Runelords

Game Master Wrath

Before leaving the fort:

Feldspar looks mildly conflicted, but he nods in agreement with Jo'no. "Goblins are filth scarcely worthy of air but there is no honor in killing defenseless women and even Torag would frown upon such a cowardly act. Better to arm them and allow them a chance to fight for their lives. Given our present condition, however, I think it best we leave them where they are. Their masters can see to them or not; if we're forced into battle with them later, then I will not hesitate to end them."

Later, after the withdrawal:

"If there is any healing remaining to the group, I have need of it. Even rest will not allow me enough time to recover from the wounds I suffered from those hellish dogs. In the meantime, I'll be happy to keep watch, especially after dark."

Feldspar is happy to keep watch and will definitely want to keep an eye on the fort.

"I've some healing ability remaining Feldspar."

3 1st level spells remaining. Will cast 3 CLW, starting with Feldspar.
1d8 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9
1d8 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

If anybody needs the 3rd it will be for 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6. Any healing that is required in the morning I will have 4 more castings.

Feldspar smiles and grips Durik's shoulder with one large hand. "I thank you for your help, friend Durik. I will now be ready to face whatever may come for us."

"Patient with me? Why? For believing that bad guys and evil creatures should be treated like bad guys and evil creatures. If that's the case, then your patience is going to be sorely tested indeed. You offered a surrender, they accepted it, and I respected it even though I didn't like it." Then with an abrupt sincerity he adds, We don't see eye to eye on some things but I did not mean to insult nor do I mean to offend your divine sensibilities."

Tania frowns as she feels tension growing in the group. As Idrian makes his comment, she relaxes a bit. "I too need some healing, though I don't need to wait until the next day. Some good rest and I should be recharged and ready to face the darkness below! Thank you Durik, but I'm afraid I'll need more help than that."

Taken the third healing. Tania is still 12 down though. Perhaps some wand action?

When the discussion turns to camp arrangements, she offers her help, but can't really provide any other input. "I would also prefer to take my watch at the start or at the end of our rest."

Refraining from becoming involved in Idrian and Jo'no's conflict Mikka rests her hands on Tania's shoulders as she whispers a soft chant, the arcane swordswoman being enveloped by a sensation of absolute warmth, comfort and safety, her body responding to long dormant instincts, healing as a child, far faster than most adults could.

CLW1d8 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11

"That feels wonderful... Thanks!"

Jo'no nods positively at Idrian's response. "Perhaps it just comes down to a difference in cultures. When you refer to people as being foolish, or their ideas being foolish, some people take this as a great insult. My concern is certainly not in our differing viewpoints, but only a concern in how you have attacked my suggestions. I think we understand each other better now, and I believe we can continue working amiably together."

The day passed in a tense silence. Even the birds had learned to leave this place alone. At one point, Idrian though he had heard goblin voices approaching their campsight, but the noise had faded without incident. More than likely the creatures had enetered the thickets and discovered the rapidly bloating corpses of their tribesmen and decided to flee instead.

It was late afternoon when the small assault group rushed from the gates of the fortress. The 4 goblin women had been given knives and charged towards the bridge. Tania and Jo'no were on watch, while the others were resting some 40 feet deeper in the thickets. The light of the western sun glared into the bards eyes as she watched the goblins come. It was with some shock she realsied they weren't plannign on coming across the bridge but were attemtping to cut the ropes instead. She also heard a deep male voice screaming at the goblins from the fortress itself, speaking rough goblin. Whatever the male had said, it was overiding the fear she could see in the goblins, and they pressed on.

Will get your map up soon, have to go and get my kids into bed.

Also, I finally went through and calculated all the xp you've earned since you started the assault on the keep. Congratulations, you have levelled up. Go ahead and sort that out before this little encounter please. Post character updates in the ooc thread please.

Map Link

Tania and Jo'No are on watch and therefore have the weapons of their chice ready. Everyone else is in a state of resting, but not necessarily out of armour. Night time is more likley when that happens as you need to sleep then. Jo'no is watching the southern approach while Tania wathces the bridge. Post intitiatives with your actions. I don't expect this will be a long encounter though.

Initiative: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
"Let's do this like we did before. Feldspar, make us a beachhead." Idrian grabs up his bow and goes to provide fire support.

Initiative: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

Jo'no rushes forward towards the bridge, while calling forth "Wake up!". On the virge of having a vantage point, the Shoanti calls upon his inner power to teleport himself closer. Jo'no then calls forth a spell to put the goblins into a slumber.

