GM Parrot's The Ferry and the Depths: Rappan Athuk (Inactive)

Game Master parrot familiar

Aurora loads, aims, and fires her crossbow for mister (or ms., or mx.) D28.

Crossbow Attack: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 6 + 1 = 25
Crossbow Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 3

Aurora nails it--it falls unconscious!

One remains!

Tragershen drops whip, draws a vial from his pack, and casts a spell at the remaining ogre.

Drop whip, ready acid, cast acid splash.
Ranged touch attack 1d20 + 6 - 4 ⇒ (13) + 6 - 4 = 15
Damage 1d3 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

SPLORT! The final ogre inches closer and closer to the grave.

Terapin and/or Bedlam may act!

Bedlam grins at the remaining Ogre!
Feral Mutagen claw, power attack, heroism, bless: 1d20 + 10 - 2 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 10 - 2 + 2 + 1 = 211d6 + 5 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 5 + 4 = 14
Feral Mutagen claw power attack, heroism, bless: 1d20 + 10 - 2 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 10 - 2 + 2 + 1 = 301d6 + 5 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 5 + 4 = 15
Feral Mutagen bite power attack, heroism, bless: 1d20 + 10 - 2 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 10 - 2 + 2 + 1 = 241d8 + 5 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 5 + 4 = 13

Bedlam ends the last of the ogres. Its bits fly in various directions and there's a horrible mess all over the room.

Combat OVAH

And so the party finds themselves in a blood-soaked side room full of dead ogres.

Wandering Monster Check: 1d20 ⇒ 9

They can poke around at their leisure.

"We should make sure these ogres cannot be used by the priests of Orcus. They would make formidable zombies, and we have reason to believe a temple is nearby." I suppose I could spam acid splash if no one has a better idea.

Tragershen will cast detect magic, and use it to search the room and the remains for any magical auras. After that, he'll help the others in a mundane search of the place.

You find a storage closet that holds what appears to be an enormous potion labeled "SLEEP" in Giant. Oddly, it doesn't detect as magical. You find three rows of gold coins on the floor--two rows of 33 coins are all heads. One row of 34 coins is all tails. You also find a masterwork alchemical silver morning star. Otherwise, the wealth of the ogres seems to be mostly in dead and half-eaten rats, prepared inexpertly (much to Bedlam's disgust--no garlic, no salt, no nothin').

You also find a tunnel bored into the dirt and bedrock. It looks moderately stable and wide enough for a squeezing ogre or a normal sized human.

Bedlam snorts at the rat buffet.
Be stink'n amateurs! Be need'n sum guud spices!

The dwarf then steps into the natural tunnel to have a look see.
Darkvision 60'

Bedlam doesn't see anything suspicious, so he moseys on ahead (I happen to know he'll be safe here). He ends up in a mostly dirt room that has two interesting features: one is a very steeply ascending wall that vanishes into darkness. The other is a steeply descending slide that smells vaguely of ogre feces. A surprisingly strong breeze carries the odors to you and then up and out the higher wall.

From where you're standing, it's a difficult way up and a difficult way down, with air currents.

Bedlam decides to turn around and put as much distance as he can from the latrine!
Nutt'n ta see dere!

"The last latrine we searched turned out to be quite the treasure trove," Trag reminds Bedlam.

"And had a poo monster..." a weary Lolygert offers, taking the to off of the large sleep potion and taking a sniff...

Lolly knows the smell of strong brandy... this "sleep potion" is a wholesale-size bottle of top-shelf cognac.

Anzath tries to make sense of the coins arranged on the floor, but sense is something she feels lacking. She shakes her head and checks on Talathel instead.

"Anzath, if you're ready, shall we continue?" He gestures towards the door they came in.

Once we've gathered any valuables, checked for wounds, and tried to make sure the ogres are no good to any wandering necromancers, we'll go back out into the corridor. You mentioned there was a clump of three doors further down the hall; we'll go start checking those, beginning with the closest to us.

Seeing no traps on the next door, you pop it open. A broom is drearily sweeping up the broken pieces of yesterday's life. The room is perfectly clean, but the animated broom keeps brushing away at the stones.

Bedlam grunts.
Be need'n dat fer me home!

If Bedlam collects the broom, it will not resist. If he tells it to follow him, it will sweep its way along.

Also, Bedlam's never mentioned his home before. I can only imagine.

The next room is a carpentry workshop. You find sawn pine planks, nails, and hand tools. Everything you'd need to make a bookshelf, a table, or, by the looks of it--coffins. Whoever works here seems to specialize in coffins.

Bedlam begins sizing up the group; comparing them to the coffins....

"How pleasant. Perhaps we can replace the doors we've stolen," the suggestion is clearly a joke.

Anzath offers Tal a potion of CMW, then takes one herself. They support each other as they limp along behind the group.
Tal CMW: 2d8 + 3 ⇒ (3, 7) + 3 = 13
Anzath CMW: 2d8 + 3 ⇒ (2, 1) + 3 = 6

Since Terapin still has his dogs for about six and a half minutes, he's going to have them come with the group out into the hallway and into the rooms beyond if it took less time than that to feel out the ogre cave. Let me know when you think they'd expire?

Terapin waddles along behind the group, visibly perplexed by the coffin room. "Why though? Don't they just give the dead bodies jobs around here?"

Between Anzath, Talathel, and Lolygert, who looks the most injured?

