GM SpiderBeard's Wrath of the Righteous (Inactive)

Game Master Barvo Delancy

Jinxx sniffs around

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Horgus sputters futilely at Sarkast's strong words, but shuts up as Ayesha speaks up in an attempt to calm everyone. Aravashnial awkwardly ignores Horgus, the arrogant wizard apparently unsure of himself around the nobleman.

"What they are is statues - the story is always the most interesting part. People never believe me, and I'm uh... nearly always right." He 'looks' down awkwardly, his expression unreadable thanks to his ruined face.

Jinxx sniffs around at the statue a bit and then perks up and pads over to the exit of the room in the southeast. Thora and Sarkast also begin to hear noises coming from that cavern. It sounds like babbling or ranting in a language Thora is pretty sure is dwarven.

Hearing voices, Sarkast moves to the wall of the cavern, and approaches quietly. When Thora looks like she recognizes the language, he makes room so she can listen.

Sarkast motions Thora to come closer, and the two listen for a moment.

The ranting abruptly cuts off, and you hear what sounds like a spell being cast.

Sarkast has his spear ready, but waits to let Thora tell him whether to attack or not.

If Thora tells Sarkast the spellcasting is hostile, he will move to where he has line of sight and try to disrupt it. With the spear-thrower, his range increment is 40', so it mostly depends on lighting and line of sight as to whether he can make it.

It doesn't take long for the spell to finish, but nothing else seems to happen. The ranting begins again, much the same as it was before.

Meriui recognizes the obvious signs indicating he should remain quiet, but he still looks towards the two and shrugs, with his hands extended out to either side of his body. He mouths Well?

"I dunno about the spellcasting," Thora says to Sarkast, "but the ranting is definitely not friendly. And there's a bit about babies that I don't rightly understand. The babies will take care of us - probably not offering tea and little cakes - then he'll eat their babies. If that's our babies, the joke is on him. I don't even have house plants, never mind babies."

She sucks on her teeth and continues to listen.

"And there's the obligatory I'll kill them all, my pretties, but I'm pretty sure that part needs no translation. Threats of mass deaths rarely do, I find. We could probably try talking to him, but I doubt it's going to do any good. His mind sounds pretty made up already."

Sarkast looks back at the group and indicates the next room. "Does anyone want to address them? That's not my specialty."

"Jinxx and I will follow your lead on this Thora."

Thora shrugs and, axe out, wanders in.

With Thora advancing, the group assembles near her and strike out for the east passage.

It immediately opens up into another large cavern. A small campfire burns merrily away beside a well-used bedroll. A tentacle slops over the side of a small cooking pot on the fire. Several utensils and tools are scattered around. Another opening in the cavern wall shows in the east.

Standing by the fire is the strangely-blurred form of a red-haired dwarf. His expression is wild and manic.

"YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE! MY WORK IS TOO IMPORTANT FOR THIS!"

With that he begins fishing out components to cast a spell.

Rowena, Ayesha, Sarkast, Anevia, and Meriui can go!

Well, so much for the peaceful approach...

Seeing the manic look in the dwarf's eye, Sarkast decides that there is little hope in reasoning with him. Dropping his pack, he runs around the edge of the cavern. "Whatever spell you are casting, stop it now!"

Free action to drop the pack, reducing encumbrance. Move action into the cavern, then ready an attack if the dwarf uses his action to cast (hoping to disrupt the spell).

"WHARRGARBL!" shrieks the dwarf as he extracts an enormous rhubarb leaf from his pants.

God I hope he wasn't making rhubarb pie in his pants.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

"Never heard that spell before, I'm sure it won't be pleasant though."

Meriui can double move up into position, but the materials on the map in his final square leave me uncertain of he can actually charge, or not. If he can't, then he double moves up and is turtled as well as he can be . . .. If he can, then use the following die roll for the charge and drop his AC by 2 for now.

Charge Attack: 1d20 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 3 + 2 = 12 Probably not. Just in case, though:
Damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

You can have the charge, the blankets on the ground aren't really going to stop you.

Meriui charges in and swings at the babbling dwarf, but his blade is deflected by an invisible shield of some sort.

Anevia limps into the room, holding onto the wall. Once set up, she gets her bow out and looks to fire an arrow.

