GM 7thGate's Way of the Wicked (Inactive)

Game Master 7thGate

Was there an official ruling on when Death's Kiss ended? I'm hoping for the end of my next turn, as it seems pretty useless until level 4 if it is beginning of my next turn.

Had to look it up, but the rules are apparently that 1 round duration effects last until just before your initiative count on the following round, so you couldn't use Death's kiss without a second negative energy channeler until level 4.

I don't really like that, however, because it means that any self-buff spell with a 1 round duration is nearly useless. I am going to house rule it so that spells lose 1 round of duration at the end of the initiative count of the turn they are cast, which would let you use it to heal someone before level 4.

In your current state, however, you have more pressing problems. Due to the unfortunate roll on the potion, you're disabled, and if you use a standard action to Death's Kiss yourself, you'll start dying and won't be conscious to channel.

Aella will look down at Than. "Don't do that again."

Than, you're awake now if you want to say something or do anything non-strenuous. Everyone else is free to discuss possible ideas for what to do or continue to investigate your surroundings.

Elaine finishes donning the new clothes, and fastens the chain shirt over the top. Assuming she can do that now? She rejoins the others in the dining area, and sees that Than is awake, but still wounded. "I am going to search the kitchen for anything that could be useful for binding your wounds, Than. Then we need to sit down and figure out how we are going to get out of here. Dav, why don't you help me look, and we can dish out some of the stew while we're at it. I remember seeing a garden through a door, maybe there are some useful herbs you can find." Elaine walks into the kitchen, and searches it thoroughly from one end to the other.

Take 20 perception check. Looking especially for a first aid kit, or anything that would make a good bandage.

Elaine gets dressed in her new clothes, a marked improvement over the tattered prison rags she was wearing before, and finishes fastening her chain shirt properly.

Your chain shirt is at +4 to AC now that you have time to properly don it, bringing your total to 17. Dav, going to help out with the garden herb collecting, searching the kitchen, something else?

"I'm not very keen on the prospect of exposing myself to that crossbow out there. Was there a guard in the hallway with mail?"

Dav considers his options. "If you pass the spell components, I can give you all a little magical resistance."

Dav declines to go out and search the garden, so Elaine continues her search of the kitchen. As she passes by the door to search one of the nearby counters, she notices both that there is an extensive vegetable and herb garden outside, and that there is a guard with a longbow standing on the wall, watching this doorway.

Initiative: Elaine: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22
Initiative: Guard: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
Knowledge: Nature: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22

Elaine reacts before the startled guard can get his bow up to shoot at her. She also realizes, in a tiny corner of her mind that isn't preoccupied with the possibility of being imminently shot, that there is a very distinct Belladonna bush off to the side away from the rest of the plants.

Elaine, you're up, however you want to handle this. The guard is up on top of the 20 foot wall, and has his bow out and ready to shoot you through the open door.

"The case with the veil is in the barracks room, help yourself."

When she notices the guard in the garden, Elaine slams the door shut and locks it (if possible).

She shouts out to the others, "There is a longbowman on the garden wall! I expect he will be attempting to join us shortly...

Elaine slams the door shut. Moments later, there is a *thunk* sound of an arrow hitting the closed door. The door does not appear to have a lock, but it does open inward to the kitchen, and has a bracket where a bar could be inserted.

"Ugh, what happened? I feel terrible. I don't think I will be able to heal myself in this condition unfortunately."

"You got yourself knocked out, so we dragged your ass back here to recover. Found a potion in one of the guard's belongings to wake you up. Everyone is almost dead, but the guards were called off for now. They're taking care of the big guy, then going to come with reinforcements."

We seem to have kind of stalled out here. What are people waiting on, exactly? I'm mostly waiting to see if you guys come up with a plan, intend to search anywhere you haven't yet, or have anything else you want to do at this point.

I can't really do any action with out dying...so I'm kind of waiting for other people.

I have no clue what to do. One hit and I'm out.

I guess I'll take a look around the bunk room and see if I spot anything Elaine missed.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27

Aella searches the bunk room thoroughly. She doesn't find anything significant Elaine might have missed; just more bedding. While searching the bedding, however, she hears a faint argument drifting through the north wall. Mathias and Blackerly are yelling at each other in the courtyard.

"...your job!"

