Rannik's Carrion Crown

Game Master Patrick Levasseur

Tolvan readies to disrupt the next spell the necromancer casts with Scorching Ray.

...ouch....

Ananias blade slashes at the undead hand with divine fury. He hacks it to pieces in a blink of an eye. As he does, however, a vile liquid flies off from each it. With his first hit, the liquid splashes him, but with the second, he was able to stay clear. As he looks at the result of his attacks, he feels the effect of the liquid.

The other hand tries once once more to get a grip on Danica. By some unholy chance, the hand manages to get to Danica and start grappling with her. The giant hand holding the Inquisitor, trying to squeeze the life out of her.

Vrood is currently 20ft of the floor, so you can't reach him with melee attacks.

Ananias Reflex: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11
Ananias Reflex: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21
Negative energy damage: 2d6 ⇒ (2, 4) = 6
Nauseated for: 1d3 ⇒ 2 Rounds

Attack: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (20) + 12 = 32
Confirm: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (9) + 12 = 21
Damage: 1d6 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13
Grab: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (19) + 14 = 33

I note that Danica probably attacked one of the two undead things attacking her. I'll attack whichever one she did, in the hopes of finishing it off.

Anna sees the giant hand clamp on Danica, so she figures that the monk won't be able to distract anything enough to let her sneak attack it. So she stomps on the table she's standing on to kick it on its side and she does an acrobatic flip behind it. Moving briefly out of sight from her target, she pops out unexpectedly from the side and sends a freezing blast at the undead Danica hurt the most.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (17) + 15 = 32
Stealth: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (19) + 20 = 39
Ranged touch, haste, pbs: 1d20 + 10 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 10 + 1 + 1 = 32
Cold damage: 1d3 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Sneak Attack if stealth worked: 4d6 ⇒ (4, 1, 5, 4) = 14
crit confirm, haste, pbs: 1d20 + 10 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 10 + 1 + 1 = 28
Cold damage: 1d3 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Active debuffs: -2 to hit and half movement for Vrood. If sneak attack hit the undead, -2 to hit for 1d4 ⇒ 3 rounds and -2 A.C. for 1 round

Edit: Holy high rolling, Batman!

Oh, forgot to include undead monk lady. She's entangled.

Danica, I really need to know who you attacked before I move on.
 
 

Simple map

.u.e.e.e.e.e.e.u.
.e.T.e.e.e.e.e.e.
.e.e.K.e.e.V.H.B.
.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.
.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.
.e.e.e.e.H.D.e.e.
.e.e.e.e.e.e.M.e.
.u.e.e.e.A.e.e.u.

e = Empty space
u = Unavailable space
T = Tolvan
K = Kimberly
A = Anna
D = Danica
B = Ananias
H = Giant Crawling Hand
V = Vrood, 20 ft in the air
M = Acrietia

The Hand next to Danica.
Attack, numchaku, haste, bane: 1d20 + 12 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 12 + 1 + 2 = 17
Damage: 1d6 + 2 + 2d6 ⇒ (4) + 2 + (3, 2) = 11 doubt that hit.

If you are hasted don't you get at least one more attack? Flurry? Iterative? Something?

With Danica grappled, Anna dives behind the table. While the instrument and the corpse goes flying, she pops out and fire a light blue beam of energy at the hand. Part of the flesh on the hand freezes and shatter as it move to keep the hold on Danica.

Forcing the glue so that she can move, the undead monk gets closer to Anna. As she gets next to Anna, she starts punching and kicking, sending shocks of pain throughout the rogue's body. While there is visible physical damage, the life seems to drain from Anna's face.

Attack1+Stun: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22 Stun Fort DC 15
Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7 Plus 1 energy drain
Attack2: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22
Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10 Plus 1 energy drain
Attack3: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20

Not sure if you can do a 5-ft step while entangled, but I'm too exhausted to look that up right now. So if someone can find the rule and link, I would be appreciative.

Battle Map

Simple Map

.u.e.e.e.e.e.e.u.
.e.T.e.e.e.e.e.e.
.e.e.K.e.e.V.H.B.
.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.
.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.
.e.e.e.e.H.D.e.e.
.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.
.u.e.e.e.A.M.e.u.

e = Empty space
u = Unavailable space
T = Tolvan
K = Kimberly
A = Anna
D = Danica Grappled
B = Ananias
H = Giant Crawling Hand
V = Vrood, 20 ft in the air
M = Acrietia

You know... I think she missed me. Tolvan hit me with protection from evil which gives me a +2 deflection bonus (better than my usual +1), and with the haste going strong, I'm rocking an AC of 23!

She's not evil! There!

As we move into higher levels, keeping track of your buff on yourself and the debuff you apply to the monster at the bottom of your post would help me. This will only get more complicated as we head toward the last book. Thanks.

