[PFS] Blake's Gallows of Madness, Part I (Inactive)

Game Master Blake's Tiger

Zeldana moves in and reloads her crossbow, quickly getting out of breath from the hustle.

Imojin and WHiskers run after the little doll...

"Stop running... for that matter... stop moving at all!"

to hit: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8
dmg if hits: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

really? a 2? sigh

Whiskers bites at the homunculus.

to hit: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14
dmg if hits: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

Faust roars in pain as the heavy forks dig into his skin. With a snarl, he heads towards the little monstrosity, pulling forks out of his body as he goes. "You miserable excuse for an existence, let's see how you like the pain!" He hacks at the thing with his scimitar, bloodlust in his eyes.
________

One of the eagle's claws scratches the malformed homunculus. It hisses in pain and frustration. However, before it can counter attack, Faust rushes around the corner and cleaves the beast in two. Its purplish insides make a slick mess all over the floor.

Out of Combat

The Kitchen

The smell of rotting food and stagnant water rises from the filth in this small kitchen, mixing sickeningly with the strong, coppery scent of fresh blood. Broken jugs, upturned trays, and scraps of food litter the room. In the sink, a large bowl filled with chewed and spat out food floats in thick, bloody water in the sink. An open door to the south reveals a ransacked pantry.

"What a twisted creature..." he mutters as he wipes his blade clean, but keeps it in hand. His animalistic composure fades back into its typical state.

Resuming his search, he explores the kitchen. Coming too close to the sink, his already pale skin manages to whiten further and he staggers away from it. By the gods, what is that stench? "I am not a stranger to the grotesque, but the sink in here is notably ghastly. Approach at your own peril."

Despite his visceral response, Faust's curiosity still burns. He backs up a respectable distance before considering a second go and raising a handkerchief to his face. "Any of you have the ability to detect magic?"
________

"What a mess! And people say rats have bad habits. Such a stench!"

Zeldana will keep his distance from Faust but follow along with detect magic.

Shalendra peeks her head into the kitchen and begins to detect magic. "I can detect magic Faust. What did you see?"

After searching the sink and pantry, he stumbles out of the kitchen. "It wasn't the sight, but the smell. It is unlikely there is anything of use in that sink, but please scan the room. I need a moment," he pleas, stepping out of the house for some fresh air.

With a little more color in his face, he returns. The wounds he suffered from the forks have faded as well. "Let us press forward if we have completed searching this floor."
________

Faust attempts to get his wand to work. It takes so long that he begins to feel better even before the magic in the wand activates, and the eagle disappears.

You are no longer sickened. Over 1 minute has passed.

Having scoured the ground floor for any clues and finding nothing but filth and broken things, you climb to the second floor. There are three doors out of the hallway on this floor. You open the closest first.

The shelves in this storeroom have been ripped off the wall and lie in a heap on the floor, along with their now-wrecked former contents—bloody linens, a broken broom, and other ruined household supplies. Past the storeroom is a tidy washroom that appears oddly untouched by the surrounding messy chaos.

Map Updated

Imojin wanders into the room and opens the door to the washroom (if there is one) She peeks inside, surprised to see it so orderly.

Zeldana muses "Interesting enough the blood trap on the front door used magic. Nothing else though."

I haven't seen the signs of a mind this unhinged since I got off that island... Has the taint of that wretched place spread this far already? As carefully as he can, Faust searches the room for anything else of use. "If whoever wrote this remains within, be on your guard. This level of instability frequently resorts excessive violence quickly," he warns.
________
Shall we take the door on our character's left?

Left door sounds good.

You open the door on the left side of the hall. This large bedroom is full of upturned furniture and decorations knocked from the shelves and walls. Every painting has been smashed from its frame and torn to pieces. Sitting on the otherwise-undisturbed master bed is a single journal.

You determine that it is safe to enter the room and handle the journal. Written in blood on every page of the journal is the passage, 'Our son is an awful disappointment.' Taking the time to scratch off the blood and read the latest passages underneath, you gather that it belonged to a mother who was concerned about her son's well-being. The last few entries describe how Gellion is spending too much time with his experiments, not eating well, and seemed moody and distant from his friends and parents.

With nowhere else to explore, you open the last door. This small room contains a simple bed, desk, and chair. Thick webs cover the west end of the room, where the bed sits—and two humanoid forms appear trapped within (white circles). Sticky, purplish black strands cling to the desk and chair on the east side of the room, except in one spot where the strange filaments have left a clear space around a small piece of metal.

Xanac pulls out a scroll of warding (mage armor) and reads it to himself, then peeks into the room and looks over it with his third eye....

detect magic/Spellcraft: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (16) + 11 = 27

"There's something underneath all that...gunk beside that desk. Healing potions, maybe."

"Can you tell if the humanoids are still alive?" Shalendra calls out when she hears the description of the room.

Xanac shrugs. "Alive...dead...the difference is often vastly overstated. Still...."

Xanac opens his third eye wider, and searches for thoughts (detect thoughts, DC 16).

It's still the same day as before, right?

Zeldana reminds her companions "Use cold Iron or positive energy to clear the bile."

