GM Brunoreturns' Shattered Star (Inactive)

Game Master brunoreturns

Squint nods to Barkot. ”Let’s go,” he nods.

No one notices Ulyi roll its eyes in exasperation.

With varying levels of boredom, the party waits patiently for the smoke to fully clear, then enters the room to take a more thorough look.

The desiccated and charred remains of fish, a couple of small sharks, and the previously identified fisherman litter the floor. This is obviously the preferred feeding area for the spiders.

The fisherman's old and tattered clothes contain a few hooks, sinkers, and other assorted mundane fishing tools that have survived the fire, but the party finds nothing else of interest.

Carefully approaching the cistern and looking inside, Paeral can see the water in the cistern churning and splashing. The base water level is 10 feet below the floor of this room. There is no sign of the spiders.

Although he has no particular talent for it, Barkot asks Soralyon for guidance and makes a circuit around the outside of the room looking for secret doors or passageways.

Perception, take 10, guidance: 10 + 4 + 1 = 15

Barkot finds no evidence of secret doors.

Celia follows the others into the room after the smoke clears. She steers clear of the cistern not really knowing anything about architecture or ancient building design. Instead she stays close to the entrance with her bow in hand. She drops the sunrod she’s holding at her feet. After the others explore the room , Celia says, are you satisfied? There’s nothin here, let’s go before the spiders return.

Profession Sailor: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15

”That cistern opens up into the harbour. Look! You can see the pressure building up from wave action, like a blowhole!”

Squint peers excitedly into the cistern from the back of Ulyi.

Knowledge (Nature): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Knowledge (Engineering): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21

Reillana examines the pipes running along the ceiling. "Amazing, the plumbing still seems to work after all this time!" she exclaims. "I wonder how many people dwelt here during Thassilon's heyday?" She doesn't let her curiosity distract her from keeping an eye out for returning spiders, though.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24

Celia follows the others into the room after the smoke clears. She steers clear of the cistern not really knowing anything about architecture or ancient building design. Instead she stays close to the entrance with her bow in hand. She drops the sunrod she’s holding at her feet. After the others explore the room , Celia says, are you satisfied? There’s nothin here, let’s go before the spiders return.

Barkot shrugs, then nods. "Guess so - I didn't see nuttin, anyways. What's da big hurry, d'ough? Squashin' spiders ain't so bad. Beats fightin' damn shape-shiftin', spell-castin' rat gals an' arguin' 'bout pris'ners, don't it?"

Returning to the room where the amoeba fight occurred, the party looks around and tries to decide what their next course of action will be.

Explore left? right? Go back upstairs and explore there? Regroup at the lodge and start selling some of their piles of loot?

Pointing her blade towards the smaller tunnel to the north, "The small tunnel next, for the sake of being thorough?"

"I think it's a good idea," Squint offers, clearly not comfortable in making choices.

Paëral nods. "Sounds good to me..."

Once more, the rogue will draw his bow and move forward in his usual fashion...

Stealth: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (9) + 12 = 21
Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22
Survival: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

As Paeral sneaks down the hallway, the smell of ammonia increases and he begins to hear a muted squeaking sound.

Reaching the corner, he peers around. The room has stalls on the northern wall, and a stone bench and fountain on the eastern wall. Everything in this room is covered in thick layers of guano.

Scanning the room, Paeral does notice something shiny hidden in the guano covering the fountain.

He also notices bats. The ceiling is absolutely covered in bats. The squeaking sound increases, and Paeral notices a few bats start to stretch their wings.

The bats are waking up. Since it is the middle of the day, I am giving the party a full round surprise round to react.

People will be on delay until Paeral gets to react and shout out what is happening. He rolled badly, so I am moving the bats to the beginning of the order.

Surprise Round
BOLD may act

Bats
Barkot
Celia
Squint/Ulyi
Reillana -3
Paeral

So are we able to act in the surprise round at this point, or do we need to wait for Paëral?

So are we able to act in the surprise round at this point, or do we need to wait for Paëral?

Go ahead. We can assume that Paeral has said something, though you don't know if he did that while running past you or something else

BTW: I'll allow a DC 10 (Intelligence or any monster knowledge check) to identify swarm traits

I protest! I did not roll low! You rolled low for me. ;)

"BATS!" Paëral yells as he backs away 5' and retrieves an acid flask from his bandolier...

I protest! I did not roll low! You rolled low for me. ;)

"BATS!" Paëral yells as he backs away 5' and retrieves an acid flask from his bandolier...

You can throw it, it you want. I am giving you a full round. But, please attempt the Int check yourself or wait for someone else to. I don't want to be a jerk about knowledge, but also want to follow the metagaming rules. I am sure somebody will make the check...

"BATS? Crap!"

Knowledge (religion/undead swarms): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24

"Don't try to slash at 'em! Use yer hammers 'n' clubs, or better, fire an' acid from a distance!"

Barkot sheaths his longsword and hustles down the hallway to join Paëral, drawing his mace as he goes.

