It has now been 4 days since Sama's most recent post. Considering I did requests daily postings, I have been quite generous (with almost all of you!). I sent her a PM that if I see nothing by sometime tonight - Sunday 2/18 - I will go ahead and bot her turn for her. Thank you all for your patience.
Brother Guiness stares dumbfounded at the pile of bones that used to be the intractable skeletal enemy, glancing back and forth at it, Gansu, and his own magical warhammer before turning slowly to look at Sama.
”Nicely done, Sama”, he says, still a bit dazed, adding ”I guess you get the first pull of beer for taking down the big guy. “
BG goes over to the “throne”, sits down heavily, and pulls the cask of Dwarven Stout out of his pack.
Sama drifts over to where BG sits on the throne and says, "Damn straight! Earned this one." She takes out her mug and drains a pull of the dwarven stout.
"Gah! Tastes like dirt," she says, sticking out her tongue. Though she may just be teasing...
As the others take their well deserved rest, Aldhranhald, still glad no one noticed his facepalming mishap with the splash of magical acid, walks over to the now deceased, again, would be skeletal king and thoroughly searches his "person" for any items of value, or that might give a clue to the continued undead shenanigans they've encountered so far.
Brother Guiness looks at Sama, not sure if she is joking or not. Well, I can’t expect such a small wisp of a thing to properly appreciate a proper Dwarven Stout. Still, that was an impressive thunderclap.
Grunting, BG pours himself a mug after sharing with others who may be so inclined.
”Aldhranhald, wasn’t determining the source of the crowned undead one of your paying quests? Maybe he has something on him besides that fancy sword that might give us a clue...”
As he is talking with Aldranhald, BG notices a slight discoloration on his forehead. With his knowledge of battlefield wounds, he can tell it is a slight burn, possibly from acid?
”Aldranhald, did you take an injury during the battle? There seems to be an acid burn on your forehead in the shape of...a palm print?”
Aldy didn't actually take damage. He just missed his intended target in such a way, that he facepalmed himself. :)
"Hardee har har, Brother Guiness. I know you're jesting. You must have actually caught my little magical mishap out of the corner of your eye, eh? Yes, yes, well, we all make mistakes now and again, right? Hmmmm, what's this now?" Aldhranhald turns his attention back to the skeleton, trying to divert the discussion away from his failings.
"Don't give Aldhrandbr.... Aldy too hard a time Brother Guiness. Nobody gets things right all the time. Meanwhile I am going to see if I can locate anything which will add to the current merriment."adds Boudacia before heading into the closet. When she gets there she will first employ beast shape to give her a +4 to perception then search the area thoroughly, including the spot on the wall where there is an S, and employs detect magic to aid the search.
perception, Boudacia, take 20:20 + 8 = 28
perception, Wayne, take 20:20 + 10 = 30
Note this means the member of the party who is LGBTQ (an acronym which in Pathfiner stands for Lecrotta, Goblin, Bat, Terrasque, Quasit) is currently in the closet.
Various party members check things out and you find the sword is a Bastard sword of very fine quality. (Masterwork = + 1 to attack) You also find a pouch hung on a leather strap around his neck, as well as a key on a small chain hanging around his neck. The pouch contains a small vial and what appears to be ... a piece of green glass rock just like the spire? It is approximately thumb sized.
And by the way, the dagger DG got so excited about and then gave to Tamlara, is also Masterwork. (Masterwork = + 1 to attack) None of this glows magical. No traps detected either.
Aldy didn't actually take damage. He just missed his intended target in such a way, that he facepalmed himself. :)
"Hardee har har, Brother Guiness. I know you're jesting. You must have actually caught my little magical mishap out of the corner of your eye, eh? Yes, yes, well, we all make mistakes now and again, right? Hmmmm, what's this now?" Aldhranhald turns his attention back to the skeleton, trying to divert the discussion away from his failings.
”My mistake, Aldhranhald, it is merely a smudge. Here, have a mug of Stout!”
After looking around to see that everyone is in position, Brother Guiness prepares to open the next secret door.
There has been some conversation on the discussion tab that we might get a clue to go a different direction. If not, following the secret door trail has been our standard pattern--if someone else wants to go a different way, let me know.
If everyone is okay with going forward this way, then
Brother Guiness reaches forward and opens up the secret door, anxious to see what is our next challenge!
Otherwise, something can interrupt BG that gets us going a different direction.
Aldhranhald takes a moment to examine the vial and the piece of green rock, tapping his knowledge and memory for any details that might be of assistance to the group.
Studying the 'chip' of Spire rock, about the only thing that Aldhranhald notices is that it definitely seems to be an actual chip from the Spire & that it would most likely easily fit into one of the 'rougher' chipped areas you all have noticed occasionally on the Spire.
I may have forgot to mention, you have seen "rougher chipped areas" twice on the Spire. Each time it was near where you also saw an 'engraved' number in Azlanti on the Spire.
The vial has a liquid that looks silver in color. You do recall having heard of something called "Silversheen" in your studies.
