The Dying City: DM Norv's "Curse of the Crimson Throne"

Game Master The Norv

Walking back to the group, Gadriel informs them. "Korriban smells, and sees no bodies or creatures. Books are also there, and another door to a tunnel, we believe."

When Korriban hears Gadriel talk to the others and hears "Korriban smells", his face deadpans and his brow twitches. "Well, that can't be taken the wrong way." He carefully and tentatively creeps down the hall.

Stealth: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22
Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26
Perception vs Traps: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15

Gadriel's statement about Korriban's aroma draws a chuckle from Adoros, "I'm glad someone else agrees with that. If there is nothing in the next chamber, let us all gather there before Korriban over extends his scouting too far away from us. Maybe some of these books will shed more light on the owner of this place." The Chelish man starts for the tunnel to join up in the book room.

Korriban manages to hear Adoros. 'Just wait, Smokestick. Just you wait.'

The four less sneaky members of the group proceed down the secret tunnel and into the library Korriban discovered, while the rogue slips out the door ahead of them and proceeds down the tunnel...

Korriban nearly gags! The smell is so awful! However, he sees the head and grins. He doubles back to deliver a report. When he gets back to the others, he says, "Okay. Good news and bad news. The good news is that I found Gaekhen's head. The bad news is that it seems to be attached to a bunch of different body parts to make some... thing. But, we found the head! All we need now is the torso and arms! ...And take whatever's valuable here, of course. And take our unconscious prisoner."

Stealth: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23

Adoros nods at Korriban's assessment, "First, let's secure that head. Then we can find the rest. One piece at a time if we must. Is the body it is attached to currently living or dead?" That's all they would need for the Shoanti's head to be part of some necromancer's plaything.

"Do not worry. In my experience, heads sewn onto other dead parts are usually a good omen. Just bring it back."

"Abu wonders why the body is sewn in strange places? He senses darker magic here, and the feel unsettles. We can even feel, the darkness consuming, comforting yet eternal. We should hurry, so friends don't end up with heads attached to tentacled monsters."

Korriban looks at Adoros. "It's not moving. I can't tell if it's asleep or dead."

At Teodor's comment, Korriban's head slowly turns his head to him, eyebrow raised. "Just how often do you find yourself encounter corpses with sewn on heads? Is there... something you're not telling us, buddy?"

Turning to Gadriel, the rogue answers her question, "Yeah. It's not just the head that's sewn on. It's like a smorgasbord of different body parts and a macabre sewing lesson. And I don't want my head on tentacles. That... doesn't seem right."

Just to stir the pot a bit... :P

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

Korriban easily hears the sounds behind the door. He turns and whispers, "Shh! You guys hear that? Two voices. Two people. One of them named Cabbagehead. The first was singing in that language the blue things were speaking. Really bad singing. Hold on... there's Taldane being spoken! Now the singer is asking this Cabbagehead if some people are dead... Okay, now the singer is shutting the door on this Cabbagehead and is just pacing the room and humming. Seems like we're not alone anymore. We need to make a plan quick. Take out these two individuals, get the head, get the other body parts, and take the prisoner to Kroft. Maybe we can take these two individuals to Kroft as well."

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19

Adoros tilts his head as he hears the same thing Korriban is hearing and nods in agreement, "Kroft will undoubtly want to know what these creatures are doing under the city's crypts. We should go in hard and take them by surprise. Possibly take Cabbagehead out as it doesn't seem to be in charge and won't have that much to tell us. The other voice however does seem to have some authority so we try to knock it out like our other little friend. Any disagreement with that plan?"

Will wait to see if we have a second...to clarify, the plan is to go in through the door behind Korriban and take out the one there first?

"So, we're just going to destroy all we encounter? No diplomacy? Sounds ...maybe fun."

Korriban looks to Teodor. "Seems like it. Don't think whatever is behind that door will be friendly."

Alright, assuming that we're moving into the room with Diamon leading the way...

The group opens the door and moves swiftly down the hallway into the room containing the body--the stench nearly gagging you as enter the room and are exposed to the strange, chemical-mixed-with-decay scent. Standing at the table that holds the massive, stitched-together body is another of these strange blue humanoids, this one wearing a robe and a strange goatee. The creature looks up as you enter, mad eyes widening as it clutches at the wand and dagger it had laid down on the table before it.

