GM Kiora's Wrath of the Righteous

Game Master Kiora Atua

"If you're sure, I'll go in with them. I just hope he's not prepared against invisible enemies." She nods at Isilme, willing to give the plan a shot. "Just be ready to move if you hear fighting."

"Don't worry, I'll be right behind you. The magic won't last long, so I'll be coming down on the count of 12 or as soon as fighting starts," she says, placing a hand on Valaria's shoulder and smiling. She begins to focus, preparing to cast the spell just as the others are finishing their way down the stairs.

Markus bluff: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19
Ary bluff: 1d20 ⇒ 19
Hrut bluff: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15
Faxon Sense Motive: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24

Initiative Rolls
Markus: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (9) - 1 = 8
Valaria: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13
Hrut: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22
Ehren: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19
Ary: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15
Isilme: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23
Faxon: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13

As Hrut and Ary walk down into the dark, Hrut activates his glowing ioun stone to illuminate the basement. Valaria follows, invisible.

Faxon spots Markus' hands snaked around his scroll almost instantly. "...What is the meaning of this, Templar?"

Surprise Round!
1. Hrut
2. Ary
3. Faxon
4. Valaria
5. Markus

Initiative Order
1. Isilme
2. Hrut
3. Ehren
4. Ary
5. Faxon
6. Markus

Botting Hrut/Ary until they're back from f2f.

Hrut opens combat. He draws his new warhammer and charges in a fluid motion. He maintains his waltz, moving fluidly and quickly across the room. His daring and ferocious swing crashes into Faxon, who is unprepared for him to charge at him so suddenly. Ary follows, drawing Radiance. It is currently not glowing, the blade glinting the light of Hrut's ioun torch instead as it arcs into Faxon's back, leaving a long, deep slice. He grits his teeth, and staggers back.

"Fools!" he points a long finger at Hrut. "Lay down, you big brute." Hrut's eyes roll back into his head, and he collapses onto the ground, fast asleep.

Hrut charge: 1d20 + 8 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 8 + 2 = 21
Hrut damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
Ary charge: 1d20 + 8 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 8 + 2 = 15
Ary damage: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7
Hrut will save vs Slumber hex (mind-affecting): 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 5 + 2 = 9

Hrut and Ary deal 14 damage to Faxon, grazing him. Faxon slumber hexes Hrut.

Battlemap is up.

Valaria is up.

Will 30' move get me to where Val is when it's my turn?

Nope, you have 80 ft of stairs to go down

Val closes in quickly, but tries to step lightly so he doesn't realize there's another combatant to worry about. She draws one of her daggers as she moves, lining up her shot for the opportune moment.

Stealth (Vanished): 1d20 + 6 + 20 ⇒ (14) + 6 + 20 = 40

Markus begins to read the scroll in his hands, pointing at Faxon while he does so. He wills the man's eyes to glaze over, so that he would be robbed of sight. There would be no spellcasting from him if he couldn't pick out targets.

Watching Hrut fall so easily make him quite concerned - a witch, if allowed to cast willy-nilly could incapacitate them all quickly.

Use a scroll of blindness/deafness, DC 16 Fortitude save negates. Choosing blindness, by the way.

Faxon doesn't realize that Valaria is there.

Markus unfurls his scroll that was special-made by Aitha. He finds that in the bottom right corner, she has signed, "Remember who made ya this! - Aitha" - she dots her i's with hearts.

Faxon fort save (grazed): 1d20 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (12) + 4 - 1 = 15

Faxon's golden eyes gloss over milky-white - he is blind. He screams.

Round 1

Isilme is up.

Isilme heads down the stairs quickly, hoping to make it down before the others finish off Faxon.

Double move down the stairs

Hrut is asleep on the ground.

Ehren is up.

Hearing Faxon's scream, Ehren throws the unconscious cultists a glance before starting down the stairs as quickly as he can.

Double move down stairs - assuming triple time is still up?

Triple time is not up :)

Ehren makes it halfway down the stairs - he cannot descend them as quickly as Isilme.

Ary moves forwards to act as a shield for her allies, Radiance in hand. She stabs forward, but Faxon flinches and rolls out of the way - he is blind so it was pure dumb luck. Radiance smashes through a bookshelf, and books go falling all over the ground.

Faxon growls, trying to cast a spell, but the noise of Ary's missed swing distracts him and his spell is lost. His scorpion takes advantage of the confusion to hide amidst the fallen books, creeping out of Ary's sight until it crawls back up to Faxon's shoulder. It makes a strange chittering noise - but can Faxon understand it?

Radiance vs Faxon: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9
Fumble?: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25
Faxon cast defensively (grazed): 1d20 + 13 - 1 ⇒ (7) + 13 - 1 = 19
Scorpion stealth: 1d20 + 24 ⇒ (8) + 24 = 32

Valaria is up.

Not sure I can actually move where I want to. If not, I can try to get somewhere else.

Val leaps forward, realizing that she's not going to get a clean shot with her dagger. Her starknife whips around as she appears from nowhere next to Faxon and delivers a quick slash.

Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12
Damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

You're good.

Valaria gracefully swings her starknife and lunges it into the other tiefling's exposed belly.

