DM Carbide's Rise of the Runelords

Game Master John Woodford

They're up high, too. Superstitious and cowardly lot!

Ok then, change of plans it is. Can a reach weapon hit 'em, or am I reduced to throwing?

Garrick grumbles, "Get down here you little vermin..."

They're just out of reach of a reach weapon, but it looks like the spikes on the pillars would make them easy to climb.

What now?

Great setup for a pellet grenade. sigh...

Nia sheathes her rapier and starts to pull out her crossbow, speaking rapidly in Goblin as she does. "Great chief! Wait! We thought you were in danger!"

Kn:Local re local goblin tribes, specifically historical enemies: 1d20 + 10 + 1d6 ⇒ (1) + 10 + (3) = 14 Yeesh...

Trying to start a Bluff or Diplomacy check but need some info on who these specific goblins might hate or be afraid of. Don't know if that will do it.

My fault for not phrasing that better. We're still on combat time; I was waiting to see if Garrick was going to climb up after the goblins.

Garrick hurls an axe at the goblin spellcaster.

Thrown Axe: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13 for 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

The agile warchanter dodges the thrown axe, which clangs to the floor across the room. All three commandos target the dwarf with their arrows, and two hit for 5 HP.

Round 3:

Initiative order
Nia
Vidar
Goblin warchanter
Ilryan
Goblin chief
Garrick
Goblin commandos

Nia and Vidar can act!

Chief Ripnugget: AC 21 T 13 FF 19 HP taken: 22
Giant Gecko: AC ? T ? FF ? HP taken: 0
Warchanter: AC 18 T 15 FF 14 HP taken: 5
Commandos: AC ? T ? FF ? HP taken-Red: 0 Yellow: 0 Green: 0

Nia pulls out her crossbow and hastily loads and shoots at the Chief.

Xbow: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20
Dmg: 1d8 ⇒ 6

Does this count as underground terrain?

Not this level.

Round 3 (ongoing):

Initiative order
Nia-acted
Vidar
Goblin warchanter
Ilryan
Goblin chief
Garrick
Goblin commandos

Nia narrowly misses the goblin chief.

Vidar?

Garrick growls, "Vidar? Can you make me reach 'em, or do I have to keep throwing stuff at them and hoping for the best?"

"I am afraid not, I possess no such ability at this time."

Viar instead casts another magic missile at his previous target.

Magic missile: 2d4 + 2 ⇒ (1, 1) + 2 = 4

Do we have an idea what's sticking them to the ceiling? I assume the Gecko's doing it naturally, but wondering if it's worth trying to throw a grappling hook into them and pulling them down.

I thought they were just perching in the rafters, but I could be misreading what DM means by "ceiling beams."

That's right.

Garrick quickly climbs up to the rafters, his rage giving him the strength to pull himself up quickly.

Climb (Accelerated): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

He takes a moment to steady himself then smiles, "Right, you little vermin. Let's dance."

Garrick moves 30', so he might not need to try for accelerated, but with the hand-holds, that should be possible, and accelerated, he can climb 15' - which I would think is enough to get himself into position atop before the goblins can rush over to chop at his hands. Also, since he's raging, he'll heal 1 point of damage due to his bloodline.

Unfortunately for the goblin archers, they're all using bows at the moment. So no hand-chopping is possible.

Actually, before Garrick can act, a few other things will happen.

Round 3 (ongoing):

Initiative order
Nia-acted
Vidar-acted
Goblin warchanter-acted
Ilryan
Goblin chief
Garrick-acted
Goblin commandos

The warchanter gasps in pain and casts a spell, restoring some of the damage Vidar has done with his magic.

Ilryan is up!

Chief Ripnugget: AC 21 T 13 FF 19 HP taken: 22
Giant Gecko: AC ? T ? FF ? HP taken: 0
Warchanter: AC 18 T 15 FF 14 HP taken: 6
Commandos: AC ? T ? FF ? HP taken-Red: 0 Yellow: 0 Green: 0

Ilryan will go across underneath the chief, gecko, and green commando and fire up a burning hands at them.

fire: 3d4 ⇒ (4, 4, 1) = 9
Reflex DC 15

Ilryan sends a wash of flame over three of the foes, all of whom manage to dodge the worst of the spell's effects. In response, the chief rides down at the oracle, stabbing at him with a shortsword before retreating up the south wall. Ilryan, take 15 HP.

