GM Erich's Devil We Know Series (Inactive)

Game Master Thereus, Silver Crusader

If Nagaji could blush, Eka would be scarlet from head to toe despite her best efforts. Feeling the heat of blood rushing to her cheeks and manages to choke out a mumbled: "Thankss."

With Eka fully healed and the others feeling much better, the group quickly moves on from the prison’s northern grounds to the main entrance of the keep to the south. Other than the decorated front, and the gilded statue in the square, this three-storied building is quite plain. Cautiously rounding the corner of the large structure, you see a small squad of city constables guarding the prison’s entrance and apparently waiting for you to arrive. Nearby, a handful of ragged and injured cultists are in manacles and seated against the wall. A cleric tends to wounded constables.

"Ah, the Pathfinders have arrived! I am Sergeant Vinzent Dupree. We have done our best to hold off these nasty zealots. I'm not sure what they are trying to keep safe and hidden in that prison, but it must be important, they were fighting to the death." The leader says, briskly walking with you toward the front doors.

The main doors are flanked on either side by small rooms that look out through rusted bars out onto the small square in front of the prison. At the base of each set of exterior bars, a box with a slot for coins sits on the ground. There are 12 small rooms in total. Each wooden box has been smashed to bits and most of the coins are gone.

When you do reach the main doors, a pair of constables pull them open them for you and nod in anticipation. "Best of luck and may the graceful gods guide you safely home today." Sergeant Dupree speaks with equal parts reverence and trepidation.

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

Entering the doors, the chamber inside rises to a height of nine feet. Many market stalls lie shattered across the paved floor. Wood splinters and papers litter the room. Several unopened doors surround the destroyed market-room. Up ahead, beyond another vestibule, another room appears to be the main prison yard, open to the air, and also the scene of a recent battle.

Rusted, iron flakes dust the ground around a series of thick gates there. Within the keep’s yard, four derro corpses surround an insectile quadruped. Countless barbed crossbow bolts penetrate the strange beast’s hide, and where its head should be, thick ichors moisten the ground around two separated feathered antennae.

"I say, looks like there has been looting as well as mayhem. What the heck is that thing? Part demon, part insect?"

"No idea. But we need to get to the ssoutheasst corner. We should move." Eka strides to the first door on the right (south) and tries the handle. She will continue checking all doors that lead south or east until they find a passage that leads in the correct direction.

Cyclic lines up beside Eta, ready for anything.

The first door opens up into the Beggar’s Boxes that peer out onto the square in front of the prison.

The next door checked opens up into a 40-foot-by-35 foot chamber that contains the recognizable trappings of a chapel. An altar dedicated to Abadar rests upon a raised section near the northern wall.

Along the opposite wall, a bell tower rises up blue box, disappearing into the floors above.

"Isn't this what we're looking for?" asks Altorin as he steps closer.

Eka's eyes shift back and forth as she approaches the bell tower, scanning for an ambush. She stops under the tower and looks up, reading the inscription aloud for the team.

"Huh. Okay. Now what?"

"Well, it it is the Bell of Obedience, when we ring it we should feel the effect. So ring it and take notes."

Cyclic, still mounted on Mange, also moves forward near to the bell.

Is there a rope to tug or must we go up after it?

Not an expert in bell anatomy, so I had to look it up. The yoke is the frame that holds a bell that needs to be rung with a clapper or mallet so someone would have to climb a ladder to reach where it is to ring it. Note that it is about 2000 lbs and all you need to do is identify that it is "legit".

Ha! We are pathfinders. We will do more than just identify it. We need notes! Lots of notes! That is provided we can get to it.

"How are we going to get up there? I'm no good at climbing my self and there's no way we are going to lower that massive thing down where I can see it. So wo volunteers to climb up and take a look?"

The ladder is trivial (take 10) to anyone who doesn't have bad strength and a huge armor check penalty. Besides notes, you may want to at least verify it is magical.

Ah, from the mess on the map, I thought there would be no ladder. Would be just like an author to make us climb.

"I am willing to try, though someone elsse may be fasster. My armor will sslow me down." Eka makes eye contact with everyone else on the team to see if they're willing to make the climb; she's not too keen on it.

Eka's bonus on her climb skill is cancelled out by her armor check penalty, so that's a net +0 for her.

"I could scurry up pretty quickly if I took my armor off too. Actually, even with my armor on I should be able to make it up a simple ladder. Since there are no 'real' climber here, let me try."

climb: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (9) - 1 = 8

I noticed the init was wrong on my character sheet. It should be +7.

