Revival of the Runelords (Inactive)

Game Master Cellion

Rig takes a couple of swings with one of the kukris. "That's okay. I'll stick with what I have for now."
alas not proficient with them. @GM: Rig will keep his eyes open for anything that could be used as a club

"If we're done here, let's go back to that stairwell where the sorceress came from. This structure goes deeper."

Those were the steps to which Guiness was referring. Feel free to have Guiness go first if Colvyn doesn't volunteer to scout as he suggested.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21

Colvyn takes point and makes sure that there isn't any traps along the way down. "Hopefully there aren't as many creatures down here."

Trapfinding: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (16) + 13 = 29

As the party begins descending the stairwell behind Colvyn, the ratfolk's voice echoes back towards the group.

"Hopefully there aren't as many creatures down here..."

"Hopefully there aren't as many creatures..."

"Hopefully..."
----
Colvyn doesn't spot any traps on the way down the winding stairwell, bringing you to an ancient stone door at the bottom of the steps. The door hangs slightly ajar, the detailed carvings that once covered its surface have been chipped and defaced by chisel marks. The few undamaged sections show that the door was once covered in images of gemstones and crowns.

You push the door a little further open and reveal an imposing room. Two pillars support the ceiling in here. In many places the stone walls, floor, and ceiling are caked with ancient grime and soot. Alcoves in the north and south walls contain partially damaged statues of a man in robes clutching a book and a glaive. The entire room is very slightly canted toward the west, and the statues here lean against the western walls of their alcoves. Another stone door sits to the eastern end of the hall.

Before he moves forward in front of the statue with the glaive, Guiness looks carefully at it, trying to discern if it is rigged to fall or attack with the weapon.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

He will then wait for Colvyn to check the statue on his side if he wants. If they find nothing, he will move forward, but interpose his shield between himself and the statue...the idea being if it starts to fall or swing its glaive, the shield will protect him somewhat.

Wonder who that guy was... Haven't seen him in any church before! As they make their cautious approach, Flo does her best to look for danger from her position. Expecting an ambush, she squeezes her wand of bless in anticipation.
________
Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (9) + 11 = 20

"How the hell old is this place?" Rig wonders. "This place seemed kind of geologically stable from outside."
perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25
aww, that would have been useful in combat

Rig, Flo and Guiness keep their eyes scanning the statues and the floor ahead and each individually concludes that there aren't any traps lying in wait. Nor do they hear any signs of an incoming ambush.

Looking around at the walls and floor in this area, it seems almost as if this layer is even older than the one above. Where the floor above was magically carved out in straight lines from the rock, this level seems like it was hand chiseled over the course of what must have been years. Incredible detail lies in the statues, in the minute scrollwork on the walls and ceiling, and in the delicate strength of the pillar.

Its obvious that this section was not constructed by the same people (or at least not at the same time) as the floor above - much less the topmost level.

Guiness moves ahead and covers the next door. Looking back at Colvyn, he says, "Do you want to check this one before I open it?"

"Whose head are we in?" Kargas asks abrubtly. "Must've been someone important to get a bust the size of a keep made for 'im. Hey Flor, this area have any famous chiefs who were popular with stonemasons?"

Walking to next to the dwarf, Colvyn starts inspecting the door. "I feel like I should check everything we touch. For some reason, I keep getting the feeling that something is about to jump us..." Once done and if there is no traps, Colvyn signal the all clear.

Trapfinding: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (15) + 13 = 28

Once Colvyn signals the all clear and people have moved to their preferred location, Guiness will hang Dragonfist at his belt and open the door.

"I don't know of anyone who would have earned such respect to warrant a statue of this magnitude! Like you said, the head alone has multiple floors to it. Keeping in proportion, the rest of the statue must be able to fight a castle or two into it!" Flo speculates.
________
In position.

”We Dwarves prefer our statues to be fully visible, whether in the outside air or underground in our great halls. It also is much easier to construct that way,” he adds practically.

”To think of a full statue to match this head, buried deep...well, the world must have changed a great deal since its carving.”

Colvyn inspects the door carefully and concludes that it is free from any traps or surprises. He switches positions with Guiness and the dwarf swings the heavy stone door open to reveal the passageway beyond.

