Reign of Winter (Inactive)

Game Master Just a Mort

"Walsby is through the portal in the woods."She moves, in a dream-like state to the centre of the maze with Mr Whiskers and Crummock following. Then she turns to face the party, her eyes widening as she seems to recognise them for the first time. “I have to get away! And you should, too, before they see you. Run!” She impores Mr Whiskers and Crummock.

A chill wind sweeps through the blocks of ice(Black square block on map), and the ice features a little Ulfen girl in blonde pigtails being dragged away from her from a red haired woman in furs. Men in leather armor with cold eyes pull the pair apart, even as the little Ulfen girl reaches to the crying woman one last time..

Faces appear on the other ice blocks. One of them shows Farmer Danby, the other the Atomie that the group found earlier, and others multiple men and women in leather and wearing Sentinel badges.

Mr Whiskers and Crummock give me a DC 13 will save. On failure you're affected by a scare spell.

Will: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

Mr. Whiskers gives a startled yelp, turns tail and runs!

Will: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15.

Crummock's fury over what happened to the little girl enables him to fight past the magical compulsion to run away.

"Lass, I am not afraid of angenfilod, whether that be reflected in their outside appearance, or simply in their eneidiau. I will do my best to find out what happened to ye, and to let your mam know, as well. If possible, I will bring ye back to her."

Yeah, if we encounter this witch, they won't be needing a casket to bury her...

He then shouts after Mr Whiskers:

"Get back here! It be only a ddrychiolaeth!"

Once the rest of the party has caught up, he continues on his way.

Then the image of the girl vanishes...like she never existed, leaving Crummock alone in the ice maze.

'I'll keep watch, I don't trust these woods, Crummock and Mister Whiskers can parlay.' Keeping watch as Mester Whiskers and Crummock talk to what appears to be a little girl, or at least the spirit of a little girl.

'Whatever they saw must have been horrid if Mister Whiskers ran like that.' Seeing Mister Whiskers frightened, Einar moves closer to Crummock, in time to hear him make his promise to the little girl. Einar nods in agreement, keeping a keen eye out for any threat.

At M2, after scare spell has worn off. Sorry there was a mislabel earlier

A small hut stands here on four legs, each one a single tree trunk whose gnarled roots resemble the toes of a giant chicken. The hut is constructed of heavy logs with a patchwork roof of shaved bark shingles. Inside the hut’s open doorway, a small doll sits on a carved wooden chair wearing a blue dress like one might see on a child, staring across the clearing at the trail on the other side.

The doll’s face is that of an old crone, though it retains Thora’s flaxen hair, and it bears a strong resemblance to the girl that the party saw earlier. Far more unnerving, however, are the doll’s mismatched eyes—one a blue gemstone, the other a small round mirror the size of a coin, reflecting the world around her.

KNOWLEDGE arcana Mr Whiskers: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19

Mr Whiskers recognizes the doll as a guardian doll. It is made from binding a soul of a living creature into an inanimate object. It is resistant to all kinds of damage except by magic weapons, and it is vulnerable to fire.

No init rolled as the doll is just remaining as a doll, for now.

Once the spell has worn off, Mr. Whiskers apologizes to Crummock for running. "The compulsion caught me by surprise. I am sorry I ran like that."

Seeing the doll, Mr. Whiskers has a hint of sadness in his voice as he says "No wonder the girl's spirit is restless. A piece of her soul bound is into that evil thing!" pointing towards the doll.

'Part of her soul?' Hearing Mister Whiskers description of the doll, Einar spits and begins moving forward toward the chicken legged house, calling back he asks. "So How do ve free zee little girls Geist?"

what are the blue lines encircling the house on the map?

Blue lines denote contours in the land. Cadence would have been the only person who could have a chance to figure how to free her...

"Um....it is called a guardian doll! That means it is forced to guard something, Einar! As for releasing the soul, sorry but I don't know." Mr. Whiskers calls out as his friend heads directly into what is quite likely trouble.

This isn't the type of magic I tended to study...

Suddenly, Einar notices a flicker in the mirror, and sees the face of a Taldan man, with wavy hair and a goatee staring at him and Mr Whiskers, from the mirror. There is a flicker of surprise from the man in the mirror then it becomes a mirror once more.

