Rise of the New Runelords

Game Master Harakani

Simon continues to advance with the skeletons, staying behind them. He releases another blue dragon shaped burst of energy that unerringly zig zags into the dwarf's square doing 1d4 ⇒ 4 cold damage and are dazzled. Ref dc15 for half cold DMg and negate dazzled effect. However any cold damage clings to the target and entangles them. No save.

Taerine moves forward, keeping Thkrull within 100 feet, and watches out for anyone hoping to attack her, sweat breaking out on her green skin as she continues on despite the fear knotting her stomach.

Roaring still -- "I'll eat the flesh off your bones while you watch, you piece of offal!" -- Thkrull leaps into the pit, clawing and biting at the subterranean ranger.

The skeletons continue to advance, now finally inside optimal range, maintaining their barrage of arrows.

Skeleton 1, Close range, Haste: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 2 + 1 = 14
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 2

Skeleton 2, Close range, Haste: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 1 = 4
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 2

Skeleton 3, Close range, Haste: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 2 + 1 = 8
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 5

The skeleton following Thrkull adjusts into Flanking position and attacks.

Claw, Flanking: 1d20 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 + 2 = 22
Damage: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

Claw, Flanking: 1d20 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 + 2 = 7
Damage: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

The boulders littering the field dissipate into grey smoke, leaving only pebbles behind.

He continued to walk forward at his measured pace, throwing another handfull of gravel into the air, dropping another hail of boulders down onto the runners.

The fleeing bandits get a Stonecall. Putting the area effect in a position to force them to have to move through as much Difficult Terrain as possible if they want to keep running away.

Damage: 2d6 ⇒ (3, 2) = 5

Move forward 30 feet.

Haste 3/10

Status
AC 17, touch 16, flat-footed 11
Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +6
CMD 18
HP 33/33
Effects: Haste, bless, inspire courage +2, bulls' strength

The chronomancer judges that he is still not close enough to the badger to influence it with magic. Instead, he brandishes his bardiche and charges it with determination.

charge attack 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (6) + 14 = 20
damage 1d10 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 12

movements
Last turn was
skeletons all miss. advance to 80ft.
Denat casts pit and drops prone. 140ft.
Simon casts spell and advances to 140ft
Anglon casts and advances to 150ft.
Caillus casss blur, moves to 125ft
Grey casts stone call, moves to 140ft.
Stone area extends to 10ft.
Taerine casts on Thkrull, moves to 140ft.
Thrull moves to 60ft.
Arioch runs to 65ft.

Melee skeleton was with grey.
Archers can fire (with cover) when within 20ft (so just) but dwarf has cover. Fleeing bandits do not have cover and are 140ft away
Melee Skeleton double moves to travel 120ft, right? that still has it 20ft off the pit.
Simon can move once to 80ft and shoot a bandit, or twice to 20ft and be ready for next round.
Thkrull can move to pit, and jump in if he likes, but cannot charge as did not have LOS to dwarf at start of round.
Caillus - you can charge to where you think the badger was - only to discover the hole it was hiding in is actually the entrance to a dark tunnel.
Grey - are you going to damage the fleeing bandits?

Check the previous skeleton post. The melee skeleton has been staying with Thrkull the whole time.

yes, I'm going to damage the freeing bandits. I'm also, hopefully, going to slow them down a lot by putting an 80' area of Difficult Terrain all over them.

Whoops. Thkrull should be able to get to pit this round with a move action, then; he'll peer in and then lean back so he can use the lip for partial cover. Will jump in next round.

sure - if you like he can 'spot' for the archers and Simon. Acvtually if Simon hits with a firework that'll mark him pretty well.

I cast hold person the previous round, this round should have been a double move from 150ft for me.

Round 3
Denat continues to move forward, his bec de corbin ready.
Just a move action for now, if I'm not mistaken, the only foes in sight are the fleeing bandits ?

End of Round 3.
The runelords continue to advance.
Grey calls down a rain of stones on the fleeing bandits. They are almost out of the area when the stones start falling - but fall they do, and the bandits fall with them.
Meanwhile Arioch and Thkrull move to the edge of the pit. Arioch gestures to the dwarf, providing sighting for Simon - who sends a flare of fizzling cold dragonfire at the dwarf.
The hole is a charnel pit of blood and carrion. Shattered meat, goods, bone and wood seem to have almost exploded in the area. Somehow Harsk stands atop the cart almost unharmed.
reflex save dc 15: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23
Harsk evades easily, but the cold freezes him to the cart.
Caillus runs to the badger hole - only to find the hole is the entrance to a dark tunnel, barely 4 feet across, and curving to the right 10 feet in.