"Nima qilyapsiz?" he gasps, before bellowing, "CABBAGEHEAD! YOU LET SOME OF THE BUNNIES OUT OF THE HUTCH, YOU FOOL! COME AND GET THEM!"

INITIATIVE
Bad guys<--
Full party, in posting order (really unfortunate init rolls)

ROUND ONE
As you emerge from the tunnel, the creature digs into a pocket, and, muttering something under his breath, throws a white feather onto the ground before him. There's a crackle of energy, and then, with a laugh, the heinous little humanoid jumps backward and floats up into the air, coming to a rest near the 15'-tall ceiling. "Come to taunt the butler while the master's gone, pets?" he cackles. "Why, we'll put you back in your cages and never will he hear the noise!"

Your target is now floating near the ceiling, effectively 10' away for the purpose of melee/reach/ranged attacks. Party's up, in order of posting!

Oh, also:

Gadriel moves into the room, and with a soft growl Abu stares at the floating creature his eyes shifting to black.

Move in, and Evil Eye the creature's attack rolls.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (2) + 11 = 13

"Let Groetus bind you!" Casting Hold Person DC14

The Dwarf Stonelord was the first to enter the room, making a wrenching sound at the stench coming off the body as he did so. He'd opted to stay back while the more stealthy members of his group investigated the hidden tunnel; Diamon didn't do quiet very well. Upon seeing one of those blue devils again however, and seeing it fly up into the air, he drew his longbow and notched an arrow, leveling it at the flying creature. "Ah'm feelin' generous, so I'll give ya two options: Come down and fight proper, or I'll jus' weigh ya down with arrows."

Round 1
hp 31/31

Standard Action: Fire at the flying blue creature!

Musket Attack vs Flying Blue Creature Touch AC: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

Adoros growls at the little man as he flies about above their heads and raises his musket to fire a shot. The musket barks loudly as the bullet goes blasting into the ceiling above, "Come down and surrender or the next one is going through your head!"

Norv, is it possible for me to run up the wall a bit and jump off of the wall at the creature using Acrobatics?

Hmmmm I'll allow this: since he is right next to a wall, we'll treat that as having a pole when making a high jump check (so a +2 bonus to the Acrobatics check). DC for a jump high enough to hit the little guy is going to be 20.

HOWEVER, this would be a full-round action (like a charge) and you'll take a -2 penalty to the attack roll for flying through the air. :P Up to you whether you want to try for that or just throw a dagger!

Apologies for the delay--was in an all-day meeting yesterday. I'll wait for Korriban to post and then move us on!

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 8 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 8 + 2 = 24
Attack: 1d20 + 7 - 2 ⇒ (11) + 7 - 2 = 16
Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Seeing the creature flying up into the air, Korriban shouts, "Hey! You get back down here, you b***h!" He then moves he runs up the wall and leaps at him! As he flies through the air, Korriban strikes out with his rapier.

Did Hold Person not work?

Yeah, that's a good point.

Hmmm, a good question. Don't forget that foes' saves are listed under "Vital Stats," so you can always roll them yourselves to speed things up! Unfortunately he made that save...

ROUND TWO

As the party boils into the chamber, the little blue man cackles delightedly. "Come and get it, come and get it! TACOS FOR EVERYONE!" Abu growls in response, eyes going black, and the little creature shutters. "Ugh! Magic girl with a magic monkey--that's not one I've seen before! Not to worry, my pet, I'll take care of you--and your little DISTANTLY REMOVED GENETIC RELATIVE TOO!" he screeches as the monkey's hex descends on him. Teodor's invocation he completely ignores, just snickering. "What, you come here worshiping some ridiculous topworlder god? YOU AIN'T GOT THE BALLS TO DEAL WITH REAL POWER! I GOT 'EM, THOUGH! TAKE A LOOK AT 'EM! TAKE A--"

His attempt to lift the hem of his robe and give you all a glimpse of something you'd really rather not see is cut off by Diamon's and Adoros's threats, and he pirouettes in mid-air, balletic, to avoid the bullet. "Whoo! That was fun. Try that agai--HEY!" He tumbles out of the way of Korriban's thrust, which skewers the corner of his robe but doesn't hit flesh. "WATCH THE GARMENT, MAN!"

