Megan's Other Legacy of Fire Game 1

Game Master Megan Robertson

Three pugwampi, who are busy practising the culinary arts, and paying no attention whatsoever to marauding adventurers!

You have surprise!

Initiatives, actions & rolls if you please.

Aurichalcum lines up one of the Pugwampi and launches at it, tail lashing and slashing as he arrives...

Initiative 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6
Attack 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21
Damage 1d3 - 2 ⇒ (1) - 2 = -1 = 1 non-lethal + Sting—injury; save Fort DC 14; frequency 1/minute for 10 minutes; effect sleep for 1 minute; cure 1 save.

Init: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9

Talahel charges another of the pugwampi and takes a mighty swing with his longsword at it.

Attack: 1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 7 + 2 = 17
Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

+ 2 attack for charging but my AC drops to 13 if attacked next round.

Able attacks the third of the pugwampis, running boldly in and attempting to bring his fey magics to bear, preparing a laughing touch.

Init: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 1 = 18
Attack: +1 BAB, -1 Str, +1 size, +2 charge 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17 v. melee touch attack
6 more Laughing Touches today, AC is 11

You all charge in upon the unsuspecting pugwampis, busy about their cooking.

Ablenaffener is first off the mark, running across the room to one pugwampi who is stirring a large pot. It bursts into peals of hysterical laughter, and drops the spoon...

Talahel charges across the room towards another pugwampi who is chopping carrots, and slices its head off!

Aurichalcum is the last into action, flapping his wings and lashing his tail at the third pugwampi, who was doing the washing up. It squeaks as the stinger sinks into its backside...

Pugwampi save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19

... and turns to swat at him with its scrubbing brush!

Pugwampi attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22 - doing no damage but showering the pseudodragon with suds!!!!

Now locked in combat, Aurichalcum redoubles his efforts, striking with tooth and stinger!

Bite Attack 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26
Damage 1d2 - 2 ⇒ (1) - 2 = -1 = 1 non-lethal

Sting Attack 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22
Damage 1d3 - 2 ⇒ (3) - 2 = 1 + Sting—injury; save Fort DC 14; frequency 1/minute for 10 minutes; effect sleep for 1 minute; cure 1 save.

Able quickly steps away from his combatant and casts Daze DC 14 upon the pugwampi he has dropped, trying to keep it incapacitated for as long as is necessary for one of his more battle-ready companions to dispose of the little creature.

Talahel turns toward the pugwampi that Able has disabled and brings the longsword down on the pugwampi's neck.

Attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11
Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Round 1

Ablenaffener waves his arms, casting daze on the chortling pugwampi (who is still upright, by the way, he dropped his spoon when he started to laugh).

Pugwampi save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18 - not dazed but still laughing...

... then Talahel slices his head off anyway!

Meanwhile, Aurichalcum lays into the pugwampi that covered him in soap-suds, biting and lashing with his tail and dropping the pugwampi.

Pugwampi save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14 - he's unconscious rather than asleep, for what difference that makes.

Covered in suds, and not seeing any other combatants threatening his friends, Auri starts shaking himself off.

Talahel takes out his rope and ties up the unconscious pugwampi. "We can question this one and find out how long they have been staying here, how many, and what their plans, if any, are."

Talahel then inspects the rest of the kitchen. Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24

Able begins to push the headless bodies out of the way of the door, into whatever sort of hiding space he might notice.

Looking around you see a large kitchen complete with walls lined in shelves and cupboards, a huge central table, and an enormous oven against the north wall. Several drawers and cupboard doors stand askew, and the floor here is a jagged field of broken glass, smashed pottery, bits of sharp stone, jagged bones, and discarded cutlery. It appears that the pugwampis were going to have turnip and potato soup for dinner.

Able, you can stuff the remains into a cupboard if you want. Talahel can tie up the unconscious pugwampi quite easily.

If anyone wants to give Auri a hand, there are a couple of rather grubby tea-towels you could dry him off with.

Auri looks at the grubby tea towels with a long hard look. If you thought it possible, you'd have sworn his draconic features bore a resemblance to disdain and horror at the thought of such grimy and maky cloths being used to rub his glorious scales... then he looks a bit torn as he notes the dirty suds.

Frying pan or fire?

Able bundles the bodies, piece by piece, into the cupboards. He notes the moral dilemma about the tea towels, but chooses discretion and does not intervene in the affairs of a dragon.

"Do not meddle in the affairs of a dragon, lest they become soggy and hard to light!"

