The Reign of Winter

Game Master Nayr Trebrot

Hatch speaks up again. Vile guards...been terrorizing the town for weeks...months. You may wanna' go easy on 'em...I wouldn't.

Leif frowns at the new revelation. ”It doesn’t make sense to me to save one person and doom the village to a string of new attacks… maybe we should just burst into the barracks while they’re not expecting us and deal with them?”

Ques looks a bit disconcerted, but slowly nods his head.

"Well, I guess so. It's just that I'm not used to living where we have to be the law. At home we would just hand them over to the sheriff. It is way out of my comfort zone to go around executing people. Are you sure we should start down that road?"

Though the arguments make sense, overcoming a lifetime of learned social barriers is going to be hard for Ques.

”I’ve never met a sheriff,” Lief confesses, ”in the forest if something is a danger you kill it or flee from it, and it doesn’t seems like the town people have the means to flee. But if you want to bring a sheriff here instead, then let’s go get one.”

The doctor shrugs. This land and its customs are foreign to him, and it isn't like he hasn't cause enough bloodshed on his own. And those guards in town were rather bully.

"Lead on."

Very well, if they have been causing problems for the innocents, then we must deal with them harshly... the druid nods in agreement with the others holding his stick upon his shoulder.

"Let's do it." Nox says, loading a round.

Ques turns his back to the others and puts his hands over his ears.

I moved you ahead a bit so you could see.

You enter the large chamber, the pool of unfrozen clear water before you. You can see that there are four doors in the western "walls" that are currently closed, Hatch can verify that those all lead to the barracks. There are doors that lead into separate small rooms to the north and the south, then doors that lead back to the east in the wall at which you currently stand - presumably they connect with the outer guard tunnel in which Quest had stood.

You can see these odd "portals" that Hatch described - to the far north and far south in this circular chamber.

perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (8) + 11 = 19

The druid looks hard at the surface of the water, and stops moving forward, Hatch, does something live in this water? Because I clearly saw something move in there... he cautions the others to the presence of something below the water.

Ques's stomach feels a bit queasy at the thought of having to execute more guards, not made any better by the thought that there might be some monster lurking in the pool.

"Probably goldfish or something? Lots of people put goldfish in their ponds. It can be quite soothing. Grey, take a peek will you?"

Grey reluctantly peers into the pool and stirs the surface with a tentacle.

Doc can't help himself. He walks in right behind Grey to see what it is.

Lol, you guys...

As soon as Grey sticks a tentacle in, the water burbles, then rises up! It sloshes towards the team, seemingly moving of its own accord.

Initiative water: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4
Initiative Doc: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23
Initiative Ques: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21
Initiative Grey: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8
Initiative Ithariel: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17
Initiative Nox: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10
Initiative Lief: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 1 = 16
Initiative Stelmaria: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

So....everyone is faster than the water

Doc gives the evil eye to whatever it is, then moves back 30' as quick as he can!

-2 to its attacks for 8 rounds, DC 15 Will Save to reduce this to 1 round.

Grey slips over to make room and lashes out with his plethora of appendages (all of which have reach).

to hit bite: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19
damage bite: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

to hit tentacles: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11
damage tentacles: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

to hit tail sting: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20
damage tail sting: 1d4 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

Ques gives his DC 13 daze spell a try, the best he can do from the back like that.

Lief had heard of elementals before but had certainly never seen one. The surprise on his face is clear when the water springs to life, but having no other real option for dealing with the threat, he steps forward and hacks at it with his sword.

greatsword: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18
for: 2d6 + 10 ⇒ (4, 3) + 10 = 17

Ithariel will focus a moment, before a cascade of light sparks before the elemental, attempting to dazzle it.

Cast Flare, no idea if it will work or not. DC 15 fortitude save - sightless creatures are unaffected

Stelmaria will close with the elemental, letting out a challenging roar as he closes the distance. Careful not to get in the water however, cats have some priorities....

Bite: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13
damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

Will save 1: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
Will save 2: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17
Fort save: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (14) + 11 = 25

The creature falls to the Doc's gaze, but is able to resist the magics of Ques and Ithariel. It does it no good, though, as Lief and Grey take it apart in a burst of precipitation.

