GM Evil's Seasoned Six - Severing Ties (Inactive)

Game Master Baerlie

Dusklord defaces the dolls and Serak leaves some scorch marks on their small bodies. Stephani leaves an Aspis badge on the floor.

Dusklord sees that the passage to the street above may be opened with a strong push. DC20 strength

Where next? North behind the curtain or south?

Stephani hisses, "What? Yes, Father, I'll tell them...."

"He suggests we clear this level first, to make sure we aren't leaving any surprises to follow us down."

With that, she listens at the north door, and if all is quiet, prepares to open it.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

Dusklord looks curiously at the paladin.

"Perhaps someday you can introduce me to your father," he says with a sickly smile. "I think we would get along splendidly," he adds.

Looking around, he says "And I happen to agree with your father. It would not be wise to cause a loud commotion before checking out the rest of the level, or inviting investigations as to why there is a new hole in the street. We should consult with your father more frequently," he nods.

North sound good?

Aeleth sighs. He'd been looking forward to smashing his way out...but at least he would still get to do it later.

"North then. Let's keep moving. But lets not forget to bust our way out from here later on."

You move north behind the curtain. Behind it you find a chamber.

The centerpiece of this stark stone chamber is a low stone dais designed to display a statue. A black sheet painted with a seven-pointed rune hangs before the southern exit. The western exit is a set of doors consisting of iron bars an inch in diameter and six inches apart, like those of a cage.

The statue stands silently upon the dais in this room, appearing as an elaborate rune-carved statue of a creature with a serpent’s body, a woman’s torso, six wings, and a Sihedron rune in place of a head.

"I don't know art, but I can tell you that I don't like this."

Stephani moves cautiously around the edge of the room, looking for danger.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22

Dusklord passes through the curtain and observes the statue in the chamber.

As he has done in each room, he uses his magic to determine if there are any magical auras.

"A magic statue, and a curious one at that," he says. "But what is it?"

knowledge (arcana/nature/planes/religion): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26

spellcraft to ID: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24

"Should we try to destroy this as well? Seems like there are several options here and we shouldn't stay here for too long"

Dusklord thinks that the statue is a construct, an Ebon Acolytus.

"A construct...this might fight if we try to pass it. It is true that we do not need to sabotage every single thing in here. But I would like to see what is beyond that door," Dusklord says.

"Shall we try to walk through to the next room?"

"I have no problem with that."

Stephani looks to see if anyone wishes to check the door first, before she proceeds to open and enter.

Serak hangs towards the back, eyeing the statue warily.
I hate animated objects. Especially ones made of rocks.

"Let me know when it's time to break it. If we ain't gonna break it yet, let's look around elsewhere and see how else we can mess up this joint!"

Do you want to move past the construct?

"Let's see what happens."

Stephani, armed and ready, cautiously moves past the statue toward the door.

Yes, let's move past it.

Aeleth stands at the ready, fists raised and ready to charge if the statue moves towards Stephani.

As you attempt to move past the stone guardian it suddenly starts to move and attacks.

Round 1
Aeleth
Nago
Starling
Serak
Dusklord
---
Guardian
---
Stephani

"Constructs!" Dusklord frowns. "As I suspected. Even so, I have not prepared much that can affect these walking tin cans!"

The wizard removes a flask of acid from his bandolier, which he uses as a focus for an acid spell, which he flings at the construct.

ranged touch attack, acid splahs: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 61d3 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

"Well, that was not too surprising. Turns out we'll have to destroy this statue anyway," Starling shrugs as she begins chanting rhytmically to rouse her friends' spirits while throwing her Aspis token at it.

Inspire Courage, +1 to attack, +1 to damage for everyone.

Under normal circumstances, one would question the wisdom of punching a statue. Aeleth has no patience for such questions. He strides up to the construct with a raised fist and swings.

attack roll with dragon style and power attack: 1d20 + 6 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 6 - 1 + 1 = 26
damage roll with dragon style and power attack: 1d6 + 7 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 7 + 2 + 1 = 13

confirmation roll: 1d20 + 6 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 6 - 1 + 1 = 14
crit damage?: 1d6 + 7 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 7 + 2 + 1 = 11

Serak sighs.
I HATE animated objects!

He then lobs a ball of flame at the statue.
Produce Flame Thrown: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10
Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

Dusklord throws an orb of acid at the guardian, but the blob leaves not even a scratch. Starling starts to sing while Aeleth and Serak attack the construct. Aeleth hits, but Serak's ball of flame gets deflected by the stone shell.

The guardian tries to hit Aeleth.
Slam: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16
Damage: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

Round 1 (inspire courage +1/+1)
Aeleth
Starling
Serak
Dusklord
---
Guardian -13HP
---
Nago
Stephani

Stephani turns to meet the creature face to face, and tries to chip at it with her longsword.

Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10
Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

Aeleth huffs as the guardian ploughs into his rib. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he smashes his fist into the lumbering monster once more.

attack roll with dragon style and power attack: 1d20 + 6 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 6 - 1 + 1 = 26
damage roll with dragon style and power attack: 1d6 + 7 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 7 + 2 + 1 = 14

confirmation roll: 1d20 + 6 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 6 - 1 + 1 = 9 Nvm...2 crit threats in a row, neither confirms XD

Stephani and Aeleth attack the guardian, but only Aeleth's attempt is successful.

Round 1 & 2 (inspire courage +1/+1)
Aeleth
Starling
Serak
Dusklord
---
Guardian -27HP
---
Nago
Stephani

"I have purchased a new wand," Dusklord says. "A gift from the Society for my penitent ways!"

The wizard draws a wand, and a magic missile shoots from the construct.

