[AP] The Shackled City Adventure Path by GM Rutseg (Inactive)

Game Master Balacertar

Round 4

As Drakthar attempts to back away from the advancing group, Marigold also offers JJ a guiding hand as she continues to gesture wildly at the bugbear's knees. She had no idea why no one else seemed to see the wisdom in disabling an enemy's legs - doing so would seem likely to make other places, like the head, much easier to hit.

She then pulls a small bag out of her pack...and watches for an opening.

Standard to get JJ with Guidance, then a move action to pull out a tanglefoot bag.

Round 4
"Vampire wannabe" Ryan retorts to the cleric comment "Ready to dance now.?." Those hearing the comment might wonder if Ryan is directing the comment towards the vampire or himself.

+1 Silvered Light Mace w/Bless, Flank, and Guidance: 1d20 + 6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 6 + 2 + 1 = 25
Dmg: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

JJ follows up the vampire, now slightly concerned at the ineffective nature of his attacks. Once more he tries to bring both weapons into play, hoping that the bugbear won't be able to avoid both at the same time...

short swrod,bless, guidance, TWF: 1d20 + 7 + 1 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (12) + 7 + 1 + 1 - 2 = 19
mace,bless,TWF: 1d20 + 6 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (16) + 6 + 1 - 2 = 21
sword damage, silver: 1d6 - 1 + 3 ⇒ (1) - 1 + 3 = 3
mace damage, silver: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Though if a 23 missed last round...

Round 4

Kikinnin finally, finally, gets his arm back, with a weapon known to white-beards to injure a fanged foe like this. He watches JJ circle the creature, hoping the undead will drop its guard long enough for a good dig. He still can't believe its speed, but Far was on point when it came to throwing the weapon where the creature's center mass stood.

+1 Silver Dagger, Flank?: 1d20 + 5 + 1 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 5 + 1 + 1 + 2 = 25 for 1d4 + 2 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 1 + 1 = 5 damage

From the map, it's unclear if Kikinnin's got flank, so subtract 2 from his Attack Roll, should he be unable to 5' step into flank based on the terrain.

Since things are rather crowded in front of him, Juraan moves up and casts a Resistance cantrip on Ryan.

(+1 to saves for a minute)

Maxim drinks a potion and starts moving more swiftly. He then readies a silvered shot in the gun.

Marigold touches JJ with guidance and prepares a bag.

Ryan fails to get a flank and his good swing at the creature fails to take him but goes close.

JJ attacks are good, but Drakthar moves very fast, in an unnatural way, and avoids his blades to hit him.

Kikinnin side steps and sets a flank with JJ. The silvered magic dagger goes through the hard flesh and burns inside the undead that shrieks with pain.

Juraan closes up to Ryan and touches the cleric providing him with improved resistance.

Drakthar keeps in his attempts to destroy the cleric with his mace while most of the damage dealt to him quickly heals up.
mwk Morningstar (1-handed): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (10) + 10 = 20
B damage: 1d8 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

Slam: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9
B damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6
The morningstar connects on Ryan's head dealing a lot of damage to him.

Drakthar steps back again, smiling at the sight of blood.

Drakthar: 5 damage
Everybody: Bless 3 min (+1 attack +1 vs fear)
JJ: 18/28 hp, prot. from evil 3 min
Ryan: 5/26 hp, prot. from evil 3 min, resistance 1 min (prerolled a r5 attack)
Kikinnin: 34/34 hp
Marigold: 29/29 hp
Juraan: mage armor 1 min
Maxim: 16/18 hp, mage armor 1 min
Round 5: Drakthar, Marigold, JJ, Ryan, Kikinnin, Juraan, Maxim

Seeing how fast the vampire is, JJ starts to get desperate. Darkthar steps away, and JJ quickly zig-zag's back into a flanking position with Klikkin. He doesn't have time to bring the mace into play, but that just means his slice with the sword is more focused..

attack, flank, bless: 1d20 + 7 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 7 + 2 + 1 = 17
silver damage: 1d6 - 1 + 3 ⇒ (1) - 1 + 3 = 3

Or maybe its just desperate and off target!

Round 5

For a moment, Marigold agonizes over what to do. Ryan was terribly injured and Drakthar seemed oddly fixated on him. But everyone seemed to be having a difficult time even striking the creature, even Kikinnin who rarely missed with a blow.

Sarenrae and anyone else if you're listening, please let this work!

Her decision made, she steps over the body of Chorlyndyr and heaves the tanglefoot bag at the bugbear.

Tanglefoot Bag (Ranged Touch; Bless, Into Melee): 1d20 + 3 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (5) + 3 + 1 - 4 = 5

Marigold moves forward two spaces and throws the tanglefoot bag. Ughhh, what a roll.

Round 5

Kikinnin pulls his dagger back, satisfied at first with the bale of the beast, but it's short-lived, as his dagger rip closes while he inspects the vampire's side.

"The damned thing healed itself! If it's got some black god's attention, and it can seal its bleeds, even against a treated blade, I think we're done here. We need to retreat, and bring the church in to purge this evil!"

