GMDQ's Skull and Shackles (Inactive)

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The moment stretches as you wait, but the spiders don't return...for now.

Where to?

"I think they're gone, for now. Let's put ourselves together and keep going." Thren suggests warily.

B14 I suppose?

Sure. We were also headed to B10 before we were attacked, but let's do B14 and the the next

"Let's go."

B 14 looks to have been a supply storage, but someone or a few someones have picked it clean. There are a couple of seed packets, a tack hammer, and two broken glass vials that might have contained potions or something similar.

B 10 This large room appears to have once been a well stocked kitchen, but it has been thoroughly ransacked. A trap door in the north corner leads to a root cellar, but it too has been turned over.

B11 and B13 then?

B 11This room is a long disused mess hall contains tables and benches, and stairs leading to a floor above.

The inhabitants of this room give you some time to poke around before hitting you with two deep slumber spells. Sandara will be affected first because she has fewer HD. The DC is 18. Sal is immune to sleep and so would not be affected. Each spell only affects 10 HD, so if it drops one of you that would be all.

Will save: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13

That makes up for hitting something for a change I suppose. Stupid Crankipator.

I'm sorry. There are two Deep Slumber spells that each affect 10 HD. So everyone else should save until someone fails. Or if you all make it then you are good.

Will save DC 18: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27

Will save DC 18: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24

Sal grabs the seed packets from the storeroom if they contain seeds into her haversack.

In the most recent room, Sal starts as Sandara falls asleep all of a sudden and looks around for trouble.

Perception: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (14) + 16 = 30

Neither Sal nor Riori, as elf blooded individuals, succumb.

What is the duration of the see invisible spells? If whoever cast the spells are invisible, would Thren and Elite still have a chance of seeing them? Also, I presumed perhaps mistakenly that it should be assumed that we are moving through each room carefully and paying attention to trouble, and ergo are making Perception checks as we enter each room. This is definitely a case of it makes more sense for the GM to roll those checks to expedite moving through the buildings

The see invisible spells last for one minute per level, so nine minutes. Ekote doesn't have another prepped, but Thren can cast it again at need.

Perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (5) + 12 = 17

So I don't think it took 9 minutes to glance in one building, turn around and walk through another room before entering the third.

Surprising that I remembered, but I did actually take the See Invisibility into account. The source of the spells is pretty much completely imperceptible until someone is asleep.

Sandara drops into a Deep Slumber, her eyes moving from side to side noticeably.

Sandara Will: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26

Sandara finds herself in the same mess hall, but instead of dusty and empty it is filled with a motley band of piratical looking people. They appear to be celebrating something, probably a successful raid of a ship considering the gold and libations being passed around.

Sandara is almost immediately aware that she is dreaming, and as two dark shapes pour from the walls into the room, she realizes that her mind is being manipulated. She is currently asleep and dreaming. Since she made her save, I'll give her the option of waking up or staying asleep and interacting with the dream.

Given the choice, waking up is the option to take.

Seeing Sandara drop to sleep, Thren scans the entire area as fast as she can as no attackers are in plain sight.

Reminder she can see things that are invisible or Ethereal right now.

For the purposes of experience, since GM said Sandara can wake up, can she just tell us what happened so we can react?

"Can any of you see what's going on?" Riori shifts uncomfortably, aware of her limited senses, and moves until she can see the exit to the room.

Sandara wakes up. You don't see anything invisible.

See invisibility allows seeing ethereal creatures as well, which I assume we all already know as Thren and Ekote could see the phase spiders without issue. I expect Thren repeated the reminder as there's some monsters that could do this that are in the ethereal plane, and while none of us want to metagame, we do want to be sure we can move forward in a reasonably quick fashion. This said since we all know Thren & Ekote could see the phase spiders then presumably whatever's causing this is not ethereally based... might be illusion, might be shadow plane, might be something else.

Sal offers a hand to help Sandara up. "Well, if I may say so, f$@% this shit. I am not gonna walk through here to be ambushed by things I can't even see, or leave our priests vulnerable to whatever's causin' these shenanigans. So I say we go aim the catapult at this place until we knock over as much of these buildings as possible, and then follow up by assembling every possible flammable thing and mundane and magical fire sources and setting whatever's left on fire just to be sure. Hell, what we need is dragon fire. Or acid. A big wave of acid over this whole fortress. Anybody happen to be friends with a giant acid monster?"

"I'm not a fan of random and extreme property damage but it does seem like there's not much here other than trouble. Let's at least walk back outside and figure out what to do from there."

"I'm getting tired of being ambushed too. Hitting this place till it falls over is starting to sound good. I only know a moderately large dragon though, and I'm not sure if he'd be willing to help." Thren agrees glumly.

