DM Carbide's Rise of the Runelords

Game Master John Woodford

Nia glances back at the others briefly. "Iesha... and you?" She sounds confused. Could this be a haunt, perhaps? "Careful," she whispers to her companions. The investigator enters the room behind Wojciech but stays close to the door.

I just want to make sure that this makes absolutely no sense as far as the PCs know, right? We know they're both dead. Worse than dead. I'm not misremembering?

Yes...the last time you saw Aldern (or someone representing themselves as Aldern), they were a dead ghast, and the last time you saw Iesha (or someone representing themselves as Iesha), they were a dead revenant.

Andrezi nods and whispers to the others, "Some sort of memory echo or apparition perhaps?"

Wojciech narrowed his eyes and shifted his grip on his sword and shield. His eyes flicked towards the door leading outside. "Maybe the door is a portal in time also?" Still, he remained ahead of the group.

Suspecting this is a haunt like they'd faced before, Nia takes a few more steps into the room fully prepared to jump back out the door the moment the trap springs.

A woman who certainly looks like the subject of Iesha's portrait at the Misgivings emerges from another room carrying a basket. "Aldern, dear, I think we have enough food to go around. It's time you got back to hosting parties again, and this is a good start." She sets the basket down on a table in the dining room and starts pulling out food--hard cheese, sausage, and some slightly wrinkled but still edible apples--while Aldern fetches down plates and sets the table. "Please, sit down and make yourselves at home."

Already tried Sense Motive and got nothing useful so I guess lets just go with it and trigger whatever's about to happen.

Nia looks at Wojciech and gestures for him to circle around the other side of Iesha. She, meanwhile, smiles back at the woman and moves toward the table with no intent to sit down or touch the food. "Why thank you. It's been so long since we saw you! How have you been? Where have your travels taken you?"

She frowns. "I don't think we've met before, though you do look a little familiar."

I went back and checked Nia's Sense Motive result, and based on that Nia gets the idea that Iesha is choosing her words carefully to avoid lying.

Nia smiles and moves to flank Iesha. "Oh, we met in Sandpoint. We were guests at the Misgivings not too long ago. It's so nice to see you in good health."

Nia is going to try to move into flanking position with another PC (assuming Wojciech).

Wojciech was picking up what Nia was putting down. He shifted his position to assist the maneuver, his shield held at the fore.

If possible, she looks even more bewildered. "I haven't been there yet. Dear, is there something you're not telling me?" She smiles at Aldern in a way that makes her words teasing instead of accusatory.

She seems to be telling the truth.

Aldern replies, mock-indignantly, "Of course not!" He replies to Nia, "I didn't want to take her until after the renovations were finished. If you've been there, you know it's not really livable. And certainly not romantic. On a more practical note, dear, I think I left the corkscrew in the kitchen. Would you mind fetching it?" In response, Iesha steps out of the flank and goes to leave the room.

Vidar frowns, the fact that he wanted her to step away and thus be left alone with the band of adventurers might mean he was about to make a move of some sort.
Stroking his beard for a moment, he drops a hand into his lap, ready to make an arcane gesture, should danger rear it's ugly head.

"The... renovations?" Nia looks back at Vidar and Andrezi, the other two who had seen the horrors of the Misgivings. "If you're renovating that house it is not going well. In fact, when we visited there was a giant hole in the living room floor. Honestly, the building is a danger just to be in."

"When was the last time you were there?"

The possibility that this might be the real Aldern Foxglove and the Skinsaw Man was a fake turned this whole encounter on its head for me. :)

Wojcicech blinked and just let Iesha leave the room. His shield dropped slightly, but not unready. He was the newbie here, without any context to what was going on. His eyes flicked to Nia, noting her sudden change in demeanor. Even though it seemed the meeting was turning on a copper, his guard remained up.

He mulls over the question. "It was late in Sarenith, I think."

FYI, here's the article on Absalom Reckoning; the Swallowtail Festival was on the first of Rova.

That begs the question of what today's date is, then. How long has it been since the Swallowtail Festival? It took us a while just to get to Magnimar, if I remember correctly.

"I doubt that building's condition suddenly deteriorated in just a few months, but if the renovations were underway in Sarenith you may want to visit Sandpoint. Your contractor is surely fleecing you. I might suggest just starting over, to be honest, but understand it is a family manor. Beautiful windows and art in the upstairs studies." Nia watches to see if this Aldern reacts to the mention of the evil stained glass and other proscribed artwork they'd seen.

It's the 21st of Rova, so about three weeks.

And the boards ate my afternoon post.

Before Aldern can reply, Iesha calls from the other room, "Dear? I think the spare corkscrew is on one of the top shelves, and I can't find the stepstool. Could you or one of our tall guests come over and fetch it down?"

Nia smiles at Aldern. "Why don't we all go help your wife? No need to all be in separate rooms." She gestures at the others to be ready to follow Aldern.

This is such a weird scene, I'm just waiting for the shoe to drop.

This is NOT instilling me with confidence....

Andrezi nods in acknowledgement of Nia's gesture, seemingly unsure of what in the Nine Hells is going on here.

Wojcicech blinked, then shrugged, following Nia's lead.

Yeah, getting Admiral Akbar vibes here. Definitely a trap.

"I'm not sure it'll take more than one person to reach the corkscrew, unless you're going to do something acrobatic." Aldern lets the party go first.

OK, we're not going to do an "After you, my dear Alphonse" routine here. If you insist on him going first, who's immediately following him?

I will follow him.

Nia will follow Wojciech.