Nonetheless, for however useless it will be, the black-beard strikes out, waiting for the others to fully understand the creature, and the futility of fighting it.

+1 Silver Dagger: 1d20 + 5 + 1 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 5 + 1 + 1 + 2 = 14 for 1d4 + 2 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 1 + 1 = 5 damage

Round 6 - Buffs: Mage Armour (+4AC) & Bless (+1 attacks, +1 saves vs fears), Cat's Grace (+4 DEX: +2 AC, +2 Finesse & Ranged Attacks & +2 Reflex Saves)

His initial line of fire stymied by his comrades, Maxim scowls then shifts past Juraan to get a better vantage at their vampyr foe (Move Action).

The gun-mage then levels his pistol at Drakthar; charging the pistol with a smidgen of magical energy (Arcane Strike - Swift Action) before pulling the trigger (Standard Action):

Ranged Touch (into Melee): Pistol+Bless: 1d20 + 6 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (6) + 6 + 1 - 4 = 9

Damage: Silvered Alchemical Pistol Cartridge+Arcane Strike: 1d8 + 1 - 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 - 1 = 4 (treated as Silver & Magic for overcoming DR)

"Aw Skit."

Ryan's attack goes far from the swiftly moving Drakthar.

JJ moves to set a flank again at the creature, but his attack is also to short for the quick vampire.

Marigold sends a tanglefoot bag to the bugbears feet, but it sprawls its content a bit earlier when it hits a rock in the ground.

Kikinnin moves the dagger with a bit of difficulty, not used to the small shape of the weapon, and it fails to hit the foe.

Maxim shots a new bullet, but it goes to high and hits only the ceiling of the natural cavern.

Drakthar attacks once more at Ryan, both with morningstar and hand while his injuries totally disappear.
mwk Morningstar (1-handed): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17
B damage: 1d8 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

Slam: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21
B damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7
2 negative levels drain
Ryan stops the morningstar with his shield, but the hand takes him from the neck. The contact is mortally cold, Ryan's veins become blue very fast, his face skinnier. The cleric finally falls to the ground, while Drakthar seems to invigorate with the absorbed energy.

The bugbear looks at the fallen man satisfied, "Pesky god followers" he then steps to the side covering behind Kikinnin.

Drakthar: +10 temporary hit points, 0 damage
Everybody: Bless 3 min (+1 attack +1 vs fear)
JJ: 18/28 hp, prot. from evil 3 min
Ryan: -12/16 hp, prot. from evil 3 min, resistance 1 min, -2 levels drain, unconscious, dying
Kikinnin: 34/34 hp
Marigold: 29/29 hp
Juraan: mage armor 1 min
Maxim: 16/18 hp, mage armor 1 min
Round 6: Drakthar, Marigold, JJ, Ryan, Kikinnin, Juraan (x2), Maxim

Posting my Round 7 actions as you lot are typically busy bees overnight :)

Round 7 - Buffs: Mage Armour (+4AC) & Bless (+1 attacks, +1 saves vs fears), Cat's Grace (+4 DEX: +2 AC, +2 Finesse & Ranged Attacks & +2 Reflex Saves)

As Ryan drops, the gravity of the situation becomes clearer - this fell creature was too powerful, too resilient even for their collective.

"Gods be damned! We need to drop this fanger NOW!"

The gun-mage reloads with an alchemical silver cartridge (Move Action), before levelling his pistol and enchanting it once more (Arcane Strike - Swift Action)

With as clear a line as he can muster the dwur pulls the trigger;

Ranged Touch (into Melee): Pistol+Bless: 1d20 + 6 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (16) + 6 + 1 - 4 = 19

Damage: Silvered Alchemical Pistol Cartridge+Arcane Strike: 1d8 + 1 - 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 - 1 = 6 (treated as Silver & Magic for overcoming DR)

Round 6

Kikinnin weighs the direness of the situation. With Ryan down, Kikinnin points his measly dagger to the fallen silver mace. "JJ, you need to pick up that weapon, and swing it hard. Your cuts aren't cutting it. You need silver and magic combined to even think about injuring this thing."

With that said, Kikinnin shakes himself like a rat terrier, and manuevers into flank with JJ, should JJ be able to, and he flicks his blade, not once, but twice, hoping to wound the vampire away from them.

"You're powerful, yeah, but let's see you do your damage to another of Abadar's followers." Hero Point to gain an additional Standard Action

+1 Silver Dagger: 1d20 + 5 + 1 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 5 + 1 + 1 + 2 = 21 for 1d4 + 2 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 2 + 1 + 1 = 8 damage

Hero Point Attack: 1d20 + 5 + 1 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 5 + 1 + 1 + 2 = 21 for 1d4 + 2 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 2 + 1 + 1 = 8 damage

Round 5
Juraan steps up to Ryan and tries using his wand of cure light wounds
use magic device: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14
cure light wounds, wand: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
and promptly curses his luck.

