DM Ithe's Crypt of the Everflame!

Game Master Ithe

a sap only crits on a 20. IIRC, but does do bludgeoning damage. The intent was to draw his sap, 5ft step into a flanking position and swing (if possible) if that wasn't then I'll roll to confirm the crit.

Whoops, I misread, got it. Rough round all.

When you use an ability that causes an enemy to roll a save, please let me know which save and the DC

Three of the skeletons and the zombie all stagger back with what seems like pain at the soft light emanating from Galin's holy symbol. The other 3 skeletons seem unaffected by the light. Torian's hammer blow misses as the skeleton, which seemed sluggish at first, dodges nimbly out of the way.

Ok, it looks like dart would have to jump up on one of the side platforms to be able to flank, which is a pretty easy acrobatics check.

Dart Acrobatics: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15

Dart dodges between the two skeletons and jumps up onto the three foot elevation to circle around one of the skeletons attacking Galin. He seems confident with the swing of his sap at the back of the skeleton which can't keep up with his movements, but the sap just bounces off the yellowed bones, its too distributed to make a meaningful impact. Nonlethal has no effect on undead.

Zombie Slam: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

The zombie, having stood up, takes a swing at Galin with a heavy fist, but Galin easily dodges the slow, lumbering zombie.

Initiative blocks: Isabella, Skeletons, Dart/Galin/Torian, Zombie

Isabella curses as none of her companions actually flee the crypt. She sees one of the skeletons take a swing at Torian and it seems to hit a weak spot as the dwarf staggers. Nononono...

Galin's call strengthens her resolve. She has to fight. They're all going to die if she doesn't.

Pulling her never-before-used morningstar from its place on her hip, she swings it at the skeleton Dart distracted.

Morningstar, Flanking, Flagbearer: 1d20 - 1 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (5) - 1 + 2 + 1 = 7
B./P. Damage, Flagbearer: 1d8 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (7) - 1 + 1 = 7

Move action: Draw weapon.
Standard action: Attack.

Well, she tried to be more helpful.

Isabella's nerves cause her hand's to shake as she takes a swing at the skeleton, her attack goes wide as the skeleton turns toward her and her fear builds again.

Amidst the flurry of blows by the skeletons, only two land, a glancing blow from a scimitar against Torian (2 damage to Torian) and a slightly stronger one against Galin. Galin's arm is slashed down the length (3 damage to Galin).

The flickering light from Isabella's torch allows you to see in the room but the shadows everywhere cause chaos as you try to pick out where the undead are.

Initiative blocks: Isabella, Skeletons, Dart/Galin/Torian, Zombie

That brings Torian to 6 HP

Torian grimaces and again attempts to connect the axe into the zombie...

Melee Attack: 1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 3 + 1 = 5 Whelp, this is going to be a quick adventure at this rate...

.. but the pain of the sustained attacks causes him to go wide again. Grimacing, he calls back,

"Run ye fools! Eye'm bein' righ' behin' ye!"

Bluff: 1d20 ⇒ 7

Sense Motive: 1d20 ⇒ 4

Isabella relaxes slightly. "Good, get out of there!"

silly me, I thought the sap could deal lethal AND non-lethal. I'll take the hit, but since we know what these things are, would you be okay with saying I drew his rapier instead from this point? (seeing as in this instance, player knowledge was incorrect, but character wouldn't have been).

Dart strikes out again, more on instinct than anything else.

attack: 1d20 + 3 + 1 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 3 + 1 + 2 + 1 = 27
damage: 2d6 + 1d6 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (3, 5) + (6) + 2 + 2 = 18

When Torian calls out, dart glances over at him.

sense motive: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

What? and let you have all the fun? I came to make sure things went well. Don't think leaving one of you here would look well in that regard.

Sounds like a reasonable compromise but I still need a confirmation roll for that crit with the shortsword. Also, for your attack, I think you should only have 1x +1 from Galin's flag correct? It hits regardless, so I'll just use your second attack roll as a crit confirmation which fails, so its not a crit. Then I'll use your first 2 d6s for the first shortsword attack with sneak attack, which gives 3+5+2(Str+flag)=10. Roll another attack with your Rapier, if it hits, you can use that 3rd d6 you already rolled if you want. Also, check the map to see your positioning, you are/were flanking with Isabella and Galin.

