GM SpiderBeard's Wrath of the Righteous (Inactive)

Game Master Barvo Delancy

Sarkast weaves from side to side, watching his prey before his spear snakes out of his hand, slamming into the back of the distracted huecuva. It wrenches the spear from his hand and spins, reaching out with horrid claws before it shudders violently, and collapses, the green light going out of its eyes.

End of Combat

"Seculima aravee se-- wait. Did the fight just end? Damn my eyes! This is hopeless!" Aravashnial lets out a wail of frustration as he stops a spell short. Grumbling, he fumbles around before he collapses back on his bench.

Ayesha was preparing to let another ball of acid fly when the creature died...again. She stopped her finger motions and sheathed her kukri. "What a foul abomination to reside in a temple of Torag. I wonder how long it has been befouling this place?"

"Aravashnial, calm, sir. We are no longer in immediate danger, and your counsel is as good as direct aid. Please sit while we determine is the rest of the temple is safe."

Nudges the thing with his nose.

Ronan comes up to Jinxx, "Good boy, you did well. You find anything on this thing."

Jinxx Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16

Ronan looks around as well.

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21

"Looks like we have some injured here, Meriui looks like he is in the worst shape. And Jinxx here took a few bad hits. Can anyone do some healing?"

Thora closes her eyes and sighs heavily. She stands still and silent beside the altar.

"Do you think there might be other... things like it here?" she asks Ayesha several moments later, chewing her bottom lip nervously and looking around.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24

Rowena steps into the group and channels energy once more.

Channel Energy: 1d6 ⇒ 3

After the nova subsides, she walks over to Meriui and chants a prayer to Pharasma, stating that Meriui's time has not yet come.

Cure Light Wounds: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

Meriui heals 11 points, everyone else 3 points.

Meanwhile, Thora begins exploring the room as Horgus and Anevia make their way in. No further undead monstrosities are found. It looks like the former priest was alone. However, the huecuva seems to have some items from its life.

On the body of the huecuva you find the following:

- two potions of cure light wounds (identified as they are identical to the one you found earlier)
- a knotted gold ring
- a masterwork hammer decorated with the symbol of Torag (found disused, in the dust by the altar)

Remember to check the party tracking sheet as you gather this stuff. I am currently loading all the loot on Thora unless somebody claims something.

While others investigate the corpse of the undead creature, Sarkast retrieves and cleans his weapon, then carefully searches the interior of the temple, checking for any hidden caches that might have items or information of use

If the party doesn't object to a couple of minutes, I'll take 20 on Perception; if we're in a hurry, take 10. Bonus is +8.

"Thank you, Rowena. That was unnerving. Is everyone else alright?"

IIRC, Jinxx, as an Eidolon, doesn't get healed by the channel. Sucks.

Meriui will take some time to move the dead undead thing back out "behind" the building before starting to clean his gear from the fight.

"No, Thora, actually I don't. Things of such evil rarely work together. Do you want to...try and re-sanctify this place? I mean, I know you are one of Torag's lot, and I imagine..." She tailed off, hoping she hadn't given offense.

IIRC, Jinxx, as an Eidolon, doesn't get healed by the channel. Sucks.

I'm pretty sure he does, he just doesn't "heal naturally" (ie, 1 hp per HD overnight, bonus for heal skill, etc.). Magical healing works as normal.

Played Jade Regent along with a Synthesist Summoner, and one of the recurring problems was that only the summoner could heal the eidolon. That's the basis of my comment. Never looked at the mechanics.

Meriui bin Mircea wrote:

IIRC, Jinxx, as an Eidolon, doesn't get healed by the channel. Sucks.

I'm pretty sure he does, he just doesn't "heal naturally" (ie, 1 hp per HD overnight, bonus for heal skill, etc.). Magical healing works as normal.

This is correct.

RAW agree with Sarkast, so I'll rule that channel can heal the eidolon.

Upon hearing Ayesha's words, Meriui's mind goes to the work of consecrating a place such as this.

Meriui's Knowledge Religion: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

Having spoken extensively with a dwarven worshipper of Torag once in his travels, Meriui has a good idea of what it will take to re-sanctify the church. It would be a distraction from the mission and take a good eight hours. However, this holy place has been thoroughly defiled. Most of the work involves simple cleaning, some repairs, and then the recitation of a long prayer to Torag in dwarven.

Anevia limps around the place, her face drawn and pale from the pain in her leg. She pauses to look over the dusty altar.

"This place is sad. I am... somewhat frantic to find my wife, to be honest. But considering the devastation in Kenabres from the demonic incursion an act of true good would be a great thing."

Aravashnial gets up from his bench and fumbles his way into the room.

