The Golden Pegasus

Game Master Sai Ling

Thanks for shading the hole a different color, DM Nerk!

Shivers run through Cueta as she hears Ben's call, and then seeing Gair's shadowy form sprint towards the orange light, she follows, breathing heavily.

If a Kuru is visible at the top of the hole when Cueta arrives:

Making out the familiar form of one of the cannibals, Cueta rears her arm back and lets her javelin fly at the creature's head.

javelin toss!: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14 minus some cover penalty I assume.
damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

If there is no kuru visible, Cueta will ready an action for another to appear down the hole.

[occ]Move Action: move behind Gair[/ooc]
Standard Action: javelin toss, or if no Kuru is in sight:
Standard Action: ready action for kuru drop.

OK, Cueta ... I'm not too bright, I guess... How are you making your javelin turn 90 degrees to go past Gair and up the hole?

Whoops, my apologies, DM Nerk! My reading comprehension is failing me today...

Cueta readies her javelin, arm cocked back behind her, waiting for the first kuru to come through the hole in the ceiling.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. Added a "side view" to the map to hopefully clarify.

You are in a 5' wide pipe. The hole in the top of the pipe is roughly 3' in diameter, and goes up 10'. There is no reasonable way to see (or target) what's above except by standing directly underneath.

The Kuru at the top of the hole skips the ladder and drops down.

Completely Gratuitous Acrobatics Check: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 1 = 16

It lands on its feet and brings its axe back to strike at Ben (nearly catching Gair in the teeth as it does) before the halfling's rapier rams into its belly, up under its ribs, and stops when it hits something hard, possibly the thing's spine.

As it falls, Gair discovers the difficulty of wielding a greataxe in such a narrow tunnel, No actual penalty, but a narrative way of accounting for a near miss and Cueta's javelin skitters along the side of the pipe -4 for ranged attack into melee. Ben does not provide cover, though Gair would. and into the pile of rubble that blocks the end.

At the top of the pit, an astonised kuru face looks down at his dead companion, and then disappears out of sight.

Round 2

Thanks for the side view, DM Nerk! It is all clear to me now - sorry for the confusion.

Cueta moves forward, drawing her throwing axe as she goes. Leaning her bill against the tunnel wall, and saying to no one in particular, "Hand my weapon up to me when I get up top," the Mwangi warrior grips the throwing axe in her teeth and as quickly as she can muster, begins squeezing herself up the hole in the ceiling. Mother, let me keep my head at the top of this damned hole...

Move action: 10' and draw weapon.
Move action: accelerated climb.

Will take 10 on the climb if possible, but if there is too much stress and distraction:

accelerated climb: 1d20 + 6 - 1 ⇒ (19) + 6 - 1 = 24 ACP of -1 for the hide shirt.

Round 3, if necessary

accelerated climb: 1d20 + 6 - 1 ⇒ (16) + 6 - 1 = 21 with halfway decent rolls or taking 10 should get to the top this round.

Grabbing the edges of the hole, Cueta grimaces and hoists herself up through the floor, heart racing, looking around for any immediate threats.

perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20

Dunno what the rules say, but to me, taking 10 means doing something calmly and coolly and accelerated means not. So I'd say you can't take 10 and accelerated climb at the same time.

Completely irrelevant with your roll, but for future reference, do you have a feat or something that lets you ignore the -5 for accelerated climbing?

Last picky thing. Climbing requires two hands. Says so right in the rules. I further house rule that both hands have to be your own. Unless you tell me otherwise, I will assume you didn't draw your weapon and then drop it so you could climb.

Round 2:
Cueta uses the dying Kuru as a step-up and climbs into the hole (moving up 5').

Round 3:
Cueta climbs up into a small alcove, the walls and ceiling made of cut and dressed stone. The top of the pit seems to have been broken out of what was once a low shelf, exactly the right height for a dwarf to sit on. A doorframe remains, though there is no sign of the door itself, and a narrow passage doglegs out of sight.