After Barkot’s statement, Celia drops her longsword and sunrod on the ground . She scrambled through her pack for a torch and reaches in her belt pouch extracting a tindertwig.

Bats are Diminutive, and Barkot knows that the swarm will not be affected by the loss of one or two bats due to weapon damage.

Whoops! I thought bat swarm bats were Tiny - my mistake, sorry. If I can retcon Barkot's actions after shouting what he knows: Instead of sheathing his sword, moving up, and drawing his mace, Barkot stays put. For his actions:

Barkot yanks his wand of bless from his belt with his off hand and quickly calls Soralyon's blessings upon the party.

My bad, GM, you were right to call me on it...faced so many swarms that that's my knee-jerk reaction before I consider if my character has faced swarms before or no...

Upon hearing Barkot's info on the bats, Paëral tosses his acid flask at the swarm of 'em...

Acid Flask: 1d20 + 6 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 6 + 1 + 1 = 16
Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

All good, Batkot. I assumed as much. Bless is in effect. Paeral, I'm going to check, but I am pretty sure splash weapon damage is not affected by PBS (or Strength, if that is what the +1 on your damage roll was for.

Keep in mind splash weapons and area effect weapons do cause 50% more damage to swarms...(in the case of diminutive swarms..that means just about anything that can affect them [with some exceptions; like my torch which does 1d3 fire dmg as far as I can tell]) most attacks that, are not AoO, simply cannot harm a swarm....[again exceptions like a flaming sword, torches, and maybe some else I'm not thinking off]

It was for PBS, GM. I could be wrong on that so by all means check that; when I first started playing, someone told me that strength did not apply to tossing flask damage but that PBS did...but that doesn't mean he was right either...

"Damnation! I'm no use here!" Squint realises in panic as he hunts fruitlessly through his belongings for a splash weapon. "I've got nothing!"

Move away.

I am going to back things up just a bit.

Here is what has happened: 1. Paeral sees what is waiting and shouts back. 2. Barkot shouts that area effects are needed and that he is unprepared. 3. Squint indicates that he is unprepared. 4. Celia shouts about having a torch to use. 5. Looking into the room Paeral thinks that maybe there are too many bats to be just one swarm.

You have had discussions, but nobody has used any of their actions yet. What are you going to do?

Keeping in mind that there are hundreds if not thousands of bats, Celia will change her action.
Celia hears Paëral's warning about more bats than can be counted..instead of reaching for a torch..she starts to make her way quietly back down the stairs. As she passes the others she says, Time to leave people...we'll come back another day when we're better prepared.

Celia uses her surprise round action to move most the way down the stairs.

Celia uses her surprise round action to move most the way down the stairs.

I am still allowing you a full round of actions. Also, the stairs go up, but it looks like you counted double so nothing needs to change

Barkot watches Celia head for the stairs. "First da spiders, now bats - I'm startin' ta t'ink yer gettin' squeamish, Cee. How bad could a few flyin' rodents be?"

Barkot pads down the hallway as quietly as he can. Without any artificial light, he peers into the room as far as he can see in the darkness. After a moment of stunned disbelief, he walks very quickly back to the room with the stairs and starts to follow Celia.

"Nope," he says to the others, shaking his head. "Nope, nope, nope. We're gonna need a lotta fire, like mebbe we chuck in a couple of kegs of oil and I spark it up. Or better, oil an' a whole lotta alchemist's fire. But acid might make less smoke..."

He continues muttering to himself as he walks up the stairs.

Celia, I am going to move you another 30 feet, as it is clear you intend to get upstairs as fast as possible.

Surprise Round
BOLD may act

Bats
Barkot
Celia
Squint/Ulyi
Reillana -3
Paeral

I have two acid flasks...is that all we have in our party? If so, won't be nearly enough...is it too late to run?

I have two acid flasks...is that all we have in our party? If so, won't be nearly enough...is it too late to run?

Yes, that seems to be all we have. No, it's not too late to run. Celia and Barkot are already heading back up the stairs.

Paëral turns and runs away from the bats as fast as he can...

Int check: 1d20 ⇒ 1 lol

Watching Celia and Barkot's reactions, Reillana relucantly backs up. "I take it there's a lot of them? I don't have any magic that could handle a crowd..."

Move Action towards the stairs. I agree with withdrawing, selling some loot & buying equipment that will work here.

Good enough. Barkot is probably going to take some damage, being the slowest, but we can say you guys run upstairs and slam the siccatite doors closed in time to keep the swarm from following you up into the main structure. Top slide adjusted.

As the party regroups in front of siccatite doors, they pause to look around and notice that the tower girl that they left tied up is gone.

The rope that bound her has been sliced by something sharp and is lying on the floor where you left her.

"Probably for the best," Reillana says as she nudges the severed ropes with her boot. "With any luck, they won't sent any opportunistic rivals our way to try and delve the ruins first. We should be back as swiftly as possible."

Back to the manor! Reillana would like to get a notebook for sketches & notes plus maybe a scroll of Burning Hands or two depending on funds.

"Uh-oh. Hope she didn't grab all da loot an' gear an' stuff we left layin' aroun' ta pick up on da way back."

