GM SpiderBeard's Age of Ashes (Inactive)

Game Master Barvo Delancy

Please move Lenna into the room and left of the door to that corner. I’m unable to pick up her token from my phone.

The tiny halfling slips into the room behind Omari. Marking her target, she takes two quick shots.

Stride
Hunt Prey (red)
Hunted Shot

Attack: 1d20 + 8 - 2 ⇒ (4) + 8 - 2 = 10 Volley penalty
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 8

Attack: 1d20 + 5 - 2 ⇒ (14) + 5 - 2 = 17
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 8

Varook wades into the fight, slashing at the wounded foe with his two swords.
Double Slice ◆◆

Attack: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (17) + 10 = 27
Attack: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 10 = 26

Damage: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 6) = 11

◆Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 2

Aramil steps to the doorway and begins playing an inspiring ballad before conjuring forth his own Shield.

Action 1: ◆Step. Action 2: ◆Inspire Courage. Action 3: ◆Cast a Spell: Shield.

Reaction: ↺Shield Block. AC is 18.

The group pours in, missings most of the blows but Varook manages to slash out twice with brutal efficiency. Alak then moves in for a flank, slashing down with his greatsword and killing one of the creatures.

The boggard responds with clubbing blows, but to little avail as Omari manages to dissuade him from his first attack.

Everyone is up! One left.

I intended Lenna's move to be slightly farther left, so I adjusted her position. It appears her hunted prey lives yet, so she just keeps firing. No move this round.

◆ Hunted shots
◆ Normal shot
◆ Normal shot

Hunted Shot 1: 1d20 + 8 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (8) + 8 + 1 - 2 = 15
Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Hunted Shot 2: 1d20 + 5 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (11) + 5 + 1 - 2 = 15
Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

Normal Shot 1: 1d20 + 2 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 + 1 - 2 = 11
Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Normal Shot 2: 1d20 + 2 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 + 1 - 2 = 12
Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

Included Inspiration and Volley penalty

That's sad. I guess I'll keep him ducking, you guys finish him!

Omari continues to swing at the creature in front of them.

◆ Strike
◆ Shield Spell
◆ Strike
↺ Glimpse of Redemption if an ally is attacked, shield block if I am attacked.

Attack: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 8 + 1 = 19
Damage: 1d10 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 4 + 1 = 14

Attack 2: 1d20 + 8 + 1 - 5 ⇒ (19) + 8 + 1 - 5 = 23
Damage: 1d10 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 4 + 1 = 10

The group surrounds the wounded boggard and its OMari who lands teh final killing blow with two huge swings.

End of Combat

The room itself is trashed, with a large murky pool the boggards were hanging out in. Big Bumble lies near you, unconscious and bleeding out but still alive.

Omari immediately goes over to the bear and Lays Hands upon it before quickly stepping back.

"Maybe that wasn't the wisest of me..."

Lenna stows her equipment and moves over to the bear. "No, it was the right thing. Big Bumble's attacking these cultists saved us an even more difficult fight."

She crouches down by the big bear's head, keeping her voice low and calm, stroking gently on his foreleg and meeting his eye. "You've been a friend, Big Bumble. You don't belong in a basement, though. We want to help you feel better and get you out in the wilds."

She keeps talking and looking at him, but it's clear that she's talking to her companions now. "We can't just let him out and free to go into the town. We should find somewhere he can just be a bear away from people and farms."

As long as she's able to keep him calm, she will attempt a medicine check (assuming he is still wounded after Omari's ministrations.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19 (Her Nature is +5 if she should use that instead.)

Medicine: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8

"We need to lead him out of here. Set him to roam free in the world."

In this case nature. I was kinda pushing it with the bard but that's good enough.

Big Bumble's eyes blink open and the huge, extremely dangerous animal starts lumbering to its feet. He looks around cautiously but doesn't seem threatened by Lenna.

Alak stays a good deal away, staring at the bear Omari just healed with wide eyes.

Lenna keeps up her low murmur, speaking to the bear in hushed tones, and tries to lead him to the exit (if he will follow).