I'm back!

"Crazy dwarf! Take this!" Rowena leaps toward the Dwarf and readies her bow.

Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17
Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Alas, firing into melee is a -4 penalty, and dwarfie is engaged in melee with Meriui. Ayesha hasn't posted since Wednesday so putting her on autopilot.

Rowena's shot bounces off of the dwarf's invisible armour as the group rapidly move in on him. Aravashnial and Horgus remain in the passage between rooms.

Ayesha makes a wide circle around the dwarf to flank him against Meriui.

The dwarf looks at the corner he could be backed into and instead decides to stand his ground and cast his spell. However, as Ayesha moves behind him he is distracted and fumbles his casting. This results in a shriek of rage.

Concentration: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (5) + 10 = 15

Everyone is up! Thora, Jinxx, and Ronan can take their round one action while everyone else can take their round two action.

Meriui adjust his position in order to gain further advantage before attacking the obviously enraged dwarf again.

Standard Attack w/ Flank: 1d20 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 3 + 2 = 22
damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

Ronan moves to get a line on the dwarf and fires his crossbow

Attack: 1d20 + 2 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 1 - 4 = 0

OH CRAP!!!

Jinxx charges and pounces

Claw1: 1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 3 + 1 = 7
Claw2: 1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 3 + 1 = 21
Bite: 1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 3 + 1 = 16

Damage Claw1: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Damage Claw2: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Damage Bite: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

Blur Miss Chance, Over 20 hits: 1d100 ⇒ 40

Meriui manages to watch the dwarf through the blur spell and this time his scimitar bites deeply, drawing a shout of pain.

You now know he has a blur spell on him - 20% miss chance on any attacks.

Sarkast joins the others in attacking the dwarf, but isn't able to land a blow.

Move action into position, standard to attack.

Attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4 Miss chance, 3+ hits: 1d10 ⇒ 4

Miss Chance 2+ hits: 1d10 ⇒ 5
Miss Chance 2+ hits: 1d10 ⇒ 10

Jinxx pounces on the dwarf, slashing and biting. He manages to get past the blur spell and opens up some nasty wounds on the insane caster.

"No! You won't take me back! Nobody understand my magic! I'll kill them all! AHHHAHAHAHAHA!"

Thora, Rowena, Ayesha, and Anevia are up!

Rowena moves a little closer to the dwarf and aims again.

Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18
Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Sorry for the silence. I was sick Thursday and Friday, then ran a 12 hour game on Saturday and my mind was crushed yesterday.

Ayesha snapped out her scimitar and spun in a fluid motion to cut the dwarf down from behind. As long as its attention was on Merui and Jinxx, she had a chance. Unfortunately, the scimitar twisted in her hand as she sturck out, nearly clipping Sarkast as it did.

Thora scuttles in as close as she can, stopping right behind Jinxx.

"Gotta get... lighter... armour..." she pants.

Howling in pain, the dwarf backs up five feet and rapidly chants a spell. A blinding burst of colour sprays out from his fingers, dazzling Meriui, Jinxx, and Thora.

Meriui, Jinxx, and Thora must make a will save vs DC 14 or be knocked unconscious.

Everyone is up!

Will: 1d20 ⇒ 10

Jinxx is unconscious

Ronan moves to get a better shot and fires his crossbow.

Attack: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 1 = 4

Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 2

two ones in a row, this just sucks in so many ways

Also glad to see you're hale and healthy Ayesh! 12 hours is the kind of gaming marathon I haven't done in a good twelve years. And Ronan, the only consolation is that the group has been rolling a LOT of 1s. So you're not alone!

And Rowena, you need to take a -4 penalty when firing into melee unfortunately.

Rowena's arrow bounces off of the wizard's invisible shield as he casts his spell. The colour spray fades and Jinxx's eyes cross before he collapses onto his back, stiff-legged and drooling.

"Two can play that game!" calls Ayesha. The fingers of her off hand flex and form odd patterns as she quickly chanted a spell.

Color spray at the dwarf, deliberately missing her companions, with a DC of 15.

Will Save: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

Ayesha effortlessly incants the arcane language for her spell and splays her fingers towards the dwarf. Ignoring her, the dwarf cackles madly as he sees Thora, Jinxx, and Meriui go down.