The party goes to follow Aldern into the kitchen (map is active). Despite being on edge, though, Wojciech is completely unprepared when he enters the room and feels a blade slide between his ribs! Take 16 HP. At the same time, "Aldern" transforms into a hideous creature, humanoid with no facial features at all. The creature was apparently carrying a longsword in its body, somehow, and it spins and stabs at Wojciech for another 16 HP.

That's the surprise round.

Round 1:

Initiative order
Andrezi
Vidar
Nia
Wojciech
Enemies

Everyone can act!

Enemies: AC ? T ? FF ? HP taken - Red: 0 Blue: 0

dungeoneering: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

"Gah," Wojciceh voiced as he wasn't prepared for longswords to appear out of nowhere! But he grimaced and hefted his shield, ready for the next attacks. "Get Back," he said as he pushed forward with his shield, making room in the small confines of the kitchen.

HP adjusted in his status line

Shield Bash 1 vs Red: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (10) + 11 = 21 Free Bull Rush with this roll vs their CMD. Will 5' step N if successful.
shield bash damage to Red: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11

Shield Bash 2 vs Blue: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8 Free Bull Rush with this roll vs their CMD.
shield bash damage to Blue: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

ew, those rolls sucked. :P

Hey, you hit with the important one.

Round 1 (ongoing):

Initiative order
Andrezi
Vidar
Nia
Wojciech-acted
Enemies

Reacting quickly, the fighter shoves "Iesha" back with his shield and follows, opening up the doorway for the rest of the party. He can't manage to tag "Aldern" with the backswing, though, and also notices that the false Iesha doesn't take as much damage from the slam as he would have expected.

Andrezi, Vidar, and Nia to go!

Enemies: AC 17 T 13 FF 14 CMD 20 HP taken - Red: 6 Blue: 0

This is exactly why Magic missile exists! Unerring power, perfect for tight situations like this.

Vidar mutters the words of power and lets loose.

Magic Missile: 3d4 + 4 ⇒ (2, 4, 3) + 4 = 13

Andrezi conjures a spiritual starknife (spiritual weapon) just to the north of the creature directly in the doorway and attacks.

Spiritual Weapon: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23
Damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8 (force damage)

Round 1 (ongoing):

Initiative order
Andrezi-acted
Vidar-acted
Nia
Wojciech-acted
Enemies

Vidar, I applied the damage to "Aldern" (Blue), since that's the only one you can see.

Twin spells strike the unwounded creature, damaging it some.

Nia?

Enemies: AC 17 T 13 FF 14 CMD 20 HP taken - Red: 6 Blue: 21

Kn:Dungeoneering: 1d20 + 10 + 1d6 ⇒ (16) + 10 + (5) = 31 She'll share with the group all information she recalls about weaknesses or whatever.

"Faceless stalkers!? Just waiting to ambush us?" Nia pulls her rapier and leaps into the kitchen, spinning and dodging past "Aldern" to secure Wojciech's flank. Move to the square to the right of Woj, use Total Defense action for 26 AC this round.

Acrobatics to tumble through threatened square: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (14) + 11 = 25

They have no special weaknesses. They resist bludgeoning damage, if they render a foe helpless they can drain blood from it, and they can inflict extra damage on enemies they flank. Given that last, do you want to change your action?

OK she could just stand where she is and keep Woj from getting flanked. I was trying to make space for someone else to enter the kitchen but if Andrezi doesn't need to do that maybe she could just stay where she is. What do you guys think?

If she uses a Swift to Study Target on Aldern and we make that Acrobatics roll a Fighting Defensively attack it's a 16 to hit and her AC would be 23. She'll need to pull out her mutagen next round instead of attacking.

As long as she keeps Blue from flanking me, I'm fine with whatever. Just block that square S of me.

Nia advances and stabs at "Aldern," but can't get through its surprisingly tough skin. Neither of the stalkers can manage to hit Woj or Nia, though.

Round 2:

Initiative order
Andrezi
Vidar
Nia
Wojciech
Faceless stalkers

Everyone can act!

These things were dangerous, so Wojcicech continued to slam his shield into them, keeping them from getting to the others.

No need to change tactic...

Shield Bash 1 vs Red: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (8) + 11 = 19
shield bash damage to Red: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

Shield Bash 2 vs Blue: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14
shield bash damage to Blue: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Bull Rushes failed.

Nia reaches into her coat and pulls out a vial, the contents of which she quickly throws down her throat, rapier held out to ward off any attacks. She shudders as the mutagen takes hold, even growing a couple of inches as she visibly speeds up, her blocks and parries coming quicker and more precisely. It's a Supernatural ability and the text doesn't say it provokes so I don't think that draws an AoO.

She will use Opportune Parry and Riposte to stop a presumed attack from the guy adjacent to her.

Parry incoming attack? +2 from mutagen +4 from Studied Target: 1d20 + 9 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 9 + 2 + 4 = 35 Jesus what a waste of a crit wtf
Riposte, if attacked: 1d20 + 9 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 9 + 2 + 4 = 34 Well ok then
Dmg +2 from mutagen +4 from Studied Target: 1d6 + 2 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 2 + 2 + 4 = 10
Riposte crit confirm?: 1d20 + 9 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 9 + 2 + 4 = 24
Crit dmg: 1d6 + 2 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 2 + 2 + 4 = 11

Round 2 (ongoing):

Woj bashes the stalkers, hitting once. Nia drinks a mutagen and prepares for an attack.

Andrezi and Vidar to go!

HP taken - Red: 13 Blue: 21