Dark Reflections [Midnight Mirror] (Inactive)

Game Master mike9322

@Nightshade: Peering through the window, you see a storefront, dimly lit from the cloud-covered sun shining through the windows. The room is absolutely crammed full of candles, of all sizes, shapes, and colors. The candles cover every available surface, poking out of crates and perching precariously on overstuffed shelves. The room is approximately 15 feet wide by 10 feet deep and there is a door on the east side of the room. You can make out a humanoid figure standing in the back of the room, but no details are visible in the dim light. The figure is not moving.

@Lefdam: You shout "HEY GUYS I'M LOOKING FOR ANYTHING THAT MIGHT BE OUT OF PLACE!" and then walk directly into a street lamp.

bludgeoning damage: 1d2 ⇒ 1

In case it's not clear, I'm kidding. Get some new dice, man!

@Speck: Quiet as a mouse, you do a lap around the building. You hear Lefdam say "HEY GUYS WHERE DID SPECK GO" and roll your eyes. The main floor is 20'x25', but with that fantastic perception roll, you can tell that there is a substantial basement built into the hill that rises behind the building. There are two reinforced cellar doors around the back side of the hill that clearly lead into the basement. They are indeed trapped. You make your way back to the party in front of the building and check the front door; it is neither trapped nor locked.

If you were just going for flavor, that's cool, but CN does have Darkvision so dim light doesn't technically have any effect.

As to our horses, I assumed we left them tethered near Lucian's place, but I guess we could take them with us. On a stealth mission. :|

The Nightshade slinks back to the others. [color=red]"Someone inside,"[/color] he says in his unusually smooth baritone. [color=red]"Couldn't make out any details, other than he's an avid fan of candles. I lost count of how many he has in there."[/color] He pauses for a beat. [color=red]"Or even whether it was a 'he,' for that matter. Humanoid. That's as much as I could glean."[/color]

Yeah, I need to choose a phrase other than 'dim light'. It's basically a "you're gonna need to go in if you want to figure out who/what that is" situation. :)

Roger dodger.

Speck makes his way back to the rest of the party, and listens to what Nightshade says.

"There is also a cellar built into the hill, and the doors to it seem to be locked and trapped. Now locked I can understand, but why is it trapped? I say we check out the cellar first, what do you all say?"

Without giving his companions a chance to speak up, Speck turns and walks back towards the cellar and starts disarming the traps on the door.

Disable Device: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (10) + 11 = 21

Lefdam, still a bit embarrassed at his outbursts earlier, give a nod and prepares stands over by Rupert preparing to enter the building.

Cellar it is then, Speck. People call me impetuous.

Rupert follows Speck to the cellar door, standing about 15ft back to try to muffle the sound of his movement.

stealth: 1d20 - 3 ⇒ (10) - 3 = 7

Rupert draws his greatsword and it makes a screech coming out of the scabbard

By the Rule of Two, you head to the cellar.

Speck believes he successfully disabled the trap. The doors are still locked.

The Nightshade nods at Speck. [color=red]"Does seem suspicious. And I'd rather take the figure in the room by surprise if possible, rather than storming the front door."[/color]

He follows the sylph to the back and watches with a detached interest as his deft fingers work on the trap. (From 15ft away. *cough*)

Speck shuts out all noises and focuses on the lock in front of him and attempts to pick it.

Diable Device: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (17) + 11 = 28

Finally the dice are in his favor

And attempts to stealthily open the door

Stealth: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (6) + 13 = 19

DC 20 trap, DC 25 lock. Speck rolling rocks!

With a faint snick, the doors unlock. Speck looks at the rest of the party with a wry grin on his face and turns to open the door. The door opens soundlessly and he thinks he is in the clear.

The smell of hot fat is overpowering. There are several enormous vats directly in front of the door, blocking your view of the rest of the room. The vat in front of you is the only one with an active fire below it, and you can tell that it was rigged to pour boiling hot wax on whoever was not clever enough to notice and disable the trap. The vats are approximately 5 feet tall, and the taller among you can see over their rims well enough to notice that there are heads emerging from the seemingly cooled wax. The one to your right holds a young man and the one to the left holds an older man. You can barely see between the vats to determine that there might be another vat beyond the northern one, but you cannot tell if someone is encased in that one. You also cannot tell whether the people are dead or unconscious.

