Revival of the Runelords

Game Master Cellion

Guiness approaches the doorway, but pauses at the threshold to let Colvyn through to check for traps. He holds his flaming warhammer at the ready, unconcerned with its light giving him away when he sees the fire pit in the room ahead.

Astrid's face twists up in disgust as she brings up the rear behind Ziva.

Perception: 1d20 + 24 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 24 + 2 = 41

Colvyn grows briefly queasy as he makes his way across the warped room. Worse, the rest of you see that he's gradually shrinking! By the time he gets to the hall leading south, he's a small fraction of his size (Colvyn is reduced down by one size... to Tiny!). Despite his shrinking, Colvyn's eyes are as sharp as ever. He inspects the hallway and spots no traps or hazards, not even among the runes on the walls. Astrid is able to confirm and back up his conclusions. He continues along until he gets to the point at which the hall opens to the Cauldron room.

Thanks to his sharp senses, Colvyn notices that one of the many many statues along the walls of the room is not a statue at all. A faint grinding sound emits from it as it very slowly turns its head to survey the room. It appears to be some kind of stone construct in the shape of an emaciated giant! Though Colvyn is more or less in its view from where he stands at the brink of entering the room, it doesn't respond to him. See map for where the cauldron and living statue are standing.

Colvyn also sees that the Cauldron room has a wide open exit to the north-east.

Once the door is open Kellek takes the opportunity to dimensionally slide into the hall just above and behind Astrid's right shoulder hopefully avoiding an upset stomach and reduction in stature by avoiding the strange room in-between entirely. BAMF!

"Well, what have we here? A dwarfish dwarf, and mouse-sized mouse." muses the mage from mid-air. "What are we waiting for?"

With teleportation magic, Kellek handily avoids getting shrunk by the warped room. There's still no response from the animate statue, at least so long as you remain in the long hallway.

Kellek looks around the corner to see if he can identify what might be holding Colvyn back. He takes 10 on the appropriate Knowledge check(s) (see above for mods).

Kellek carefully peeks around the corner and with Colvyn's guidance identifies which of the statues appears to be animate. After a minute of study, he concludes that this is some kind of variety of stone golem, crafted in the likeness of a giant warlord of old. Like other stone golems, it will likely be highly resistant to physical harm (DR/adamantine) and broadly immune to magic (Except against transmute rock to mud + stone to flesh, which have debilitating effects against it).

"Lovely."

Kellek quietly explains the situation to the others.

"Can we slip past it safely? With magic, or without?" Ziva eyes the statue warily, and the others get their share of suspicion too. "Or perhaps drop it into a magical pit long enough for us to evade it? Mages of Lastwall make regular use of such spells."

Ah, I see CW has learned from their players dropping a golem into a pit and ignoring it for the rest of the fight. ;)

"Not a bad idea, Ziva. Though we might have to deal with it again on our way out."

"Can we slip past it safely? With magic, or without?" Ziva eyes the statue warily, and the others get their share of suspicion too. "Or perhaps drop it into a magical pit long enough for us to evade it? Mages of Lastwall make regular use of such spells."

"I use them regularly too, which is why I no longer have the spell available today. Next."

"That's what I thought. Perhaps we could just apply brute force." He looks back at Guiness. "Or we could just wait eight hours and give it a go then."

"Well perhaps the wizard is useless, but I've no such issues. If we can't neutralize it, we should destroy it. Let me circle behind, Master Guiness, and I can be a bit more effective."

Sounds like we've gotta it fight it the hard way!

”Aye,” says Guiness at a higher pitch than normal. Looking at his weapon dubiously, he says, ”I don’t know if I will be able to swing hard enough to crack stone, but I will try.”

Guiness moves to the threshold of the room so that his little legs won’t have too far to carry him when combat starts.

Kellek does have access to vanish, obscuring mist, haste and a few other useful spells should we just want to try and rush through and past. And remember Guiness has Kellek's potion of enlarge person.

"While I still have a lot of spells left, I have nothing to help the group get pass this without a fight." Colvyn's voice seems slightly higher pitch then usual. "So, fight or flight?"

”Ah, right,” says ‘lil Guiness, ”Will the potion work for good, or just temporarily?”

