GM Lari's Labyrinth of Hungry Ghosts (Core) (Inactive)

Game Master Dhenn

Reflex Save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16

This is the second time I've seen this 'hungry mist with undead lurking inside' configuration in PFS! Its a popular combo =)

Did the mists movement provoke an attack of opportunity from Doubtful? (walked floated right past him)

Doubtful steps forward frowning, waving one hand at the cloying mists, trying to keep it out of his face, and the other slashing at it more emphatically, hoping to disperse it more permanently.

Will vs Fear: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (2) + 9 = 11 uh oh... not sure what happens if I fail

Flurry1: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20, for 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9 damage.
Flurry2: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16, for 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8 damage.

His fists count as magical weapons, as long as he has any ki points left

If you don't take damage from the mist, are you still staggered? The wight would have been staggered too if not, yes? Gotta be a reason they keep using this combo =)

Reflex: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22.

Did I hit the fog?

With a kirk-shoulder-roll, Wyatt lithely dodges out of the way.

Ragnar controlling the wight, Jair draws her wand of bless and uses it.

May the blessing of the Gray Master help you on this fight

+1 moral bonus to attack and on will save against fear effects

Reflex: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22 Ragnar smiles as the wight complies. "Stand to the side for now. Do nothing else until I command thee."

Will: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

Dunkel shrugs off the sight of the fog, fearing nothing about this room.

"Ahl'right foggy! Less see how ye dodge a dwarven axe!"

As he steps up, he nearly bumps into Ragnar. At this, he coughs into the back of his hand.

"Hrmmm Hahhh! Jess a step t' th' left, cousin?"

Assuming Ragnar takes a 5ft step on his action to make room, Dunkel will swing. Otherwise, he'll delay.

Swift to arcane strike, as well.

Waraxe 2H, Power, Arcane Strike: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25 for 1d10 + 12 ⇒ (7) + 12 = 19

Ragnar so moves.

Doubtful, yes you can take an AOO, but it's going down either way. Undead hiding in the hungry fog is called out as a tactic in the bestiary entry for the monster. I'm not 100% sure if they're supposed to be staggered as well, or if that's considered part of the negative energy that doesn't harm it. Fortunately, you have necromancers to make the question academic.

Wyatt, you did hit. This has an AC in the typically low ooze range.

Everyone leaps out of the way of the fog, quickly hacking and punching at it until it dissipates.

Out of combat thanks to commanding the wight.

Examining the room reveals a large portion of the wall missing, plummeting into dark water a great distance below.

The dead body of a Kellid man lies in the far corner. Jaohn rushes up to him, shouting and sobbing in Celestial.

A small box, about twelve inches wide, six wide, and six tall, lies near him. A candle, potion, and small coin purse lie within. The box and candle both detect as magical, as does the potion. The man wears a suit of masterwork hide armor, a masterwork composite longbow, and two quivers containing a total of 40 arrows. His masterwork longspear lies on the floor near his body.

Doubtful frowns at Joahd, as the man weeps over the dead body in the corner.

"Friend of his?" He ponders absently, not at all impressed by the man's paladin credentials to this point.

Keep an eye on the guy, in case he's trying to do something sneaky with the body disguised as grief! Perception: 1d20 + 12 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 12 + 2 = 15

This the crocodile wrestling guy? Is there any indication on how this fellow died? Wondering if we're going to have to worry about him rising up as a ghoul or wight or something in the immediate future.

Once he's sure the man isn't up to any immediate no good (though sure its just a matter of time), he takes a peak over the precipice down into the darkness below.

"Whole place probably's gonna slough off down there soon enough." He mutters. "That the way down?" He asks a moment later, fearing the answer.

He then turns his attention to the other (undead) elephant in the room, looking at the wight as if expecting it to try start chewing on them any moment.

Hmm... it spoke common! Perhaps it knows some handy info if its been here a while. Might even have seen the others!

Wyatt breathes a sigh of relief when the Fog dissipates.

"Well, I am glad that is over!"

He then turns to regard Joahd.

Wyatt sighs.

"We should keep moving; I dare say that the longer we stay here, the more likely this place will overcome us..."