Cyclic makes her way up the ladder and finds a simple iron mallet hanging next to the bell. Giving it a whack, it sounds out with a long pleasing tone that seems to carry unnaturally long. After it subsides, all but Qiroyo feel a general sense of happiness.

"so, what happened?"
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14

"Hmmm. I like it. Sounds nice."

Cyclic starts taking down notes like special markings or distinguishable defects/marks. She is unable to cast detect magic on it though.

"I ssupposse we can report feeling happier after it wass rung. That sseemss like magic to me." Eka shrugs, but has no other idea about how to verify the bell's authenticity.

Apart from Detect Magic (and then a Knowledge Arcana check), that is about all that can be done to verify the authenticity.

Qiroyo isn't sure if anything happened. He casts Detect Magic and scans the area.
Arcana: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22

In case a successful use of the of the device would confirm the magical effect?
Use Magic Device: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21

Qiroyo is certain that the bell has a strong aura of enchantment, the exact use is up for discussion, especially since he didn't quite feel what everyone else did. But it is likely the relic the Venture Captain spoke of.

Don't want to get too hung up here, you've done what you needed to identify its magic. So what next?

With a nod of finality, Eka proclaims: "Let uss go invesstigate thiss derro invassion!"

"Now that we've done out duty, I agree, friend."

Cyclic leads the way to the door across the way, and, after waiting for the rest of the group to catch up, opens the door.

Moving through and across the demolished market stalls, the next door reveals a 30-foot-by-35-foot room that houses the prison’s mess hall. It contains several enormous wooden tables, stained by years of use and abuse. The room smells musty and rotten.

Further in, several double doors lead to a large kitchen that holds culinary equipment needed to serve a large number of prisoners. Several dead prison cooks lie here, their bodies slashed and stabbed repeatedly.

perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

"Nothing hiding out in here, let's move on. Or we could poke around and see if there are any undead to deal with. Seems like wherever we go there is something animating."

perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (3) + 12 = 15

"Ugh! And I thought they smelled bad... on the outside."

"Not as bad as they are going to smell in a day or two. Say. did anyone else notice that all the blades have been taken but the handles have been left. Like something that eats metal had their way with them. I mean, what normal person is going to go to all that trouble to remove the blades? Any other ideas?"

Altorin shrugs, "I don't know. Maybe it was easier to hide them?"

Prison shanks anyone?

Altorin scans the open area section momentarily before suggesting to move forward.

perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (3) + 12 = 15

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

The empty knife handles give Eka pause; they are worrisome. "Ssomeone could throw them at uss, I guesss. We should be exsstra careful." She moves on, inspecting the area of the recent battle, wondering if there are any blade-less handles out there.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13

As Eka moves over, she can see the lifeless body of the insectoid creature surrounded by the dead derros. There is powdered metal scattered to and fro and the gate looks very corroded.

"I'm pretty sure everyone had heard the stories about the metal-corroding monster, haven't you? If not, I'll ell you a really scary one when we're back home."

"Well, it sure looks like a metal eating monster to me. A dead one, I'm thinking. A nice pet to have if you are trying to gate crash a prison party."

heal: 1d20 ⇒ 11 to see if the thing is really dead.

"You think that thing is really dead? How can you tell with an insect? They breath weird and have armor instead of skin. Just in case..."

Cyclic tries to get Mange to go near to the thing figuring that if it eats metal it won't hurt a wolf by tossing food scraps near to the corpse.

handle animal, untrained: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

The mish-mash where the head should be is a good indicator that the creature is dead, as are the derros they lay in chaotic repose next to it.

Eka's brow furrows as she considers the implications. "What are the oddss that thiss iss the only one?" Lookss like I might have to buy mysself a new bardiche after thiss misssion. I ssupposse I can sstill use thiss ass a quarterstaff if that happenss.

She inspects the corpse of the insect-monster, trying to ascertain how it was killed and what the best way to kill such a creature would be.

"Wow. I hadn't even THOUGHT of that."

Cyclic looks at her tasty breastplate with consternation.

"Well, at least I never got around to having it enchanted. If it gets eaten, it gets eaten. When you're done there Eta, we should probably move on."

As Eka steps forward to examine the strange corpse, a sudden rumbling below grows to a rousing din as another creature - a hulking, roughly humanoid creature of dirt and stone - bursts from the ground, tossing the dead creatures away like a leaf pile.

