The Library of Last Resort is your last chance to find the resting place of Dragotha's phylactery. But you aren't the only people looking for it.
Loot Sheet.
GM Notes.
Ah, yeah, forgot you were a sacred fist now. Unless they changed it already you can take a level of monk and get wisdom to AC twice. The sacred fist is a supernatural ability and the monk is extraordinary, so by RAW they stack.
THP: HP: 159/165 (207/213), BR 32/36, APs 10/12; AC 27, T 15, FF 26; Fort +18 Ref +13, Will +13 (16, +2 ME) (+4 vs evil all saves); Perception +19, Init +5 Everyday buffs: GFL, bear's endurance, protection from evil (permanent, undispellable) Currents: blessing of fervor, good hope, shield
I feel ready for whatever infests the cellar of this keep. We've faced horrors I'd never even imagined and come through okay so far, Cuetzpalli thinks as he gets ready to descend into the basement. He drinks the extract Carina gave him, and feeds Spiny his. Then he thanks the alchemist. "Look how big Spiny is getting guys! I'll be able to ride him soon I think," Cuetzpalli comments to the others. It is true, the dinosaur is much larger than he was when they started this little group. The meat-rich diet of their enemies' corpses must be doing him good. If he keeps going at this rate, the dinosaur will be larger than a destrier soon. Cuetzpalli hefts his axe and slapping Tanith on the shoulder says, "Shall we?" before leading the way into the depths.
*=temporarily buffed Human Bard 15/Ranger 1 — 79/119 hp — AC 36*/24*/24* (6 mirror images)—CMB +15, CMD 32*— Fort +14, Ref +*20, Will +12 — Spells 3/3 5th, 1/4 4th, 0/5 3rd, 4/6 2nd, 3/6 1st — Panache 3/3— Performance 34/40— Perception +19 — Init +4— Action Points 13/13—
Daily magic item use:
Bracers of falcon's aim 3/3, Lesser rod of quicken spell 3/3, rod of extend spell 2/3, Forzamele 2/3
"And then I can race you and Spiny on Grifter!" Eben says. As though playing a magical version of duck, duck, goose, he makes a circle around the warriors of the group, laying a hand on each in turn.
Heroism on Tanith, Farrukh, & Cuetzpali.
Immediately before entering the basement proper, he casts two spells upon himself: first his spell of dextrous and graceful movement. Then, with a grin at Astraden, "Hey, learned this one from watching you..." and flourishes both hands apart. Eben is immediately surrounded by 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3 separate images of himself.
Going all out on my spell slots because it's a new level and I feel obligated to show off. Using all 4 level 2 slots + using an AP. Heroism lasts 596,597,&508 rounds. Cat's grace lasts 59 rounds, mirror image lasts 60 rounds (3 images)
Before leaving, the party is given a quick run-down on the basement. It consists of sleeping quarters, a kitchen, Marzena's chambers and the captain's chambers. In addition, there's a tunnel heading east. Once intended to eventually serve as an escape tunnel, it is where the spawn has been sealed—until now.
The staircase is blocked by a number of hastily-hammered in boards, which the soldiers somewhat reluctantly clear away for the party to pass. "We'll leave the way back open," Merris says. "I'm sure you can handle this, but if you need help, give a whistle and I'll come down and cover your retreat."
Cuetzpalli descends at the lead. The lights are dim (though not so dim as to impede his vision). Ahead, he sees several rooms leading into bedrooms, all with ajar doors.
Right around the corner to his immediate right (west) is where the kitchen is supposed to be.
You all hear something. A shrill screeching, like a cat's claws raking across a chalkboard, sounds from the kitchen area.
Everyone But Tanith:
You also hear a faint movement—not quite breathing, but something close—coming from the room directly south of the current location.
Farrukh:
You hear something else coming from the northeastern room.
I gave Farrukh his +2 trait bonus, even though a basement in an artificial hill is kind of a debatable "underground". Because I'm nice like that.
