GM Tarondor's Ptolus Campaign

Game Master Tarondor

Dain yanks his spear back, and - caught up in the call and response of bard song and litorian growl - he spins and strikes at the demon again!

use a hero point to make another attack against the rhodintor with the magic spear

spear attack + divine favor - negative level + flanking + blind target + higher ground + inspire courage: 1d20 + 5 + 1 - 1 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 5 + 1 - 1 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 12

using a "character fact" reroll on that attack roll

spear attack + divine favor - negative level + flanking + blind target + higher ground + inspire courage: 1d20 + 5 + 1 - 1 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 5 + 1 - 1 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 22

spear damage + divine favor + inspire courage: 1d8 + 2 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 2 + 1 + 1 = 10

Tilver is 5 feet away from the demon and using his enlarged reach. Being blinded forces the Rhodintor to move at half speed or risk falling (DC 10 acrobatics). I'm not sure if this still allows him to use 5 foot steps. If not, he wouldn't be able to full attack. Also if he can't 5 foot step, he provokes AOOs from everyone. Either way he's got to move up to Tilver to attack him.

There is nothing about moving at half speed that denies you a 5-foot step. He'll take one (shown on the map) but I won't penalize those who already moved to flank him.

Seeing this deadly foe suddenly at a disadvantage, Silas leaps to the attack, slashing his falchion across the rhodintor's shoulder, rolling left and cutting under its guard to slash the demon again across the hairy goat-like thigh. The demon bellows in anger and hate, turning to face the litorian when Dain dances in, stabbing the blinded demon twice in the back. With his second thrust he drives his magic spear through the monster's heart, killing it instantly!

COMBAT OVER

Holys eyes the creature, worriedly.

"Is it dead? Best make sure! I've... never seen anything like that before."

Silas pokes the thing with his blade and says, "It doesn't seem to be getting up. We still have the three hounds up stairs to deal with. But we may want to hold up in the secret area and rest for a bit. I am betting we still can't leave."

Silas will walk to look out at the courtyard to see if the wall of force is still in place.

When the goat-demon crashes to the floor, Velika drops dramatically to her knees. She closes her eyes, puts a hand to her forehead and nods weakly at Silas' words. "Yes, we must rest."
She pauses for effect, then climbs back to her feet and casts detect magic to see what the demon might have of interest.

Cast Detect Magic

The demon's battleaxe and heavy steel shield are both magical.

Tilver laughs and claps both Silas. "You would have been ferocious in the arena!" He turns to Dain. "And where did you get that spear? It plunged into him like a hot knife through butter."

He kicks the demon's corpse. "Was this thing the beast that was written about in the journal?" He joins Silas in checking the status of the gate.

Know(History): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16
Velika says something in Dwarven, then notes that no one seems to understand and translates,"The battleaxe and shield are both magical and of dwarven make, possibly from the ancient city of Dwarvenhearth, lost beneath us. These weapons deserve to be used well."

So what now?

Tilver picks up the demon's shield. "Magic you say?" He tries to grasp the shield, but struggles with his longspear. "Hmm, maybe later. But I like it." He straps the shield to his pack.

"Anyone else want the axe?"

"I suggest we barricade ourselves in the tower and rest.
It's obvious from Velika's voice that she's exhausted.

"I would be happy to carry the axe if no one else wants to use it. I prefer my Falchion, but there are some circumstances where the axe will prove more useful."

I am guessing the wall of force is still there. Is that the case?

Silas descends the stairs into Radanna's chamber and moves out onto the balcony. From there he can see the courtyard...and there is no wall of force in place!

"It's open! Let's get out of here for now. We can return later." Tilver begins moving towards the courtyard.

Dain also appears to be exhausted. Still, he seems hesitant to leave. "What if the force wall is back when we return, and we can't get back in? Then today's efforts will have been for nothing. Should we risk losing our chance at the All-key just for a more comfortable place to sleep tonight?"

Magill, on the other hand, is already following Tilver towards the exit.

