Celestial GM |
I'm guessing we were nowhere near the sea back home?
Yes. At home, the sea is rather distant, although close enough that some of you may have travelled there and would know the sound of it.
As the party approaches the sound of the waves, the sea becomes louder at a greater rate than you might expect based on your walking speed. It's as if the sea is moving toward you while you move toward it.
Out of nowhere, a breeze picks up, and before your very eyes, it blows away the mists.
You stand upon a grassy hilltop not far from a cliff that drops to the sea below. Waves crash upon the rocks as the sea churns fitfully. Dark clouds hang low in the sky, and in the distance, the horizon is obscured by a wall of dense cloud over the water.
The more experienced outdoorsmen among you can discern that the sea lies to the west. To the north and east, the hilly landscape continues, dotted with clumps of trees and pale wildflowers that you are sure you never saw when you were in the mists - even in the direction from which you are certain you came. To the south, a tiny fishing village sits in a valley upon the shore, just over a mile in the distance. The flicker of torches and cooking fires flit among the huts, warding against the approaching dusk.
Your attention is grabbed by a more immediate concern, however. No more than 50 feet away is a scene of brutal carnage. Several human bodies lie in various states of dismemberment, and two humanoid figures are hunched over the corpses, tearing at flesh with their jagged teeth. The figures are pale, with sunken, rotting skin and palely gleaming eyes. Long claw-like nails dig into their slain prey as they feast.
As the mists quickly drift away until none is visible in any direction, the foul creatures take notice of you and glare maliciously.
Roll initiative please and give me coordinates for where you stand in the yellow area. Also, please roll Perception checks.
X's mark the human corpses and are difficult terrain.
Nathaniel Greenfellow |
Before Nathaniel can even make the obvious comment about how odd this place – and whole situation – is, he notices the carnage taking place nearby.
Init: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19
Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14
I’ll take K14.
Eliva Smith |
Location: N-13
Initiative: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17
Identify Creatures, Knowledge (religion): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20
Eliva nocks an arrow to Kani's bow and murmurs a plea to Erastil as she shoots at the nearest foul creature she sees.
Attack G2 (Mighty +2 Shortbow): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12 (+1 if G2 is within 30', -4 if G2 is within melee)
Damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7
Eliva will take a 5' step back and shoot if G2 stands in melee with her
Res Thannq |
Res hears Eliva cry out "Ghouls!" As the group moves into action, Res moves forward, pulling out Gorum's holy symbol and says "Gorum, bless my allies with your warrior might that their blows land true on these vile creatures and give them courage that they do not fear what is ahead."
On Res's turn, he will move 20 ft to L12. Then cast Bless - all allies within 50 ft get +1 on attack rolls and saving throws against fear.
Celestial GM |
Angalia notices with interest that the human corpses are dressed in black or deep brown, most are wearing leather armor, and a few were armed with finely crafted weapons. There is a small, finely wrought box beside one of them. They all have scarves or bandanas partially covering their faces as if to deliberately hide their identities. In Angalia's experience, their appearance and dress marks them as highwaymen or thieves - and judging by their gear, rather successful ones.
Angalia notes that two of the bodies are actually slain ghouls. She suspects that the fighting here was intense, but that the highwaymen were eventually overwhelmed by what was initially an attack by four ghouls.
Need initiative from Erfan.
Celestial GM |
Celestial GM |
The first ghoul lets go of its pray and lunges toward Belanos, swiping at him with its foul claws.
1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4 missing horribly.
Was that a readied attack from you, Belanos? If that's what you meant, go ahead and roll it at any time.
The other ghoul moves closer and sizes up its opposition.
Angalia
Nathaniel
Tiffana
Eliva (posted)
Res (posted)
Erfan
Belanos
Ghouls
Those of you who made Knowledge [Religion] checks would know the basics: Ghouls are undead beings that feed upon corpses. Their attacks are known to cause temporary paralysis, while their bite can infect a victim with filth fever.
Celestial GM |
Well that was very efficient.
After the first ghoul swiped at Belanos ineffectually, the fighter struck back, hacking at the undead abomination with his sword. Distracted, the ghoul failed to take notice of Angalia, who snuck around behind it before slashing at it and cutting at its vital joints. The ghoul, unable to move on its own strength, collapses in a grotesque heap, and will no longer terrorize any living thing.
Nathaniel
Tiffana
Eliva (posted)
Res (posted)
Erfan
Ghoul 2
Belanos
Angalia
Nathaniel Greenfellow |
“What are these things?” asks Nathaniel, but he doesn’t wait for an answer. Nocking an arrow to his bow, he steps around Belanos towards Angalia (by which time the two have already dealt with the first cannibal) and looses an arrow at the second creature.
5 foot step to J13. Fire at G2: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10 Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 1.
Celestial GM |
Nathaniel, then Tiffana, then Eliva, fail to hit their (surprisingly nimble) target. Res calls a blessing upon his companions.
Erfan
Ghoul 2
Belanos
Angalia
Nathaniel
Tiffana
Eliva
Res
Res, I second-guessed you and moved you to L14 instead of L12, unless you really feel like standing out in front of the ghoul. I somehow suspect that Belanos doesn't need you to cover him, but let me know if you really want to be there.
Res Thannq |
The dangers of posting early. L14 is fine. Another long day at work so, I'll post early again.
