Strength and Fear: An Ustalavic Kingmaker Campaign

Game Master vayelan

"Five ahead," Miruna whispers, then indicates the hallway blocked by Nadiya's spell. "Four behind. Nadiya is right: I say we strike now, while they're separated."

Battle seeming now imminent, Leta pulls her bow string a little further back, intending to fire down the unprotected hallway.

"By drawing your weapons, you choose suffering and servitude. Join us and find life everlasting. All will serve our master and join the Whispering Way; your willingness and aid determines how...pleasant your eternity will be. This choice has already been offered to others."

Baron Ludwig finally steps out from behind a corner, out from the shadow. Keeping behind the magical webbing, you can see the mottled skin pulled taught across his face. His teeth, seemingly too big for his skull, threaten to push their way past his wormy lips as he offers an arrogant smirk.

"You would not even be the only noble or even the first count of Ustalav to join our cause. After all, who would want to share in the imminent fate of the doomed land you call Lastwall? Theirs is a nation of corpses that don't realize they are already dead, as our agents will soon demonstrate."

"I can't speak for the others, but as for me, I know life is only precious because it is short. So this offer is worthless."

She casts mage armor upon herself.

"You talk too much." Bashuk punctuations this with a slashing gesture through the air, spinning off a curving blade of fire that arcs towards the sneering ghoul.

I assume that's initiative then! :)

Bashuk, if I understand the scenario correctly, 5 ghouls are approaching you from the hallway to the west, and 4--including the Baron and some other more powerful ghouls--approach from the east. Nadiya has filled the hallway to the east with a web spell to slow their advance. So if you aim your attack at him, you are cutting through/burning the webs. Is that your intention? Also I'm not sure you have line of sight from where you're standing so you'd have to move, abandoning the hall you're standing by and thus leaving us open to attack from the west.

Kain scoffs at Nadiya's remark.

While I don't agree with her view, life is precious for many reasons, your existence is not life, and you have been robbed of almost all reasons to remain. Come face me, unless you are a coward in death as in life. He flips his spear around to point it towards the Baron.

Though as he does so, he focuses his attention on the path behind them, ready to strike at the first enemy that attempts to enter the room.

By action and word, you know our response... Canterwall's response. Your offer may have been accepted my some, perhaps even many. But, we... shall choose a path more singular.

Denounce the path upon which you thread, redeem yourself and your kin. Restore your family's honor. For you are the very last to have the opportunity. You, your line... ends here. She paused, a heartbeat... feeling what it means.

She smiles. Forgive me Bashuk... I talk too much.

Miruna moves to stand in front of Bashuk, her scimitar held high in a defensive stance.

"Come, then, and receive the mercy of the Everflame."

Casting shield of faith on myself, if I can before things kick off in earnest. If so, that will bring my AC to 24.

Reminder too, once combat starts, I do have Inspire Courage +2 up; I assume I wasted a few rounds waiting for combat, but I've got a decent amount to spare, so I didn't bother cutting it off and re-starting.

We'll assumed that buffs are applied while other party members are bantering with Baron Ludwig. Combat starts when Bashuk launches her blast, taking us to initiative. I've added an initiative list to the encounter map. Miruna, Leta, and Valeska go first.

Also, perhaps simply for rule of cool, I am willing to say that Bashuk can target Baron Ludwig by aiming at his voice/smell, and we'll treat the Web's effect as Concealment rather than Total Cover. Similarly, we can assume she sauntered over towards the eastern hallway while talking and buffs were going on, so she can target the baron.

I appreciate the offer, GM! That said, I think it's better to leave the Web spell as written and I'll just have Bashuk stay put and fight the western wave.

Gather Power + Empowered Blast, Burning Infusion, and Extended Range. She takes 1Burn after using her Internal Buffer
Ranged Touch: 1d20 + 8 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 8 + 2 = 17 Damage: 3d6 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (3, 5, 1) + 2 + 4 = 15 22dmg, plus a Ref19 save or take 1d6 burn until the fire is extinguished. For as long as they're burning I also get +2 on attack rolls against them.