"Though I would think a more damaging wand might be appropriate next time!"

mm: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Starling waits till the construct's attention shifts away from her, then lunges forward with her rapier, trying to pierce at one of its joints. Unfortunately, the attack barely scratches the thing.
Rapier attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 1

Does somebody want to post an action for Nago?

Nago and his pet coordinate an attack on the construct.

scimitar: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 221d6 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
bite atk: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 61d6 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

Nago attacks the guardian with his scimitar and his pet bites it. The scimitar hits. Dusklord shoots a magic missile at the guardian while Starling attempts to damage it with her rapier, but she misses.

The guardian continues to slam at you. 1d3 ⇒ 2
Guardian slam vs. Nago left: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18 Damage: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12
Guardian slam vs. Nago right: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (9) + 10 = 19 Damage: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

Round 2 & 3 (inspire courage +1/+1)
Aeleth
Starling
Dusklord
---
Guardian -34HP
---
Serak
Nago @ -4HP
Stephani

Dusklord taps his wand to see why its magic seems so weak, then fires another magic missile at the target, though it also does minimal damage.

"Cursed wand!"

magic missile: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Serak lobs another ball of flame at the statue after growling from his first missed throw.
Produce Flame, RTA: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19
Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

Aeleth keeps pounding away at the statue. His knuckles are getting just a little sore, but he maintains his focus, resolutely telling himself to treat this as a training exercise.

attack roll with dragon style and power attack: 1d20 + 6 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 6 - 1 + 1 = 22
damage roll with dragon style and power attack: 1d6 + 7 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 7 + 2 + 1 = 16

Starling pierces at the statue again, this time delivering a strong blow that nonetheless bounces off the stone causing no damage at all.

Attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 6

Dusklord releases a magic missile at the guardian while a ball of flame hits the golem in the face. Aeleth's attack finally drops the stone thing.

combat over

"OK, so that was quick."

"We made a lot of noise, let's move on and get done with this as quickly as possible, we don't want to have a massive fight here," Starling says and starts moving towards the door on the west side of the room.

Behind the gate and curtains stairs lead down into a chapel. This cavernous stone chamber may have once been an underground amphitheater. Heavy black curtains painted with a seven-pointed rune obscure a complete view, but steep stairs and rows of stone benches descend into a central pit. Pounding drums and the rhythmic chanting of dozens of voices reverberate throughout this chamber.

Most of the Lissalan cultists in the safe house are here, engaged in a lengthy ritual led by the Lashmistress. The noise of the ritual is deafening. The cultists chant together loudly, pound drums, and scourge themselves with barbed whips.

Twenty-two priests led by the Lashmistress are absorbed in their ritual here. One priest, a fussy, acne-scarred man, keeps watch over the entrance to the chapel. The man immediately approaches you, waving his arms to keep them from advancing further into the chapel.

"Who are you? Leave now, you are disturbing the ritual!" the man whispers.

"Your friendly neighborhood Aspis," Dusklord responds. "We thought we would pay your little ritual some service."

Barely hearing Dusklord's announcement, Stephani is stunned. As a paladin, Stephani is just itching to start slicing down the evil priests. Over a dozen priests? That is just suicide.

She decides on a slightly different approach, trying to remember the mission.

"Well, perhaps we are not that 'friendly'. Tell the Lashmistress that she needs to come speak to us, alone, immediately - if she doesn't want to further sour relations between our groups!" Well, however this goes down now, a little demanding should ensure more tension...

Stephani steps back into the preceding room, preparing to defend if necessary.

Remember that we are also here to give the lashmistress the artifacts we got from the 3 churches at the start of the scenario...

"Aspis you say, I heard of you." Grelph answers and ushers you out of the chapel.

"I'm not going to disturb the Lashmistress now and I confide that the Lashmistress is unlikely to want to speak to any members of the Aspis Consortium, considering the recent tension between the two groups. Just tell me what you want and leave. I will forward your message when the ritual is over." he says.

"Give 'em the stuff then, and let's be on our way."

I forgot about the artifacts, but I guess we aren't screwing up that part of the deal? I am not sure we have sabotaged enough, but I don't feel like fighting a whole room of priests, either...

Hold on...reviewing our orders, I see we were supposed to cause some havoc, but leave all these guys alive. Also, one of them is an informant, so we shouldn't risk killing any, including this guy. However, were we supposed to give them the items. Going back through the thread I can't find that we were supposed to do that.

We were to leave the cultists alive--and angry--and not risk killing the inside informant. Very well...

"Very well...we do not wish to disturb this...important ritual. Please leave the headmistress greetings from your forever allies, the Aspis Consortium."

Yah, I think delivery of the items was our "Aspis" mission, so not too sure if we are trying to maintain that cover with the Aspis or not.

Delivering the items was a "mission" you got from Jenk, not the Society. Not delivering the items may result in a bad relationship between the Aspis and the Lissalans.

Then by all means, let's not deliver them!

Dusklord takes three items from his pack as they turn to go.

"We were tasked with retrieving three items," he tells the cultist. "Once the lashmistress has competed the ritual--please, don't disturb her now--make sure that she receives these three items. They are magical, so guard them well."

The wizard hands him a flask of oil. "This is an Elixir of Aspis Venom. And this is a Biscuit of Aspis Hunger," he says as he hands the man an ordinary, dry roll from his rations.

"Finally," he says as he retrieves some bat guano from his spell component pouch, "Is Aspis Dump-lings. Please do remember the names for these, as well as who brought them here" he says as they turn to leave.

bluff: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16

Bluff Aid: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

Seral grins as Dusklord hands over the items.
Handle them carefully. They weren't exactly easy to get.

"Now, let's be on our way...."