This passage continues the slight slope of the room you're in, canting slightly towards the west. Five feet from the western door, the floor is polished and shiny, unlike the dusty floor elsewhere. A pair of stone statues depicting stern men wielding glaives stand in alcoves north and south of this section of the hallway. They appear to be identical copies of the statues in the room you are standing in. At the eastern end of the hallway stand two stone doors, one each to the north and south, and both with their faces carved with strange runes. Just past the doors is a third alcove in which a partially collapsed statue sits. The top half of the statue is missing, leaving behind a ragged stump of a torso.

Sitting at attention at the base of the statue is another Yeth Hound. Its intelligent eyes spy you and its mouth immediately opens to begin an unearthly scream! (Or rather, it will on its initiative!)

|||| INITIATIVE ||||
Flo
Yeth Hound
Guiness
Kellek
Rig
Colvyn
Kargas

Bold Are GO!

"Desna, steel our hearts!" Flo shouts as she sets a comforting butterfly upon each of her friends' shoulder. Trying to think ahead, she then runs back up the stairs and does her best to block the door. Hopefully I can keep anyone from running away if they can't fend off the Yeth Hound's magic! We're ready for you this time!
________
Bless! +1 attack and saves vs fear!

Just in case: Will save (bless): 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 4 + 1 = 12

Flo: It'll be challenging to block fleeing allies from getting past you as the corridor is fairly wide. If you want to stop your ally, roll CMB check as an AoO against anyone trying to run past - if you succeed against their CMD, you'll block them.

Rig is the only one to fail his save and is panicked for 2d4 ⇒ (2, 2) = 4 rounds! He attempts to flee as fast as he can from the horrid wailing even as the rest of his allies stand strong. The Yeth Hound lifts off lightly from the ground and its red eyes flash with anger when the majority of you resist its baying.

Underneath the screaming, you catch the muffled sounds of a woman's voice ringing harshly through the air. "Mother, grant me the power to subjugate these worms!"

|||| INITIATIVE ||||
Guiness
Kellek
Rig (Panicked 4 rds)
Colvyn
Kargas
Flo
Yeth Hound
Mystery Woman

Bold Are GO!
Buffs: Bless

Guiness grits his teeth against the unearthly wail and manages to retain hold of his sanity this time! Moving forward into the hall, he hops over the polished section of floor, uncertain as to what trap it may hide. Drawing Dragonfist as he goes he attempts to smash the snout of the evil hound!

Dragonfist Attack: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 8 + 1 = 15
Dragonfist Damage: 1d8 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 3 + 1 = 10

In case you want to give that a try Guiness, note that the polished section of floor is 5ft wide and you're not the most acrobatic of fellas. Give me an acrobatics check to jump over it. Note that in combat, if you're suspicious about something you can always spend a move action to attempt a Perception check and inspect it as well.

Gotcha...Although I hate how pathfinder handles jumping...based on dex in a non-class skill for a fighter...

Jump Acrobatics: 1d20 - 5 ⇒ (14) - 5 = 9

bwahahaha, e-freakin'gad, apparently the dice gods want to see me running
Though there's a rational part of his brain that tells him 'this isn't real,' Rig's legs move as though possessed by a mind of their own. And the rest of his body does, too.
if you could move me on my turn, I'm on my phone

The dice gods are merciless :<

Without enough space to get a full running start, Guiness does his best to leap over the rather suspicious looking smooth area, but he falls just slightly short. He feels his heels drop a fraction of an inch as the stone beneath him yields to his weight.

Guiness Reflex: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21 Phew!

Suddenly, twin portcullises drop down from concealed gaps gaps in the ceiling! Guiness' reflexes are good and he throws himself to the side and manages to get out of the way as they slam down.

I've marked the affected square in yellow. As part of succeeding at your save, you can pick if you want to end up on the eastern or western side of the trap - either on the side of the Yeth Hound or on the side of your allies. If you end up on the eastern side, your attack will still go through.

---

Rig, since it looks like Flo wants to try to stop you from escaping, I'll let her attempt that and then move you if she fails.

Sorry about triggering the trap, guys, he did try to avoid it...

Hmm...on one side of the trap with a deadly hound and an unknown spellcaster, or back with all my allies on the other side...With a polished floor, I was hoping an electricity trap of some kind, not a “separate the party” kind.

