Miteke's Legacy of Fire

Game Master miteke

Aaliyah hops out of Rahella's arms and trots back to Sarona's side.

1d100 ⇒ 80

Your determination pays off. A rather annoyed spider emerges from it's nest. The spider is pretty big, bigger than any of you, and with a tough looking exoskeleton.

you may make a knowledge nature roll to identify it.

Combat Card
Bold may go.

Katsumi
Casper
Sarona
Spider
Lady Vulina
Lupe and hsi wolf
Rahella
Sarona's familiar

Note that at the moment it is 20' above you and you do not know whether it intends to hunt or flee.

Katsumi was ready when the spider popped out. He aimed at the creature but waited to fire, hoping it would simply choose to flee.

Readied action: If the spider comes within 10ft of any of us or takes a hostile action (like trying to web us), he'll shoot it.
Bow: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 6

Readied action: attack if spider comes into area I'm threatening.

Casper drops into a defensive crouch.

Sarona glares at the spider, summoning more misfortune magic.

Evil Eye hex on spider, targeting AC. Successful DC 15 Will Save makes it last for 1 round, failed save means it lasts for 7 rounds.

The spider sees a bunch of cowering prey beneath her and decides it's meal time. Katsumi's shot goes off and barely hits the thing, but hit it he does albeit reluctantly. The evil eye seems to have no effect on the creature. Must be because it has eight of them (or perhaps because it is vermin and is not affected by mind-affecting effects. Unless you know something about the evil eye ability I do not? Remember to do your knowledge nature rolls so that you will know these things!)

The spider, used to hunting things like wolves goes for the familiar and tries to plunge its stinger into Lupe's wolf though it does seem to hesitate before attacking when it is struck by the arrow and can't seem to get to the wolf with Lupe in the way.

to hit, height: 1d20 + 8 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 8 + 2 = 11
damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6; DC 15 Fort ST vs. poison; frequency 1/round for 4 rounds; effect 1d2 Strength damage; cure 1 save.

Combat Card
Bold may go.

Katsumi
Casper
Sarona
Spider -6 HP
Lady Vulina
Lupe and his wolf
Rahella
Sarona's familiar

Ah. Kinda missed the mind-affecting portion of the ability's text. Still, seems like it kinda worked anyway. XD

Aaliyah runs behind Sarona and makes a little whimpering noise.

Move behind Sarona and Hold Action.

Wolf carefully moves to the side to accommodate others (5ft) and attempts to attack the creature.

Bite (BSP): 1d20 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 + 1 = 4
Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Bite trip: 1d20 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 + 1 = 13

Lupe used the opening for an attack of his own.

Bastard Sword Attack (S) 19-20: 1d20 + 0 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 0 + 3 + 1 = 24
Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

Bastard Sword Attack (S) 19-20: 1d20 + 0 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 0 + 3 + 1 = 17
Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11

Lupe manage to land a nice hefty whallop on the thing, but the exoskeleton prevented him from finding a vital spot - barely.

Spider -15 HP

Lady Vulina
Rahella

are up

Rahella was expecting a bird or a reptile not a giant spider when she attacked the nest with her magic but a spider she got. As her allies piled onto the thing Rahella decided it might be best not to waste any magic she couldn't get back right away so instead of a jet of acid she simply called up a blob of it and sent it zinging in at the spider.
acid splash: 1d20 + 2 - 4 ⇒ (16) + 2 - 4 = 141d3 ⇒ 1

The acid sizzles into one of the legs reaching for prey and the spider yanks it back and hisses.

Spider -16 HP

Lady Vulina
Katsumi
Casper
Sarona

are up

Readying an attack again.

Casper maintains his wary pose.

Vulpina makes a face. ”Ah—how delightfully horrid,” she states, lunging up toward the spider.

Wakizashi Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

“Toward” being the operative word, here.

Casper stays away from the walls, probably wondering why the others are so anxious to be bitten. Lady Vulpina slashes upwards with her blade, but the spider's recoil from the acid splash makes her miss.

Spider -16 HP

Katsumi
Sarona

are up

Sarona contemplates the merits of attempting to burn the spider, but considering the presence of multiple friendlies in the line of fire and the combustible environment around her, she opts to instead take another approach.

She puts a hand on Rahella's shoulder. "Aim your acid bolt one inch higher. Try to arc it so it hits the target." She says, imbuing her with a bit of magical assistance.

Casting guidance on Rahella.

Shifting is bow to one hand now that the creature had engaged in melee, Katsumi stepped forward while drawing his blade once more to take a swing at the creature.

