GM Kate's Extinction Curse [closed]

Game Master Kate Baker

Rova moves to line up a shot and fires twice at the big xulgath, hoping they can bring him down before he kills Prism and Unset. Unfortunately, firing through the door isn't optimal.

"Just wait, Thkrull, it's too tight for you!" she scolds her elephant friend.

Stride, Strike, Strike
+1 Shortbow (deadly d10, magical, 60 foot range, reload 0): 1d20 + 14 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 14 + 1 = 20
Hunter's edge (precision/piercing damage): 2d6 + 1d8 ⇒ (2, 6) + (5) = 13

Shortbow (iterative): 1d20 + 14 - 5 ⇒ (5) + 14 - 5 = 14
Piercing damage: 2d6 ⇒ (3, 6) = 9

Backed into the corner of the stairs Prism slashes her way into the Xulgath's side. "HELP!" She screams.

+1 Striking Sickle vs FF: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (6) + 15 = 21
Damage: 2d4 + 1 ⇒ (2, 1) + 1 = 4
Sneak Attack Damage: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 2) = 7

+1 Striking Sickle vs FF: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (3) + 15 = 18
Damage: 2d4 + 1 ⇒ (2, 2) + 1 = 5
Sneak Attack Damage: 2d6 ⇒ (1, 2) = 3

◆ Strike
◆ Strike
◆ Shield spell

Niksi grunts through the pain of the magic missiles, but she keeps her focus on the big xulgath. Prism needs her help and damnit, she is going to get it.

Daze vs Big Xulgath (DC 22 will): 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6
Y’all know the drill. Basic save, stunned 1 on crit fail

She keeps up her protective song. Even if she cannot get to Prism yet, she can at least help her that way.

Two actions for daze, one for Inspire Defense

Kennari backs into the corner by Thkrull for a better view of the large xulgath, then conjurs some magic to coat the brute's maul in slippery grease!

◆Stride, ◆◆Cast grease (DC 22 Reflex)

Unset tumbles into place, but can't seem to connect!

Rova lands one shot on the big one!

Prism also lands one slice of her sickle.

Niksi tries to get at its mind again.

Will: 1d20 + 9 - 1 ⇒ (14) + 9 - 1 = 22

But this time it fends her off a little better.

Kennari makes its maul all greasy and gross.

Reflex: 1d20 + 10 - 1 ⇒ (2) + 10 - 1 = 11

And the maul slips out of its hands!

With its maul gone, it instead bites at Unset!

jaws: 1d20 + 15 - 1 ⇒ (19) + 15 - 1 = 33
ouch!: 2d8 + 8 ⇒ (2, 8) + 8 = 18 piercing

It then claws at Prism.

claws: 1d20 + 15 - 4 - 1 ⇒ (3) + 15 - 4 - 1 = 13
ouch!: 2d8 + 8 ⇒ (5, 8) + 8 = 21 slashing

And tries again.

claws: 1d20 + 15 - 8 - 1 ⇒ (18) + 15 - 8 - 1 = 24
ouch!: 2d8 + 8 ⇒ (4, 5) + 8 = 17 slashing

Which just misses thanks to Niksi's spells!

The bookish xulgath, annoyed by the casting coming from the hallway, makes her way closer and tosses a fireball into the corner!

fireball at Thkrull, Kennari, Rova, and Niksi: 6d6 ⇒ (3, 5, 5, 4, 4, 1) = 22, DC 26 basic Reflex

Initiative
Prism, -14 hp
Kennari
Unset, -34 hp
Rova
Niksi, -23 hp
Spinesnapper, -46 hp
Zunkri, -11 hp
Givzib

Prism continues to fend for her life as she is trapped on the stairwell.

