[PFS] GM Lithrac's Thornkeep, part I - The Accursed Halls (Inactive)

Game Master Cyril Corbaz

Cutter and Nightwolf move silently toward the stairs.

Caradeum follows, eager to get through the silent room.

Our heroes pass through the silent shrine and step down the stairs, thus reaching the other level again. After many turns, the steps lead you to a vast room, maybe the largest you've found in the complex so far. A pool of luminous blue water lies in the center of this grand chamber. A spectacular fountain pours into the pool from the image of a winged beast, perhaps a sphinx, low on the north wall. From there, a pair of steep stone stairs ascend in switchbacks to the north, flanked by ornamental pillars and terminating at a stone doorway.

Four skeletons guard this chamber, they immediately attack as you enter the room.

Initiative order - round 1
Floggentop <
Skeleton 1
Choamski
Skeleton 2
Cutter
Rellen
Skeleton 4
Skeleton 2
Caradeum
Knorrin
Floggentop is up!

Wizzy will start his song, inspiring his allies, and then will pull his wand and make way for the warriors..

The first skeleton moves forward, animated by an unnatural lust for life. It brandishes its broken scimitar, ready to slice Cutter open with the jagged blade. However, the edge misses by an inch.

Initiative order - round 1
Effects: Inspire Courage (+1 attack/damage/saves vs. fear and charm)
Floggentop
Skeleton 1
Choamski <
Skeleton 2
Cutter
Rellen
Skeleton 4
Skeleton 2
Caradeum
Knorrin
Choamski is up!

Oh, hey guess who forgot their initiative was up... sorry for the delayed post

Choamski moves into the room and unleashes another white bolt at what are obviously the undead. He targets the one to the south of Rellen.

K(religion): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11

Choamski barges inside the room and tells the party they'd better avoid piercing or slashing weapons against them since they are, well, skeletons. Another skeleton charges Rellen, but misses.

Initiative order - round 1
Effects: Inspire Courage (+1 attack/damage/saves vs. fear and charm)
Floggentop
Skeleton 1
Choamski
Skeleton 3 (4 dmg)
Cutter <
Rellen <
Skeleton 4
Skeleton 2
Caradeum
Knorrin
Cutter and Rellen are up!

Rellen quickdraws his club taking a two handed swing at his long dead foe and turning it into so much bone shrapnel. Then dropping his club he stalks forward towards the one hit by Choamski's magics drawing his sword when he is ten feet away and sending his scabbard flying at it as he closes.

Club: 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 5 + 1 = 20 Damage: 1d6 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 6 + 1 = 13
Fling Scabbard: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 4 + 1 = 13 Damage WS: 1d6 + 4 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 4 + 1 + 1 = 10

Nightrunner bites at the beast in front of him, while Cutter draws out a flask of alchemist's fire.

Bite: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 2 + 1 = 15
Damage: 1d6 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 + 1 = 6
Nightrunner move.

Cutter ranged touch: 1d20 + 5 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 5 + 1 + 1 = 8
Damage: 1d6 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 + 1 = 6

Random miss: 1d8 ⇒ 1 - lands directly in front of the skeleton, so he just takes 1 splash damage. :(

You just dropped the one Choamski had blasted, Rellen ("He targets the one to the south of Rellen."), so you move against the other. And please let me remove the dead pawns from the map.

Rellen smashes his assailant to bits and pieces and moves forward against the fourth skeleton, but his flung scabbard barely misses its target. Nightrunner's bite also rips against the skeleton's rusted armor. Cutter's flask doesn't land true, and the undead creature is barely affected.

As Nightrunner moves away, the skeleton uses that opportunity to try and hack at the wolf with his broken scimitar. The mounted creature is apparently hurt, because it lets out a small yelp. 5 damage taken.

The two remaining skeletons wade into the fray, slashing at what they can (Cutter and Rellen, respectively) without any success.

Initiative order - round 1
Effects: Inspire Courage (+1 attack/damage/saves vs. fear and charm)
Floggentop <
Skeleton 1 (1 dmg)
Choamski
Skeleton 3 (destroyed)
Cutter (0 dmg) & Nightrunner (5 dmg)
Rellen
Skeleton 4
Skeleton 2
Caradeum <
Knorrin <
Caradeum, Knorrin and Floggentop are up!

Caradeum slings his bow on his shoulder and casts a spell, sending a ray at the skeleton not in melee.

RTA: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23
Disrupt Undead!: 1d6 ⇒ 6

Knorrin moves forward towards Cutter and Nightrunner, cursing both his slow speed and his lack of a bludgeoning weapon, hoping to provide - at best - a well-defended target.

Move 20' then total defense.

Caradeum's ray hits the skeleton and destroys it utterly!

