GM Erich's The Harrowing (Tier 8-10) (Inactive)

Game Master Thereus, Silver Crusader

River bartered for a few different spells today with the spirits Updated on his profile, but keeps his daily routine the same. Keeping Hunter's Blessing on Evil Outsiders

Today's False Life: 1d10 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11

On arrival at the garden, he casts some preparatory spells, then activates his shapeshift hex to turn into a raven and rises up to look over the walls, before coming back down, returning to his normal form and reporting what he saw.

Perception, HB: 1d20 + 32 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 32 + 2 = 38

Casting Heightened awareness and heroism on himself

He will also examine the gates and the bronze angels for traps.

Take 10 for a 44

Psycho casts mage armor on himself from the wand before they enter.

As they approach the Garden, Daedîn will draw his bow and revert to scouting mode...

Stealth: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (2) + 23 = 25
Perception: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (4) + 19 = 23

Go on Lamont. Give them a hand.

Stealth: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14 +4 in dim light, -4 in bright light
Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

The entrance appears safe.

River Raven launches into the sky and does a quick flyover - settling back close to you (as you begin your approach) to report.

Not-Trixie quietly casts her own spells as River of Stars and Lamont scout the garden.

Casting mage armor from wand, see invisibility, and darkvision.

Further surreptitious scouting will reveal the same info as described to River above, so I'll move the group into the garden.

As you round the first copse of trees, the unicorn and goblin increase the volume of their disagreement (despite their apparent stillness mere moments ago).

"That's it! You've done it now! Give it back! I climbed the branches! I picked it! You can't even reach the low hangers with that stupid horn of yours, you git!" The goblins screeches as it hops up to reach the dripping fruit just out of reach on the unicorns horn. Straightening his papier-mâché unicorn mask, the goblin bellows in a low tone. "Come and give me a kiss darling, I've missed you so!"

"I shall not fall for your stupid tricks my vertically challenged friend." The unicorn laughs. "For your hunger is a righteous one. Your ultimate starvation shall be an improvement upon the world. One less grimy... evil... little pest in the wilderness for me to trip over. Because you are small, did I mention that?" She continues dipping her head just out of reach of her leaping foil, only to snap it back at the goblin's every peak.

"...Huh." Not-Trixie's hushed voice is slightly confused. "From what I've read, the Unicorn card is about generously giving what is sought. That's... not what's going on here. Maybe it needs to be reminded?" She plays the card in question and watches intently.

The unicorn is bathed in a quick burst of light and sparkles as the card is played. It stops its taunting for a moment to wink at Not-Trixie before resuming its cruel game.

River is getting inured to the madness of this realm.

"Greetings. We are looking for the nib of Sonorae. Can you help us?"

"Bug off!" The goblin snaps in between unfruitful leaps at the horn-pear. The unicorn laughs at this impetuousness.

That doesn't seem nice. Would you help us for some fruit?

The goblin stops suddenly and turns slowly and dramatically toward the group. The unicorn's head tilts your way in anticipation.

"Help for some... fruit?" The goblin spits out. "What are you going to do? Reach away with your oh-so-loooong arms and just grab this delicate pear off the horsie's pointy end?

The unicorn shakes his head as if in disbelief at that idea.

The goblin extends his arms in mock desperation. "I don't believe you quite understand the situation here, you simpletons. That is my pear. The one I want. The one I have tried for years to get. I've never seen one so lovely. Do you think they just grow on trees? What good would it do me if you just stole it for me from this brute? What would I learn? To be subservient to a bunch of nib-stealing ruffians from who knows where?"

He straightens his mask once more and turns back to the unicorn. "Now where were we?"

The unicorn nods and they resume their pointless game.

We haven't stolen any nib and what you'd learn is that you can't do everything yourself. And yes, that's exactly what they do. Pears do grow on trees.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25

River rolls his eyes, activates his flight hex, and then flies over to the writing desk, taking care to give the strange tableau in the centre a wide berth.

Once there he inspects it to see what he can find, particularly looking for magic nibs. To that end he will cast detect magic if he can't find it at first.

The goblin laughs derisively. "A better pear than this, from where?"

The unicorn eyes the shaman warily as he rises above the trees, and snorts. "You'll not pry this pear off my horn, but maybe I'll be willing to part with it..."