Kellek would know that the potion of enlarge person could dispel the shrinking outright.

"I have precious little for this golem as well, though I have a potent and short-lived protective enchantment I could place on Ziva or Guinness."

Ironskin for a +6 enhancement bonus to natural armor, anyone? I don't know how much of Guinness's AC is from an amulet but it looks like Ziva has none at all.

An AC in the upper 30's sounds quite nice actually

(Guiness' natural bonus to AC is 1)

"Excellent," says Guiness after being informed the potion will reverse the effects of his reduction. He quickly quaffs the potion and eagerly anticipates returning to his proper size.

One big swig of the potion later, and Guiness finds himself billowing back into his usual size. The process is painless, but a little disorienting. Once you cast your protective magic, the first foot into the room draws a grinding rumble from the eastern end, behind the bubbling cauldron (I'll assume Guiness is first in on the map). The statue takes a slow step forward that booms like a falling boulder.

|||| INIT ||||
Kellek
Ziva (10 dmg)
Guiness
Stone Golem
Astrid
Colvyn (reduced)

Ironskin on someone

Moving cautiously into the room with his flaming warhammer in hand, Guiness sets up for Ziva’s flanking maneuver.

Move 20’, standard action Full Defense gives +6 AC since he has 3 ranks in Acrobatics.

Flaring out her fiery wings once more, Ziva darts across the room, hoping to hem the golem in between herself and the dwarf.

Double Move!

I'll assume Ziva got the ironskin.

Ziva Will: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19

Which Ziva also manages to resist!

|||| INIT ||||
Astrid
Colvyn (reduced)
Kellek x2
Ziva (10 dmg)
Guiness
Stone Golem

Guiness moves past the cauldron and circles around behind the stone golem, angling his shield as best he can as he moves in close. When he is in position, Guiness roots himself to the ground, tapping into the power of the mountain.

(Double Move to flank, enter defensive stance: +2 Dodge, +4 strength and constitution, +2 Will)

As Guiness closes in behind the golem, Ziva steps up to close the trap, swinging the sword at the construct's joints to try and cripple it.

Five-foot step, full attack with Crane Style & Power Attack. AC38
Attack #1: 1d20 + 19 + 2 + 2 - 1 - 3 ⇒ (9) + 19 + 2 + 2 - 1 - 3 = 28 Damage: 1d10 + 15 + 3d6 ⇒ (2) + 15 + (4, 6, 6) = 33

Attack #2: 1d20 + 14 + 4 - 4 ⇒ (11) + 14 + 4 - 4 = 25 Damage: 1d10 + 15 + 3d6 ⇒ (2) + 15 + (2, 2, 3) = 24

Astrid delivers Pulura's blessing to Colvyn as she steps past him and into the room proper, gripping her longspear tightly.

Guidance and then moving. I'll use Divine Interference with a 1st-level spell if the golem clobbers somebody.

Taking a step forward, Colvyn bless himself with divine favor. He then aim at the golem and send a trio of arrows at it. Sadly, he isn't used to his new size and the arrows aren't as precise as he would have like.

Longbow, Golembane Scarab: 1d20 + 16 + 1 + 1 + 3 - 3 - 2 ⇒ (10) + 16 + 1 + 1 + 3 - 3 - 2 = 26
Damage: 1d6 + 4 + 6 + 3 - 1 ⇒ (6) + 4 + 6 + 3 - 1 = 18

Longbow, Golembane Scarab: 1d20 + 16 + 1 + 3 - 3 - 2 ⇒ (3) + 16 + 1 + 3 - 3 - 2 = 18
Damage: 1d6 + 4 + 6 + 3 - 1 ⇒ (4) + 4 + 6 + 3 - 1 = 16

Longbow, Golembane Scarab: 1d20 + 11 + 1 + 3 - 3 - 2 ⇒ (7) + 11 + 1 + 3 - 3 - 2 = 17
Damage: 1d6 + 4 + 6 + 3 - 1 ⇒ (3) + 4 + 6 + 3 - 1 = 15

The giant golem pounds its fists down, one on each side. Ziva dodges one fist, while Guiness blocks the whole weight with his shield. Both get through unharmed. The cauldron begins to bubble more fiercely and a noxious gas begins billowing off the top. Astrid and Guiness are the closest to the cauldron and catch a whiff.