"I think we should go and see if the ghost is still in residence. With the fiend slain it might have moved on. I also worry that the hounds may do something while we are away if they are not trapped here any longer."

Holys shrugs. "We can look for the ghost. Briefly. But, like Velika, I require rest before I can make much more use of my talents, cousin."

Tilver looks at the others incredulously. "You're serious? You want to go back after the ghost now? The only reason that demon didn't rip us to shreds was Velika's spell. And she doesn't have anymore."

He rolls his eyes as Holys lends his voice to searching too. "Fine, but that ghost did not seem happy. If he tells us to leave again, I suggest we do it, even if only temporarily."

Dain waves up his hands and shakes his head, "I don't think we want to go anywhere near that ghost right now. We didn't have any way of dealing with him when we were at full strength, and we certainly can't handle him now. It's a very unhappy spirit."

He pulls out the madam's journal, and flips through the pages. He points at a passage. "The journal says that the ghost was haunting the guard tower for years before the goat-headed demon was even summoned, so it doesn't seem likely that there is any connection between them. He will probably be just as angry to see us as before. Until we have some way to affect him, or learn more about who he is and what he wants so we can talk to him, I say we stay clear."

"I was just suggesting that if we are going to rest, maybe we should do it here. But if we are going to leave, we should at least go back up and open that iron chest before we leave."

"I think resting here is a good idea then. We don't know for sure what we have accomplished and letting the devil hounds out to slaughter some innocent kids might not be good for our reputation."

"Then we'll rest here."

Velika pushes away her vision of a hot bath and nods her head.

Tilver sighs. "Ok, but I suggest we find some place defensible at least. Preferably clean too. Perhaps Radanna's bedroom? Or the boudior. It has multiple beds."

I'm liking the discussion.

Note that Radanna's bedrroom also contains seven corpses.

"I think we should just set up in the courtyard. I can assure you that I will not be resting in any of the rotting beds that were left in this place. And if the intent is to make sure nothing demonic escapes after the wall drops it would be a good place to keep watch over the estate."

Holys wrinkles his nose. "I agree, cousin. I'd rather sleep outside than with corpses. It'd take forever to get clean. I'll need a bath when I get home, in any case."

Dain looks back and forth between his companions as they speak, "I'm with Tilver - we want somewhere defensible and safe so we can actually get some rest. Seems to me the tower," he tilts his head back to look up at the trap door in the ceiling, "would be the most secure spot. Although I suppose one of the boudoirs with one entrance would be defensible as well. The courtyard has at least 3 ways that ratmen could approach from, and that doesn't count an attack from above."

Dain looks at Silas, "I don't think we need to worry about the devil dogs getting out - if they were able to open trap doors, they probably would have before now."

"Jumping from the roof to the level below would not be hard or all that painful for the beasts. We should have at least some means of watching the courtyard."

"The thing that binds those poor creatures here was never the wall. It was the cruel purpose imbued in their summoning. But if you think we've destroyed that purpose somehow and given them free will, then I would suggest they could as easily jump over the western wall and directly to the streets without ever going through the courtyard. If we barricade ourselves in the tower, one person could keep watch at the top and view the beasts directly. That's the best solution I can think of."

After staring at the trap door for a few minutes, Velika suggests "How about this. We sleep up there, pulling up the rope. One of us can sleep on this trap door which should give us ample warning if someone tries to come from below. One person stays on watch on the tower above. Five two-hour shifts. Silas, Tilver, Dain, me, Holys. Thoughts?"

I'm assuming all of us can recover spells/abilities after eight hours of rest but I'm not completely familiar with all the various Pathfinder class rules so correct me if I'm wrong.

I think this is a good plan. Out of character I'm assuming in most cases it doesn't matter where we rest.

Okee-doke. To keep things moving along, I'm going to say you all eventually agree to Velika's plan and hole up in the tower between the two trap doors.

