GM Cwethan's From the Tome of Righteous Repose (3-7) (Inactive)

Game Master Cwethan

Kato knows that if there were a trap that he might automatically spot it thanks to Milani Magic but just in case he takes a peak.

Perception: 1d20 + 16 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 16 + 3 = 27

If he is confident there was nothing to find, he then carefully pries the box open to assess its contents, his sword in his offhand in case its a box full of lizards.

Can never be too careful lest the lizard get ya. He mutters quietly.

Take 10 on Disable Device for a 28 if needed

Nicklod stays a little behind, ready to act if something goes wrong.

Perception: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (8) + 17 = 25

The lantern bears the inscription "Light Without Purity Reveals Falsehoods in the Place of Truth." A Disable Device, Knowledge (engineering), or Sleight of Hand check would be appropriate ways of realigning it if you wish.

Kato takes a look at the lantern and starts to fiddle with it.

Illusions? Well this is definitely a boon! To see through falsehoods is a great power!

I just need to make sure no one points this thing at me

Take 10 + use of traveler's anytool for 30

spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19

Never the most talkative, Oleander has got deathly quiet since sending Wolfie back to the entrance, her worry about the big dog obvious.

"I'm not too sure. I should have listened to my brother, he would know what that gem does." sighs the elf.

as he sees Oleander study the gem Ash mentions "Let's trade..I'll look at the gem, you take a look at the long sword we found..I'm sure it should do something..but I can't figure out what..well other then slice into people that is..."

Spell craft on the gem: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 4 + 1 = 20 (using guidance for an extra +1)

If anyone wants to post further spellcrafts we'll retcon it in, otherwise pick a direction!

North up (or down?) the stairs!

I agree

Having no ability to determine the magical nature of the gem Nicklod is ready to follow Theo.

Oleander sighs, bow in hand and slinks into the shadows, following the rest of the group. "Down..." she suggests.

"I don't have any better ideas on where to go, so your guess is as good as mine. Let's go"

Flora continues to follow the group, keeping her eyes open for danger.

Three statues of lantern archons cast a steady light from the alcoves in this room. Murals depicting dog-headed figures and angelic humanoids battling undead horrors cover the walls. It is perhaps because of all the undead horrors and strange shadow within the room, that even the most keenly perceptive miss seeing a shadowy figure emerge from one of the statues. It advances on the Rose Warden, swaying and moving with an erratic grace, as if lit by an unseen fire.

Touch Attack (Charge): 1d20 + 11 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 11 + 2 = 15
Strength Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 4

Luckily the kitsune's senses alert him at the last moment, and the shadowy horror's touch fails to connect.

Little Foot
Oleander
Ash
Kato
Shadowy Figure -2AC
Flora
Nicklod

"Look a shadowy creature, anyone else want to take a closer look at it?"

Not trained in Knowledge (Religion), so not going to be able to make that DC of 23

Bumping into the person first in front and in then in the back of him as he tries to make some space for other people to get a better look Ash looks behind him and decides to create some space so that other people have enough room to work with

Withdraw action - to the back of the line I go

Undead again? Ick!

Finally some free time during the work day to post! Expected to see more activity!

Theo swears gruffly in Tian, as the shadowy creature emerges from the statue, reaching for Kato. He knows he has little defense against its incorporeal touch, and his weapon's effectiveness will be severely hindered!

Will activate his ectoplasmic enhancement boon (swift action), so his weapons count as having ghost touch for the round!

But it is not his first time encountering such creatures, and from somewhere, deep inside, he dredges up a small memory of that previous battle, as a faint green glow seems to extend out from his hands into his club. He brings the weapon around in a couple of mighty swings, trying to drive the shadow evil back off of the kitsune.

Attack1, PA: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (20) + 13 = 33, for 1d10 + 13 ⇒ (4) + 13 = 17 damage.
Attack2, PA: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8, for 1d10 + 13 ⇒ (3) + 13 = 16 damage.

As the glow fades away, he takes a step back into the room, hoping to lure it forward a bit so his companions in the hallway have a clearer line of sight.

edit: ooo... maybe...?
confirm: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (10) + 13 = 23, for 3d10 + 39 ⇒ (2, 8, 10) + 39 = 59 additional damage.

Oleander fires from her magical bow, hoping to turn the shadow into a pincushion. The corner provides cover, but no more than her companions.

rapidshot, cover: 1d20 + 11 - 2 - 4 ⇒ (4) + 11 - 2 - 4 = 9
rapidshot, cover: 1d20 + 11 - 2 - 4 ⇒ (7) + 11 - 2 - 4 = 12
Iterative shot rapidshot, cover: 1d20 + 6 - 2 - 4 ⇒ (10) + 6 - 2 - 4 = 10

She narrowly avoids catching her allies in the volley of arrows, none look likely to hit the creature though.

