Neb's Quest for the Everflame (Inactive)

Game Master Nebten

Club: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17
for: 1d6 ⇒ 1

Garuneh charges Asar. "Pony! Follow me to glory!"

Garuneh charges the entangled Asar and clocks him for minimal damage. The undead warrior turns to face the druid as a blast of cold air eminates from its mouth.

Pony follows its master and attacks Asar as well.

Hoof vs Asar AC: 1d20 - 3 ⇒ (12) - 3 = 91d3 ⇒ 2

SK4 also continues to attack its kin.

SK4 scimitar vs SK3: 1d20 ⇒ 161d6 ⇒ 1
SK4 claw vs SK3: 1d20 - 3 ⇒ (12) - 3 = 91d4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

Round 8

Asar looks at where Garuneh hit him, then looks at Garuneh directly. He then raises his shining sword and takes a looping swing at Garuneh. "Die!"

Asar vs Garuneh AC: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 181d8 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

Garuneh crumples before Asar's blade, nearly being cut in twain. Garuneh falls before Asar, bleeding out.

SK3 ignores SK4's strikes and continues to attack Gunder.

SK3 scimitar vs Gunder: 1d20 ⇒ 101d6 ⇒ 5
SK3 claw vs Gunder: 1d20 - 3 ⇒ (15) - 3 = 121d4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

With nobody to tell it otherwise, the pony continues to attack Asar.

Hoof vs Asar AC: 1d20 - 3 ⇒ (4) - 3 = 11d3 ⇒ 1
Hoof vs Asar AC: 1d20 - 3 ⇒ (1) - 3 = -21d3 ⇒ 2

The Heroes Are Up.

Liz tries a desperate last attempt at using the wand after seeing Garuneh fall.

UMD: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20

JUMP IN THE (CENSORED) PIT NEAR THE BRIDGE!

With a resigned sigh and clarity of purpose, Aldous draws one of his few blunt arrows remaining, takes careful aim, and looses at Asar.

1d20 ⇒ 2 attack; 1d8 - 1 ⇒ (2) - 1 = 1 damage.

"If I fall, flee this place, Dragon. Do not die here in the dark."

Cue sad trombone music. Seriously, the dice hate this character...

Will Save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

A glittery dust once again streams forth from Elizabeth's wand. The dust showers down upon Asar and the bright blue glow from his eyes begin to dull. The grip on his sword loosens and the tip falls limp. Asar's entire body goes limp as he simply croaks, "No."

Liz's skeleton tries to help Gunder in taking down the last rogue undead.

SK4 scimitar vs SK3 AC: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 161d6 ⇒ 2
SK4 claw vs SK3 AC: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (4) - 1 = 31d4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

The pony looks like it is preparing to kick Asar again . . .

Command Undead

Aldous, you may change your action since your character would realize the difference in Asar.

Aldous & Gunder up.

Ok, cool. In that case, Aldous casts magic weapon on his bow

"Someone stop that pony! Or it will break the spell!"
Assuming the pony is going to attack again next round and not this round - otherwise, Gunder will do a desperate untrained ranged handle animal check himself.

Gunder withdraws from the skeleton and begins running south, towards the unconscious women.
Withdraw to L22

If we are all going to die in here anyway, we might as well rescue the human human girls that we came here for. And now is the chance for them to escape, while Asar is under our spell.

A magical sheen of light envelopes Aldous's bow after he casts his spell.

Gunder's yell draws the attention of the pony. She stares at him with those innocent eyes. She blinks twice, shakes her mane, then vanishes as quickly as she came.

Gunder let's out a sigh of relief and withdraws to the south.

Garuneh Stabilization: 1d20 - 9 + 1 ⇒ (13) - 9 + 1 = 5

Round 9

SK3 steps up to his next living target, Aldous. It tries to fell the weathered wizard.

1d20 ⇒ 71d6 ⇒ 5
1d20 - 3 ⇒ (10) - 3 = 71d4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

Aldous twists and turns out of the way. Just a step away from a clear shot . . .

Aldous steps away from the skeleton, loosing an enchanted arrow at the monster.

1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22, 1d8 ⇒ 1

Gunder tries to wake the woman wearing priest robes.
(Which one is she? The one at K62 or the one at N62?)

Aldous hits the skeleton for minimal damage, but it is still standing.

Gunder tries to wake up the woman in robes (K62), but she appears to have multiple injuries.

Liz up

Liz, cottoning on that she now has control, points at the Skeleton Aldous is fighting and adresses Asar,

Destroy that skeleton and then don't move or do anything else! Pointing at SK3 She then moves around to Garuneh and frantically tries to stop the bleeding out.

Untrained heal: 1d20 ⇒ 20

Gunder! I need help here!

Gunder turns around to Liz, but sees that she has already stabilized Garuneh.

"You are already doing the right thing, Liz. Just keep your hand there and put some bandages on it."

He searches the unconscious women for potions, wands, or blunt weapons.
Perception(?): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14

The entangled Asar slowly makes his way toward the last threatening skeleton, but does not reach him this round.