+1 Striking Sickle vs FF: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (8) + 15 = 23
Damage: 2d4 + 1 ⇒ (1, 4) + 1 = 6
Sneak Attack Damage: 2d6 ⇒ (1, 6) = 7

+1 Striking Sickle vs FF: 1d20 + 15 - 4 ⇒ (17) + 15 - 4 = 28
Damage: 2d4 + 1 ⇒ (3, 3) + 1 = 7
Sneak Attack Damage: 2d6 ⇒ (3, 5) = 8

◆ Strike
◆ Strike
◆ Shield spell

Reflex vs. fireball: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (20) + 14 = 34

Familiar with the spell being cast against him, Kennari quickly ducks behind the elephant, shielding himself from the blast.

Without a good line for a lightning bolt, and unwilling to risk the books with a fireball, Kennari returns to jolting the two xulgath with electricity.

electric arc E damage: 3d4 + 4 ⇒ (4, 2, 3) + 4 = 13 DC 22 basic Reflex, reducing status bonus to saves by 1.

He then summons a protective ward for himself. ◆◆Cast electric arc, ◆cast shield.

@Everyone don’t forget Niksi’s song adds to saves!

Reflex Save (inspire defense): 1d20 + 13 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 13 + 1 = 30

Niksi dodges the worst of the blast. That spellcaster is beginning to rather annoy her, so she summons her old friend The Brother to hopefully put a little fear in him.

The clockwork automaton appears out of the shadow and strikes twice at the fireball-thrower.

Someone finally pointed me to the rule that summons get to use two actions immediately, so I have been unintentionally nerfing myself all this time!

Strike vs Spellcaster: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (14) + 12 = 26
Damage: 1d4 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6
Strike vs Spellcaster (map): 1d20 + 12 - 5 ⇒ (1) + 12 - 5 = 8
Damage: 1d4 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

She keeps up her protective song all the while.

Two actions to cast Illusory Creature, one to Inspire Defense

HP: 37/71

Reflex (expert): 1d20 + 14 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 14 + 1 = 26

Rova manages to avoid the worst of the fire and, still trying to help Prism, fires arrows as fast as she can at the big xulgath. Despite -- or perhaps because of -- her concern for her friend, they hit him with almost preternatural accuracy.

+1 Shortbow (deadly d10, magical, 60 foot range, reload 0): 1d20 + 14 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 14 + 1 = 25
Hunter's edge (precision/piercing damage): 2d6 + 1d8 ⇒ (5, 6) + (1) = 12

Shortbow (iterative): 1d20 + 14 - 5 ⇒ (15) + 14 - 5 = 24
Piercing damage: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 4) = 9

Shortbow (iterative): 1d20 + 14 - 10 ⇒ (20) + 14 - 10 = 24
Piercing damage: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 1) = 6
Deadly: 1d10 ⇒ 7
Crit specialization: The target gets stuck to an adjacent surface by the missile. The target is immobilized and must spend an Interact action to attempt a DC 10 Athletics check to pull the missile free; it can’t move from its space until it succeeds.

Crit fishing worked out... Prism, don't forget our reflection of life, which might be helpful here!

Reflex (expert): 1d20 + 13 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 13 + 1 = 32

Thkrull trumpets in pain and annoyance as fire hits him, and decides if all of his things won't get out of his way then he's going to take his trunk and go home -- or at least back up a bit.

Unset renews his assault on the creature threatening Prism, before turning his attention to the foe behind him.

Melee +1 striking tail (backswing, magical) v axe-wielder: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (12) + 15 = 27
Damage B, precision for panache: 2d6 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (4, 5) + 4 + 2 = 15
Melee +1 striking fist (magical, nonlethal, agile, finesse) v axe-wielder: 1d20 + 15 - 4 ⇒ (17) + 15 - 4 = 28
Damage B, precision for panache: 2d6 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (3, 5) + 4 + 2 = 14
Melee +1 striking fist (magical, nonlethal, agile, finesse) v axe-wielder, finisher: 1d20 + 15 - 8 ⇒ (11) + 15 - 8 = 18
Damage B, precision for panache: 2d6 + 4 + 2d6 ⇒ (3, 4) + 4 + (6, 2) = 19

Prism, trapped in the stairwell, hits twice!

Kennari adds an electric arc to the battle.

