Revival of the Runelords (Inactive)

Game Master Cellion

Indeed Rig, the shatter spell just straight up destroys a non-magical piece of gear. One of the old holdovers from ye olde AD&D.

Orik grunts, obviously not happy with the direction the party's discussion has gone, but hardly in a position to argue. He's left staring at the stone floor.

Colvyn advances carefully down the southern corridor, eyes open for traps as he goes. He finds nothing unusual both before and after he turns the corner. He also quickly checks over the doors in the corridor and as far as he can tell, none of them are trapped either.

Since the door at the end of the hall is already slightly ajar, he peeks into it. This large chamber seems to serve a dual purpose. To the north is a fine bed with silk sheets, while to the south, a desk and chair under a hanging lantern make a comfortable-looking study.

While the others do whatever it is they are doing Kellek places the most interesting items on the bench in the room he is in and starts to catalogue them in his journal, drawing little diagrams as needed. He pockets the wand, and restocks his scroll box after looking the scrolls over. He sets the ioun stone to orbiting his head while he reads. Eventually, he packs the spellbook (and the other items) away in his haversack (not yet a handy one) after skimming its contents.

After a half an hour or so he might grow curious enough to go look for them. Oh, and probably tie up his prisoner too, if Kargas hasn't been by yet. The man is an inconsiderate brute.

He identifies the fighter's gear as well if it is brought to him, or if he has to go find them. Honestly.

While the others do whatever it is they are doing Kellek places the most interesting items on the bench in the room he is in and starts to catalogue them in his journal, drawing little diagrams as needed. He pockets the wand, and restocks his scroll box after looking the scrolls over. He sets the ioun stone to orbiting his head while he reads. Eventually, he packs the spellbook (and the other items) away in his haversack (not yet a handy one) after skimming its contents.

After a half an hour or so he might grow curious enough to go look for them. Oh, and probably tie up his prisoner too, if Kargas hasn't been by yet. The man is an inconsiderate brute.

He identifies the fighter's gear as well if it is brought to him, or if he has to go find them. Honestly.

Kellek, FYI, Guiness has already come to the room where the mage was defeated and offered to help...see quoted post below...

Guiness will guard Kellek as he checks out the mage, Lyrie. When he is done (assuming he also removes her materials needed for casting spells), Guiness offers to move her unconscious body over to the others.

"Kellek, do you think she knows anything beyond what her bodyguard knows? She may have been down in those lower levels..."

Kellek, FYI, Guiness has already come to the room where the mage was defeated and offered to help...see quoted post below...

Finally! A considerate brute. There might be a place for you in my future organization. You wouldn't happen to know of any mountains with a 'snake' or 'skull' motif would you?

Guiness will guard Kellek as he checks out the mage....

{Wolf whistle} "Just look at book! And what a scroll rack!"

When he is done (assuming he also removes her materials needed for casting spells), Guiness offers to move her unconscious body over to the others.

Not moving from his seat Kellek says "Might be better to move everything in here. It's a natural choke point. We wouldn't want Nualia or whatever else is downstairs rushing upstairs past us would we? Besides, I like this table."

"Kellek, do you think she knows anything beyond what her bodyguard knows? She may have been down in those lower levels..."

"Possibly. Though considering the way she fought to keep us out I doubt she would tell us any of it without some sort of coercion."

...meanwhile, in the hallway...

Guiness will nod to Colvyn and keep his guard up, looking for any threats that might emerge from the doors they bypassed while Colvyn is otherwise occupied in the room.

Over his shoulder, he asks, ”So, were you really planning to pay him off, or just trying to get information?”

While you discuss, feel free to indicate where you want to investigate next, too.

Guiness was planning to keep guard while Colvyn searched. I will leave it to Colvyn to detail where & how he is searching. Of course, if others want to join, the more the merrier!

Colvyn stops walking for a second and turn his head toward the dwarf. "I don't have that kind of money." With a smile he returns to his work and start inspecting the far room. Since the group is still in the previous room, he takes his time.

Taking 20 if possible.

Guiness says nothing, but smiles, glad he was mistaken about Colvyn...at least this time.

Meanwhile, Kellek looks over the fighter's gear (as above) taking the time to explain the nuances of magical auras and alchemy to anyone who can see them due to magical capability or peyote use.

"See that wobbly green bit there?" Kellek says pointing to an otherwise invisible aura.

"Well don't touch it!" he snaps bringing his measuring stick down hard on an offending hand.

With nothing else to do just yet, Flo fires up her own magic and focuses in on Kellek's aura. "Oh, yeah right ther- OW!" she shouts as the hand she pointed at the wobbly green aura with gets smacked. Pulling out the wooden spoon she took from the Rusty Dragon, she rounds on Kellek. "If it's a fight you want," she starts with a smile on her lips, "then it's a fight you shall have!" she exclaims as she lunges at the wizard.
________
Once Colvyn is done with that wing, I say we go through the door to the west! The obvious theme music for our fight.