Round 6
He then takes his (last) potion of Cure Light Wounds and pours it into Ryan's mouth, hoping it's not too late.
cure light wounds, potion: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Stepping back, JJ retrieves the mace from the fallen Ryan. Juggling his weapons he steps up to the fiendishly fast bugbear again.

Going to assume a 5' step from Klikkin to get flanking here, he's a canny combatant and has fought with JJ before. Subtract two from the attack roll if we can't do this

attack, magic mace, bless, flank: 1d20 + 6 + 1 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 6 + 1 + 1 + 2 = 17
damage, magic, silver: 1d6 + 1 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 1 + 3 = 7

How many HP does JJ have left? Just a single one?

Drakthar dodges your attacks one after the other just until Maxim shots his gun, the silvered magical bullet going deep into the vampire skin, smoke appearing as it burns its flesh.

It looks at the fallen Ryan, while Juraan approaches it with a wand, and laughs "Whom will be next?"

The strange bugbear suddenly becomes smoke and starts flying deep into the cavern, over the natural rock platform. You feel his evil laugh reverberating all around the tunnels as he retreats out of view.
JJ and Kikinnin can perform an AoO

Juraan provides Ryan with the healing of a potion. The cleric quickly stabilizing.

Combat is over!

Drakthar: +4 temporary hit points, 0 damage
Everybody: Bless 3 min (+1 attack +1 vs fear)
JJ: 18/28 hp, prot. from evil 3 min
Ryan: -7/16 hp, prot. from evil 3 min, resistance 1 min, -2 levels drain, unconscious
Kikinnin: 34/34 hp
Marigold: 29/29 hp
Juraan:
Maxim: 16/18 hp, cat's grace 3 min

Maxim's and Juraan's mage armors fizzle out.

JJ grabs the fallen Ryan and starts towards the exit.

"Lets get out of here now. Take the mage and the demon too. No point in facing them again if we don't have to."

Do the AOO, just in case it buys us extra rounds

AOO,magic,bless,flank: 1d20 + 6 + 1 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 6 + 1 + 1 + 2 = 29
damage, silver, magic: 1d6 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 3 + 1 = 5

Kikinnin stands stock still as Drakthar turns to mist, watching the powerful creature abandon its sport on a whim. He doesn't attack it, for fear of changing its mind.

The black-beard hears the boy speak, so doesn't hesitate to retrieve his axe, then cleaves Chorlyndyr's head from his shoulders, taking the head with him, instead of the whole body. If he thinks that won't work, he takes the whole body, instead.

Knowledge(Religion): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21 Preventing new undead from being created

Juraan tries (more than once) to patch up Ryan with his Wand of CLW:
use magic device: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18
use magic device: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13
use magic device: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24
cure light wounds, wand: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

As Drakthar turns to mist and vanishes, Marigold hurriedly begins helping Juraan get Ryan back on his feet once more.

Though Ryan still sports a few remaining injuries, the current effect seems to be good enough to suit Marigold for now. "C-c-come on, we have to g-g-get out b-b-before he c-c-comes b-b-back!" she urges, pulling at JJ and Ryan both. "We c-c-can p-p-patch up the rest once we're s-s-safe!"

Maxim eyes the retreating vampyr with a baleful look, then turns to his comrades;

"Savvy words one an' all. Next time we throw down with that fanger we'll have a measure o' the brute..."

The dwur nods in agreement at the talk of retreat;

"Best we get gone..."

Feline weary to the bone Ryan trudges after the others, contemplating his last two engagements.

JJ gets his weapon into Drakthar as he retreats in his gaseous form, the weapon apparently harming him in his new state.

Juraan and Marigold patch the visibly weakened Ryan with the help of the wands.

Kikinnin chops the sorcerer human head, and takes the cut token with him.

As Ryan stands up you overhear a howl from the platform Drakthar left "Got them my loyal pets! Finish them all!"

You can overhear sounds coming from the northern cavern.

You can attempt to run your way out through the uneven cavern ground before the new menace gets to you, Acrobatics DC 15, or help the group finding the shortest and safest route out Survival DC 20.
Optionally you might wait and fight at whatever is coming for you, or suggest any other action.

As Drakthar's bellow reverberates through the caverns, Maxim cocks an ear at the oncoming sounds;

Perception DC14: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25

The gun-mage nods toward his fellow dwur;

"You hear that brodir? Rats or some-such coming our way... Plenty of them I'll wager!"

Kikinnin continues moving, unhappy in a new way. Hunted, not hunter. "We need speed. I've never had to deal with swarms of 'em, but they'll be able to move a little less quickly than our dwarven legs can carry us. Same as Marigold. We need to push hard, because they won't feel slowed that much in their climbing, same as their swarming."

The black-beard continues to press, running when he can, climbing when he must, damn the fatigue. "We could take up the natural stairs, get through the doors, close the doors, then climb down the ladder on the other side. Might give us some time to sneak away from the swarm. Otherwise, we're running back through the darkmantle cavern, to that other door..."

JJ does his best to carry the unconscious Ryan..staggering as he does so.

survival: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10

He wrestles with thoughts of a quicker route, but none spring to mind.