"You do your job, and stop telling me how to do mine! We've got both exits covered, they're not going anywhere. We wait until the next shift, and we can storm in with 20 men. I'm not risking anyone on trying to break in there with less than half the guards standing, and one of them wounded to boot. That b%&~@ has a mean right hook."

"They've got a cleric, Sergeant! They may be recovering from their defeat as we speak. If we strike now, we can take them before they have a chance to fortify or formulate any other sinister plans for escape. They could be laying traps while we sit here and wait."

"The cleric, that's the guy I took out, right? I got my sword in his guts good and proper. We've got five hours until the next shift is scheduled to arrive. Even if he survived, is that enough time to do whatever mumbo jumbo you casters need to recharge?"

"Unlikely, but possible. I won't be able to recover my spells before then, but clerics abide by different rules. He may be able to if we give him too long."

"I doubt he's even alive, Mathias. I'm not risking any of my men on such a remote possibility. Besides, even if he does recover, they're still pinned in a hole with nowhere to go. The archers will take them if they try and make a run for it, and whatever traps the might try and lay will be pointless with the whole second shift here to root them out of their hiding spot."

"I think you're running a dangerous game, Sergeant, but I won't try and force you. I am all but useless at this point, my whole set of spells was drained in the fight. I'm going to see if I can get some rest. Send a man for me when the second shift comes and you are prepared for the assault."

I realized while writing this, we never nailed down when Than recovers his spells (its one of those subtle rules that is really easy to miss). Unlike arcane casters, who need to rest for 8 hours (then for wizards, study to get their spells back), clerics choose a time of day they have to pray for an hour to get their spells. They get to recharge their spells if they pray for them during that time regardless of if they're rested, but can't recharge their spells at arbitrary times of day like wizards can.

If Than's chosen time is in the next 5 hours, he could potentially recharge his spells. I've been describing the time as around sunset, so I'm going to call it 6:15, and the sun is just about down. I feel like the most thematic times for praying to the god of undeath would probably be sunset (when the day 'dies'), or midnight (the darkest hour, so to speak), but I'll let you choose.

Dav paces around the room, thinking deeply about the prisoners' situation.

"There are archers all around us, right? I know there was one on the other side of that courtyard in the tower. And there's another in the kitchen, Elaine?"

"The problem is: it needs to fit through the door, while still protecting us. If the tables are too big, I will need to find a wedge or something to split them."

Dav turns to Than. "Do you have the spell components? I think I can give at least one of us a minute or two of better resistance." '+1 to saves'. Hey Geoff, can I cast 0-level spells at will? or only once/day?

An idea occurs to Dav while he is pondering the cantrips that he knows. "Hey Elaine, are there some metal bowls handy? I might be able to make a bright light if they can be polished. Maybe enough to dazzle the archers if we're very lucky."

Another thought occurs to Dav. "How many sets of chainmail do we have? I think we will need all the protection we can get."

You can cast 0 level spells at will. There are metal bowls in the kitchen; the guard bodies with more chain shirts, however, are still dead upstairs and on the stairs, since you didn't have time to grab more bodies during the retreat.

Elaine stuffs a sturdy wooden spoon from the counter into the bracket of the door. She continues to search the kitchen for anything that might prove useful as a weapon or for fixing up Than. She notices some metal bowls when Dav shouts to her. "There are some metal bowls in here, yes. The door to the garden could use more fortification, if you are able to move one of these tables against it, Dav."

Take 20 perception check, again. Stupid longbowman. :P

Elaine moves through the room, carefully examining each part of the kitchen. She finds a large number of kitchen utensils. There is a knife block in a corner with 3 large cutting knives. Two more cutting knives and a large meat cleaver have been left on the counter alongside piles of chopped vegetables and sliced meat. There is a lot of food here; cured meats, baskets of vegetables, and a case of iron rations tucked underneath one of the tables. There are two dozen simple wooden plates, two dozen wooden bowls, and two dozen sets of simple wooden forks and spoons, and half a dozen burlap sacks, one full of onions, the rest empty.

The fireplace is enormous. There is a stack of firewood next to the fireplace. A moderately large file has been built under the large cauldron, currently still mostly full of stew, keeping it bubbling and hot. Despite the fire, the chimney is so large that Elaine is able to skirt its edges to look up. Looking up the chimney, Elaine sees the chimney about 20 feet up, narrowing slightly before the smoke curls out into the evening sky. About 10 feet up the chimney there appears to be an indentation. Another fireplace is connected to this chimney on the floor above.