Deciding that the lesson on magic is over, Kargas leaves Flor and the wizard to their tussle and joins Guiness and Colvyn. "Find anything?"

Rig follows the others down the hallway. As Colvyn searches the one room, he heads back to their prisoner. "What's in these other rooms?" he asks, pointing back down the hallway.

While the wizard and cleric begin fighting, Colvyn completes a sweep of the combo bedchamber + study at the far end of the corridor. Other than the unusually fine looking bed with its plush linens, the ratfolk doesn't find anything of interest in this room. In fact, its pristine condition suggests that it hasn't been lived in recently despite its creature comforts.

Orik grunts. "Bedrooms. Nualia's been sleeping downstairs the last few weeks though."

Since I figure you'll be interested in the rest of the rooms:
Colvyn also pokes his head into the other four rooms to confirm the truth of the mercenary's words. The north-western room is clean and well organized. A low dresser to the southwest has a stack of papers sitting atop it, weighted down by a large chunk of obsidian, while to the northwest sits a well-made bed. The stack of papers appears to be a collection of hand-written poems, accompanied by rather lewd sketches.

The north-eastern one-person bedroom shows many signs of having been lived in. The bed itself is rumpled and unmade, and a half-eaten meal of bread and smoked salmon sits on the nightstand. A few articles of dirty clothing sit at the foot of the bed.

The south-western bedroom is immaculately clean and brightly lit by an everburning torch lying on the nightstand, though its spartan decor makes it unclear whether it’s actually lived in.

On the other hand, the south-eastern bedroom has a faint musty odor. The bed is covered with matted gray and black hair, and bloodstains mar the stone floor, while a morbid stack of birds’ feet lies heaped on the floor by the side of the bed.

After a bit of back and forth, around and over the storage room bench with their utensils flashing with each thrust and riposte Kellek smiles and says: "I admit it, you are better than I am, but I know something that you do not."

And with that, the wizard tosses his ruler into the air and catches it with his other hand!

The wizard puns. Feed him to the baby goblins.

How did he do that?! "You are a worthy opponent... If unorthodox and blasphemous in technique!" Flo confesses, her breathing turned ragged. "But this isn't even my final form!" With a mighty yell, the Undine rejoins the fight against her supremely sinister left handed foe with a renewed vigor, courtesy of a sudden increase in her muscle mass.

”That torch could be useful”, remarks Guiness as Colvyn opens the various doors and searches the rooms.

”Let’s get the prisoners settled, then head off to that room to the west,” he suggests.

"Yep, probably the only thing of real value here." Colvyn moves to the table and grabs the torch. "Let's rejoin the others and see where we need to go from here." Colvyn walks back toward the where the prisoners and the group are. Once in the room, he blinks twice when he sees Floredana and Kellek fencing . "Really?" Discouraged at the lack of maturity, he walks toward the western door and start inspecting it.

Trapfinding: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (11) + 13 = 24

Rig snickers. "Aww give 'em a moment. Ya gotta take the smiles where you can get them, my little friend."

One golden demerit for Kellek for that pun in the spoiler :O

Colvyn doesn't see any traps on the western door, so he opens it up, revealing a 15 ft long stone hallway and a second door. Once he opens the second door up, he takes in a rather foul smelling low ceiling stone room.

The southern wall of this room is a bank of cells with iron doors, six in all. The closest of those cells still contains the rotting remains of a humanoid corpse, a few entrepreneurial flies perched atop it. The body, though badly damaged, is small and large headed. The rest of the room is obviously a torture chamber; a rack sits against the far wall, an iron maiden stands to the north, and a fire pit smolders below a spiky cage dangling from a chain in the ceiling to the east. (Unfortunately the map art doesn't include these features - but they're there)

Guiness will follow Colvyn in and help him search, keeping an eye out for trouble.

Perception aid another: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18

"I had to uphold my honor," Flo jests as the others make their way back through. Stowing the wooden spoon for another day, she follows the rest into the next room. What a sick place. How could anyone sleep nearby knowing such a room of pain was nearby?

Wrinkling his nose at the smell and the thought of the poor creatures being tortured, Guiness moves into the room and states, ”More evidence of depravity. Which door next, Colvyn? If you hear something, I can open the door for us.”

Jaw set grimly, Kargas says nothing as the group passes through the torture chamber. With a murderous glint in his eyes he waits by the door, ranseur in hand once again.

Colvyn looks at the corpse. "Is there a way to know who this was?" He looks at it for a few more seconds until Guiness question bring him back to reality. "Yes, sorry. Let's try this one." Colvyn walks up to the door on the right and inspects it.