As Einar approaches the hut, the doll speaks, "Go away! Or she'll get you as well!"

Yeah, telling adventurers to turn back...how do you think that'll turn out?

The doll stands as Einar approaches the hut."Please...go away before something happens..."She pleads, but her pleas fall on deaf ears.

Einar's glaive: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

The doll is surprisingly agile and slips under Einar's glaive.

Ziva and Mantis Init: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23
Einar Init: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8
Mr Whiskers Init: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12
Crummock Init: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (7) - 2 = 5
Dolls init: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20

Ziva, Doll, Mr Whiskers, Einar, Crummock

Crummock grimaces.

"I knew it! Hud du is at work. We need to put her soul to rest..."

Back

I think, on balance with the way everyone is standing, and the fact that we probably need fire or magic weapons to hurt it - means that its probably better to lure it all out, rather than one person hitting it and doing jack damage. I'm a little unsure though on the spacing on the map. If like, we can enter the room and not block line of effect, I'll do that and attack - if not, I'll hold my turn and see if it steps into wider ground so we can all focus it.

Exceedingly freaked out by the talking doll, Ziva struggles through the snow to launch an attack - although she remains half unconvinced as to whether the doll was truly a threat - or merely trying to convey a message.

Attack Provided I can finish my turn in an area that won't block line of effect: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20
Damage: 2d6 + 6 ⇒ (1, 2) + 6 = 9

I can probably attack with Vernai but unsure how high the hut is relative to her size + flight. Also, if it actually does have DR / Magic, shes unlikely to be doing much of anything. Its 1 AM so lmk, have the doll + everyone else move, and I'll handle Vernai when I wake up to prevent everyone waiting even longer.

Well, another thing to consider doing is just grappling the thing, then tying it up, and putting a bag over its head - if it is actually tiny, its CMD can't exactly be great...

Its tiny, and yes you could get a swing at it(without blocking the fire - if Einar moves out of the way), but unfortunately, since its tiny, it will try to share your space(which you would not know before making the attack - as it only moves on its turn)...so you'll still get hit by fire

Ziva moves into the room and hits the tiny doll with her greatsword, and manages to dent its body. The weapon however, does not seem to have sunk fully in.

The doll closes in on Ziva.(5 ft)

Ziva AOO: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25
confirm: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6
dmg: 2d6 + 6 ⇒ (5, 6) + 6 = 17

This time, Ziva manages to put the full force of the blow behind her swing, denting the doll even further.

"I'm so sorry..."The doll utters regretfully, as it stabs Ziva in the arm with its little toy knife.

Stab: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (17) + 10 = 27
dmg: 1d2 - 1 ⇒ (1) - 1 = 0
cold dmg: 1d6 ⇒ 6

1 point of non lethal, 4 points of cold damage to Ziva

Ziva Fort save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

Ziva feels a deathly chill spread up her arm from the stab wound, flowing through her entire body.

Ziva is paralyzed for rounds: 1d4 ⇒ 1.

so depending on what it does do you want Einar to try and grab it? with DR/Magic his attacks with the glaive will be more effective than three with natural weapons

Well, it just paralysed Ziva, so I would recommend just hitting it with the glaive... we don't want you getting paralysed by an AoO...

Technically it can't. Tiny means no reach to AOO. Or I wouldn't have needed to take an AOO moving into Ziva's square. Of course, hitting it with a glaive isn't a bad idea either.

Mr. Whiskers draws a wand and taps Crummock's starknife with it.

Magic Weapon, in case there was a doubt.

Couldn't get to Einar this round. Next round I will.

when I post my comment it shows up at the top of my page, ergo I didn't know that Mort had ninja'd me, I feel kind of stupid asking the question now.

'if she is sorry why did she do it?' Confused by the difference in the dolls actions and what it is saying, Einar considers grappling the creature then decides the best thing would be to get it away from Ziva using the glaive. "Stand still Fräulein, I do not vant to slash you by Missgeschick."

Attack: MW coldiron Glaive, flank
attack: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 6 + 2 = 28 for damage: 1d10 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16
confirm crit,: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 6 + 2 = 15 for damage: 1d10 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Einar cleaves the doll into two with his last strike. As it goes down, it gives one last sigh. "Thank you..."