The way I described Guiness’ movement, it doesn’t make sense to me that he could reverse his momentum., and a jump check that says he cleared 4.5 feet just before his foot touched down means that the portculi would be falling as he passed east under the second one. Guiness will be on the east and continue his attack, hoping the others can get through the trap somehow.

"Dammit, dwarf!" Kargas bellows and tears after the trapped warrior, his scars and eyes lighting up as he crosses the room and rams his shoulder into the first portcullis, gritting his teeth and the shock of impact shoots through his torso.

Rage, move across the room (could someone pretty please move my token?), then Strength check to try and shatter the portcullis. Also including a Fort check in case this means the poison gas can get me.
Strength Check: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23
Fort vs Poison: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24

Uh, poison gas? This is getting worse and worse! Guiness was just planning to move up and engage the enemy before a spellcaster could start slinging spells from the end of a hallway from behind her hound.

Err...Kargas may be getting confused and have mixed up a different life as a different person on a different world...upon rereading the GM's post there's no mention of poison gas. I thought that was a mean trap for Lvl3!

Lol @ the poison gas. I'll take notes for next time :>
Btw, I've moved you over Kargas.

Kargas slams into the portcullis with his body! It's a sound blow, but the criss-crossing iron bars do little more than rattle as he impacts them. When he pulls back he notes that the attempt bent them ever so slightly. (The Break DC to bend iron bars is DC24, so you were very close)

Hearing the unmistakably sounds of sprinting feet, Flo braces herself in anticipation. Please be Colvyn, please by Colvyn! As Rig turns the corner, Flo is only a little relieved and does her best to stop his progress. Unfortunately, the panicked Rig is too quick for her and easily jukes her grab! "Damn it!" she shouts, looking at his back now. I can't spend anymore time trying to keep him back here, I could keep up with him, but I can't alter his state of mind anymore!

"What the hell happened?!" she cries out in dismay, seeing Guiness on the other side of a portcullis. Before anyone has a chance to respond, she raises a glowing hand. Colvyn, Kargas, and Guiness' weapons begin to shine with a pale light. "I'm sick of these damn dogs!"
________
CMB vs Rig: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10
Sorry Rig :( Weapons Against Evil on those listed above! Ignore DR of an evil creature up to DR 5 (unless it is DR/epic (in which case we are probably f'ed anyways).

Having thrown himself directly into the proverbial demon's maw, Guiness takes a swing at the Yeth Hound. The creature glides just barely out of the way of his swing. Up close, Guiness notices that this Hound appears to be a larger and more muscled example of its kind.

He also gets a better look at the woman who just opened the door. Strikingly beautiful, the woman has silvery-violet eyes and long, flowing white hair. She's clad in pitted black and red armor that bares her midriff, which in turn is covered in ugly scars. Some of those must be quite recent from the way they look. Clashing with her shapely figure is her left arm, which has been replaced with or transformed into a demonic, muscled claw. The raw flesh pulses with energy. (See handouts for a bigger pic)

She spots Guiness and stares down at him with teeth gritted, eyes blazing with mad anger.

Meanwhile, Rig slips past a desperate Flo and flees from the dreadful baying of the Hound. He stumbles a couple of times while scrambling up the stairs and ends up at the landing of the floor above. (I've updated the map of the floor above to show Rig's current location. Sorry sir, but it looks like you might be out of the action for a few rounds. These old-school monsters are brutal.)

Flo's empowering magic settles around her chosen allies!

|||| INITIATIVE ||||
Guiness
Kellek
Rig (Panicked 3 rds)
Colvyn
Kargas
Flo
Yeth Hound
Mystery Woman

Bold Are GO!
Buffs: Bless, Wep vs. Evil (Colvyn, Kargas, Guiness)

Colvyn shifts to stand behind the big guy. Seeing the dwarf behind the portcullis doesn't give him high hope against a difficult fight ahead. Crap... crap... crap... He tries to calm himself and sends an arrow to assist Guiness.

Longbow vs Dog: 1d20 + 9 + 1 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (15) + 9 + 1 + 1 - 4 = 22
1d6 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

knowledge (religion, I'm guessing this about the woman--which he can barely see) DC ??: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15

From the doorway Kellek points his wand at the hound and forces the magic out of it with the wand's magical command word. "Pew."

wand of magic missile v white: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

@Kellek: Oops, that was DC20 KN Religion. You can probably just barely see her between the angle and the obstructions.