Dart's first attack swings out with the finely crafted shortsword and severs the spine of the creature attacking Isabella, causing it to clatter to the ground in a pile.

For these first few fights, everyone please include a breakdown of your attack bonuses a la Isabella just so you and I can get used to the rolls and bonuses.

you stated I had to move up onto higher ground to get in the hit, so I added in that bonus (+1) as well. And apologies, some games I am playing in don't have you confirm a nat 20, I sometimes get them mixed up/forget I need to. Also, I find this immeasurably useful as a GM. Quick refrence If you didn't know about it already. Just something I like to share with GMs.

rapier flanking, highground, morale: 1d20 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 17 If a hit, and I understand your intent correctly, It should be 6+2 damage from weapon and SA, and +2 from str and morale for a total of 10 P damage.

Ah yes, that’s right, I forget about the higher ground bonus. Sweet, thanks for the link, that’s great!

Dart’s second attack with his rapier pierces the skull of the skeleton between him and Galin. The rest of the skeleton falls forward into Galin and Dart flicks the skull off of his blade with a flourish. Thats exactly what I meant.

Round 2!
HP: 6/9
AC 15

"We can do this! take courage!"

channel energy (heal): 1d6 ⇒ 3 honestly I forgot there was a save, will include next time

hp 9/9
Channel energy 3/5

Galin’s heal bolsters himself and Torian as the zombie takes another swipe at him.

Zombie Slam: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

The zombie’s swing again lumbers through the air and Galin is easily able to dodge out of the way.

Isabella up. Wow, everyone’s been rolling awful, except Dart.

Seeing Torian surrounded, Isabella runs forward to try and help. She swings her morningstar at the skeleton behind him.

Morningstar, Flanking, Flagbearer: 1d20 - 1 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (19) - 1 + 2 + 1 = 21
B./P. Damage, Flagbearer: 1d8 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (8) - 1 + 1 = 8

Move action: Move 10 feet to flank one of the skeletons attacking Torian.
Standard action: Attack.

Didn't Dart kill two skeletons on his turn? The map only shows one dead.

So that 3 from Galin puts Torian at 9 HP. I will alter it after the skels turn, in case I take any more damage from them.

Yeah, I just forgot to update it, that’s for the heads up.

Isabella steels her courage and swings her morningstar at the back of the skeleton attacking Torian. It smashes through the back of the ribcage and through the spine and the skeleton crumples to a heap behind Torian.

The skeletons swing and batter with their weapons but can’t get past Torian and Galin’s defenses.

Dart/Galin/Torian up. Well, it was looking a little hairy there at first but you guys are looking to be in better condition now.

Torian nods in appreciation to Galin as some of the scimitar wounds close. Pushing past him and the zombified former townsman, he takes aim once more with his axe, attempting to cut the creature in two. The dwarven fury at having missed the thing twice now clearly comes across as he finally connects.

Move to flanking the zombie with Galin, standard action is to attack the zombie:
Melee Attack (Dice plus waraxe melee + flank + banner): 1d20 + 3 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 3 + 2 + 1 = 26 Crit confirm?: 1d20 + 3 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 3 + 2 + 1 = 12
Normal Damage (slashing): 1d10 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 + 1 = 8 Plus, if applicable Crit Damage?: 2d10 + 2 ⇒ (6, 1) + 2 = 9. So eight slashing if it isn't a crit, 17 slashing if it is... plus two more if the banner damage is multiplied by the crit as well.

Dart slides down to flank the skeleton with galin and lashes out.
MwK shortsword flank,morale, high ground: 1d20 + 5 + 2 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 5 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 16
damage: 1d6 + 1d6 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (2) + (3) + 1 + 1 = 7

skeleton AoO Torian: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (4) + 0 = 4

Torian waits and times his attack right at the perfect time, taking blows when he has to to line up his axe and the vicious slash bisects the shambling zombie, the cold corpse ceases movement. The crit did indeed confirm, that zombie didn’t know what hit it.

Dart circles around the skeleton facing Galin and swings his short sword at the middle of the skeleton, only managing to break a few ribs off. Skeleton still standing but it looks like a stiff breeze will knock it down.