Zipping a few feet toward the clustered group--away from Korriban--the little man thing glares around. Muttering some arcane words, he sketches a few symbols in the air with his fingertips and a nearly transparent disc of blue light flickers into being, hovering down between him and your party. "CABBAGEHEAD, GET OUT HERE, I NEED YOU!" he bellows, again. Turning back to you, he growls, "Monkey girl! You're first."

Party's up in order of posting! He's still up near the ceiling, in reach/ranged weapon range. Please remember to move your token on the map!

"Abu thinks blue man talks more than Korriban, and makes less sense too. Friends be warned, Abu says magic protects the creature, a shield of force forms around."

Abu's eyes stay black as the monkey continues to stare at the flying creature. Gadriel quietly breaks out into an odd laugh.

The creature shudders, throwing off the majority of Abu's curse but the strange unsettling laugh seems to weaken the creature.

Evil Eye the creature's Saves, then begin to cackle. It made it's save, but the duration is one round on a made save, the cackle extends it to 2.

"Top worlder? Groetus is the End. There are no tops or bottoms. Only ends."

Can I pull off the wall run/wall spring attack again? It looks like I'm next to Vreeg.

I'm going to go with yes in this situation. Here's a quick write-up of how the rules for this...maneuver...are playing out in my head.

Parkour Spring Attack: Full-round action. You can charge and make a single acrobatics check as part of the charge to propel yourself off a wall with an Acrobatics check (gaining a +2 bonus). As you jump, you can make one melee attack against a mid-air target at a -2 penalty. The target of the attack must be within 5' (one square) of a section of wall for you to attempt this, and said section of wall must be at least 10' (2 squares) from your starting position for you to attempt this (giving it the same minimum distance as a charge).

Make sense? (I do reserve the right to alter that if it starts to get ridiculous, but I think it should be ok for now...that penalty will make him difficult to hit.)

The little blue guy sneers as Abu chitters at him. "Eesh. And monkey girl says I talk too much! C'mon, priestling? Ain't got nothing else?"

Also: you end the "charge" in the same "square" as your opponent, but on the ground.

The Dwarf could feel the bow shaking some in his grasp, as well as seeing Korriban having trouble hitting the taunting blue figure floating so high above them. Suddenly, he had a brain-wave; Instead of using arrows to bring their foe down to earth, he'd use a much older method of doing so. Dropping his bow, he reached into his Haversack and produced a length of silk rope. He quickly tied himself a lasso and began twirling it in his hand, smirking up at the repugnant figure flying above them.

Move action to grab the rope, Standard to tie the knot.

A lasso? Very nice idea, Diamon.

Korriban glares at the creature. "Hey! Being an annoying, chattering a*****e is my shtick! If you start swinging a rapier while being charming, I'll sue!" He then proceeds to repeat his tactics.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 8 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 8 + 2 = 22
Attack: 1d20 + 7 - 2 ⇒ (9) + 7 - 2 = 14
Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Though, it seems to fail once more. After landing, he looks up at Vreeg. 'This isn't working. Maybe I can bluff to make him drop his reaction speed...'

That should be a hint at my next tactic.

Teodor merely smiles. He knows how it all ends.

Round 2

Reloading.

Adoros starts to reload his musket as he shakes his head at the crazy flying blue monkey thing.

ROUND THREE

The little flying creature shivers at Gadriel's disturbing laugh, but then seems to recover himself at Teodor's statement, and bursts into a laugh of his own. "AHAHAHA! You're a funny lot, all right...and so silent now! Whoop!" He casually dodges Korriban's second attempt at stabbing him. "All right, then, let's see, who should we--HEY! I see that!" He glares at Diamon, managing to look both amused and perplexed. "Whaddaya think ya are, some sorta dwarven cattle rancher? Don't even think about it! Alright, you just volunteered...I gotcher BARBECUE RIGHT HERE, COWBOY!" He screeches and, with a wave of hand and a word that seems to blister your ears, sends a bolt of fire at Diamon! The dwarf howls and the smell of burning hair fills the room.

A scorching ray hits Diamon for 10 points of fire damage! Diamon, were you really still at 7 hit points...? If so, the dwarf is down. :(

Party's up, in order of posting!

Gadriel continues focusing on the creature, her odd laugh echoing off the walls. Abu stares at the creature, though his eyes shift from black to green.

Misfortune Hex, then cackle to extend all the durations. Sadly, he makes the save but the Evil Eye durations still increase by one.