"You do not need to worry too much, Jaohd. We shall bring him back to the Grand Lodge, so he should be brought back soon. I am sorry that such steps are necessary, though."

She begins going over the magical items found on the man's person. She stops, realizing she needed permission first, and turns to Jaohd.

"I hope you do not mind if we borrow these for the time being? They might help us in rescuing your team."

Spellcraft (box): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (17) + 11 = 28
Spellcraft (candle): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (19) + 11 = 30
Spellcraft (potion): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15
Perception to Identify Potion by Taste: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

Casting Mage Armor from wand as well as False Life
False Life: 1d10 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

We will give him proper funerals once our mission is over. Or a least once we recover the Orb of Stars. We need to find it within two days. Then we will have two weeks to explore the rest of the Tomb.

Says Jaïr.

Ragnar walks over to the wight, studying it. "Remain here. Harm no one for seven days. After that, ye may be free."

Guys, I am coordinating a local con this weekend, so I will be unavailable Friday - Monday. Should be human again by Tuesday.

Dunkel takes a look at his axe, ensuring it hasn't been damaged by the "hungry" mist that he swung it through.

"Ach, looks good."

He then takes a couple steps over to Ragnar and Jair's newest "friend". He doesn't reach out and touch it or get too close.

"So, tha's it then? e'll jess stand 'ere seven days, and then start lookin' t' eat th' next foolish Pathfinder tha' comes upon this place?"

Dunkel rubs his beard.

"Ah guess 's no worse than sendin' green crews t' th' Red Redoubt t' train... but wights are right nasty if th' group innae prepared for 'em..."

Jair turns to Ragnar and says What a waist to let it rot here without purpose ! My dear Ragnar, I suggest to use it as our rogue. To disable the inevitable traps we will encounter during our exploration.

"Wouldna be fair to kill a helpless foe. He'll stay here and the next group what comes down will have to be as cunning as we. Fair's fair."

"No way I want that thing sitting around at our backs." Doubtful says, with some alarm. "This place will sure to wrest control back and send him to jump us from behind."

"And leaving it to attack the next person is just as bad."

He gives Ragnar a dirty look.

"This place is bad enough without encouraging it."

When Jair suggests actually teaming up with it, his alarm grows. "That's even worse! Dispose of it and be done. Rather make this place safer, not more dangerous."

Heh, our home group has a rule for necromancy types. No self propagating undead allowed!

You don't want to question it? It might know what lays ahead, or about the other group, or how Joahd escaped, or what killed his dead guy here, etc. Hell it could be hundreds of years old! =)

Why strong Doubtful ? I prefer this creature taking the hit of a trap rather than one of us.

Says Jair

"Look where we are?!" He says, shocked. "This place is sure to have more control that any of us."

He glares with concern at the creature in question, clearly more worried about it than any traps.

"All the traps will probably heal him... and then get us anyway!" He adds, morosely.

Heh. Both Jair and Ragnar will know that this wight will get a new save tomorrow, and every day after that. We might still be in here tomorrow! Seems very unlikely it will be controlled for 2 days, much less 7

And of course some concern about something wresting control away... ie: if we run into an undead clerical type or the like. Ragnar in an opposed charisma check isn't a great bet! =)

What if we run into more undead things, and someone wants to control them? Ragnar is already at his HD limit.... so this one would get set free if he wanted to control another.

Just say no to level draining undead!

Imrana nods along with Doubtful.

"Indeed. We either take it along with us to have it help us fight its kind or we return it to the Boneyard right now."

I'm completely with Doubtful on this one, both in-character and out.

Wait, that can't be right! =)

I know, right! Haha

Items
On closer examination, the box has the words Old Flotsam carved on one side. Imrana identifies it as a folding boat. The candle is a Candle of Spirit Protection, and the potion is Heroism-flavored.

Wight
Most if not all you recognize that the wight is intelligent, which means that he won't do anything obviously suicidal, but he will work with you as best he can otherwise. So far, it seems like Jair and Ragnar want to keep him, while Doubtful and Ragnar are both in favor of killing it. I'll let the other two weigh in, and hopefully a consensus will emerge.