??? Not evil? Really? Okay, then. Did you include the -2 to attacks for entangle and the -4 to Dex? Okay, in the future, I'll try to remember my buffs better.

She already has the -2 from the entangle calculated, and she punches hard, no finesse. And yes, she's evil. I was just annoyed at the fact that I missed the editing by 1 min... There should be a function for GMs to edit in pbp past the 1 hour mark. Sometimes, I reread my post a few hours later, and notice some stuff that I missed and it bugs me.

LOL. That is great. I appreciate your attitude Rannik. It makes the game more fun. And while the opinions are mixed, most agree that you CAN take a 5' step while entangled. This surprised me and is why I need to always look things up and not just think I know things. And finally, Tolvan will feel quite gratified that the undead monk thing did not get his paws on Anna due to his castings, if he could ever know that for certain anyway.

The stoic inquisitor immediately recognizes the monk and her moves. Danica continues to fight off the hand hoping that she can offer some aid to her friend.
Attack1, nunchaku, bane, haste: 1d20 + 12 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 12 + 2 + 1 = 16
Attack2, nunchaku, bane, haste: 1d20 + 12 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 12 + 2 + 1 = 29

damage, bane: 1d6 + 2 + 2d6 ⇒ (6) + 2 + (3, 2) = 13
damage, bane: 1d6 + 2 + 2d6 ⇒ (1) + 2 + (5, 6) = 14

Pharasma is not pleased, you should just surrender to her. Kimberly sends another blast of pharasma's power at Vrood.

ranged touch: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 8 + 1 = 26
searing light damage: 4d8 ⇒ (1, 7, 3, 4) = 15

damage if undead: 8d6 ⇒ (4, 6, 2, 6, 1, 3, 4, 2) = 28

Even though Danica is grappled by the giant hand, she manages to free one of her hands and swing her Nunchaku. The first attack is way off target, but the second is dead on. The attack is just enough to finish off the undead creature and it fall to the floor motionless. Kimberly tries once more to fire a ray of pure white light at Vrood. This time the beam hits him.

Little drops of blood appear on the floor under Vrood. Without a word, the necromancer fly outside the tower, positioning what is left of the ceiling between himself and the group.

Basicaly, he is now out of sigth with full cover.

Ananias continues his assault on the disembodied hand, descending further into a raw emotional fury as his scimitar becomes a blur of motion. He hacks at the hand repeatedly, with significantly more power than grace.

I think that both hands are down Ananias. Only the undead monk remains in the room. Also I did not know there was a window in the tower, but it makes sense there would be one. Where is it on the map?

Half the ceiling's gone. It was in a spoilered description of the room.

Half the ceiling's gone. It was in a spoilered description of the room.

Exact forgot retype the room description when the group got up there. Both hands are down (if someone can delete them from the map, please.) Ananias, I'll transfer you attack against the undead monk. You lose the full round attack, but still score the crit. And with that, we move to round 4 and Anna is up.

If it hadn't been for the goo covering the undead lady or Anna's speed and wards, there's no doubt she would have been suffering from the monster's fists. When Ananias rushes up and slashes it with a brutal strike, she is surprised the thing is still standing.

Anna doesn't bother with trying to finish off the undead lady, and instead moves to chase down the wizard. She uses another charge of her ring to vanish from sight, then races after him. She vaults up as high as she can to reach the edge of the wall, then pulls herself up to the roof.
Acrobatics: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (16) + 15 = 31 High jump, trying to reach the top of the wall. Haste gives me 60' to move, so I'm going to the lowest spot of wall where there's no ceiling and vaulting my way up.
Climb: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (18) + 12 = 30
Stealth: 1d20 + 20 + 20 ⇒ (19) + 20 + 20 = 59

This should be Vrood's last round of befuddlement and half speed

With Anna gone, the monk turns around to face the new foe that just attacked her. Noticing the fury in Ananias eyes, she expected an easy target due to his recklessness, but was surprised when none of her attacks got through the defense.

1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19
1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15
1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15

Big terrifying undead monk that does energy drain, and I can't get a hit!

As your fight continues on the second floor, you hear a loud crash coming from downstairs. It would seem that the werewolves finally smashed down the tower's door. From his position and fighting skills, you know that Theopolis can hold them for some time. The question is, can you finish this fight fast enough to go and help him.

Ananias, I'll transfer you attack against the undead monk. You lose the full round attack, but still score the crit. And with that, we move to round 4 and Anna is up.

__________

Also: fated bloodrager ftw. AC gets better with rage! Sorry....

1d20 + 12 ⇒ (3) + 12 = 15

I hope Theopolis is okay, she thinks as she glances down at the ground below.