Korriban glares at the flying creature. "Hey! Leave him alone, you overgrown blueberry!" He then runs forward and jumps! This time, however, he (intentionally) doesn't get much lift and feints a stab with his rapier.

Bluff: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23

Feint for Vreeg to lose Dex bonus to AC. Rules: Feinting is a standard action. To feint, make a Bluff skill check. The DC of this check is equal to 10 + your opponent's base attack bonus + your opponent's Wisdom modifier. If your opponent is trained in Sense Motive, the DC is instead equal to 10 + your opponent's Sense Motive bonus, if higher. If successful, the next melee attack you make against the target does not allow him to use his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any). This attack must be made on or before your next turn. When feinting against a non-humanoid you take a –4 penalty. Against a creature of animal Intelligence (1 or 2), you take a –8 penalty. Against a creature lacking an Intelligence score, it's impossible. Feinting in combat does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

Thankfully no. I just forgot to update my character in the forums. Diamon had given himself a LoH so he was at 16/31. But now he's at 6/31.

The Dwarf winced as the ray hit him in a weak point in his armor, feeling his skin burn badly from the ray. His retort was to heave the lasso skyward, and snap it taught around the waist of the taunting blue bastard, and start hauling him back down to earth. Not saying anything, but letting his wild smile do all the talking for him.

CMB to lasso an a-hole: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15

Channel Energy: 2d6 ⇒ (4, 4) = 8

ROUND FOUR

Botting Adoros for the moment, his next action seems pretty logical...

Adoros raises his musket again. "Here we go, you little..." he pulls the trigger, and there's a muffled explosion. Followed shortly by the sound of Adoros swearing--the musket has misfired.

Well I feel like crap about that. D:

The little blue dude cackles as Korriban jumps at him again. "You're a useless one, ain'tcha?" Completely removing his attention from the rogue, he turns to the others, dodging Diamon's lasso. "I told you to knock that off--HEY! STOP UNDOING MY CAREFUL WORK!" he shrieks at Teodor. "Damned priest!" Zipping back to another corner to regain his height, he mutters some words, then leers at Teodor, eyes bulging. "GET OUTTA HERE!" Although the Groetan blinks in surprise and takes a step back, he doesn't seem that impressed...which only causes the flying little beast to shriek in rage.

Party's up! Korriban has successfully feinted! Teodor has resisted the attempt at cause fear, which does mean that he's shaken for 1 round.

Teodor smiles his weak smile. "Hard to scare a man that knows the end, friend." He then channels positive energy once more. Channel: 2d6 ⇒ (3, 6) = 9

Korriban frowns at the creature. He calmly puts his rapier down on the ground. "Don't call me useless!" He then draws his sliver dagger and throws it at the creature!

Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21
Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

He smirks at him. "Now who's useless, you little freak?!" He looks to Teo. "Hey, Teo. Maybe one of your little... friends would like to come out and play."

Round Actions
Free Action: Drop weapon
Move Action: Draw dagger
Standard Action: Throw Dagger

EDIT: As Teodor said, Korriban feinted, which go Vreeg to lose his Dex bonus. I have to pay attention to that. So here we go.

Sneak Attack: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 5) = 10

Nice!

Korriban, roll sneak attack damage. You feinted!

Since we're still waiting on several players (and it's the weekend! ^.^) I'm going to let this sit until tomorrow night!

"You think you know the end, fool? You know only--OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OW! F#@!!"

Abu's eyes shift from green back to black, as the strange magic continues to barrage the creature.

Gadriel, however, just continues to laugh.

Evil Eye again, this time to the creature's AC, followed by a cackle to extend the durations again.

As a side note though, sadly feinting only works on melee attacks. :(

Curses, foiled again by a misfire!

Round 5
hp 31/31

Move Action: Stow musket while moving over to under the floating critter.
Standard Action: Aid Another on whoever wants to use Adoros as a launchpad.

Acrobatics, Aid Another DC 10: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (15) - 2 = 13

With a loud curse that fills the room, Adoros shoulders his smoking musket and storms over to under the feet of the little blue flying man, "You either get down here or someone is coming up there!" He plants his feet and cups his hands together, ready to throw the next person who wants to take a shot at the flying bozo.

Oh. Well, what happens then? I feint and totally ignore it? Am I able to retake my move? What's the call, Norv?