Aubrey's 'On Skull Beach' - Table 1

Game Master Aubrey the Malformed

Kaerishidlon manifests his lesser shifter aspect (swift action) and withdraws to S9.

Dexterity bonus, changing status line to match

Ishmex starts running behind his party to be able to see the cave mouth. He has a moment of insight to move further away in case something more dangerous comes out the cave. The is a flash as he chops his hand through the air creating a crack that he steps through into nothing then reappearing on the other side of the small stream. He digs in his pouch and produces a small ball of spiderweb. He chants arcane words to focus his power into the ball and throws it past the warriors where it explodes in a mess of thick sticky strands of magical webbing.

Use dimensional slide to move to X-14 and use a point from reservoir cast a boosted web centered at Y/Z-4/5. DC 16 reflex. This should block the mouth of the cave and 10 ft back. It will also web Lheorvine, sorry about that, and most of the warriors.

Initiative
Nasty 2 25 (not currently visible)
Warriors 20
Blythe 18+
Ujarak 18-
Grulorg 17
Cyriphrain 15
Lheorvine 8+
Delmar 8
Rish 8-
Ishmex 5+
Nasty 1 5- (not currently visible)

Map

This is where having my bomb stuff would be really useful.....

Move to Y10, via Y13 to avoid AoOs

Hit W1 with a brand, which I'm assuming works like a club.

Delmar moves in to help Rish with the attacker.

Atk: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 4 + 2 = 14 DMG: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Concentration check DC 16: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15. Blythe will take a -1 on her Disarm roll (bringing it to 18), to raise her Concentration check by 1 to 16, via her Spell combat class ability.

OK, a slight bit of jiggery-pokery with the Concentration bonus there to get it to work, but I'll let it go as you are getting used to your character's abilities.

Also, comment to Delmar. The brand is an improvised weapon and so gets a -4 penalty to hit. However, you hit anyway because their AC is terrible, plus they are raging and charging. However, you have the Throw Anything feat which allows you to throw an improvised weapon without the -4 penalty, plus you don't have to stand next to a bunch of raging maniacs to do it. There is plenty of ammunition on a shingle beach.

More in a moment...

Reflex saves
W2 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
W4 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
W5 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12
W6 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Also need Lheo's Reflex save.

Ishmex's spell engulfs the warriors and blocks the entrance to the cave. As a loud roaring begins to emanate from the tunnel, Mr Ward sticks his head out of the hut. "What's going on?" he asks, eyes wide.

With the sound of tearing and ripping webbing, something enormous tries to emerge from the cave.

CMD 1d20 + 29 ⇒ (20) + 29 = 49 v the CMB of the Web, which equals the spell save DC of 16
Well, look in the bright side - at least he's used up his 20.

A massive white dragon shoulders aside the webs which impede it no more than ordinary cobwebs. Mounted on its back is a human man, a scrawny and middle-aged islander, dressed in a cloak of brown feathers and wearing a battered-looking standard Imperial-issue breastplate. His heavily tattooed features are coldly angry as he looks about at the chaos in the village. The villagers fall to their knees and begin to wail in their language.

Allam Islander:

Initiative updated
Nasty 1+2 25
Warriors 20
Blythe 18+
Ujarak 18-
Grulorg 17
Cyriphrain 15
Lheorvine 8+
Delmar 8
Rish 8-
Ishmex 5+

Map updated.

Right, before I forget, AoO on Blythe by W1
W1 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12 to hit, damage 1d10 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16
Guess that's a miss...

Blythe knocks the club from the nearest warrior's hand. He replies with his fists and teeth.

Hampered by the webs, the warriors struggle to fight.

W1, W3 and W5 will attack Blythe, W2 and W4 will attack Grulorg, W6 will attack Lheo.

W1 Fist 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25 to hit, damage 1d3 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6
W1 Bite 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 19 to hit, damage 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
W2 1d20 + 6 - 2 ⇒ (11) + 6 - 2 = 15 to hit, damage 1d10 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14
W3 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24 to hit, damage 1d10 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14
W4 1d20 + 6 - 2 ⇒ (4) + 6 - 2 = 8 to hit, damage 1d10 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10
W5 1d20 + 6 - 2 ⇒ (8) + 6 - 2 = 12 to hit, damage 1d10 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12
W6 1d20 + 6 - 2 ⇒ (20) + 6 - 2 = 24 to hit, damage 1d10 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10

PCs, in no particular order.

Without his normal gear Grulorg is a rather easy target to hit, even in his Rage he begins to weaken but he still fights on!