Jaohd/Dead Body

From Here
Once everything with the wight and such is settled, there's a door that leads into the Labyrinth itself (assuming you don't want to try the 420 foot drop to water jagged rocks below). Navigating the labryinth is abstracted to a Knowledge (Dungeoneering) or Survival check. Your result determines how long it takes to arrive at your destination. You cannot take 10 or 20, but you can aid another.

Skimming your stablocks, it looks like Dungeoneering is probably the best option, with Ragnar as your primary, though I'm willing to handle it however you like.

Oh, the folding boat! Was kinda assuming our last boat is going to get stolen while we're down here =) So a backup is handy

Heal: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15

For the forray into the labyrinth section: Aid another being a DC 10... does this mean we can attempt to assist on the Knowledge (dungeoneering) checks, even if untrained?

OOC: I'm very against having a wight companion... or leaving it behind us... because the numbers just don't work out in our favor!
IC: Doubtful is against it too, but that's because he assumes everything is going to turn out badly ... but will easily fold to whatever decision is made.

GM, a bit back, you mentioned a doorway chopped up and an adamantine sword... what became of that? Seemed kinda of lost in mix. Did we pick it up at least? Or determine who's it was?

I think it did get lost in the shuffle. The door is the one that led down here. You know Jaohd had a magical longsword that is supposed to be effective against incorporeal creatures. This blade was nonmagical, though.

The only problem is, that as soon as we attack the wight, it will definitely fight back, something I would prefer to avoid. Keeping it around would be something akin to walking around holding a pin-less grenade; potentially useful, but also quite dangerous.

Wyatt frowns, before letting the others know:

"I asked Jaohd who this body was," he says, gesturing to the fallen man, "but he specifically dodged the question, simply urging me to take the body to the surface for a proper burial. Surely he would know the names of his companions? Something is definitely not right here..."

"It's intelligent. And it's helpless. I canna kill it. It's wrong. Leavin' it here will keep it out of the way and not for harmin' us."

Imrana's face scrunched up in confusion at the concept of it being wrong to destroy undead.

"It is a soul trapped on the material plane by foul magic. It is unable to go to its rightful place in the afterlife. It cannot be allowed to remain in this state unatended, especially since it is capable of spreading its foul curse. Both Pharasma and the Lady of Graves demand it. If you were planning to temporarily use it to fight and destroy itself against other undead, that would be fine. But even that would be bad with a wight, as wights would empower any undead they strike.

Not leaving an undead to possibly run rampant or fall into the control of another necromancer. If the consensus goes the other way, I'll go along in the name of cooperation.

Ah I didn't expect to check in to find 14 posts about the wight. Now I need to really think on what Dunkel would do. As a player, I'm not opposed to putting a wight to work, but what does Dunkel think...

Dunkel squints at Ragnar's newest friend.

"So, yer a wight now iss'it? Does ye wish to be released so yer soul can go t' it's proper place? Or would ye like t' be given a shot t' help a Pathfindin' team investigate about this place?"

Dunkel treats the wight a bit like someone speking in a language he cannot understand, unnecessarily adding, "CAN YE UNDERSTAND MEH, WIGHTY?"

Heal DC19: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12 Jair check the corpse but is unable to understand what happened to him.

May be Jaohd is right, it could be better to burn... to give proper burial to the corpse. I remember that Whight could create spawn when they kill another humanoid creature. May be this one could rise as one too.
As for the Whight Ragnar control. I would prefer to use it at our conveniance. It's an ally for one day and as we have two days to recover the Orb of Stars a good motivation to find it quickly.
But, I prefer not to let it wandering here. If a third team of Pathfinders is send here I would prefer they don't find such creature waiting.
Use it or destroy it, that's my motto. But Dunkel's question is good, let's the wight talk.

@Dunkel, aid another could only help if you can match the DC. If the DC of the roll is higher than 10 you can't help with a untrained knowledge check.
The same apply with diplomacy (or any other skill) if the DC is superior to what you can achieve with a 20.

@GM Lari is Survival not a better choice ? At least if it's not for tracking, everybody could help.

Wyatt shrugs, surprised that no-one is interested in the fact that Jaohd doesn't seem to know the name of his former companion, and is trying to avoid attention to this fact, and continues on his way.

Knowledge(Dungeoneering): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24.

