Dragon's Demand (Inactive)

Game Master R D

"This is a fairly powerful creature...we must take care how we deal with it," Ethendril whispers to the others.

I'm having a little bit of a hard time reading the detect evil chart. When looking at the "moderate" aura, is the number there the HD of the creature? If so, this creature could be well beyond our level 1 capabilities, no?

At it's weakest...a 2hd evil outsider? Or a 2nd level raven cleric of an evil deity...though that sounds kinda silly. A 3hd undead raven is probably the second most likely, but best guess would be a 2hd evil outsider.

Wayreth waits to see what kind of response Hotspur gets to her inquiry.

Yeah, I guess that makes sense...a 2-4 HD outsider

If nobody wants to sit down, nobody's going to get a response.

I'll try it.

"It's okay, Agnes. I'll try it. You are more valuable overall."
Hotspur sits in a chair.

The raven makes gleeful noises and waits for the rest of the party to sit.

Harlis implores to Agnes and Hotspur. "Stand, you believe the word of a creature of evil? It offers not proof of weal, only woe. Surrendering to evil is not the way forward let alone for a mere suggestion of 'treasure'. We can explore and investigate as there is no limit on our timing here."

Looking to Ethendril he looks for support. "We are here to root out evil, no to fall to it at the first words offered."

Ethendril nods at Harlis' words. "I, for one, will not yield to this vile beast. It returns no good reward. It knows only evil. No pretended 'reward' is worth it," the paladin agrees.

"As for its fate, I will not attack it unprovoked. Let us explore the rest of this place and leave it to its fate."

Wayreth looks at the two divided camps that his allies have separated into. He considers his options before casually stepping inside.

"Well, it looks like you've managed to divide our inclinations. Why don't you just tell those two your little secret? Me, I'm just gonna take a look around if it's all the same to you. If you guys reach a consensus, I'll go with that."

Leaving the religious warriors and heathens to work out their differences, Wayreth starts to make a general search of the room, looking for items of value or hidden caches of loot.

perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

Agnes and Hotspur (1d4 ⇒ 4) take 4 HP of damage from sitting in the chairs.

Harlis and Ethendril refuse to take seats.

Wayreth notices a secret door. (Map updated.)

The raven disappears, and you all can hear the sounds of wings beating as it flies from its perch.

Wayreth is up first.

As soon as the raven disappears, Wayreth begins to suspect that something unusual is going to happen. He quickly retreats from the room and turns the corner. If he is able to this turn, he will enter stealth.

stealth: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (18) + 13 = 31

I don't appear to be on the map. Could we get an enlarged combat map? My intention is to stealth just around the corner, and then next round, peek around the corner and try to sneak-attack-shoot.

You may use View -> Zoom for a better look at the map. Unless you have a way to see invisibility, you cannot target the raven.

- Move Action: Wayreth backs out of the room.
- Move Action: Wayreth stealths back into the hallway outside of the room.
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The raven flies directly above Agnes and strikes!

Attack: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24, Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 4

Ouch! Agnes takes another 4 HP of damage. (She is currently at 0 HP.) She feels poison in her wound.

1d20 ⇒ 17

Thankfully, she shakes it off. Whew!
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I remind you all that I offered a slew of knowledge checks in a previous post to know more about what's going on here.

Agnes is up!

Ethendril is on deck.

The raven is currently visible.

Seeing the blow strike heavily upon Agnes Harlis grimaces and calls out.

"Hold a moment Agnes, I'll call upon Iomedae and distract this foul servant of evil so you can retreat!"

Asking Agnes to delay until after Harlis so he can heal up her from her disabled state.

Knowledge-Planes: 1d20 ⇒ 6 Untrained.

With a sharp intake of breath as he realizes what type of foe is faced Harlis speaks further to the room.

"Stand alert this creature acts like one of the lower planes! A deceiver and trickster from the Hells themselves..."

The cleric of Iomedae recognizes that this evil thing exhibits many of the capabilities of an imp!

Now that the bird is visible, Hotspur will attempt to shoot it on her turn.

Single barrel touch attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18

Damage: 1d12 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Ethendril charges the wily creature, but the various torture implements in the room impede him from a successful attack.