The air grows cold as the garden gives way to the forest of columns as River rises to it and begins to search. From somewhere near the ground by the desk, River clearly hears a wisp of a voice that somehow echoes through the entire garden. "I'll gladly part with the nib of my pen for one heart, one tongue, and two eyes taken from a mortal body..."

Round 1 - Bold can act
Psycho Dread
River of Stars <Flying, not sure what height>
Grey Unicorn
Daedîn
Black "the Voice"
Brown Goblin
Sihir Aneh
Not-Trixie
Leosa
Lamont

delay

My intention was just to fly high enough to get over the trees then come back down to the height of the desk; mainly so he didn't have to walk right past the unicorn, so he'd be back at around ground level in order to inspect the desk

At the ominous words River tries to get to safety. He flies up and across 20 feet, then readies to call down a spiritual weapon on anything that attacks himself or his allies

River streaks up into the air again, poised for action.

The unicorn's eyes widen as it too awaits what happens next.

The eerie voice returns even stronger from the dais, with a hint of impatience this time "Well????"

Round 1 - Bold can act
River of Stars <flying, 20 feet, readied action>
Grey Unicorn
Psycho Dread <delayed>
Daedîn
Black "the Voice"
Brown Goblin
Sihir Aneh
Not-Trixie
Leosa
Lamont

If Black "the Voice" attacks, Psycho will cast Mind Thrust on him.

While waiting a bit more on Daedîn (it's a situation I don't really want to bot) ...

@Psycho Considering where the voice is coming from and the range of mind thrust, you may want to consider getting closer to the desk/dais.

Not sure what's going on, Daedîn moves and readies an attack if anything foul should appear or attack...

Psycho moves closer to the dais.

Watching the group take battle positions, the unicorn whispers "Sorry" to the goblin and rushes into the trees.

The goblin thinks for a pregnant moment then runs too.

The voice snarls "Surround me? AGAIN!?! I will not have that happen twice!" and then a huge burst of ice and cold air fills the copse of trees and wraps around and through to engulf you in freezing air. When it dissipates, you find a solitary "woman" standing next to the desk, her back bent and her features disarrayed and spiteful.

Fighting through a strange feeling, your attacks tick off as she appears. The spiritual weapon glows bright, Psycho penetrates her mind, and Daedîn's arrow sticks in the woman's chest.

Need a DC 19 (DC 17 with tree cover) reflex save from all but Sihir, Not-Trixie and Vend to halve the cold : 14d6 ⇒ (4, 1, 3, 4, 6, 4, 1, 4, 5, 3, 1, 6, 3, 1) = 46*1.5=69 points of damage.

Readied actions in initiative order
River's Will Save: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (6) + 19 = 25 proceed normally, spiritual weapon can activate and attack
River's Caster Level Check vs SR: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (19) + 10 = 29
Psycho's Will Save: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (3) + 18 = 21 proceed normally
Psycho's Caster Level Check vs SR: 1d20 + 10 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 10 + 2 = 24
Black's Will Save vs Mind Thrust: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (3) + 13 = 16
Daedîn's Will Save: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6
Daedîn's Choice (low is bad): 1d100 ⇒ 90

River, Psycho, and especially Daedîn all feel that they had to overcome something to complete their attacks.

Round 1 - Bold can act
Grey Unicorn
Brown Goblin
River of Stars <flying, 20 feet, need reflex save, spiritual weapon activates>
Psycho Dread <need reflex save>
Daedîn* <need reflex save>
Black "What Remains" -65 damage <fatigued>
Sihir Aneh
Not-Trixie
Leosa <need reflex save>
Lamont <need reflex save>

Reflex: 1d10 + 13 ⇒ (6) + 13 = 19

Bloody hell! What was that? Whew, one more like that and I might be a goner...

Daedîn feels weird as the lets his arrow go; while happy to see it firmly stick in her chest, after he's blasted by the cold, he's not sure it was worth the effort...

Knowledge (arcana) vs DC 25: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (20) + 19 = 39
Knowledge (nature) vs DC 21: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (7) + 12 = 19

Not-Trixie has a pretty good idea what card might apply to this creature, but doesn’t want to risk it after watching the frigid blast of cold stop just shy of her. ”Let’s see if we can’t get rid of that discord effect,” she says to Vendalfek, who gulps loudly and nods enthusiastically.