"Your two take Ryan and the Tiefling. Run, I'm much faster than you, I'll try to distract them to give you time...." he starts. But then remembers the breastplate he is wearing.

"Ahh, darn it. Keep going, I'll think of something."

He takes off a cloak and drops back a bit to put himself between the rats and the others. Fumbling with his flint and steel, JJ tries to set the cloak of fire to make an improvised weapon against the horde of rats he imagines is heading towards him.

"I guess we better hurry, like Kikkinin says."
"I still have acid and fire flasks I can lob at them as the tunnel narrows."
"Those should slow them down some."

Still have four acid and three alchemist fire flasks with me.
Oh, yes, my wand of CLW is down to 45 charges.

The group runs desperately to reach the surface before the swarm of rats can reach it. JJ and Juraan set a pile of cloths to fire with the help of an alchemical fire flask just at one of the doors entering into the dwarven complex.

The clothes start to fire lighting the cavern as the two man run out following the team. Soon enough a swarm of rats reaches the clothing on fire. They hiss and some of them even jump on the fire, but most of them are hold at bay enough time for the group to reach the stairs.
Juraan@ -1 alchemical fire flask

When you reach the bathhouse an scared Dandarrion comes to you "What happened there?" he looks visibly worried at Ryan.

kn:religion: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15

While moving towards the exit Ryan tries to think of who in the Church would be strong enough for the needed spell. Wether his own or one of the others in town.

"Goblins, a demon, a wizard and a vampire."

Summarises JJ succinctly.

"And some wolves. "

He tosses the Tiefling at Dandarrion's feet.

"Recognise an old friend? His mage friend is dead as are many of the goblins. The vampire though... "

He looks back, a worried expression on his face. "The vampire was this massive goblin... A bugbear I think the wizard said. Looked malnourished, but maybe that was before it died. Either way, it's serious trouble."

He gestures towards Ryan.

"and we need another priest, I wouldn't want to see Ryan slowly turn into a vampire. There has to be something we can do to save him!"

JJ's been reading too many of those trashy novels again and seems to be muddling up lycanthropy with vampirism, at least in how it gets transmitted.

Kikinnin walks up alongside JJ. "Settle down, boy." He tosses his token bit of Chorlyndyr next to the tiefling body. "You'll lose your head." He points to Chorlyndyr, then taps the side of his nose with a gloved finger.

"What the boy says is true. We'll likely find Jenya more than helpful, the same way she helped Maxim and JJ when they began their Fade."

He approaches Dandarrion. "You've got yourself a dangerous thing down below. Coulda finished us off, one by one, but it didn't. Left us to fend against a swarm of rat, and beat retreat. It may be able to exit the deep through different places in Cauldron, but we know of the bathhouse, at least. You need to be careful enough to have the numbers and the weapons that will keep that vampire at bay."

When they're ready, Kikinnin readies to depart for the church.

Dandarrion changes his face from worrisome to rage at the sight of the tiefling "Ah! That one... it's a pity you did not..." he looks at JJ "...I just worry now she might be out of jail again in some months..."

He comes closer to Ryan and examines the cleric "Are you ok bro?" observing the marked blue veins at Ryan's neck he becomes worried again "I fear you might be right JJ. You better take him to the church"

And looking downstairs "If there is a vampire there, Cauldron is then not save at all" then turning to the open dome in the bathhouse "Daylight will soon pour through the windows. Let's barricade the door to hold him there time enough. He will not venture here during the day, that will give us some time to prepare"

Edit He nods in agreement to Kikinnin "We will do our best here, try to get to Jenya" but you can see the fear and confusion of the other guards in the bathhouse. "Seal the doors" orders Dandarrion.

-------------------------

St. Cuthbert's chuch
You wake up Jenya out of emergency. When she sees Ryan in its ill state she almost cannot avoid a shout of horror "Oh my... what have you done of you...?"

"I think I can help him, but I will need a diamond of some value" and assuming the group can get one soon enough she sets the diamond on Ryan's chest and says some prayer to Abadar "Father, make our champion to become healthy again. Give him the strength to bring the order and balance and defeat the darkness that stalks his soul"

Upon completing the ritual Ryan's face becomes normal again.
Both negative levels are removed. The diamond will require 100 gp

"With a big more time, can any of you work out that amulet? Maybe it protected the wizard from the vampire?"

JJ fishes through his pockets, pulling out various coins and pieces of valuable metal and small gems.

"I'm sure I can get a diamond for you Jenya.. But there will be more like Ryan unless we can come up with a way to finish off that vampire? Garlic? Think if we smeared garlic on our weapons it would work?"

If we are short on party loot, JJ will happily put up 100gp from his own funds for a diamond.

The youth yawns. He's been up a long time, fighting lots of different things, and he's tired. Tired and Hungry. Tired, hungry and scared.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I need a rest, and food. Day or night, that bugbear won't care underground."

