Way of the Wicked (Inactive)

Game Master Whack-a-Rogue

Linus sughs and goes up to the first guard. "Its just not as fun withough a rapier..."

Attack: 1d20 ⇒ 18
Damage: 1d8 - 1 ⇒ (4) - 1 = 3

Sholano slips through the door, glaring menacingly at the guards. "How dare you raise your hands to us?!" he bellows in a voice far deeper than his usual light tenor, raising his stolen sword at them. "Submit or be destroyed!"

Intimidate: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24
Aimed at the back guard.

Erick rushes forward and grabs the closest guard - who struggles and is barely able to break free. Linus wounds the other guard - who returns the favor with well-placed longsword strike. Following your instructions, Grumblejack charges toward the guards at the far end of the hallway. Easily avoiding the Ogre's clumsy swing, they stab him in the gut and inflict a pair of serious wounds. If they hit him again, he's likely going down. Sholano's order would normally be laughed off. There are more guards inside the room, after all. However, Grumblejack's presence is quite terrifying, and the fact that he's listening to dangerous prisoners is enough to make the guard's face blanch white.

Linus: 4pts damage

Your turns
Injured Guard: shaken (2rds remaining)

Celestine moved forward to keep pace with the rest of the group, continuing to maintain the field of Serendipity and tilt fortune itself in favor of her minions. Grumblejack was well outside of that - and wasn't that just a shame for the dumb brute? - but she did manage to find a place where everyone else could benefit from it. "Let's hurry this up, shall we?" she suggested conversationally.

No problem!

Erick grabs the guard's head and swings his head back hard as he headbutts the guard right in the nose. A resounding cracks echoes throughout the room.

Martial Flexibility for Power Attack

Unarmed Strike; power attack: 1d20 + 5 - 1 ⇒ (20) + 5 - 1 = 24
Confirm Crit: 1d20 + 5 - 1 ⇒ (5) + 5 - 1 = 9
Damage: 1d3 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 4 + 2 = 9

Zyxtyvia will target one of the guards fighting the ogre (the one on the right) with her evil eye hex (DC15 Will to make it last 1 round, fail save makes it last 8 rounds)

"Finish these louts with a quickness and keep them from alerting others!" Zyxtyvia yells to the others...and then steps behind Erik

edited: the hex will affect attack rolls, apologies

@Zyxtyvia: are you affecting AC, saves, attack rolls, etc?

Linus grabs her side. "Bastard.." He swings at the guard once again.

Attack: 1d20 ⇒ 1
Damage: 1d8 - 1 ⇒ (3) - 1 = 2

Marvin fought to maintain his form, then snapped out at the nearest guard with a mouth full of razor teeth.

Move action to maintain concentration, then bite.

Bite: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19,Damage: 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

In other news, I'm healthy again! Hooray!

Inwardly, Sholano cursed the guards for still standing and his fellow escapees for not dropping them faster, forcing him into action himself. Outwardly, his confident sneer wavers not a jot as he glides up next to the second guard he'd directly threatened earlier, sword in hand, and aims a slash at him - not with the longer blade, but instead with the dagger held out of sight up against his forearm.

Dagger: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14
Damage: 1d4 - 1 ⇒ (2) - 1 = 1

Changed Erick's target so both of those guards would go down. #goodguyGM

Erick and Marvin drop their two guards. Grumblejack, severely injured, books it back to the rest of you and hides in a corner. "Grumblejack not ready to die!" Emboldened by this, the two guards blocking the far door charge forward and strike Erick and Linus with powerful and accurate blows. At the same time, the eastern door opens, and you can see three (slightly tipsy) guards who've clearly just finished pulling on their armor.

Erick: 8pts damage
Linus: 5pts damage

Red Guard: evil eye (attacks) 1rd

10: Mess Hall
A large banner emblazoned with the emblem of Branderscar Prison hangs on the east wall. It's excellent condition shows that it's obviously a point of pride for the guards stationed here.

14: Sergeant's Office
This office is empty except for a paper-covered desk and a few chairs.

Marvin maintained his concentration and stepped forward, spitting flames through the open door to the right, engulfing two of the poor guards and their fancy banner in the inferno.

Fire Breath, DC 13: 1d8 ⇒ 8

Breath reset: 1d4 ⇒ 4

Despite the violence, Celestine was working hard to remain patient, keeping her mind concentrated and maintaining the aura of support for her... associates. Sometimes a small tug was all fate needed, after all... and by not doing things like throwing spheres of energy, she was considerably less of a target.