Dispel check, Reservoir: 1d20 + 8 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 8 + 2 = 14

Casting dispel magic, targeting the song of discord effect.

Ref: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22

Leosa moves to the path and draws nearby shadows into her hand to form a long hammer.

Ref: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20

Lamont sticks with his mistress, leaving a small gap as they use the path to reach the desk.

Reflex, heroism: 1d20 + 11 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 11 + 2 = 22
Knowledge (arcana): 1d20 + 9 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 9 + 2 + 2 = 29
Knowledge (nature): 1d20 + 23 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 23 + 2 = 34

River would be interested in her attacks (particularly if she do that cold blast a lot), DR and energy resistances

River has an elemental charm from a boon that reduces that cold damage by 10, so he takes 24 I think. That part of it then crumbles to dust

Spiritual Weapon: 1d20 + 10 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 10 + 7 = 31
Force Damage ignores DR: 1d8 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 3 + 2 = 12

River will know that she can poison and contagion at will, invisibility at will, then bestow curse, blindness/deafness, empowered cone of cold, crushing despair and silence 3 times a day each and control weather once a day.

Her DR is 10 to anything but "cold iron and magic"

As the hammer falls on the mute hag, Not-Trixie tries to find the source of the bizarre urges in the glade but cannot quite pinpoint the magical source. Leosa and Lamont move to the main path to confront the hag. The unicorn and goblin scramble to retreat into the trees, pushing through the brush desperately.

Round 2 - Bold can act
Grey Unicorn
Brown Goblin
Sihir Aneh <delayed>
River of Stars <flying, 20 feet> -24 damage
Psycho Dread <need reflex save vs cone of cold>
Daedîn* <evasion>
Black "What Remains" -77 damage <fatigued>
Not-Trixie
Leosa <evasion>
Lamont -17 damage

I realise I forgot Eska's save as she's explicitly floating around River's head so she can be used to deliver touch spells. She does have improved evasion.

Eska Reflex: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14

River shares what he knows about such creatures in a harried voice as he tries to heal Eska

"She has a potent magic affecting her, luckily we don't seem to have been affected!"

I'm assuming that we don't know Daedîn failed his save until it affects his behaviour? I don't want to metagame

Spiritual Weapon: 1d20 + 10 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 10 + 7 = 24
Force Damage ignores DR: 1d8 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 3 + 2 = 13

Spiritual Weapon Iterative: 1d20 + 10 + 7 - 5 ⇒ (15) + 10 + 7 - 5 = 27
Force Damage ignores DR: 1d8 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 3 + 2 = 6

Knowing that another such blast could take him or Eska out, they both fly away as fast as they can, and he heals Eska.

Cure Critical: 4d8 + 10 ⇒ (7, 6, 6, 7) + 10 = 36

You are suppose to know when you have to make a save, and whether you have failed it (can't remember where I saw that). That's why I described that it was particularly hard for him to not act strangely. He can remark on it as he wishes.

Thanks, GM, don't know how I forgot about evasion!

Although it acts similar to Song of Discord, it isn't. Without giving too much away, just act as you normally would and I'll handle the will save and 50/50. But yes, you knew something was weird (you almost felt like attacking Psycho) so say and do what you wish.

REF: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (20) + 11 = 31
know arcana: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (8) + 19 = 27

Psycho moves closer to the lake and again tries to affect mind of the Black creature.

SR: 1d20 + 10 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 10 + 2 = 29

damage: 12d8 ⇒ (7, 3, 5, 4, 5, 5, 4, 8, 2, 8, 4, 5) = 60

Mind Thrust 4 DC22 Will for half damage - This functions as mind thrust I, but the target takes 1d8 points of damage per caster level (maximum 15d8) and is fatigued for 1 round if it fails its save. This spell can be undercast.

Daedîn yells to his comrades, "Stay away from me! Something is wrong! We must kill the creature quickly"

The rogue rushes forward to get within point blank range and tries to fire another cold iron arrow at the 'woman'...