Galin is up and the xombie is dead so Isabella can act as well.

Isabella stares in shock as the skeleton she had attacked shatters. I...actually killed it? Uh, killed it again?

Feeling more confident now, she takes a step towards the closest skeleton and once again swings her morningstar. I think I'm getting the hang of this!

Morningstar, Flagbearer: 1d20 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (20) - 1 + 1 = 20
B./P. Damage, Flagbearer: 1d8 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (2) - 1 + 1 = 2

Crit confirm?: 1d20 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (14) - 1 + 1 = 14
B./P. Damage, Flagbearer: 1d8 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (2) - 1 + 1 = 2

Move action: None.
Free action: 5 foot step south.
Standard action: Attack.

Round 3
hp: 9/9

Galin takes a step away from the skeleton to the west. 5 ft step

Galin readies his mace and attacks the weakest looking skeleton with hand of the acolyte using his light mace.

30 ft range wis to attack
mace attack, wis+size+flag: 1d20 + 3 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 3 + 1 + 1 = 9

light mace damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Hand of the Acolyte 5/6

The rest of this weekend is going to be a little spotty for me.

Isabella’s swing connects with the one behind Torian but her weak muscles can’t impart the strength needed to end the undead abomination. The 3 remaining skeletons continue their relentless attack even as the others crumble to the ground.

Torian takes another scimitar to the thigh in a sideways chop by the skeleton. 3 more Damage to Torian

Party is up

That puts Torian at 6 HP again.

Torian takes a step to better square off with the skeleton that keeps attacking him, attempting to hit it with his axe. But the sustained assaults seem to have begun to take their toll, and the axe stroke goes wide.

Melee: 1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 3 + 1 = 6 And we're back to this again...

Isabella takes another step towards the skeleton attacking Torian. It puts her right between two of the creatures, but Torian's obviously badly hurt. She needs to kill this thing...or it might kill him.

She attacks.

Morningstar, Flanking, Flagbearer: 1d20 - 1 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (6) - 1 + 2 + 1 = 8
B./P. Damage, Flagbearer: 1d8 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (1) - 1 + 1 = 1

Move action: None
Free action: 5 foot step south
Standard action: Attack the skeleton.

Yep. Back to this again. Dart, save us with your ability to actually roll well!

Dart moves down, keeping the skeleton's attention split. His blade a whirl as he does.

attack: 1d20 + 3 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 3 + 2 + 1 = 25

confirm: 1d20 + 3 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 3 + 2 + 1 = 21

damage: 2d6 + 1d6 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (1, 3) + (6) + 2 + 2 = 14

don't worry folks, we got this. Just keep it up

5ft to flank the skeleton stdrd attack.

Torian and Isabella swing wide but Darts vicious blow ends another skeleton.

Galin is up

Round 4!
HP 9/9

Galin attacks again with the light mace from range.

Mace attack +wis +size+flag: 1d20 + 3 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 3 + 1 + 1 = 7
damage + flag: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Hand of the acolyte 4/6

The skeleton on Torian continues to batter away with his scimitar and claw in futility, not even noticing the presence of Isabella. The other one attacks Isabella again. Neither seem to be affected by the demise of their allies.

Sorry about the delay. Should be posting in a few hours. In other news, Toy Story 4 is pretty awesome!

Torian attempts to bring his dwarven waraxe up into the skull of the offending skeleton between him and Isabella.

Melee (Dwaven WA Bonus + Flank + Banner): 1d20 + 3 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 3 + 2 + 1 = 18 Damage (strength+banner) (slashing): 1d10 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 + 1 = 3 Well, I hit it at least...3 damage slashing (edited because I forgot the banner damage). No move or free actions this round.

Isabella swings her morningstar at the skeleton her and Torian have been attacking. Then, seeing that Dart and Galin had finished off the skeletons they were facing, she steps to the side to make it easier for them to attack.

Morningstar, Flanking, Flagbearer: 1d20 - 1 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (12) - 1 + 2 + 1 = 14
B./P. Damage, Flagbearer: 1d8 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (6) - 1 + 1 = 6

Standard action: Attack
Move action: None
Free action: 5 foot step diagonally between the skeletons

Round 5!
HP 9/9

Galin attacks again with the light mace yet again.

hope this thing is working!