"How long would that take? I'm as in favour of a good rest as anyone considering my brain is on bloody fire and I have no eyes, but some abandoned temple with a cranky huecuva to the dwarven God of utter boredom isn't exactly the best use of my intellect."

To his credit, Horgus remains curiously silent. The older man simply stares at some of the carvings on the walls with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Our comforts and hopes and desires are all important enough, but as Anevia said, a true act of Good can make more difference for more people than any of us will ever actually discover. A little work and sweat in service to others, even Dwarves," he grins at Thora as he says that bit, "does more to light the way than the destruction of a score of undead. How could we choose to leave the darkness in charge?"

"I will have Jinxx keep watch as we clean the filth out of this place." And with that Ronan starts cleaning as best as he can and Jinxx makes his way out of the temple to keep watch.

Thora looks up at Meriui curiously.

"You... you would do this?" she asks. Her bottom lip quivers and she runs to him, throwing her arms around his thighs in a grateful (but still quite small) bear hug. "You are a wise and benevolent man! May a thousand blessings of Torag rain down upon your anvil! And should you be lacking an anvil, then may he rain beatings down upon the heads of whoever took your anvil!"

Stunned for a moment by the strength of her reaction, when he recognizes Thora's reaction as grateful and enthusiastic, Meriui relaxes, reaching an arm down (slightly) to wrap it around her back and return the hug. "Thank you for the compliment, but if we do not actually do the work, then I am just a windbag!"

With that he pulls away, gently, and turns to start cleaning as well.

I would say taking the time to search thoroughly is now kinda inherent, though not everybody's reacted/responded, yet.

Ayesha tied back her flowing robes and went to work with the others, helping to clean the grime from the temple and remove any evidence of the huecuva's stay.

Horgus paces around the temple as the party gets to work.

"Hrmph. This is probably more of a shrine than a temple. Proper temple to Torag is going to have a big forge in the middle with the temple built around it! Someone probably couldn't resist building something in this cavern with that glo-- hey you're doing that wrong! You're going to marr the lettering!"

Horgus stomps over to where Thora is working and he starts trying to clean out some gunk from carved letters on the wall. After a bit of huffing and puffing he gives up and continues to move around the room, lecturing about dwarven worship and history, occasionally stepping in to 'Show people how it's done'.

In the back, Aravashnial and Anevia use their packs as a head rest and try to get some desperately needed sleep while the party works away.

A few hours pass while the party move the huecuva corpse out, a lot of the rubble, set the altar properly, and continue to work within the temple. Rowena mentions while she works in the antechamber that the basin appears to be full of holy water.

Everyone is suddenly alerted to a snarling from outside.

As a note, in any non-combat situation you are free to arrange yourselves on a map however you want.

At the sound of the snarl, Aravashnial and Anevia awake with a start. Aravashnial groans and the two of them start making their way into the temple properly. He refuses to use Anevia for support and feels his way into the nave.

"I sure hope that's Jinxx making that sound..."

Everyone Jinxx has spotted something nasty coming, what ever it is will most likely come in here, we can set a trap for it. I'm calling Jinxx back inside. If we set up right we can hit with arrows when it comes through that door, everyone away from the door.

Thora scrambles to get the axe off her back.

"Some of us don't bother with arrows," she informs Ronan, never taking her eyes off the door. "My Granddad always said never to swing until you can see the whites o' their eyes. Of course, Granddad was shot through the throat by an enraged halfling." She rubs her eyes with the heel of her hand. "So draw your own conclusions, I suppose. I still don't think arrows are particularly sporting though."

She sets up close enough to the door that she can run at whatever's coming.

Jinxx bolts into the temple, and the party sets up for the attack.

After a full minute of waiting, nothing happens.

Thora looks around at everyone and takes a deep breath. Then she grins.

"I'm going to take a look. If I'm not back in ten minutes, someone should collect my body. Send my mother a ham."

She pokes her head outside the door.

"Did she just call herself a pig? Couldn't have been the intent." Meriui, combat ready, will follow her out of the building.

Thora sticks her head out the door and waits a moment. She is not attacked. After listening for a moment, she hears a very soft clicking sound from the roof of the temple. Almost imperceptible.

Would there be any way to get outside and remain hidden from the rooftop in order to get into position to see what is up there?

Probably. Thora didn't see anything watching the door when she stuck her head out, and the roof is totally flat. It'd be hard for something to watch the door without being seen back. However, you only have so much information.

Sarkast signals for the others to be ready, then steps out with his spear in hand. Going as quietly as possible, he carefully moves to try to see what made the sound Thora heard from above.

Take 10 for 16 Stealth and 18 Perception. Spear held ready to attack anything hostile. Sarkast will yell out if a combat starts to get the rest of the group involved.