Magic Longbow: 1d20 + 13 + 2 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 13 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 34
Magic/Cold Iron Damage: 1d8 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 2 + 1 + 1 + 4 = 13

Sorry, sorry, SORRY! Took longer to get back in the saddle than I said I would.

Again, the question: What's the ambient light level?

Flashback to before combat:

I use my mage armor wand, cast (not necessarily in this order) clay skin on Leosa, blur and see invisibility on myself, and:

greater false life: 2d10 + 9 ⇒ (6, 10) + 9 = 25

Lucky number on:
Daedîn: 1d20 ⇒ 6
Not-Trixie: 1d20 ⇒ 13
River: 1d20 ⇒ 8
Psycho: 1d20 ⇒ 6

/flashback

Sihir suddenly disappears, and a moment later, the hag is bombarded with strange and eldritch colors!

Good damage: 5d4 ⇒ (1, 3, 4, 3, 4) = 15
rounds of blindness (or bedazzlement on a successful DC 20 Reflex save): 1d4 ⇒ 4

It is normal daylight here.

Would it be okay to have also cast dancing darkness just before we moved in (I'm having trouble processing what just happened)?

I'd say no. Except for pre-cast buffs before entering the compound, any other spell would have started initiative.

Disappearing from view, Sihir slithers up and forces the flash of holiness upon her. River's spritual weapon continues to harass and Psycho is able to overcome the strange thought in his head and force more pain into hers. Daedîn crunches forward through the tangled underbrush and unleashes a clean arrow, but not before he checks to make sure she is truly his closest "target".

Clearly shaken, What Remains of Sonnorae stumbles out onto the dais, scanning the area with an oddly tilted head, then screams and releases another blast of bone-chilling mist.

cold: 14d6 ⇒ (2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 4, 5, 1, 3, 6, 4, 1, 6, 2) = 47*1.5=70 points
DC 19 Reflex for half damage from Sihir, Psycho, Leosa, Lamont and Daedîn

Sihir SR check: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22
Black Reflex vs Burst of Radiance: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (15) + 14 = 29
Psycho Will Save: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (14) + 18 = 32
Black Will vs Mind Thrust: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (11) + 13 = 24
Daedîn Will Save: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11
Daedîn's Choice (low is bad): 1d100 ⇒ 34

Round 2 - Bold can act
Grey Unicorn
Brown Goblin
Sihir Aneh <invisible, need reflex>
River of Stars <flying, 20 feet> -24 damage
Eska
Psycho Dread <need reflex> -34 damage
Daedîn* <need reflex>
Black "What Remains" -154 damage
Not-Trixie
Leosa <need reflex>
Lamont <need reflex> -17 damage

Reflex: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (17) + 13 = 30

Despite feeling 'off', Daedîn manages to evade the cold blast again...

Reflex save: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

Sihir manages to 'hit the deck' just in time as the back portions of his robes suddenly harden into a serviceable luge!

REF: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (12) + 11 = 23

Psycho falls to the ground, unconscious.

Ref: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

Lamont lets out a pained hiss.

Ref: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (17) + 10 = 27

Spinning through the cold Leosa must brace herself against Lamont's loss,

Fort: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (2) + 11 = 13

but still feels a piece of her soul torn away.

fail DC 15, Leosa gains one permanent negative level with the loss of her shadow and cannot replace him for a month.

She pushes forward to get within striking range of What Remains.

double move

Leosa grinds out
You will not enjoy the fruits of your labors.

”No!” Not-Trixie rushes forward, her robes streaming behind her. As she approaches the fallen Psycho, she traces a straight line in the air with one hand and grabs the unconscious Pathfinder’s frozen shoulder with the other. In a quick flash of light, the two reappear by the garden gates where the garden foliage is not covered in frost. ”Vendalfek!”

Move and cast dimension door. I can’t grab Psycho’s token on mobile, but he should be just upward from Not-Trixie.

On it! The sound of a siren sounds through the minds of everyone in the glade as the faerie dragon pulls out a stick as long as his tail and begins tapping it against Psycho’s frozen form.

UMD vs DC 20: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (17) + 15 = 32
Cure Light Wounds: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Well, not as good as it could have been, but Psycho’s stable and less likely to be hit by a third cone. Anybody got resist energy?