Mace attack +wis +size+flag: 1d20 + 3 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 3 + 1 + 1 = 14
damage + flag: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Hand of the acolyte 3/6

I'm not sure about everyone else, but this fight is wearing on me and I think the suspense has left. I'm ruling that you guys finish off the skeletons with no more significant damage to yourselves as they have a low chance of hitting any of you.

The remaining two skeletons are finished off by the combined efforts of your group and you find yourselves heaving with exertion surrounded by piles of bones in the middle of the entry hall to the crypt. The soft light of Isabella's torch illuminates the room enough to see reasonably well, but ominous shadows abound everywhere you look and the ruined body of Vark lies at your feet as well. Around one of the far pillars lies the body of Gerol, another friend of Mayor Uptal whom none of you know well but that body is at rest, seeming not to be infected with the same unnatural energy that Vark was.

The walls have carvings of ancient battles long forgotten, but on the south wall, a relatively new painting hangs but it has been slashed many times to deface it.

That's fair, and saves us from several more rounds of rolling poorly :)

Isabella stands panting over the bones. They're all dead...again. I think. Immediate threat taken care of, she's once again reminded that some of the dead were people she knew.

"Vark, the...zombie, he's a friend of Mayor Uptal's. And," she points to the other corpse, "So is, or I guess was, Gerol. I think they must have been the ones who rode the horses here. Were they coming to warn us?"

Turning around slowly to take in the crypt, she focuses on the eastern door. "There's something over there wailing. Not sure how far or what it is. There were three ponies along with the horses, do you think there might be someone else alive?" She catches herself. "Sorry. Me wanting to rush in and look for survivors was what nearly got us killed in here. Torian, how are you doing? It looked like they were hitting you pretty hard."

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18

Torian plants his axe as a crutch, wincing in pain. "Aye, Eye'm hearin' it too. Fer wot its werth, th' las' bunch," he indicates the recently re-deceased they were just fighting, "were naugh moanen 'n' groanen like ah tucoppa haun'ed house. Eye'm fit t' walk iffen ye wan't' check it."

Torian attempts to stand up straight and walk in the direction of the noise, but it is clear that his shield arm is just barely holding on and his opposing leg is dragging.

So Torian is at 6... but that is not counting the 4 non-lethal he took from the fall earlier.

Good news is that magical healing heals both non-lethal and normal damage at the same time, so you should be down to 1 nonlethal with Galin's channel earlier.

I need to learn clerics more, I had no idea it helped with both.

"Here let me look at that Torian."
Galin steps near, looks at the injuries from the undead and mutters a few words of prayer, waves his hand and places it on the wound.

using domain spell slot for CLW
CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4
and one more spontaneous cast
CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

and the low rolls continue

"Well, that should help some anyway. This looks bad guys, but we better check and see what's going on."

+7 is nothing to sneer at, thanks Galin. That bring Torian to 13, with no non-lethal damage remaining.

The dwarf nods in thanks to Galin as the healing energies wash over him, removing most of the wounds inflicted in the previous battle.

"Aye, noe sense delay'n' th' inevitable." So saying, Torian begins heading toward the noises, but keeping an eye on the area around them as he does.

Taking a 10 on perception while they move. He is checking for signs of hidden doors, stonework tells for traps, etc., so a 14 total. Obviously he isn't being 'thorough' but he would stop everyone if anything screamed itself as being unusual to him. Also he would insist on taking point given he can see in the dark better than they can and he can take a punch better too.

Dart says, "I'll walk right behind you Torian. I think we just handled everything just then, so there's probably nothing to worry about."

I think a reasonable ruling is to let the front 2 people make perception checks for stuff in front of them.

The four of you head toward the east doorway, up on the raised platform. No light is visible coming from the doorway but your torch illuminates the entrance and something becomes immediately evident. Through the doorway is another large hall. As you bring the torch closer, you see that it is filled with pillars (Think the hall in Moria but much MUCH smaller scale). You almost miss the pile of empty saddle backs and 3 brooms laying on the floor to the side of the doorway. None of the other walls of the chamber are visible from the entrance.