Combat over

"Well done, thing," Lief says to the ball of eyes and tentacles with a nod. "Now, which door do we go through?"

Nox stops, his finger on his pistol's trigger. "Well. That was anticlimactic."

Ques wanders the room for a bit to get a feel for where things are and end up on the other side of the fountain.

"Which of the portals lead to the top? The guards are through here, right?"

Ques points to the doors behind him and Grey.

Doc returns, lowering his grotesque wooden mask enough to show a sheepish grin. "What was that?"

Clearly his curiosity again gets the better of him, as he goes back to the water's edge to see if anything else is in there.

Hatch nods his canine head. [b]Yeah...barracks there, and at the doors up to the north and south - each room has two doors. Both a' these portals here go up to the dining hall. The command phrase is "A gathering within the hall, take one, take us all. But, you know...say it over there.[b] He points his nose towards one of the teleporters.

Doc looks into the water, but can only see a clean and clear fountain, which is now slowly icing over since the supernatural nature of the water within has been vanquished.

"Huh... Look at that. It's starting to ice over. I wonder if that thing was there to keep it from icing over. Hey, maybe all it wanted to do was offer us a drink and we beat it up for nothing!"

As usual, Ques shows his tendency to trust. And then his dislike for battle.

"So, are we going to deal with the guards or just move on? We could just try a portal now."

When Hatch confirms the door to the barracks, Lief begins walking towards it with his sword at the ready. He stops at Ques' comment and loudly whispers back, "wait, I thought we decided we had to deal with them so they don't destroy the town?"

Embarrassed and confused, Ques tries to express his concerns and reservations but fails epically.

"Well, yea, you did. I'm just... You know."

"I know it ain't pretty, but leaving swords at your back is a bad idea, son." Nox says to Ques.

Lief nods at Nox's wise words as he continues over to the door and raises his sword. Then he kicks it open.

Lief kicks open the door, and is greeted by the sight of two crossbow points, aimed at his head. Immediately, they loose their bolts.

Attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 6
Attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 5

One of them calls out. Over here, they're over here! He glances to the north, then snarls and moves to reload.

Initiative guard: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Initiative Doc: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20
Initiative Ques: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
Initiative Grey: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10
Initiative Ithariel: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20
Initiative Nox: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6
Initiative Lief: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 1 = 17
Initiative Stel: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

Once again, everyone is up before my terrible bad guys..

"Well, it seems that we are now decided, like it or not."

Doc looks in the door, and then starts gagging... vomiting... but rather than stomach acid, a swarm of spiders comes pouring out and into the room.

Spell description: 3 round duration
You vomit forth a swarm of spiders that attacks all other creatures within its area. The swarm begins adjacent to you, but if no living creatures are within its area, it moves in one direction of your choosing at its normal speed. You can move the swarm or change the swarm’s direction by spending a standard action to concentrate on the swarm, otherwise it continues moving in its current direction.
The initial direction will be towards the largest contingency of guards.

Lief is about to charge through the doorway when suddenly a cloud of spiders bursts out of Doc to fill the space. Not daring to move through it, he ducks off to the side of the door where the crossbowmen won’t have a clear shot at him. Then he readies his sword to hack the first enemy to try to exit the room.

readied attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21
for: 2d6 + 10 ⇒ (4, 2) + 10 = 16

Ques and Grey move to the north to cover that avenue if they come boiling out of that door, though he hopes not.

Ithariel advances to support Dok and Stel, focusing again on the guardsman closest to where Stelmaria ended his advance. A bright light erupts in the guardsman's face, threating to dazzle him.

Flare, DC 15 fortitude save or be Dazzled for 1 minute. Stelmaria double moves to threaten that guard.

And, so you have a swarm! You should be able to control it, but let me know if not

Doc pukes out a swarm of spiders...almost immediately you hear retching from the guards to the north. The guards to the south though....they're not so lucky. The spiders swarm all over them, biting as soon as they find fleshy purchase.

Swarm damage: 1d6 ⇒ 5
Fort save vs poison: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
Fort save vs distration: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15
Fort save vs poison: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21
Fort save vs distration: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15

The guard tries to resist Ithariel's incantation.

Will save: 1d20 ⇒ 18

And, he does...perhaps due to the retching.