Kato does NOT like being confronted by the evil dead. His name isn't Ash.

That one is named Ash, you evil dead! Kato says pointing to Ash as he uses his tricky opera singer footwork to get around the thing.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (9) + 16 = 25

Kato knows by this point that he can't find the weakspots on a shadow so he aims carefully with his trusty thrusty magic sword and slides it into the shadow.

+1 Silversheen Shortsword: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 231d6 + 10 ⇒ (5) + 10 = 15

Weapon's effectiveness will be severely hindered my foot! :p

The Shadow recoils as the sudden slick of ectoplasm congeals around Little Foot's weapon, but even the flickering speed of a living? shadow is no match for the Dwarf's precision and technique.

For a moment the light dims as shadow spatters in all directions, but the next moment it's gone entirely.

Carefully placed before each of the statues are three different items. An arrow with a golden head, a silver torc, and an iron bar with a button at one end.

Know. Religion: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (10) + 10 = 20

Well done Theo! I had no idea of what the creature was, but you manage to kill it in one strike. I'm impressed.

"Wow..impressive display there. I'm in awe"

-----

"From past experience I've learned that studying magic items by ourselves doesn't seem to yield a whole lot of information..maybe we should work together on these"

Ash provides guidance and tries to assist on whomever will try the spellcraft

Spellcraft 1: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13
Spellcraft 2: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10
Spellcraft 3: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

So providing a +3 for the arrow and the torc and a +1 for the rod

Kato gives a mischievous grin to Theo and slaps him on the back. Why sweet Theo, I didnt realize we had a second trickster among us. I guess I should watch my back...and my purse.

The young trickster grins and momentarily puts Theos face on and makes a goofy face and switching it back.

Figuring that that bought enough time for the resident twitchy fingers to identify the loot he starts for the next room.

I didn't know it was going to be a 20 when I wrote that!

The dwarf looks momentarily taken aback when his blow proves so effective, and the strange green glow fades away.

"Not sure how I did that." He mutters, frowning.

"Pretty sure I won't be able to do it again though." He adds. "Hopefully there aren't more of those ungodly things."

He eventually follows along behind Kato, somewhat introspectively.

Oleander has a look at the items.
spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18
spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12
spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21

"But I have no idea what they do. I can probably use that arrow on something though. I wonder what it does."

I'm afraid I don't know all that much about identifying the properties of these items.

"Seems we are just pretty bad at identifying these items we keep finding....where are we going to next? Maybe we can find some more stuff to try to figure out what it does somewhere else around here"

Going off of Kato's map placement...

The corridors twist and turn until you come to a large chamber with petrified oak banquet tables and benches forming long lines. On a raised platform stands a large ceramic bowl, covered in runes and full of a greenish-yellow substance.

Unfortunately you aren't able to fully enjoy the ambience since a distressing amount of the furnishings are covered with crawling grubs, including a pair of them, each nearly the size of a dog!

Alerted by the noises of your passage, the carpet of grubs slowly advances towards the entrance.

Grub Swarm
Little Foot
Giant Grubs
Oleander
Ash
Nicklod
Kato
Flora

What horrible initiative! To ease things for the GM, Little Foot will delay until *after* the Giant Grubs!

"Well,that's disgusting." The dwarf grumbles, seeing the writing mass of grubs.

He waits for the larger ones to get a little closer before deciding whether to rush into the room.

Hopefully someone has some blasty options that will work better then a club =)

The bigger grubs wriggle their way towards the pathfinders, one of them getting close enough to bite at Kato!

Bite: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

Happily the nimble opera singer is able to stay several steps ahead of the overgrown larva and is unhurt.

Bold may go!
Grub Swarm
Giant Grubs
Little Foot
Oleander
Ash
Nicklod
Kato
Flora

Oleander, being near the back, will delay until the others have moved enough to allow her to move and get a decent shot in.

But on the assumption that someone does move up, so will Oleander, and when she gets a chance, she will shoot at the red grub
attack, PBS into melee: 1d20 + 10 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (5) + 10 + 1 - 4 = 12
damage: 1d8 + 3 + 1 + 1d6 ⇒ (7) + 3 + 1 + (1) = 12 <- last d6 is fire

"Creepy crawlers! Let's take them out quickly"

If I understand correctly how this works I think I can pick a corner on my square and look straight at the blue grub and target the square in front of him with a fire ball (20ft radius) getting all 3 enemies in the blast template without hitting an ally

Ash concentrates for a second and he draws on a underlying current of power running through this place and then points his finger straight forward and a glowing, pea-sized bead streaks from the pointing digit over Theo and Kato's heads before detonating and bathing everything in the room in a blast of flames.