Aid, Knowledge Dungeoneering: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (18) + 10 = 28

Ragnar sighs. "Let's jes' leave it here. All creatures wish ta continue existin'. It willna harm us."

"Only cause you're mind controllin' it." Doubtful mutters, giving Ragnar a suspicious glare.

"Second its free, it will be chewin' on our faces, sure enough."

"Leaving it here just means it will take a bit to catch up first. Maybe time to gather... or create... some friends."

At that last, he starts looking around with a worried frown, wondering where those friends are at this very moment.

He clearly wants to be well away from it, whatever the case.

Can I just drop kick it into the chasm? =) Bull Rush!: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27

Jair, to aid, the DC is a 10. The question was if we can Aid untrained, not make the main check.

@Doubtful no, you must be able to make the check to aid.
If you have +5 to your skill, you can aid up to 25. Sometime scenario tells you other thing, but to help you must be able to reach the score.

I agree with Doubtful on that, letting the creature alone here is not a good solution.

"I will not destroy it, not while it is held under my command. If you wish to, I will release it and grant it its freedom. No creature should die under such control. Say the word and I will relinquish control." Ragnar looks troubled by the idea of cruelty or violence to the enslaved.

In the interest of actually moving forward, can we just truss the thing up in the corner? So when it does break free, it at least can't come after us? =)

though I still think Doubtful could have just pushed it off the ledge! I think I got 15' of movement on that check! =)

Navigation: Im going to say Dungeoneering will require training if you're assisting. You have more opportunities for assistance with Survival, but higher bonuses with Dungeoneering. I'm taking the dungeoneering for now, but should it come up again we can do whicher people prefer.

Our undead friend:I think that if you do actually end up trying to kill it, we will need to do that out in proper initiative and everything, as it's smart enough not to sit there and get murdered. With or without it...

The stonework changes abruptly, dull gray stone giving way to smooth black marble.

Though the marble is seamless and unadorned, shadows skitter across its surface—moving faster when viewed out of the corner of the eye. These ephemeral shapes and spectral wisps occasionally take on vague humanoid forms with horror-stricken faces. Somewhere in the distance, a low growling sound echoes from deeper within the tomb. Jaohd points out a passage and urges you to follow.

As you continue along, you hear another growling noise behind you. Turning around, what was once a long straight hallway now is a dead end. After about one hour of having hallways turn, appear, and disappear in the corner of your eye, the hallway ends abruptly at a finely carved wooden door.

Map and updated description will come later tonight.

I'm fine if Doubtful knocked it off the ledge and we handwave it such that we roleplayed it out for quite a bit more afterwards doing "damage control" between the party on the proper handling.

Dunkel rubs his hands together upon finally discovering the door.

"Ahl'right! A door! Ah told ye all we should've jess dug straight through here, although that may've taken a wee bit longer."

It won't obey suicidal commands, for sure, but I'm guessing it wouldn't be able to complain if we just tied it up before we left? =)

Doubtful's mood only gets gloomier the further they go.

Unable to help with the dungeoneering through evil hallways, he has little else to do but keep an eye out for trouble... but he seems to keep getting distracted by the horrific walls and worries about the wight sneaking up behind them and the labyrinth that seems to be actively shutting them off from the surface.

"How the hell did he get out of this?" Doubtful muses with a glare at the paladin. "We're gonna be stuck here forever." He adds despondently.

Once they see a door, Doubtful will renew the mage armor that Imrana cast on him earlier, as it will have worn out during the trip!
He'll ask Imrana to use his wand this time, to speed up the process.

"He remember what's behind that?" He asks Wyatt, with a suspicious glare at Joahd. "Or he conveniently forget that too, like speaking proper... or his teammates' names."

He takes a moment to examine the door (thankfull that it doesn't have a disembodied tortured face silently screaming back at him) including listening for such screams from the far side.

Perception: 1d20 + 12 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 12 + 2 = 29

Assuming it seems ok, once the others are ready, he will lead the way by opening said door.

Imrana walks up to Doubtful, channels some of her diviner's insight into her hand, then taps him on the shoulder.

"Since you are in front and you are our primary melee combatant at the moment, it seems only fair to give you some extra insight for the time being."