Speck, while being exceedingly skilled and clever, did not take into account that, even with the overcast sky, it might be far brighter outside than inside the cellar. While he succeeded in not making a sound, the light streaming in from outside alerted the occupants of this room (whom you can't see with the vats blocking your view). Suddenly an extremely bright light fills the entire interior of the cellar. From within, you hear a voice call out: "Who is there? Speak quickly!"

I'm going to roll your initiatives now, just in case, but we have not entered combat.

Lefdam initiative: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25
Nightshade initiative: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19
Speck initiative: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13
Rupert initiative: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15

We're going to our first map! I'll post the roll20 link in the discord.

Oh damn! Lefdam like a boss, natch that Initiative!

Lefdam looks at his companions, shrugs, and then answers the voice.

"Erhm, yes. Hello, good sir, we are looking for some...uh...candles. You see a member of our party here is terribly afraid of the dark so we need a source of light just to get him to go to sleep at night. We are all very tired because his constant whimpering keeps us all awake. We did not see anyone upstairs and thought we would see if we could find the owner of this wonderful establishment." He eyes Speck and can barely keep himself from breaking out into laughter.

Bluff: 1d20 ⇒ 18

Upon hearing what Lefdam says, Speck looks at him with wry grin and thinks to himself <i>You sly dog you, I may make a proper hustler out of you yet Lefdam.</i> He then decides to help add to the deception.

"Yyyeeesss see I am sadly afraid of the ddddaaarrrkkk, it is a terrible condition I have had to live with since a trip to Caliphas many years back. You see I was abducted by cultist of Groetus, and well lets just say that after I was rescued I wasn't same. I will gladly pay you market value + 5% for your wares if you are willing to part with some of your wares."

Bluff: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29

I'm counting Speck's bluff as an aid, even still you guys are up against a substantial bonus to Sense Motive since this is such an obvious lie.

The voice on the other side of the vats doesn't sound amused. "Oh, and I suppose you picked my lock and disabled my trap trying to find the owner? Hardly. Who are you? Do not lie to me again! I told the baron I was not to be disturbed, and I have his full authority to do whatever is needed. I will not be interrupted! Leave now or there will be consequences!" You hear some muffled speaking and shuffling coming from behind the vats.

Rupert sees the men in the vats over Speck's shoulder and is immediately furious. He calms his temper slightly, but if ever there was a time for violence, it's now.

"Unvat these people, sir! By the light of Sarenrae, you will release these people and come out to me!"

Rupert stashes his greatsword and draws his lucerne hammer, staying 10ft behind Sir Speck.

"Un... vat?" The voice is incredulous. "So be it. I will deal with you myself. If you intend to hinder my work, come in here and stop me. I'm afraid you may find that more difficult than you expect."

Okay, we're in combat now. If you haven't logged into roll20 yet, do it now (the link is in the #links channel in discord) and I will grant you control of your token. Squares with vats will incur the squeezing condition (difficult terrain + -4 to AC + -4 to attack rolls). Have fun, boys!

Lefdam
Angry Voice
Nightshade
Rupert
Speck

Bold may act.

Lefdam sighs. "I suppose we are going to have to do this the hard way then." He then looks to his companions. "Might I suggest NOT killing him? He may be useful if put to the question. I know that the evil things he does here should not go unpunsihed...but we have a little girls life to save. The should come before all else right now. If he knows where he is and we kill him...then we will be no closer to figuring out where she is...

Lefdam, hoping that he got through to his companions, moves 10 feet to stand being the vat that sits directly in front of him. He tries to peer past the vat to see if he can spot where the voice is coming from.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20

You can see somewhat between the vats, but the unnaturally bright room makes you squint, as if looking directly at the sun. Beyond the vats, you are able to make out a furnace to the left and some sort of makeshift altar about 30 feet into the room. You see no living things other than the heads emerging from the vats (if they are indeed still living).

The voice calls out from the cellar again. It seems to be coming from the center of the room, but you can't see who is speaking. "This is your last chance to close those doors and forget what you've seen here today. You have been warned. I have the baron's full authority to operate as I see fit and I will not be merciful."

Lefdam
Angry Voice
Nightshade
Rupert
Speck

Bold may act.

The Nightshade gives a sardonic glance at Lefdam. [color=red]"Yes. Of course. I will simply knock him out with my bullets moving at highly lethal speeds."[/color] He sighs. [color=red]"How about I simply watch the door."[/color]

Really, really should have bought a sap lol. Readied action to shoot any enemies that try to sneak up on us? I guess?