Marching order: Cuetzpalli, Spiny, Farrukh, Tanith, Astraden, Carina, Eben. Due to the nature of this area (tiny staircase), only Cuetzpalli will be shown on the map. The rest are actually beneath his icon, so when he moves, the next down will become visible.
The full map is visible (because the layout was more-or-less made clear to you), but keep in mind it doesn't reflect what creatures are down here. I marked with a white dot areas where someone might be hearing something, for ease of reference.
By the way, in case anyone's wondering, moving the barricade made quite a bit of noise.
Nah, buffs we can mostly just remember (hence my posting them all—it's mostly for my benefit). Your AC is a total of 25 with Mage Armor and Shield, right?
This kitchen area has a cooking fireplace in the southwest corner, a long table stacked with clay dishes on the north wall, a washbasin on the east wall, and a water barrel in the northeast corner. Cooking pots hang on the walls and the center of the room has a short, broad barrel with handles, probably for scraps and garbage.
The strange noise appears to be coming from behind the door on the right—the entrance to the pantry, if Cuetzpalli recalls correctly.
*=temporarily buffed Human Bard 15/Ranger 1 — 79/119 hp — AC 36*/24*/24* (6 mirror images)—CMB +15, CMD 32*— Fort +14, Ref +*20, Will +12 — Spells 3/3 5th, 1/4 4th, 0/5 3rd, 4/6 2nd, 3/6 1st — Panache 3/3— Performance 34/40— Perception +19 — Init +4— Action Points 13/13—
Daily magic item use:
Bracers of falcon's aim 3/3, Lesser rod of quicken spell 3/3, rod of extend spell 2/3, Forzamele 2/3
Eben, seeing yet another blockade of bodies accumulating at the kitchen's entrance, and perhaps more confident in Astraden's ability to conceal the group from undead than is necessarily wise, splits off and goes the other way around the hallway to head toward the other side of the kitchen.
Double moving around the side, walking as stealthy as an unstealthy bard can do.
Stealth:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7
Thump. "Ow."
Well, bear in mind the hide from undead effect...
Oh, hey, once-per-day Worldly trait reroll on an untrained skill: Stealth:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20 There might be a muffled thump, but Eben supresses the 'ow'.
1d20 ⇒ 1
Eben sees more open doors as he goes. The room he just passed appears to be Marzena's room. He's fairly certain it's unoccupied.
Before him is what must be the creature's old prison. This wooden door is ajar, its simple large padlock smashed and broken as if by some kind of club. Ragged marks around the edges of the door and a few bent and broken nails in the frame suggest it was once nailed shut.
Anyone who goes near this door can make a Perception check.
Perception 15:
There are bits of what look like a large, smashed turtleshell lying about here—not unlike the ones many of the lizardfolk have been using as shields.
*=temporarily buffed Human Bard 15/Ranger 1 — 79/119 hp — AC 36*/24*/24* (6 mirror images)—CMB +15, CMD 32*— Fort +14, Ref +*20, Will +12 — Spells 3/3 5th, 1/4 4th, 0/5 3rd, 4/6 2nd, 3/6 1st — Panache 3/3— Performance 34/40— Perception +19 — Init +4— Action Points 13/13—
Daily magic item use:
Bracers of falcon's aim 3/3, Lesser rod of quicken spell 3/3, rod of extend spell 2/3, Forzamele 2/3
Perception:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (11) + 12 = 23
Eben furrows his brow at the out-of-place lizardfolk shield and files the information away to re-examine later, but otherwise continues his movement around the side corridor. Emerging on the far side of the kitchen, he draws his bow and gives a nod to the group gathered by the pantry door.
Action Points: 11/13|Bombs: 11/23|Female Undine (Formerly Yugoloth-Spawn Tiefling) Alchemist (Chirurgeon) 16|HP: 85/85|AC: 22(36)/14(23)/19(26)|Saves: +15 Fort (+20 vs. Poison), +18 Ref, +12 Will (+1 vs. Enchantments)|Initiative: +3|Perception: +21
Perception:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27
Carina lets Eben get ahead of her before following behind him... and notices bits of a turtleshell scattered about the door he lingered by. "Huh..."Lizardfolk shield bits?