Serendipity: All allies within range gain a +1 luck bonus to attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and saving throws.

Zyxtyvia will go behind the human named Erik and touch his shoulder while he is fighting...

CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5 and heals him somewhat...

"Stop playing with these louts and finish them off... we need to quite things down..."

Under his breath, Sholano muttered invective as he rushed forward, skidding to a halt at the far side of the recently advanced guards and raising his best weapon again: his voice.

"Ha ha! We have you now!" he barked at the nearest guard, the one who he was very near stabbing in the back.

Intimidate: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21
Whoop, forgot the Serendipity again: 22 instead.

Moving and Intimidating.

Erick winks behind his shoulder. "Thanks for the shoulder massage..."

With a shrill scream Erick dives at the guard in front of him.

Grapple: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 8 + 1 = 28

Linus grunts and begins to hold where she is bleeding but keeps up the fight slashing out at the guard who attacked him(Red).

Attack: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 1 = 15
Damage: 1d8 - 1 ⇒ (6) - 1 = 5

Marvin's fiery blast badly burns a pair of guards and ignites their precious banner. One of the smoldering men shouts in alarm and rushes to try to extinguish the blaze. The other two charge at him, swords drawn, and one lands a vicious blow. "You'll pay for sullying our sigil, unholy scum!" Distracted by Sholano's threat, one of the other guards receives a nasty cut from Linus' blade. The return blow is clumsy and easily blocked. Erick's target, meanwhile, thrashes violently but fails to break free.

Marvin: 7pts damage.

Erick's Guard: grappled
Red Guard: shaken (2rds)

Linus' attacker hits AC 5 in case s/he wants to Parry/Riposte

Parry: 1d20 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 1 + 2 = 11
Riposte: 1d20 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 1 + 2 = 17
Riposte Damage: 1d8 - 1 ⇒ (1) - 1 = 0

Linus quickly parries the guards sword and goes to attack again, hitting with the slat end of the blade by accident.

Attack: 1d20 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 1 + 2 = 21
Damage: 1d8 - 1 ⇒ (5) - 1 = 4

But quickly she recovers her handle on the blade and slashes at the guards torso.

Linus' guard is down

Celestine moved forward slightly, both to keep her allies in range and get a little further away from the foul-smelling brute. Thugs had their place, of course... but that place was somewhere useful. And not where she had to smell them.

Serendipity: All allies within range gain a +1 luck bonus to attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and saving throws.

Concentration (DC 18): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24

Clutching the deep cut, Marvin managed to hold his focus, snarled and lunged forward to bite his attacker.

Bite: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25, Damage: 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10
Crit Confirm: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18, Crit Extra Damage: 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

Enraged by his wound, Marvin went for the throat in a gruesome display of savagery fitting the title of "unholy scum."

Zyxtyvia will target the guard who struck Marvin as her next hex target.

Bouda's Hex affecting to hit, DC15 WIL

Sholano finally managed to find the opening he was looking for, taking a few graceful steps forward, reversing his grip on his blade and lunging for the back of the soldier Erick was holding still.

Flanking Dagger: 1d20 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 2 = 5
Sneak Attack Damage: 1d4 - 1 + 1d6 ⇒ (3) - 1 + (1) = 3

Unexpexctedly, blood from the other fallen soldier splattered underneath his foot as he went to slash, and his blade raised sparks as it scraped along the prison wall. He regained his footing with a grim little sneer, readying to attack again.

Marvin's guard is very dead.
@Zyxtyvia: because you have Evil Eye, your Bouda hex affects two categories at once. I figure that'll be attacks and AC in this case but leave it to you. :-)

Linus takes a few steps to his right and lays into another guard (8)

Attack: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
Damage: 1d8 - 1 ⇒ (6) - 1 = 5

Im doing a good job at rollin those 1s.

Erick begins to wrap his hands around the guards throat and squeezes with everything he has.

