink, it doesn't just scrape off, it really stuck to your skin. You're going to have to use some real good cleaning supplies to get it off. It takes more than just using a dry rag to remove unless you're willing to cut the skin off your body.

Oh she is more than willing to cut it off, anything that looks like it can scrape she will grab that.

Master Cael, I do believe that sorcery is anathema to the Wizards of High Sorcery. We should have nothing to do with it and those who do not undergo epiphanies should be destroyed. I would never have anything to do with that primal magic, for me the magic is the life and I live only for the Art as expressed and understood by the Order of the Black Robes. Your hospitality is indeed most welcome.

We will go the Chamber of Seeing in order to scry.

Caele nods approvingly to Terevalis's response and says, "Then Nuitari has made a good choice for his agent, someone who will put the Order first and avoid compromise. Allow me to take you to the Chamber of Eyes, the greatest amplifier of Divination ever crafted by the Orders of High Sorcery. With the new addition to the chamber much greater power can be drawn upon, even more so than ages past. Please follow me."

You're lead through the tower seeing more sights as he leads you to the twenty sixth floor. You are lead into a room that is fifty feet across with a domed cealing decorated with the night sky, with literal diamonds representing the stars. The star patterns are in the positions when the tower was raised. In the center of the room is a large Dragonmetal bowl that appears to look like a dragon coiled up with its tail forming the bowl.

Caele says, "Once an enchanted silver bowl was used as a focus for the divination of this chamber. Now this chamber has been enhanced with Nuitari's own magical artifact, the God's Eye. Rumor has it that Nuitari himself used this very relic to help locate Krynn across the planes when it was stolen by Takhisis. This chamber can be used to see throughout Krynn but with the right ingredients also other planes and worlds as well. Of course that feature is not required for this purpose and the normal chamber should easily be able to locate those you seek."

The Black Robe approaches the bowl with awe and wonder, never being this close to such a powerful device for divination. He allows his mind to clear and focuses on the cleric.

Using the powerful divination chamber you see a birds eye view of the blood sea and some surrounding lands which zooms in to the sea and into the depths of the sea where you see the Leviathan swimming through the ocean with a number of Dargonesti swimming nearby. The vision zooms in to the Leviathan inside the belly of the beast where you see your companion alive but lying unconscious in the mouth of the monster. Of course the problem is you can't exactly teleport inside a creature so you'll have to wait until they are removed from the monster before you could successfully teleport to them. As for their direction they seem to be heading in the direction of Kern although it just might just be the direction where their settlement exists.

Yap peeks over into the pool and says, "Yikes! That's the biggest monster I've ever seen! Hope we don't have to fight something like that."

Looking at the kobold in annoyance the Black Robe continues focusing on the cleric.

Terevalis watches for a while without any new developments and decides to check back periodically to see when they have arrived. To speed things along, Caele gives Terevalis a scrolls of Life Bubble, Ride the Waves, Water Breathing and Air Bubble as well as a type 1 bag of holding with waterproofing to prevent his gear from getting wet. As for Yap, he likewise is given the same items so he himself can also protect himself from the aquatic environments. You're given proper time to scribe these spells and quarters to rest in to recover your spells per day.

The next day Terevalis arrives back in the chamber and make use of the pool. Terevalis now sees the Cleric unconscious in a cell of some kind dressed in rags with a black symbol of Zeboim painted on her chest. It appears the cell she is in is not underwater thus it is possible to teleport there with little chance of a mishap due to the power of this chamber providing a good deal of information for a teleportation. The question is, do you take Yap with you or leave him behind?

In the meantime can he learn the sigil to telephoto to the Tower of the Blood Sea? Also what is the position of the Moons?

Yes you can get those from Caele or Basalt. As for the moons, its at a stage where it is a neutral phase so no bonuses or penalties to casting.

Will the Black Robes there be able to cast teleportation for us? Transmutation is one of his prohibited schools. I am working on my spell list now.

If you ask a scroll will be provided for you. They won't come with you and teleport only works for yourself and those touching you.