Move 30' towards the bridge and as a swift action teleports 10' closer to a vantage point of the end of the bridge (R44). Jo'no then cast Sleep on the 4 goblins at the end of the bridge (DC 15).

Initiative: 1d20 ⇒ 6

Feldspar nods grimly to Idrian and pulls his warhammer free, not bothering with his shield this time.

"For Torag!" he roars and begins to race across the bridge with all the speed his short legs can give him.

Initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17
Tania quickly moves her hand in an intricate gesture and her legs start to wince and kick: "Veloce Ultimus!" She drops her bow and sprints across the bridge, drawing Goblinmash and raising the sword above her head: "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Some confusion perhaps: I thought we were sleeping on the roof of the fort. No worries though.
FrA: Drop Bow
StA: Cast Expeditious Retreat
MvA: Move 60 to C36 and draw longsword
[b]Did we rest long enough to get our spells back?(/b)

Init1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

Mikka jumps up grabbing her bow and quiver, and dashing towards the edge of the bridge

Init 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25

Durik gathers up his bow and moves to support the party.

Move to N43

Initiatives are as follows Group 1 - Durik, Tania, Idrian, Jo'No; Group 2 - Mysterious male; Group 3 - Feldspar and Mikka; Group 4 - Goblins

Round 1
Durik ran rapidly towards the bridge, snatching up his bow as he went. His natural affinity for travel saw him reach the end of the bridge ahead of the rest of his companions, but not until after Tania had dashed across using her magically enhanced speed.

Idrian and Jo'no followed suit, with the mage adding into his plan the beginnings of a spell.

An arrow streaked from the partially opened door to the goblin fort. Now that Tania was in the shadow of the edifice she could see a large and well armoured human male standing in the shadowy cover of the doorway. He was impossible to spot from the far end of the bridge, but from here she could get a bead on him...only she'd dropped her bow.
The mans shot missed her by hairs breadth, causing her own breath to catch in her throat. She was in a tight spot.

Feldspar gathered up his warhammer and pumped his short legs as fast as they would go, but failed to gain the bridge in time. He saw the predicament that Tania would soon be in and grimaced, willing himself to be faster.

Mikka dashed past the dwarf, her bow in her hands as she readied her next strike.

The goblins screamed in fright as the female longshanks closed with them in unusual speed. They desperately struck out at the ropes in front of them, all but severing one side but barely damaging the other. The rope bridge was on the verge of collapsing on one side at this point, and more than likely any weight at that end would see the near severed rope snap.

Generally, the idea was to get out of the fortress to a place where you could flee if attacked overwhelmingly. A good idea I thought so I ran with that one Tania.

A note of full round spells - Spells like sleep and summon X spells take one full round to cast. In my games, I generally take this as requiring free, swift, move and standard actions to complete. I allow the breaking up of that across rounds, but sometimes that becomes cumbersome to handle. In PbP it's not so hard since I have time to go back and read a players actions again.

For Jo'no this round he has used a move action (moving closer), Swift action (teleport ability), and a standard action (casting). Next round his move and swift actions will be consumed by the final casting of the sleep spell, so he really only has a standard action available to him next round (and free actions). If you guys don't like that particular house rule, let me know and we can drop back to the standard; if you want to cast full round spells, that's all you can do that round. Cheers

Group 1 to act

Map link

A note of full round spells - Spells like sleep and summon X spells take one full round to cast. In my games, I generally take this as requiring free, swift, move and standard actions to complete. I allow the breaking up of that across rounds, but sometimes that becomes cumbersome to handle. In PbP it's not so hard since I have time to go back and read a players actions again.

I decided to double check the rules on this, as I believe in 3.5 this is how this worked. I have played with many different groups in different geographical areas and the GM's also allowed splitting the 1 round action. (Usually for summon spells is when this came up).

Interesting enough, I decided to do a search to nail down the rules (either for 3.5 or Pathfinder). Instead all I found was forum posts both for and against it. I was suprised by this as prior to this, the ability to split up a 1 round action has never come up in game discussion for me.

Round 1

"We need to stop them from dropping the bridge!"

"Desna guide me."

Durik takes aim at one of the goblins on the uncut side and attempts to stop them.