Round 1 - Bold can act
Altorin
Cyclic
Mange
Eka
Elemental
Qiroyo
Sir Durant

As always, Cyclic leads off with a bless spell from her wand and commands Mange to attack, then she stashes the wand and moves forward. Unfortunately she dismounted when she decided to play fetch with Mange.

to hit bite, bless: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 4 + 1 = 12
damage bite: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8
trip, bless: 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 5 + 1 = 24

Not surprised by the ground bursting upward, Altorin keeps his composure and unleashes a wave of freezing cold beneath the earthen figure.

slick, ref DC 15

Untrained in Knowledge (planes)

Eka's body tenses as the rumbling begins. When the creature bursts forth from the floor, she almost--almost--breathes a sigh of relief that it isn't the same type of creature as the corpse she had been investigating. It looks to be a tough enough challenge in its own right, though. She takes a five foot step to the side to allow more room for her comrades to join the fight and swings at it with her long bardiche.

cold iron bardiche with reach: 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 5 + 1 = 101d10 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13
Includes Bless

Even after falling to the slippery ground in its wake, Eka and Mange cannot penetrate the stony creature's thick skin. It unleashes a series of powerful blows that surprise even the seasoned warriors in your group. This will be a challenging fight.

reflex: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12
AOO slam vs Mange: 1d20 + 15 - 4 ⇒ (18) + 15 - 4 = 29
AOO slam damage: 2d6 + 8 ⇒ (2, 5) + 8 = 15
slam vs Mange: 1d20 + 15 - 4 ⇒ (19) + 15 - 4 = 30
slam damage: 2d6 + 8 ⇒ (5, 3) + 8 = 16
slam vs Eka: 1d20 + 15 - 4 ⇒ (7) + 15 - 4 = 18
slam damage: 2d6 + 8 ⇒ (2, 6) + 8 = 16

Round 1/2 - Bold can act - bless is up! 
Elemental <prone>
Qiroyo 
Sir Durant
--------------
Altorin
Cyclic
Mange -31 damage
Eka -16 damage

I think Mange moved more than 5 feet to get the attack thus triggering the attack of opportunity. Correct me if I'm wrong.

You are correct. Mange amazingly stays conscious.

Cyclic casts CLW and pulls out her wand of summon monster. Stepping forward she touches Mange and heals him.

CLW: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Mange continues his assault after a loud bark of pain or two.

to hit bite, bless: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 4 + 1 = 24
damage bite: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

Planes: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19

"An earth elemental. Where did that come from? Beware its powerful fists. I heard crushing stories about them."

Qiroyo keeps on telling his allies useful things. start Inspire Courage
Then he studies the monster himself. move action study target

Inspire Courage +1/+1 is up!

Believing that his longsword is likely going to be less effective against this creature of earth and stone, Sir Durant retrieves the silvered flail from his side and wages into the fight. "Cyclic! I'll do my best to draw off its attention! You may need to get back so Mange doesn't fall. Eka, I know you are wounded, my friend, but we must lead the fight, now attack!"

Move into position (likely provoking an AoO) and attack with my flail

Alc Silver Light Flail, bless, IC: 1d20 + 6 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 6 + 1 + 1 = 12 Damage (B), IC: 1d8 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 3 + 1 = 9

"...an earth elem--" Eka is shocked. This is a lot. Noting that Sir Durant has switched weapons, she lets her bardiche clatter to the floor as she hastily draws her morningstar and uses her Lay on Hands ability on herself.

Lay on Hands: 1d6 ⇒ 2

She then steps in and takes a swing at the heavily armored elemental, almost managing to banish from her mind the image of her crushed, lifeless body littering the floor, red blood and green scales garishly standing out against the gray stones and dark earth all around her.

cold iron morningstar: 1d20 + 5 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 5 + 1 + 1 = 151d8 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 3 + 1 = 5
Includes Bless and Inspire Courage

Quiyo acted before Mange so please add the bonuses from the Inspire Courage.

Heh, ok. No point going for slicks if it can just take the -4 for being prone and still hit.

Cayden's hangover that thing is large. It barely notices the ice...

frost blast, pbs, bless, inspire, ranged touch, melee: 1d20 + 4 + 1 + 1 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 + 1 + 1 + 1 - 4 = 10

blast damage: 1d6 + 2 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 2 + 1 + 1 = 10