Spinesnapper Reflex: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (3) + 10 = 13
Zunkri Reflex: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (15) + 13 = 28

The brute takes the worst of it while the caster dodges.

Niksi summons Brother in! Oh no, sorry, I don't play anyone who summons, so I didn't catch that either! Brother punches the caster once.

Rova's first arrow takes the big xulgath down! Her next two pepper the caster, pinning her in place.

Unset steps over and pummels the caster twice!

Zunkri pauses to pull the arrow loose.

Athletics: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (11) + 13 = 24

She then mutters an incantation and disappears! The folks in the hallway hear her around the corner. Dimension door, Unset gets an AoO if he has one.

Initiative
Prism, -14 hp
Kennari
Unset, -34 hp
Rova, -11 hp (Thkrull -11 hp)
Niksi, -34 hp
Zunkri, -82 hp
Givzib

With the caster out of the room with the books, Kennari grins and moves foward. Seeing the shape of the chamber ahead, he sends a bead of fire to the far corner of the room where it explodes into an inferno which envelops the caster! ◆Stride, ◆◆Cast fireball.

Fireball: 6d6 ⇒ (1, 1, 6, 2, 6, 3) = 19 DC 22 Reflex save, reducing any status bonus by 1.

She then mutters an incantation and disappears! The folks in the hallway hear her around the corner. Dimension door, Unset gets an AoO if he has one.

He does!

"Not so fast, there!" cries Unset as he spies the woman trying to escape.

Melee +1 striking tail (backswing, magical), AoO v caster: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (14) + 15 = 29
Damage B, precision for panache: 2d6 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (3, 2) + 4 + 2 = 11

With no more apparent threats in the room, Unset implores his gnome ally, "Come now, Prism. Let's get out of here and hold off explorin' further 'til we find the others."

Going into Delay until after Prism as he plans to follow her whichever direction she goes.

Seeing the flash of fire from below, Rova rushes to see what's happening -- Is this it? The End? Disappointed to just find a fireball and the xulgath wizard, she brings her bow to bear, firing an arrow right into the lizard man's chest.

"You stink!" she says sadly.

Stride, Hunt Prey, Strike
+1 Shortbow (deadly d10, magical, 60 foot range, reload 0): 1d20 + 14 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 14 + 1 = 33
Hunter's edge (precision/piercing damage): 2d6 + 1d8 ⇒ (1, 5) + (8) = 14
Deadly?: 1d10 ⇒ 3
Crit specialization: The target gets stuck to an adjacent surface by the missile. The target is immobilized and must spend an Interact action to attempt a DC 10 Athletics check to pull the missile free; it can’t move from its space until it succeeds.

Prism rushes out of the room as she sees an opening. She leans down, both hands on her knees as she catches her breath. "Where did it go?"

As Kennari tosses the fireball, the caster murmurs a few words of her own.

counteract: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (3) + 18 = 21

But she fails to counterspell!

Reflex: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (19) + 13 = 32

She instead just jumps out of the way of the fire.

Unset gave her a good whack with his tail as she disappeared, and he looks to see what to do now. Prism escapes from the stairwell.

Rova, spying the caster down the hallway, lets loose with a perfect arrow, dropping the xulgath.

With both xulgaths gone, you might have almost forgotten about the demon in the corner, until you hear a high-pitched voice say “Givzib surrenders! Please, don’t hurt Givzib! Givzib is good friend, you’ll see!”.

The creature is still invisible.

preserving hit point total just in case, but we are not currently in initiative.
Prism, -14 hp
Kennari
Unset, -34 hp
Rova, -11 hp (Thkrull -11 hp)
Niksi, -34 hp
Givzib

Satisfied that the caster is down, Kennari moves back into the room and quickly begins to pick up and examine the books.

"Noone is going to hurt you. Comeout..ofthere." Prism urges the demon to show itself as she stows her weapon back onto her belt.

Making a note to come back and see what the caster has on her, Rova hurries back into the other room at the sound of noises there.

She looks nervously at Prism.