As her arc of flame spins down the hallway, the half-orc's eyes glow with a golden light and she bares her teeth in a fierce grin. "Come on then, lich-slaves. I'll burn you all."

Ghoul Commander Reflex Save: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27

Bashuk's flames streak down the western hallway, casting their light upon the dusty stones as they pass, and strike the armored ghoul standing at the end of the passage. He recoils and hisses in pain, but he manages to avoid being set entirely alight by the blast.

Miruna calls down another of Sarenrae's blessings and stands her ground, waiting for the enemy to come to her.

Casting divine favor.

Leta will cast Bear's Endurance on herself, and continues Inspire Courage.

Oh right! My attack and damage should be 2 higher thanks to Leta's inspiration! Sorry for forgetting that.

Valeska holds her action.

Miruna and Leta have just enough time to finish casting their latest spells before a volley of arrows and bolts come whizzing down from the western hallway. Two ghouls armed with crossbows, taking cover around the corners of the hallway, unleash a pair of bolts at Miruna, but she ducks down and evades the shots. The armored ghoul, carrying a stout shortbow with a powerful draw, hustles forward and snaps off a quick shot at Miruna, too. The arrow simply shatters impotently against her divinely reinforced buckler.

Kain can act before the vanilla ghouls, then Bashuk can act.

Kain will simply move to a position that better lets him take advantage of the narrow entrance while providing further protection against any ranged attacks and ready to strike whatever tries to gain entry.

He will ready to attack any enemy that moves within his reach of 10ft.

On the eastern front, two of the lesser ghouls attempt to scramble through Nadiya's webbing. One of them manages to crawl through without being caught, but the other one is tangled in the sticky, magical threads. The one that makes it down the hallway then throws itself at Kain, but its gnashing teeth impotently scrape against the cavalier's armor.

Kain can make his readied attack against the ghoul, and since I assume you have reach, you can also make an AoO against it, too.

One the western front, two more ghouls scamper down the hallway. One crouches in wait along one of the niches while its unholy brother lashes out at Miruna, but she holds the creature back with her buckler.

Bashuk is up next, followed by Baron Ludwig, then Nadiya.

Trusting Miruna to finish off the ghoul before her, Bashuk calls her fires to her. Sparks whirl around her like a glittering tornado and tongues of flame wreathe and writhe around her arms. Shaping a white-hot spike of fire in the air before her, she stares steadily with golden eyes into the gloom--when the next ghoul shows its rotted face, she intends to burn it off.

Gather Power (Empower Blast + Burning Infusion), then Readied an attack for the next ghoul to peek out of cover.
Attack: 1d20 + 8 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 8 + 2 + 2 = 27 Damage: 3d6 + 2 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (1, 6, 1) + 2 + 4 + 2 = 16

Kain Strikes out twice at the undead.

readied: 1d20 + 10 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 10 + 2 = 20
damage: 1d8 + 13 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 13 + 2 = 20

AoO: 1d20 + 10 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 10 + 2 = 32
damage: 1d8 + 13 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 13 + 2 = 19

AoOCrit: 1d20 + 10 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 10 + 2 = 23
damage: 2d8 + 26 + 4 ⇒ (6, 4) + 26 + 4 = 40

The first catches the ghoul in its thigh, throwing it off balance. The next thrust lands square in his stomach. With a grunt he lifts it up toss it aside against the wall.

Kain decimates the ghoul that makes an ill-fated attack against him. On the opposite side of the desecrated chapel, Bashuk chooses her moment and eventually reduces another ghoul's upper half to cinders when it peers out to assess the battlefield.

Beyond the webbing in the eastern hallway, you can make out the sounds of Baron Ludwig invoking some kind of spell.

Nadiya is up next.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (10) + 13 = 23

"Our 'Baron' is hasting himself. So he is a caster at least as able as some of us here are. But fast or no, he'll still need to get through the webs to get near us...t"

Thanks to Kain, she is not immediately adjacent to danger and not having something yet in line of sight, she says to Mishka, "Best be prepared, eh?"