Tolvan uses his Dimensional shift ability to "jump to the top of the tower to where he can see Vrood and takes the same readied action to flame him if he tries to cast a spell.

Perception to see wolves: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (2) + 20 = 22

With Vrood out her sight, the undead creature seem to remain.

Kimberly turns her attention to it.

you cannot escape Pharasma's judgement. and Kimberly lets loose with yet another bolt of black energy.

ranged touch searing light: 1d20 + 8 - 4 ⇒ (20) + 8 - 4 = 24
damage vs undead: 8d6 ⇒ (6, 2, 5, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1) = 26

crit?: 1d20 + 8 - 4 ⇒ (10) + 8 - 4 = 14
crit damage: 8d6 ⇒ (1, 4, 2, 1, 4, 5, 4, 3) = 24

OK guys...posting from home and no firewall issue with the map.
Anna, I moved your icon to the side as you left your spot to go after Vrood. I moved Danica to Anna's old spot so now she is in flanking position with Ananias.

Danica uses her enhanced speed to move around the undead monk. She uses her new found position in aiding her new companion as she unleashes a flurry of wicked strikes with her nunchaku.
Attack1, Bane, Haste, outflank: 1d20 + 12 + 2 + 1 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 12 + 2 + 1 + 4 = 35
Attack2, Bane, Haste, outflank: 1d20 + 12 + 2 + 1 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 12 + 2 + 1 + 4 = 25

Damage1, Nunchaku, Bane: 1d6 + 2 + 2d6 ⇒ (6) + 2 + (2, 4) = 14
Damage2, Nunchaku, Bane: 1d6 + 2 + 2d6 ⇒ (1) + 2 + (4, 1) = 8

Kimberly and Danica combine attack on the undead monk is more than enough to finish off the undead monk. On the roof, Vrood turns to Tolvan. He flies off the tower, and start casting. As he does, Tolvan quickly release two beams of fire at Vrood. Only one of the two beams hit. Scorching the necromancer, he is still able to push through the pain and finish the casting. A thick fog appears on top of the tower. The cloud as a yellowish green color and smell like hundred of rotting corpses.

The heavy cloud spread over the floor of the tower. Where the floor is missing, the cloud start going down toward the rest of the group. For now, Only Tolvan and Anna (I think) are affected.

Vrood is now 15 feet away from the edge of the tower. The cloud as a 20 ft radius. It covers the top of the tower from one edge to another and is 15 ft tall. On the second level, the cloud is 5 ft inside the tower, on the side of the stair. So the group still as 15 ft before the cloud touch down of the floor.

Concentration: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (18) + 15 = 33 DC 10+16+5=31
Tolvan's Fort: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7 Constitution Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 1
Anna's Fort: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22 Save succeed, half damageConstitution Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 4

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Side view of the tower

Spellcraft to be sure of the spell: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (3) + 17 = 20 up to a 5th level spell, so he is sure what it is.

Unsure of Anna's exact location Tolvan is forced to not worry about her and concentrate on the enemy. He calls out a warning to those below. This is a Cloudkill Spell it will sap your constitution if you are in it. It will sink about 10' each round!

The rules I can find support not needing a concentration check to cast while you are in the area of a cloudkill but I'll ask for your interpretation on this. Also since the inside of the tower is 20' diameter it stands to reason that the outer diameter is larger than 20'. That means that there are walls and/or roof of the tower outside the Cloudkill's area. Do you agree? Also the spell it creates a bank of fog similar to Fog Cloud, so you can only see 5' in it. So for Tolvan to see the enemy he must move. so...

Using a combination of normal hasted movement and his dimensional shift ability Tolvan moves to the edge of the cloud and tries to find a spot on the wall that is outside the actual cloud and where he can see Vrood. From there he casts Dispel Magic specifically targeting the necromancer's fly spell.

Dispel Magic: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28

The rule of concentration about continuous damage mention acid arrows and standing in lava. Both inflict HP damage and not ability damage. So, no need of concentration since you didn't lose any HP.

The cloud is 20' radius, so someone standing on top of the wall it would be fine. I added Anna in the effect since I'm not sure where she is. Cant see the map right now.

The cloud does limit the visibility, so yes, Tolvan must move to see Vrood. But since you are haste and the cloud isn't that big, you are able to find a spot to cast your spell.

Few things could be more gratifying than to watch Vrood slowly (feather fall) fall into a group of rabid werewolves. lol How high above the ground is he now? Assuming a 28 succeeds in dispelling Vrood's fly ability Tolvan will call out to his party that the necromancer is falling to the ground.

Waiting on Anna's action before I resolve that part. The top of the tower is 40 feet off the ground.