There are 40 days of meals for a person of fresh or preserved meat and vegetables here, along with 10 days of iron rations. The meat cleaver acts as a short sword, and the knives act as daggers.

Dav mentioning spell components stirs Than's thinking. "Elaine, did you happen to see where the sun was when you went outside? I don't know how long I was out for, but if we are lucky, Urgathoa should hopefully be able to give us some aid in the next couple of hours."

Elaine pokes her head out of the kitchen to reply to Than. "The sun has just set, it's not fully dark yet. There is an absurd amount of food here, we should likely take this chance to eat a good meal. There are also a number of serviceable knives, and iron rations we could take with us."

Dav hears Elaine's request for stouter fortifications. "I can lug a bench over there, or if you help me, we might manage an entire table. Once we're done with that-" Dav is interrupted by a sonorous rumble from his own stomach.

"And once we're done with that, I'll polish a bowl for maximum dazzle. With luck, the sun will set and the guards will have night-vision to be blinded. Which reminds me of a tale I was once told..."

Dav repeats the old wives' tale that pirates actually wore eyepatches to preserve one dark-adapted eye for boarding actions below-deck.

"Well we might have a little bit of luck on our side at least then." Than then looks over at Aella. "Can you make sure I am not bothered for an hour?

Than will then go off to a more secluded section of the kitchen and start praying to Urgathoa.

Elaine helps Dav push a table against the garden door. She then beckons him over to the fireplace. "Before you eat, look up there." She points up into the chimney. "Do you see how it indents? This is a joint chimney, it connects to another fireplace in another room. If we can get up there, maybe we can get out."

Elaine then helps herself to a bowl of stew, walking out to sit at one of the tables in the dining room to eat.

So, good news; I was looking at Than's character sheet, and I think we missed your bonus spell from your wisdom. You should have had 1 domain spell (Cause Fear), 1 spell, then 1 bonus spell from having at least a 12 wisdom. If you want, we can assume that was another cure light wounds that you can cast before you pray for more spells.

Aella will nod to her brother. "We should have plenty of time. I overheard Blackerly yelling about storming in here with twenty guards once the shift changes, but that's not for another 5 hours."

Oh wow...I'm not sure how I ended up missing that, but I will happily take advantage of that.

"Before I go pray, I might as well heal us up as best as I can." Than holds his hands together and healing magic starts flowing over him.

Cure Light Wounds: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

Do I still take 1 damage from using an action at 0 life?

Than heals himself, feeling much better as his internal bleeding stops and his flesh knits back together. He goes off in a corner to meditate and pray for magical aid, while Aella, Dav and Elaine eat and prepare for their next move. The swelling on Aella and Dav's faces from the clubbing they received starts to subside, leaving behind a mottled pattern of bruises and sore flesh.

Something bangs against the door to the hallway about half an hour into Than's prayers, as someone tests the door. Finding it blocked, they leave it alone. A few minutes later, the door leading from the kitchen is also tested, but again, no serious effort is made to break down the door once it is found to be blocked.

Than finishes his meditations an hour after he begins, as Urgathoa answers his pleas for power and restores his spells.

Hm. Yes, it looks like you do still take the 1 hp for performing a standard action; Elaine should have as well when she drank the potion earlier. That puts everyone at:

Aella: 2/11 HP (3 nonlethal)
Than: 5/10 HP
Elaine: 3/10 HP
Dav: 4/10 HP (3 nonlethal)

Also, note that nonlethal damage heals at a rate of 1 damage per character level per hour, so Aella and Dav both heal a point naturally while Than gets his spells back.

If you all want to keep the fire going on the fireplace, it will need to be fed or it will have burned down to coals by the end of the hour. Let me know if anyone wants to keep it going; there is firewood, so you just have to stick some on the flames.

Having nothing better to do, Aella will tend the fire.

Uhh, I still had 3 more channels + Death's Kiss I wanted to use before I rested. Can I still use those before I pray?

Yes, you can go ahead with that Than.

Who did you want to heal, Than?

Some healing rolls for Than's channels. Feel free to split them up as desired, and remember that magical healing also cures an equal amount of non-lethal damage:

1d6 ⇒ 5
1d6 ⇒ 6
1d6 ⇒ 5