Longbow
1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 91d8 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10

Apparently neither Desna nor the dice roller want me to hit anything with an arrow ever again. :(

Tania rages as she sees the spared prisoners endangering their life. Determined to at least save a brand between the shores, she strikes at the one nearest where they haven't managed to damage the rope. She conjures arcane energy in her blade, then raise it high above her head, bringing it down in a diagonal arc.

SwA: Arcane Strike
StA: 2h-longsword 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21
1d8 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9
on the one where they haven't managed to damage the rope.
MvA: Proceed to the goblin behind if the first is struck down.

AC 18, FF 14, T 14; HP 33/33
Arrows: normal x27; cold iron x5; silver x5
Arcane Pool 3/4
Weapon Enhancement 9/10

Composite Longbow +1 str +3: enhanced (+1), deadly aim, fav enemy
to hit 1d20 + 8 + 1 - 1 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 8 + 1 - 1 + 2 = 17 damage 1d8 + 2 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 + 2 + 2 = 9
"This is why dead is better than alive." Idrian says as he fires at one of the goblin wives with knives.

Durik fired, but his shot was woefully wide of the goblins, the glaring western sun spoiling his aim. Idrian faired much better, using a hanging leaf to block the suns path enough that he managed to draw a bead on one of the goblins that had not damaged their bridge side. Tania slashed at almost the same time, felling the other goblin on that side with a single swipe of her sword. The creature fell screaming into the churning waters of the chanel below. Somthing dark flashed through the waters there, and the body disappeared in a spray of water and dark blood as some creature took the morsel away into the depths.

A strange shadowy fog fell about the combatants at the end of the bridge, passing over Tania without effect but clinging to the heads of the two goblins still standing. The creatures stopped suddenly and blinked their eyes. One of them yawned in a wide display of sharp teeth before they both collapsed to the ground fast asleep. With some amazement, Tania watched as another of the creatures rolled of the side of the cliff and tumbled into the waters below, only waking as the waters washed over its head. She began to scream in panic and flail about almost immediately, but it didn't stop her being dragged under by the same dark shape that had devoured her dead companion.

Jo'no, you still have a standard action you can use this round. Also, im quite happy to keep running things as split rounds, which is what we've done the whole game so far. When I play my RL games we do it this way, it only really becomes hard to track at high levels in big fights during a face to face game. You're doing fine with it so far. Also, it was good to see one of your enchantments work too :)

Jono moves 30' closer to the bridge.

M41

Tania, using her speed will press on and get to the archer.

They're all down or asleep, right? If so, I move on. If not, I'll finish another off. In any case (goblin or archer), here is my roll:
SwA: Arcane Strike
StA: 2h-longsword 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 151d8 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10

Tania, you've had your go this turn, but if that action is useful for next round then I'll run it then.

Jo'No charged forward a little further, hoping to get close enough to aid his friend more fully on the oter side of the bridge.

Tania cursed as she watched the human slam the door shut. She heard the heavy thump of a beam sliding across the twin doors, effectively locking them out.

Group 3 to act. Careful of that bridge.

Sorry. Tania will kill any goblin that's a threat or try to keep the rope from breaking.

Going to drop out of combat initiative at this stage. Only one goblin remains alive, and she's asleep. The doors to the fortress are closed and barred. The man who did that won't be a threat for the forseeable future. Tania is on one side of the sea channel and the rest of you on the other. The rope bridge is in tact, but too much weight is going to destoy one of the support ropes. That could prove....interesting, for whomever is on the bridge at the time. What's the plan folks?

"Although I do have a cantrip I could have mended the bridge with, sadly I did not prepare it this morning. I do have a spell that will make me light as a feather should the bridge give way. We could secure a rope on this side and I could take the other end across and secure it there."

Jo'no looks towards Feldspar and asks, "what should we do with the sleeping goblin when we reach her? "

Tania finishes the sleeping goblin as an answer to Jo'no: "She chose her camp, and she's still a threat with the bridge that way..."

She sighs and walks away, visibly unhappy at the turn of events. I need a talk with that damned archer...

Walking back to the bridge: "I like your plan Jo'no, but I would prefer the rope be tied on my end of the bridge. Unless someone can fix the bridge..."

Knowledge (engineering): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19

"Well, I was thinking of tying the rope on both sides. Well, unless I can think of a quick way to repair it..."

Knowledge (engineering): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20

"We could try going across one at a time with the folks on the other side holding onto the what's left of the rope." Idrian keeps a watch out for anyone appearing in the towers.

"Sadly I've no ability to mend rope or I would assist. I will help Idrian cover the area. Hopefully I can hit what I'm aiming at this time."