As far as the 'new' room, I was not able to copy the info & email it to myself to do it from work, so, I'm sorry, but it will have to wait 'til I get home after my table-top game tonight.
"Gray webbing fills this chamber. Huge cocoons of spider silk hang suspended in the webs, and the webs crawl with countless hundreds of pale little spiders."
Please remember to keep in mind what does your actual character know about whatever monster you are facing. So before saying things such as 'light torches' you do need to make a knowledge nature check (Trained only) to see if your character knows such things. Gansu, is not trained, so sorry, but Gansu says nothing about lighting some torches.
Not to contradict you Stormy, but just about any adventurer is going to know that most webbing is flammable, and that when dealing with spiders you don't want them to have the advantage of being able to crawl across established webs. This might be what Gansu was referring to? Burning the webs, not the spiders. Just a thought.
With conceivably little proactive to do, Aldhranhald waits and looks for any opportunity to be of benefit.
Okay, sure, this group has burned webs before. You all know that. But his post specifically talked about the spider swarm in the OOC section, so I am fairly certain that is what he was referring to.
Boudacia? + 11 to knowledge nature? The Dice Rolls doc says + 9. Did you not update it I'm guessing? Everybody, Please remember to update that Dice Rolls Doc so that I have your proper information please!
That knowledge check is just barely sufficient in this case! Hahaha! :D
Boudacia recognizes this as a swarm of vermin that will most likely be poisonous & can swarm completely over someone's body.
Technically it is supposed to knowledge Nature since these are vermin, BUT, as I have said before and will say again now, I will always reward a nat 20 roll in some way or other. So:
They have: darkvision & tremorsense; They are Immune to mind-affecting effects & weapon damage; They are poisonous, and can inflict Distraction;
A swarm of Diminutive creatures consists of 1,500 nonflying creatures or 5,000 flying creatures. Swarms of nonflying creatures include many more creatures than could normally fit in a 10-foot square based on their normal space, because creatures in a swarm are packed tightly together and generally crawl over each other and their prey when moving or attacking.
Traits: A swarm has no clear front or back and no discernible anatomy, so it is not subject to critical hits or flanking. A swarm composed of Fine or Diminutive creatures is immune to all weapon damage. Reducing a swarm to 0 hit points or less causes it to break up, though damage taken until that point does not degrade its ability to attack or resist attack. Swarms are never staggered or reduced to a dying state by damage. Also, they cannot be tripped, grappled, or bull rushed, and they cannot grapple an opponent.
A swarm is immune to any spell or effect that targets a specific number of creatures (including single-target spells such as disintegrate), with the exception of mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, morale effects, patterns, and phantasms) if the swarm has an Intelligence score and a hive mind. A swarm takes half again as much damage (+50%) from spells or effects that affect an area, such as splash weapons and many evocation spells.
Swarms made up of Diminutive or Fine creatures are susceptible to high winds, such as those created by a gust of wind spell. For purposes of determining the effects of wind on a swarm, treat the swarm as a creature of the same size as its constituent creatures. A swarm rendered unconscious by means of nonlethal damage becomes disorganized and dispersed, and does not reform until its hit points exceed its nonlethal damage.
| Active Conditions: 1 CON damage.. | Current Buffs: none.
The All-Seeing Eye. wrote:
Please remember to keep in mind what does your actual character know about whatever monster you are facing. So before saying things such as 'light torches' you do need to make a knowledge nature check (Trained only) to see if your character knows such things. Gansu, is not trained, so sorry, but Gansu says nothing about lighting some torches.
Actually, since using a torch against a fine or diminutive swarm does absolutely nothing (except possibly scare the creatures away if they are afraid of fire), I thought it was in character for Gansu to give such bad advice. :)
That much being said, Gansu would know that a sword isn't much good against hundreds of little creepy crawlies. You shouldn't need a knowledge check to figure out that a creature has the swarm subtype - it is generally pretty obvious.
Thanks, Stormstrider. Is there a representation of the spiders available on the battle grid in case Boudacia wants to target them with her famous Burning Hands, or are they still forming and effectively not gathered together enough to be a good target?
Who, me? BG has just opened the door and is waiting for his initiative to come up. ;) He cares nothing for these small critters--he plans to scan the room for their big mama (on his initiative, of course).
"Aldhranhald, move away. Now!" commands Boudacia, rather uncharacteristically. Boudacia is then going to move forward past Tamlara. When Aldhranhald has gone she will unleash her last Burning Hands. If Aldhranhald does not move for some reason Boudacia will unleash Burning Hands anyway and we can heal Aldhranhald afterwards.
"Aldhranhald, move away. Now!" commands Boudacia, rather uncharacteristically. Boudacia is then going to move forward past Tamlara. When Aldhranhald has gone she will unleash her last Burning Hands. If Aldhranhald does not move for some reason Boudacia will unleash Burning Hands anyway and we can heal Aldhranhald afterwards.
[dice= Damage, Burning Hands] 3d4
Boudacia, I think the swarm was in the new room to your west, so you could have just moved into the room and done the burning hands if that was your intent. The white dot with the four dashes is Aldhrenhald's staff with the light spell on it.