Rupert grimaces as he moves past the vats. "Sarenrae may teach us to forgive, but I cannot simply forget this horror. You will tell us what is going on here one way or another."

He squeezes past the vats and searches for the source of the voice. His hammer is poised above his head, ready to strike at any moment.

terrible perception: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (9) - 1 = 8

Rupert double moves past the vats and into the room. He has his hammer out, so he'll stop short of his full movement of 40ft if he gets within 10ft of a creature.

@Rupert: as you pull even with the furnace at the end of your movement, you notice a figure in your peripheral vision, hiding behind the northwestern vat. The figure is a frightened looking man with an obviously advanced case of tallowthroat. He holds a basic club and seems completely untrained in combat.

You also notice that the head of a little girl is emerging from the top of the vat you couldn't see from outside. Now that you are in the room, the brightness is almost overwhelming. You are having to squint constantly to not overload your eyes.

As your movement comes to an end, the man rushes at you, club raised. He screams as he approaches, as if convincing himself that attacking the horned man in the heavy armor with a club is a good life choice.

Club: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
Club damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

Despite the man's very scary roar, Rupert easily sidesteps the wild swing. The man then looks at Rupert's hammer and his eyes go wide as he realizes exactly what he's gotten himself into.

And then, from behind the furnace, a similar but more feminine scream erupts as a woman, similarly dressed, similarly armed, similarly trained, similarly tallowthroated, rushes at Rupert.

Club: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18
Club damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

The woman takes advantage of the brief moment of surprise and manages a much more competent attack at Rupert. Still, Rupert's training and armor makes him nearly impossible to hit, much less injure, by such amateur combatants.

Rupert sense motive: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15

Lefdam
Angry Voice
Nightshade
Rupert
Man
Woman
Speck

Bold may act.

Speck will squeeze through the vats, pulling out his rapier as he goes, and stand behind Rupert. Noticing that seeing that Rupert is being attacked attacked, Speck will make a nonlethal attack against the person closest to him and then take a better look of his surroundings.

Nonlethal Attack: 1d20 + 9 - 4 ⇒ (1) + 9 - 4 = 6
Nonlethal Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 2
Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27

Speck confirm fumble: 1d20 + 9 - 4 ⇒ (6) + 9 - 4 = 11

Confirmed. LLLLLLLLET'S GET READY TO FUMBLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Picking a fumble card: 1d52 ⇒ 24

>>BONK<<: You are stunned for one round (fort negates).

Speck fort save: 1d20 ⇒ 13

You're all right :)

Round Summary:
- The voice from within the room continued to speak, with no apparent origin.
- Rupert rushed in, hoping to find the source of the voice. Instead, he found two commoners that really seem out of their depth. They both attacked him and missed.
- Speck entered and attempted to subdue one of the commoners but must have been temporarily blinded by the intense light in the room, stabbing wildly with his rapier.
- Lefdam and Nightshade remain outside. Surely they can help the incompetence-fest that's going on in this cellar in round 2!

Lefdam
Angry Voice
Nightshade
Rupert
Man
Woman
Speck

Bold may act.

Lefdam sees Rupert rush in and get attacked by 2...commoners? What in the hells?

Knowing that his comapnions needs his help, he squeezes through the vats and steps up to the female commoner.

"You are not in your right mind...I can see this clearly...I hope you can forgive me for this when you awaken Lefdam takes a swing at the woman pulling his punch hoping to only knock her unconscious. He follows this up with another punch of the same kind.

Unarmed Strike: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24
Unarmed Strike Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11
Unarmed Strike: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12
Unarmed Strike Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

The man (it's a man, but I know the token doesn't really look like it) turns toward Lefdam when he speaks, only to fall immediately into a heap to his first punch. Lefdam's second punch misses high as the man falls. He is still breathing but went down hard. The female commoner screams, "Fane, no! Is he dead?"

Lefdam, I don't see anything on your character sheet about you wearing gloves, so....

Lefdam fort save: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18

You're okay.

You all hear the disembodied voice and it seems like it's coming from very nearby. "These people are of no consequence to me. They are just here to keep you busy while I do this." You hear some low chanting and then Speck feels an odd sensation come over him.