Yes, my comment about seeing the invisible was meant as a friendly reminder. Something in the walls but incorporeal would be hidden, though it would lose line of effect. Or protected by magic to block divinations of course.

"Then let us pull back and regroup, Captain." Ekote agrees. "We can consider our options from a better vantage point."

I don't want to give anything away, so I'll just say I'm pretty sure no one who is awake should be able to see the opponents. What I might have missed is that possibly it could be interpreted that see invisibility should be able to see the reason that you can't see them (in the way that you could see fog). In any case, it is having the appropriate effect of spooking and pissing our pirates off. I'm good with that.

Lathiira, is Sandara gonna tell us what she actually saw?

To be very clear, I think both of us are aware there are monsters that can produce a dreamscape effect that dwell in the ethereal plane. See invisible would allow seeing those particular monsters. But I am assuming at this point we are not dealing with those particular monsters. However, despite the weird foggy shade creatures on the battle map, we could also be contending with a spell effect/trap or some other nonsense that makes adventuring too hard to be worth trying to interact with it. If it turns out to be the last, we can go for the "nuke it from orbit" option, but it occurred to me to try this first.

As the party starts to move, Riori slaps herself in the forehead. "Why didn't I bloody well think of this?"

Riori casts detect magic on the area. If she sees any magical auras affecting the room that are not coming from the party themselves, she casts dispel magic as targeted effect on the spell the detect magic aura identifies, or if she's not sure it's a spell effect, she will cast it as an area dispel.

If Riori stands in the middle of the room, everything within it should be within her line of sight.

Yes, I planned on it.

"I saw the mess hall we were in, but it was intact. I was there and there were pirates celebrating something, probably a successful raid. Then two dark shapes appeared from the edges of the room."

Note that frustrated pirates may do rash things, as Thren can attest. But now she's got more friends...and more ammunition.

1d20 + 12 - 5 ⇒ (16) + 12 - 5 = 23
1d20 + 3 - 5 ⇒ (4) + 3 - 5 = 2
1d20 + 10 - 5 ⇒ (17) + 10 - 5 = 22
1d20 + 11 - 5 ⇒ (3) + 11 - 5 = 9
1d20 + 16 - 5 ⇒ (10) + 16 - 5 = 21

1d20 + 18 ⇒ (1) + 18 = 19

Riori Spellcraft: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (9) + 10 = 19

Riori detects a faint aura of necromantic magic, the residue of something that isn't currently active but was recently.

As she focuses her arcane senses, everyone else except Sandara hears quiet footfalls in the room above.

Reminder there is a set of wooden stairs in the mess hall here leading up.

Kn (planes): 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (9) + 21 = 30
Kn (arcane): 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (10) + 21 = 31

Do I know anything of use?

"We might have triggered some kind of negative energy effect that has passed..." she trails off as she notices the footsteps upstairs, and looks inquiringly at the others to see if they hear the same thing.

Sal nods at Riori and follows up with a "Hmmm," and a scowl. She pulls out a potion of barkskin and drinks it, and, pulling out her ranseur and heads for the stairs. That will be about 1.5 actions in case you need to keep track. If nothing else happens she will run up the stairs and attack whatever she sees.

"Let's be a bit more ready first." Sandara suggests. She calls up the power of the Pirate Queen to heal some of our injuries.

channel positive energy: 4d6 ⇒ (2, 3, 3, 5) = 13

I also speed tracked the detect magic rounds, so if anyone needed to do anything before Sal charges into combat I think there were two round of Riori concentrating there.

[dice=Kn (planes)]1d20+21

[dice=Kn (arcane)]1d20+21

Do I know anything of use?

Ekote knows that a dreaming creature creates what is sometimes known as a dreamscape, which is like a demiplane on the Dimension of Dreams, a sort of soap bubble on a soap bubble. The Dimension of Dreams overlaps the Ethereal plane, but its denizens are even less tangible.

Between the two of you, you can see a true tangle of magics here. the residue of persistent death energy haunting the room, Dreams, and the flickers of powerful Illusions. The illusion magic makes you wonder if you can trust your senses at all.

"Captain...everyone...it is possible we are dealing with creatures from the Demiplane of Dreams. It touches upon the Ethereal Plane, where the spiders came from. They may have put illusion magic to use, strong magic. Little of what we can perceive may in the end be real."

Sal runs up the stairs and sees a bedraggled human man in leather armor and holding a short sword. His hair is brown and filthy, and his skin is so dirty that it is difficult to determine its underlying color.

Sal Initiative: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21
Guy Initiative: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20

Sal first and then Guy and then everyone else.