Elizabeth is able to get to Garuneh and stops the bleeding from his massive wound.

SK4 closes in on SK3 and attacks him twice.

SK4 Scimitar vs SK3: 1d20 ⇒ 141d6 ⇒ 4
SK4 Claw vs SK3: 1d20 - 3 ⇒ (12) - 3 = 91d4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

SK3 misses with both attacks.

Gunder search the woman and finds a sling with a pouch of bullets and a familiar looking potion.

Round 10

SK3 restlessly follows Aldous with the hatred of all living things in his eyes.

SK3 Scimitar vs Aldous: 1d20 ⇒ 101d6 ⇒ 5
SK3 Claw vs Aldous: 1d20 - 3 ⇒ (20) - 3 = 171d4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
SK3 Crit Claw vs Aldous: 1d20 - 3 ⇒ (7) - 3 = 41d4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

The claw digs deep into Aldous's face. The wizard is left winded and ready to collapse. (I have Aldous at 0hp, staggered)

Heroes May Go!

The potion feels heavy in Gunder's hand.
He looks back and forth between the woman and Aldous, unsure what to do.

I'm sure she is a cleric. If I heal her, she can probably heal the rest. Unless she used all her spells already fighting the skeletons. But then again she still has this unused potion. The skeletons probably surprised her in her sleep and defeated her without any fight. For all I know she is just as useless as the boy upstairs.

"To hell with it. We are heroes and we are here to rescue these kids!"

Gunder infuses the potion to the cleric woman.

If she awakes:

"Good morning, dear! We are here to rescue you. But everything is not going according to plan. Can you cast healing magic? If yes, heal the elf, and then the fallen. If no, run! See the blonde woman at the exit? Run to her. She'll lead you out."

1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

The woman's eyes flutter awake. She looks up lazily at first at Gunder, then in shock at the halfling's announcement.

She staggers to her feet and tries to look around as her eye adjust to the different light sources illuminating the room.

The priestess then grabs the holy symbol around her neck followed by a prayer.

"Sarenrae, heal these warriors with your light!"

Channel Positive Energy: 1d6 ⇒ 1

A dim light bursts forth from the priestess and rolls over Gunder & Aldous (1 hp back, Aldous no longer Staggered)

"My face! Blasted undead monster, die!"

Aldous steps back and fires again at the skeleton. 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17 to hit; 1d8 ⇒ 8

Hoping that Aldous's strike finishes off the skeleton, Liz grabs Garuneh's club and runs down to N-58. Destroy that skeleton(SK3) and then freeze if it is destroyed! She shouts at Asarand the other skeleton.

Aldous slides back again, his right hip coming in contact with Gunder's shoulder. The elf smoothly draws another blunt arrow while exhaling the air in his chest. He holds his breath for moment, then one more to correct the aim.

The arrow finds the sternum of the last skeleton, cracking it in half and continuing on to bust the thoracic spine in two. The skeleton crumbles to bone.

The priest's sight returns to her. She peers around the room and sees Asar and the last skeleton looming over the fallen Bria. She loads a bullet into her sling and starts to twirl it . . .

"To me! Sarenrae's light will protect us!"

Stop! If you attack the magic preventing them from attacking us will be broken!

"Indeed. Hold your attack. If you posess further healing powers now would be a good time to use them."

Aldous keeps his bow at the ready but does not draw or nock an arrow yet.

The priestess slows her sling with a unusual look on her face. She then looks around and notices that they have stopped.

"Bring your injured together and Asina as well."

Once everybody has gathered around, the priestess kneels on the ground. She again raises her hands into the air and her eyes begin to glow yellow.

"Sarenrae, heal those who have bleed on your behalf! May your Light shine eternally!"

Channel Positive Energy: 4d6 ⇒ (6, 2, 4, 5) = 17

Wave upon wave of positive energy emanate from the priestess as the party is healed.

Combat has Ended. Everybody is healed 17 hps. Congratulations, you have defeated Asar & company. You earn 390 XP.

Liz feels her wounds heal up. Oh thank Bri..Sarenrae. We found your friend. He is currently barricaded on the level above and won't come out until he knows you are safe.

"What happened here? Do you know why this place is infested with undead?"

"Did we win?". Garuneh enquires from a pool of blood. He gets up, still shaky.

Gunder gives Garuneh a pat on the back.
"Yes, we did win. Welcome back, Garuneh."

"We won? Wow."

Nria rises and introduces herself to the new person.

"Hello. I am Bria Svartlensbinsbanedottir. Thank you."

"Wow, indeed. Never have I fought such a close battle. I was prepared to meet She Who Sits in Judgement and everything. Thank you, sister, you have saved us from a horrible fate. How may we assist you further?"

"We must thank you as well for rescuing us. I am Kyra and this is Asina."

"Our friend?," Asina questions. "Whom would that be?"

Kyra follows up with their story. "As for the undead, I do not know. The crypt has been a holy place for years, at least that is what history has told us. We were part of the chosen to retrieve the Everflame and bring it back to Kassen.