She casts cure light wounds and transfers the charge to her familiar. Spontaneous losing mount for CLW. Also, it's possible I'm doing something that is unique to my table, but believe I am interpreting various rules correctly--you can cast a touch spell and hold the charge, and familiars can deliver touch spells, and ergo familiars can hold the charge of a touch spell. If what I've done isn't okay, I'll just cast bear's endurance on myself instead. PS: I've put a Mishka token on the board. Right now the cat is still with Nadiya in her basket, but in case she moves away from her we have a marker.

Nadiya - You have it correct. As long as the master is at least 3rd level, the familiar can deliver touch spells for them. The familiar just has to be in contact with you when you cast the spell, then they can deliver it.

You hear another spellcaster on the far side of the web-choked hallway working their magic. The nature of the spell is much easier to guess as, heralded by the sound of buzzing flies, a spectral scythe appears from a forming cloud of red and green smoke.

Spiritual Weapon, Scythe vs Nadiya: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 8 + 1 = 11

The weapon swings feebly at Nadiya, who quickly ducks out of the path of the long blade.

The Spiritual Weapon summoned next to Nadiya misses badly.
Miruna, Leta, and Valeska can act next at the top of the new round.

I believe Leta can move through Bashuk's square and at an angle into the cross-section next to Miruna and have melee access to that opponent, and that the angled move would avoid movement within it's reach, correct?

Realizing now I forgot to explicitly note: my damage is actually 24 and includes a second DC19 Ref save to avoid catching on fire.

@Leta - Yes, I believe you can do that safely. I reviewed the rules for squeezing through squares, and since you end in an unoccupied square that is big enough for your character, I don't believe you would suffer any penalties.

@Bashuk - Your first target, the ghoul commander, made his save and did not catch on fire. Your second target, one of the vanilla ghouls, was one-shotted by your blast, so making the save was moot.

Leta shoulders her bow (move action) and moves to the location specified, drawing her shortsword as she does (move action #2).

End of turn

Miruna is a blur of motion, accompanied by the occasional clink as her buckler knocks another bolt from the air. As the first ghoul comes charging into the soft light cast by her scimitar, she skips a step, just enough to turn aside his claws. Her blade follows a beat later, cutting deep into the monster's flank.

Scimitar vs Ghoul, IC, DF, PA: 1d20 + 9 + 2 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 9 + 2 + 3 = 31
Slashing: 1d6 + 10 + 2 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 10 + 2 + 3 = 18

"The Everlight watches over me, even in this place," she says, planting her feet. "Your master has abandoned you, if he ever knew you existed."

Activating my Protection judgment, which will bring my AC up to 26.

Leta arrives just in time to see the ghoul drop to the tiled floor as Miruna's scimitar ends its undead existence.

Nevertheless, they both keep their guard up against the bow and crossbow-armed ghouls only a few yards further down the hall.

Valeska can still act.

It's difficult, but Valeska bides her time. He might try to come around from another hall.

Free action to speak "Let us know when the ones from the far end are dispatched, and we can then attend to those behind us, including the so-called Baron."

Another volley of missiles comes whistling towards Miruna and Leta. Miruna's divine protections seem to spare her the worst of the assault, and she is only grazed by some of the shots.

The ranged ghouls rolled high for attacks but rolled 1s for damage. Miruna only takes a combined 7 damage from a 28 to hit from a crossbow and a 27 to hit from a composite shortbow.

The ghoul trapped in the webbing thrashes around, trying to free itself, but all in vain.

Kain and Bashuk can act next.

"Your options are few, corpse-eater, and all of them bad," Bashuk taunts the ghouls seeking cover as she gathers another white-hot spear of flame. "Stand your ground while we pick you off one by one--or flee, and burn anyway." She takes aim at one of the ghouls peeking around the corner with its crossbow and looses her own blazing bolt. "You can't outrun my goddess' fire."