The rest of you now have two rounds to play with.

I love all the different angles we have on our map!

Round 2

Vallen gasps as the Kuru jumps down and is immediately skewered by Ben. "Blood and thunder! Those kuru are out of their mind." He runs up behind Ben as Cueta scurries up the hole, boggling at the woman. "Are you daft Cueta?! You're climbing up a literal s~%~hole, don't be as crazy as the sharkteeth! Ben, how many are up there?"

Double move 25' up tunnel

Saving my 2nd round until the others decide what we're doing/ they move

Dunno what the rules say, but to me, taking 10 means doing something calmly and coolly and accelerated means not. So I'd say you can't take 10 and accelerated climb at the same time.

Completely irrelevant with your roll, but for future reference, do you have a feat or something that lets you ignore the -5 for accelerated climbing?

Last picky thing. Climbing requires two hands. Says so right in the rules. I further house rule that both hands have to be your own. Unless you tell me otherwise, I will assume you didn't draw your weapon and then drop it so you could climb.

On taking 10 - that makes sense to me. Regarding the accelerated climb at -5, I remembered it as adding 5 to the DC - sorry, should have included that in the roll. And regarding the axe, I stated that Cueta was going to grip it in her mouth on the climb up. I'm happy with her drawing her weapon, either from her mouth or otherwise, as a move action when she gets up top. Thanks!

Sorry I missed the mouth. It all works out then. At any rate, there's noone to bash at the top.

Ben is suprised to have the Kuru die so quickly. He is even more suprise when Cueta bounces past him and scrambles up the hole the Kuru came down.

"I only saw one other than this one here." he says indicating the dead Kuru.

He sheaths his rapier and prepares to follow Cueta up the hole. "I didn't expect this one to die so easy. I didn't think the other one would run either." Ben says bending down to examing the dead Kuru.

perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18

Round 2

Gair shrugs, "They can't all be mindless. But we should press forward or they're like to just start dumping fire on us or something..."

As Ceuta begins to ascend, Gair slings his axe and moves underneath her, ready to go next.

Round 3
As Ceuta nears the top of the hole, Gair pushes off the wall and begins to lithely pull himself up the tunnel, moving quickly with confident movements.

Climb - Accelerated: 1d20 + 6 - 5 ⇒ (19) + 6 - 5 = 20

He has more trouble squeezing through the hole at the top but leaving a little skin behind on the rim he is able to push through. I'm unsure how far I am able to make it into the room in one round?

Now that we've decided we're going up..

Round 3

Vallen sighs, hesitating before he follows Gair up the hole. Ugh, I cannot believe we are climbing up the privy. This is disgusting.

"Ugh. I don't care how long this has been a tunnel- at some point, there was a dwarf up there relieving himself in this hole. Is no one else bothered by this?"

Clenching his teeth, the dwarf finds some hand-holds and begins his ascent after the kellid. Don'tthinkaboutit Don'tthinkaboutit Don'tthinkaboutit

Taking 10 on a climb check. Vallen has all his gear with him and his shield out, so he's at a -3 for climbing right now. I don't expect him to be chasing after any Kuru.

Kal'Tos will be the last up, taking 10 on his climb check.

Just a note but there's no way you can climb with a heavy shield on your arm Vallen, need both hands free.

Gair glances at the dwarf below him, "I'd be a lot easier not to think about it if we climbed silently Vallen..."

Once at the top, Gair moves down the tunnel first to make room for the others to follow.

Hurrr you're right, I forgot about that. Good thing it doesn't matter at the moment... We'll say he put the shield away then.

Vallen harrumphs, mumbling under his breath about how no one is concerned about cleanliness around here.

As Vallen mumbles his way up to the wall, Cueta leans over the hole and helps Gair up into the hall, grinning at Vallen. "If we do well here, perhaps one day there are many more dwarven arses perching in this lovely tunnel. Hand me my bill and javelin, please."

