GM Tyranius House on Hook Street (Inactive)

Game Master Tyranius

Terry starts rummaging through the room.

Seeing that nothing appears to be happening other than a shifting painting, Reigan tosses the broken harp over his shoulder, letting the instrument shatter into the wall.

"Well, that instrument is busted. Could barely even play Chopsticks on the thing." says the detective as he picks up the half-sized dwarf and sets him down in front of the next door. "Oi. Perhaps less ale and potato fritters at the tavern." Reigan quips as he fakes straining his back.

Seeing that Grimnir will open the door, Reigan pulls the long-nosed mask back down over his face and readies his crossbow. "Wish me luck, old man." he says as he fist bumps the scowling man in the painting.

"I think that painting just glared at you Reigan."

Grinner gulps a little and then croaks. *Ribbit* He seems to be enjoying the joke.

Terry finds little of use as he rummages through the room while Reigan and Grimnir push onward through the eastern set of doors. G17

Old crates and furniture are stacked up against large double doors, directly across from an ornate pair of much older doors set into the crumbling stone facade of the temple around which the house is built.

This unused foyer contains only trash and old webs. Thick planks cover any windows that might let in light, and the north wall is partially burned and collapsed from the old fire that destroyed the north wing. A pair of weather-beaten double doors is barred from the temple side
in area G11 (DC 25 Strength check to force open), and the arches of old stained glass windows have long since been bricked over. Hundreds of tiny spiders scurry around the hulking form of a gigantic dead spider.

Just outside the broken wall G18The clamor of the streets echoes off the looming rooftops of the half-occupied Shingles hovels that surround this decrepit mansion. Decades of neglect have worn at the old walls, allowing choking ivy to entangle them. Fire has ravaged the northern wing; the only sign of life within the grounds is a lonely, crooked oak.

What was first a lovely shrine, then an opulent estate, has in the last 2 centuries become just another overgrown building in the filthy tangle of tenements that have spread across Old Korvosa’s slums. Some
citizens still live around the manse, but the fearful presence of the cult’s spider eater and the mysterious comings and goings within have led to the local belief that the house is haunted. The cult promotes such rumors and take advantage of the suspicions of the locals. Members never use the front entrance as a result, instead quietly entering and exiting through the Old Wall tunnel.

There was one more door to the west of G15...should we take that first, then the east of G11?

Grimnir doesn't liek the look of the spiders crawling on the giant dead one and gives the area a wide berth.

Yea, Terry too. He has a thing about huge spiders and everything around here seems to jump up and surprise you... In fact, the first thing Terry does is cast heightened awareness on himself.

"I'm not going to be surprised this time. Let them be the ones suprised! How about plug that corpse before it comes after us with some magic missiles?"

@Grimnir: You should have asked in character!

Reigan senses what Grimnir is trying to say through his silence. "Ah yes, dwarf. You seem to understand. Let us clear out one side first." he says with a nod as he leads the man to the last door to be investigated on this side of the map. "Quick! Use your hard head to bash it open!"

@Grimnir: You should have asked in character!

Yeah, I should have. I was behind at work after my trip and lucky to get a post in, but I do prefer to post in character.

"Aam half stone, sae i'll tak' 'at as a complement," Grimnir says as he tries the next door west of G15,"but Ah prefer mah fist tae mah heed."

I guess nobody liked my idea of poking the giant spider - not that I blame them.

Terry lines up next to the Dwarf.

Is the earth elemental around anywhere?

Yeah, I'd like it to be out the rest of the adventure. It keeps losing the transition between maps, and a few times I forget it myself. But yes, I'd like it out.

"Well, let's get on with it then. We aren't going to succeed in our mission by just standing around here," Gerard grumbles.

Terry is quite surprised when the spider corpse doesn't move, debilitate or somehow negatively affect his life in some way.

Grimnir opens the door to the smaller room. A dozen ash-gray corpses covered in quicklime lie twisted and tangled in this large closet. The cult has temporarily disposed of the corpses of several trespassers and shiver addicts here. With authorities on high alert, they have coated them in a thick layer of quicklime to preserve them until removal.

A bloody, spidery script begins to scratch itself into the torsos of the corpses within The script reveals names, professions, times of death and brief descriptions of their terrible end.

Mattie.....Baker....last week.......I dreamt of a shadowy figure...

Torgan....ale enthusiast......this week.....I thought I could fly....

Fen..... bookseller......last week....Mother Spider caught me....

James...... palm reader.....this week......Sally Scrabblebones shucked my marrow.

Along with several others.

Perception 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (19) + 12 = 31

Perception 1d20+12

Gerard takes a step back, away from the grisly scene. Out of the corner of his eye, he notices the strange words written on one of the corpses. "Look at that one. Read it's scrawl!"

He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do, but he said out loud. "Yes, I see your message. I suppose I can hear you that way. What can we do to help you?"