Valaria deals 6 damage to Faxon.

Markus is up.

Markus pulls out his wand and points it at Faxon. "We should use our advantage to take him alive! Blind men can't exactly run for safety." He addresses the blind tiefling witch. "Stop fighting, Faxon, and we'll let you live. You can't win - not blind, surrounded by enemies and with your allies all incapacitated."

Diplomacy?: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12

Faxon chuckles. "You're not bringing me in alive, mage." He is prepared to die.

Round 2

Isilme is up.

Isilme rounds the corner and calls out to her allies, bolstering them with words of support.

Forgot I've got my game as well. Single move and Inspire Courage, +1 hit/damage, +1 sv vs fear

Hrut still lays on the ground, sleeping.

Ehren is up.

Ehren is 40' down the stairs.

Ehren continues his way down the stairway, unable to reach Faxon with most of his magic.

Another double move.

Ehren moves down the stairway slowly.

Ary is up.

Ary looks to the man, then back to Hrut, then back to the man. She has a clear shot; she should take it...

But instead, she nudges Hrut awake with her foot; no sense in letting everyone fall asleep, and letting him fumble his way into a Howler Den.

Moved Ary 5 ft step so she can reach Hrut

Faxon concentration (grazed): 1d20 + 13 - 1 ⇒ (14) + 13 - 1 = 26
Faxon miss chance vs Valaria (high success): 1d100 ⇒ 96
Faxon melee touch (grazed): 1d20 + 1 - 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 - 1 = 8

Faxon draws back his hand, conjuring a spell into his grasp at last. He lunges forward at Valaria, who last attacked him, but the nimble woman dodges out of the way nimbly.

Valaria is up.

Val sways back to avoid his magic, then retaliates with another quick trust.

Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7
Uh Oh (Fumble): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Her over confidence at the man's condition causes her to horribly overextend her strike, but she manages to steady herself before she hurts herself.

Valaria misses horribly.

Markus is up.

Not that it mattered for Val, but don't forget your +1/+1 from inspire courage :p

Oops. It wouldn't have mattered, but I won't forget next time.

Markus presses his lips into a thin line. "Only Ary gets to call me "mage" instead of my name." He fires a pair of missiles at the man, seeing Valaria fumble with injuring him further. "Still, we will take you alive."

Magic Missiles: 2d4 + 2 ⇒ (2, 3) + 2 = 7

Markus' magic missiles slam into Faxon's chest, breaking a rib.

Markus deals 7 damage to Faxon, wounding him.

Round 3

Isilme is up.

Isilme moves quickly up to where the others are fighting Faxon and, stepping past Valaria, works her way to his side. As she closes, she draws her rapier.
Double Move and draw weapon

Y'all make me google the weirdest things, but according to this bondage website I found, you need 25 feet of rope to tie up someone at least. So how about 2 people with that ;)

OMG did I miss some $hit yesterday? 96 posts and 29 discussion, but that is awesome! Still reading...

Isilme moves closer...

Hrut is up

Hrut's eyes open from the nudge, What...? quickly gathering his surroundings he stands up and steps over to tiefling, barely visible wings moving with him, almost appearing to help him up,

Take him alive...

Hrut gets to his feet quickly and smashes into the mans face with the top of his warhammer like a punch, and the side of his shield following. Each attack with a tiny flash of dim light and a sound of dull metal just on the edge of perception.

Stand, 5' Step, Flurry Strike, Bronze Knuckle

Warhammer/damage: 1d20 + 8 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (8) + 8 + 1 - 4 = 131d8 + 4 + 1 + 2d6 ⇒ (8) + 4 + 1 + (4, 4) = 21 +1 inspire courage, -4 nonlethal

Shield/Damage: 1d20 + 7 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (11) + 7 + 1 - 4 = 151d6 + 4 + 1 + 1 + 2d6 ⇒ (5) + 4 + 1 + 1 + (2, 1) = 14 +1 inspire courage, -4 nonlethal, +1 trait damage

"Put me to sleep..." Hrut shakes his head to finish getting the sleep out of his head.

Hrut slams into the blind man, holding back enough to not kill Faxon, but brutally knocking him out all the same.

The tiefling crumples to the ground, unconscious.

Combat ends

"Uh... well then. Okay." Ary says looking at the now broken heap. "Guess that's one more to take back. This is gonna get heavy before long.." she looks over the books she spilled all over the floor. "Well, Avi will be glad when we bring as much of this back as we can." she says as she overlooks the rest of the room. "I wonder if the old man is a friend or a foe..? Or if we have anything else to worry about here?" she says, looking Ehren-ward.

"Okay... well that worked nicely big guy." Val shakes herself and drags Faxon out to the middle of the room. She quickly searches his body, looking for anything important on his person. "Hopefully the wizard is a friend, or at the very least not an enemy. I'm guessing he's in the next room over there."

Valaria finds on Faxon...

