Strange Aeons, with GM Pendrak

Game Master karlprosek

Lorn's brow furrows and hr clasps his head in his hands saying quietly, "Lady protect me, Lady grant me your grace and guide my sword so it does not go astray."

Shaking his head he nods to Alico, "I do not remember my name, call me Shield - seems as good as anything else."

Rising he makes his way to the door and attempts to test it quietly.

Stealth: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 = 10

John stands up unsteadily and asks "Where are we? Does anyone know what's going on?"

Ah, well, seeing as how the others are moving about, it makes no sense to pretend to still be unconscious, I suppose. Moving slowly, Xander creeps closer to the cell door. He makes the SHUSH sign (finger in front of a closed mouth) to the (schizophrenic?) lady sharing his cell. As he gets closer, he tries to ascertain how difficult it would be to pick this lock. Where are my damn picks?! Gods above, even rodent bones would be better than nothing.

Mashiki stops talking as the half orc shushes her. She watched him examine the lock for a couple of moments before moving over and kneeling down beside him. "What are we looking for?" she whispered as she curiously peered at the lock as well.

With her face this close a mere glance is all it takes to notice the black veins in the corners of her eyes. "It is awfully dirty, isn't it. Maybe we can help."

She whispers a short phrase and taps the lock. The accumulated dirt and grime gently fall from the device. Although it is still rusty, it looks like someone has given it a good scrubbing with a stiff brush. The young woman smiles, seeming very pleased with her modest accomplishment.

Seeing the others moving about, Durril sits up. "I don't know", he whispers to his cellmate, though if those outside hadn't noticed them yet, they probably wouldn't now. He watches on dispassionately as the others begin to try and open the locked doors - he doesn't seem to remember having any skills to help in that regard.

Lorn examines the cell door, and finds it firmly locked. The bars are made of iron, and it would take a Kurgess to bend them.

Xander's examination of the lock determines that it is an average lock, so if he had his lockpicks it might be possible to pick it... if had had his lockpicks.

As Mashiki casts her spell, she tries to whisper, but seems to have forgotten that verbal components of spells must be spoken in a strong voice. It succeeds, but her incantation draws the attention of the skin-and-bones, blood-soaked doctor, who wheels on her and demands, “Pipe down. You’ll have your turn soon enough.” She then goes about her business, agonizing over where to make her next incision on her patient.

Everyone but Xander, who must have been too focused on the lock, notices a set of keys hanging from the doctor's belt when she turns to address Mashiki.

Strength check DC 24 to bend iron bars, though it would take multiple successful bendings to get out. Average locks require a DC 25 Disable Device check to unlock them. The lock is now perfectly clean. The cells are pretty much completely empty, not even a rodent bone.

Map

John grabs hold of the bars before him.

"Who the heck do you think you are? and what are you doing to that helpless man?" John shouts back at the man.

"what kind of coward are you!"

"I will take my turn now then you ghoul, come I have little better to do. Well come on!" Lorn bellows, eyeing the sundry sharp implements a bead of sweat trickling down his brow as he grips the bars with both hands white knuckled.

She wheels after a few moments, annoyed, screaming “Quiet!” and at the same time transforming her face to look like Lorn, before turning back to the table.

"No. You psychopath, you will not get your way!" Lorn says, not precisely shouting, but voice loud and powerful. Then he begins to pray, loudly,

"My Lady of Valor, Iomedae, Light of the Sword, I call out to Thee in my hour of need. I lend my voice to the mournful cries of your faithful in this time of darkness and despair. I pray to thee for guidance, that thy wisdom enlightens me and allows my eyes to perceive some sign that that this path be right, for no man possesses the foresight to sense where such a path will end."

A shape shifter? Well, that's even extra disturbing. Xander manages to refrain from cringing as the woman in his cell 'cleans' the lock for him, rather loudly... but efficiently. And it is VERY clean. "Thanks," he says, noting the oddness about her eyes. "Don't suppose you can magically produce a key, can you?" he quips.
He lowers his voice to a whisper. "Hmm. Actually, what else CAN you do? Perhaps we can figure a way out."

"Okay, this ends now."

Alico sits on the floor, his movements jerky as if forced to sit. His green eyes darken to black as his voice once again takes on that echoing trait.

Alico has begun to manifest his phantom. It will take one minute, but there is little else he can do in this situation.

As Lorn persists in his noisemaking, the doctor again turns to threaten him. This time, though, it leaves her vulnerable. When her back is turned, the man on the table struggles in his blood-slicked bindings and manages to get a leg free. Desperately, he kicks the blood-soaked doctor in the small of her back, throwing her up against the cell containing Lorn and Alico.