"Are you sure? We learned that you don't always want to make a deal with a devil," she whispers. "Sometimes it doesn't turn out well. I had an 'uncle,' Caul they called him, who lost his soul in a fiddling competition with one one time."

"Oh, that's fine! Givzib is no devil. Givzib is demon!" As Prism sheaths her weapon, Givzib appears, perched on a broken wall sconce.

“Givzib can tell you all about the nasty xulgaths here! Yes! The ruins are big and scary, you need a friend like Givzib to help. Givzib knows their secrets. Givzib sees their deal with the pretty cat‑lady, sees how she tricks them. But they never listen to Givzib. Givzib’s new friends will listen, yes?”

"Not sure talkin' with devils or demons be the best ideer," Unset grumbles quietly to the others. "but, then, I surpose the rest o' ye 'ave more experience with such things than ole Unset, ye do. Far cry from the Big Top, this all seems."

Kennari looks up from the book he was examining when Givzib speak, then sets the book down entirely when the demon appears. "Fascinating. And tell us, friend Givzib, what exactly do you get out of helping us?"

"The cat lady? You mean Mistress Dusklight? What kind of deal?!" Rova completely forgets that she's talking to a demon. (Or a devil, or whatever. It could be a qlippoth. They would totally about being a demon.)

"See, it'snot..adevil..atall..Rova. Demons aremuch..more trustworthy." Prism proves her point with a simple wave of her hand.

"I keep my life, yes? Yes! The cat lady is here often. Gray fur, red coat, mean smile. She comes through the bell tower, there!" She points to the stairwell that Prism was in. "She brings humans for the xulgaths to sacrifice. She brings presents too. Like that." Givzib gestures to a ringmaster's staff propped up in the corner.

"Givzib knows she is no friend to the xulgaths, though. She lies to them. Steals from this place!'

"Oh, a ringmaster's staff! You should take that, Niksi!" Rova exclaims, before turning her attention back to the possibly qlippoth.

"What kind of stuff does she steal?" Her mind is reeling that Mistress Dusklight is involved with these people. What are the odds that the woman whose circus they fled would be wrapped up in whatever end-of-everything strangeness that they've found themselves involved in?

Niksi is not particularly happy to be chatting with a demon. While they may not have the same reputation for manipulation as devils, they are more than capable of holding their own in that field. Still, the information is useful, and it is refreshing to have a chance to talk to someone instead of fighting them.

She takes the staff and looks it over while the others are talking, internalizing each of the answers. She finally throws out a question of her own. ”What are the terms of this deal that you have mentioned?”

"The cat lady brings presents, presents like people! People the xulgaths use to call demons, like Givzib. But some of the demons are much stronger than Givzib. They will not be friends with you. Givzid has not seen the cat lady steal, but she has eyes of a thief, always looking at the relics. Demons know greed. Sometimes she has books she did not have when she came in. Cat lady tells xulgaths not to trust any other surface dwellers, that they all bad people."

Rova seems horrified by all of this. It's much worse than, say, a cult of the God of the End Times trying to make sure everyone knows what's coming.

Her head reels as she tries to comprehend everything.

"What books? Are any of them still here? Or ones she didn't take?"

"Yes, friend Givzib. please tell us about the books."

Prism looks confused at everyone elses expressions. "Shebrings..inpeople..tosacrifice..anbooks..mmakeyou..worried?"

"Givzib not sure where the books came from. Givzib called by a xulgath named Kalagash right here in temple many weeks ago. There are two dozens of xulgaths here, and four of them can call demons, but they argue too much to work together to call a really big demon. Sometimes they go downstairs, but Givzib has never been down there. There used to be more xulgaths. There was a very powerful priest of Zevgavizeb named Sarvel Ever‑Hunger, but Sarvel and many others left a while ago. Givzib doesn’t know why, but something was very important."

This is about the extent of what Givzib knows. How would you like to proceed?

"Ah" Kennari stammers a big, looking slightly abashed. "My apologies, Prism. Perhaps my priorities were misaligned."