Yeah, I'd like it to be out the rest of the adventure. It keeps losing the transition between maps, and a few times I forget it myself. But yes, I'd like it out.

@Grimnir

@Tyranius
Terry never shot the spider. He asked if everyone thought it was a good idea, and they ignored him and we all moved on. Perhaps later.

"Weird. I'd guess that the way they each died is written. What's that about... Oh, yes, that one. Should we pull her out from the mass?"

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (5) + 11 = 16

"We must help the one that doesn't deserve to be here. Anyone wish to detect any witchcraft at work here?" He's asking if anyone wants to Detect Magic.

Gerard can take the hint and casts Detect Magic to examine the bodies and the surrounding room.

Grimnir frowns. "Are ye saying...it cannae hear us?" he says skeptically as he looks at the corpse.

Gerard senses no magical aura or anything of the like and the scrawling of bloody text ceases, though it does not disappear.

Grinner finds little else about the abandoned bodies as he shifts them around as best as he can without disturbing them too much.

"Not sure how to help the poor fellow. All we got is a heap of bodies and a cry for help. We could 'tickle' them and see if one twitches. Do you thing that might single one out?"

Its obvious from the way he gestures with his blade that his idea of 'tickling' is not the kind that would make anyone laugh.

"Maybe that's a clue about putting all these haunts to their final rest. Because I don't have any other ideas about this place."

Torgan....ale enthusiast......this week.....I thought I could fly....

That was Kraygan!

Reigan looks around and sees that the bodies are supernaturally possessed to detail that last moments, but the last corpse is quite odd. He tries to remember anything on a haunt like this.

Kn. Religion: 1d20 + 11 + 1d6 ⇒ (20) + 11 + (2) = 33

"If he isn't supposed to be here, then perhaps we should move his body somewhere else..." Reigan surmises. "Try picking him up, dwarf. Carry him this way through the door." he says, hoping this will do something.

"I agree with Reigan. Try it and see what happens."

Grimnir doesn't look too happy with moving the corpse, but reluctantly complies.

"I'm nae a mortician!" he protests as he moves it through the doorway and places it where Reigan directs.

"Ah, but you are a dwarf." Terry states as if that explains everything.

Hehehe

As Reigan inspects the situation further he believes this to be less of a haunt as it seems more and more like the dream realm is bleeding over.

Grimnir grabs ahold of the body and drags it from the room. As he pulls on it the pile of entangled corpses falls loose from the closet and crumple to the floor as dead eyes look in all directions. Continuing to pull Grimnir drags the bloody body all about the Manor with no ill effect other than a creepy dwarf dragging around a recently deceased body.

"Well, then, that could have gone better and then again it could have gone worse. What do we do with the bodies now? It seems wrong to leave them here, but I know of nothing better to do with them. Perhaps we leave them and report them to the authorities? They do tend to overreact, but I'm at a loss."

Grimnir frowns after dropping the corpse unceremoniously.

"We hae bigger problems than th' corpses here. let's finish wi' thes cult an' 'en there willnae be any more corpses tae dispose of," he says.

"Ah think there's one mair room tae explair," he adds.

Last room to the east?

Let's move on.

After returning to the point where the giant spider is in view, Terry offers,

"So here we are again. Shall I plaster the big dead spider with a couple of magic bolts before we enter?"

@Tyranius
Where exactly is the thing?

Lying in the south east corner of room G17

Leaving the bodies and the husk of a massive spider behind Grimnir heads to the eastern room. This room hosts an impressive carved wooden stairway that descends from above. A comfortable fireplace flickers without warmth, and a moth-eaten rug hosts equally moth-eaten furniture. Rotting frames filled with tattered canvas cover the walls. The looming stone facade of the Old Wall comprises the room’s western wall, and a strange cagelike structure is built into the northwest corner. Instead of true fire, the fireplace is lit by a continual flame that sheds light throughout the room. Several crates of supplies stand below the stairwell and contain enough preserved rations to last a number of weeks.

Small chips of gold leaf cover the floor here, flaked off from the once-gilded gate of a cage-like elevator, which hangs over a dark shaft. This rickety elevator operates via a hand-driven crank and pulley system that takes 10 rounds to move the 40- foot distance between levels.

Does that set of stairs go up to G4? Am I right in thinking that we have seen no stairs going down? Does this shaft go up or down or both? It seems connect up to G5 if I'm not mistaken.

"For a cult hangout we have seen very few cultists. Just a bunch of traps and summoned/bound mischief makers."

"You are right. I suspect they are all ganged up on the next level just waiting for us to blunder in. So let's go greet them," Gerard smiles. He casts Detect Magic as they look through the last room on the current level.

Grimnir looks for any ale in the supplies, then down the shaft.

"It appears thes is th' way doon. Let's go introduce oorselves."

*Ribbit* "These cultists may meet their end soon enough." Grinner enters the elevator and waits for the stronger party members to crank it down.