Harsk calls up to Thkrull "Come get some, then, ye monster." and yells an eldritch word concentration dc 16: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15 - though with no visible effect.

Current distances
Anglon 50ft
Arioch 10ft
Simon 80ft
Caillus AT BADGER HOLE
Taerine 80ft
Grey 110ft
Tkhrull AT PIT EDGE
Denat 80ft, no longer prone
Grey 110ft
Skeleton archers 20ft
Melee Skeleton AT PIT EDGE

Start of Round 4!

Round 4
I'm going to get one of you jerks!
Anglon advances and tries to stop one of the bandits from escaping.
Move action for 40ft, standard action to cast hold person DC 16 on one the the fleeing bandits (I should even be in range this time!).

Move up 60 feet (move action)

Fire off another dragon (move action in place of standard)

it zig zags into the dwarf's square doing 1d4 ⇒ 3 cold damage and are dazzled. Ref dc15 for half cold DMg and negate dazzled effect. However any cold damage clings to the target and entangles them. No save.

Forgive poetic license - Bandits fell in the final and fatal sense

Someday I will hold person on someone.
Anglon moves up behind his friends surrounding the pit.

Round 4

Grey continues his stoic advance.
Double Move forward 60 feet

Haste 4/10

The Skeleton that was once Kressle moves to the rear of the wagon.
Moving to Flank with Thrkull. Not sure if there's an opportunity for an attack. I'll roll one, just in case.

Kressle Skeleton
Attack, Flanking: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 4 + 2 = 25
Damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

The skeletal archers stop moving and concentrate their fire on the figure atop the cart.

Archer 1
Attack: 1d20 + 2 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 + 1 + 2 = 19
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 1

Attack: 1d20 + 2 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 1 + 2 = 6
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 1

Archer 2
Attack: 1d20 + 2 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 + 1 + 2 = 19
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 6

Attack: 1d20 + 2 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 + 1 + 2 = 17
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 6

Archer 3

Attack: 1d20 + 2 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 + 1 + 2 = 13
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 6

Attack: 1d20 + 2 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 + 1 + 2 = 21
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 4

Thkrul growls low in his throat. "Why don't you come up. You're brave enough to shoot at a poor girl with your bow, surely you're not scared of us up here waiting for you!"

He readies himself to attack if the dwarf emerges from the pit.

Taerine moves forward again, stopping about 10 feet behind Thkrull -- close enough to be in his reach, but away from the edge of the pit. She tries to avoid looking at the carnage in the clearing, once breathing men and women even if they seemingly had ill intent.

The only "targets" are Harsk and the badger, correct?

Taerine: Thkrull is going to need a reflex save not to fall in. Didn't ask for it last time because he intended to jump this turn
ref: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (14) + 12 = 26
frozen to the ground Harsk is unable to dodge as arrows rain down upon him.
Simon - very nice use of the entangle

Reflex save: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19

Free action, maintain inspire courage, 16 rounds remain.
Attack action, Whip attack: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 6 + 2 = 15, I suspect that misses...

With a focused stare and the wave of his hand, Caillus produce another illusory form of himself, the projection a bit younger than the current student-teacher. The image walks into the tunnel and turns the corner.

Thkrull slips on the lip and falls into the pit.
damage: 2d6 + 2d6 - 3 ⇒ (6, 6) + (6, 1) - 3 = 16
on the plus side feel free to attack
Grey's skeleton jumps in to help flank Harsk
bashing damage-DR: 2d6 - 1 - 5 ⇒ (2, 2) - 1 - 5 = -2+piercing damage: 2d6 - 2 ⇒ (2, 2) - 2 = 2.
and hits Harsk!
for 4 damage

Denat moves near Anglon.

Sorry Taerine, took me a bit to realise you had rolled for a readied attack and I should just use that
Thkrull savages the dwarf, striking home again and again.
Harsk goes down, blood in his teeth and his intestines in Thkrull's.
Harsk rears up for one final headbutt and the symbol on Thkrull's forehead burns bright. A matching glow flashes over Harsk's head revealing a mark on his forehead.
The mark appears to be a green five lobed leaf, almost resting on his head - save that one of Thkrull's claws has cut over it. It is some form of tattoo, though marvellously realistic.
As the light in Harsk's eyes dims and he breathes out one final time the leaf mark turns brown, cracks and falls away.

Harsk breathes in shallowly, stares with blind eyes and dies, muttering some words

Up top Caillus' double crawls into the hole. After a few seconds there is a growl Seems to have been triggered about 30ft in, and round a corner

Knowledge (arcana): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9, to determine what that was.
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13, likewise.