Initiative order - round 2
Effects: Inspire Courage (+1 attack/damage/saves vs. fear and charm)
Floggentop <
Skeleton 1 (destroyed)
Choamski
Skeleton 3 (destroyed)
Cutter (0 dmg) & Nightrunner (5 dmg)
Rellen
Skeleton 4
Skeleton 2
Caradeum
Knorrin
Floggentop is up!

Wizzy will end his song, still granting the bonuses for 2 rounds, and pull out his hook hammer and watch the fight..

Rellen swings his greatsword at the skeleton before him, trying to strike it with the flat of his blade rather than the edge and throwing off his swing. Snarling he steps back and sheathes his sword.

Greatsword: 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 5 + 1 = 14 Damage: 2d6 + 6 + 1 - 5 ⇒ (4, 1) + 6 + 1 - 5 = 7

Rellen's powerful assault alas lacks too much precision to hit the walking cadaver.

Initiative order - round 2
Effects: Inspire Courage (+1 attack/damage/saves vs. fear and charm)
Floggentop
Choamski
Cutter (0 dmg) & Nightrunner (5 dmg)
Rellen
Skeleton 4
Skeleton 2
Caradeum
Knorrin
Choamski, Cutter are up!

The red-haired gnome huffs and puffs up besides Rellen and unleashes another bolt of positive energy at the skeleton to the southeast.

The exertion spoils his aim, however.

Nightrunner should have killed the skeleton he bit no? 6 damage from a P/S/B source should have been enough? (and thus avoid the AoO).

Nightrunner bite: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 2 + 1 = 11
Damage: 1d6 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 + 1 = 3

Cutter holds his attack.

It would have if 15 had hit, but it didn't.

Both skeletons move forward, slashing the air in front of them with their scimitar and claw, but their attempts are feeble and in vain.

Initiative order - round 2/3
Effects: Inspire Courage (+1 attack/damage/saves vs. fear and charm) - 1 round left
Floggentop
Choamski
Cutter (0 dmg) & Nightrunner (5 dmg)
Rellen
Skeleton 4
Skeleton 2
Caradeum
Knorrin
Everyone is up!

Oh, so it is. My bad :)

Cutter aids Nightrunner's attack against the skeleton, and Nightwolf chomps his powerful jaws onto the undead skeleton!

Cutter aid another: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 4 + 1 = 7 *fail*
Nightrunner bite: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 2 + 1 = 21 Oh well, good wolf anyway :)
Bite damage: 1d6 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 + 1 = 8

Caradeum steps further into the room and tries to send another arcane ray at the skeleton near Rellen.

RTA: 1d20 + 4 - 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 - 4 = 5
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 6

scimitar: 1d20 + 0 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 0 + 1 = 8

Knorrin moves forward, trying to best determine how and where to hit the skeleton with his scimitar, but he hesitates and his swing misses entirely.

Rellen yanks his greatsword from its scabbard, not bothering to fling the scabbard and sending shards of bone flying as his sword smashes through the undead.

Greatsword: 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 5 + 1 = 19 Damage: 2d6 + 6 + 1 - 5 ⇒ (3, 6) + 6 + 1 - 5 = 11

Rellen and Nightrunner's efforts are well-rewarded with potent blows, smiting the remaining skeletons to pieces!

End combat.

After a closer inspection of the room, you easily spot shards of blue ceramic in the pool basin, which could be the same size as the various gems you've found so far. However, these blue shards don't appear to have any mercantile value. As they gather a few of them, our heroes now have five colored gems: some blue ceramic shards, red rubies, an indigo lapis-lazuli, a purple garnet and orange garnets.

Wizzy touches Cutter and Nightrunner with this wand..

Heal Cutter: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Heal Nightrunner: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

"It seems we need to 2 more colors yes?"

"I do agree the door had a certain astronomical theme that would lend itself to other natural phenomena, like a rainbows as dear Knorrin has suggested. But I'm not sure what rainbows have to do with stars. Perhaps it's some aspect of magic I don't understand; I have read of gods who use rainbows as bridges between planets. Perhaps this door drawa upon the same ideas."

"So yes, let us assume we need two more gems"

Choamski flourishes an arm towards the door in the south.

"Death and adventure, fates twinned together. They are hiding over every hill, lurking behind every door, and secreted inbetween the seconds. "

Knowledge check for the visible light spectrum and its order?

After retrieving his scabbard and tending to his weapons, seeing that everyone appears to be fine Rellen strides forward again, moving slow deliberate stealth as he peers suspiciously around each corner in turn.

Taking 10 on stealth for a 15, and taking 20 on perception at the corner for a 23.

I would like to take 10 to get 15. Not sure I can due to the bard thing. I'll roll anyways.

Nature: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

Wizzy can make em untrained so..

Know Nature: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17 Pertaining to visible light spectrum

Cutter thanks Wizzy for the healing, and Nightrunner playfully lick the gnomes' hand after being healed.