With the portcullis blocking the way to the rest of the party, both Hound and mystery woman focus their full attention on the brave dwarf. The hound springs through the air, pushing off from nothing, and lunges at Guiness's torso. While the dwarf manages to shield himself, it still gets a dreadfully powerful bite on his arm. (Dealing 14 damage) It latches on and twists, sending Guiness sprawling painfully to the ground. His new arm wound throbs, and a shot of fear runs through him. (Give me a Will save, DC15, or be shaken for 1 rd. This is a mid-affecting fear effect.)

The white-haired woman draws a bastard sword dimly glowing with red light and slashes at Guiness from around the corner. Her swing is keenly aimed to take his head off, but her elbow strikes the wall just as her blade impacts the side of his neck, lessening the strength of her blow. (Narrowly missed confirming a critical hit. Still deals an absurd 19 points of damage. The dice were very much not on your side.)

|||| INITIATIVE ||||
Guiness (33 damage, prone)
Kellek
Rig (Panicked 3 rds)
Colvyn
Kargas
Flo
Yeth Hound (7 dmg)
Mystery Woman

Bold Are GO!
Buffs: Bless, Wep vs. Evil (Colvyn, Kargas, Guiness)

OH, almost forgot.

In between the two portcullises, the statues on either side suddenly grind and shift, and *SHHHHNK* they swing their glaives in to strike at the empty air between them. After the attack, they withdraw their glaives back.

Holy S@@t! That was much worse than I expected! Even his Dwarven Stability wasn’t enough to keep him on his feet. And the spellcaster swinging around a hard corner and landing a fierce blow like that? At least between the cover of the hard corner and Guiness’ +2 against crit confirmation from the helmet, she narrowly missed confirming the Crit! Crikey!

Hind brain in control, Rig runs in terror. DAMMIT! :)

Hind brain in control, Rig runs in terror. DAMMIT! :)

Well, at least Guiness managed to block the floating dog of death this time. Sorry, it really sucks to be out of the battle like that.

There is 2 dogs? I only see one on the map.

"Dammit, he is going to die over there..." Using a mixture of divine energy and one of his readied spells, Colvyn enhances his fighting abilities for a short while. This time, however, his arrow hits one of the bars of the portcullis and fall harmlessly to the floor.

Longbow vs Dog: 1d20 + 9 + 1 + 1 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (1) + 9 + 1 + 1 + 1 - 4 = 9 Crap
damage: 1d6 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 + 1 = 6

Casting Divine favor as a free action with Fervor.

only 1 dog, and 1 woman with a sword

Glaring fiercely at the slightly bent bars, Kargas leans his falchion against the stonework next to himself and squats down, gripping the crossbar firmly and then pushing upward, trying to lift the portcullis by brute strength.

"Hope you've got a neat trick up your sleeve, dwarf. Don't wanna--urgh--have to find your--hrr--ma and try to explain..."

Strength Check: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18

"What is she?!" Flo gasps. With very little she can do to help the Dwarf, she sends butterflies to aid what she hopes aren't his last few moments of life.
________
Bit of Luck on Guiness. Go for gold!

Don't have time right now to update fully, but in case it changes anyone's actions, Kargas has the western-side portcullis lifted up.

Kellek, you got any magic tricks to save Guiness’ a$$ before he goes for broke?

Guiness closes his eyes briefly against the intense pain, irritated by being knocked down in addition to having his arm ripped to shreds and his neck being sliced by the cruel sword of the demon witch, then he feels the cold talons of fear clawing at him again!

Will save versus Fear: 1d20 + 2 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 2 + 1 + 1 = 7
Will save versus Fear Bit o Luck: 1d20 + 2 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 1 + 1 = 5

The dice just LOVE Guiness...

Bleeding, torn, and shaken, Guiness says a quick prayer to Torag, "Stone guide my path,". Aloud, he says in Dwarven, "Если я умру, я умру на ногах!"

Dragonfist held out in front of him and shield in defensive posture, Guiness rises to his feet to face his attackers.

Standard action to go full defensive (+4 AC & CMD), move action to stand (provokes AOO from hound but should not from demon girl due to hard corner). Please delay my turn until after Kellek's in case he has something special planned to help out...