It is an uncomfortable and disconcerting rest. Eeries sounds and faint scratching can be heard. Shadows dance and move in the corner of your vision. Distant moans or animal noises break the silence.

At seemingly random intervals, but never less than thirty minutes nor more than three hours, you hear the eerie man's voice again. seeming to issue from right next to you. You also notice that it only says three things, and in no particular order: "Come to me...", "I must feed", and "Chaos is the Key"

The first time Tilver hears the voice, he drops the cheese he's eating and grabs his spear. "Holy hell, that's creepy. I guess that voice wasn't tied to the demon."

After a few minutes, he settles back down and pulls out a series of beakers and his formula book. He spends most of the time messing with the chemicals, and checking his notes in the book. "What do you think this voice is? A ghost? A haunting? Some animate spirit of the house itself?"

"'Chaos is the Key' sounds almost prophetic. Maybe some spirit, trapped in the house? Gods know there have been enough of the dead in here."

"Creepy, indeed. Whatever type of spirit it is, it seems...tired."

Once everyone has rested, Dain gathers up his things. "Are we ready to go open up that chest?"

"If we are going to rest then we should do so before we open it. For all we know our creepy friend might be imprisoned in it. There is no reason to open it before the morning when we are ready to clear the last of the evil from this place."

I gathered from Scott's post that we had finished resting

You have rested, but the rest wasn't particularly good. Spellcasters may recover spells (assuming that this is the right time for them to do so), but everyone must succeed on a DC 15 Fortitude save or become Fatigued.

Fortitude Save vs Fatigue: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8

Fort save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20

It wasn't restful sleep, but Tilver has actually had worse in the gladiator cells. Gladiators were notorious for kicking each other in the middle of the night or worse. Anything to keep competition from being rested before a fight. Occasionally, fights would break out and more than one gladiator died before he ever made it to the arena, though that was rare.

Once awake, he could see Silas' bloodshot eyes. "Not use to the stone floor, Silas? Or the ravings of a mad spirit?" He chuckles, trying to make light of their dire circumstances.

FORT save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14

Holys also tries to put a brave face on things with a joke. "It's you, Tilver. You snore! You seem fine, so clearly the rest of us don't."

Fort save - negative level: 1d20 + 2 - 1 ⇒ (3) + 2 - 1 = 4

Fort Save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8
blech

Fatigued: A fatigued character can neither run nor charge and takes a –2 penalty to Strength and Dexterity. Doing anything that would normally cause fatigue causes the fatigued character to become exhausted. After 8 hours of complete rest, fatigued characters are no longer fatigued.

When does Dain get a new save to try and shake off his negative level? He gets a new one each day, right?

This is a drain, the more serious sort of loss.

Negative levels remain until 24 hours have passed or until they are removed with a spell such as restoration. If a negative level is not removed before 24 hours have passed, the affected creature must attempt a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 the draining creature’s racial HD + the draining creature’s Cha modifier; the exact DC is given in the creature’s descriptive text). On a success, the negative level goes away with no harm to the creature. On a failure, the negative level becomes permanent. A separate saving throw is required for each negative level.

In short, without a restoration spell, Dain risks a level permanently. You get a bit of a break: Calculating from the rule above, I would say the save is a DC 16 Fort save. But according to the creature type (it was treated as a wight), the save DC is a 14. So yay.

With the right spells, I imagine you could get a +2 or even +3 bonus, giving you a better than 50/50 chance to beat it. Or you can burn a Hero Point for a +8 to the roll. Or you could go find a restoration spell. I'm going to say that the roll is required within the next ten hours.

I forgot about the negative level. You should go and get it cured before we move on since we are in a big city anyway. Do we have enough gold from here to pay for it? I think this should come from group funds from what we have found if possible.

One of the most interesting parts of this setting is the almost continuous presence of the huge metropolis. Even in the depths of Ghul's Labyrinth or deep inside the Banewarrens, it's usually about a half-hour walk to the surface. Restoration, however, isn't available on every street corner. It's a powerful spell. How would you go about acquiring it?