Lorn can try a grapple check to grab the doctor, or a Dexterity or Sleight of Hand check to steal the key. Alico could also stop his ritual and do the same, if he so desires.

The doctor's body hitting the door startles Alico from his trance, but the darkness in his eyes remains. He leaps to his feet and attempts to get a hand on the key ring.

Sleight of Hand: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16

Should he succeed a Sleight of Hand check - same as Dex - he will go for the lock once the doctor is distracted or preoccupied.

Lorn grabs the at the Doctor and attempts to hold him against the bars.

"Get the door open!" He calls to his cellmate gritting through gritted teeth.

Grapple: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20

Lorn manages to grab the doctor, pulling her against the cell bars, while Alico snatches the key ring from her belt.

The doctor struggles against Lorn, trying to get free, but she cannot escape his grasp.

Initiative order is technically Mashiki, Xander, Durril, Lorn, John, and Alico, though most of you can't really act until your cell doors are opened, so you may want to delay. Opening the cell door with the keys is a move action.

"Get 'em, shield-guy!" John calls out in encouragement.

John delays and waits for an opportunity.

Map

As the "doctor" is immobilized, Durril instinctively reaches out his hand towards the table of "tools". Suddenly, one of the broken shards of glass begins levitating, then flings itself at the creature.

casting Telekinetic Projectile
ranged attack (not touch): 1d20 + 2 - 4 ⇒ (12) + 2 - 4 = 10 (don't forget the -4 to dex for being grappled)
damage: 1d6 ⇒ 6 B

A shard of glass leaps up from the table and needles it's way towards the grappled physician, but despite Lorn's grip she manages to dodge to the side at the last second, and the shard harmlessly lands in the cell next to Alico.

This shard of glass, like the other implements on the table, could be used as an improvised weapon that deals 1d2 points of damage.

Seeing the fracas, Xander calls out, "The keys! Don't let her get away!"
no relevant action yet

Mashiki fell silent as she was shushed for the second time in as many minutes. Her eyes went wide and she audibly gasped as the doctor's face changed. "What was that?!"

Kn(insert type here){+4 if dungeoneering}: 1d20 ⇒ 18 max 20 untrained due to mind

Once the commotion begins she looks about uncertain "How do we know we didn't do something and deserve to be here? But we don't want to be cut like the man on the table. We need to run."

She looks on as the melee intensifies.

Lorn attempts to slam the Doctor into the bars, but instead she almost wriggle from his grasp and it is all he can do to keep hold of her, "Hurry!"

Grapple: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

"Ack! Watch it!" Harrow pulls back his fingers in time to dodge the glass shard.

As long as Shield has the thing held, Harrow begins trying the keys on their lock. "I'm trying, dearie," his echoing voice retorts, "there are quite a few on these on here."

As soon as their cell door is unlocked, Harrow ducks to the side and calls back: "Shield! Keep our host entertained!" then moves to unlock the others' cells.

Sorry, I hope my action fell in the initiative order :P

Lorn shoots his cellmate a pained look, but tightens his grip and resolve.

I assume that Alico moved to the closest other cell, the one with Mashiki and Xander? I would argue that if that's the case you could hand the keys to Mashiki, and she could use her actions to move and open the lock, thus giving Xander the chance to take the keys, move to the other cell, and so forth. See map.

Map

Yes, that is what Alico did.

excellent
Once the broom lady had opened the cell, Xander takes the keys and sprints across the room to hand the keys off to the remaining prisoners. They would need all the help they could get.

Mashiki gingerly takes the filthy keys, looking at them dubiously. "We just cleaned the lock." With a little hesitation she opened the door. "Why do you suppose our jailer is a doppelganger?"

"Is that all that is, dearie?" Harrow's gaze at the woman is amused. "I suppose we could always ask." When his turn comes again, "Alicrow" will run at the good doctor, grabbing an implement of torture on the way, and try and strike the thing with it.

Mashiki hands the keys to Xander, who crosses the room to give the keys to John and Durril, but he realizes he can just unlock the door and give them time to act, which he does.

I think that just leaves John, before the doppelganger will try to break out again.

John moves out of the cell to the torture table, studies the implements, and picks up an improvised weapon if nothing better presents itself.

perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

Is there a map for this combat? I just see the last one when I follow the link.

Hmm, there should be multiple slides, but I think it should default to the current one.

Map?

I just get the first one on my phone.

Try swiping side to side? Slides app, if you've got that, has a bar on the bottom for me.