I could try to train him to be my animal companion until the pup is old enough, but I'm afraid I would crit fail once and never be heard from again! Besides, I'm sure he's too powerful for a low-level ranger companion.

"Be careful there me girl...that 'Bumble' could decide to make a snack out of you."

Varook keeps his swords out and a close watch on the creature. If it looks to make an aggressive move (attack) against Lenna he will attack.

Thanks to some good luck and a bit of bear-fu, you collaboratively lead the bear to the long tunnel out. You close the door behind you, confident Big Bumble will go the opposite direction. It sounds like he does and you breathe a sigh of relief as the bear is ushered out and you can explore the rest of the dungeon "safely".

The last room in the northern wing of the dungeon.

The furniture in this former bedroom is all askew, revealing a mountain-like pile in the center made up largely of garbage such as filthy cloth, chunks of rubble, and bent nails, though there are a few shining glints in the mix. On the southern wall, scrawled in a chunky substance in a childlike hand, are several words that might be gibberish.

"That's not goblin."

”It is not. I don’t know what language it is.”

Lenna explores the room after glancing at the scrawl. Shaking her head, she agrees, "It means nothing to me."

Perception check, please!

Omari glances over the text and frowns.

"Its draconic, but spelled poorly. "Beware: Mighty Dragons.""

"We haven't seen anything that looks like a Dragon so far - maybe these cultists wrote it? Could they worship some sort of dragon?"

"I suppose we're going into the mouth of the beast." Raff goes to the doors in the eastern portion of the dungeon.

"Perhaps we should check the southern rooms before heading that way?"

I see Raff as someone who just yanks open a door without a full party meeting on each door so just gonna push through despite Lenna's protests.

Lenna stats searching through the room and finds a dragon's "hoard" in the centre which is various bits of precious metals and some dented coins. Valuable enough though and worth around 15 gold.

Raff stalks on to the eastern doors and as the group catches up, he opens the east door.

A splintered table stretches across the center of this room, while broken chairs, moldy books, and general detritus litter the floor. Two bodies that appear to be frog-like humanoids lie sprawled on the floor near the center of the room. Of the several doors that provide exits from this room, the ones to the west and southeast hang wide open. A two-foot-tall Hellknight doll lies on the ground.

Lenna was not protesting, it was the talented one.

Lenna packs the dragon's hoard, grabs up her bow, and follows the others.

I thought we'd already checked that room, but Raff would do as you said"

"Friend of yours, lord killjoy?" Raff asks Alak of the doll.

Nope, there's a whole southern wing with undead in it.

Aramil looks at Raff reproachfully. "That's rather rude. He's been assisting us when he didn't have to, and he's hardly been a killjoy."

Aramil looks at the two dead frog-like humanoids that were likely more boggards, then says, "I think a more pressing question is what killed them."

As you step into the room and begin tlaking, the answer becomes self-evident. Alak lets out a "BWAH" as the doll suddenly sits up and spins its head around to fixate on you.

"TAKE ME WITH YOU!"

It stares directly at Alak. "TAKE ME WITH YOU!" And then a black ray fires from the doll! The ray slams into Alak sending him flying backwards. He crashes against the floor and goes limp.

Everyone is up! Alak takes 37 damage from a crit and is dying!

Aramil wasted little time in casting a spell to get Alak back on his feet, his free hand moving as he spoke the words needed to heal the Hellknight. He then began singing an inspiring ballad to aid his party in their fight.

Actions 1&2: Cast a Spell (Soothe) ◆◆. Action 3: Inspire Courage◆.

Soothe: 1d10 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Alak heals that many HP, and gains a +2 status bonus to saves vs mental effects for 1 minute.

"By the gods!!!", Varook exclaims as he moves towards the weird doll to attack it.

◆ Move

◆◆Duel Slice

Attack: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (14) + 10 = 24
Attack: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 10 = 30

Damage: 2d6 ⇒ (4, 1) = 5

Not too sure how to deal with one of the attacks being a crit...would damage be 3d6?