"I knew this evil would give no good reward! You will pay for your treachery, foul demon-spawn!"
charge!: 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 5 + 2 = 102d6 + 6 ⇒ (6, 1) + 6 = 13

Harlis steps into the room slightly to bring all his companions into the area of his benedictions while calling upon the might and blessing of Iomedae to aid.

"Let the light of Iomedae's blessing grant all the Inheritor's strength of heart and will!"

Channel Glory: 1d3 ⇒ 1 worth of healing and grants +1 to AC and charge attacks for 1 round to all allies. This was done at range to not hit the raven.

Hotspur's attack seems to strike true. Unfortunately, it also doesn't seem to harm the Raven.

Ethendril charges forward and misses.

Harlis uses his "valor" variant channeling.

Agnes is up! (And she has 1 HP.)

Wayreth's action for round 2:

GM, could you move Ethendril up to where he charged to, and then move me to his previous location beside Harlis?

Wayreth creeps back up to the doorway and attempts a sneaky shot at the raven.

stealth: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (5) + 13 = 18
attack roll: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21 (Vs flat-footed if I was not spotted)
damage (crossbow + sneak attack): 1d8 + 1d6 ⇒ (8) + (4) = 12 Ignore the second dice if I was spotted.)

Wayreth creeps back up to the doorway and attempts a sneaky shot at the raven.

If you stop at the doorway, by my count you would be more than 30 feet away, and thus ineligible for the sneak attack damage.

Oops. Well, I'll creep as close as I need to be to try a sneak attack, feel free to place me anywhere 30ft from the raven. Though I think odds are it will spot me with that roll. Unless it rolls crap for perception too. XD

Stealth roll notwithstanding, you cannot hide in plain sight. Unless I missed something on your character sheet?

Even at maximum zoom I'm finding it hard to make out what's on the map as it's really tiny. =( Can I hide behind the golden thing in the South-East corner? If not, then I'll just shoot at it's flat-footed AC from the doorway and nevermind the sneak.

Nothing I can do about the map. That's the resolution I'm given in the artwork. No matter what method I use to cut-n-paste, it will be similarly pixelated when zoomed in. It's pixelated when I zoom in on the source PDF.

Wayreth sneaks about and shoots the raven. Though his shot strikes true, much of the damage doesn't seem to go through. It is clear that this creature has DR.

The party also notices that the wound seems to start to close. It is clear that this creature also has fast healing. (Though the healing won't take effect till the raven's turn.)

Agnes is up!

Though the map does get a little fuzzy as one zooms in because it is so big, I can see all the squares and everything. Works okay for me. Also, haven't seen a post from Agnes since last Friday...

I spoke with her IRL on Sunday. She's around, just very, very busy.

I find the map fine using the built in magnifying glass zoom, using the browser zoom doesn't work.

If we can suggest Agnes does a withdraw action for her turn back towards the ranged people.

Seeing the continuing infernal powers manifest Harlis grinds his teeth and prepares to advance into the fray after seeing to the well-being of the group. "Agnes, if you can withdraw to here I can see to your wounds." He calls to her.

"Ethendril, this creature seems to be protected against most of what we bring, you may need to call upon the full fury of Iomedae to banish it back to where it came!"

Currently planning on healing Agnes if she retreats into range, but there is a lot of actions before Harlis can act again.

Sorry folks! Busy weekend.

Agnes moves back, withdrawing, away from the chair.

Hearing that the paladin might be gearing up to smite, the raven flies up and back a little bit (towards the corner of the room at a 40 degree angle--essentially a 5-foot-step back), and then it goes invisible. (It has a +21 fly skill. It can do that. The creature's bonus already exceeds most fly skill check DCs.)

The party is up!

As it reaches Harlis' turn

Harlis moves forward to meet Agnes as she retreats from the torturer and its implements. As he reaches a halt he concentrates on a prayer to Iomedae chanting a ritual prayer calling down the Inheritors holy powers of healing.

Cure Light Wounds: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9
Converting memorized bless to a cure light wounds

Wayreth curses as he reloads his crossbow (move action) and bemoans the fact that they cannot locate their quarry just yet...

Then he looks at the door behind him, and at the enclosed room they are in...

And he closes the door.

XD

Ethendril readies an attack in case the imp reveals itself while listening carefully for its position.

perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

Greatsword Power Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23 for damage: 2d6 + 9 ⇒ (2, 5) + 9 = 16

Hotspur and Agnes are up!

Hotspur reloads and readies to shoot when the creature appears.