Res watches the first ghoul fall. Once again, he holds up his holy symbol. "Mighty Gorum, bring down your wrath upon this abomination in front of me!" Energy once again burst forth from the holy symbol, this time however, the energy is a darker form as Res uses Gorum's energy to injure the ghoul. Positive energy damage to ghoul: 1d6 ⇒ 3 Will Save DC 16 to halve damage.
Erfan Treefriend |
Erfan trundles up amongst the others and presents his spear tip with a sneer.
Move to M14, ready an attack against the ghoul if it enters my reach. Since I suspect it's going to, I'll go ahead and roll the attack now: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13 to hit, dealing 1d6 - 1 ⇒ (5) - 1 = 4 damage. Damage is doubled if it is charging and it also reduces its AC by 2!
Celestial GM |
Belanos or Eliva... 1d2 ⇒ 1 Belanos.
The ghoul moves toward Belanos with a leap and tries to sink its teeth into the fighter's flesh.
Bite 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5. Wow. These ghouls suck.
Erfan takes the opportunity to strike at the ghoul, but misses with his spear.
Belanos
Angalia
Nathaniel
Tiffana
Eliva
Res (posted)
Ghoul
Erfan
Eliva Smith |
Eliva snarled and readied her gauntlet encased fist for a blow. The combat was too close for her to be shooting with any accuracy - it was time to get in close and finish the monstrous thing off.
Eliva circles around the ghoul to M-11 and punches the creature from behind, holding Kani's bow in her off hand.
Attack (flanking +2, bless +1): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10
Damage: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
::sigh:: Doesn't matter how many advangages you get for your attack roll...sometimes you just roll crap.
Nathaniel Greenfellow |
Nathaniel drops his bow and draws his axe as he dashes forward, hacking savagely at the monster, his weapon gripped in both hands.
Drop bow (free). Move to K12, draw axe as part of move.
Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21 Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8
Unfortunately, with everyone positioned as they are, I don’t think Tiff’s going to be able to burning hands the dude without hitting someone else.
Celestial GM |
Angalia moves around to flank with Belanos again and stabs.
"Whoever he is, I hope he doesn't smell like these things."
Move to M11
Stabbity.
1d20+5
Flub.The stink gets to her.
On the contrary, you have +1 to hit from Res's bless spell, and a flanking bonus (+2, same as 4e) making your attack roll a 16. Roll damage with sneak attack.
Nathaniel Greenfellow |
Angalia is quite the danger in combat now that she has weapon finesse, assuming she can sneak attack. The change from 3.5 to PF, that many undead and other creatures previously immune to sneak attack now aren’t is also very nice for a rogue.
Celestial GM |
That's exactly how much damage the first one took.
Angalia moves into position behind the cool and strikes it in a vital area. Nathaniel sees his opening and cuts down the foul creature with his axe, and it crumples pitifully.
100 xp, brings you to 1475.
That also means Tiffana can save her spell slot, and Res can save his channeling.
Eliva Smith |
Seeing the foul creature fall, Eliva immediately moved over toward where they were feasting. Maybe some poor soul was still alive and could be assisted. She also examined the tracks and signs left behind from the struggle. Maybe someone ran off, or maybe she could find what direction the humans had come from. They might be able to find their way toward some settlement, and bring news of what happened here.
Heal: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17
Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16
Survival (tracking): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
Celestial GM |
Studying the tracks, it appears to Eliva that the bandits were caught off-guard by the ghouls. They put up a fight, and took out two of the undead creatures, but it doesn't appear any of them got away. They are all dead, and many badly mutilated by the ravenous ghouls.
Belanos observes one or two items in the bandits' stash that have had various emblems or heraldric symbols scratched off, as if to hide their origin. The bandits did not want their (most likely stolen) items identified.
Celestial GM |
Is the equiptment familiar (short/long swords, shields, etc) or exotic (falcatta, rapier, gunpowder, bronze)?
There's no gunpowder, but a few of the items are rather ornate, in a decadent, baroque style that you are not used to. There is a rapier among the gear, but other items are more mundane. You could surmise that the goods came from a number of sources, and are therefore not especially uniform.
Is anybody going through it more thoroughly?
Nathaniel Greenfellow |
Nathaniel flashes Angalia a rather grim smile as they take the horrid creature down between them, then steps away (the stench is not pleasant) and cleans his axe, then hunts about for his errant arrow.
Having done that, he joins the others in examining the bodies. “Sweet father Erastil, they were eating them …” he says in horrified wonder. “These people may have been bandits, but I’d be hard pressed to say even bandits deserve such treatment.”
The ranger is somewhat hesitant about sifting through the gory mess for valuables. He’s not squeamish about blood, but what has been done to these people is stomach churning. He’ll collect a few arrows if there are any though, to restock his own supply.
“Perhaps we should bury them,” he suggests after a while. “Someone shouldn’t need to stumble across this … we don’t know what gods they followed if any, but a burial might help them rest more easily.”
Eliva Smith |
Eliva helped the others comb through what the poor bandits had on them. "I sure wouldn't wish this fate on anyone," she said in tacit agreement with Nathaniel, "but it'd be fair foolish to not take anything we can use in this strange place. Where there are bandits, there are people. This lot looks like they've taken gear from many places - which suggests we've a chance of finding not only people, but markets and the like. That's good news at least. Maybe they'll have coin that will tell us where we are. And they definitely deserve a good burial, to help them rest easy."
Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26