Grapple; Power Attack: 1d20 + 8 - 1 ⇒ (9) + 8 - 1 = 16
Damage: 1d3 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 4 + 2 = 9
Strangle: 1d6 ⇒ 4

*cough* Power Attack doesn't affect combat maneuvers. On the plus side, that'll probably drop him if you successfully maintained the grapple. I'll update after work.

good to know and yes that would be optimal... still learning this witch class, many thanks

@Zyxtyvia: also, 1/day, your Bouda hex can affect THREE categories. You chose a very strong archetype. :-)

My wife and I are leaving tomorrow morning for our cruise and won't be back until early next week. To give everyone something to do, here's the remainder of this floor. I've handwaved the rest of this combat since two severely wounded guards (one of whom is drunk) won't last more than a round against you. :-)

Dead Guards
Longsword x6
Chain Shirt x6
Heavy Steel Shield x6 (emblazoned with the Mitran sun)
Leather Club x6 (treat as a sap)
Longbow x6
Arrows x120
Small Key x6

Room 9
This is clearly a barracks where off-duty guards relax. Aside from a few cots and some locked wooden chests, the room is empty. The silver keys you've been finding on the guards fit several of the locks on these chests.

Chest Contents: 1d20 + 1d19 + 1d18 + 1d17 + 1d16 + 1d15 + 1d14 + 1d13 ⇒ (17) + (9) + (12) + (6) + (2) + (14) + (2) + (5) = 67
- Small bag of doggie treats
- A love letter ending in a marriage proposal to someone named "Michelle" along with a sapphire engagement ring (worth 100gp)
- A small supply of cookies carefully-wrapped in wax paper "From Lil"
- A bottle of rot gut beer (worth 5gp)
- A change of clothing (peasant garb)
- A traveler's outfit, a finely-made pipe (worth 5gp), and one pound of high-quality tobacco (worth 2gp)
- Ink, quill pen, and a journal. Noteworthy content includes information about Sergeant Blackerly's weekly gambling sessions and a single, underlined word: "Hesterfield."
- A change of clothing (peasant garb), two decks of cards (one normal, one marked), and 12gp in mixed coinage

Room 11
This room houses a well-stocked kitchen and pantry. The massive fireplace is lit, and there's meat roasting over the fire. Scattered around the room are a half-dozen large knives (treat as daggers) and a long meat cleaver (treat as a shortsword). There's also enough prepared rations to last for at least two weeks. More importantly, however, the kitchen is occupied by a pair of elderly peasants (a man and a woman) who are currently cowering in a corner. When they see you, they fall to their knees and beg for mercy.

The two hidden rooms and the westernmost door are locked, and none of your keys fit. The more perceptive of you can faintly hear snoring coming from behind the westernmost door.

Also, Grumblejack currently has 1 HP. Unless there's no other possible option, he's not doing anything that's even remotely dangerous.

Ohhh, have a blast on the cruise. Sounds fun!

Erick digs through the chest and grabs the bag of doggy treats and the Sergeant's diary. Sniffing the dog treat he nibbles off a small corner. These ain't so bad. They was feeding us worse.

Grabbing the clothing he changes into a pair of the peasant garbs. These smell like lilacs. He says holding the collar up to his nose.

Zyxtyvia will don the travelers outfit, grab another long knife and start collecting teeth from the fallen guards. In the kitchen she will ignore the peasants after pretending to put a hex on them and then grab some decent food for consumption.

After everyone has had their chance to sift through the items Zyxtyvia will motion the others towards the snoring door...

Quickly sorting through the contents of the chests intently, Sholano takes an interest in the letter, glancing at its contents with a mild smirk. He slips the ring into it and tucks the paper into his belt.

Who knows, "Michelle" might be a bit of fun later on.

He also notes the journal and its underlined terms. "Hm. Looks like their Sergeant likes to gamble. I wonder if that's where the rest of the guards are at," he comments.

He also tucks the two packs of cards into a pouch, taking in the marked one with a professional's eye.

Moving on to the kitchens, he starts at noticing the peasants. Apparently, the others had already intimidated them into panic. Well, that would do, he supposed. Keeping one eye on the cowering pair, he casually takes up one of the kitchen knives and rolls up his sleeve, then begins strapping the blade close against his arm. Working efficiently, he does the same on his other arm and both legs. He briefly considers hanging another down his back, but dismisses the process as too time-consuming without a prepared sheath.

When he's through, the charming thief finds himself feeling much better with a little proper preparation in place. He comes over to the peasants, still watching him with terrified eyes, and places a finger to his lips with a maliciously merry expression. Patting the man on the shoulder with just a bit more force than necessary, he turns to the rest and nods his head towards the western door from whence the snoring can be heard. He quietly asks, "Shall we?"

"The sooner, the better." Celestine agreed. She glanced back at the cowering couple. "If you don't bother us, we won't bother you." she told them. Nobody would expect a pair like that to even try to stop some armed prisoners, and if they cared about their own hides, they wouldn't interrupt.