Garrick reaches the rafters, and all three of the commandos shoot at him before switching to melee weapons. In their panic at the presence of the dwarf, though, all of them miss.

Round 4:

Initiative order
Nia
Vidar
Goblin warchanter
Ilryan
Goblin chief
Garrick
Goblin commandos

Nia and Vidar are up!

Chief Ripnugget: AC 21 T 13 FF 19 HP taken: 26
Giant Gecko: AC ? T ? FF ? HP taken: 4
Warchanter: AC 18 T 15 FF 14 HP taken: 6
Commandos: AC ? T ? FF ? HP taken-Red: 0 Yellow: 0 Green: 4

Nia reloads and fires at the chief again.

Xbow: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16
Dmg: 1d8 ⇒ 7

Ilryan uses healer's way on himself, then stabs at the chief.
healing: 1d6 ⇒ 2
starknife: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11 for piercing: 1d4 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Vidar, a man that dislike the crudeness of cursing, still nearly succumbs to it as he realizes he has wasted his true striking magic on a goblin capable of healing itself.
For a moment he waffles on what to do, eventually deciding to lend a little of his magic in the fight against the chief.

Ray of frost: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19
Damage: 1d3 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Ilryan, the chief didn't stop when he attacked you--he rode by, stabbing at you on the move and ending up on the wall and out of reach again. However, now that I think about it you should have gotten an AoO as he left, so I'll take that attack as the AoO.

Round 4 (ongoing):

Initiative order
Nia-acted
Vidar-acted
Goblin warchanter-acted
Ilryan
Goblin chief
Garrick
Goblin commandos

Nia misses the chief, but Vidar manages to thread his ray of frost between the pillars and tag the goblin leader. The warchanter tries to trip Garrick with a whip, and fails badly enough that they have to drop the whip completely.

Vidar, I should know the answer to this, but I can't find it on your character sheet. Where does the +1 to damage for ray of frost come from?

Ilryan can act now!

Chief Ripnugget: AC 21 T 13 FF 19 HP taken: 28
Giant Gecko: AC ? T ? FF ? HP taken: 4
Warchanter: AC 18 T 15 FF 14 HP taken: 6
Commandos: AC ? T ? FF ? HP taken-Red: 0 Yellow: 0 Green: 4

That makes sense.

Ilryan will cast divine favor on himself.

Round 4 (ongoing):

Initiative order
Nia-acted
Vidar-acted
Goblin warchanter-acted
Ilryan-acted
Goblin chief-acted
Garrick
Goblin commandos

The chief turns his mount around and charges past Ilryan again, hitting the oracle for 18 HP.

Garrick is up!

Oh, sorry, I didn't have my books at the time I wrote that so I just wrote from memory. It doesn't get +1, that's completely my mistake.

Garrick smiles at the chanter, and speaks in his otherworldy voice, "Not so safe as you thought," even as the strange power keeps slowly closing up his wounds.

+1 to hit from hatred (racial)

Waraxe: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 8 + 1 = 18 for 1d10 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

The warchanter falls, hitting the ground with a wet thud. All three of the commandos come after Garrick, and two of them manage to tag the dwarf with their horsechoppers for 10 HP

Round 5:

Initiative order
Nia
Vidar
Goblin warchanter
Ilryan
Goblin chief
Garrick
Goblin commandos

Nia, Vidar, and Ilryan can act!

Chief Ripnugget: AC 21 T 13 FF 19 HP taken: 28
Giant Gecko: AC ? T ? FF ? HP taken: 4
Warchanter: AC 18 T 15 FF 14 HP taken: 6
Commandos: AC ? T ? FF ? HP taken-Red: 0 Yellow: 0 Green: 4

Stabilization check: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7
DC 11

"Ah! Curses..."

vidar will attempt to drag Ilryan to safety.

Nia runs to attack the chief and protect Vidar as he pulls Ilryan off the field.

If she can attack the chief, she'll draw her rapier and move to melee and attack.