Attack W2 with Club 1d20 + 4 + 6 - 3 ⇒ (4) + 4 + 6 - 3 = 11
Club Damage 1d6 + 6 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 + 6 = 15

Do W1's unarmed attacks provoke attacks of opportunity from those that threaten him? Not that I can take advantage of it.../ooc]

Rish retrieves a potion from his sash. [ooc]Retrieving one is a move action; if allowed, he will retrieve two.

He quickly consumes the contents of the vial and some of his wounds ease. Cure Light Wounds

Healing: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

5' step to T8, please

Blythe knocks the weapon out of the warriors hands, and he comes in with fists flying, biting and gnashing at her. She attempts to face check the chaotic assault with the butt of her hand, but it slips off his face, and she takes a flailing elbow to the side of her head, and falls into unconsciousness.

I didn't see that the acid splash actually hit W5 or not.
If Blythe gets an AoO against the unarmed W1, then this applies. Attack of opportunity W1: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6 for 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7 points of potential damage, missing.

The first warrior takes a swing at Blythe, triggering the casting of Duelist's parry and Blythe parry's W1: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10, hitting her for 6 damage. This drops Blythe to -2 HP.

The worst part is if I'd not cast Duelist's parry, my AC is 27...he'd miss both his attacks. C'est la vie.

Do W1's unarmed attacks provoke attacks of opportunity from those that threaten him? Not that I can take advantage.

No, he has the relevant feat.

I didn't see that the acid splash actually hit W5 or not.

It did, I just forgot to mention it.

Ujarak recoils at the sight of the dragon. He frantically resumes his attack on Blythe's foe.

Club v W3, two-handed, bless : 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 5 + 1 = 22 .. Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

PCs, in no particular order.

W6 drops me to 0 hp. I might have had an attack before then, but it seems unlikely that it'll make any difference, really.

Seeing his allies getting downed is quite worrisome but everything else seems to fade away at the sight of the dragon. ohmygodsohmygodsohmygods! It does exist! "Perhaps continuing the fight isn't the best idea?" Adressing the dragon,

delay for my turn. I'd rather not antagonize the people while I have allies in danger.

Also, comment to Delmar. The brand is an improvised weapon and so gets a -4 penalty to hit. However, you hit anyway because their AC is terrible, plus they are raging and charging. However, you have the Throw Anything feat which allows you to throw an improvised weapon without the -4 penalty, plus you don't have to stand next to a bunch of raging maniacs to do it. There is plenty of ammunition on a shingle beach.

I actually did consider that, and went for the hand to hand rather than incur the "shooting into combat" penalty and hoping the extra +2 for flanking would help both me and Rish. Throw anything was my initial plan with the brands....

At the noise of the Dragon, Delma takes a step back, and lowers the second brand he has in his hands.

5ft Step to Y11. Ready an action to retaliate if someone attacks me, but otherwise hold.

Ujarak thumps the warrior hard with his club, but as Blythe falls he raises his club and smiles, showing teeth sharpened to points. Glulorg clubs another warrior, trapped in Ishmex's web, to the ground. But all eyes turn to the dragon and its rider.

W2 down.

1d20 + 29 ⇒ (1) + 29 = 30 CMB ve Ishmex's Web DC of 16
Ha! Look at that. A natural 1.

The dragon strains in the web, momentarily trapped. Its rider snarls in accented Common, "Your little spells will not stop us for long! Give up now!" He then barks something in the local tongue.

Allam Islander:

The dragon looks curiously at Ishmex but does not reply.

"Why surrender if death or slavery waits for us anyway?!" Ujarak shouts back. He holds his club cocked to strike and picks out a chipped tooth as a target, but doesn't swing yet.

"Certain death now or likely death later - you decide," says the priest to Ujarak, sneering. "I need some of you alive. I suppose you would like to be among them?" The dragon is coiled but impassive.

"Some? We come as a package, or we don't come at all. If you want us, call off your hounds so that we can talk civilly"

"I'm not here to talk." The dragon clambers up on to the roof of a hut and glowers down, the priest still on its back. "Throw down your weapons."

Map updated.

Delmar drops the rest of the brands onto the sand. Then looks around for Cedric.

The conversation swirling around causes Grulorg to hesitate and step backwards. He growls at the opponent facing him awaiting the actions of the rest of his companions and of course the newcomers.

Hold action, if everyone else drops their weapons Grulorg will drop down into the negatives as his rage will end and he will lose 8 HP.

Kaerishidlon holds no weapon, but takes the bow from his shoulder and drops it to the ground. Too many have fallen, we are not likely to win, less likely to successfully retreat.

He holds his hands up, away from his body.

Hold action, if everyone else drops their weapons Grulorg will drop down into the negatives as his rage will end and he will lose 8 HP.

Eh, I've always considered that a daft rule. Consider your extra hp to be temporary hp which you lose first in combat.

