DM Carbide runs *! Rise of the Runelords !*

Game Master John Woodford

Cordwin will continue to launch a bolt at the magga!

Attack: 1d20 + 8 - 4 ⇒ (8) + 8 - 4 = 12
Attack: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8

Cordwin, although it won't matter in this case you don't have any penalties for shooting at Black Magga even though she's in melee. She's Gargantuan, so there's plenty of her to aim at that isn't covered by party members.

The great creature lashes out at its multiple attackers with fang and tentacle. Once again, Reynard finds himself where a tentacle isn't. Skarn is lashed with a tentacle for 20 HP, but manages to keep from being grabbed again. Trog ducks a tentacle but finds himself on the wrong end of Black Magga's powerful jaws. Trog, take 30 HP plus a negative level.

Round 8:

Initiative order
Druamin (-13 HP)-
Erond-
Trox- (-30 HP + 1 negative level)
Skarn (-41 HP)-
Reynard-
Cordwin-
Black Magga-

Black Magga: AC 30 T 6 FF 30 HP taken: 122

Skarn keeps attacking with his weapon as Bane and 2 Judgments up.

As a magic weapon, and becoming Bane as +3, it should be able to cut through her DR, if I hit.

Heavy Pick +1 Hit: 1d20 + 11 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 11 + 2 + 2 = 33
Heavy Pick +1 Damage: 1d6 + 5 + 2 + 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 5 + 2 + (5, 1) + 3 = 22 x4, P

Druamin, in giant gar form, swims around and circles the creature. Maybe he can get a bite in from the other side.

Bite: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (3) + 11 = 14

Lots of low rolls...

"ooof. I can't believe you hit me AND that hurt.

Trox swings in return but just doesn't feel right.

+1 Adamantine Longsword PA: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (17) + 11 = 28
Damage: 1d8 + 13 ⇒ (7) + 13 = 20

+1 Adamantine Longsword PA: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7
Damage: 1d8 + 13 ⇒ (2) + 13 = 15

Round 8 (ongoing):

Initiative order
Druamin (-13 HP)-acted
Erond-
Trox- (-30 HP + 1 negative level)-acted
Skarn (-41 HP)-acted
Reynard-
Cordwin-
Black Magga-

Druamin's teeth again prove useless against the armored hulk, as does Trox's sword. Skarn buries his pick in the enemy, though.

Erond, Reynard, and Cordwin to go!

Black Magga: AC 30 T 6 FF 30 HP taken: 144

Errr, my BAB is +6 these days, I should take a second attack...

As a magic weapon, and becoming Bane as +3, it should be able to cut through her DR, if I hit.

Heavy Pick +1 Hit: 1d20 + 11 + 2 + 2 - 5 ⇒ (12) + 11 + 2 + 2 - 5 = 22
Heavy Pick +1 Damage: 1d6 + 5 + 2 + 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 5 + 2 + (3, 3) + 3 = 22 x4, P

Cordwin will continue to launch bolts at the magga!

Attack: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16
Attack: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Now that he's in contact, Reynard does his best to slice and dice this abomination.

Attack, Bite: 1d20 + 13 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 13 + 2 = 23
Damage, B/P/S: 1d8 + 14 + 4d6 ⇒ (4) + 14 + (3, 6, 3, 2) = 32

Attack, Claw: 1d20 + 13 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 13 + 2 = 33
Damage, B/S: 1d6 + 14 + 4d6 ⇒ (1) + 14 + (3, 1, 2, 2) = 23

Attack, Claw: 1d20 + 13 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 13 + 2 = 22
Damage, B/S: 1d6 + 14 + 4d6 ⇒ (4) + 14 + (3, 3, 3, 2) = 29

Attack, Bone Spikes: 1d20 + 13 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 13 + 2 = 33
Damage, P: 1d6 + 12 + 4d6 ⇒ (5) + 12 + (2, 2, 6, 4) = 31

Attack, Bone Spikes: 1d20 + 8 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 8 + 2 = 21
Damage, P: 1d6 + 12 + 4d6 ⇒ (5) + 12 + (6, 4, 2, 4) = 33

Reynard, do you have any special ability that will let you do sneak attack damage to a target that can't be flanked?

