The Red Arm of Absalom - Ongoing Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master GM Red

"Ugh!" Cup looks greener than usual. She dry heaves a bit, trying not to make this house even more disgusting than it already is. "I think that a thorough search of this room will be needed once we're through here, if for nothing else than to ID the bodies this blood came from. I fear for the fate of Gellion's parents, or any pets he might have once had. For now, let my invisible servant lead the way upstairs."

"However, a promise is a promise." Cup nods to some of the boys. "Will you gents pick up the front door for me?" She pulls out her solid note wand and sings into being a sturdy and grounded whole note of C flat, putting the fat note up in the air over the door handle where it can just sit, holding the door in place. The note is emerald green, the color of fresh shoots of spring grass. ♫ Do!! ♫

It is the only bright and cheery thing in this place, but it immediately makes her feel better. "Before we go up there, I'd like to sing again. I think we'll need it. Do the rest of you have enough light? I'm rather good at seeing in the dark, but I know that most people aren't."

Sirettis watches the two forks fly through the room. "Miss Poshkettle, you have planned well for this investigation"

One look in the kitchen, and Sirettis turns away. "I have felt like this before..." She takes a seat to calm her stomach. "One of my owners experimented frequently on the dead. She didn't mind the smell, but I wasn't allowed to object."

A minute later she stands back up. "Mr. Peppers had a potent source of light. I will follow."

Marching order would seem like Uesugi and Gallix -> D and Corsac -> Sirettis, Peppers, and Cup, with Cup's servant opening all doors and Mr. Peppers as the light source for those without darkvision. Sound good? I'll pause to allow Cup some time to compose a foreboding tune for the walk upstairs.. evil laugh.

Preparing to move to the second floor Uesugi pauses and turns to the little gnome. "Can the servant not hold the light for us and lead the way. It would be safe to have the light and the your servant about 3 paces away?"

I would say have Cup use her dancing lights and also have the unseen servant lead the group about 10 feet ahead of us

Order seems good to me.

Her owners?
That sounds like slavery.

Cup grins at Sirettis's first comment. "I like the Unseen Servant spell. It keeps things tidy and it can also fetch things that people drop when I disarm them with my whip. If things weren't so dire, I'd have this one help clean that kitchen."

The second one makes her blink and pat the little sylph on the hand. "Sirettis, that sounds positively awful! I'm glad you're not owned by such terrible people anymore."

At Uesugi's request, she sends dancing lights up the stairs along with the unseen servant.

♫ Up the stairs
Without delay
At least we can't
Lose our way
Up the stairs
And who can say
What's waiting up above us?
Up the stairs
With a bit of dread
'Cause Gellion's
Sick in his head....
Never can tell
What lies ahead
For all that we know
He's already dead.
But up the dark stairs
Up the dark stairs
Up the dark stairs
In the dark creepy house
Exploring in the dark! ♫

Inspire Courage +1 to attack and damage!

Source: Into The Woods - Prologue Into The Woods

The house is small enough, so we'll approximate rounds for Inspire. This would be 1 round.

You ascend the creaky wooden stairs up into the second floor of Gellion's house. The hallways are stark and tidy in contrast to the lower floor, and Cup's dancing lights brighten up the laminated floor and taupe walls. Portraits of Gellion and his parents dot the walls, although several of them have been smashed and some frames hang with no pictures in them at all.

At the end of the hallway is a door, and another short hallway extends east towards a window with two more doors.

Cup's servant pushes open the first door ahead, revealing a storeroom. The shelves have been ripped off the wall and lie in a heap on the floor, along with their now-wrecked former contents: bloody linens, a broken broom, and other ruined household supplies. Past the storeroom is a tidy washroom that appears oddly untouched by the surrounding messy chaos.

Except...

As you enter the washroom, the mirror falls off the wall, revealing a nasty, scrawled message written in blood in childlike writing:

You know nothing! You ruined everything! Your friends hate you! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!

Mr Peppers, peeking in over the heads and shoulders of the shorts of the group, grimaces at the sight of the writing. "Whoever created that creature downstairs likely wrote that about themselves. There's some serious issues needing to be resolved here."

He takes a mental note to take notes on all these things in here once they've secured the home.

That room's done with. Which door would Cup's servant like to open first? The one to the north, or the one to the south? Or roll 1d2!