"Nobody gets the drop on Millorn! I'll eat your children! BWAAAHAHAAH---bwoop."

His eyes cross and he collapses to the floor, twitching and mumbling.

End of Combat!

Rolling for Meriui and Thora so the rest of the group can react to the scene properly.

Meriui and Thora both collapse with Jinxx, their minds overloaded from the blast of colour.

Meriui's Will Save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10
Thora's Will Save: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Anevia stops her arrow and lets out a cheer.

"Nicely done Ayesha! Uhm. Now I suppose we need to figure out what to do with him."

Horgus stomps his way into the room and stares at the pot.

"Was he... was he -cooking- those squid things?! I think I'm going to be ill."

Meriui mumbles something incomprehensible before rolling over, off of his shield.

Rowena walks up to the dwarf and kicks gently at his twitching foot. Half kidding, she yells "You! Dwarf! Waken!"She reaches in her bag for rope. "We should restrain and question him..."

The hostile and insane wizard does not wake up, he's still twitching and drooling along with Meriui, Thora, and Jinxx.

Aravashnial slowly makes his way over.

"That's a colour spray spell, Rowena. Won't last long. Tie him up fast."

Ayesha dropped to the ground beside the dwarf and yanked her rope out of her pack. She cut off a two-foot length, and then tied the dwarf's wrists together. For good measure, she cut another length and tied his ankles together as well.

In a few moments the dwarf awakens, along with the party members. He stares around confused for a moment before he starts babbling angrily.

"Noo! I can't end like this! This is not right! I won't go back to jail! AUUGHHH!"

Checking over him and his camp site, you find the following gear:

two potions of cure light wounds
a small pack filled with some moldy rations (6 days worth)
a 6-inch marble statuette of a humanoid throwing a spear
a high-quality grey cloak
a clear potion
two scrolls
a spellbook
a dagger
a light crossbow with 10 bolts
12 pp, 11 gp

Making room for the others to restrain and investigate the dwarf, Sarkast slots his spear back into the spear thrower, and moves to the exit, watching for any trouble to come.

Peering down the corridor toward C3, trying to stay flat against the wall for cover. Take 10 for 18 Perception to see/hear anything coming, 16 Stealth to hide and remain quiet while keeping watch.

Sarkast sees a very steeply inclined tunnel that leaps upwards to the north. Its was are lined with numerous nooks, handholds, and dozens of iron pitons that have been driven into the walls long ago to aid with travelling upwards.

"This looks like it might be a way up and out. Shall I poke my head up to see what is there while you deal with him?"

Ronan goes over to Jinxx to make sure he is ok, he helps Meriui and Thora to sit up and get their bearings.

He looks over at the things found at the campsite.

"Can I have a look at that spellbook and the scrolls"

Uses read magic to read the items

Summoners can't learn spells from spellbooks, but you can use arcane scrolls!.

The spellbook contains the following spells:

Acid arrow, detect secret doors, fog cloud, grease, invisibility, resist energy, shocking grasp, and silent image.

The scrolls are shocking grasp, and resist energy.

"Sarkast! I wouldn't go too far. There have been some amazingly deadly things fairly close together down here." As he gets back up, Meriui reaches up and holds his head. "Rock floors are horrible places to fall on your face."

As the others start going through the dwarf's possessions, the human stands, staring at the dwarf for a while. "Well, we can't kill him now. If we take his stuff, we can't just desert him. We'll need to keep him tied, and blindfolded, I think, as we travel. Interesting dilemma."

Rowena picks up the spellbook before turning to the dwarf. Flipping through the pages, she eyes the dwarf with suspicion. "So! What's a dwarf like you doing in a place like this...eating stuff like...that?"She points to the small cooking pot full of tentacle.

The dwarf looks around with wild eyes.

"I am Millorn! I am down here because they didn't understand me on the surface. They thought that I was dangerous and my experiments on living subjects were unethical. But I've shown them! NOW LOOK AT ME!"

He calms down and struggles at his bonds again.

"The darkmantles... well there's not much to eat here and they breed like rabbits! I eat their babies, they keep intruders away - well KEPT I suppose. And now I'm tied up. I just want to be left alone down here! I never did anyone any harm, I swear! Take what you need and leave me be!"