That was a nasty chair, and a mean raven. We should kill it.

She'll move forward in the direction the raven flew and ready an action to cast Flame Arc as soon as it reveals itself.

1d6 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6 Reflex DC 12 for half damage.

Fiendish ravens are probably fire-resistant though.

Hotspur and Agnes ready actions.

As it attacks, the raven appears adjacent to Hotspur's head, away from the paladin, and 5 feet up to gain higher ground. (If the gunslinger shoots, she will provoke.) The raven doesn't bother to dodge Agnes' spell. Turns out that he's immune to fire!

Sting: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 8 + 1 = 14, Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 3
Hotspur Fort Save vs Poison: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14

Though the gunslinger is hurt, she shrugs off the effect of the poison.

The party is up!

With a regrip on the hilt of his sword Harlis moves into the room as the raven reappears closer to the foe from the lower planes. Hoping he can reach the flying foe overhead he prepares a blow to foul the creatures defenses.

"Ethendril, it is picking us apart!" he calls out with some worry.

Moving to it, readying an action of aid another when Ethendril comes into melee range to give +2 to hit.
Aid Another: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6
Although he is apparently too short.

@GM: if the imp is 5' above me, can I drop prone to put myself out of aoo range?

"Ethendril, can you try to grapple it?"

I would grapple myself but with 3hp is has a good chance of dropping me with the aoo.

I don't think I can grapple it for the same reason I can't attack it with my sword...it's out of range.

"Fall back out the door! Let's not play its game on its own turf!" Ethendril urges the others.

The paladin draws and throws a javelin at the creature, and prepares to be the rear guard. I'll also take a move action toward the door if the others are leaving, but I'll be the last one out.

javelin: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 161d6 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

If we can get out and into the hallway, it seems like we could make it fight in the doorway where it wouldn't have the extra 5' above us option. Why don't we clear out on our turns?

Ethendril, you can hit it. It's in the square directly above Hotspur. If we take your readied action pre-roll (or even your roll just now), your paladin's smite will eviscerate the creature.

- Non Action: 5-foot-step
- Swift Action: Smite
- Standard Action: Smack-a-devil

The raven no longer looks like a raven. For a moment, it reverts back to its true form--that of an imp--and then it's just a pool of gore.

Combat over!

Oh, thanks! My bad on the positioning...I thought it was staying out of reach.

Ethendril sighs with relief as the creature is slain.

"I vile creature. One that only thinks of pain and suffering. I doubt he even had a reward should we all have sat, but it is worth searching this room, regardless."

The paladin looks carefully around the room.

take 20 perception: 20 + 6 = 26

My comment about out of reach was an in-game call upon Harlis' height and my bad rolling.

Harlis nods towards Ethendril. "I agree, bargining with such as these never ends well."

He moves over towards Hotspur seeing her injuries from both the torturous seating and the fiend that owned them. He again starts to chant a ritual prayer to Iomedae calling upon the light to bring succor to those who battle the creatures of the dark.

Cure Light Wounds: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4
Converting Comprehend Languages into Cure Light Wounds

With a tired sigh as the party continues to search he mentions. "That was the last direct prayer of healing available to me today, I only have my channeling available if we find further dangers in this place.

"Nicely done, Ethendril. Good to have a paladin around when fighting fiends from the lower planes. Now, let's see about that secret door I spotted earlier..."

Wayreth goes to the secret door and tries to search for traps and the opening mechanism.
perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

Hotspur thanks Harlis for the healing and then follows Wayreth to look at the secret door.

"Is everyone okay to continue onward?" Ethendril asks the others.

As they move toward the secret door, the paladin says "I wonder if that creature had anything to do with the collapse, or if it is just some minion of a greater threat."

The secret door leads to a long, narrow hallway that has a couple of left turns. Eventually, the floor drops away here as the corridor turns east, though a seven-inch-wide ledge continues along the south wall. The walls are very smooth, offering few handholds. The remainder of the passageway is filled with a five-foot-deep trough filled with foul-smelling, thick green sludge.

Hotspur hangs toward the back of the party as they explore.

Harlis follows close to Ethendril after recasting Light upon his blade to refresh its brightness. "We should continue to explore. I wonder if the imp was a minion of the mage that has gone missing from the town." he muses aloud as he follows along.

What would you like to do about the sludge?