"That poor boy, and poor everyone else associated with him! I hope we can save him along with the others." Cup points to the north. "Let's see what other surprises this dreadful house holds!"

"This place is like a nightmare," says Gallix as he steps into the storeroom and sees the gruesome writing. "Let's get on with this and get out of here."

The door to the north creaks open as Cup's invisible servant pushes on it.

This large bedroom is full of upturned furniture and decorations knocked from the shelves and walls. Every painting has been smashed from its frame and torn to pieces. Sitting on the otherwise undisturbed master bed is a single journal.

The contents of the journal are quite mundane - they're simply a record of the family's life from day to day. What isn't mundane, however, is every page containing the message Our son is an awful disappointment written over in blood.

The most recent entries in the journal show the writer implying concern for their son. It mentions that he was spending too much time on his experiments, not eating well, and that he seemed distant from his friends and parents.

"Unfortunate. Gellion seems...consumed." Sirettis states a fact. "What experiments was he working on? The automation we fought? Maybe he stumbled upon the Demon's Bile and it is affecting his mind."

Once the party is done, she waits outside the final room's door.

Cup shakes her head as she sees the journal, but sends her unseen servant to open the southern door.

"I suppose this is where we'll find what's left of his parents," she says, sadly. "Unless... it was all in the kitchen. Can someone bag the journal? It's not his, but it might give us some more insight into Gelly's mind and where he'd hide things."

Burning next round of Bardic Performance.

The door to the final room upstairs opens to reveal a much different scene.

The small room contains a simple bed, desk, and chair. Thick webs cover the west end of the room, where the bed sits.

Two humanoid forms appear trapped within the thick webs.

Sticky, purplish-black strands cling to the desk and chair on the east side of the room, except in one spot where the strange filaments have left a clear space around a small piece of metal.

You recognize the strands as Demon's Bile!

Next to the Demon's Bile are two mutant spiders, who are quickly alerted to the open door and the sound of seven people sneaking through the hallway.. They scurry towards you, looking rather hungry.

_____

Spiders and Bile, Round 1
Cup, Corsac, Sirettis, and Uesugi are up
D, Mr. Peppers
Red and green spiders
Gallix

Cup moves to where she can see, then double moves out so that the others can act in tight quarters.

Knowledge Nature: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23

"Those are giant spiders, tainted by the bile! They have resistance to spells, fire, and cold, and they're poisonous."

Free action: Maintain inspire courage bardic performance

"Think those are the parents?"

Corsac aims at one of the spiders and fires his musket, then proceeds to reload.

Ranged Touch Attack: 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 5 + 1 = 25
Damage: 1d12 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Edited: Thanks Cup!

Don't forget that I'm burning rounds of Inspire Courage! +1 to attack and damage.

D. takes in the disturbances quite casually.

"This family had issues unspoken of.
That would make one wonder, doesn't it."

When seeing the bed, he finds it odd.
"Things are in disarray in the rest of the house, yet a journal lies neatly on an unused master bed. That seems planted to me."

Uesugi moves down the hall rather than enter the room. "The room favours them. We must attack on a ground of our choosing let the creatures come to face us out here."

Move down the hall and ready an attack for the first spider that comes through it

"We should move quickly to help the parents." She prepares to glare at one of the spiders as she moves to the back of the hallway.

Readying a Slumber Hex on the first spider to get within my line of sight.

Blaster, you don't have line of sight from where you are. I take it you wouldn't want to move too close to them to gain LoS, so did you want to instead ready that attack if one steps past the door?

D and Mr. Peppers are up.

It looks like i can see the door opening, but at cover penalty.

D. accelerates a grain of sand, ready to fling it at s spider.
Readied sand bullet, inspire: 1d20 + 5 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (16) + 5 + 1 - 4 = 18Pew, inspire: 1d6 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 5 + 1 = 10

Mr Peppers shuffles to the side and launches a missile from his trusty wand. Pew Pew Wand + Caster Check: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 81d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

"This outta draw them out! Well.. maybe."

Well, he did say he's going to be tied up this weekend, so I'll take Blaster's actions as readied actions and move him to be able to see out the door.