Uh, nope. Didn’t realize it couldn’t be flanked.

No problem. It hadn't come up before; no one had said they were trying to flank it.

Round 8 (ongoing):

Skarn's second attack misses, as does Cordwin's crossbow bolt. Reynard unleashes a furious combination of blows against the outsider, finding to his chagrin that it can't be distracted by the multiple foes facing it. He hits with a claw and a spike, and finds to his further chagrin that Black Magga's flesh is extremely resistant to damage...his claw fails to do any damage, while the spike does much less than he expected it to.

Erond to go!

We've got it on the ropes!

Erond fires more cold iron arrows.

Attack: 1d20 + 12 + 1 - 2 - 2 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 12 + 1 - 2 - 2 + 4 = 241d8 + 2 + 4 + 4 + 1d6 ⇒ (4) + 2 + 4 + 4 + (5) = 19
Attack RS: 1d20 + 12 + 1 - 2 - 2 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 12 + 1 - 2 - 2 + 4 = 331d8 + 2 + 4 + 4 + 1d6 ⇒ (3) + 2 + 4 + 4 + (1) = 14
Attack Iterative: 1d20 + 7 + 1 - 2 - 2 + 4 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 7 + 1 - 2 - 2 + 4 + 4 = 271d8 + 2 + 4 + 4 + 1d6 ⇒ (8) + 2 + 4 + 4 + (3) = 21

Confrim Attack RS: 1d20 + 12 + 1 - 2 - 2 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 12 + 1 - 2 - 2 + 4 = 14

One arrow of the trio hits.

Perhaps that tips the balance in favor of the party, but Black Magga sinks below the roiled surface of the lake and, trailing black blood, swims off drawing an AoO from Druamin.

Even if Druamin crits and does maximum damage, it won't quite kill her. Out of combat!

No AOO from me?

Not unless you have a reach weapon--it used a withdraw action to move off.

Ahhh, yes, there is that!

"Be wary, it gonna pop up where we least want it to!"

"What on Golarion was that?" Reynard asks?

"One of them octo-whales the sailors are always on about?"

Cordwin identified it, above.

Sure, but we don't know that!

The creature turns and swims off. Druamin is tempted to follow it. His better sense takes over and he leaves it alone. He swims to the shore near his companions and jumps out of the water. In mid-air he transforms from the giant gar back into his dwarven form and lands on both feet.

Acrobatics: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (14) - 2 = 12

"Well, that was interesting. Wasn't it? And Reynard, were you asking what that was? I have no idea. Any of you seen something like it before? I've never heard of an octo-whale so maybe it was that."

He shrugs and then looks around at the village, on alert for more threats.

"Do you think we're all in the clear now?"

Druamin has to spit a few times and clear his mouth with an appropriate beverage to get rid of the taste of the thing's blood, even as diluted as it was in the lake water.

Cordwin will share with the others what it was and also regale them with an old pirate's yarn about one that he read in some obscure text.

There is only one, Cordwin--Black Magga is a unique creature.

Her retreat is marked by scattered cheers from the citizens of Turtleback Ferry, a glee that increases as it becomes apparent that the floodwaters are receding. One of the older priest/scholars from the temple emerges, corroborating Cordwin's identification. "That--that was--I thought she was a myth! But in all the tales she lived in the Storval Deep...no one ever told a story of her living in the Skull River."

The schoolteacher the party rescued breaks in. "Something must have happened at Skull's Crossing."

There's widespread agreement to this, and although it takes some time the party manages to figure out what they're talking about. It seems that north of Fort Rannick, the Skull River emerges from the freshwater lake known as the Storval Deep. Where it emerges there's an ancient Thassilonian ruin that somehow still functions to control the flow of water out of the Deep. The recent flood suggests that it's not working correctly, though the consensus is that if it failed completely the water wouldn't have stopped. Recognizing that you're adventurers (and thus both competent and expendable), the mayor offers the party 1000 gold pieces to travel north and investigate what's happened to the dam. (He does warn you that there's supposed to be a tribe of trolls living near it.)

"Trolls eh?" Skarn tests out his acid splash spell real quick just to make sure it still works.