(It wasn't mercy. Celestine had no problem with hurting other people, but she wasn't a maniac who'd hurt anyone just because she could. She only did it when there was value to doing so, and there was no meaningful value in killing bystanders here. All it would do was slow them down.)

Marvin quickly changed into the second set of peasant's clothing taking care to conceal his chain shirt, and tucked the shield and longsword he had been carrying into a chest along with the other items that no one had claimed. "Grumblejack, you and I don't look too good. Why don't you just carry this box, and leave the fighting to those guys?"

When the group arrived in the kitchen, Marvin slipped a small knife up his sleeve, and stopped before the cowering peasants. He quickly took note of the terrified man, before joining his companions as they left. Once he was out of line of sight, Marvin's face seemed to melt and twist until the panicky cook's face took its place. Marvin touched it briefly, then clutched his wound and followed the group ahead of Grumblejack, looking like nothing more than a wounded hostage.

Taking blank form, with bonus to disguise and darkvision. Just concentrating for now, I'll likely drop it if I get into combat.

Disguise: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25

Erick leans in and whispers at Hal. You open the door quiet-like and I will make sure whoever in there don't wake up at all.

As soon as someone opens the door and combat ensues, Zyx will target them with her hexes to weaken their AC and armor....

"Whenever we find some healing we should ensure some of the weaker members are cared for."

Back from the cruise and feeling great. Burnout's been delayed for now. :-)

The lock on the door is a DC 20.

Sholano rolls his neck and leans down towards the lock, muttering under his breath, "Can't be worse than the damned shackles, at least."

Disable Device: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Grimacing, he adds, "Then again..."

Disable Device: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 12

The door opens to reveal a slovenly-kept bedchamber. Although the room is immense, there aren't many furnishings aside from a large bed, a small table, and a wardrobe. Under the bed, you see the glint of iron - a strongbox perhaps? Of much greater interest, however, is the room's sole occupant. Lying on the bed in a drunken stupor is Sergeant Tomas Blackerly.

Erick smiles.

Finally...

Without even thinking Erick rushes the room and leaps on top of the unsuspecting Sergeant. He pins the squirming fat man with one arm against his throat and another hand over his mouth.

As the Sergeant's eyes fly open his giggles with excitement. I ain't gonna kill you yet. Someone go get a brand first!

Grapple: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25

You picked a bad day to drink you piece of s+~&!

"Someone close and guard the door, someone else bind the SGT. We also need to search the room. Who knows how much time we have here unmolested. Save the revenge for when we have time. And if we do kill him I will need his teeth."

Why wait until he his dead? Take a tooth now! Erick says as he looks into the man's eyes.

Celestine rolled her eyes slightly. "Stop wasting time or we'll leave you behind." she said. She didn't care what happened to the guard, but she had no use for people who got so caught up in little fits of revenge that they forgot about the big picture. They weren't free of the prison yet, and that was the main priority.

(Well, her main priority, anyway. She couldn't guarantee everyone else would agree, but if their goals were too different, she'd have no problem leaving them behind...)

"She's right," Marvin said, as he moved to intervene with the sergeant, still clutching his wound and maintaining concentration. His face a mask of terror and pain, Marvin pleaded, "Please, leave him be. You don't need to hurt us anymore, I'm sure he'll do anything you ask. Like opening this lockbox and giving you the keys to the rest of the complex. Just leave us out of this, please. Sergeant, please believe them, I got stabbed while they were making their escape and they brought me along with them when they left the kitchens. You know why they're here.... they'll tear you apart just for fun. I'm pretty sure I saw one of these escapees tear one of the guard's throat out with his teeth."

While Marvin had no qualms about violence when it was needed, there was no benefit to torturing this man and every second that passed was sure to draw more guards closer. Better that he willing give up anything useful to save his skin than spend much more time extracting information by force.

"Keep him quiet, damnit," Sholano said gruffly from his place near the door. Standing straight and tall, he strode into the room, aiming a cuff at Marvin's head.

You seem smart enough, play along a bit further...

He drew his sword menacingly, his voice low and dark. "Give us the keys and get that strongbox open, nice and quick, or it'll go bad for the both of you."

Intimidate: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

Marvin cowered before the new threat, shrinking back next to the sergeant. "Please sir, do as they say... I don't want to be stabbed again..."

Linus laughs. "There is always time for a little payback. I say go for it."