Trapfinding: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (5) + 13 = 18

Before they wander off and leave the prisoners unguarded, Rig suggests they deposit them each in a separate bedroom. "It will prevent them from cooperating to free each other, and if anyone follows in after us, they won't be there as a warning. And yeah, they'll be a bit more comfortable. There's no need to be cruel."
After that, he is ready to proceed and follows into the next rooms. Mostly he tries not to look too closely at the things in the torture room. He'd rather not know what went on here.

Rig separates the two prisoners, leaving them tightly bound and on top of beds in their own rooms (I've moved them on the map), then rejoins the group. Colvyn takes the lead in investigating the closest of the the doors out of the northern side of the room. He doesn't find any traps or hear any noises, so he eases it open.

After a short corridor and a second untrapped door, you open up a small musty room. A dusty nest of rags, dog hides, and straw sits in the northeast corner of this room. To the south, a long workbench cluttered with pliers, hooks, tongs, saws, and knives runs along the wall. In addition to the obvious tools of torture on the bench, there are also various bandages and ointments, as well as a set of fine lockpicks.

(By scavenging from this bench, you can assemble one healer's kit and one set of common thieves' tools.)

Sitting on a hook on the wall here are a ring of rusty keys. From the look of them, they match the locks on the cells of the prison.

Quiet Saturday. Where to next?

Guiness moves from his position guarding the west door on the north wall. ”Whenever you are ready, Colvyn”, he says.

Rig picks up some of the bits and pieces on the workbench that seem useful and grabs the keys. "In case we take any more prisoners," he comments.
anyone wanna check out the body in the cell?

"Only one door left, then is is back to the corridor." Colvyn moves over to the other door and inspect it like the others. when he doesn't find anything, he steps aside and motions to Guiness the all cleared.

Trapfinding: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (1) + 13 = 14

Guiness will move back in front of the door, nod at the others to make sure they are ready, then open it.

Colvyn doesn't find any traps, so Guiness steps up to the door and opens it up. Beyond, you see a short staircase and another door. With confidence that this one also isn't trapped, Guiness steps up and tugs it open to reveal a room hazy with smoke and red light.

At the western end, a set of shallow stairs rise to a platform about two feet off the ground. The walls surrounding this platform are lit by hanging braziers that emit glowing red smoke, giving the place an unnerving crimson lighting that throws the bas-relief carvings of countless monsters feasting on fleeing humans into lurid display. A black marble altar stone, its surface heaped with ashes and bone fragments, squats before a ten-foot-tall statue. The sculpture depicts a very pregnant but otherwise shapely naked woman who wields a kukri in each taloned hand and has a long reptilian tail, birdlike taloned feet, and the snarling head of a three-eyed jackal with a forked tongue. The left kukri flickers with fiery orange light while the right one glows with a cold blue radiance.

Sitting at the statue's feet are two hairless dog-like creatures whose eyes glow like hellish embers. Spiny tails rise the moment Guiness opens the door and the two creatures rise silently to their feet. (Pics for these two next to the map)

(I've rearranged the party based on the previously discussed door opening order.)
----

will: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
will: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
oh for Pete's sake! I could actually save everyone from this if I had made the damn rolls myself!
The sounds made by those creatures bore deep into Rig's brain. He can't recall a time being more afraid. The simple wrongness of it drives him away.

Guiness tries to steel himself against the hound's unearthly screams!

Guiness Will save vs. Fear: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7
Guiness Will save vs. Fear: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8

His hand falling from the door handle, Guiness turns and moves away from the horrible sound, all thought of honor and protecting his friends and driven from him!

By the way, GM Cellion, I am totally fine with you rolling saves for Guiness when it makes sense to avoid delays. This is kind of a special case since you are letting us have our turns (and control our double move somewhat if we fail the saves) immediately after our saves, so I understand not doing it this time.

While undeniably horrifying, Flo is shocked to have her companions start to whiz past her in fear. "No! Stand strong for Sandpoint!" she shouts as Brother Guiness pushes past her. "Rig, make it stop!" she commands out of desperation as the frontline becomes the back line. The birthmark on her hand begins to glow and a soft wind swirls around Rig's head, easing any primal tension he is harboring within.
________
Will, DC 12: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20
Will, DC 12: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25
If only I was a level higher, I could get two people with Remove Fear! Rig, you should be good to go :)

This GM is breathing a sigh of relief that at least someone made their save! BTW, Rig didn't take his double move away after failing so I have done so for him now. Flo - you'll need to have moved to a spot where you can hit him with Remove Fear. I'll leave it up to you where you want to go for that.

@Guiness: I err on the side of having players roll saves, if only because you know your own bonuses and immediate action options better than I do. I'll roll for everyone in cases where it makes sense (ie. illusions).

(By scavenging from this bench, you can assemble one healer's kit and one set of common thieves' tools.)

Kellek notes the items for later scrounging.