Will save: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18
The first of the two mutated spiders scurries into the hallway and is subject to an onslaught of attacks. Uesugi's blade misses it, Sirettis can't manage to put it to sleep, but both D and Mr. Peppers' projectiles slam into its frail body.

Recovering from the hits, the spider goes for a chomp of Uesugi.
Bite: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 101d6 ⇒ 1
... With little success.

Red moves up and Corsac unleashes a blast at it from his musket, easily hitting it even through cover.

Bite vs FF: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 161d6 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8
Red's fangs sink deeply into Gallix's ankle and venom courses into the brawler.

Gallix, a DC 14 Fort save please. And you're up!

GM, since there are no monster actions between Cup, Sirettis and Gallix...

Untrained Heal Aid Another, Sirettis: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (16) + 0 = 16
+4 to Sirettis heal roll to treat poison on Gallix.

"Sirettis, quick! Suck on Gallix's finger and spit that poison out!"

Sirettis, if you can beat the poison DC of 14, you can give Gallix a +4 on his fort roll. You have a +9 with my aid now, so chances are really good that you can help!

Cup continues to inspire courage as a free action.

"Yes." Sirettis is quick to remove the poison.

Heal, with Assists: 1d20 + 4 + 9 ⇒ (7) + 4 + 9 = 20

Way to go guys. I hope he makes that save!

Corsac and Uesugi may also post their next round actions and I'll retrofix as needed if Gallix should take out an enemy

Oops I was in the wrong spot, for some reason I thought there was a doorway across from the other room. I adjusted my position so I had some view of the hallway.

Mr Peppers prepares to fire again if the spiders remain.
MM + Caster Check: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 = 101d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Fort: 1d20 + 3 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 3 + 4 = 17

Cestus, combat expertise: 1d20 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (7) + 4 - 1 = 10 Damage: 1d4 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

Gallix recoils from the bite and attacks the spider in turn.

With the help of Cup and Sirettis, Gallix is able to resist the effects of the fiendish spider's poison!

But unfortunately, his punch is off the mark.

Mr. Peppers' force missile blasts the red spider, adding another wound to its body.

Spiders and Bile, Round 2
Corsac, Uesugi, D are up
Red (-7) and green (-14) spiders
Gallix

I couldn't see the map before, so readied action was appropriate. Pretty much stuck with the same here, right?

If the spiders move forward, Corsac shoots it.

RTA: 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 5 + 1 = 8
Damage: 1d12 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

I had ruled that Mr. Peppers could see the spider around that corner, so I'll rule the same for your musket. It will have pretty harsh cover penalties from there, unfortunately (-4 for cover without precise shot, -4 for into melee).

Uesugi swiftly moves out of the way of the spider's biteand watches as the next spider buries its mandibles deep into the babarian's leg. Seeing the babarian manage to stay up Uesugi focuses his effort on killing the spider in front of him.

Katana slice: 1d20 + 4 + 1 - 1 ⇒ (13) + 4 + 1 - 1 = 17
damage: 1d8 + 4 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 4 + 3 + 1 = 10

if that kills the spider I'll move up 5 ft to flank the spider.

D. steps west, and flings another sand bullet at the spider.

Bullet, inspire, cover: 1d20 + 5 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (6) + 5 + 1 - 4 = 8Dmg, inspire: 1d6 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 5 + 1 = 10

Uesugi finishes off the green spider with a strike of his blade and a stomp for good measure. Hope he's got a spare pair of boots...

Corsac and D can't quite manage to hit the remaining one, however.

Gallix 1 Uesugi 2: 1d2 ⇒ 2
Bite: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 91d6 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

The spider strikes at Uesugi's leg but Uesugi pulls his feet up and escapes from its grasp unscathed.

____

Round 2
Gallix is up

Round 3
Everyone else can go as well

Not really being able to see much other than the tips of some red spider legs, Mr Peppers hollers into the hall "Everything going ok in there Uesugi?" He probably wouldn't say no if it wasn't.

He'll hold another wand blast back until he sees the spider ready to strike. MM + Caster Level Check: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 1 = 161d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Gallix looks up from the spider to see Uesugi standing directly across from him. Just like old times, he thinks as he swings his leg back to deliver a mighty kick into the spider's backside.

Unarmed Strike: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23 Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

Cup was maintaining her song, so add +1 to Gallix's damage.

Cup moves up snaps her whip, and aids Uesugi's next strike.