I beleive the default in 2e is that you just roll damage normally, and then double everything afterwards

Omari moves over to the creepy doll and gives it a good wack before casting a shield spell.

◆ Stride
◆ Strike
◆ Shield

↺ Glimpse of Redemption if an ally is attacked, Shield Block if Omari is attacked.

Strike, IC: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 8 + 1 = 18
Damage, IC: 1d10 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 4 + 1 = 7

"Don't die, lord killjoy. I wouldn't be able to taunt you any more." Raff jumps into battle with the possessed child's toy along with Varook.

◆ Take stance
◆ Stride to flank the doll
◆ Attack
Tiger Claw: agile, finesse, unarmed, powerful fist
To Hit: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16 Slashing: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

◆ Hunt Prey
◆ Hunted Shot/Flurry
◆ Normal Shot

Lenna whips her bow up and fires at the doll.

Hunted Shot 1: 1d20 + 8 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (14) + 8 + 1 - 2 = 21
Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

Hunted Shot 2: 1d20 + 5 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (18) + 5 + 1 - 2 = 22
Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

Normal Shot: 1d20 + 2 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 + 1 - 2 = 3
Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

If she has to move to have a clear shot, she would forego the normal shot, but it seems a little cheesy to make that change now that I've seen how terrible that roll was.

You roll twice or double. I think rolling twice is more fun but I have nothing against doubling. 2e does both.

Extra damage: 1d6 ⇒ 3

Wth sorry guys! Too much going on at once yet not enough.

Varook dives onto the doll, stabbing donw hard while LEnna's arrows whip in after it. The rest of the group piles on it and within seconds the doll is destroyed.

Alak inhales sharply as Aramil hauls him to his feet. "What... what was that?!"

End of Combat

You take a bit to look over the room, and see that there are polished obsidian figurines of Hellknights scattered about the place. If a bit of time was spent to collect them, they'd probably be quite valuable.

Recall Knowledge with Occultism +6 on the doll. Recall Knowledge is supposed to be a secret check, but I can roll it if you want to set up a spoiler.

Raff stands ready to smash the figures if they are deemed less than safe.

The other figurines do not come to life.

Aramil decides the the doll was likely a soulbound doll which are mannequins imbued with a fragment of someone's soul and thus granted a life of their own. Considering the immediate rage it showed towards Alak, a reasonable conclusion could be that it was left behind by the Hellknights and had some significant opinions about this.

The figurines appear to just be figurines.

"Alak, are you OK? Do you know anything about these figurines?"

Are they like the figurine we found in an earlier room?

Lenna will gather up the figurines into once place, but I'll have to figure out if she can carry them - she seems to be grabbing a lot of potential loot, so she might be encumbered.

Varook helps Lenna gather the little figures and stores them in his pack.

Raff will also help Lena shoulder the burden of the loot.

Omari seems less convinced. "Are we sure we should take these? What if they animate once removed? Either way. I suppose if everyone else thinks its a good idea I shall help as well."

Aramil looks at Omari, and says, "These are not the same as the soulbound doll left here. Still, if you are concerned, perhaps you could check if they have any magic auras about them?"

GM, do soulbound dolls still have the gem eye that contains the soul that we could destroy?

"Thats a great idea!"

Omari casts Read Aura on each of the dolls.

Curious what Omari's doing, Lenna tries to helpfully hold them up in turn for their analysis before handing them to one of the boys for carrying.

Sorry folks update tomorrow.

BACK

The figurines are made of polished obsidian and do not look like they're about to jump out and stab you. They do not register as magical. The doll itself has been hacked to bits, and Amaril does notice embedded in its neck a tiny sparkling gem. It doesn't look like it has much value, but does register minutely as magical.

Let me know if you want to do more here. Otherwise it's NW, NE, SE, SW.

"Should we backtrack to clear out the southern rooms? We don't want something in there to come at us from behind."

He picks up the gem and says, "This might be what was the soul fragment is trapped in. We should try to destroy it."

Omari nods "Makes sense to me, on both points."

Lenna nudges the remains of the nasty little doll with her toe. She looks up, ”Lead the way!”

SE!