New map drawn. The light grey is dim light, the dark grey is darkness. Vallen's shield and Ben's rock are your sources of light, though there is still a torch. You also can't really see much except what is directly in front of you at this point, because you're still back in the small tunnel. I may have gotten you guys out of order, but I think that's how you were, feel free to sort yourselves out.

The narrow hall to the exit opens up ahead into a much larger space with vaulted ceilings. While the construction is clearly dwarven, it is equally clearly foreign to Vallen and Kal'Tos. On the wall across are ancient dwarven bas-relief depicting teams of dwarves working on a massive construction, though what they are building is unclear from what you are able to see.

even not being slowed down by how tight the tunnel is it takes Ben two turns to get to the top. Ben will take ten on the climb checks

When ben gets to the top he looks around. "Hey Vallen you were right it was a crapper!" Ben takes the glowing rock from his pouch and draws his rapier. He moves forty feet ahead of the group scouting the way.

perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26 not worrying about stealth since they already know we are here.

Given the rate of climbing, the need for each person reaching the top to move away to allow the next person to have somewhere to climb to, and my own preferences, I am saying it will take a round per person to climb through the hole and sort yourselves out. Cueta reached the top round 3, Gair reaches the top round 4, followed by Vallen, Kal'Tos, Ben, Manari and Bern on rounds 5-9.

@ Ben, sorry I didn't catch your search post yesterday.

Lastly, descending will either require a climb check (DC 5. Medium characters squeezing) or an acrobatics check (DC 15) to drop straight down as part of a move.

1d20 ⇒ 14

Ben gives the dead kuru a quick search, finding a pair of stone throwing axes and a hide shirt, made once again of humanoid skin. The creature also wears a necklace of teeth on a thin strip of leather.

Once the group has ascended and sorted themselves out, Ben advances to the head of the group, but before he gets much further, he hears breathing, and guesses that there are Kuru waiting to ambush the group as they come into the larger room.

"Aye Ben, it's clear as the summermelt of the Five King's Mountains! Fitting for the Kuru to travel in such a way, eh?"

As Vallen climbs the hole, he grins back at Cueta. "Hmph, it would certainly make whomever constructed this privy happy, to be sure. As for your spears..." He calls down to the bottom of the pit and they relay Ceuta's bill and javelin back to her.

Standing in the corner, he creates a small amount of water to wash his hands with, drying them on his robes. The dwarf straps his shield to his arm and pulls out his warhammer, knowing the hope of the weapon not seeing any action today is a slim one.

Trodding out into the hall, he raises his shield up to shine light on the stonework, a curious smile creeping across his face. "Hmmmm... this is clearly dwarf work, but this masonry style... I've never seen anything like it before." Following Gair around the corner, he attempts to look past him and the halfling as Ben's light shines on the bas-relief.

The cleric gasps softly, a prayer to Torag on his lips for delivering more civilization to him. He pushes at Gair a little bit in his excitement to see the artistry. "Do you see that relief?! I must get a closer look! Come on, let's move!" He mutters loudly, raising his shield up to cast more light.

"Oi there are Kuru waiting to jump us when we go out into the hall." Ben says to the others."I am going to spring their trap."

Ben throws the glowing stone out into the hall and goes tumbling after it. Bouncing to his feet in a fencing stance his rapier raised on guard. "TA-DAH"
acrobatics: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (12) + 11 = 23

I'm assuming a double move, Ben, as tumbling is at half speed and you'll need to go all the way across the room to avoid full attacks.

Vallen & Kal'Tos, I'll give you each epic weapons if you'll put info like AC, initiative, saves etc in a little header the way the non-dwarves have. That way, I don't have to look at your profiles every time I roll initiative or attack you or anything of that sort.

The rest of the party has the initiative.

Just as Cueta's starting to formulate a plan, the halfling takes off, flipping and sliding through the doorway. Sighing, the Mwangi drops her javelin and hustles after Ben, swinging her bill as much as possible in the hallway to ward off any attacks.