Knowledge (Religion): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16
Since holy symbols of common deities are DC 10, I'll add from the discussion thread.
"The are other instances of these 'spectra' or 'rain bows', too, such as the bird symbol of Shelyn, The Eternal Rose, where the tail feathers begin at red, then go through orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet - seven sets of colored feathers. Mostly I see them as sunlight through cut crystals, which is, for me, a holy expression of Sarenrae."

Knorrin also casts detect magic, spending a bit of time examining the room, the water, and the skeletons for magic (presumably, the fountain is magical).

He then casts Guidance and Virtue on Rellen, as routine, not letting him proceed further without some extra protection.

Knorrin and Wizzy both agree on the matter, the correct order of the spectrum would be red, followed by orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and finally violet.

I see Rellen ready to move on to the next room, can you rearrange the pawns in marching order please?

Done, I think everyone will be cool with that.

Looks good

Knorrin appreciates the leaderly way in which Rellen quietly motions everyone into order behind him. It saves time having someone like Rellen who can be confident in their decisions.

Rellen and Cutter take point and move forward in te stony halls of the dungeon. However both of them fail to notice a crack in the floor, that suddenly transforms into a wide open pit engulfing not only the halfling and the Andoran warrior, but also the loyal Nightrunner! The 20-ft high fall is hard, especially on Cutter and his trusted mount.

Ouch! Rellen takes 4 damage, Cutter 11 damage, Nightrunner 10 damage from falling.

A long-dead skeleton lies at the bottom of the pit, dressed in rusted mail and carrying an old leather backpack.

Knorrin hears himself utter the words, "Is everyone alright?", and bites his tongue, No, of course not!

He quickly grabs the knotted rope from the pack and lowers an end, tossing the rest back for the group to hold fast. As he gets ready to go down himself, he realizes that those behind him are the lighter members, so he ties the other end of the rope around himself and turns to Whizzy, "Will you go down? Here, take my healing wand," and tells him the command word for it.
It's knotted, so it should be an easy, 'Take 10' situation. Whizzy has his own wand but we can spread the costs around.

"Fine, but Cutter is not looking to good," Rellen growls, regaining his feet and moving over to the halfling and his wolf, once he sees they are in no immediate danger he moves over to the skeleton, kicks its head off - just in case - and begins searching its pack,

"Hang in there Cutter, Wolf."

Take 20 mfor a 23 Perception on Skeleton. Does the mail look too rusted to be usable again?

Cutter stumbles to his feet slowly, making a fuss over checking Nightrunner tending to the wounded wolf. Looking up at the rest of the party he says, "Ropes?"

Cutter hp: 0/11
Nightrunner hp: 13/23

"I'll go"

Choamski takes the wand, tucks it in his belt, slings his crossbow and carefully climbs down.

Take ten for a 9 climb

"You guys ok? You two have been having a rough day for sure"

Take 10 on heal for a 17 to assess the relative health of everyone.
Choamski then attends to the most severe looking.

CLW wand: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8 on Cutter
CLW wand: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2 on Cutter
CLW wand: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6 on Nightrunner
CLW wand: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4 on Rellen
CLW wand: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9 on Nightrunner

"There you go."

He yells up.

"Knorrin, thanks for use of the wand. Used it 5 times to get them up and running"

He starts to help tie a harness for use with Nightrunner, but he'll let Cutter put it on.

Rellen nods his thanks, "We are going to have to pay back Floggentop and Knorrin for all of this magic of there's we are using up," he says as he rifles through the pack.

"We'll have to pay you back, Rellen and Cutter - and Nightrunner - for the risks you are taking on our behalf," Knorrin calls back down.

"Cutter - Fix the end of my rope as you need to for Nightrunner - we may need to have it ready in another emergency."

"No need to pay me back.. It was bought to use.."

"Well, it's appreciated," Rellen says gruffly, clearly uncomfortable.

As Rellen, Cutter and Nightrunner make it to the top, those looking ahead instantly recognize the flight of stairs ahead of you - you are heading straight to the central room where you fought the goblin ambushers.

Was there anything in the skeleton's backback? Guessing no.

Before continuing, Knorrin casts detect magic and spends a few moments examining the contents of the pit trap. He then says a little prayer for the poor soul who met its end at the bottom, promising to return in the future to provide them a proper burial.

Sorry - forgot to mention the contents of the pack!

The old leather backpack beneath the skeleton contains 90 gp, 200 sp, and a scroll covered in arcane writings. After magical detections, Caradeum is able to identify a scroll of invisibility.

"Ah, finally," Rellen says, handing the scroll over to Caradeum and putting the coin in his pack, "assume everyone is alright if we divvy up later."

As they move back up into the familiar section of the Halls Rellen scowls,

"Damn, is there anywhere we have not explored. Any passages off that mist room Choamski? Maybe we should open up that sarcophagus?"