GM Fanguar's Savage Tide (Inactive)

Game Master Fanguar

Moira claps, "Oh goodie. Someone new to talk to. So glad you decided to come along...looks like you have some company....are they friendly? When I was younger I once had an invisible friend. Can we talk to the spirit companion? What does your companion look like?"

Krila turns to a nearby stone. "Would you manifest so they can see you?"

The light around the rock darkens, and a glowing female figure appears. Energy radiates out from her, making most of those within range feel warm and comfortable, like lying in a sunbeam on a lazy afternoon. Those who are dhampir's, however, feel as if their skin were being assaulted by tiny little ants that bite. "She cannot hear you or speak to you, I'm afraid. You do not have the skill to hear or be heard." Krila says, as the spirit looks the group over. It's mouth, which can't quite be seen, moves as if it is talking. "She finds one of you disturbing to be around."

Graythan's brow wrinkles in discomfort as the spirit manifests its presence, the pinpricks feeling oddly similar to the power Rast used to draw forth regularly. "Good thing it's your spirit companion and not mine then." Shaking off the discomfort with a stern frown, he turns his attention back to the ruin. "Come take a look at this arch then. Maybe you or Mal'ganna can shed some insight on its meaning or purpose."

The spirit fades from sight. "Ah, you are the one that bothers her. You carry undeath within you? I am amazed you have survived to adulthood. In my own time, those with undeath were killed on birth." She shrugs, then looks over to the arch, and studies it for a second.

Kn(Religion): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17

"I'm afraid I'm unsure, I do admit to being somewhat fuzzy around the edges still. If you like, I will commune with the local spirits to see if any can answer questions..." Krila sits, and begins to hum under her breath. [ooc]Asking her life spirit if it knows what the arch is for, and if not, she'll prepare spells and also call upon a lore spirit for the day as her wandering spirit, and ask the lore spirit if it knows about the arch.

Graythan shrugs and shakes his head with disdain. "I would've been. It wasn't for lack of trying on the town's part, but Tyr favored me for some reason. I've learned to get by." His voice is low and full of gravel as he regards the arches rather than looking at Krila as he responds.

@Krila: The arch marks the boundary between the living and the dead.

Krila spends most of an hour meditating and speaking celestial to the air, although the words she speaks are cryptic and almost like a code. Memorizing spells, she's been without them for centuries When she's done, she spends a few minutes speaking to two points of air. When she's done, she nods and looks up. "Sorry, I needed to build my bonds to the spirits... it's been awhile." Her mouth quirks. "The arch marks the boundry between the living and the dead. This may be auspicious, as this party contains both an avatar of life... and one imbued with death, in their very natures." She stands, rubbing her chin against her scorpion as she does.

"Does that suggest it might be safe for me to pass through the arch?" Graythan arches one of his eyebrows incredulously as he regards the writhing smoke and unsettling motif. Shrugging, and keeping his crossbow readied, he slowly and cautiously begins to approach.

"Is it safe for any of us to pass through?" Bron asks, a slight tremor in his voice.

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Krila shrugs. "Depends on how you feel about walking in the lands of the dead." She stands up and walks through the arch...

As long as I can see my enemy coming I am ready to proceed. Justified states flatly. Moira, care to check the path for traps?

"...How should I feel? That sounds highly ominous."

"How should anyone feel? I'm sure our dhampir companion will feel quite at home. I'm sure I'll feel ill at ease the entire time. I would posit that the rest will fall somewhere between?"

Moira offers Justified a salute. "You got it boss."
The young female half-elf moves forward before the group and starts looking for any traps, magical or non magical.
"Oh by the way lady, dead should remain dead. I am no way in between." Moira offers another salute to the mystic.
Trapfinding: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (8) + 13 = 21

Graythan clenches his jaw for a moment before grumping, "I'm right here, you know. You can keep your 'positing' about me to yourself."

Everyone passes through the arch, as you do a feeling of deep dread washes over Moira and Bron Shaken for 1 round

The floor of this large chamber once contained a breathtaking carving of an ancient city, yet time has taken its toll on the map-like carving, reducing it to a tangled mess that, ironically, almost seems to reflect ruined Tamoachan above. The walls are decorated with bright ly colored frescoes depicting a royal court in ceremonial garb and a king arrayed with his magnificent armies. Pathways wind through the ruins, affording a twisting route through the rubble. In the center of the room is a wide plaza, in the middle of which rests a low stone table.