A short time later.

Will: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22
Will: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

"Well, that was certainly unpleasant."

He moves 10 feet to get a look at what made all the noise (that might change depending on Kargas's save/actions). Once Kellek can see the source of the unearthly wail.

knowledge (see above for modifiers): 1d20 ⇒ 7

And then I have to wait to see what results. Standard action pending.

Kellek recognizes the creatures as a particular type of fiendish outsider called a Yeth Hound. (KN Planes result = 15) These evil outsiders particularly delight in hunting intelligent prey, driving fear deep into their hearts and chasing them down as they flee. Despite their bestial appearance, they are relatively intelligent and capable of devising complex plans to best torment their victims.

Other than their fearsome baying (which you've already experienced), you know that they're capable of supernaturally floating through the air at considerable speed - fast enough that they can outpace any of their fleeing victims.

on his turn, Rig will start this performance as he starts moving back
Rig shakes his head as Flo's spell settles upon him. His cheeks turn a bright red, first a shade of embarrassed, followed by a flush of anger at their manipulation. "I've got a little surprise for those damn devil dogs!" He begins a performance different from what the others might have heard before. It's almost like a drill sergeant yelling at recruits. "STOP RIGHT NOW! TURN AROUND AND FIGHT! THOSE CREATURES ARE GONNA WISH THEY NEVER TANGLED WITH US!"
using Rallying Cry! Each ally (and me) can use my intimidate check as a save against fear/despair effect. Since I can always take 10 on intimidate, we all get 20's

Will save: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22
Will save: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

The scream, the unbearable scream. For a moment there, Colvyn is back in the woods near Harse. The chaos of the battle, the pain of the wound in his legs, the foul smell of death coming from the mouth of the creature that is about to lunge at him. It was more than he could take. "No... No! Not again!" As swiftly as his little legs can carry him, Colvyn runs out of the room.

Rig, I'll apply your Rallying Cry right at the top of Round 2 as your Round 2 action. That means at the start of round 2 everyone will automatically break out of their fear. See below for reasoning.

Most of the party goes scrambling from safety, somewhere FAR FAR away from the unearthly baying. But Flo stands strong and breaks Rig out of his fear as well!

|||| INIT (still round 1) ||||
Guiness
Colvyn
Rig
Kellek
Kargas
Flo
??? Dog-like fiend yellow
??? Dog-like fiend blue

Kellek draws his new wand of magic missiles (level 1, I assume) and levels it at the outsiders.

"They are creatures of howling pandemonium! Try to keep them in room. Though they don't look it they can fly."

Will: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13
Will: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20

The hounds' shrieks slice through Kargas like a cold wind, but the barbarian grits his teeth and pushes the sudden surge of fear aside. Advancing into the room as his scar-runes start to glow, Kargas roars back at the doglike monsters and attacks with his ranseur.

At work and can't move my token, could I be two squares south of Yellow please?
Rage, Bless, Power Attack
Atk vs Yellow: 1d20 + 9 + 1 - 1 ⇒ (3) + 9 + 1 - 1 = 12 Used up the good rolls on Will saves!

Done!

Are we waiting for Kellek to take his turn, or is it the top of the round?

The two Hounds lift off from the ground as if drawn up into the air by an invisible hand. Their legs step against the air itself, and suddenly they're advancing - floating - at an alarming speed towards their victims. Both glide smoothly out of the temple, ignoring Kargas entirely. (You get an AoO against whichever one you'd like)

Instead, the blue Hound floats up to Flo (at about her head level) and bites with slavering jaws. They close around her shoulder, piercing through her chain shirt as they tear slivers of flesh free. (Flo takes 12 points of damage) The Hound's red eyes glow with menace as it swallows whole what little it managed to tear. (It tries to strike fear into Flo, but is immediately rebuffed by Rig's Rallying Cry at the top of the round)

The yellow hound closes on Kellek, its jaws opening far wider than should seem possible and then closing around his chest. It crushes him badly in its jaws before tearing free. (Dealing 15 points of damage)

Rig begins a rallying cry that immediately breaks the shaken and panicked members of the team out of the supernatural fear that was gripping them.

|||| INIT ||||
Rig (Rallying cry! You still have a move action too, I believe)
Guiness
Colvyn
Kellek (15 dmg)
Kargas
Flo (12 dmg)
Yeth Hound yellow
Yeth Hound blue

Buffs: Rallying Cry
Bold are up.

"aaAAHH!" Flo shouts as the Yeth Hound's teeth sink entirely too easily into her shoulder. Clutching her wound, she quickly fires off the butterflies from her wand before trying desperately to avoid another savage bite from the Yeth Hound. Desna preserve us!
________
Acrobatics (Avoid AoO): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15 Doubt that makes it!
Lol, good thing we picked up one of those potions! I think it will be my turn to take a nap!