The Pyramid of Shadows (Inactive)

Game Master PathlessBeth

I thought the rats would get to act again before my turn came up. At any rate, the nausea was only supposed to last for 1 round so Mundarion should be fully functional now. What happens next partially depends on where the rats are. If they followed Mundarion at their best speed they should only be 5 feet away from him. In which case ...

Mundarion gives a brief prayer of thanks to the Sovereign Host as the nausea passes. Turning around to face the rats Mundarion casts Color Spray at the swarm trying to get as many rats as possible in its area of effect. It may be that he might have to take a 5 foot step back in order to get best effect and he would do so if he had to.

ASF Check: 1d100 ⇒ 37

Mundarion gives another brief prayer of thanks to the Sovereign Host as the spell goes off without a hitch. If instead Mundarion had to move back closer to the rats in order to target them he would have done so. If Mundarion still has a move action left he will hold his position and draw his club, if not he will simply wait and see what happens.

The nausea lasts one round, and started on the rats turn, so it ends on the rats next turn. Mundarion is still nauseous for this turn.

Never mind then. I thought they went before I did. At any rate, given that situation ...

Mundarion simply continues moving farther from the rats as best he can, trying not to throw up. Towards/along the corridor to the northwest.

De'Arv'Ki's acid doesn't go far enough, landing to the east of the rats...in the pit! Yessai and the Charnel Lord each take 1 point of acid damage.

Don't I have to make an attack roll to see if that actually hit someone, instead of just splash damage?

Nope:)
As a splash weapon, it does splash damage even on a miss. You missed your intended target (the rats), and there is no chance for it to hit a different target.
Yessai, Gemheart, and Thomas still have another turn before the rats.

Ah, must have been a house rule...

Ahem. Check page 202 of the Core Rulebook.

Thanks,

If you miss the target... After you determine where

the weapon landed, it deals splash damage to all creatures
in that square and in all adjacent squares.

No second attack roll needed.

[ooc]Thanks Midioto!!![/b]

The githyanki finds her footing quickly after being deposited back in the corridor by the resourceful Elan.

Yess calls in Elvish to the head Dee is carrying:

Then Yess retreats toward the stairs.

Free Action: Speak to head.

Move Action: Retreat!!!

The Head of Vyrellis calls back

Yessai runs back towards the door!

Gemheart and Thomas still need to declare actions.

Ah, yes. i see mundarion. been a while since i last used a grenade-like weapon, my current character is a 13-lvl fighter in an evil campaign who uses a greatsword to kill the 8 creatures flanking him in one attack... I've pushed his Melee Attack Bonus to +32, with a crit range of 18-20/(x2 or x3, i forget), and great cleave feat, so pretty much the only weapon that i use is his sword... he was hopeless the one time he lost it >_<

Also @midio

Also, I can take Des turn, based off of his earlier intent.

come on buddy, its a SHE!!! >_<. Says it just below my name tag too >_<. lol, will never be known as a she even after all these months >_<.

Maybe I should put a Girdle of Opposite Gender somewhere in the Pyramid, just to confuse y'all more:)

Someone else can take Gemheart's turn for him.

Man, thats just making me think of OOTS pgs 234-249 >_<. great comic, read it if you haven't, lots of old school D&D jokes in it

And if you have read it, check out the part of the comic that is only in the books. OOTS: Start of Darkness is the most important one beyond the online portion of the comic.
What were we talking about again? Oh, right, Gemheart's and Thomas' turns against a magically infused otyugh who may or may not be significant in the balance of factions within the Pyramid, while much of the group has agreed on following the OOTS' oldest tactic of RUN AWAY!

Gemheart climbed out of the pit and last I recall was waiting on which way we were deciding on running, while the trap-touchers were deciding what to do with that.

Thomas will move away from the pit ten feet and then press his holy symbol to his wounds while muttering a prayer.