Nox, you're up!

I can slightly control it - if it runs out of targets, I can change its direction.

It takes a lot to gross out an alchemist. That's what they say anyway. It's probably true for a vivisectionist. For an alchemist like Nox that works with chemicals and not biology? Yeah, he's pretty grossed out. Eventually he overcomes his horror and moves north with Grey, ready to ambush an guard who attempts to go that way.

Move action, then I'll ready my standard to shoot any bad guys who come through that door.

The guards take action! The one on the north end of the spiders yells in horror and pain, and stumbles over the bed to arrive nearby Stel. Between a rock and a hard place, he looks back to the spiders, but figures the great hunting cat is less terrifying. Still bleeding from dozens of bites, he swings at Stel. Of course, he had been wielding a crossbow, so now...he attacks with a fist.

Unarmed attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17
Nonlethal Damage: 1d3 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

This provokes from Stel

The other one steps towards the good doctor, his fists raised. He punches at Doc!
Unarmed attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13
Nonlethal Damage: 1d3 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

One of the others in the room moves to the door and opens it, intent upon escape.
Which triggers Nox's readied action.

And the last draws his sword and slashes down at Stel.
Attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

And, before the others can act, the doors right in front of Ithariel opens to show an imposing looking female soldier! The woman grits her teeth, eyes glazed with zeal, as she roars. Get 'em boys!

New initiative captain: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16
New guards: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

Doc points the spiders toward the female soldier (if the others escape the swarm). Then he pulls his dagger and slashes at the man that hit him.

Dagger attack: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 1 = 15
Slashing damage: 1d4 + 0 ⇒ (2) + 0 = 2

Did anyone trigger my readied action?

Ranged Touch Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6
Damage, B/P: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

Nox misses cleanly over their heads. After a momentary pause, he tries to play it off. "That's far enough! Throw down your weapons and surrender."
Intimidate: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (1) - 1 = 0

Alright, that's my quota of ones for the week, thank you very much.

As the soldier punches Stel, Stelmaria snaps his jaws at the man's hand,

attack of opportunity: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11
bite damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

Missing the unarmed combatant, Stelmaria swipes at the man, attempting to disembowl him before he can come up with a more clever maneuver.
claw 1: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24
claw 2: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14
bite: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20
claw 1 damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9
claw 2 damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
bite damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

Ithariel will spin, focusing on the woman who just entered the fray, and cause a spark to ignite in front of her eyes.

Should have stayed in bed there captain!

Flare - DC 15 Fortitude or be dazzled for 1 minunte

No, sorry Lief

Grey hurries to catch up with Nox and halts when a soldier comes into view and uses his snakey appendages to lauch a full out assault at range.

to hit bite: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18
damage bite: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

to hit tentacles: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19
damage tentacles: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

to hit tail sting: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14
damage tail sting: 1d4 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Ques follow along more reluctantly, setting up shop behind the two and tagging the fellow behind him with a DC 13 Daze spell.

I think that girl with the blue circle is the female officer, right? Assuming so...

Lief lean towards Ithariel and does his best to swing his sword at the female officer, despite the doorframe in the way.

greatsword (partial cover): 1d20 + 7 - 2 ⇒ (20) + 7 - 2 = 25
for: 2d6 + 10 ⇒ (1, 3) + 10 = 14

confirm?: 1d20 + 7 - 2 ⇒ (9) + 7 - 2 = 14
for another: 2d6 + 10 ⇒ (2, 4) + 10 = 16

Swarm damage: 1d6 ⇒ 5

Doc stands ready to strike the man before him, but the fellow falls down in a flood of biting spiders. He struggles for a second weakly, screaming, then the spiders flood into his open mouth and begin to devour him from his soft, warm interior.

That dude's dead! Did you want to turn your action towards something else Doc?

Will save vs Ithariels daze: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13

Sorry, that's fort, so would actually be a 17 - success!

The female captain shakes off Ithariel's spell, but is subsequently cut deeply by Lief's potent strike! She stumbles back slightly from the door, draws a potion, and quaffs it.

Healing: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

Stel lashes out, and does indeed disembowel his target. The man drops in a puddle of his blood and intestines.

That's only the first claw; Stel can turn and attack the other one if you like.