Free action: drop the javelin.
Move action: 25' into the room, provoking at least two AoO.
Standard Action: attack with the bill while fighting defensively.

If I can use the defensive fighting bonus against the AoOs, my AC will be 18. Otherwise, it is a 15.

defensive bill attack!: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (2) - 1 = 1
damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

I'm assuming a double move, Ben, as tumbling is at half speed and you'll need to go all the way across the room to avoid full attacks.

Vallen & Kal'Tos, I'll give you each epic weapons if you'll put info like AC, initiative, saves etc in a little header the way the non-dwarves have. That way, I don't have to look at your profiles every time I roll initiative or attack you or anything of that sort.

** spoiler omitted **

The rest of the party has the initiative.

I will do it when I am on a computer instead of my phone, also waiting for people in front of me to move first.

Vallen & Kal'Tos, I'll give you each epic weapons if you'll put info like AC, initiative, saves etc in a little header the way the non-dwarves have. That way, I don't have to look at your profiles every time I roll initiative or attack you or anything of that sort.

This is an attack on traditional dwarven ways! Kal'tos, we're being repressed by the GM- Forcing us to conform to non-dwarf standards! I would be deeply offended if I wasn't getting an epic weapon, which suddenly makes me very agreeable. I like how Ben does his header, I'm going to shamelessly steal it.

I'm waiting for Gair to go first so he doesn't have a dwarf in the way.

AoO: 1d20 ⇒ 9
AoO: 1d20 ⇒ 5

Cueta safely makes it past the Kuru without anyone hurting anyone else, thank Lamashtu.

While Ceuta draws the Kuru's attention, Gair rushes out hot on her heels, bringing his axe around in a wide arc against the Kuru to the right of the passageway.

Move Action : Advance
Standard Action : Attack k2

Greataxe - PA: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21
Damage: 1d12 + 4 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 4 + 3 = 15

Round 1

Vallen sees Ben slide past the Kuru, tumble, and catch his rock in a marvelous display of halfling dexterity. "What?! Droskar's pits, are you mad Ben?! Cueta! You- Ah, Gair!" As the dwarf suddenly finds himself standing in the hallway as others rush to battle in front of him, he looks around in a panic before cursing and going around the corner.

Rushing down the corridor he shouts "Torag, bless these lunatics, and bless my hammer!" Seeing Gair turn to the right and swing his axe, he raises his shield up on his left side as he comes into the hallway, catching sight of kuru legs beyond it. The priest yells and swings in a wide arc, attempting to bash the sharkteeth repeatedly in the hip.

Move Action: 20' move down hallway

Standard action: Attack Kuru #3 with warhammer

Warhammer on Kuru #3: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 1 = 18

Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

"Coming threw, Vallen" Kal'Tos yells as he pushes out of the opening into the room.

double move, also updated stats

Gair (as usual) hacks one of the kuru down in a single blow, and Vallen bashes a second hard enough that you hear bone breaking, but it doesn't seem to stop him. They howl, the noise echoing down the hallway to the west, and you hear answering howls from that direction, though it is hard to tell from how far away. You see no other light.

Now that you're in the space, you can see much more detail. You're in what was once a grand hall, 20' wide and tall, decorated with dwarven carvings in massive 20' tall wide panels, depicting the creation of a massive, fortified sea wall by dwarves. It encloses a harbor surrounded by cliffs, into which is built the entrance to an underground palace. To the east, the dwarven armies prepare to meet their enemy, but the hall ends a short way down. The wall there simply depicts a nine-headed sea dragon with mouths open. To the west, the construction begins, but what lies beyond that you can't tell.

Each of the kuru swings and each lands a blow. Each misses with the second swing. Vallen takes 11 hps, Cueta takes 3hps

Bern rushes into the hall, squeezing past the dwarves into the first available space, and Manari advances to the entrance of the hall, casting a spell.

Players up.