I installed the slides app and can see it niw

John rushes out of the cell and snatches up a gardening trowel from the table. It's better than nothing.

The doppelganging doctor once again tries to break free of Lorn’s iron grip.

This time she manages to wrench free, and steps away from the cell, sneering, "Get back in your cells and sit down! It's not your turn to die yet."

Back to you guys.

Map

The broomstick lady looks distraught. She moves out of the cell and calls out to the doppledoctor ”Why do we have to die? Why in such a gruesome way? What did we do?”

Had she ever been in jail before? She didn’t remember, but the talk of dying in turn unsettled her even more. Even if she had done something wrong she would rather try to fix it than to die for it.

But what about the others? Maybe they were criminals. But the shield guy kept calling out to Iomedae and that would certainly be a strange god to entreat if you were a criminal.

She moved to the little spot between the table with the man tied to it and the table with the tray of implements. ”If she runs away she might call for help and We will get put back into the jail before We can figure out what is going on.”

She earnestly entreats the doppledoctor ”Please, We don’t want to hurt you. Just let us put you in a cell and we can talk a bit and then go. Your friends can let you out later when we are gone.” but at the same time she gets ready to stop her if she must.

How specific would you like readied actions to be? Is ready to cast a spell if she doesn’t surrender enough?

Yeah, Mashiki can ready a standard action to cast a spell if the doppelganger doesn't surrender. I'd say "cast a spell" is specific enough, similar to how a melee I'd say could ready an action to "attack" and then specify when the condition is met whether it's a Power Attack, Stunning Fist, etc. It will have the consequence of causing her to move to the first place in the initiative order, and she will effectively lose her next turn.

The doctor puts her hands to her face, the blade from the shears nearly cutting into her cheek, and takes on an innocent look of fear.

"Oh, yes," she pleads, "Please don't hurt me."

Then she sort of drops her head, her expression turning to a smile, keeping her hands where they are as she begins to giggle slightly.

"Come, come put me in a cell. Ha.. haha.. HAHAHAHAHA!"

sense motive: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22
"In case any of you missed it, she's lying through her teeth," he comments. That creature seems clearly insane. Perhaps this is a place where the inmates have broken free? It doesn't explain why I'm here, but it might explain this ... person's(?) clearly psychotic behavior.

Sense motive: 1d20 ⇒ 19

"I think there is something wrong with her, she needs help." the broomstick lady says stating the obvious matter-of-factly.

John steps forward to stab the shapechanger with his garden trowel.

"Ahhhhh!!!!!!" he cries out in a mixture of anger and delirium.

trowel: 1d20 + 4 - 4 - 1 ⇒ (19) + 4 - 4 - 1 = 18 (power attack, improvised]

damage: 1d2 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 3 + 2 = 6

Durril doesn't move as he continues to launch objects at the thing with his mind. "The only 'help' we can give this monster is death", he says matter-of-factly but firmly.

Hmm...let's use a fork for Telekinetic Projectile this time.
ranged attack (not touch): 1d20 + 2 - 4 ⇒ (14) + 2 - 4 = 12
damage: 1d6 ⇒ 5 B

edit: forgot this
sense motive: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16

John manages to stab the doppelganger in the side as he rushes forward, and blood splashes on the floor. The creature shrieks and hisses.

Durril sends a fork flying past the changeling.

Alico grabs a shard of metal from the table and lunges forward as well, going to John's side and stabbing the creature in the thigh.

Xander and Lorn can act.

Thnx, GM Pendrak

Harrow's stab, while successful in striking, did not do the damage he had hoped. He suddenly felt like he should have been wielding something different and somehow more familiar.

"Here's Harrow, maskie! He cried as his metal shard pierced the creature's clothes and skin.

"Dagger, Are you throwing around those forks with your mind?" John yells out over his shoulder.

Xander moves to the injured man. After all, they may well owe him their lives. "Without that kick of yours, I'm not sure any of us would have made it out of these cells. You have my gratitude, sir."
assuming the guy is still alive, I'll cast CLW on him.
CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
"Not sure if this will put you right, but it ought to take the edge off," he says to the man.
He turns to "Dagger." "Can you toss me the keys, please?"

Many of the man's wounds disappear, as Xander heals him.

"Much obliged," says the man, "Hurry, get these ropes off! We have to get out of here!"

Lorn can act.

Lorn rushes out of the cell and attempts to find something on the table that might serve as a club, or failing that simply the largest practical implement available.

"Drop the weapon. I for one would like her to live if its practical, anything we could learn from her would be a darn sight more than we know now."