It's all a bit of a jumble, first the demon's acid, followed by the mage, he talked really pretty, heh, bet Kikinnin didn't like that. then everything became a blur once more, beating against his shield always attacking, sometimes slipping through. the cold, oh the cold, draining that touch was. Why does a fanged bugbear haunt the deep recesses of my sleep? Then we ran, we must have run half way across Cauldron to get back to the stairwell back up to Orak's Bath house"

The confusing thoughts are processed as Ryan lays in repose within the church to eventually be replaced by warmth and a sense of peace once more. Jenya's voice drawing him up out of the darkness, eyes blinking he turns to those gathered round and the church surrounding him; locking onto Kikinnin. " Tactical mistake number two? Pretty soon this cat's gonna run out of lives. What happened."

Extremely tired, Ryan thanks the others for getting his sorry butt out of there, but excuses himself to his room to sleep this latest nightmare off, with a promise of the first two rounds at the Tipped Tankard later.

"S-s-so I g-g-guess that's it for t-t-tonight?" Marigold asks wearily once Ryan has been tended to. "S-s-sleep would b-b-be nice...b-b-but I don't kn-kn-know how w-w-well it'll b-b-be with that thing running l-l-loose," she shivers.

Maxim nods in agreement, aware of his own weariness;

"I'll seek out my Uncle - get some of this loot recovered turned into coin... to cover both the healing o' Taskerhill and the fanger hunt to come."

The gun-mage makes for the door;

"I'll be back on the morrow. Will seek you out here, or the Tipped Tankard..."

Unless otherwise required he'll head to his Uncle's to offload the mundane/unwanted equipment. Then get his head down for some rest.

Tired as he is, JJ can't quite manage to go 'home' to sleep. His first port of call is the Tipped Tankard, for breakfast and some space to think.

The guard knows about this menace. The church knows too. I can't help but feel I need to warn someone else, or talk to someone about this.

His eyes wander the tavern, setting on the ever friendly form of the barmaid.

Someone it won't terrify. comes the stern thought into his mind.

I guess that means I can't go talk things over with Grechen either. Surely it is times like this that one wants a family. I guess I could talk with Marigold, but she needs to offload too.

After eating the tired and listless JJ starts to walk the streets. For a moment he thinks he sees a familiar face, that of the enigmatic Celeste. But no, it is just one of the random pretty faces of the lesser noble houses. JJ is sure he should remember her name.

If Celeste is in town, then she would be the right one to talk with...

He spends an hour dropping around old acquaintances, chatting about friends in common and trying to lighten his mood. As he does he, he drops in a description of Celeste from time to time, trying to work out if anyone has seen her in town.

"I g-g-guess I'll g-g-go home then..." Marigold sighs. "Meet b-b-back at the T-T-Tipped Tankard s-s-sometime tomorrow? I've g-g-got a few things I need to d-d-do b-b-before we m-m-meet up again."

Once the time and place of the next meeting is established, Marigold hurriedly heads home, eyes nervously scanning the shadows for any signs of the horrible bugbear. There, she uncharacteristically boards her door and windows up as much as she can before climbing into bed and falling into a fitful sleep.

More to come a bit later on MG's activities for the next day!

"Tactical mistake number two? Pretty soon this cat's gonna run out of lives. What happened?"

Kikinnin watches as Jenya provides her priceless healing, and sees the young man's complexion come back to him. "The vampire took something from you, and it looks like Jenya knows where to look to get it back. We had to move quickly, to avoid a rat swarm set on us, but the vampire didn't stay, which feels like a stroke of luck sent directly from Abadar Himself. A cocky vampire is soon to be a dead vampire."

The black-beard helps cover the expense of the diamond group kitty?, then steps forward to speak directly with Jenya.

"I need your help. My weapon is dear to me, but it did me no good against that kind of undead. As did several of our weapons. We were lucky to have some Oils and some silver, but I want to know... can my blade be blessed strong enough to cut down a vampire? I've got coin, but I need to know that it's money well spent to get this next job done. Drakthar isn't welcome in this world, or the next. We don't have much time, if my weapon needs working, so I might have to look into purchasing a weapon more powerful on the market, if I can't get it through the church."

Jenya frowns at the sight of the dwarven defender "We do have some magical weapons at the temple, but I do fear they are not the kind of dwarven axes"

She looks through a shelve and brings a flask "This is an oil of bless weapon. It might help you in this ill process provided you have a silvered weaopn"

"That sounds like her" says JJ, offering his thanks to Bepo and purchasing a bag of apples.

"Obsidian avenue eh? I'll head that way on my way home I think. Thanks Bepo. Remind me to buy you a drink next time you come to the Tipped Tankard."

Trying to keep his eyes open, JJ resolves to walk home via Obsidian Avenue, keeping his eyes open and asking likely folk on the road if they have seen her.

Feeling somewhat like his player, Ryan is still bushed when he returns to the world of the living from his rest. Absolution and study takes up his time when he gets up, moving afterwards to the training field. Muscles stiff from the previous day's beating, Ryan starts slowly, loosening things up before swinging in earnest. Those watching left him be, obviously excising some internal demons with the swings and forms.