Cast CLW
Cure Light Wounds: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

The rats swarm past Mundarion, towards the door on the west...
swarm damage: 1d6 ⇒ 2
DC 16 fortitude save or be nauseated.
...leaving a clear path for Mundarion to move to the edge of the pit.
You can act out of initiative now, unless you are trying to go to the northwest door past the rats, you are essentially out of combat.

Fort save: 1d20 ⇒ 6

Still feeling like he's going to throw up any second, Mundarion staggers back towards the edge of the pit. Giving thanks as he does so that the rats seem to have sensed something they liked more than him.

Also @midio

Midio wrote:

Also, I can take Des turn, based off of his earlier intent.

come on buddy, its a SHE!!! >_<. Says it just below my name tag too >_<. lol, will never be known as a she even after all these months >_<.

Acually i was referring to you as a player :) now that i think of it, that was a baseless assumption...

Mundarion, still recovering from nausea and striving mightily not to barf on his friend, simply says, "Thanks."

Midio safely brings Mundarion across the pit. Everyone is safe!
Have you all decided which direction you are going?

Any chance of a map, however rough, DMB?

Yess stops upon hearing the diminutive Elan hailing her. She returns to the group looking worn and dejected.

"Where to now? I think we may need to rest and recuperate, and, [here smiles wryly] quite possibly, form some strategies for working as a better group."

Mundarion recalls Nightwing. The little owl comes flying back and takes his normal spot on Mundarion's shoulder. Mundarion says:

"Unless the otyugh can climb out of the pit we can probably just stay here for now. As far as other things go, we were very fortunate that no one got killed. I would strongly suggest that whoever we put on point have some ability to detect traps before they are triggered. Which likely means that I should take point. Granted there's no guarantee that I won't end up occasionally finding a trap the hard way myself. But at least I have a more reasonable chance at dealing with them."

"Beyond that I would only suggest that we head north which is where Karavakos is supposed to be. If we do end up deciding to kill something off, I would vote that we take out the Ettin. That would give us control of the corpse pit and all the supplies we can loot from the bodies. We could also see what Vyrelis could do with more of a body than just a head."

Yess nods in support.

"I vote we abolish the Ettin also. I had hoped to trick it into helping us face whatever plant monstrosity is on the wall it showed me, but it seemed hesitant and considerably untrusting. If only we could poison the body once it is dispatched and feed it to this thing, [indicates otyugh pit though it seems completely resilient to most damage, magic or not..."

More importantly, is anyone wounded? I offer the healing powers my Goddess has granted me.

Ya, anyone who wants some healing feel free to roll for my wand of CLW until your full

Mundarion is down 6 hit points so he'll take a charge off the wand.

Cure light wounds from wand: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

And Mundarion is now back at full health, assuming I figured that right as somebody has to be 5th level to make a wand.

Mundarion thanks Thomas for using the wand on him.

Gemheart will slowly heal himself with his repair ability. It'll take over one minute.

@Mundarion - as per THIS post from DMB answering my question on the same subject, CLW wands are 1d8+1 per charge.

CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4
CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Close enough/that will do. Thanks Thomas!!!

Ok, I'll adjust accordingly. Leaves Mundarion still down three hit points, but a decent night's rest will handle that.

The room turns out to be a surprisingly safe place to rest. The Charnel Lord growls at you for awhile but eventually settles down to eating at the floor of the pit. By the time you are fully rested the dragonborn still have not caught up with you--they are presumeably either still in the sahugin's room or went in a different direction.

While resting the Head of Vyrellis shares some of her knowledge of the Pyramid and its origins feel free to discuss with her for as much or as little time as you want. Either way, you all get the benefits of a night's rest.

"All of this smells of the Grrrreygem to me... But chaos has no parrrrt in this, nearrrr as i can tell... Thank you, Guarrrrd-Knight-Thomas, yourrrr healing would be prrrraise by mishakal, she of the Blue crrrrystal staff..."
CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4
CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7
CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
And i get exactly how much healing i needed O.o...

Mundarion takes the time to talk to Vyrelis and ask her some questions.