Astrid Fort: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28
Guiness Fort: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (16) + 16 = 32

Both of them endure the vapors without any serious harm.

|||| INIT ||||
Astrid
Colvyn (reduced)
Kellek x2
Ziva (10 dmg)
Guiness
Stone Golem (23 dmg)

Drawing on the power of the stone beneath him, Guiness starts his typical attack routine, though he is unsure if his secondary attacks without the hammer are even worthwhile against this stone behemoth…

(Defensive stance and Flanking, Hammer damage includes last d6 of fire that may not apply)

Dragonfist Primary Attack: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (1) + 19 = 20
Damage: 1d8 + 17 + 1d6 ⇒ (8) + 17 + (5) = 30

Dragonfist Secondary Attack: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (16) + 14 = 30
Damage: 1d8 + 17 + 1d6 ⇒ (1) + 17 + (2) = 20

Dragonfist Tertiary Attack: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17
Damage: 1d8 + 17 + 1d6 ⇒ (1) + 17 + (5) = 23

Shield Bash: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (15) + 11 = 26
Damage: 1d4 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10

Head Butt: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (9) + 12 = 21
Damage: 1d4 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10

Mindful of the powerful fumes, Astrid increases her distance from the bubbling cauldron, then sends Muninn to Colvyn's side once again to bless one of his attacks.

Guidance on Colvyn.

Kellek sighs and floats far enough forward to allow him to get everyone with haste. He takes half of his next round to float along further to see what's up ahead (assuming there is enough light to do so).

Colvyn is dissapointed when none of his arrows damage the golem. He tries again, but his new size is still throwing him off.

Longbow, Golembane Scarab: 1d20 + 16 + 1 + 1 + 3 + 1 - 3 - 2 ⇒ (2) + 16 + 1 + 1 + 3 + 1 - 3 - 2 = 19
Damage: 1d6 + 4 + 6 + 3 - 1 ⇒ (5) + 4 + 6 + 3 - 1 = 17

Longbow, Golembane Scarab: 1d20 + 16 + 1 + 1 + 3 - 3 - 2 ⇒ (17) + 16 + 1 + 1 + 3 - 3 - 2 = 33
Damage: 1d6 + 4 + 6 + 3 - 1 ⇒ (1) + 4 + 6 + 3 - 1 = 13

Longbow, Golembane Scarab: 1d20 + 16 + 1 + 1 + 3 - 3 - 2 ⇒ (6) + 16 + 1 + 1 + 3 - 3 - 2 = 22
Damage: 1d6 + 4 + 6 + 3 - 1 ⇒ (6) + 4 + 6 + 3 - 1 = 18

Longbow, Golembane Scarab: 1d20 + 11 + 1 + 1 + 3 - 3 - 2 ⇒ (11) + 11 + 1 + 1 + 3 - 3 - 2 = 22
Damage: 1d6 + 4 + 6 + 3 - 1 ⇒ (5) + 4 + 6 + 3 - 1 = 17

Will be botting Ziva since she's mentioned she's swamped this week:
Bastard Sword, flank, crane, PA: 1d20 + 19 + 2 + 2 - 1 - 3 ⇒ (10) + 19 + 2 + 2 - 1 - 3 = 29 Damage: 1d10 + 15 + 3d6 ⇒ (10) + 15 + (2, 1, 6) = 34
Bastard Sword: 1d20 + 19 + 2 + 2 - 1 - 8 ⇒ (3) + 19 + 2 + 2 - 1 - 8 = 17 Damage: 1d10 + 15 + 3d6 ⇒ (7) + 15 + (3, 5, 6) = 36
Bastard Sword: 1d20 + 19 + 2 + 2 - 1 - 13 ⇒ (7) + 19 + 2 + 2 - 1 - 13 = 16 Damage: 1d10 + 15 + 3d6 ⇒ (8) + 15 + (4, 3, 5) = 35
Bastard Sword, flank, crane, PA; haste: 1d20 + 19 + 2 + 2 - 1 - 3 ⇒ (10) + 19 + 2 + 2 - 1 - 3 = 29 Damage: 1d10 + 15 + 3d6 ⇒ (7) + 15 + (6, 6, 4) = 38

The multiple hits leave the golem shuddering and shedding chunks of stone, but it still manages to sweep both arms in a tremendous arc. Ziva ducks under one swing but the second catches her heavily in the chest, knocking the wind out of her.