GM - starting in here:
- did the TG who escaped take all of her own gear?
- is the TG who was unconscious still here?
- Is the unconscious TG's gear still here?
- Is Ayala's gear (the stuff Barkot didn't grab) still here?

The unconscious tower girls are still here.

From the pile on this level, only one set of basic tower girl equipment is missing.

For bookkeeping, you will later discover that three total sets of tower girl equipment are missing. I think the party was carrying Ayala's stuff.

Squint sighs heavily at the realisation of the missing Tower Girl. ”Let’s hope she didn’t steal our ride back,” he grumbles.

GM - There should only be one unconscious Tower Girl in the room with the special doors, right? One was conscious and fled, and Barkot unceremoniously CDGed Ayala.

Barkot makes sure his pack is buckled tightly shut, and ties his longsword and buckler to it. Reluctantly, he puts it on the floor. "Somebody's gonna hafta carry dat fer me if we ain't gonna leave dis gal tied up down here. Gotta get 'er to da guards somehows, if we decide not ta let 'er go. Da one dat surrendered, she's already gone, so dat debt's paid. An' I guess we still owe dat Embyr gal some coin fer flippin' on her boss, if she stuck aroun'."

He sighs, bends over, scoops the unconscious thief up off the floor, and slings her -- not very gently -- over his shoulder. He staggers a moment under the load, then uses one hand to yank the Tower Girl's pack and gear belt off and drops them to the floor as well. Barkot adjusts his grip around the girl's waist, shrugs her more securely onto his shoulder, and straightens up.

"All right, c'n da resta youse collect any of dis udder stuff we might wanna use or sell along wit' my pack? I t'ink I c'n carry dis gal at least up ta where we left da rest of 'em tied up. An' we gotta stop in dat room wit' da ancient T'assalonian whatchamacallits." He shakes his head. "Sheesh, next time we bust into a place, we gotta bring a wheelbarrow. Nah, two wheelbarrows - one fer da loot, an' one fer da bodies."

Dropping his pack (with his longsword and buckler tied onto it), Barkot should have about 118-120 lbs of carrying capacity before he is beyond heavy encumbrance. Depending on how well fed these TGs are, he ought to be able to stagger up to the next loot and body drop; if necessary, he can hand off his mace and daggers for another 5 lbs of capacity.

Reillana gathers up her share of the gear then--careful not to touch the siccatite directly--shuts the vault door. "With any luck, our escapee didn't overhear how to open the vault," she observes a trifle sourly.

Yes, there is one unconscious girl on this floor. You also have about a dozen upstairs

Just moving this along while I have a few minutes - feel free to stop me if I'm skipping something important.

Once they get the unconscious Tower Girl and the recovered items upstairs with the others, Barkot manages to put her down without banging her head too badly. Along the way, the group would stop to collect the Thassalonian brass platter and porcelain basin from the room with the (hand-waved) donkey rat fight.

Once Barkot drops his burden, he straps on his buckler and longsword and jogs ahead, chainmail clanking, into the room where Reillana used the Shard of Pride to cast her illusion to search the bodies of the wererat and downed Tower Girls there.

Anything of interest beyond standard TG gear? What does the wererat up here (Sasha, I think) have?

The party already searched Sasha and the other wererat Karisa (both are still alive, BTW) Both had better quality gear that has already been reported. I think Paeral took Karisa's Mwk Studded Leather.

The two conscious tied up Tower Girls are gone. The ropes have been cut, like the one below. One set of rope is lying near a short sword that was in the pile of loot left on this level.

The cuts on this rope are a bit more jagged and there are some drops of blood on the floor. A few drops of blood can also be seen in a path toward the stairs going down.

Celia does her part to carry gear and guard prisoners..despite her wishes to give the tower girls second chances, Celia will go along with the majority decision of the party regarding prisoners. Though she does offer Sheila Heidmarch and complete and independent report of her view of the matter if so requested. If nothing comes of her almost freeing a prisoner..she lets it go...coming to the conclusion, after all..you were raised in Underbridge Celia; and you didn't turn to a life of crime! Why should these girls be given a pass for breaking the law?! It's not enough, that you knew one of them from your early scholar days.. (last part is flavor text only..not intended to veer or disrupt campaign..just pointing out that Celia grew up in the same neighborhood and likely crossed paths with one or two of these women as she gre up.)

If all of the unconscious baddies have been searched, Barkot will jog back to the illusory wall overlooking the dock to see how many boats the escapees have left them.

Also, how high is the drop from the opening to the dock level?

The level you are currently on is about 150' above the docks.

Looking down, you first notice that the boats are not where you left them. A quick look shows the ship's boat you arrived in drifting near the piling. The tower girls set it loose, but didn't take the time to try to push it out into the harbor. A quick swim will allow someone to retrieve it.

Looking back toward Magnimar, you can see the other boat being rowed quickly toward shore by three figures. They are almost to shore.

Looking down, you notice a rope dangling down toward the docks from a lower level, about 50 feet above the docks.