Seeing the explosion Theo feels a bit inspired.

Fire damage: 9d6 + 1 ⇒ (2, 5, 1, 5, 4, 3, 5, 6, 6) + 1 = 38 (reflex save DC 17 reflex save for half damage)

Free action; use place magic to increase caster lvl by +1 for 1 round, standard to cast Fire domain spell fireball (+1 caster lvl for being a fire spell, for a total of caster lvl 9). Because it has the fire descriptor my glorious heat feat allows me to heal an ally of hps equal to the spell lvl (=3) and give them a +1 morale bonus on attacks. I'll pick Theo for the bonus on attack since it seems he's still down a few hp

Hearing Oleader making some noise behind him around the corner Ash moves back in line to give someone else a chance to move up

Using my move action to move back in line so Oleander can have my spot just noitice he posted while I was writing my own

"Thanks" says the archer as she fires off a quick arrow.

Ash's fireball flashfries the two bigger grubs and scorches a wide arc through the swarm of smaller ones.

Grub Swarm: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15
Red Grub: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
Blue Grub: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14

Bold may go!
Grub Swarm -57
Giant Grubs immolated
Little Foot
Oleander (Feel free to revise your turn)
Ash
Nicklod
Kato
Flora

"I have no way to counter a swarm.." says Oleander

Flora moves into the room and unleashes a blast of plants on the swarm.

Knowledge (nature): 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (4) + 16 = 20
Attack: 1d20 + 12 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 12 + 1 = 15
Damage: 3d6 + 11 + 1 ⇒ (4, 6, 5) + 11 + 1 = 27 Flora can choose bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing. Choice will be based on if the knowledge roll revealed any DR

Knowledge (nature/dungeoneering) on the swarm: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18

Hmm... would appear I've no proper way to deal with a swarm either! Bah!
(thought I at least had an alchemist fire... but recall throwing it during some previous scenario, and apparently failed to get a new one =P)
Well, hopefully Nicklod can finish them off with a negative channel or the like.

Theo seems unsure how to proceed, as the fire from Ash's spell clear, and the mass of grubs seems to still be intact.

Cursing, he moves into the room, figuring he can at least try to possibly provide a distraction. Though the hunter in him knows what he really means is 'bait'.

Double move

Nicklod channel negative energy and exclude all his comrades five max

May Abadar punish the lawless!

Channel negative energy: 3d3 ⇒ (1, 1, 3) = 5 +Will Save DC17 or be daze 1 round

Kato shudders looking at the grub I would really hate to see the fly that thing grows into!

He then bounds into the room and circles the big grub and toss some Acid its way

Acid: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (2) + 9 = 111d6 ⇒ 6

Kato and Flora's attacks go wide, and the grubs clearly have no unlawful deeds on their conscience, as they largely disregard Nicklod's wishes.

Flora can identify these maggots as rotgrubs, which aside from the typical nastiness of swarms are particularly known for burrowing inside and through their victims while they still live. No particular DR though

Kato gets an up close and personal take on the rotgrub experience as they crash over him in a wave!

Will: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21

Damage: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 5) = 10

Bold may go!
Grub Swarm -65
Little Foot
Oleander
Ash
Nicklod
Kato -10, DC 19 Fort or Nauseated, DC 19 Reflex Save or infested, taking Con Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 2 so far.
Flora

Flora gathers energy and tries to fire again on the grubs.

Attack: 1d20 + 12 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 12 + 1 = 21
Damage: 3d6 + 11 + 1 ⇒ (5, 6, 3) + 11 + 1 = 26 *1.5 = 39

Oleander moves into the room, keeping her bow out and ready to shoot any threat she can actually harm.

"Sorry guys, short legs here..It's going to take me a second or 2 to get back into action"

Ash pants as he makes his way back down the corridor

double move

The mass of bark thorns and razor-edge leaves is enough to disperse the grubs, leaving barely a handful scattered around the room.

The fight is finished, but Kato is still potentially infested.

Nicklod looks at Kato to see if something is wrong with him.

Heal: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17

Fortitude: 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 5 + 2 = 21

Bugs. Are. So. Gross. the pampered foxy musician whines as he composes himself and makes sure no healing is needed.

Aside from the most prodigious piles of (immobile) mold you've seen today, the room doesn't have much else of interest, except...

Where to?

I reckon we keep pressing forward! Or upwards, as the map lays

Oleander nods to the dwarf.

"Lead on smallfoot. You are doing a stellar job."

"Look guys mold! ..oh and a magic bowl"

Ash studies the bowl intently

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 4 + 1 = 8 (using guidance)

"No clue what it does..but let's take it with us anyways."

Ash then follows after the others.