She continues following Eben around the side, staying about 30 feet behind him.
Sorry, Carina doesn't have time to move again before things start happening. :P
Cuetzpalli readies himself, grabs the door's handle, and opens it. The cramped room beyond has shelves with perishable goods, mainly fruit, some cheeses, and small jars of herbs.
On the floor lies a mangy, emaciated cat. Its eyes are red-rimmed, and an injury in its side has been crudely bandaged. The wretched beast has been tied to a metal sheet, which it is futilely scratching at—the source of the scraping.
The cat is clearly extremely ill.
Astraden:
The worms generally can't infect tiny hosts—they eat them away too quickly (the ones in the pool were a special strain). The spawns of Kyuss are said to carry a mind-rotting virus in addition to their more obvious parasites.
Second post coming in a bit. No time to move, but any quick reactions are alright (as long as they get up before my post).
Seeing Cuetzpalli, the cat gives a plaintive meow.
Suddenly, Farrukh's keen ears pick up two forms moving behind him, even as Carina and Eben hear similar movements from the north.
Out of the southern rooms creep two monstrous shapes. These were humans, once—one of them is even recognizable as the soldier who was rude to Carina, before half his face completely peels off to reveal the green worms crawling beneath. The other is almost just a skeleton, its bones yellowed and ancient.
Two more emerge from the northern rooms, pausing as they see Eben and Carina. These rotting corpses are also infested with the green worms. A worm pokes out of the eyeball of the spawn nearest Carina as it moves closer.
The sight of these creatures fills all nearby with unspeakable terror—terror beyond reason, beyond sense, and well beyond anything natural.
All four are wearing leather armor, though they appear unarmed.
One of the undead horrors rushes towards Eben, giving what sounds like a wheezing sound as it—once "her"—lunges at the performer.
Slam (FF):1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18
Its swing hits...
Low Is Bad For PCs:1d4 ⇒ 1
...Eben, neatly avoiding the three figments.
Grab (FF):1d20 + 14 ⇒ (19) + 14 = 33 Damage:1d6 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13
It near-tackles the bard, spilling a worm on his arm as a rotting hand closes around his wrist.
1. You are grappled.
2. You have a worm on you. It requires an attack to get it off (AC 10, and any damage kills it), and you have one round to do so before it gets to work on you.
3. Make a Fortitude save versus disease.
The other advances on Carina.
Slam (FF):1d20 + 10 ⇒ (14) + 10 = 24 Grab:1d20 + 14 ⇒ (5) + 14 = 19 Damage (don't forget Shield Other):1d6 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10
It rams into her side and grabs her arm. A worm leaps onto her shoulder as it does so, starting to crawl under her chainmail.
1. You are grappled.
2. You have a worm on you. It requires an attack to get it off (AC 10, and any damage kills it), and you have one round to do so before it gets to work on you.
3. Make a Fortitude save versus disease.
Meanwhile, one of the spawns in the southern part of the basement starts scampering around as the other (the older corpse) attacks Farrukh. Seeing how well-armored he is, the creature plucks a worm from its eye socket and lunges forth to drop it on his unarmored neck.
Touch Attack (FF):1d20 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10
The worm lands on his shoulder, but a bit too close to the chain shirt. The moment it touches the mithral, the worm's glowing red eyes go dark and it falls to the ground.
Round One: YOU ARE UP!
But before you do anything, everyone, make four Will saves. Versus fear, so a lot of you get bonuses from bless or class abilities.
After Rolling:
If you rolled below 15 on any of the saves, you are filled with unnatural terror. You are Panicked and will flee the source of your fear at breakneck pace (as well as any other dangers). If you cannot escape, you will cower, not fight. You are also considered Shaken.
Assume that whatever save you fail (if any) is against the spawn/s closest to you.
Pfft. Have fun guys! See you on the flip side. Even with an additional +2 bonus for favored enemy (which I'm not even sure adds to saves, so it's not included above) I still fail, and so does Spiny.