Then the two halves of the doll lie inanimate. Einar finds a catch on the doll's chair. Fiddling with the catch shifts the chair, revealing a small room containing a coffin surrounded by runes.

Mr Whiskers recognizes the runes as those of a ritual setting a binding and compulsion of the soul of a living creature to an inanimate object. In order for them to be effective, the creature providing the soul must be sacrificed at the end of the ritual...

In the coffin lies the body of a young Ulfen girl in a pale blue dress like that of the doll. Her features the same as the image the party saw in the maze. Her heart has been pierced with a shard of ice.

Crummock scowls.

"Death be too good for the wrach that would do this to a wee merch. If I find the one responsible, they will know the meaning of arswyd."

He then destroys the runes, and tenderly picks up the small coffin, lashing it to the back of one of the dogs.

When he notes the others watching him, Crummock shrugs.

"The wee one dinae deserve to be left out here... She should go home."

He then conducts a search of the area, for anything salvageable.

'Thank you.... in a million years I never would expect someone or something thank me for ending it. Was it a puppet? Was it some type of trick?' Fiddling around with the chair to see if there was some form of prop or trick Einar finds a catch on the chair. 'Maybe Mister Whiskers was wrong, maybe it's an elaborate hoax.'

Seeing the chair shift and the trap door lift, Einar finds the small room, scowling as Mister Whiskers explains the ritual. 'It was not a hoax. I should not be surprised or offended, what my mother did was just as bad in it's own way. No what she did was for self preservation this is ... something else.'

Feeling a knot in the pit of his stomach Einar helps Crummock lift the coffin out, and he looks at Crummock adding. "I do not know vat zis arsvyd is, but from zee tone in dein voice is eine indication, I vould like to help you, ya."

Turning back to the small bird legged house, picking up the two halves of the doll. "Vat do ve do vit dieses?" Then nodding toward the house, "Und can ve burn zat?"

Mr. Whiskers slumps slightly at seeing the cask.

It was just supposed to be a theory. What would cause someone to actually do something so horrible? It is different, hearing rumors of the theory and seeing it in practice. I am not ready for it to be real!

He doesn't react as Crummock and Einar pull the small coffin out.

Finally, he turns away. Barely hearing Einar's question, he says "Keep the mirror eye. Destroy the rest. If you saw it, remember the face from the mirror."

'I saw him, the man with the Taldan goatee.' Einar nods and placing the two halves of the doll on the floor of the chicken legged house, draws his kunia and smashes everything but the eyes, asking, "Keep just zee mirror eye or zee red gem eye also?"

Pausing for a second, then continuing the line of thought out load. "Und za man in za mirror vas he za vone who made zee doll or vas he just zee user?"

Crummock frowns.

"Why should we be keepin' the mirror? If some dewin was looking through it, why keep it? It might just be allowin' him to track us..."

He then turns to Einar.

"The wee merch referred to a woman who had the doll, so I be sure that he did not make it. Perhaps the dewin be an ally of hers?"

Why not keep the gem? IC, there seems to be no justification for not doing so... after all, loot is loot!

Frowning, Mr. Whiskers considers the matter. "If the gem still has magic, it should be smashed. Same for the mirror." Looking to Crummock, he asks "Do you think they can use the mirror to track us? I admit that I was hoping there might be some way to track them using the mirror..."

Looking at the items, he casts Detect Magic and lets his friends know the results.

"Oh, and I agree that girl already told us it was the witch who gave her the doll. The man is the most likely one who used it against us though."

The mirror is something that can be used as a focus for scrying.

The gemstone is waaay more sinister.

Thora’s soul is bound within the doll’s gemstone eye. As long as this soul focus remains intact, it can be used to animate another doll, using the same cost as creating a new construct. Once bound into the soul focus, the soul continues to learn. If it is put into a new doll body, the soul retains its personality and memories from its previous bodies. A soul focus has hardness 8, 12 hit points, and a break DC of 20.

OOC, I knew exactly what it was; but Crummock definitely doesn't. However, if Mr Whiskers identifies the gem for what it is, Crummock will insist on destroying it, to allow Thora's tormented soul to find peace.