Uuuummmm ... Boudacia? You have successfully managed to cast confusion on your DM. Contrary to when you successfully cast a spell on your enemies, being successful at casting confusion on your DM is NOT A GOOD THING.
Thank you for clarifying, Boudacia. *** Now, normally casting a spell while adjacent to a hostile grants an AoO and possibly disrupts the spell, but a swarm has literally 0 reach, so in this case it does not provoke an AoO. And one of the weaknesses of a swarm is it takes 50% more damage from an area effect spell, so there is a potential for the swarm taking 9 points of damage, depending on their reflex save.
As Boudacia launches her fire engulfing the swarm the little critters start jumping around like crazy trying to get out of the way of the horrifying flames!
Reflex save:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22WOW! - So the swarm takes 4 points of damage
Instantly the webs in the area catch on fire and the flames start spreading extremely fast!
The swarm (taking its turn in the Initiative,) moves to swarm over Boudacia and starts biting at her!
With a quick glance and a shrug at Tamlara, Brother Guiness sees it is now too late to close the door.
Seeing the spiders swarming over Boudacia, BG stomps into the room, trying to crush as many spiders as possible under his steel shod feed, and attempts to push Boudacia out of the swarm.
"You can make a bull rush as a standard action or as part of a charge, in place of the melee attack. You can only bull rush an opponent who is no more than one size category larger than you. A bull rush attempts to push an opponent straight back without doing any harm. If you do not have the Improved Bull Rush feat, or a similar ability, initiating a bull rush provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver.
If your attack is successful, your target is pushed back 5 feet. For every 5 by which your attack exceeds your opponent’s CMD you can push the target back an additional 5 feet. You can move with the target if you wish but you must have the available movement to do so. If your attack fails, your movement ends in front of the target."
Assuming Boudacia is not resisting being pushed out of the swarm, I think that makes her CMD 10 or less.
BG CMB Check:1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17
BG pushes Boudacia out of the swarm into a clear area not currently burning with webs. By rolling 7 more than her CMD He is able to push her a total of 10 feet, getting himself out of the swarm as well.
Aldhranhald, your lighted staff seems to be a source of much confusion, especially this battle. I had no idea it had such a powerful effect! Maybe you should start using it on the monsters! ;)
Folks, there is a reason why I have all those symbols down below the map. That would be so that you can look at those symbols and understand what they then represent on the map. Also, that is why I always put a larger picture of the hostile off on the left side of the map, so that you can have a better idea of what it looks like or what it is.
Sama, that is Aldy's light spell. Yes, you can move through it.
BG, I had not put flames on the map inside the area of the Burning Hands spell template because, 1. at the time I had not yet moved the spiders, 2. I thought it fairly obvious that anything inside the template would be burning. Thus I have taken the liberty of moving your icon & Boudacia's to a different location. Keep in mind, the ENTIRE ROOM is filled with webbing to some degree or another (Though not enough to catch anyone or slow down movement) and so this fire will be spreading ... well, like WILDFIRE! :) Also, you do NOT see a 'big-momma' around. Keep in mind you already dealt with TWO big spiders in the one pit trap, and there's still some rooms unexplored. :D
CURRENT INITIATIVE: Block 1:
Tamlara, Aldhranhald, Boudacia, & Gansu
BG, I had not put flames on the map inside the area of the Burning Hands spell template because, 1. at the time I had not yet moved the spiders, 2. I thought it fairly obvious that anything inside the template would be burning. Thus I have taken the liberty of moving your icon & Boudacia's to a different location. Keep in mind, the ENTIRE ROOM is filled with webbing to some degree or another (Though not enough to catch anyone or slow down movement) and so this fire will be spreading ... well, like WILDFIRE! :) Also, you do NOT see a 'big-momma' around. Keep in mind you already dealt with TWO big spiders in the one pit trap, and there's still some rooms unexplored. :D
Thanks for the clarification. I had thought that perhaps there were clear areas in the room that were not burning (or had already burned away due to the burning hands). Given that the flame is in all squares in the room and is spreading, BG will have to change maneuvers from "Bull Rush" to "Reposition"--he can't move with Boudacia in this case, so instead he will be slightly more heroic and pull her out of the room to "safety", unfortunately remaining in the swarm. So this will be a 5 foot step to the west, reposition Boudacia 10' out of the room, and stomp around as a move action--totally ineffective, but he doesn't know that...
Unfortunately, as I understand the rules, since I used my 5 foot step and a standard action to reposition Boudacia, I can't use my move action to, well, move. Thus the ineffectual stomping. BG will have to wait until his turn or until someone else moves him...Sorry about that...
"It never ceases to amaze me how a group of people that can destroy a nest full of zombies, is stymied by an organized mass of creepy crawlies. You'd think the gods played a joke when they put these arachnids in play." Aldhranhald says and then backs out from behind the tapestry into the main room.
Double move.
"If we could collapse this massive tapestry on top of the arachnid swarm, we might be able to jump up and down on it, crushing them en masse." Aldhranhald says, once again looking for the most expedient way to bring down the huge wall-rug.