Grulorg Titian wrote:

Hold action, if everyone else drops their weapons Grulorg will drop down into the negatives as his rage will end and he will lose 8 HP.

Eh, I've always considered that a daft rule. Consider your extra hp to be temporary hp which you lose first in combat.

Alright! I agree, this is how I play it at my table as well.

Ujarak is momentarily impressed by the strength of the hut.

He shrugs and drops his club.

Considered trying to drop the club on pointy-teeth's foot, but Ujarak's more dignified than that. I've got other PCs who would have tried it though.

I'm the strongest mage in the world! I saw the dragon get held up in my webs.

Ishmex holds his hands out to the sides and gives a twirl to show that he has no weapons. He takes tentative steps towards the dragon not even noticing he's getting his feet wet. His eyes as wide as saucers and wringing his hands in excitement he ignores anything else the man has to say from on top of Ishmex's new friend.

"Ghhnnnngh."

Del catches Ish as he moves past and holds him gently. "Not too close my friend, it looks like we will have time to get to know this dragon." he says quietly.

Ujarak is momentarily impressed by the strength of the hut.

Building regulations on the Isles of Allam are extremely strict. All dwellings must have thick stone walls and a sturdy roof timbers. Building inspectors apply the 'dragon test' - i.e. could a dragon weighing over a ton clamber on to the roof of this building without it collapsing? Hence the dragon and its rider were fully and specifically aware that their action in climbing on to the hut would be perfectly safe and lead to no Health & Safety issues.

The man looks at Ishmex and says flatly, "For your information, he does speak the language of his kin. So do I. Talk to him again and I will kill you."

He speaks to the warriors.

Allam Islander:

He then turns to the villager who gave Ujarak his club, his face dark with anger.

Allam Islander:

The warriors pull themselves free, disarm the adventurers and tie their hands behind them. They also gag Ishmex, but not the others. Once this is done the priest dismounts, and he and the dragon withdraw back into the cave.

OK, the rule is this: if you wear it (armour, rings, amulets and so on), you keep it. If you don't, they take it.

They roughly bind the wounds of Blythe, Lheorvine and Grulorg and force them each to drink an evil brew that smells like rotting seaweed mixed with pine resin (and doesn't taste much better).

They are, however, potions of Cure Light Wounds, caster level 5.

Then the warriors set fire to Ishmex's web and, once the way is clear, they gather the villagers, the captured sailors, Cedric and the adventurers, and corral them into the tunnel.

"This is going well so far. Well, we made it to a beach..." the half-orc grumbles as the group is led into the cave.

Cure Light 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

"Well you don't have to be so mean about it..." Ishmex mumbles under his breath. He holds his hands out to show he isn't fighting until they come to gag him. "GET OFF, STOP THA... mmph mrph!" Finally resigned to his fate he glares at the warriors.

...

He then turns to the villager who gave Ujarak his club, his face dark with anger.

Allam Islander:

...

Probably after getting smacked around. Ujarak stoically sits on the tunnel floor.

Does tunnel = cave? Once corralled are we left to our own devices?

If left to our own devices

Rish waits until the captors have left the captured folks to ask, ”How badly are you injured? I have no ability to call forth miracles, but I have learned much of natural healing from the druids of the circle.”

Rish has a healthy heal skill and a better bonus for long-term care, so if those with magical healing wish to preserve it for emergencies, he might be able to make that feasible. This is dependent on whether ‘worn’ means I lose my sash, of course, and the equipment stored therein.

CLW: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

Nice. That gets me back to 9 hp.

Lheorvine quietly notes which of the villagers took his sword. You're all dead. But you are especially dead.

Blythe's eyes flutter open. Pulling at her bound wrists, she looks around, taking in the group gathered in the tunnel. "Why aren't we dead?"

CLW: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8

Give it time.

@Rish - you keep the sash, but not the contents. PCs can try a Sleight of Hand check if they want to try and hide one small item (say, dagger-sized or potion-sized maximum) each - the DC is 21. You get +5 if the item is no bigger than a coin.

You aren't left to your own devices, it's a tunnel and you are being shepherded down it.

There is no natural light in the tunnel, but a lantern resting on the floor flickers with a yellow light further down. The floor, ceilings and walls are all carved in the shapes of writhing tentacles, giving the passage a horribly organic feel as if the adventurers were traversing down the gullet of some enormous creature. The carvings are smooth, worn by the passage of time, but this only enhances the effect. From deeper inside the cave they can hear a distorted sighing – waves breaking in some further cavern, but disturbingly like the breath of a giant beast.