Spells
5th level (22): Dominate Person, Stirge Swarm,Cone of Cold Suffocate
4th level (21), Dalamar's Lighetning Lance, Bone Shatter, Lesser Globe of Invernability, Ride the Waves
3rd level: Fireball (20), Vampiric Touch, Lightening Bolt (20, Dispel Magic x2, Water Breathing
2nd— (19)Mirror Image, Schorching Ray x2, Spectral Hand, Elemental Dart, False Life, Summon Monster II
1st— (18)burning hands (DC 18), chill touch (DC 16), Shocking Grasp, Charm Person (17),
Magic Missile, Protection From Evil, snowball (DC 17)
0 (at will)— acid splash , detect magic , disrupt undead , read magic

I think I am ready.

He will ask for a Scroll of Teleport, use a charge from his wand of mage armor, cast false life 1d10 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14.

Casting the spell from the scroll he focuses on the cleric and materializes with Master Yap Who I hope has memorized some of these spells as well outside of the prison door.

58/58 hp

Before you teleport, Yap likewise makes some preparations, casting his own Mage Armor and False life getting 1d10 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10 extra temp HP. He also pulls out a new wand he acquired, a wand that appears to have the skull of a small rat-like creature embedded into the head. "Yep yep! Ready to go now!" and he goes with Terevalis as they teleport.

Ok lets time this to be dramatic. Terevalis and Yap appear outside the cell catching the Fish-Men guards completely by surprise. A split second later there is a loud CRASH as Gabriel bashes himself aginst the cell door and barely manages to exceed the break DC (which was 28 due to certain enchantments that make the bars as hard as steel). The door flies off its hinges, falling to the ground.

Before any can react, Yap who has a new wand he requested at the tower during his stay points it at one of the fish men and yells with gusto, "DIE FISHY!" and waves, utters a magic word and the wand shoots a blast of shadow energy at one of the guards.

Wand Attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

The attack is not very accurate but as the Fish Man is caught off guard he is a sitting duck and it strikes him in the nether regions. This attack does.

4d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 5, 4) = 18 Negative Energy Damage, causing the fish man's flesh to wither and peel away as it collapses to the ground, its life energies expended.

Terevalis recognizes the spell as Gloombind Bolt, an offensive necromancy spell.

Terevalis can take a surprise action and then we'll run a Theatre of the Mind combat as I don't really want to draw a map for this skirmish.

What kind of check do I need in order to know what the Fishman is?

How many more of the Fish people are there?

That would be a Knowledge: Nature as they are Monstrous Humanoids thus fall into that category of definition.

Know nature 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (13) + 11 = 24

The Kuo-Toa are a debased fish-like race that have human like bodies and fish like heads. They are aquatic and thus can survive in water and on land. They are half-mad religious zealots descendants of a once-great race that was pushed deep under the ocean and underground in ages past. Here, they worship dark gods (Most commonly Zeobim) dreaming of the day when they will take the surface. They are resistant to electricity, immune to poison and paralysis and rather slippery. In addition then tend to glue their shields to trap people's weapons. One of them appears to be some kind of Cleric, a type you know as a Monitor (The one wielding the Pincer Staff).

How many more are there after Yap killed one?

There is two normal Kuo-Toa Guards left and one Monitor who seems to be the head guard in the room.

Athola will wait until the guards are distracted before opening the cell door.

When the chaos begins with the arrival of the black wizards and Gabriel breaking out, she head to another cell to free another of the party. Closest cell.

Disable device: 1d20 + 24 - 2 ⇒ (4) + 24 - 2 = 26

That's enough to pick the lock. It takes 1d4 ⇒ 3 rounds to do so though.

Remember the earlier picking of her own cell door, but did not open the door.

Not wanting to use magic on these ruffians the Black Robe attacks the cleric with the Staff of Magius

1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

1d6 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

Which causes the Schorching Ray stored on the Staff to expend 3d6 ⇒ (6, 3, 2) = 11

How is my scraping coming along?

The Scorching Ray strikes the Monitor and burns the creature badly although he seems more resilient than the average Fish-Man.

So lets roll for initiative.

Master Yap: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22
Kuo-Toa Guard 1: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20
Kuo-Toa Guard 2: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 1 = 17
Kuo-Toa Monitor: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16