Unset tries his best to follow the back and forth of the conversation. Finally, he interjects, "So this, er, 'Cat Lady'? She be known t'you?"

"If she be harmin' folks 'n posserbly patrons, should we be puttin' a stop to'er? Books 'r no books?"

This is really up to you all how you'd like to proceed! You could take Givzib back to Andera Paldreen to give evidence against Mistress Dusklight, you could keep exploring the Arodenite temple and gather more evidence against her, or you could go to the Celestial Menagerie and confront her yourself!

Rova thinks. "I don't know that a demons if that's what he really is is really going to sway Andera alone. Maybe we should keep exploring. Also, if there are demons down here, we probably don't want to let them run around, right?"

I vote for exploring.

"No, we certainly do not. Still...I don't know how much use I will be to you should we run into any more such creatures. I have nearly exhausted my magical reserves, I'm afraid."

"Ifeel. okayfor..nowbut..wecan..goback..andrest." Prism gathers her things. She suggests a new approach. "Let'stake..Givzibto Andera..fornow..andlet..herknow..weare..seekingmore..evidence." She rattles off a rapidly laid plan.

. "Let'stake..Givzibto Andera..fornow..andlet..herknow..weare..seekingmore..evidence." She rattles off a rapidly laid plan.

"Addin' a demon to the big top menagerie?" grumbles Unset. "I'm all fer increasin' the number of rubes comin' through the tents, but I am none too sure about this idea."

"Still, yer tent, yer castle, I suppose."

I'm not opposed to exploring further, but will defer to the party.

If folks need to rest, I'm fine with that. Thkrull may object, but he's a jerk.

"Maybe we should keep him hidden for now, just in case someone thinks we brought him here," Rova says, never that trusting of authorities. She's had to flee too many times from adventurers hired by officials complaining about her family.

Niksi bangs the bottom of the ringmaster’s staff on the ground. ”Absolutely no demons, devils, daemons with an ‘a,’ divs or other evil outsiders that start with ‘d.’ I must draw the line there. Taking information is one thing, inviting such a creature into our home is quite another.”

She sighs as she idly spins her staff. ”I highly doubt a demon could be considered a trustworthy source for the authorities. We should finish investigating here for further evidence and confront Dusklight ourselves. Whether we go back and rest or not first, I am fine either way. We are not bringing a demon back with us, though.”

It soooooounds like the plan is to go back to the circus and rest, then come back to the temple the next day? I'll proceed assuming that.

Givzib seems disappointed that she can't come with you, but she remains at the underground temple waiting for you to come back. Everyone back at the circus is delighted to hear about your discoveries so far and is happy to meet Unset and Kennari!

They do report that a few of the circus's posters up in the town square were vandalized.

Prism stamers and slows down a bit. "What!? NO!, I never said bringa demon back to the circus!" She giggles at the thought and mischief it might bring.

Rova's expression darkens as she hears about the posters, but they have bigger issues to deal with.

"We should go back and make sure Givzib is still there," she tells the others as soon as they get up. "Plus get more evidence on Mistress Dusklight!"

Still, she stops en route and picks up another handful of arrows. Kate, I realize I stopped tracking. Do you want me to continue or are you OK just sort of handwaving that.

I am 100% okay with handwaving that.

Thanks! Rova suggests heading back to the room where Givzib was to see if she's still there/if anything happened in our absence.

You head back to the temple and Givzib suddenly appears out of invisibility as you enter.

"Hello! Hello! You're back! The xulgaths are mad that someone was here fighting and cleaning, but Givzib didn't tell, no no. Givzib stayed out of sight."

You notice that the murals in the front entry have a couple of fresh blood drawings on them, though rather small in size.

"Thank you, Givzib," Rova says, then goes to take a closer look at the drawings.

"Oh, how many were there?" she asks over her shoulder.

"Xulgaths? She starts counting on her fingers. "Ten. Most of them are downstairs, but a few are in there." She points to the double doors leading off from the entryway. Indicated on map with arrow.