You still have some healing to take care of, and I'm presuming that since you've been marching or fighting all day and it's evening now you'll want to rest the night. Also, Erond, mark off twelve cold iron arrows--the ones that hit were carried off when Black Magga retreated, and the other ones are lost in the floodwaters unless you can come up with a way to find them.

Druamin (-13 HP)
Trox- (-30 HP + 1 negative level)
Skarn (-41 HP)

Anybody have any healing spells available?

"We wont be going anywhere while I feel like this, also I need to sleep."

Trox looks at the others and waits, unsure what to do about this feeling.

Well, you have both a cleric and a druid, so you should have your healing covered.

I don't have any healing spells prepared. I could rest tonight and prepare them in the morning.

Druamin puts his hands on his hips and surveys the village. The flood did quite a number on everything but, all things considered, it's not too bad.

You know, I wouldn't want anything like this to happen again to these folks. It might not be so good next time. I think we should help them with their dam problem. But maybe tomorrow."

He turns to the one he thinks is in charge of the townspeople. "You don't suppose there's a place we can stay here. I mean for tonight."

The mayor nods gratefully. "Of course! You'll stay at my residence--even though I'll be putting up refugees, you'll have my own chambers. The Gods know I won't be seeing the place tonight...."

"So it looks like we have a dam trip ahead of us?"

Trox, after resting the night make a Fort save to avoid the permanent negative level.

Fort: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14

I figures that Trox would not know it would go away on its own, unless I roll low that is.

The next morning, Trox still feels drained. Good news and bad news...it's temporary, so you'll get a DC 22 Fort save every day to get rid of the effect. Curing it is also less expensive (100 gp vs. 1000 gp, once your cleric comes back). The bad news is that it was two temporary negative levels, not one.

I can take care of some of the damage.

3 channels: 9d6 ⇒ (3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 5, 6, 1, 4) = 35

I can also cast restoration but I have not had the opportunity to buy diamond dust.

"This will get better, we may as well push on no sense waiting for me since my wounds are closed at least."

Trox is ready to move when the others are.

Diamond dust is available in town, at least in the amount required.

"Erond, did you say you needed some diamond dust? I heard there's a vendor in town." Skarn considers the diamond dealer. "I used to know a Cleric of Torag. She had no sense of humor at all. Anyways, she had a spell that needed a diamond worth a thousand gold pieces to make the spell work and heal a compatriot. So, she gave Chert and me the thousand gold pieces, and off we went to the diamond dealer. This was in Magnimar. Anyways, so the diamond dealer there turned out to be a dwarf too, and he would sell all of his wares for 5% off to fellow dwarves. He had a nice shiny one worth a thousand, and we went to pay him, but he'd only take nine fifty for it, so what did Chert and I do? Right! We drank the rest! Took the diamond back to the Cleric, and for the life of her, she couldn't get her damn spell to work. She was never that good of a Cleric to begin with, to be honest."

Do you want to try to restore the lost levels, or push on with your best fighter weakened?

Cordwin listens to Skarn's story as he is always up for a good tale.

I say restore the levels...

I too want to restore the levels, but FYI, it's 1000 gp, and we can only restore 1 level per week, right?

We can push on. Trox is stoic.

It's not a permanent level drain, like you'd see from a raise dead--at least, not until he misses his save after 24 hours. It's a gamble; Erond knows what's wrong with Trox, but doesn't know that Trox will blow his save and make at least one of the levels drained permanent (note that he should get a separate save for each level). Since the fight was late in the day, Erond could prepare restoration the next morning and cast it on Trox before 24 hours have passed. The spell can restore more than one temporary negative level in a single casting (emphasis mine):

This spell functions like lesser restoration, except that it also dispels temporary negative levels or one permanent negative level.

REynard double checks his formula book, mumbling to himself as he does so. "Cure Light, Ant haul, Deathwatch, Shield, Longshot, Tears to Wine, Bear's Endurance, Bull's Strength, Cure Moderate, Fly..." he shakes his head and says to the others "I don't have anything useful here, sorry."

Is Erond going to cast the spell the next morning?

Yep. First thing.