I assume based on above that the mirror isn't magical.

First Mr. Whiskers concentrates on the mirror. "The mirror is of good enough quality to use in scrying. It is not magical, just well made."

When he shifts to concentrating on the gem, Mr. Whiskers gives a little shudder as he realizes what the gem actually does.

He pauses a moment to compose himself before speaking. "The gem, it is the item holding Thora's soul trapped. If we don't destroy it, it could be put in another doll!"

Loooking to Einar, he says "We should crush it. Then hopefully that soul fragment will be released."

I didn't know about how the gem worked. I have fought one of theses doll's before as part of a PFS scenario, but the GM never explained most of it and it was a while ago.

as he hands the mirror to Mister Whiskers
Einar smirks"zare vas a man vit a Taldan goatee und a shtupid look on his face." Handing the mirror to Mister Whiskers so he could examine it better, Einar held the gem between thumb and forefinger.

as Mister Whiskers explains
'A soul trap, just to have a guard in the woods... no "herbalist" hiding their magic with this, but talk about an evil abuse of power. Hearing Mister Whiskers evaluation Einar places the soul-trap back on te floor of the hut and smashes it with his kunai, whispering. "Seien Sie freier kleiner, jetzt verstehe ich, warum Sie für Tod wünschten."

Quickly pulling his flint and steel from his pouch he takes the time to light the hut on fire, taking only long enough to make sure it's ablaze. Then picking up his glaive and turning to his companions. "Vee have Ein Bullauge, a porthole to find, ya."

As the fire consumes the hut, over the crackling and popping of burning wood, Einar hears a relieved sigh in his mind...as if something was finally free....

The trail continues through a narrow pass, descending south and east into an icy valley. An unusual pattern of lines is scratched into the fresh snow covering the trail at the edge of the clearing.

Upon closer inspection, the pattern of lines in the snow is revealed to be a warning in Common that reads, “Turn back before the winter devours you.”

Anything the party wants to do?

Oh, Mr Whiskers, I'm all about explaining story and all that. Every single atrocity =)

"Winter devours you? I wonder what that means." Mr. Whiskers says, as he looks at the writing.

He looks for any sort of signs of danger in the area. "Wonder if there is a trap or something?"

Perception, +Nivean: 1d20 + 2 + 2 - 4 ⇒ (2) + 2 + 2 - 4 = 2

"Really tough to make out details through the snow!"

Crummock shrugs.

"Well then, why don't we just walk around the area, just to be on the safe side...?"

He then proceeds to do exactly that, giving the warning an extremely wide berth.

You can't. Sorry. There's not enough space. Exact words of mod: "which triggers when anyone leaves the clearing by this route." And there's no other route.

As the party leaves the clearing, some previously unseen inscriptions in the snow glow an eldritch blue and the party is caught by a blast of frigid cold.

cold dmg: 3d8 ⇒ (6, 8, 6) = 20

Sorry. Dc to spot this trap is 28, disable 28. But as it's magical, a detect magic would reveal it. The best you could do would be to get Einar[s]Nodwik or a summoned monster to trigger it. It has a 10ft radius

Einar ref: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15
Ziva ref: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19
Vernai ref: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10
Mr Whiskers ref: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18

Einar, Mr Whiskers takes 10 pts cold damage, Ziva 8 pts cold damage, Vernai, the full 20 pts.

If the doll had still been around, this would be the time she would come after you and attempt to murderhobo you. And it would be a royal mess.So yes, you did the right thing.

I assume that you mean Ziva took 8, and Vernai 20; otherwise, Vernai is well and truly dead.

The clearing is also surrounded by forest; I fail to see why we can't go *into* the forest, to walk around the trap.

If it is because of cliffs (although I don't remember any being mentioned), and the clearing is actually in a hole, surrounded by them, I also fail to see why we can't use a rope and grappling hook to climb them, so as to go around.

Really, when in the wilderness, if you spot a trap, there is usually no way to stop the party simply going around it...

Basically the trail out of the clearing is warded... Hmm, but you have a point.

The party follows Crummock's direction and gives the wordings a wide berth, going into the trees. The pine trees are pretty prickly. For some unexplained reason the entire party has a sudden vivid flashback, of what might have been...