Speck fort save: 1d20 ⇒ 5

Speck, your peripheral vision starts to darken. At first, it is a welcome respite from the blinding light in this room, but it continues to darken until all that is left is a pinpoint of light. It lingers, as if teasing you, and then everything is dark. Speck, you are permanently blind.

You hear a malevolent laugh and then: "You can still leave now. I won't tell the baron you were here."

Lefdam
Angry Voice
Nightshade
Rupert
Man (Unconscious)
Woman
Speck (Blind)

Bold may act.

WELP.

The Nightshade shakes his head. [color=red]"Unbelievable,"[/color] he mutters, and slips through the vats and into the room, dropping his goggles down over his eyes as he goes, and takes stock of his surroundings.

General look around the room, but mainly trying to find the source of that damn voice.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

As a reminder, here are the blinded rules:

Speck can still act.

Upon scanning the room Speck yells out "I believe the voice is coming from somewhere near the alter in the center of the ". Just as Speck is about to finish his whole world goes dark on him, which is an odd sensation since he has darkvision.

Speck grabs at his eyes and screams out "NNNNNNOOOOO, that bastard took my sight! Guys I can't see, he blinded me, wha ... what do I do?"

Speck starts to panic, his breathing becoming fast and labored as he thinks to himself, this isn't how it was supposed to end. after a couple of seconds he collects himself and listens to the battle around him and attempts to move towards the other person he saw attacking Rupert.

Direction: 1d8 ⇒ 1

Speck reaches out and feels Rupert in front of him and moves next to him, attempting to use his natural agility to avoid the fallen person.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15

He stumbles a bit but is able to stand next to Rupert and swings wildly hoping to hit the women attacking Rupert.

Percentage: 1d100 ⇒ 38

As he swings he finds that his weapon doesn't connect with anything and feel a bit relieved as he realized that he could have hit Rupert.

Gah, my mistake. It was Rupert's turn, not Speck's. I'll just move Speck in the initiative order to reflect the change.

Rupert, you're up.

Rupert is somewhat surprised to see the two inept villagers down here, but they're a part of whatever this is. I suppose I should take the path of compassion - the sick will do desperate things for a cure.

Rupert drops his hammer to the ground with a loud clang and pulls his greatsword from his back. "I'm sorry, but you leave me no choice!"

Rupert swings his greatsword at the woman in front of him, trying to land the flat side against her chest read: non-lethal.

non-lethal +1 greatsword: 1d20 + 10 - 4 ⇒ (2) + 10 - 4 = 8

Held too much back on that one. Where the hell is this voice coming from?

incompetent perception roll: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (12) - 1 = 11

"Come out and we may let you live!"

The woman somehow dodges out of the way of both Speck and Rupert's attacks. Noticing that Speck is blind, she correctly surmises that he might be easier to hit. She haphazardly swings her club at Speck's head.

Club: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
Club damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Even with Speck's disability, the woman is too frightened and plebeian to connect with her club. She looks again at Fane's unconscious body, tears streaming down her face.

Lefdam
Angry Voice
Nightshade
Speck (Blind)
Rupert
Man (Unconscious)
Woman

Bold may act.

Lefdam moves 10 feet to the other side of Speck and attacks the woman with the same series of blows as the downed man.

"I promise you. This is for the best right now. We will get this sorted out and make sure your safe. You are not in control of your own mind right now...and this is the only way to stop you from hurting yourself and other" He says before his fists make contact.

Unarmed Strike: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28
Unarmed Strike Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
Unarmed Strike: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13
Unarmed Strike Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

Crit Confirm: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19

Since you weren't trying to kill this woman, I'm going to let the crit simply mean you achieved your goal: knocking her out. You did more than enough to take her down. It's highly possible that if I follow through on the crit, you will do enough nonlethal damage to kill her, and I know that's not what you wanted.

Lefdam connects solidly with the woman's temple and she crumbles in a heap.

Lefdam fort save: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12

Lefdam, you think that maybe touching this woman was a bad idea.

The voice speaks again. "You've taken down my minions, but you seem to have done so mercifully. Curious. No matter." Nighshade, you feel a slight breeze swoosh by you.

Nightshade has been stabbed enough to know a dagger wound when he feels one. This one is particularly vicious because Nightshade cannot see his assailant to defend himself. Nightshade hears a chuckle come from what seems like only a foot away, and then another that is further away. It's starting to get in your head. Nightshade, you take 18 points of piercing damage.