Talathel gratefully accepts the potion and looks much refreshed afterwards, but he doesn't seem any less inclined to lean on Anzath's supportive shoulder.

BTW, Tal is still feeling sick IRL so I'll be botting him until he returns!

Terapin: the party's standard operating procedure is to move relatively slowly and cautiously, but not at stealth speeds, reflected by details like everyone getting to aid on every perception check. I'd say that a thorough detect-magic-and-loot routine as performed in the ogre room would at least take a few minutes, as would opening the next two doors. The hounds are probably pretty close to finished by now. If, in the future, you'd like to send them out scouting after combat until they wink out (or something else), that'd be fine with me. Also, after the potions, I think Lolly is the weakest by current HP, especially after rage ends.

For future reference, what's your raging/not raging HP, Lolly? Falling out of rage with 22 HP might mean you're looking pretty shaky right now.

The hound archons would definitely let you know before departing:

In canine-accented Truespeech, Bish and Rook report "We smell many rats behind the next door, and there are ghouls around here somewhere..."

Yeah, he's at 8 hp ! :) Raging he has 84, not raging 70.

Lolygert grabs the big bottle of brandy, making sure the stopper is properly sealed. Satisfied, he stuffs it into his pack, looking very pleased with himself.

He blinks in surprise as the too doggie-men speak, "Rats! Ghouls! Good boy's thanks for the warning! " the he stands awkwardly, wanting badly to rub the doggie-men's ears...

Aurora will pulse out a channel for the group.
Channel Positive Energy (Heal): 4d6 ⇒ (1, 1, 3, 1) = 6
She sighs. It's going to be one of those days.

She converts her second prayer to a cure serious wounds for Lolly.
Cure Serious Wounds: 3d8 ⇒ (8, 3, 2) = 13

Edit: Let's toss in another Channel Positive.
Channel Positive Energy (Heal): 4d6 ⇒ (4, 2, 6, 2) = 14

Everyone feels much better. The dogs will wink out in the next 30 seconds or so.

Anyone want to open the rat door?

Anzath thanks Aurora, and picks up her feet again to move back to the front of the line. She gives the rat door a cursory glance.
Check for trapz: 1d20 + 15 + 3 - 3 ⇒ (16) + 15 + 3 - 3 = 31

Bedlam watches the elf lass performance of excellence with a Me be know'n dat un! kind of look on his bearded face.

Anzath gives Bedlam a sideways glance as she checks the door. "Save it for de ratz, dwarf."

No trapz. Do you open it?

Talathel says, "Why so indecisive, everyone?"

He opens the door. Inside are the biggest dire rats you've ever seen--five enormous ratriarchs. They all have rows of baby rats suckling at their teats. They look at Talathel, but they don't attack or move.

Bedlam shrugs nonchalantly.
We no bother yous; yous no bother us?

Terapin would like to prepare an Ablative Barrier for Lolygert, but hold off on casting it unless the rats jump at him (or he them).

Anzath hesitates when seeing the momma rats behind the door. She peers under her arm to see D'mitri gnawing on rat jerky in his little sling. She looks back at Aurora with Nico on her shoulder. She wishes she could talk to these rats, which causes her to think outloud, "Vait... Vhere is druid and doggo?"

Bedlam shrugs nonchalantly.

We no bother yous; yous no bother us?

They no bother yous.

Anzath hesitates when seeing the momma rats behind the door. She peers under her arm to see D'mitri gnawing on rat jerky in his little sling. She looks back at Aurora with Nico on her shoulder. She wishes she could talk to these rats, which causes her to think outloud, "Vait... Vhere is druid and doggo?"

Tragershen frowns. "They fell down that pit trap. We couldn't follow them because it collapsed under their weight. Are you okay? That wasn't that long ago."

Anzath scratches her head, "Vell, vhatever. Vhat do Ve do wid momma ratz? No use in killing, yez?"

Anzath won't suggest this, but as a player, maybe scan for magic? These rats may be guarding something?

Lolygert looks in, makes a face, then suggests "might as well leave 'em....gotta replenish the stocks for Bed's jerky! "

He then turns away , uninterested in watching little ratlings suckle...

Bedlam will wave as he shuts the door.
Where to?

The party answers Bedlam's question by moseying on down the corridor.

The westward corridor you've been following ends, with a door heading to the north. Those of you who have been sketching a mental map would expect that you've just about come full circle... or rather, full square. At the end of the hallway, Anzath gestures toward a secret door in the wall at the corner of the corridor.

You may head north towards where you entered, or you may open the secret door to the west, or you may backtrack.

D’mitri is getting heavy with the steady consumption of rat jerky, so Anzath leans against a wall. The wall moves. She points this out to the group, and also points out, ”Ve have been moving in straight line soud. Diz secret door goez vest to beginning."

GM, if you don't mind a little retcon, can Trag have done a detect magic scan of the rat nusery? If not, no biggie.

Tragershen steps closer to Aurora, speaking to her in Drow sign language where the others probably can't see. Anzath seems disoriented. Was she fully restored from the undead energy that Saracek struck her with?

Tragershen will cast detect magic on the secret door that Anzath noted. While he's at it, he'll scan Anzath with it.

No magic detected in the rat room!

Anzath is radiating a faint necromantic aura.

I healed her injuries. If she was afflicted with more, I have not seen to it.

Nicothoe leans in towards the gesturing, eyes flickering between Aurora and Tragershen, before beginning to mimic them as best she can. She's helping.