Diviner's Fortune, you have a +2 insight bonus on all of your attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and saving throws for 1 round

Will DC17: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24

What do we have here? Knowledge Religion I'm guessing? (Dunkel has pretty much the same bonus to all Knowledge skills if it's something else)

Know (Religion): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22

Dunkel swallows hard at the sight of the ghostly dance and works to protect himself against whatever attacks may come his way, trusting his allies to enter shortly.

Move in. Cast Shield.

Will: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 4 + 2 = 25.

Wyatt wanders into the room, and for a moment, feels an overwhelming urge to dance... before he realises that he doesn't know how to.

He then shrugs, hugs the wall next to Dunkel, and takes a pot-shot at Blue.

+1 Mighty[+2] Composite Longbow: 1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 7 + 1 = 19, for 1d8 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 3 + 1 = 10 damage.

And look... an immediate save to use Imrana's boon on!

Doubtful leads the way in, a look of consternation on his face at the strange ghostly banquet, clearly reliving some traumatic event from his past.

Will Save: 1d20 + 9 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 9 + 2 + 2 = 15

Son of a... I need a 4 or higher. Does this happen to count as a spell or spell-like ability?! That'd give me 2 more, and a success!

"This can't be good." He manages to mutter, before one of the ghostly figures reaches out one hand to him, and his complaint trails off replaced by a look of confusion.

"But I can't dance." He mutters in protest. "I mean I don't wanna ... I don't ... I ... I ..."

Doubtful dancing? Pretty sure I'm never getting out of a perform check with a -3 charisma bonus =)
I shall use the Inner Struggle boon from a couple scenarios back (Between The Lines) that allows me to try to fight off a compulsion effect!

He takes one hesitant step forward, before suddenly freezing in place, clearly at war with himself in his head.

stunned instead, until the end of my next turn, and I get a new save at the end of my turn!

Will Save 2: 1d20 + 9 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 9 + 2 = 20 after having some time to ruminate on his dancing skills, Doubtful will eventually decide otherwise! Stunned for now though.

Will: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11 plus 2 if spell or SLA

"Why yes, I ken dance if I want to. I ken leave my friends behind..." Ragnar begins to two-step, feeling it's safer to dance.

Dunkel recognizes the most substantial creatures as ectoplasmic creatures, formerly human from their appearance. Slashing weapons are most effective against them, and they resist cold and electricity damage. They are not incorporeal creatures, despite appearing ghostly.

They are constantly under the effects of air walk, and can pass through solid objects, leaving a strange residue behind. Their attacks leave a film of the mucus-like substance as well, which can be profoundly unsettling to their victims.

Wyatt's arrow sinks into the creature's flesh, though the ectoplasm provides some resistance.

Doubtful retreats to his happy place. Or perhaps a place where he can worry about things in peace.

The one Wyatt shot giides toward him. It's attack is graceful but inaccurate.

Slam, Charge: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 4 + 2 = 12

Blue: 5

Ragnar and Jair are up. Delaying Green to streamline initiative.

Jair moves in

Will save: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (11) + 10 = 21 and resists to the urge to dance.

She stay at Doubtful's right, just behind Dunkel and having drawing her wand of bless uses it to help her comrades.

Be bless by the Gray Maste.

Bless : +1 moral bonus to attack and to will save against fear effects.

Know. Religion: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23 are these things undead ?

@GM Lari: Ragnar acted - he moved in, and failed his Will save.

Ragnar might need to dance 20' still

Ragnar still has a standard available. I also put blue on initiative twice and forgot red, so updated initiative below:

And yes, Jair, intelligent undead.

Two more ectoplasmic people swoop in to take advantage of Ragnar's dancing, both battering him about as his translucent partner spins and dips him.

Red Charge: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 4 + 2 = 24
Dam: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
Green: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16
Dam: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

Jaohd rushes in, though as he crosses the threshold, his stride turns into leaps and pirouettes, decidedly more graceful than Ragnar. One of the creatures smacks him, but he continues, seemingly headed towards the sword. I'm not 100% sure where the fireplace is supposed to be, but I'm going to say its the raised area in the corner.

W: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12
AOO Green: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18
Dam: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
AOO Blue: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5