To the east, a partially collapsed tunnel appears to be the only other exit.

Staying adjacent with Moira when he an Justified suggests lets search this area well before we explore that tunnel there.

Krila nods amiably in agreement to Justified, and begins looking the area over.

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

Moira begins to look around.
Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18

This area appears to be where the bodies of the dead were prepared for enterment. Anything of value has long since been plundered.

Krila detects the tell-tale tingle of a magical trap. It seems to be all around you and has most-likely already been triggered, though there are no signs of the consequences, yet.

"Looks like someone set off a trap here earlier, not sure if it's disappated, or if we're just not seeing the results yet. Keep a sharp eye out..."

"Really!!!" Moira immediately jumps into trapfinding mode, careful as to not to trigger it if it is still active.
trapfinding: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (19) + 13 = 32

"Maybe it's the sort that sounds a warning of some kind? That'd be a nice change of pace from the more traditional, impale-you-to-death sort of traps I've encountered." Graythan offers his remarks as he cautiously wends his way toward the large table in the center of the plaza. The hairs on the back of his neck dancing, he draws and readies his crossbow as he moves.

Perception: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (17) + 14 = 31

The trap is already triggered (Moira would have detected it with that roll), it was just on a delay

The floor at the entrance behind you bursts into a wall of flame. The heat is intense and as you gape in horror, it begins to move towards you. It isn't really a serious danger, but it is forcing you to flee deeper into the ruins.

Graythan curses under his breath. "Ok, so a lot like the impale-you-to-death sorts of traps after all. Great."

Krila looks up at thin air. "You could have warned me. No, I know you're not a fire spirit, but you still could have warned me." She says, and the small scorpion at her throat clacks it's pincers in the same general direction she's facing, as if adding it's own complaint.

Pacing herself to the same pace as the wall is moving, she begins walking deeper. "Don't panic, check where you're walking..." She taps the floor in front of her carefully with one toe before moving forward. "Like as not, it's to trick us into running into some trap so we can be dealt with later."

Well we are going that way anyway. This just encourages us along. But lets not trigger another trap. Moira? He motions the half elf forward.

Moira nods in agreement and then takes point. She takes her time, more time than usual as she looks for hidden trap wires and pressure plates. Unusual of her personality she is quite serious and focused at finding traps.

Fanguar - Please feel free for rolling Moira's trapfinding skill. She has +13 for trapfinding, +8 survival, +9 perception.

I use take 10 for stuff when you are walking around.

You flee the slowly advancing wall of fire and squeeze yourselves into the narrow crack that exits the room. After a few claustrophobic minutes it opens up into a small chamber.

The walls of this room are covered with eroded glyphs and hieroglyphic images depicting what appear to be batlike creatures feasting on humanoids. The eastern wall beyond a low archway in the room consists of a strangely out of place sheet of iron.

Knowledge(arcana): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10

"That wall seems odd, but I'm not sure what it is."

Bron casts detect magic and scans the room, including the iron wall.

Knowledge (arcana): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8

Graythan shrugs at the strange sheet of metal. "Who knows, Bron. Does seem out of place though." The dour Tyrian moves slowly through the small room then, looking intently at the glyphs and paying particular attention to the batlike creatures and their prey.

There isn't anything else of particular note in the room. The iron wall definitely appears to be more recent addition the room. It lacks the corrosion of age and appears to be wedged into grooves in the wall.

@Bron: You can detect a magical aura beyond to iron wall.

Moira rubs her hands along the iron wall and the grooves in the wall, trying to notice any tiny buttons, switches or levers that can help with moving forward.
Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (7) + 9 = 16

Aid Other on Perception for Moira

Can Moira Take 10 on perception? That would give her 20 on perc which includes Krila's Aid Other.

Moira finds no way of retracting the wall.

It is a triggered trap designed to seal intruders in the crypt. It you want to get through, you'll have to break it down. It's not a problem mechanically, but it won't be quiet.

Moira shrugs her shoulders as she looks towards Justified, "I see no trigger to release the wall. I fear the only way through it is to bash it. The noise would be high enough to alert everyone close by that we are here."