But Vrood is what, 15', above that. Still he will feather fall down in a single round.

Loving the fact that I take more damage than Tolvan even though I made the save :)

Anna ledge-walks along the roof until she can get out of the poisonous cloud, and, more importantly, see Vrood.

When she does, she breaks her invisibility with another blast of cold from her finger, tagging him right below the ear.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (14) + 15 = 29
Ranged touch, haste, pbs vs. flat footed: 1d20 + 10 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 10 + 1 + 1 = 29
Damage: 1d3 + 1 + 4d6 ⇒ (2) + 1 + (4, 2, 2, 1) = 12

@Anna. I believe you are missing a +2 because you are invisible. ;)

Thanks for the catch! I'll remember it next time!

Anna coughs at the poisonous cloud, now that she was visible. She looks over to Tolvan and smiles at him. "Hey. Thanks for the spells. They worked great."

Seeing the cloud float down into the tower, she realizes the others are in danger. She quickly begins pulling out her rope of climbing. "Watch the cloud! Here! I'm sending down a rope!"

She commands it to knot itself, then she wraps it around her waist and backs up to Tolvan. "Hold me tight," she purrs to him while readying to anchor the rope.

His eyes still clouded with fury, Ananias does his best to guide Kimberly and Danica to the rope that appears, assisting them both in getting started climbing. "Go!" he grunts. "I have the best chance with this smoke!"
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Ananias will see Kimberly and Danica get up before he climbs through the cloud, and he'll maintain his bloodrage until he emerges on the roof.

Don't forget that Theopolis fights below but I am not sure you can get out that way if the only door is blocked by a bunch of demon wolves. And I think Anna and I are getting ahead of the others but I'll post my next action as well.

Bowing to Anna Tolvan calls Of course my lady. My spells are always at your disposal. And remember that we must find the Heart. It would not do to let a demon wolf possess it. Tolvan casts Fly on himself and flies down closer to the ground to see how Vrood is dealing with two werewolf factions that both want him dead.

Perception, if needed: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (9) + 20 = 29

Danica helps Kimberly up the and holds it steady for her to start the climb. Danica will start climbing as soon as there is some space for her to start. Can holding the rope steady by considered as a climb assist for Kimberly?

A knotted rope is DC 5. Shouldn't be that tough.

So the plan is to climb the rope through the cloud and to get to the top floor?

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That seems to be the plan, yes. The other option--which may also be reasonable--would be to head downstairs and catch up with Theopolis. Are there doors in between that could be used to block the mist from creeping further down if we did that?

That said, Ananias is in the midst of a bloodrage, so won't be bringing these suggestions up IC. As far as he's concerned, a rope has been dropped and he's been told to climb it. He's got a high Fort, especially in bloodrage, so he's got no reason to do anything but.

I was thinking the rope was to climb down the outside to get to Vrood. He is down, not up.

No, I lowered the rope down for Kimberly, Danica and Ananias to get out of the cloud. That's why I asked you to hold onto me.

Ah! So I'm not the only one that got confused!

So plan A, rest of the group climb the rope to join Anna and Tolvan. Passing through the fog.

Plan B, Anna and Tolvan climb down the tower, while the rest of the group head down stair. And to answer your question Ananias, there were no door in the tower.

Went back and reread my post. While it seemed so clear in my head what I was doing, I can see now the possibility of confusion. My bad. :(

No, I lowered the rope down for Kimberly, Danica and Ananias to get out of the cloud. That's why I asked you to hold onto me.

Wow. I managed to totally miss the "hold me" part. Sorry. BUT I think the concern is that Vrood is no longer in sight. He is not yet defeated and likely has that heart with him. So I was thinking the priority should be to keep up with Vrood to both not let him get away and to get the heart from him when/if he goes down. Also I think the rope can knot itself onto things and if so you do not need to anchor it. I am still not sure if its better to climb up through the fog or do down and maybe out and miss it together. The only fight is now on the ground. Unsure how easy or hard it will be to get out of the tower from the ground though. We really need some indication of the number of Demon werewolves engaged with and inside the tower with Theopoils (he is in the message spell so he can tell us), the number of demon werewolves outside, and the number of allied werewolves outside. So in response to Anna Tolvan will send

<<Anchor the rope Anna. I must go after Vrood. But if the party climbs up I fear the cloud could be on them longer than if they go down. The fight is below!>>

I was aware the rope can anchor on its own, but I wasn't sure if the crumbling roof had any solid spots on which to tie.

Anna turns to Tolvan, not bothering to use the whisper spell. "No!" she shouts as she grabs hold of him, pulling him back from the ledge. "Vrood'll get torn to shreds down there, and so will you! Those may be the Varisians down there, but they won't stop to check before ripping your throat out! Don't go!"