Lefdam
Angry Voice
Nightshade
Speck (Blind)
Rupert
Man (Unconscious)
Woman (Unconscious)

Bold may act.

Rupert casts around to see if he can identify the source of the light in the room.

perception: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (6) - 1 = 5

Rupert moves deeper into the room and takes a defensive stance total defense.

The Nightshade snarls. [color=red]"Nine Hells, he's invisible!"[/color]

Frustrated and in pain, he finds it difficult to think straight. Something isn't right here. Something feels off...

Then it clicks. The room got bright. The room got bright.

The Nightshade quickly scans the room for the source of the bright light.

I feel like you're trying to nudge us toward a different check, but honestly I can't think of a check that would work for this other than Perception. Survival maybe? I will roll both and you use whichever is more appropriate.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15(Goggles still on due to bright light)

Survival: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21

Rupert and Nightshade think they've figured out what's going on and start trying to find the source of the bright light. Their eyes still haven't quite adjusted to the brightness in this room, however, and they can't quite pinpoint where it is coming from.

Lefdam
Angry Voice
Rupert (Total Defense AC+4)
Nightshade
Speck (Blind)
Man (Unconscious)
Woman (Unconscious)

Bold may act. Nightshade, I'm going to count that perception as a move action since it would have taken a few seconds to look around carefully. You can still take a standard action if you want.

Moving 30ft deeper into the room.

Feeling helpless in his current state, Speck backs up until he feels a vat at his back and goes into a defensive pose while listening carefully for anything trying to attack him.

Round Summary:

- Lefdam knocked out the commoner woman. If he hadn't pulled his punch, he feels certain he would have killed her.
- Something stabbed Nightshade and hurt him, bad (18 piercing damage). It then continued to taunt the party confidently.
- Rupert and Nightshade started looking around for the source of the bright light but have yet to be successful. They both moved a bit further into the room.
- Speck wept in the corner.

Lefdam
Angry Voice
Rupert (Total Defense AC+4)
Nightshade
Speck (Blind/Total Defense)
Man (Unconscious)
Woman (Unconscious)

Bold may act.

Lefdam moves 30 feet further into the room and beings looking around. He focuses on the bright light and tries to figure out if it is magical by nature or not and if it is...what the heck is it?!

Knowledge Arcana: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13

Lefdam is nearly certain there is something magical going on here but he can't quite figure out what it is. You are all surprised by how much this bright light is affecting your ability to think.

The voice is getting more and more cocky. "You'lllllll never fiiiiiiind meeeeeeee!" Nightshade feels another rush of air near him.

Nightshade, you feel another dagger pierce your other side. You were more prepared for this one, however, and managed to twist out of the way and limit the damage somewhat. 9 piercing damage to Nightshade.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Lefdam
Angry Voice
Rupert
Nightshade
Speck (Blind)
Man (Unconscious)
Woman (Unconscious)

Bold may act.

With nothing better to do, Nightshade keeps trying to find the source of the light.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25

Finally! Nightshade's eyes have finally adjusted to the light somewhat. As he moved to the west, he noticed an ever so slight dimming of the light and determined that he must be moving away from the light's origin point. Armed with this knowledge, Nightshade is able to narrow down his search and find the tiniest pebble on the ground between Lefdam and Rupert. He is certain this is where the light is coming from.

Lefdam
Angry Voice
Rupert
Nightshade
Speck (Blind)
Man (Unconscious)
Woman (Unconscious)

Bold may act. Nightshade, you still have a standard action.

Readying Damocles, Nightshade calls to Lefdam and Rupert, [color=red]"The pebble on the ground next to you! Cover it, quickly!"[/color]

He then squints as he doffs the goggles and looks about him, ready to fire if he can find the fiend that has gouged him twice now.

Readying an action to shoot the little shit once he becomes visible.

Lefdam and Rupert, it's still very bright in here and the check to find the source was very difficult, so let's say Perception DC 15 to notice the pebble now that Nightshade has pointed out its general location.

No! Not Lefdam! Speck and Rupert are up. GAH!

Speck takes a deep breath and focuses. I can’t see but that doesn’t mean I can’t be of help and with that Speck tries to recall what he noticed before he lost his sight.

Knowledge Arcana: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22

He calls out to his companions what info he recalls about the light and continues to keep his defenses up.