I have created a floor version of the abandoned temple map in case shenanigans take place on the roof.

Horgus, Aravashnial, and Anevia all pile near the back of the room as Sarkast slinks out. Aravashnial leans heavily on his staff while he fumbles for spell components while Horgus mutters something about his work being interrupted.

Sarkast moves past Thora and begins to creep quietly along the outside of the building, trying to spot whatever is making the clicking noise. Once outside the very soft clicking noise becomes more distinct. It appears to be coming from the roof of the temple, directly over the entrance Sarkast just came out of. However, he cannot see any sign of a creature.

The angle you're looking up from it too steep. You could perhaps see what's on the roof by going south, climbing the wall, or maybe going north if what you're looking from is large enough.

Assuming Sarkast does something ike point up above the door . . ..

Meriui will also squeeze through the door, sliding along the wall the other direction, holding his shield at an angle over his head, so that anything which might try to jump on him will hopefully be deflected and not force him to bear it's weight.

Wasn't sure what direction Sarkast was going so just rolled it with Meriui going the opposite.

Meriui steps up to Sarkast and the both silently turn to head in opposite directions, with Meriui heading south and Sarkast to the north. Meriui slowly creeps around the edge of the building, keeping his shield over his head while Sarkast tries to see what it on the roof.

As Meriui creeps around the edge of the building, he runs face-first into a remarkably strong web! He tries to escape but the web holds fast.

Meanwhile, Sarkast has crept to the north, and spies over the edge of the house an absolutely enormous spider with a large red hourglass on her back. The spider was in the middle of spinning a web and has turned to advance towards her prey.

Surprise round - Sarkast is up! The spider is 20' above the group on the temple roof. It has partial cover at this angle and has not seen Sarkast.

"Web! I'm in a web!"

As Meriui calls out, Sarkast tries to take advantage of surprise. Gripping his spear throwing strap, he takes a single step and throws.

Combining the horizontal and vertical distance, I get that the spider is about 30' away; with the spear thrower that is a single range increment, so no penalties for range. I am not applying cover penalty, I assume you have that accounted for in the spider's AC.

Attack vs Flat Footed AC: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8 damage, sneak attack: 1d6 + 2 + 1d6 ⇒ (4) + 2 + (5) = 11

Sarkast wings the spear at the abdomen of the spider. However, the spear falls short and bounces off of the side of the building. The massive spider barely notices and swiftly descends down its web to Meriui where it prepares to dine.

Everybody can go. Meriui - you are currently entangled and will require a strength check, or an escape artist check to break free. You get a +5 since you can hold onto the building's edge for purchase.

Map is updated

Horgus blanches and presses himself against the wall as Meriui's cry for help is heard in the temple.

"I'll uh... stay here and make sure the temple is all right."

"Yeah, you stay here and hold the place down," Thora calls sarcastically to Horgus.

She runs outside and over to Meriui. "Mama always told me to leave the jokes to the bards, but I think I did pretty good there." She grins brightly at him as she swings at the webs in order to both free him and clear the webs out for anyone else who wants to get close.

Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21

Damage: 1d12 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

Thora charges up to Meriui and with a few choice swings manages to cut away the spider webs binding him in place! The spider seems unperturbed and has assumed a 'bitey' posture by rearing back, exposing its long, vicious fangs.

Meriui is no longer entangled.

Cursing his bad luck, Sarkast eyes the side of the temple. Up and over might get me into a better position.

Is the side of the building rough enough to climb without a rope, or does he need to get his grappling hook out?

DC 15, the walls are hewn and stacked stones with pretty generous hand and foot holds between the stones.

OK, let's give this a try:

Sarkast spies a few likely handholds and starts to climb.

Climb: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14 Climb: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25

He starts to climb, but his handhold slips. Trying again, he manages to get partway up the wall.

One failed check, then one success. 1/4 of speed means he's dangling 7.5 feet up the wall.

Ronan sends Jinxx around the temple after using one of his Scroll of Shield to give Jinxx more protection.

Jinxx gets +4 to his armor class

Ronan heads out of the temple to see what help he can give, crossbow in hand.

Jinxx runs around the back of the temple to set up his pounce attack

Unhappy with the tactical situation, Meriui does the most obvious thing he can think of: he swings at the giant spider, cursing (in Kelish) about the lack of room for maneuvering.

Attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21
Threat Confirm: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5 Ah, well.

Damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

"Can somebody clear away more of these webs? Gain some working room?"

Ayesha dropped her cleaning materials and ran outside with the others. Her hand instinctively found her scimitar and drew it, though she was nowhere near the creature. Looking up on the roof, she saw what they were dealing with and gasped at the red markings on the abdomen. Almost of its own volition the black scimitar in her hand waved a graceful design in the air.