Rapier: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24
Dmg: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Crit confirm?: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7 lol

The chief has been doing ride-by attacks, and he's currently out of reach on the wall. Nia can hold her attack, though, in case the chief closes and attacks her.

OK. If the chief attacks her she'll use Opportune Parry and Riposte to parry the attack and respond with an AoO. Then she should get a regular held attack for when it comes in range, too.

Parry/Riposte: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25 1/4 Panache points used.
Riposte dmg: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
Crit confirm?: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22 1/4 Panache points regained on crit.
Crit dmg: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

Round 5 (ongoing):

Initiative order
Nia-holding
Vidar-acted
Goblin warchanter
Ilryan-unconscious
Goblin chief-acted
Garrick
Goblin commandos

Ilryan bleeds, Vidar pulls him to safety, and Nia readies her rapier. The chief draws a potion and drinks it down, his wounds closing under the influence of the magical liquid.

Garrick is up!

Chief Ripnugget: AC 21 T 13 FF 19 HP taken: 14
Giant Gecko: AC ? T ? FF ? HP taken: 4
Commandos: AC ? T ? FF ? HP taken-Red: 0 Yellow: 0 Green: 4

I assume that Garrick can walk to the other goblins? Or do I need to start jumping?

Stabilization check: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11
DC 12

The rafters are difficult terrain, but you can walk to them subject to that restriction.

Garrick starts forward toward the next goblin (red), the power in his blood singing as it fills him with strength and closes his wounds.

Waraxe (Hatred): 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 8 + 1 = 26 for 1d10 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14

Garrick cuts down one of the commandos. Another steps back away from him, while the third one cuts at the dwarf with its horsechopper and narrowly misses.

Round 6:

Initiative order
Nia
Vidar
Ilryan
Goblin chief
Garrick
Goblin commandos

Nia, Vidar, and Ilryan can act!

Chief Ripnugget: AC 21 T 13 FF 19 HP taken: 14
Giant Gecko: AC ? T ? FF ? HP taken: 4
Commandos: AC 17 T 14 FF 14 HP taken-Red: dead Yellow: 0 Green: 4

Stabilization check: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
DC 13

Vidar does his best to try and stop the bleeding, he isn't trained in that sort of thing so he hopes for the best.
Stabilize Ilryan: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 1 = 18

Nia moved to stand over Ilryan last round so I moved her to the middle of the room. How high up is the gecko? If she can reach it she'll go ahead and attack.

Regretting it even before she does it, Nia charges toward the chieftan and its gecko on the wall. "Come try me, shorty!"

The chief is ten feet up, so out of range of anything but a reach weapon.

Do you mind if she splits her Move? She could just follow the lizard if it tries to come down off the wall, then use her AoO/parry if she gets attacked or Ready her rapier to attack when it gets in range?

Readying an action only allows a move or attack, not both.

Right, I would have had her move then ready an attack if the target got in range. But it sounds like she can't, so she'll just back up to protect the door where Ilryan/Vidar retreated.

You can move and ready a standard action, but your initiative will reset to whenever you take the standard action.

Round 6 (ongoing):

Initiative order
Nia
Vidar
Ilryan
Goblin chief
Garrick
Goblin commandos

More by luck than anything else, Vidar manages to stabilize the wounded oracle. Nia retreats to the door to cover the pair. The chief rides along the underside of the rafters, coming up and stabbing Garrick and then moving past the dwarf. Garrick, take 16 HP, and if you're still up you can take an AoO against the chief.

Chief Ripnugget: AC 21 T 13 FF 19 HP taken: 14
Giant Gecko: AC ? T ? FF ? HP taken: 4
Commandos: AC 17 T 14 FF 14 HP taken-Red: dead Yellow: 0 Green: 4

He's still up 3 levels of bloodrager, and raging, is helpful (if it wasn't for the fast healing I'd be into rage-only HP. Also - ow.

Damage tracking:
5 damage in round 1 (36/41)
5 more in round 2 (but fast healing 1) - 32/41
Missed in round 3, (but fast healing 1) - 33/41
10 from choppers in 4 (fast healing 1) - 24/41
Missed in round 5, (but fast healing 1) - 25/41
16 from this shot, then on his turn, fast healing 1 - 10/41