Considering how dire the situation is for Guiness, I want to give Kellek more time to chime in with his action for the round rather than botting him to just shoot a magic missile. At the same time I don't want to hold up the game too long waiting for him. If we don't hear from him by late this afternoon (6 or so hours from how) I'll go ahead and bot to keep us rolling.

Considering how dire the situation is for Guiness, I want to give Kellek more time to chime in with his action for the round rather than botting him to just shoot a magic missile. At the same time I don't want to hold up the game too long waiting for him. If we don't hear from him by late this afternoon (6 or so hours from how) I'll go ahead and bot to keep us rolling.

Very kind, Cellion, giving Kellek 48 hours since initiative was called to respond is more than fair. Life does get in the way, after all.

"Perhaps if we hadn't pressed and I had more time to inscribe a scroll." Kellek says acidly. "And you dwarf, running off like a fool. I thought your people were to renowned for long life."

He yanks a scroll from his case, reads it quickly and says the magic word
"D'lusion!"

Suddenly a second portcullis slams down between brother Guiness and his attackers nearly hitting the people on both sides. **KLANK!!**

Using the scroll he took from the other wizard he casts minor image, creating an illusion of another set of portcullis dropping down between Guiness and his attackers. Will DC 13....

Colvyn's arrow strikes improbably into the portcullis that Kargas is trying to lift. And with a true show of strength, Kargas manages to get the portcullis lifted! The metal grid is incredibly heavy, but with his rage powering him, he's able to keep it held up in the air. (You can hold it up without making any further checks, and you can move to the opposite side of it if you want. Keeping it lifted will occupy your hands though.)

Flo sends a blessing of luck to the prone and horribly injured dwarf, while Kellek weaves an illusion to keep the enemies off of Guiness for a few moments. (If you succeed at a Spellcraft DC17 to identify the spell, you can immediately make a Will save against it with a +4 bonus as if someone had told you it was an illusion. Otherwise, you need to interact with it in some fashion to get a save. Kellek automatically knows its illusory. I hold NPCs to these same rules.)

Guiness takes advantage of the opportunity to pull himself to his feet and take a defensive stance. With the new obstruction between himself and the Yeth Hound, the creature merely howls and screams in frustration as its prey gets up. (It hasn't had a chance to interact yet, so no AoO!)

However, the Yeth Hound is far from an unintelligent animal. Much like Kargas, it reaches in to try to grab a hold of the portcullis in its jaws and lift it up to aid its master. But when it tries to get a grip, its mouth meets nothing but air. It spends only a moment confused before seeing through the ruse. It floats off to the south to make way for the woman.

The bastard sword wielding woman narrows her eyes as the new portcullis drops, and only gets more suspicious of it when her Hound seems to pass through unhindered. She sneers at Kellek through the portcullises "This is the best that blight of a town can send? A fool of a dwarf, a strongman, and a hedgemage with some parlor tricks?" Despite her best attempts to sound harsh, her voice is naturally soft and musical. "Lamashtu will sweep you all away."

She steps to the south and sweeps through the illusory portcullis with her demonic claw, raking Guiness across the face and neck despite his best attempts to defend himself. (Her claw attack deals 12 points of damage. The attack roll was a 27 to hit, in case you have some ability I'm missing that would bring your total defense AC above 25.)

|||| INITIATIVE ||||
Guiness (45 damage, prone, unconscious, disarmed)
Kellek
Rig (Panicked 2 rds)
Colvyn
Kargas
Flo
Yeth Hound (7 dmg)
Mystery Woman

Bold Are GO!
Buffs: Bless, Wep vs. Evil (Colvyn, Kargas, Guiness)

Both enemies made their saves unfortunately, though they used up some actions on attempting them.

Guiness stands and attempts to hold the line, heartened by the appearance of a new portcullis that might protect him! Unfortunately, it turns out to be an illusion and even with his best efforts, he is still struck by the demon-clawed woman! Wordlessly he drops to the ground, succumbing to the massive damage.

Stabilize Fort Save: 1d20 + 5 - 11 ⇒ (4) + 5 - 11 = -2

Wow...the dice still hate him...will drop to -12 hp at the end of the round unless otherwise affected.