Gather Power; Empower + Burning Infusion again!
Kinetic Blast: 1d20 + 8 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 8 + 2 + 2 = 17 Damage: 3d6 + 8 ⇒ (1, 3, 2) + 8 = 14 21dmg + Ref19 or on fire, if it survives

"Miruna, can we advance? Not too far, but enough to flush them out. I want to finish here before they break through on the other side."

Ghoul Creeper Reflex Save vs Kinetic Blast: 1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 7 + 1 = 17

Bashuk's blast catches the ghoul square in the torso as it leans out with its crossbow. The flames ignite its ratty clothes and what few tufts of hair remain on its body, leaving it burning.

Kain can still act before Baron Ludwig.

After a quick check of the sight where the ghouls' projectiles grazed her, Miruna nods in answer to Bashuk.

"Stick close," she says, and prepares to move further down the dark corridor.

Kain will continue to bar the way into the room for anything that breaches the webbing.

"Cut him loose, then follow me," you hear Baron Ludwig order his priest. You can just barely pick out, from the din of battle, the sound of his plodding footsteps retreating away.

The undead cleric's spectral scythe slices at the webbing, trying to free the ghoul kin stuck in its grasp.

Spiritual Weapon vs Web: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 8 + 1 = 14

Nadiya can act, then Miruna, Leta, and Valeska can act at the start of the new round.

Nadiya and Mishka move out of direct line of sight from the hallways and Nadiya casts bear's endurance on herself.

Miruna darts ahead, cutting off the nearest ghoul from his comrades and bringing her scimitar down upon his rotten skull.

Scimitar vs Commander, Bane: 1d20 + 14 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 14 + 2 = 32
Slashing: 1d6 + 17 ⇒ (4) + 17 = 21 + Untyped: 2d6 ⇒ (1, 6) = 7 for 28 damage

Swift to activate Bane (Undead), moving up, and attacking. The hard corner should give me cover to protect me from an AoO as I move to my current spot.

Okay, I believe I can do the following; let me know if not and I'll re-think

Leta 5' step's out (or as a single move, either should work), and then casts Bladed Dash. When you cast this spell, you immediately move up to 30 feet in a straight line any direction, momentarily leaving a multi-hued cascade of images behind you. She moves 20' forward (through Miruna's friendly square), and then "may make a single melee attack at your highest base attack bonus against any one creature you are adjacent to at any point along this 30 feet." Spell does NOT provoke AOO.

1d20 + 6 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 6 + 4 + 2 = 24 (+4 BAB, +1 Str, +1 Magic, +4 Cha (circumstance from spell), +2 morale (from Inspire Courage))
1d6 + 2 + 2 + 1d6 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 2 + (5) = 10

I forget, are we auto-doing Weapon Finesse? If so that's +3 more to hit.

Yeah, with Elephant in the Room that's more or less how it works. And hey! That's one of my favorite Magus spells. :)

Miruna and Leta launch a combined assault of blades upon the armored ghoul. His old but thick armor fails to protect him, and the pair deal significant damage to his undead body.

Any actions from Valeska before the commander and creepers make their attacks?

Valeska is proud of her people, but knows there worst may be yet to come.

She waits.

The armored ghoul tosses aside his bow, sending it clattering down the hallway of burial niches behind. He rapidly unslings his greataxe from his back and brings it down heavily upon Miruna, its broad iron head turning dark as it falls.

Assuming a 35 hits, the ghoul commander uses Power Attack and Smite Good to deal 25 damage to Miruna.

One more crossbow bolt comes whistling towards Leta.

If a 28 hits, Leta takes 8 damage.

The last ghoul down this hallway burns with bright flames from Bashuk's power. He lunges forward and attempts to grab Leta, perhaps to spread the flames to her, but she skillfully turns aside his grasp.

Kain, Bashuk, and Nadiya can act.

Frowning as the ghoul she struck didn't perish and crumble to ash, Bashuk resolves to test if it can survive another.

Not gathering power this time, just using Empower so no extra burn to account for.
Flame Blast: 1d20 + 8 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 8 + 2 + 2 = 27 Damage: 3d6 + 2 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (3, 2, 6) + 2 + 2 + 4 = 19 Total 28dmg