Isabella frowns at the pile of saddlebags and...brooms? "Why would there be brooms here?" She picks one up curiously, then sets it down again.

Survival: 1d20 ⇒ 18

Glancing around, she points south. Keeping her voice low, she says, "I think the sound is coming from that way somewhere. Hard to tell though. But it gives us some sort of direction?"

I don't like all these shadows though...wait a minute.

Searching around for a second, she finds a rock. "Just like the wolf. I'll cast Light on this thing and throw it forward. If there's something in there, maybe it'll be attracted to the light. If there's not, it'll still make it a bit easier to see."

Assuming no objections, she does just that, throwing the rock towards the south side of the room.

I don't think this would require a roll, as I'm not throwing the rock at anything in particular. If I'm wrong, let me know.

That's fine

As Isabella throws the rock, it disappears as it bounces and goes behind one of the pillars but you can still see the light given off. The room becomes a little brighter and you can see definition on some of the farther pillars. There's no people or figures on the columns, just simple designs across the surfaces of the pillars.

You can all see the west part of the south wall but the eastern half of the south wall is still out of your line of sight.

Knowledge: History: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

Torian's eyes follow the lit stone as it bounces further within. Despite the seriousness of the situation, he cannot help but let out a low whistle.

"Loo' a' tha'. Cheliaxian designs. Naugh any o' tha' Asmod'n filth tha' lot favor'n these days either. Tha' be the ol' style... 'fer th' fall o' Aroden. Cannaugh 'nock ah classic li'e tha'."

After seeing that nothing has popped out or been revealed, the dwarf pops in to the room, being careful not to pass too close to the columns until they can examine them further.

Dart Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16

Torian leads the party toward the left snaking around the pillars and, as he passes one of the pillars, he turns to his left and spots a 2 foot lever coming out of a small slot in the side of the wall. Torian walks forward just a bit more to get a good look at it and Dart suddenly grabs his shoulder and says, "Hey, those floor tiles look a little off to me, probably shouldn't step on those. Let me take a closer look." Dart ignores the lever while he's looking at the stone tiles on the floor. It seems to be some sort of trap door, there are 2 patches of floor that have very slight seams and are just the slightest bit different in color from the surrounding floor and feeling on them with just your hand, they have a tiny amount of give to them. Dart cracks his knuckles and says, "Oh, I've been wanting show you guys this," and brings out his tools to start working on one of the traps.

Map updated L for lever, T for trap. Also, you may stop Dart from working on the trap if you want.

Isabella stands back and lets Dart work. "Trap doors?" She looks behind her at the brooms. "Do you think those brooms are supposed to help with finding them? Maybe we should take them with us." She grabs a broom, feeling a little silly as she does so.

Who needs a 10ft pole when you've got a broom!

Perception (Normal): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19
Perception (Stonework): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

Torian nods and lets Dart do his thing. While doing so he looks around at the floor, trying to see if anything strikes him as odd (in general) or "odd" (more traps).

"Bes' naught t' touch 'em yet." He says to Isabella. "Eff'n their all connected, migh' settem off'n Dart there."

What is he doing up there Galin peers around Isabella with interest to try to get a better view of what Dart is up to.

"No, definitely not touching anything right now. But for later, these could come in handy."

Just to clarify, Torian remains where he is, just looking at the floor around him or does he start moving? If so, is he moving farther along the south wall avoiding the known traps?

Torian stays put while looking around... with one known trap that hasn't even been disarmed yet, he is not about to start wandering.

disable device: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21

Well.. hopefully that does it. Gotta admit, bit out of practice, what with only having a couple old rusty locks to practice on. Dart gives a smile to the others as he finishes up hopefully disarming the trap.

Dart manages to wedge a small loose stone into the perfect spot to keep the floor section from moving. Galin watches as Dart fiddles with the tile with tip of a dagger and feels around the seam of this tile before prying up ever so slightly and sliding the stone into position. He steps on it to test it and it is very secure. Torian glances around to see if anything else in the area seems suspicious but nothing catches his eye.

Map updated to show disarmed trap.

Galin looks around his larger companions as best he can, ”Cool Dirk, very well done. What would it have done though?”