"I'm with Marigold. I could use a good kip after all this."
"I also think it might be worthwhile to have some flasks of holy water on hand to deal with that vampire the next time."
"Nasty piece of work, that one!"

Just going by what I would assume is common knowledge for dealing with vampires.

Assuming nothing terrible happens to her in the middle of the night...

The next day Marigold rises a short time before dawn, still somewhat weary from poor sleep on top of the previous day's activities, but thankful for another day to greet the sunrise. After cleaning up she dons her gear and sets out towards the Church of Sarenrae, opting to visit one of the many street vendors along the way for a pastry and some fruit for her breakfast.

The sun is well up by the time a very tired JJ makes his way home.

Glad to have moved out of the boarding house, he potters around his digs for a few minutes. He takes out each weapon, inspects it, cleans it and then puts it away. Then his armour. There is more than a few new dents in the breastplate, but it certainly saved his life. Again he cleans it, noting where it may need a little more care than he can provide himself.

Then, totally exhausted in mind and body he collapses into bed.

Dreams come quickly this day, and they, as normal, are not light and fluffy ones. Beneath the volcano bugbears with coals for eyes plant packs of blackpowder. To what purpose he can not even guess, but certainly it can bring no good. Then he sees Celeste, slipping through the darkness. But no, she is not slipping, she is flying! But no that is not it either, she is in midair, hanging there... suspended in a cage over a lake of fire.

JJ awakes, dripping sweat as the late afternoon sun strikes him full in the face. Heading to the bucket in the corner of his room he dunks his head. "To the bathhouse, and then the Tankard!" he mutters, and then realises that the bathhouse is not going to be a source of relaxation - at least not for a while. A wry grin crosses his face as he thinks of some pleasant memories of the bathhouse. "My goodness, I'm dense. The redhead with the tattoos... She must be working with that vampire too!"

JJ dresses for action, weapons and armour, although with a respectable shirt over the top. First port of call, lets see if that masterwork silvered sword is ready. And if it is... whether there is anyone in the Blue Crater that could enchant it. While I'm there I should look up that demon that appeared and tieflings too. Be good to know what we might expect down there. And vampires...

With a sigh the tired JJ realised it was not going to be a relaxing afternoon.

After getting about six hours sleep, JJ will head out, first port of call the weaponsmith who was making the masterwork silver shortsword for him. After that, research time at Bluecrater and asking around if there is anyone who can enchant weapons.

That all makes sense to me Maxim. I think the potions are best going to the frontliners, especially those without a reliable means to heal themselves such as myself and JJ. The holy water is up for grabs as far as I'm concerned.

The silver from earlier was a paltry amount and although I RP'd it that Ruben just took it I am happy for it, and any other future loot he picks up, to go into the party pool.

Shh. Don't say that - we'll split the skims 50/50 ;)

Ahem.

Joking apart it fitted perfectly - to the victor goes the spoils moment

Yeah, well using the Game of Thrones parlance, we paid the iron price for it after all.

And Ruben is likely to continue picking at the fallen as something of a priority immediately finishing combat - but whilst he wouldn't be too concerned about offending anyone in the group by just taking the most prime spoils, in reality I know that kind of thing is plain disruptive in a group so I think it's better to just split everything equally when it comes to writing your loot journal.

I'd go with Ruben on this one.

JJs attitude to various laws is a little lax (yeap, he's a bit two faced on some things :-) but dealing with intraparty loot stealing is a good thing to not have to worry about.

Some folk may have expenses over and above others though - expenses that contribute to the party as a whole. Here I'm thinking primarily of casters with expensive material components for some spells - or copying spells (at least early on) for our resident wizard.

Likewise if anyone invests in crafting feats, I'm sure the whole party would benefit from them, but it seems harsh that they would be out the crafting feat and the gold to use it.

So it may pay to keep some "party kitty" funds. They would also be able to be used for things like resurrections, remove curses etc that are above what ever we can manage internally.

What you reckon folks/GMR?

Nice job! The numbers seems ok to me ;)

Re: loot splitting - Sounds good to me Maxim! I'm also happy to set aside some of the treasure we find as 'group funds' though more often than not MG would be willing to chip in with her own money to help if we decide to buy a wand or if someone wanted to upgrade a weapon or piece of armor.

Agreed I think Ryan will probably be picking up a crafting feat as well with the intention of helping out the party along the way, had talked with Maxim about previously.

As far as a party kitty, makes sense to me. In other games, we have worked out the purchases and sales at time of disbursal and then dispersed funds for private use, usually keeping to a nice general number - ending in 0 or 5 - and leaving the remainder in the pot for next round.

I don't know, Ruben. Great RP moment if Ruben had to deal with a mob of pitchforks, the first time he got caught picking prime ;)

+1 to generally keeping track of Wealth by Level, loans to compadres when they come up short for a nice shiny, and group purchases of healing wands...

speaking of healing wands, Ryan did purchase a Wand of cure light wounds so everyone is aware.