Very well. Is there an adamantine weapon in out party? It will be slow work without one I fear and we might even damage our weapons.

Unsure about weapons taking damage. Will they? I have an Adamantine blanch and could make 10 arrows or blots bypass hardness up to 30. Not sure that is a good use for it though. Thoughts?

"How about chisel away at the rock where metal meets rock? We just need a small enough space to go around it" There is a slight pause while the rogue thinks some more. "How about digging underneath it?"

Blanch only bypasses DR, it doesn't do anything to hardness, unfortunately.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

Bron also searches around, directing his detect magic sense to every direction.

"Anyone have stone shape?" She asks, motioning to the stone and iron border. "Very quiet, easy way around."

From my understanding of RAW, there should be no chance of your weapons breaking. The metal wall is only a couple of inches thick, whereas the stone walls would be several feet. I guess you could go back outside and cut down a tree to use as a battering ram if you wanted to. The adventure expects you to bypass the wall somehow, but there is no way around it, just through.

Choosing a convenient spot Justified begins the work of destroying a section of the wall to allow their passage. It is noisy work but does not take all that long.

Moira allows her companion to do his handiwork. She falls back and keeps a watchful eye out for any threats.

Graythan shrugs as Justified begins the clangorous work of breaking through the strange wall. If anything was still lurking in this strange ruin, it was likely already aware of them thanks to the fiery trap they'd sprung in the previous room.

Though time consuming, you manage to by-pass the iron wall and make your way into the room beyond. This chamber bears a strange resemblance to the previous one, in that the floor consists of a stone scale model of an ancient city. Yet whereas the previous model was terribly damaged, this chamber seems relatively well preserved. The layout and style of the city is quite different, with four wide canals converging upon a large lake in the center,from which rises a great stone pyramid. Mighty temples rise from the low angular buildings, while the stone walls depict lifelike depictions of leering bats, lizards, and snakes.

As you step into the room a shrieking humanoid bat creature comes swooping into the room.

You're all up

Knowledge Whatever: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14

What is that thing? Justified ask.

And what are the heavy black lines on the map around the creature? Note that Justified is near last so I am not having him act until he knows more about the thing and the room.

Krila steps past several of her new companions, flipping her heavy crossbow up. "What an odd looking bat." She triggers the cross-bow.

X-Bow: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 6

Moira takes her longbow, notches and draws the bowstring, and releases the arrow towards the bat creature.
Attack, Longbow: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

"Dang-nabbit!!!" Her arrow misses the creature completely due to the its flying speed.

Knowledge (arcana): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25 if the appropriate check would instead be planes, Graythan can't even attempt it and my precious natural 20 is wasted!

Tanglefoot Bag (ranged touch): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19 (-2 for every 10 additional feet past 10ft.)

As the creature drops free from the ceiling, Graythan hopes to bring it down and keep it from outmaneuvering them with a quick toss of a tanglefoot bag. "Bring that thing down!"

Tanglefoot Bag: A tanglefoot bag is a small sack filled with tar, resin, and other sticky substances. When you throw a tanglefoot bag at a creature (as a ranged touch attack with a range increment of 10 feet), the bag comes apart and goo bursts out, entangling the target and then becoming tough and resilient upon exposure to air. An entangled creature takes a –2 penalty on attack rolls and a –4 penalty to Dexterity and must make a DC 15 Reflex save or be glued to the floor, unable to move. Even on a successful save, it can move only at half speed. Huge or larger creatures are unaffected by a tanglefoot bag. A flying creature is not stuck to the floor, but it must make a DC 15 Reflex save or be unable to fly (assuming it uses its wings to fly) and fall to the ground. A tanglefoot bag does not function underwater.

A creature that is glued to the floor (or unable to fly) can break free by making a DC 17 Strength check or by dealing 15 points of damage to the goo with a slashing weapon. A creature trying to scrape goo off itself, or another creature assisting, does not need to make an attack roll; hitting the goo is automatic, after which the creature that hit makes a damage roll to see how much of the goo was scraped off. Once free, the creature can move (including flying) at half speed. If the entangled creature attempts to cast a spell, it must make a concentration check with a DC of 15 + the spell's level or be unable to cast the spell. The goo becomes brittle and fragile after 2d4 rounds, cracking apart and losing its effectiveness.