Durik looks at his bow ruefully at this last.

It is too bad about the goblin, but clearly evil is all they know.

"I will cross last, if need be I can make it across without the use of the bridge."

"Sounds like a plan." Feldspar approves with a nod. "Of course, the problem is that we can no longer risk camping away from the fort. We're still not rested and we're going to have to find a less secure position and make the most of it."

Jo'no crossed first, trailing his rope as he did so. The bridge swayed alarmingly, but given how light the Shoanti mage was, he managed to get across without the gruide rope snapping. After Idrian had secured one end Tania and Jo'no jury rigged a make shift guide rope on their end. The work wasn't easy, but both of them felt they knew enough about engineering to make sure it would at least now support the heaviest of their group.

The rest of them crossed then, meeting up in the deepening shadow of the fortress as the western sun finally drifted below the horizon. Feldspar certainly had the right of it, resting over here was far more exposed, but at least they didn't face the chance of having their only connection to the fortress severed.

The remainder of their night was spent in discomfort, as a storm rolled in across the bay. They took what shelter they could in the lee of the fortress main entrance and twin guard towers, but all of them were wet come morning. They had rested, but it wasn't something to right epic poems about.

Ok, spells can now be relearned. Regain hit points from resting as well if needed. Tania, you can recover the damage from the thorns finally. Time to move on to the final confrontation. Any general plans let eme know. Also any long or medium term buffs let me know.

Jo'no begins his day with magically armoring himself.

Tania smiles as she wakes up and finally feels her body move more grasciously. "Seems I've finally dealt with that cursed poison! I don't care about that storm, I feel great!"

I'm having second thoughts about Allegro... I'm thinking Alter Self instead. I'll let you know soon.

Durik begins the day with prayer, but casts no spells.

"Is anybody still seriously injured? Jo'no you look like you could use some healing."

Mikka smiles. "The storm was a blessing, Gozreh watches over us even as we decend into the depth. We will cleanse the unnatural taint of this place as the rain washes filth from your city streets."

Tania lifts her sword: "I'm ready."

Jo'no nods at Durik, "Yes, my wounds are taking a while longer to mend than I had hoped. We have many people here that tend to fight on the front line though, so I dislike draining potential heals away from them. Perhaps just one small healing spell would suffice for now. Thank you."

"Better now than the heat of battle."

Durik reaches out and channels divine healing into Jo'no's wounds.

CLW 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8

Feldspar's one spell is Divine Favor.

Feldspar rises to his feet, strapping his shield to his arm and lifting his hammer high. "Torag will be with us this day."

"Thanks Durik. I feel much better now."

No update today, been crazy with yard work and then family over till late. Will get something together tomorrow

They forced the entrance almost the moment they were all prepared. The heavy beam that had been placed across had obviously come from some other part of the fortress, as it hadn't been present when they first came through.

They moved cautiously, checking the upper level as a co-ordinated group but found no sign of further danger. The bodies from their forray yesterday had been left undisturbed, and now many of them were beginning to smell as ruptured organs released the vile gases from within.

Downstairs was a different story. The main hall where they had first entered had drag marks of dark blood smeared across its floor. The blood ended in a large pool by a now opened door, where yesterday this entrance had been locked securely. The blood obviously belonged to the bug bear they had killed yesterday, but there was no sign of his body. Someone had dragged it into this room for some purpose and had gone to the trouble of forcing the lock on the door and leaving it open.

The torches that had lit the room yesterday were now quenched, and only the light from Feldspar's hammer and Durik's glowing stone lit this room. From within the dungeon where they'd killed the bugbear, a red glow could be faintly seen, emanating from the door that led into the descrated altar room.

Perception DC12

Perception DC21 (only DC 19 for low light vision)

Map update

Perception 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (2) + 12 = 14 +2 v Humanoid (goblinoid)

Idrian readies his sword. "How nice of them to leave the door opened. Why not oblige them and go that way?"

Perception +9 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25

"Watch out, there is some tentacled beast hiding in the shadows on the ceiling. It is in the prison, just above the door to that foul altar."

Durik readies his bow to fire at the creature.

Perception Check: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

Feldspar grits his teeth with anger. "They're ready for us now. I do not fear what they have waiting for us, but I'm not eager to follow the path they've set either. What of the other door?" He gestures to his right. Door at P14/O14.

Tania checks the door Feldspar pointed, first listening, then checking whether it is locked, without opening it.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21