Oh, from now on: whoever is holding the Head gets a +2 bonus to Knowledge (Arcana, History, and Religion), and can make checks for those skills untrained.
In a somewhat haughty voice, Vyrelis answers Mundarion
I'm going to drop the spoilers, since everyone can speak Elvish

"Just what, exactly, are you?"

"What do I look like? A decapitated head, magically entrapped in a gem. "

"If we can somehow transfer you into one of the relatively intact bodies from the corpse pit, could you make it work?"

"Not unless you broke the spell sealing me in here. However...I lost my body at the same time I came to the Pyramid, so my true body might be around here somewhere."

"You have spoken of factions within the pyramid. Which faction, if any, are you associated with?"

"I have little relations with any of them."

"If we take out the Ettin, how is that going to affect our getting along with the various factions?"

With an odd smile, she responds

"I was told there was something in the pyramid that could be used to help with some rather serious problems affecting my homeland of Cyre. Do you have any idea what that might be?"

[b]I know nothing of your "Cyre," so I cannot answer adequately.

Mundarion asks (in Elvish), "How would we recognize your true body if we found it? Did you initially arrive in the corpse pit or another location? "

Question for the GM, the voice that told Mundarion about the item in the pyramid that could help Cyre wasn't Vyrelis's voice, was it?

Nope, it was Karvokos' voice.
"When I was brought into the Pyramid, I came into the same room you arrived in, though the pit was at the time not filled with corpses. My body is not in that pit, however, it was moved, I know not where. I do not know how you would recognize it, beyond being a headless Eladrin corpse."

Perrrrhaps a birrrrthmarrrrk or blemish, Vyrrrrelis? Some otherrrr identifying physical marrrrkings?

After everyone is fit, Thomas will heal himself and start talking to the head.

wand of CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4
wand of CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9
wand of CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
and I also got exactly how much I needed 0_o

To the head:

What proof do we actually have that we can trust you? I mean, what did you even do to get sent here and locked in that little crystal?

At least it's not a hand we're talking to. :-)

Turning in the gem towards Thomas, she responds
"Strange of you to be questioning how I got here, when you do not even know how you got here. You are presumptuous indeed.
If it will satisfy your curiosity, the entrance to the Pyramid appeared at the same place and time I was beheaded."

Mundarion comments, "Which then raises the obvious questions of who was beheading you and why? It's not like it's the sort of thing that would be a standard present for a wedding anniversary. You must have seriously torqued somebody off to get that kind of a response."

Yessai listens along, interjecting with a question of her own.

"And if the entrance appeared at your beheading, why then are your head AND body located here? Or is your head not here? Is your executioner to be found in the Pyramid also?"

With a solemn tone, Vyrellis answers simply
"I was murdered by Karvokos himself."

"Bic ni skana'din, my sympathies to you, Vyrrrrellis"

At least it's not a hand we're talking to. :-)

or a soccer ball :p

Mundarion turns to Midio and says, "Have you already forgotten what happened the last time you tried to do something like that? Either leave it alone or port me over there and I'll check it out and retrieve it."

Are you sure about trusting this guy Midito, we met him in a place meant to imprison a great evil after all. to the head
Well since you seem to know so much about this place, care to elaborate on those factions you mentioned earlier?

Getting the amulet on the other side of the room would require passing the rats as well as the pit/trapped floor. You can still do it if you want.

Turning indignantly to Thomas, Vyrellis responds sharply
"Well, since you feel little trust towards me, what difference would my knowledge make to you?"
Slightly softer, she continues
"It has been a long time since I left the entry chamber, and factions rise and fall in the Pyramid, thus I am not aware of the details of the current factions.
I shall tell you, however, that there is a large tribe of plant-like humanoids to the south, and they are eager to conquer this floor of the Pyramid. To the far north, beyond what you have already seen, there is a temple which used to be shared by Vecna, Pharasma, and Boccob, though I heard another group has moved in.
There is also a group of dragonborn who came just a few weeks before you, somewhere to the northeast.
That is on this floor, there are three other floors in the Pyramid."