Guiness Fort: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (11) + 16 = 27

Guiness endures the toxic vapors coming off the cauldron without much difficulty.

To the east, Kellek peeks further down the hall and into the adjacent room. The chill in this room isn’t quite enough to frost the floors and walls, but it’s certainly enough to frost the breath. The room itself contains several large suits of armor mounted on what appear to be frozen or preserved ogres, trolls, and hill giants, all staged as if rallying for war. The centerpiece of the room is a massive suit of armor, dirtied with a patina of blood and mounted with two greataxes, one in each gauntleted fist.

|||| INIT ||||
Astrid
Colvyn (reduced)
Kellek
Ziva (10 dmg)
Guiness
Stone Golem (96 dmg)

Now hasted, Guiness moves in a blur of motion!

Dragonfist Primary Attack: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (6) + 20 = 26
Damage: 1d8 + 17 + 1d6 ⇒ (3) + 17 + (4) = 24

Dragonfist Secondary Attack: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (6) + 15 = 21
Damage: 1d8 + 17 + 1d6 ⇒ (5) + 17 + (5) = 27

Dragonfist Tertiary Attack: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18
Damage: 1d8 + 17 + 1d6 ⇒ (6) + 17 + (6) = 29

Dragonfist Hasted Attack: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (12) + 20 = 32
Damage: 1d8 + 17 + 1d6 ⇒ (1) + 17 + (3) = 21

Shield Bash: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (8) + 12 = 20
Damage: 1d4 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

Head Butt: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (13) + 13 = 26
Damage: 1d4 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10

Thanks to the stone golem's solid construction, Guiness manages to land only a single telling blow. The golem stays together, but only barely.

|||| INIT ||||
Astrid
Colvyn (reduced)
Kellek
Ziva (10 dmg)
Guiness
Stone Golem (107 dmg)

To the east, Kellek peeks further down the hall and into the adjacent room. The chill in this room isn’t quite enough to frost the floors and walls, but it’s certainly enough to frost the breath. The room itself contains several large suits of armor mounted on what appear to be frozen or preserved ogres, trolls, and hill giants, all staged as if rallying for war. The centerpiece of the room is a massive suit of armor, dirtied with a patina of blood and mounted with two greataxes, one in each gauntleted fist.

Brilliant.

Kellek looks over his shoulder at the fight. Then he looks back into the room of frozen "statuary". He summons up his ability to percieve magical auras and tries to detect magic in the room ahead.

A quick left-right sweep from Kellek reveals that there are magic auras in the room somewhere around that central statue.

|||| INIT ||||
Astrid
Colvyn (reduced)
Kellek
Ziva (10 dmg)
Guiness
Stone Golem (107 dmg)

I believe in you, Colvyn! Still doing the same thing of guidance on him and then making the golem reroll if it gets a critical threat.

Dice roller really hate me here. :(

More arrows from Colvyn that just bounce off the golem body.

Longbow, Golembane Scarab: 1d20 + 16 + 1 + 1 + 3 + 1 - 3 - 2 ⇒ (4) + 16 + 1 + 1 + 3 + 1 - 3 - 2 = 21
Damage: 1d6 + 4 + 6 + 3 - 1 ⇒ (2) + 4 + 6 + 3 - 1 = 14

Longbow, Golembane Scarab: 1d20 + 16 + 1 + 1 + 3 - 3 - 2 ⇒ (7) + 16 + 1 + 1 + 3 - 3 - 2 = 23
Damage: 1d6 + 4 + 6 + 3 - 1 ⇒ (2) + 4 + 6 + 3 - 1 = 14