When we arrived at the mouth of the entrance, we found our country men wounded and slain. They said the dead had risen and attacked them as they were preparing the crypt for our arrival. When we went in to investigate, we were waylaid by skeletons. They stole away Asina during the fight. We chased them as soon as we could, but assaulted by bloody skeletons. We were finally overwhelmed by the zombies on the second floor. I know of nothing else."

Asina continues pointing to Asar, "That one kept me captive. He questioned me of what as happened for the past 200 years. He knew others would come to investigate. Each day, I would wake up to screams of our kin turning into walking dead. The worst," Asina starts to tear and choke on her words.

"The worst was Valeros. They had him tied down like a dog. Then they had Ezren, well what was Ezren. By then he was a walking bloated corpse. Ezren would chew on him, eat his flesh. They only did a little at a time waiting long enough for the pain to subdue, then take another bite. Over and over, I had to watch, I had to listen. Valeros finally perished, but he did not die. His body became filled with pus and boils."

Asina looked over at the slain zombie, trying to hold back her sobs. "He turned Valeros into one of them."

Kyra takes Asina into her arms and tries to console her.

"I will need to pray. Check out the other passages. Maybe there will be clues as to why the dead have awoken. I do not believe there are any more threats."

Poor Iconics, lol

Roldare is his name, the one that is hiding upstairs. Did he come with you or is he one of the caretakers of this crypt?

Asina responds, "Roldare, the cobbler's boy? He didn't come with us. He must have been with the other group."

"The other group?"

I think Roldare said something about him coming here with other people. We did see more bodies.

"Did he? I must have forgotten about that. So which group were we supposed to rescue?"

Looks like we are rescuing everyone is seems.

"Strictly speaking, Asina rescued us, certainly she rescued me. Thank you."

Bria bows to the nice lady.

"Where to next?"

Well, we check out this area and then we collect everyone living and get them back to town.

Liz looks over at Asar, Of course...there are things to take care of.

"We have food and water for a day or two, at least. I don't know what other powers you hold, Sister, but your healing was greatly appreciated and truly saved us all. You have my eternal gratitude. I'm Aldous, by the way."

Aldous bows with deep respect, "We were tasked with rescue or recovery of the youths sent from the village on the Everflame errand. Has this accounted for all of them, now?"

Asina responds after composing herself, "It was just the four of us that went on the quest for the Everflame. Now there is only two. I don't know how many people came with Roldare."

Kyra, the priestess, then says, "I have only just begun my life as a traveling cleric. My powers are limited, but I will do what I can to aid us for the return home."

The crypt to the east is the resting place for a number of villagers, each one entombed inside a stone sarcophagus. None of them appear to be disturbed.

The other crypt contains the resting place for some of the raiders that attacked Kassen so many years ago. The central sarcophagus has been disturbed, its lid lying broken on the ground in front of it. A corpse wearing gray robes and an iron mask that covers his face lies beside the open sarcophagus. Dragon chirps a few times in the direction of the corpse.

"Dragon suggests that corpse holds some magic on it. Be careful, but let's check it out."

1d20 + 11 ⇒ (12) + 11 = 23 spellcraft as needed, after casting detect magic.

Searching the body, party finds a map leading to the crypt (along with a note that reads, “The amulets are entombed with Kassen and Asar”), a wand, bracers, a horn, 355 gp in newly minted coins, and a spellbook.

"Perhaps this was not such a waste, after all. I now have the capacity to deliver some significant attacks, and these bracers can grant some additional security from damage. I believe the horn will generate a minor cloud of fog when blown, as well."

Pocketing the spellbook for the moment, Aldous makes a mental note to read it carefully when the group sets up for rest.

"The amulets are entombed with Kassen and Asar, what in the world does that mean? What amulets?"

Magic Missile Wand (I will take, if you please), Bracers of Armor +1 (up for grabs? I will wear for now if noone else needs the AC), and Horn of Fog, anyone want that? Perhaps Gunder or Garuneh?

'newly minted coins' as in 'not ancient enough to be from this crypt' or as in 'surprisingly new, even for money that is in circulation on the surface world'?

Gunder looks at Asar to see if the undead skeleton is wearing an amulet.

"Hmm, maybe we should ask him about it..."

The coins are surprisingly new, much like those found on the body in the lake and the eaten corpse in the frog room.

Asar is not wearing an amulet. (Even though the picture shows him wearing one. Bad Paizo, bad!)

"I agree. Ask the undead what it knows about these amulets. It's 'friendly' to Liz at the moment, yes?"

Gunder picks up a coin and looks at it.
Does it say where and when it was minted?

Aldous has already identified these coins being from Nirmathan.

Asar, what do you know about the amulets that were entombed with you and Kassen?

Asar responds to Elizabeth's query.

"The amulets are part of a key that opens up a great treasure vault we plundered so long ago. I remember little about the vault itself. What I do remember is that the amulet points the way to the vault if it is reassembled from its three component parts. The last part was given to Iramine, an elven sorceress that was part of our group."

Liz shrugs. An old plundered vault. I guess we are a century or so too late to get anything out of it.