If I can see or hear anything of that
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (8) + 17 = 25
Knowledge (arcana): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (18) + 14 = 32

Thkrull leaps up to the top of the pit.

"Well, that was disappointing. But he won't be trying to hurt you again, Taerine," he growls.

"Said something about being controlled and that 'she's gone.' Said to ask the badger."

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23

current dilemma
The badger: kill, capture or free

Knowledge (nature): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (3) + 14 = 17
About the badger, I vote for capture and "interrogation"

Knowledge (Religion): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22
"That symbol, it seems familiar. I recall that it has been mentioned a few times in archaic times as appearing at times on heralds of the gods."
Anglon's brow furrows as he looks concerned.
"It would appear that,"
Am I really saying this?
"We need to ask that badger some questions."

"A little help getting out of here, anyone?" Thkrull calls up.

As he waits, he starts gnawing on one of the dwarf's arms.

Okay - if 7 powerful casters can't restrain one low level badger there's something wrong, so don't worry about rolling. Assume it is entangled, stunned and tied up.

You have a tied up giant badger that weighs about 150lbs. Now what?

"You look a little big for me to pull you out. The spell will wear off soon enough. In the meantime, try not to eat anything important, please."

"Can anyone speak with animals?"

Caillus looks over the minor scrapes he received from subduing the badger.

I am no warden, but badgers eat any meat smaller than themselves. This wood just inherited a new, ravenous predator. As we grow, even moreso. I say we eat the badger, and remove its appetite from the local game. We'll have to do the same with other predators if we want the forest to be plentiful enough for humans.

We can easily outrun the archers, and might interrogate them. We might even add them to our contingent if they are mere mercenaries. How many human brigands are still alive?

Knowledge (religion): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (5) + 11 = 16
Knowledge (nature): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25

"Hmm, it's no god's glyph I recognize...
Possibly one of the Eldest of the First World? It's said there are wild places that are sacred to such as they..."

From this ebcounter? Zero. There were more bandits that attacked the keep - it looks like somehow they've gone further ahead.

Thkrull huffs -- noisily -- as he waits.

"Don't eat the badger until I get up there," he calls out.

"Unless someone can speak to that thing now just tie it up and knock it out so we can continue our mission. I don't want to stop every time we run across a burrowing mammal that may or may not have anything useful to say. ... You know, that sounded less crazy in my head. The burden of magic is like that sometimes. Anyway, Tally HO!"

"I wonder if these bandits had any..."
Anglon searches the camp for anything useful, especially horses.
Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

Anglon starts scavenging, and a minute later the pit dissapears, its contents slowly spreading over the area in a mountain of splintered wood and smashed flesh.
Assuming someone casts detect magic here... There is one BP worth of goods (another one was smashed). There are five human bodies, one horse body and a dwarf body. There are 5 potions, a tangeloffot bag, a dose of antitoxin, 4 magic crossbow bolts, 26 normal crossbow bolts, a tanglefoot bag, magical studded leather armour, a magical battleaxe, a magical crossbow, a magical amulet and a magical cloak.

Remember spells have been used up, and you have travelled for 8 hours. Further movement is forced march

"I wonder what this stuff is."
Potion 1 Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15
Potion 2 Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23
Potion 3 Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19
Potion 4 Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9
Potion 5 Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11
4 magic bolts Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9
Magical studded leather Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25
Magical battleaxe Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11
Magical crossbow Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28
Magical amulet Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25
Magical cloak Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25
There is a faster way to do this, and I'm not the best at it. Anyone else want to try to get what I missed?

Caillus casts a spell that detects magical auras and concentrates on the assortment of items looted from the dwarf and brigands.

I'll separate the ones with divine auras from the ones with arcane auras, and then focus on finding the most powerful auras. Then we can discuss further identification.

Taerine casts her own enchantment to find magic, and tries to recognize what the items are, remembering her lessons during happier times in Hargran's class in Cheliax.

Potion 1: Spellcraft: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16
Potion 2: Spellcraft: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (18) + 10 = 28
Potion 3: Spellcraft: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22
Potion 4: Spellcraft: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (9) + 10 = 19
Potion 5: Spellcraft: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18
4 magic bolts: Spellcraft: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (2) + 10 = 12
Magical studded leather: Spellcraft: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14
Magical battleaxe: Spellcraft: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14
Magical crossbow: Spellcraft: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25
Magical amulet: Spellcraft: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (10) + 10 = 20
Magical cloak: Spellcraft: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18