That taking the trail out would have triggered a devious trap, resulting in a frigid explosion that would have left Vernai and Mr Whiskers lying motionless on the floor...

I retconned..feel free to remove your stabilization

30 min later

A cold wind blows through the valley, bringing a spray of sleet and broken ice. The sky ahead roils with thick, gray clouds and the sun is only a dim glow somewhere in the mist. The dogs begin to whine uneasily, as if catching something that disturbs them in the air.

Crummock, Einar, and Ziva spot a massive creature in pure white, trying to hide in a snowbank. Unfortunately the bloodstains on one of its hind paws gives it away.

Ziva and Mantis Init: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9
Einar Init: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
Mr Whiskers Init: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11
Crummock Init: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (16) - 2 = 14
Critter Init: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10

Ziva Knowledge Nature: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20

Ziva recognizes it as a giant weasel. This one is very hungry, and half mad from the pain of its partially crushed hindpaw. They fight by attaching themselves to their foes and ripping their victims flesh open with teeth and claws. Their teeth are particularly sharp and can cause bleeding.

Crummock, Critter, Mr Whiskers, Ziva and Einar

Mr Whiskers, when it acts and you make your knowledge check, I'm not sure what other things I can give you since Ziva has already gotten all the creature's abilities. Would you like saves, AC, hp or? Its a custom creature so I can't just give you a link off archive of nethys...

Knowing how effective Einar is with his polearm, Crummock delays.

Basically, I'm wanting to let Einar get an AoO on that thing, first.

Once the creature closes with the party...

Crummock strides forward, and stabs the beast with his starknife.

MW Cold Iron Starknife: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23, for 1d4 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8 damage.

I saw that we went around a potential trap. Did it add time to the trip, did it open us up for any more potential wandering monsters? Hey just looking for a little extra XP.

’A sigh … how very different than the death rattle of an old man.’Thinking of his father for a moment, as he watches the hut burn, he heads down the trail. ’A warning, not a great way to kill an enemy.’ Following Crummocks recommendation and his footprints, Einar trapes through the woods, ducking branches and pushing away branches, cutting the occasional path with the short sword.

Finding their way back to the trail Einar takes the lead, keeping a keen eye out. Hearing the dogs whine, Einar looks back to Crummock, turning his hand up in a questioning gesture. As he turns back he sees the giant ferret looking thing, ’wow, that’s a nice fur, I wonder what it tastes like.’ Einar starts to lower his glaive, in case the thing charges.

Fine, 10 min extra time. No extra XP! =D

It limps up to Einar, suprisingly swift despite its injured hind paw, then tries to take a bite out of him.

No AOO, it moves before joo, joo no have combat reflexes.

bite: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22

dmg: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

The weasel chomps on Einar's shoulder and attaches on him like a leech. Weasel is considered as grappled, Einar is not. If the attached weasel is not removed, it continues dealing its bite damage every round, if it can maintain grapple.

On Einar's turn, because the giant weasel has really sharp teeth, Einar takes bleed dmg: 1d4 ⇒ 1

Crummock manages to stab a soft spot in the weasels belly and it hisses in pain.

Mr. Whiskers trudges forward through the snow, and then casts his Acid blob spell.

Doesn't look like it would have cover from there...

Ranged Attack snow, melee: 1d20 + 3 - 4 - 4 ⇒ (12) + 3 - 4 - 4 = 7

Acid Splash damage w/flask: 1d3 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Although I doubt it will matter here, weak save.

Mr Whiskers knowledge nature: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15

Mr Whiskers knows its weak save, like what generally applies to animals, is its will save.

The blob falls short and lands in the snow.

Seeing the ferret like thing charging forward, even with it's limp moving faster than he could lower the spear. Biting Einar on the shoulder attaching like a leech, Einar lets out a howl of pain and rage as he drops the glaive and attacks the creature with tooth and claw. Aaaaarrrrggghhhhh! Ich bin dein Tod!

Full Attack: maw, claw @ 2, Rage
attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11 for damage: 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11
attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10 for damage: 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11
attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14 for damage: 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

looks like only one hit, Einar will be its death the next round