The tied-up pugwampi is beginning to rouse and is moaning a bit.

"What do you wish to do with the disgusting thing?"

"Question it. Find out how many more of these things are here. Why are they here and any other useful information."

"Ask about the baboons," Able says, as he carefully sets a wobbly head on the pile of body parts he's shoved into the cupboard. "I'd like to know if they're pets or wild animals."

Hey, RL blew up on me - posting has become a lot less convenient, and thus may become more erratic. Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

Not to worry, Able - drop in when you can.

The pugwampi mumbles, "Baboons pets, guard animals. Not trained, though. As fer 'ow many 'wampis, 'bout a couple dozen. Varies. We makes food for 20 generally enuff."

Able does some quick math in his head. We've defeated... 7? 8? "You're missing a great many. Where are they, and what are they up to? Or do you need to go the way your friends are right now...?" Able tries to make his gnomish voice as menacing as he can, implying unseen horrors for the pugwampi's missing friends.

Intimidate check: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16

Talahel brandishes his long sword and glares at the pugwampi to add even more weight to Able's threat.

Aid another, Intimidate 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

Unfortunately, the pugwampi seems unaware of Talahel at the moment.

Able is scaring him enough... if the childish accident he just had is any measure of his mental state.

"Answers, pugwampi. And quickly. Where are the others? What are they doing?" The gnome leers madly in the creature's face.

"M..m...most offen wiv t'gnolls. They's our gods, like. We's worships 'em. Go and provide little services... Or out scouting. Hunting. Finding tube rats and t'like fer dinner."

"And the gnolls? Will they be coming here too? Answer quiiiiiiiickly..." The gnome gives a few more maddened eye rolls to his performance, his voice supernaturally high and his grin wide.

"N..n..nooooooooo! They don't come here." The pugwampi is struggling against its bonds, clearly terrified.

Able stands again, straightening his clothing and completely dropping his mad act. "There we have it. Plenty of information to work with." He seems, all in all, very pleased with himself. "Now, what to do with it?" He looks questioningly at his companions.

Without speaking a word, Talahel steps up and takes a wide swing with his long sword and attempts to separate the pugwampi's head from the rest of his body.

Attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18
Damage 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

He then bends down over the Pugwampi's corpse, unties his rope, grabs one of the grubby rags, and cleans the blood from the rope as he rolls it back up.

"Sounds like there are several more of these vermin that need to be disposed of before this place is safe for the rest of the caravan. Let's continue on."

Aurichalcum hisses and chirps agreement. He seems to have also mastered the matter of the soap suds by simply and defiantly pretending they just don't exist.

So, where now?

You have thoroughly explored the monastery.

Monastery map

Do you want to revisit anywhere, or would you prefer to go back to the encampment at Sultan's Claw.

Hmmm... I wonder if the fire Auri started in the church has gone out yet?

"Let us sweep through once more, in case there's something we missed. That Pug seemed to think he still had allies about somewhere, perhaps there are some more secreted away... better we find them when our wits are sharp than they find us whilst we sleep"

Once more room by room, including that crypt area. There shouldn't be anything upstairs as the nave was the only multilevel area..I think...!

Correct, Auri. A2 is the only bit to have upperworks. Not that it does any more as it was all flammable and a certain pseudodragon set fire to it! In fact, A2 is even more of a mess than it was when you arrived, with smouldering debris everywhere.

A keen nose - pseudodragons have a good sense of smell, I believe? - can detect that sickly stench of burned flesh as well. Perhaps some of the 'missing' pugwampis got roasted?

Scouring the entire building, you find no further signs of life.

Aurichalcum struts around the ruins as a conquering hero.

"Seems we have cleared the menace from her Holiness home, we can now welcome the caravan to this place"

ready to move back out if the place and its immediate surrounds are clear

"I am certain that your Goddess must be pleased that the cleansing fire came directly from the mouth of such a devoted servant! Our heroics are truly to be admired!" The little gnome puffs his chest out.

A-Ok with heading back to camp.

"Well done. Let's head back to the caravan and report that the temple is ready to set up for camp."

You return to the encampment without further incident and are ushered into Lady Almah's pavilion. She orders wine and sweetmeats to be served (sugared almonds and dates stuffed with cream cheese are on offer today) and lounges back on her cushions ready to hear your report.

Able's contribution to the report seems to be based more around the Saranaen connections between Auri's revelations and the temple than of enemy numbers and hazards of the area. The entire retelling takes on the cast of a heroic story rather than a report.