Longbow, Golembane Scarab: 1d20 + 16 + 1 + 1 + 3 - 3 - 2 ⇒ (1) + 16 + 1 + 1 + 3 - 3 - 2 = 17
Damage: 1d6 + 4 + 6 + 3 - 1 ⇒ (2) + 4 + 6 + 3 - 1 = 14

Longbow, Golembane Scarab: 1d20 + 11 + 1 + 1 + 3 - 3 - 2 ⇒ (2) + 11 + 1 + 1 + 3 - 3 - 2 = 13
Damage: 1d6 + 4 + 6 + 3 - 1 ⇒ (5) + 4 + 6 + 3 - 1 = 17

Botting Ziva:
Bastard Sword, flank, crane, PA: 1d20 + 19 + 2 + 2 - 1 - 3 ⇒ (4) + 19 + 2 + 2 - 1 - 3 = 23 Damage: 1d10 + 15 + 3d6 ⇒ (4) + 15 + (6, 1, 2) = 28
Bastard Sword, flank, crane, PA: 1d20 + 19 + 2 + 2 - 1 - 8 ⇒ (7) + 19 + 2 + 2 - 1 - 8 = 21 Damage: 1d10 + 15 + 3d6 ⇒ (1) + 15 + (5, 5, 1) = 27
Bastard Sword, flank, crane, PA: 1d20 + 19 + 2 + 2 - 1 - 13 ⇒ (1) + 19 + 2 + 2 - 1 - 13 = 10 Damage: 1d10 + 15 + 3d6 ⇒ (2) + 15 + (3, 2, 2) = 24
Bastard Sword, flank, crane, PA, haste: 1d20 + 19 + 2 + 2 - 1 - 3 ⇒ (12) + 19 + 2 + 2 - 1 - 3 = 31 Damage: 1d10 + 15 + 3d6 ⇒ (9) + 15 + (4, 1, 1) = 30

Amid the hail of bouncing arrows, Ziva makes strike after strike. Her last, extra swift attack hit upon a crack at the center of the statue's torso. The strength behind her blow splits solid stone apart and cleaves the statue's torso in two! The guardian crumbles, stone limbs falling still on the ground below.

Combat Over!

Without the guardian statue to keep you busy, you're able to get away from the noxious vapors of the cauldron.

Walking quickly with the benefit of haste, Guiness heads over to Kellek and looks in the next room. "What's next?" he asks.

As the golem shatters Ziva dances back from the rubble, quickly checking the edge of her blade for any nicks or chips. There are none, and she turns to consider the cauldron.

"Is this something we should be worried about? A weapon to be destroyed?"

"It's definitely foul, though I will leave identifying its exact properties up to our esteemed colleague."

Walking quickly with the benefit of haste, Guiness heads over to Kellek and looks in the next room. "What's next?" he asks.

"That's what I am trying to determine." says the annoyed wizard his voice still sped up due to his haste spell.

He takes a round to identify the auras and a second round to start IDing them strongest to weakest. He takes 10 as usual.

Kellek takes a round to identify two necromancy auras and an abjuration aura, but doesn't get as far as determining the exact nature of the auras before the central armor shudders. A moment after it does, all the other armors in the room do the same!

Hearing this happening in the other room, you all jump into action.

|||| INIT ||||
Astrid
Colvyn (reduced)
Kellek
Ziva (10 dmg)
Guiness
Headless Lord
Blue Giant Zombie
Pink Giant Zombie
Yellow Giant Zombie
Orange Giant Zombie
9x Human Zombies

Guiness moves quickly into the room, saying, ”I will set up a defensive position.” Still moving quickly from Kellek’s spell, he sees the sheer number of enemies and takes a defensive posture, preparing to take the brunt of the assault while the others dish out the damage.

Please move Guiness three squares right and one square down—map modification from iPhone is failing me.

(Move and Full Defense (Hasted: AC = 31+1+6=38))

Swearing as the zombies rise from the headless giant's spray of blood, Ziva falls back into a defensive stance of her own, not taking her eyes off the sudden horde before her.

Study Target vs the Headless Lord & defensive stance, the natural armor bonus should still be active (AC38)

Colvyn hurries past the cauldron room to join the rest of the group at the entrance of the next room.

How many rounds since the end of the previous fight?