Why does Vallen always get the s!$$ kicked out of him whenever he goes into melee? I'm staying back with my acid darts and crossbow. Oh, no wonder, I'm being flanked. It was stupid of me to stop there. I have no where to go and can't cast a heal without an AoO, so I hope everything dies this round.

Round 2

As Vallen slams his hammer into the kuru, the crunch of bone makes him believe he has disabled his foe. His eyes widen as he catches sight of the relief once more, and the dwarf is taken in by it. The cleric rapidly realizes dropping his guard was an unfortunate mistake as axes slash across his chest and back, causing him to scream in agony.

Staggering, the dwarf's scream of pain turns to one of rage as he locks his hammmer's shaft into his elbow and brings the head up between the kuru's legs with a sickening crunch. "This place belongs to the dwarves!" He yells, blood now staining his yellow beard.

Standard action:Warhammer on Kuru #3

Warhammer on kuru #2: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21
Threat: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3 Poop
Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Whoa! Vallen's getting hardcore!

"Bern, go for its legs and I'll go for its head!"

Cueta spins as the kuru slashes at her, dodging most of its attack while stepping back and swinging her bill in a wide arc towards the creature's face/

5' step, move action: FB on k4, standard action: PA on k4

PA, FB kuru 4: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20
damage: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 6 + 1 = 24
EDIT: whoops, you don't roll a d20 for damage, unfortunately!: 1d8 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 6 + 1 = 15

Yeah, they really picked you as a focus this time mate, at least it wasn't a crit like you usually suffer :P

Round 2

Seeing the last Kuru on the right sacrifice good positioning against him to smash Vallen, Gair steps in to take advantage, pressing the Kuru back towards the dwarf's swinging hammer and taking the enemy in the hip with his axe, pinning it's body to the wall.

His head swings around to the darkness at the other end of the hall, "Quickly, we need to be ready when the others arrive!"

5ft-Step : Move to Flank
Standard Action : Attack k1

Greataxe - PA: 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 5 + 2 = 16
Damage: 1d12 + 4 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 4 + 3 = 15

Between Kal'Tos and Ben the last one should be toast.

I think everyone is killed. Or will be once Kal'Tos makes his swing. So I will wait and see what happens with him.

Seeing only one Kuru still a threat Kal'tos swings his hammer at him.

1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15 for 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8 dmg

"That went better than I expected, but you guys didn't leave any of them for me." Ben says with a scowl. "We have more company coming. How do you want to play it? we could retreat back into the crapper so they can only come at us one at a time or we could fight em right here what do you all think?"

Gair wipes the blood and viscera off his axe, giving Ben a shrug, "Next time less tumbling, more stabbing my friend."

"I'd prefer to have some space for my axe, we should wait to see how many of them have come to greet us. We'll make a stand here...if it comes to it we can fall back into the passageway."

"You killed everyone in a matter of seconds. There was no time for stabbing."

The kellid warrior smirks and jerks his head at the two kuru he personally felled, "Plenty of time for chopping..."

Life ... Bah. Sorry for the hold up.

Vallen repeats his attack, just grazing the kuru, but apparently in just the right spot, for the creature spits blood on its way to the floor. Gair demonstrates proper ax-handling techniques and rains red down on the group as he splits another log ... er ... enemy down the middle. Cueta swings her bill in what at first seems to be an impossible blow, but turns out to have been merely lethal.

For convenience's sake, sticking with initiative order. Kal'Tos, your guy was dead before your post, so feel free to retcon if you want to take another action.

As if in response to the last body falling, the sound of kuru screaming in the distance seems to grow louder, and a window of light appears far down the corridor. Figures appear in the light, racing down the hall towards you. You see seven.

At the end of this round, they are 300 feet away from the Red Line of Death

"One of them is mine," Bern growls. He steps down the hall, readying his axe.

Manari looks at the battlefield and smiles.

"I can shoot or try to slow their charge," she says.

Kal'Tos moves to anchor the battle line.