The stairs do indeed go up to G4. The only stairway left on first floor is the spiral stairs leading down in G11 and the cage-like elevator in the room you are currently in that leads down.

Gerard finds no magic but the group is quickly cut off as a raspy voice begins to cackle from within the darkness. The voice sounds distant as it rises and falls in crescendo. Looking about the room their doesn't seem to be a single living soul though the cackling seems to linger in the back of your mind.

From behind the droopy-nosed mask, you hear Reigan comment as he sees that little remains on this floor. "Let us away to the elevator. I am sure that it is safe." he remarks, being the first to step foot in the contraption. "All aboard!" he cries to encourage the rest.

Once everyone is aboard, he will press the button for the next floor down.

I think it needs to be cranked by someone remaining above.

As the others enter the cage and Reigan looks around for a button, Terry begins cranking the cage.

"I'll climb down after you get there."

Grimnir prepares to smack anything they see once the elevator reaches the next floor. He looks around nervously as he hears the cackling voice.

Grinner keeps his eyes peeled for anything happening in the elevator itself.

Gerard hops in the elevator with the rest of the group.

The group climbs into the cramped metal elevator while Terry cracks the shaft. It is quite a workout as it takes 10 minutes for the elevator to fully reach the bottom.

Once below the group sends the elevator back above for Terry to join them as there is a second crank down below.

Wispy spiderwebs hang like curtains along this tunnel’s width, their bottoms stained from wicking dirty water from the slippery floor below. The elevator lowers to the entrance of this long, web shrouded processional. The 10-foot-wide, 180-foot-long tunnel is constructed of thick stone blocks, and runs beneath the Old Wall and below the shoreline basin to an old underwater ballroom. The tunnel is punctuated by patches of thick spiderwebs.

Is this the part of the map labeled as G1, or it is a separate tunnel under it, the map that is covered?

Terry fires up a detect magic spell and starts scanning ahead. Cautiously and quietly he starts forward.

Stealth: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

He will fastidiously avoid any webs, slicing them if they are avoidable.

There is a new map up. You have to scroll down on it.

Got it. I moved Terry forward 30'. Anybody else with me?

Reigan moves with Terry, boldly striding and looking for traps!

Trapspotter: 1d20 + 16 + 1d6 ⇒ (8) + 16 + (4) = 28

-Posted with Wayfinder

Gerard follows the others, giving them about 20' space between the leaders and himself.

The group slowly makes their way down the hallway, looking for any sign of traps and finds little to none.

As the group reaches near the end of the long hallway a pair of large spider-like monsters appear at either end blocking any form of escape. They look to appear out of thin air as their form flitter in and out of existence before becoming material before your eyes. These spider-like creatures have eerie humanoid faces surrounded by a shaggy mane of fur.

As the spiders surprise the group they bite their mandibles at Reigan and Grimnir's companion

Ethereal Ambush vs Reigan AC FF 14: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (9) + 10 = 19
Damage: 2d6 + 7 ⇒ (1, 4) + 7 = 12 + Poison + Grab
Grab vs CMD 18: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (3) + 16 = 19
Fort Dc 18; Freq 1/round for 8 rounds; effect 1d2 con; cure 2 consecutive saves

Ethereal Ambush vs Stone Servant AC FF 17: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (17) + 10 = 27
Damage: 2d6 + 7 ⇒ (5, 4) + 7 = 16 + Poison + Grab
Grab vs CMD 13: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (8) + 16 = 24
Fort Dc 18; Freq 1/round for 8 rounds; effect 1d2 con; cure 2 consecutive saves

Reigan flinches in pain as Grimnir's stone servant crumples under to a small pile of stones under the surprise assault.

Round 1
Terry
Grinner
Gerard
--------------------------
Spiders (DC 15 Knowledge Arcana)(Red- Grappled)
--------------------------
Reigan (33/45; grappled)
Grimnir

Gerard casts Haste on the group, shaking his head at yet another group of spiders or spider creatures.

"So these are ogre spiders. I hate ogre spiders."

Cast Shocking Grasp defensively (CL 6, +2 Int, +2 Combat Casting)
Concentration Check: 1d20 + 6 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 6 + 2 + 2 = 18

Then attempt to hit it with spell combat
To Hit: 1d20 + 10 - 2 ⇒ (9) + 10 - 2 = 17
Damage: 1d6 + 12 ⇒ (5) + 12 = 17

To Hit: 1d20 + 10 - 2 ⇒ (18) + 10 - 2 = 26
Crit?: 1d20 + 10 - 2 ⇒ (6) + 10 - 2 = 14
Damage: 1d6 + 12 ⇒ (3) + 12 = 15

To Hit: 1d20 + 10 - 2 ⇒ (1) + 10 - 2 = 9
Damage: 1d6 + 12 ⇒ (5) + 12 = 17

Shocking Grasp Damage: 5d6 ⇒ (4, 1, 3, 6, 1) = 15