Sal is a simple girl. She's not stupid, but she's not learned, and in the life she's lived, hesitation is often more dangerous than acting. One priest was knocked out instantly downstairs, even if she woke quickly, the fact that the Besmaran could be taken out just like that scared Sal. Then the other priestess starts talking about Negative Energy, which she doesn't know much about but knows it has something to do with undead, and the wizard starts going on about demiplanes and ethereal planes and she doesn't know a whole lot about planes other than that's where Very Bad monsters come from, and all of these things sound Very Bad to her. Someone is causing all these Very Bad things, and Sal wants to stop it.

So regardless of whatever pathetic state the man upstairs is in, Sal jumps to the easiest conclusion she is able to reach: this man is responsible for the Very Bad things, including instantly incapacitating one of their priests, which is definitely Very Bad.

So in the name of protecting her party from Very Bad things, she screams a battle cry and charges the filthy man.

Attack, power attack--furious focus, charge: 1d20 + 15 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 15 + 2 = 31
Damage, Power Attack: 2d4 + 17 ⇒ (4, 4) + 17 = 25

She is at -2 AC this round, so AC 21 accounting for her barkskin buff

"I guess I can retire from being the ship's official hothead after this," the tiefling murmurs to herself as Sal bolts up the stairs.

"Well, what did you expect from a gal who calls herself 'Cannonball'?"

Riori approaches the stairs to get a better sense of what's happening.

AC 22, touch 17, flat-footed 16, Fort +7, Ref +12, Will +4; +1 vs. fear.

The filthy man moves north toward the door and opens it, revealing a railed balcony beyond.

That will provoke an attack from Sal. Then everyone else.

Sal is a simple girl. She's not stupid, but she's not learned, and in the life she's lived, hesitation is often more dangerous than acting. One priest was knocked out instantly downstairs, even if she woke quickly, the fact that the Besmaran could be taken out just like that scared Sal. Then the other priestess starts talking about Negative Energy, which she doesn't know much about but knows it has something to do with undead, and the wizard starts going on about demiplanes and ethereal planes and she doesn't know a whole lot about planes other than that's where Very Bad monsters come from, and all of these things sound Very Bad to her. Someone is causing all these Very Bad things, and Sal wants to stop it.

So regardless of whatever pathetic state the man upstairs is in, Sal jumps to the easiest conclusion she is able to reach: this man is responsible for the Very Bad things, including instantly incapacitating one of their priests, which is definitely Very Bad.

So in the name of protecting her party from Very Bad things, she screams a battle cry and charges the filthy man.

[dice=Attack, power attack--furious focus, charge]1d20+15+2
[dice=Damage, Power Attack]2d4+17

She is at -2 AC this round, so AC 21 accounting for her barkskin buff

I'm confused. Did you ignore this post, did I misunderstand where the man is in relation to Sal, did Sal fail to hit him, or is something else going on? If Sal did charge and attack him and nothing happened, can I make an ability check or saving throw to figure out what is going on?

Weird. I should have had two posts. That was the second one. I'll reconstruct.

Sal runs up the stairs and attacks the filthy man. He cries out in pain, "See! I said we aren't safe here. They will always find us. Always find us."

Retreating from Sal's attack, the man moves toward a door and opens it.

This provokes an attack from Sal.

Hoping this takes only part of her turn

Sal sniffs the air, tuning into her heightened senses. If he is as filthy as he looks, he should likely stink. To normal senses, let alone someone with her predatory capacity for scent. So does he smell the way he looks the way he should smell?

His odor matches his appearance. That doesn't need to take any action.

I am so sorry! I had one of those moments where I thought out the post, and confused that with actually posting it.

Sal is still as suspicious as f+%~, but as he tries to flee she attempts to trip him with her ranseur rather than skewer him outright. It is not a trip weapon, but I believe all that means is that it can't protect her from being tripped if she fails. While this should trigger an AOO in turn against her, if he is unarmed I believe he can't make an AOO anyway. Trip can be done in place of a melee attack so it can be used in an AOO.

"Hey! Git back here ya stinkin' dog."

Trip as AOO: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (4) + 13 = 17

Let me know if that succeeds

That does not trip him.

Thren bolts up the stairs after Sal. "We can discuss dream creatures that can hit us with spells from two planes away and not get seen later, there's someone up here!" The tiefling keeps her sword hand as she dashes up after Sal.

Sal grumbles and follows him, and reaches for the door he opened and closes it.

"I don't care how crazy or dirty you are, start talkin' to me now or I'm gonna finish skewerin' ya!"

Intimidate: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (3) - 1 = 2

That's two move actions, and a fruitless Charisma check (which is actually kind of what I planned on. ;)

"I'm not sure which of them is worse," Ekote opines as he heads up after the two hotheads.