You can make a new save each round, for the record (and you can move freely once out of immediate danger). Anyways, fleeing itself could be difficult, so make sure to specify Cuetzpalli's route of escape (technically, it's supposed to be "random", but I'm gonna leave you some agency here).
Quick question, does Bless stack with Heroism for this purpose, since they're TECHNICALLY adding to different things (blanket +2 to saves vs +1 to saves vs Fear only)? Always been fuzzy on that. That 8 still seems a bit low regardless. Hrm. Hrm. Would this AP be mean enough to throw a DC higher than 16 or so on these guys. Yes, probably.
Action Point:1d6 ⇒ 1
BAWLS
Edit: WAIT! Just enough! Wooooo
Farrukh shrugs off the unnatural panic...barely.
He looks at the zombie nearby.
"Ewwww..." he mutters as the eyeball plinks off his armor.
He decides to bring it the gift of final oblivion, leading with his shield, aiming to knock the creature against the wall and knocking it over before completing his assault..
Board:1d20 + 11 ⇒ (5) + 11 = 16
Damage:1d6 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13
Sword:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27
Damage:1d6 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11
Board Iterative:1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20
Damage:1d6 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9
Attacking with shield twice to double my chances of Shield Slam = Prone.
Sword Confirm?:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20
Damage:1d6 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10
Sword is at -2 damage (half Str) since it's the off-hand this round. If either of the shield attacks' rolls exceed its CMD, it's knocked prone from being bounced off the wall. Note: My shield attacks also do Slashing damage, if they have DR/Slashing.
THP: HP: 159/165 (207/213), BR 32/36, APs 10/12; AC 27, T 15, FF 26; Fort +18 Ref +13, Will +13 (16, +2 ME) (+4 vs evil all saves); Perception +19, Init +5 Everyday buffs: GFL, bear's endurance, protection from evil (permanent, undispellable) Currents: blessing of fervor, good hope, shield
Are the saves once per 24 hours once passed? If so that should reduce the number of saves I need to make in subsequent rounds. I'm also pretty sure once you fail one save, you can't get frightened again until one source of fear plays out.
Well, multiple auras are somewhat debatable, but I'd let that go if nobody can confirm otherwise. Though it may be somewhat moot if Tanith manages to get off his Remove Fear on one of you (DC 15 Sense Motive to identify the effect).
Farrukh bashes the undead monster's head up in a vicious uppercut and hacks apart one of its ribs, but it seems only moderately annoyed and manages to remain upright.
Male Human Monk 5 (Qinggong Master of Many Styles from the Sacred Mountain)/Fighter (Brawler) 3
Woah oh
If Eben has nowhere to flee, then he's Cowering. I.E. Helpless. I.E. ALL ABOARD THE COUP DE GRACE TRAIN CHOO CHOO
Edit: While I'm on the "Traitor to your party" train, Carina dropping her pistol (which I can't see why she needs to do, IIRC you can mix/throw Bombs with one hand) means it is now an unattended object, so it gets no saving throw vs the Bomb she just dropped, and takes appropriate damage...including any powder it has loaded going BOOM.
Small comfort though it may be, the spawn is also hit full-on by the blast. With her especially close contact, however, Carina can see that the wounds already seem to be mending themselves...
*=temporarily buffed Human Bard 15/Ranger 1 — 79/119 hp — AC 36*/24*/24* (6 mirror images)—CMB +15, CMD 32*— Fort +14, Ref +*20, Will +12 — Spells 3/3 5th, 1/4 4th, 0/5 3rd, 4/6 2nd, 3/6 1st — Panache 3/3— Performance 34/40— Perception +19 — Init +4— Action Points 13/13—
Daily magic item use:
Bracers of falcon's aim 3/3, Lesser rod of quicken spell 3/3, rod of extend spell 2/3, Forzamele 2/3
Cowering isn't helpless; the Panicked condition explicitly states: 'If cornered, a panicked creature cowers and does not attack, typically using the total defense action in combat.' So I can't get free or squish the worm, both of which are things that I imagine will go very bad for Eben very quickly, but I'm not CDG bait either.