Round 1

As the last of the kuru collapse on the ground, Vallen turns his attention to the screaming line of Kuru hurtling toward them. He begins pointing and giving orders, his blood-caked beard a grizzly sight. "These are dwarf tunnels, so we fight like dwarves! Make a line!"

He sweeps his arm across the hall where Bern has stepped up. "Gair, Cueta, get flush with Kal'tos and Bern. Put your weapon in front of you, toss your javelins, axes, or whatever you got until you're out, then stonewall their charge! Manari, get behind Kal'tos, slow them! Ben, get behind Bern, use your sling!"

The dwarf moves to the back middle of the line, scooping up some pebbles. He runs his fingers over them, whispering a prayer to Torag. "Torag, bless this stone, worked by the hands of your children. Let it strike true and fell our enemies so we may reclaim these halls in your name." As they take their position in line, Vallen gives three pebbles to Ben. "Use these in your sling- they are blessed by Torag's power."

The halfling can easily tell that the priest's hands are shaking.

Move Action: Move behind the defensive line.
Standard Action: Cast Magic Stone on pebbles.

Ben, you have three shots that have an extra +1 to hit and if they hit deal 1d6+1 + your str damage.

Cueta is out for the day- I imagine her moving up in front of Vallen, so I put her there. Does everyone have a ranged weapon or two for a volley?

Ben sheaths his rapier and takes his sling from its pouch. He moves up behind Kaltos and loads one of the stones Vallen gave him into his sling.
"If you'd given me a chance I could have gotten out some sling bullets for you to enchant" Ben says to Vallen as he waits for the Kuru to get into range.

attack: 1d20 + 4 + 1 - 1 - 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 + 1 - 1 - 4 = 15 Ben will fire the first stone When the Kuru are at 150 ft, three range increments -4, and -1 for using stones instead of sling bullets.
1d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5 1d6+1+ strength bonus of 1

Vallen shakes his head, as he looks down the hallway at the approaching Kuru. Their fierce forms charging in the glowing red light will surely follow him to his dreams tonight, if he lasts the day. "Only works on rough stones- I promise they will fly as true and hit harder than bullets."

You treat the stones as sling bullets Ben, no -1 though I think you hit regardless.

Round 1

Gair spares an impresses look as Vallen lays out a plan before stepping into the line with the others. Shifting his axe to his left hand he pulls the Kuru Javelin from his back and holds it ready to throw, "Steady Bern, let them come to you."

5ft-Step : Move into line
Move Action : Draw Javelin

I'll hold off on setting a range to throw until I see how they are going to advance. Hopefully they will run.

Eyes on the Kuru, Gair responds to Manari, "The bow I think, let them charge recklessly. We will meet them with steel."

Round 1

Placing the butt-end of her bill on the floor and using it to balance, Cueta leans her body back into a shotputter's stance, holding the javelin behind her, ready to spring forward placing her weight into the bill and throwing the javelin with all her might.

Move action: draw javelin, move action: move into position

In subsequent rounds Cueta will hold her position until the first Kuru comes within 50', then activate freebooter's bane on the kuru and throw the javelin at it.

javelin toss!: 1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 3 + 1 = 18
damage: 1d6 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 3 + 1 = 8

@ Ben & Cueta, You've got darkness (50% miss chance) until 40' out and dim light (20%) until 20'.

1d100 ⇒ 97
1d100 ⇒ 99

OK, never mind. Added their position as of the end of this round. They are 120' back from the red line o' death.

The kuru drop their torches, running through the darkness towards you. Ben launches a sling stone into the darkness, and is rewarded by the sound of a pained grunt.

Ben loads another enchanted stone into his sling and whips it into the darkness at the charging Kuru. I am guessing they would be within 100 feet by the time he gets his sling reloaded

miss chance: 1d100 ⇒ 52
attack: 1d20 + 4 + 1 - 1 - 2 ⇒ (11) + 4 + 1 - 1 - 2 = 13
damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8