Indeed, as Able spins the yarn, Auri acts out some of the key parts... particularly the gallant bits about fighting the evildoers in his role as Great Wyrm of the party; of course the theme is mostly historical storytelling rather than historical accuracy, as a certain scene involving soap suds has been completely omitted from the 'dramatisation'...

Lady Almah is delighted with the account presented, obviously enjoying the dramatisation...

Once the tale is told, she orders that a feast be prepared for tonight, and that in the morning the entire encampment will transfer to the monastery.

"I'm tired of sleeping under the stars," she declares.

This might be a suitable point to advance to 3rd level.

Whoo! I do so love a good level-up - especially with Ultimate Magic and the APG now in my hands! I'll try to get an Able level-up posted in the OOC thread before the weekend is out.

OK have updated Auri to 2nd level - new stats in profile

Able locked and loaded and ready to rock and roll!

Talahel is leveled up and ready to move on.

Excellent: then we shall do so :)

After an excellent feast, during which wine flows liberally, and a good night's sleep, everyone awakes to the chaos of the encampment being packed up ready to move to the monastery. It's midday before they're in a position to move off.

When the motley crew arrives there, Lady Almah orders her pavillion set up outside until somewhere is cleared out for her.

Around you, organised chaos as everyone darts around staking their claims to whichever part of the monastery they fancy. Garavel stalks around trying to establish some kind of order. He's got some ideas about who ought to go where... he insists that Lady Almah takes A14, the Library, with her personal guards occupying A15 (where the baboons were) next door.

Dashki wants A12, the Shrine to Vardishal.
The camel driver and his wife take over A16, the kitchen, and after a thorough tidy - and a lot of comments about pugwampi housekeeping - delicious smells start to waft through the building.
Father Zastoran, rather to everyone's surprise, takes a fancy to the underground laboratory, A19.

Garavel suggests that you lot might fancy A18, the dormitory.

Found a nice map of the surrounding area for you.

The rest of the day is occupied with settling in. Are you happy with Garavel's suggestion, or would you like somewhere else?

In the evening, there's a celebratory feast, served in A17, even though there are some holes in the roof. At the end of it, Lady Almah announces that while the main party will settle here for the time being, she wants you folks to begin investigating the village of Kelmarane and its surroundings, with a view to driving the gnolls out and neutralising other threats.

"But," she ends, "You may start that tomorrow, tonight is for celebration of the first phase of my mission: reclaiming the monastery!" She orders wine served...

After the long journey here, it is nice to sleep on a bed, even one that may have have contained Pugwampi at one time. The dormitory is fine with Talahel.

Talahel has a restless sleep troubled by his impending return to Kelmarane.

Able spends the night sipping moderately of the wine and retelling as many heroic tales as he can remember to as many people as will listen. In the morning, he arises well before they are meant to leave and has packed all of his things before his allies have awoken, sitting on the edge of his bed like a child awaiting a holiday.

Talahel rises after his restless sleep and looks about for his friends Able and Auri. He finds the very eager Able practically buzzing with excitement. "Able, I see you are ready to go, let's find Auri and head into town to scout things out. Lady Almah wishes us to find and purge this gnoll threat. You proved yourself quite capable against the pugwampi, are you ready for something a little more challenging?"

After breakfast, a substantial spread now that the herder couple have a proper kitchen to work in, everyone gathers in the main chapel. It's still a bit of a mess, but someone has swept the dais at the north end clear and placed a folding chair for the Lady Almah.

"Now we are established in our new base, I propose that we spend the next few days getting settled," she begins. "However, I would like the 'Special Force' - Talahel, Ablenaffener and Aurichalcum - to begin scouting Kelmarane. To start with, make a scouting mission into the outskirts of the village in an attempt to gauge the forces defending Kelmarane. I warn you not to attempt to fight their way to the battle market yet, where I presume the gnoll tribe has set up shop, as preliminary intelligence suggests that the forces there are sufficient to overwhelm you in the case of an all-out attack. Rather, I would encourage you to make guerilla strikes into the town, taking out its defenders a few at a time and exploring the ruined buildings on Kelmarane's lower slopes. Once we have an assessment of the situation, we can consider an assault utilising all the forces at my disposal. Comments, questions?"

Able shakes his head vehemently at Almah's request for questions, his little chest swollen with pride at being included in a 'Special Force.'