"If no one wishes to enter, I am willing to be the first. Only one way to discover their fate," he declares, now carrying the dagger and scimitar in each hand. "Are those spider webs?" How ominous... He clutches the amulet hanging from his neck and a swirling disk of darkness forms over his forearm.
________
Cast Shield. Unless someone else wants to go first, Faust will step into the room and head to the webbed things.

Imojin will step into the room right behind FAust (only behind because he went first), and try to cut down the humanoid forms from the webs with her longsword. she'll stand on Whiskers' back if she's not tall enough to do this

A giant spider the size of a dog leaps from behind the webbing where it had been hiding. The purple-warted arachnid pounces at Faust, but the swordsman spins out of the way with cat-like grace.

Combat! Round 1. Bold may act.
Takumi
Imojin & Whiskers
Zeldana
Spider
Xanac (Mage Armor)
Shalendra
Faust (Shield)

Imojin steps forward and slashes with her longsword at the ugly 8-legged little beastie.

to hit: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13
dmg if hits: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

With the tight quarters Zeldana moves to the end of the hall and readies to cast stabilize should any of her allies fall.

Takumi hears the sound of combat coming from within the room. He tries to get closer to look in, but there is just no space. Seeing no other options, he once again whips out a piece of paper, folds it into the shape of an eagle and flings it into the room. It magically morphs into a real eagle, flies straight at the spider and bites down on it.

Spend 1 arcane reservoir to summon eagle (augmented) as standard action, last 1 min. It's flying over Imojin's head.

bite: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5 dmg: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
+1 dmg to each of above if target is evil.

Summoned Eagle: AC:14 T:13 FF:12 | HP: 7/7 | Resist Acid, Cold, and Electricity 5

Imojin's sword strikes the hard shell of the corrupted spider, seeming to do it no harm. Then an eagle appears in the room and swoops over the ratfolk's head, but it cannot catch the agile beast. In return, the spider rears on its hind four legs and herds the eagle close enough to bite.

Combat! Round 1. Bold may act.
Takumi
Summoned Eagle (-5 HP, Fortitude DC 14 or take 2 STR damage)
Imojin & Whiskers
Zeldana
Spider
Xanac (Mage Armor)
Shalendra
Faust (Shield)

Xanac glides into the room and concentrates his dire will upon the spider's very being, causing it to ripple and distorts bizarrely....

magic missile: 2d4 + 2 ⇒ (2, 3) + 2 = 7

Shalendra moves into the room and gives the spider the Evil Eye. "The purple stuff is in here as well?"

DC14 Will save or -2 to AC for 6 rounds.

Sorry, I forgot to put in the Knowledge spoiler.

Xanac's missiles pluck out a few eyes and crack its carapace. It oozes violet-colored ichor from the wounds.

Shalendra feels her hex fade without effect.

More mundane creatures tainted by the Bile? Faust hacks at the arachnid with his sword, twisted glee plain on his face. "More beasts to the slaughter..." he whispers.
________

Faust disassembles the giant spider with a flourish.

Combat Over

Am I still perceiving other minds in this room?

Yes. Two minds in the webbing.

Takumi holds off dismissing the summoned eagle, watching the cue from Xanac, who is staring intently at the webbing.

What are their thoughts?

"There are two minds in there. Perhaps they are alive, perhaps not. It hardly matters. They think...therefore, they are."

Faust shudders a little as the battle comes to a close and his head clears. After wiping the gunk off of his sword on the bed, he puts a hand on the webbed individuals and uses his dagger to carefully cut away the webbing around their faces. "We must have come just in time if they haven't been eaten yet," he notes.

Imojin starts cutting them out of the webbing, not just their faces... Good or evil, they don't deserve to starve to death in the webs... Cut them free and sort them out later.

Shalendra helps Imojin cut the two bodies out of the webs.

The three of you make short work of cutting out a middle aged man and woman from the webbing. The pair are soundly unconscious and clinging tenuously to life. They have several puncture wounds on their arms and legs, consistent with the bite of a giant spider.

Zeldana gasps "heal them quickly!"

Zeldana will use prestidigitation to clean them up as best she can.

"I have a wand, but I can't use it... someone who can is welcome to use it." She holds out a small wooden stick hoping someone can make use of it either by natural aptitude or trained skill.

It will take 1 wand charge to bring one to consciousness, document how many charges you want to use. They will require more than cure spells to be able to move on their own.

Shalendra is able to activate the ratfolk's wand. The first activation brings the woman to a weak state of consciousness.

"My son... my son?" she whispers faintly, barely able to keep her eyelids open.

"Spider poison has done significant damage. As much as it pains me to say it, we should take them to that Erastilian priest," Faust suggests, ready to pick one of them up.

Realization dawns on him. "Are you both the parents of "yellow-boots"? Where did he go and what brought him down this dark path?"
________

Xanac continues reading their thoughts now that they're about to possibly become interesting.

"Gellion... my son's name is... Gellion," she whispers to Faust. "Thank you for... saving us."

and the other person? I'm ticking off 4 charges, 2 for each of them... to bring them conscious... "We're gonna have to carry them to the local priest before we go after GEllion."