Whenever you feel ready, whomever feel free to set the action to enter the hidden door and descend into the darkness.

As you all post, let us know where would you like to be in the march order, and any light source you hold active.

Cool on the wealth front.

Okay Maxim has some stuff to attend to first before we go dungeon delving, so might require some assistance re: trading gear etc. Anyone have any contacts who might purchase the armour or weapons?

We also need to be canny here. Some of the group have headed out from Ghelve's in the night and done some backgroup RP, whilst others have stayed put.

As a group we need to grab some shut eye, prep spells and gear up. Otherwise some of us will be shuffling into the deep bleary eyed and ripe for a skulk shanking.

Tactics wise we know these things are damn tough to both spot and track. If we purchase gear we should keep that in mind, also consider spell picks to combat the skulks we'll encounter too.

Apologies for the meta-gaming-ish stratagem; realise we'll likely role-play this, but Maxim will be tied up copying spells, heading out to trade/meet with his Uncle, then grab some sleep afore we descend. Am conscious that that will be potentially one or two big posts for GMR to review and reply to :) Thought it more prudent to cut to the chase...

I will keep it aseptic but assume you hand the skulk to the guard for now.

You can decide what do you prefer to do with it in discussion while I prepare a post heading down into Jzadirune. I feel like the time for it has arrived.

Similarly feel free to point out any stuff you wish to buy. We will assume anything below 2400 gp from the Core book will be easily available at the city.

Loot sheet updated. I've split the coin we've gained to 42 gold per head. That leaves us with 70 Gold Suns for the party kitty?

If everyone is good with that we can update sheets accordingly.

Appreciate suggestion from JJ that expenses for spells can come out of the party kitty.

As GM-R says, we should also consider kit/equipment to purchase.

I'll have a look see for Maxim regards his gear/ideas for our journey.

Love it Maxim!

Getting ready to drive home, will be some hours before a decent post

Ryan will swap out hemp rope for silk and a grapple.

Figure JJ is in the lead with possibly Ruben, Ryan will be somewhat behind them refreshing a light spell as they go.

Easy to extinguish and replenishes for free.

Maxim purchases the following:

Vial of Ink
Ink-Pen
Merchants Scales

Remember Maxim and Kikinnin both have Dark-Vision.

Kikinnin purchases the following:

Sap
Manacles, Standard

GM Rutseg, with Keygan's offer of locks, Kikinnin will go for the best quality lock he can pull from the gnome (Superior?). I await your decision ;)

Also adding a Flask of Acid and a Scroll Case for Maxim.

GM Rutseg, with Keygan's offer of locks, Kikinnin will go for the best quality lock he can pull from the gnome (Superior?). I await your decision ;)

Sure, Keygan will hold to his word and grant you one of those superior locks.

Also, let me know if any of you have technical problems to access to the map, at least on view mode.

On touch screens it might be difficult to manipulate the map. Fortunately you have the Google Slides (Presentations) app for much devices which helps a lot to move around the map even on phones.

Okay, let's see...Marigold will pick up the following before we head down:

Alchemist's Fire x1
Trail rations x5
Torch x5

Equipment and money adjusted on her profile accordingly! Also I goofed earlier during character creation and didn't catch where equipment is CRB only so I ended up with an illegal vial of Antiplague and only just now caught my mistake; switched it for a vial of Antitoxin which is listed in the CRB and for the same price :)

Trail rations x 5 for me too.

Do we have a rope and grapple?

Ryan collected a silk rope and grapple already Ruben

Awesome

Folks

Just a heads up that I’ll be heading over to Dubai from tomorrow for 6 days. Will visiting with family and friends, and promises we’ll be on a tight itinerary. As such am not sure how oft a chance I’ll get to post - so presume it’ll be on the minimal end.

GM Rutseg was aware of the trip during recruitment, so hopefully I'll not miss out on too much (just perhaps 100 odd posts lol) Please bot Maxim while I’m away so I don’t hold up the action. I’m back late Tuesday 16th, so it’ll likely be Wed week afore I’m back in the saddle proper.

Tactics wise Maxim is a little limited. He'll use his black powder pistol sparingly (aiming figuratively and literally at more dangerous foes). Magic Missile is an easy option and along with Mage Armour is his "go-to" spells at present.

IF we encounter a dangerous foe that forces the group to retreat or split, Maxim will select Reduce Person at the expense of Magic Missile in an attempt to limit their foes effectiveness (thinking of Giants or particularly dangerous Large Sized denizens of the deep).

Enjoy the game in my absence and keep Maxim's presence in spirit till I'm back :)

Cheers

BD

Thanks for the heads up Maxim.

I will try to keep your character's spirit as best as I can. As you are a large group, I might hold off him in combat unless there is a big challenge as you suggested.

Do not suffer about not being able to post and enjoy your trip, family, friends and culture. I know how cool it is the feeling when you have been living abroad for some time ;)

I think we will still be in Jzadirune by when you come back.

Thanks for letting us know Maxim and enjoy your trip! :)

Sidenote, I hope Dandarrion is okay since we've not seen any posts from him since Friday.