Whip, Aid Another: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 4 + 1 = 16
+4 to Uesugi's next strike, in addition to the courage and flanking bonuses he already has!

Hearing the Mr. Peppers call out to him he answers with a "Hai!" as the barbarian lands a kick into the creature's toughened abdomen. Seconds later he watches as the little gnome's whip cracks in front of the eyes of the spider. Katana in hand Uesugi steps into his next attack and stabs down with his blade.

Katana stab+++: 1d20 + 4 - 1 + 1 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 - 1 + 1 + 2 + 4 = 30
damage: 1d8 + 4 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 4 + 3 + 1 = 13

Katana confirm: 1d20 + 4 - 1 + 1 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 - 1 + 1 + 2 + 4 = 16
damage: 1d8 + 4 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 4 + 3 + 1 = 10

D-E-A-D

"Hello to you too."

The Red Arm unleashes a deadly succession of attacks - a solid fist from the barbarian throws the spider off guard, and Cup's whip distracts it even more, allowing Uesugi the perfect opportunity to slice off all eight legs from the creature's body. They twitch momentarily as Uesugi removes his blade from the mess, then all is quiet.

Combat is over, Red Arm style!

Sirettis considers putting the spider to sleep, but Uesugi got the job done.

"Shall we investigate the cocoons?" She pulls out a dagger. "The people may still be alive, simply restrained."

I'll take 10 on a Heal check for a total of 15. If I can't...
Heal: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

She takes a look at the cocoons, carefully inserts the blade and cuts it open.

Cleaning his blade he cautiously enters the room stepping over the corpse of the spider blocking the door. "Quickly there are two bodies in the room wrapped in spider strands. I do not know if they are are dead or alive."

perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

Corsac cleans and reloads his musket while the others are examining the corpses.

Inside the cocoons are two humans - a middle-aged woman and man. Sirettis is able to tell that they're unconscious but still alive. Numerous spider bites line their bodies.

Uesugi finds a stash of alchemical and curative items in the small chest inside the bedroom:

In the center of the Demon's Bile is a cold iron arrowhead. The bile seems to have stopped spreading where the arrowhead is, leaving a curiously clear space.

Some scribbled notes are found on the desk underneath the corruption: "Adverse reaction to cold iron. What about magic? Fire? Cold? Further trials are required."

Cup studies the unconscious bodies, pointing out with dismay the large number of spider bites. "Can we do something to help them here?"

Aid Another Heal for Sirettis to Treat Spider Poison: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (11) + 0 = 11
Knowledge Planes: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (12) + 12 = 24

+4 to Sirettis if she wants to treat the poison

Are these poor parents infected with the Demonic Bile? Any signs of a fiendish corruption on these two?

D. Steps over the spider corpse, and enters the room.

"A peculiar scene. The bile avoiding the arrow.
This is useful to know, when we see it next."

Unless someone wants it, D. would take the arrow, if it won't have adverse effects.

Sirettis draws her wand of Cure Light Wounds.

Noticing Miss Poshkettle's attempt to find the poison, Sirettis leads the way.
Heal: 1d20 + 5 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 5 + 4 = 25
"It would seem cold-forged iron can pierce the hides of those tainted with Demon's Bile. If any of you have cold iron weapons, keep them handy."

After treating the poison to the best of her ability, she prepares to awaken the adults. "Be ready to knock them unconscious, should they turn violent. They may be our best chance of learning more about Gellion."

She prepares to heal them...
Cure Light Wounds: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7
Cure Light Wounds: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

They don't appear to have ingested the bile and aren't corrupted at all.

The couple slowly opens their eyes as the wand's positive energy flows into them.

"Where...? Gellion?" The woman quickly scoots back on her feet back towards the wall opposite the Demon's Bile and contorts her body into a ball. "The spiders! Watch out for the spiders!!" She shields herself with her arms.

The man sits up more calmly and looks around, noticing Sirettis with her wand out. "Beldonna, it seems help has arrived."

She peeks up between her arms, "Oh... I see." She relaxes but remains close to the wall and away from the Bile. "Thank you so much. You've saved our lives..." She sighs, but still looks quite shaken. "Are you Gellion's friends? I haven't seen you here before... Although lately, I haven't seen any of his friends over."