• A wand
  DC 17 spellcraft:

  CMW with 9 charges
  
  
• A morningstar (6 lb)
  
• 3 keys - one large and iron, one small and iron, one small and bronze
  
• 29 gp
  

I want to know what you guys pick up from him and the cultists upstairs. Also, who is carrying what. Put them muleback cords to work :P

Holding up his hands in a 'what else' kind of motion when everyone complains about another prisoner, even if it is the MAIN guy here(as far as he knows),

"Who is watching the tied up cultists upstairs? I am not opposed to killing one of them and having the witch take his place, the would do worse to us..." Hrut says quickly recalling his previous escape experience.

Too bad that mail is so ugly, maybe I can commission someone to 'fix' it...

Load me up, I have no idea what my inventory looks like lmao!

I should really start preparing longstider, Ehren thinks exasperatedly as he finally reaches the bottom of the stairs, just in time to see Faxon fall. Glancing to each of his comrades, pleasantly surprised to see that none of them were really harmed. Hrut did look a little groggy, though.

"Didn't... a woman ask for the password?" he asks, his eyes appraising the room.

Figure it's some magicky stuff, but go go paranoia. :P

EDIT:

Ehren then tries to identify the wand, but fails.
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15

Ary has rope ;) So you can tie up Faxon AND the old man prisoner if you wish.

"Didn't... a woman ask for the password?" he asks, his eyes appraising the room.

Upstairs, an unconscious woman is tied up with rope.

:)

Whoops. She wasn't in the room when we entered, so it didn't cross my - or Ehren's, apparently - mind. :P

"No... we're only a little way from the Heart. We shouldn't kill anyone, and should just bring who we can back. It'd be senseless to stoop to their level." Ary says, quietly.

"I'll carry what I can, but we need to focus on what's ahead." she nods her head towards the closed door. "He mentioned an old man that isn't supposed to be killed... dunno whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. I don't like the idea of tying him up only to find out he's a friend... but I'm worried about bringing yet another person along the way. Think this guy's friend is the same guy from the church?" she motions to the now-blind man who lies on the ground unceremoniously.

She probably preceded our arrival by going to tell her boss while the other guy stayed up top to welcome us.

Val takes Faxon's purse and empties it into her own shared money pouch (adding it to my party funds purse for the moment) then grabs his key ring. "Now we're getting somewhere." She heads over to the door against the wall and checks to see if it's open.

I'll also take one of the CLW potions from upstairs if no one else needs one.

"We will see what he has to say, first," Ehren remarks, nodding in agreement with Ary. "The enemy of our enemy is not necessarily our friend."

"Tie, gag him, hood him, let the lie sniffer sort it out. 'Better to ask for forgiveness than permission'... or maybe easier... whichever, regardless that is not negotiable, he has to be completely secured, if he is that powerful he could easily overwhelm us."

Valaria finds that the large iron key matches the door. She opens it, revealing the second half of the circular basement.

The other room has been outfitted with numerous demonic decorations. The green glass lanterns hanging on the walls give the room an eerie glow. A brazen minotaur head hangs from one wall above an altar covered in bloodstained wavy-bladed knives and curved bulls' horns, while pentagram-shaped symbols in red decorate the other walls. A large wooden chest sits near the right wall. Across from it is an unconscious, bound and shackled human man. He wears a uniform similar to the Riftwarden orphans' - blue and purple, with white fur trimming. He is very old -sixties or seventies.

The room exudes a palpable aura of evil - though Markus does not sense it.

Val opens the door carefully and shivers as the sense of dread washes over her. "Calistra's C*nt! What is wrong with this place?" She steps back from the still open door, unwilling to enter the room without knowing what the sense of outright evil is coming from. Her eyes shot over to the captive man, apparently a Rift Warden. Perhaps he was an acquaintance of Aravashnial. "Kul. Is something awful going to happen if we go in there and save him?"

Markus scoffs and frowns at what Hrut says. "Tie and gag an old man, suffering at the hands of demon worshippers? You're starting to sound like Liotr. And speaking of Liotr.."

He looks between his allies, his orange gaze appraising each of them. "He's who they go to when we turn them into prisoners. If we can carry them. And protect them. And prevent them from getting away. And prevent them from getting loose in Defender's Heart and hurting more innocent people. I mean, what do you mean when you say "Stoop to their level"? Do you want me to wake each of them up so that they can stand and fight you before you'll kill them?"

As for the old man, Markus steps into the room and feels nothing particularly untoward. "Hm."

Knowledge (arcana): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20

"No idea, but it doesn't seem to be affecting me. I should be fine in here. Must be something with negative energy."

Ehren frowns at Hrut, and then at Markus, but says nothing. Half of what the the dhampir said was why he had brought up the possibility of killing them in the first place. The other half... he had not even thought of. What exactly were Liotr's methods for getting prisoners to talk? The druid shifts uncomfortably, glancing back up at the stairway. The aura around the room, permeated with evil, did not exactly help.

"What Hrut said before is right - someone should go back up to watch the others. I would do it, but... he looks like he might need some medical attention," he says, looking at the old man.

Val turns to Markus. "If it's not effecting you, can you go in and pull him out? Carefully. We don't want to hurt him or set off any kind of trap, but leaving him in there is completely unacceptable. Actually, hold on one second." She gets as close to the door as she dares and scans the room for any obvious threats or tricks to keep out intruders.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26