Cheers all - aye keep Maxim as sage advice and if needbe get his gun blazing.

See you when I'm back :)

I also noticed Dandarrion has not been active since Saturday with any of his characters. Let's hope everything is ok for him and he is back soon.

As for lingering performance, let's discuss a bit how this small round micromanagement works.

From my point of view the +2 rounds include the first round you decide to not maintain your performance. Thus, if you want the bonuses to apply until r5 (this is, they apply at rounds 2, 3 and 4 but not at 5) you will need to spend a performance use at round 2, then do not maintain the performance at 3 but the bonuses will carry on all through 3 and 4.

This is all to say I assume you spend a 2nd round of performance to inspire courage during this combat, so the effect lasts up to round 5. Just wanted to make sure we are in the same track ;)

Safe travels Maxim.

about Lingering Preformance
That's the way I understand Lingering to work as well, but still it gives you two rounds of actions to do before you need to pick it back up.

Yeah that's fine, I probably just made a typo when posting quickly from my phone in regards to LP.

@GM, I went from end of initiative to beginning in your listing so this is Ryan's round two actions. Bless should have been cast on round 1.

Yep, sorry, it should have been:

Yet in order of simplicity and reducing edit time I will be packing the last characters on next round. But feel free to tag your actions as Round 2 or Round 3, whatever works better for you.

In the initiative method we are following you can see it as if you loose initiative to the enemy you have effectively loosen 1 round.

This is no problematic on handling effects duration and those things. Action resolution following posting order instead of initiative order is the only thing that messes up with durations, but I will not be picky about it, I will choose whatever is better to maintain the game flow. So if Ruben ends his inspiration but you were before than him on the initiative order, you are free to still apply his performance bonuses.

Oh, lest anyone worry, Marigold's grumbling about being stuck at the back is purely an in-character thing and not a reflection of any actual displeasure on my part! Truth be told, I find it mildly amusing...then again, I also have a strange sense of humor.

@GM - OK that makes sense just appeared as if I'd lost a round there. Thanks for the explanation.

I am not sure you can use acrobatics to avoid AoO from a creature you cannot see JJ. But this dark creature has not seen a light in a while, thus, just for this time I will accept the lantern confused him and lost his opportunity :)

I think everybody everybody will enjoy this premature end of the combat.

You have to know this dungeon is designed for characters of level 1-3, so it will happen from time to time you will stumble with challenges a bit over your capacity.

Apologies, folks. Kikinnin only meant to stand guard in the narrow corridor, and ready for White-Snout's return, where I initially placed him on the map. That way, he could maintain sight-lines with the others, and avoid splitting the party.

I'm assuming he was moved up by the GM to examine the northern room to push us along, but it wouldn't have been the character's decision to do so.

Sorry Kikinnin I did understood you were following the creature.

Anyway I think everything resulted good for you, so now you have a couple different places where to continue exploring ;)

Back from The Sand folks, Scotland welcomed me home with a bout of food poisoning so I'm just getting over that.

Will take my time getting back into it - have 89 odd posts to read through!!

Welcome back Maxim! Sorry about the food poisoning, but I hope the trip itself went well?

It did indeed. Dubai is an interesting city - the skyline is something out of Mega City One lol. Good times with friends and family was had...

Good to see you back mate. I get the Mega City One comparison. especially with the desert all around like the Cursed Earth.

Way too hot for my celtic complexion though :/

Aye it was might toasty for me too Ruben. Was in and out of the swimming pool to cool down a fair bit :)

Did archery and falconry which was pretty fun.

That's cool. Did it make you want to play a ranged Hunter with a falcon animal companion? :D

Maxim- you can't throw out 'falconry' with no elaboration. What, you go out with a set of falcons, pulling out a 3 red tail for a mouse 300 yards out, then a sand wedge hawk for a chip into the green? Until you get into the details, I'm picturing them sitting a bird on your gloved hand, and taking pictures, like one would do in Central America with a bored iguana...

Haha, welcome back Maxim.

Welcome back Maxim! Hope you have enjoyed all those activities and the game reading does not become too tedious :)

A very timely return. We may need some black powder love real soon.

Thanks all.

Falconry was just the whole gloved photo op thing. The handler's would set a lure, bird would take off - nail said lure and we'd present for it to land.

Nothing too testing, but damn they were impressive close up.

Right time to finish up my reading. Got to Chapter XIX then called it a day ;)

BTW: Hope you are all okay with JJs comments about being dragged off. I figure it is an IC way he would know about the ability after he made the knowledge check.

Well done! I think your team is well prepared :)

Let me know what do you want to do next with the fallen enemies, whom takes what and what do you propose to explore next.

How do you usually see aid another on Perception checks being used?

I think one should not be able to aid on Perception checks that could not do by him or herself alone.

I am also open to rule when taking 20, for every character able to aid that beats the check, the time is proportionally reduced.

It is specially sensitive when using the spoiler honor system, so I would like to hear what has been your experiences/thoughts with Perception and aid another.