The tunnel twists for a few hundred yards, the walls seeming to squirm by the light of lanterns placed at intervals along its length. The sound of waves gets gradually louder. With a final turn they abruptly finds themselves on the threshold of a much larger cave. To the left, waves pulse in and out against a shelf that slopes into the water. The cavern roof also arches down to the water's surface, creating an pool that surges and recedes, enclosed in the cave but presumably connected to the sea, coloured a dim blue from distant sunlight filtering in from outside.

Nearer to hand the floor of the cave is dry and covered with more of the tentacular carving. A low rise in the stone, a hummock about five feet square, occupies the centre of the floor, and four manacles have been hammered into the stone around it. Here squats the priest, his back to the entrance, although the group can see the tattoos on his outstretched hands and his fine cloak of brown feathers.

At the back of the cave, almost lost in shadow, crouches the dragon. It watches intently as the villagers, sailors and adventurers are herded together against the right wall. It blinks like a cat watching a mouse as it considers whether to engage in a hunt for sport or relax where it is. Next to the prisoners a dark vertical fissure seems to lead deeper underground, but the warriors keep a careful watch in case any should try to escape that way.

The priest rises and gestures. The villager who gave Ujarak his club is grabbed and dragged towards the mound by one of the warriors. The man screams as he realises what is going on. He is pushed down to sprawl spread-eagled on his back in the centre of the cavern and his arms and legs are fastened with the manacles. Over the man's shrieks the priest intones:

Allam Islander:

The dragon rises and the priest steps back. It stalks forward to loom over the man bound on the floor, its forelegs either side of his body as it gazes down, savouring the man's fear. The villager gibbers with terror as the dragon inhales and then blasts him with a gout of ice and frozen air, and a billowing fog engulfs the man as his final wail is abruptly cut off. As the mist clears the dragon stoops and begins to crunch on the dead man’s body, solidified limbs snapping like twigs as it pulls the corpse free of the manacles on the floor and gulps down chunks of flash-frozen flesh.

The priest gives a signal and the warriors begin shoving the group towards the crack in the wall, clearly intending to force them in. One of the sailors breaks free, eyes rolling in terror. “I ain’t goin’ in there!” he yells as he tries to find a way out. But before he gets far the dragon charges, its eyes now filled with blood-lust. It pins the man to the floor with a claw and grips the top half of his body in its jaws, pulling the man in half and guzzling down the sailor’s head, arms and torso. It then roars, looking about for a new target, and as the guards back hurriedly away towards the tunnel the panicked crew and villagers stampede for the crack as their only escape route.

OK, what are you doing?

Whatever they bloody well tell me at this point!

Delmar edges close to Cedric, but otherwise follows orders and keeps his head down.

Grulorg complies,hes not ready to fight that beast, yet...

Blythe calls out to the priest. "Sacrifice me with my arms unbound. Let me face my destiny boldly."

This one is bold, bound or unbound.

It appears that they are letting us "escape" into the crack?

The priest ignores Blythe as he watches the carnage with glee. The dragon grabs another villager, impaling him on sword-like teeth before shaking him like a terrier with a rat until his limbs flop and his head lolls on a broken neck. The dragon doesn't even bother to feast on the corpse, throwing it aside as it looks for another to slay.

Some of the prisoners squeeze through the crack and disappear while others press to get in.

No one is hindering you going down the crack, although there's a bit of a traffic jam and a dragon entering a killing frenzy behind you.

If his end is this dragon, Ujarak intends to see it coming. He backs slowly toward the crack. He doesn't push, just reaches an arm behind him, keeps contact with whoever's behind him, and steps back slowly to maintain his distance as they advance.

Ishmex comes to a grim realization. This dragon is not his friend! This isn't going anything how I hoped! That dragon is more beast than civilized creature like the stories told. We've got to get out of here! Deciding to lead he calls out to his friends, "Mmph mmgh mrmrmm!" Damned gag... Ishmex uses his small size to his advantage and dances between the legs of the bigger folk into the crack.

acrobatics: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24

Rish follows, well aware that they are not being let into the crack by accident. What lies ahead is a definite concern...

Sorry, catching up.
CLW: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

Cyriphrain is near stunned by the horror going on in front of him.

HE comes to the same conclusion as Rish - the crack is no accident - but the dragon is certain death.

"Come on then," he mutters to those nearest him. "Let's see what awaits us down there."

He will make his way through the crack, pushing up against the crowd, but not forcing anyone out of his way.

OK, so Ishmex has got the idea. There is a press at the fissure and you need to get through, otherwise you might be dragon fodder. So you can try the following:
- an Acrobatics check, DC 15 (to duck round other people)
- an Intimidate check, DC 15 (to get people to move out of your way)
- a STR check, DC 12 (to push people out of the way)
Choose ONE and make a check. Hopefully you will succeed, otherwise I'll have to roll randomly to see who the dragon goes for next...

Ishmex has already succeeded, by the way.