Kukri, to hit: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25
Confirm crit: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24
I'm guessing that confirms. So going to go ahead and use Butterfly Sting to pass my crit onto Lupe. Or I guess technically the next ally that hits with a melee weapon gets to do critical damage.
Nonlethal, regular damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

With the grace borne of much practice, Katsumi arced his blade at the spider, aiming for a vital spot. As he had anticipated, the creature flinched, exposing its weak spots to the rest of the group even as it instinctively tried to protect it from the heavily armored warrior.

The spider is whittled away a bit more and now has to make a decision as to whether to run or not.

1d100 ⇒ 70, low is run away.
1d4 ⇒ 1, 1 is Lupe, 2 is the wolf, 3 is Katsumi, 4 is lady Vulpina

The spider mindlessly continues its assault, shifting it's focus to the one that hurt it badly.

to hit: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17
damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7; DC 15 Fort ST vs. poison

Lupe is struck and the stinger is plunged in 6 inches into his abdomen, injecting it's poison. Save Fort DC 15; frequency 1/round for 4 rounds; effect 1d2 Strength damage; cure 1 save.

Combat Card
Bold may go.

Katsumi
Casper
Sarona
Spider -19 HP
Lady Vulina
Lupe (-7, poisoned) and his wolf
Rahella
Sarona's familiar

Katsumi continued to swing his blade at the spider with a combination of skill and unnatural luck. Perhaps this was the universe's way of making up for those dumb gremlins?
Kukri: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24
Confirm crit: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21
Nonlethal, regular damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Because of PBP weird initiative stuff, I think the next melee attack that someone else hits with is a crit this round, and then the same will be true next round from Katsumi's current round action crit.

Sure, the others might not know IC about the nuances of your feat but you do. So I'll assume you wait until after your first ally attacks until you knock it off balance gain.

Being careful to stay clear of the walls, Casper continues to ready himself should a choice opportunity to strike present itself.

Ready attack again.

Lupe's Base AC is 18. 20 When fighting with a shield so I think it's a miss, unless I missed something.

Fort: 1d20 + 2 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 2 + 3 = 8

Wolf will follow up.

Bite (BSP): 1d20 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 + 1 = 6

Bastard Sword Attack (S) 19-20: 1d20 + 0 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 0 + 3 + 1 = 20
Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7
Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

"Wow like we practiced."

@Lupe
Indeed I read the wrong AC from your tag line. Unfortunately, there was a +2 in there for the height advantage that I did not add in so that put it over anyway.

str damage: 1d2 ⇒ 2, so a -1 to hit and damage but you still smacked it real good.

In spite of the damage Lupe took and because of the opening Katsumi made Lupe is able to tear off one of it's legs. The creature jerks back in surprise, but will it get a chance to flee? Will it want to flee? Only a fool would stay, but, then again, who knows how the mind of a spider works?

Combat Card
Bold may go.

Katsumi
Casper
Sarona
Spider -34HP
Lady Vulina
Lupe (-7, poisoned, -2 str damage) and his wolf
Rahella
Sarona's familiar

Bump. Take this thing out. You are almost there!

Has it ever come within range where I can strike? (From my understanding, no?)

"Will someone please exterminate that wretched thing!"

*chuckle*
No, probably not. There is room for three melee attackers only. Well, 4 because Lupe and his wolf share a space. You should just pull out a missile weapon and plink away or work on some tactics with your fellow players to alternately do a 5' step back and forward.

Lupe, that hit was a miss since your AC is 20! Though your shield now has a nice fang sized hole in it and your head has been squirted with spider venom, so there!

Sarona walks behind Lady Vulpina and touches her shoulder. "A short, quick thrust into its mandibles should put it down." She says as she channels arcane energy into her.

Casting guidance on Lady Vulpina.

Aaliyah hangs back.

"I have a sling for big people, here on my belt and some pellets."

Rahella decided it was time to end this cursed spider if at all possible. Here eyes flashed black as she drew on her reserves of arcane power and with the guidance of Sarona's magic, she unleashed a jet of acid in an arch over her allies' heads.
acid jet w/guidance/into melee pen: 1d20 + 2 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (16) + 2 + 1 - 4 = 151d6 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
Spending 1 reservoir pt to cast acid jet.
...wow, pathetic damage roll but I probably hit.

Indeed, the stream of acid hits the clinging spider mid torso and burns a hole right into it. With a jerky spasm it slides down the wall to dangle about a foot from the floor by a strand of webbing attached to the wall 20' up, just outside it's nest. As it dangles there it continues spasming, either because it's not dead yet or because that's what spiders do.

A quiet descends, interrupted by the dripping ichor from the spider and the venom from Lupe's chin.

”Burn it,” advises Vulpina. ”I have seen a maid smash a spider—admittedly a much smaller one—and its offspring came cascading out.”

”Of course, we may need to find a better place to do so.”

EEEwwwww!

With the fall of the spider Rahella stepped closer when she heard Vulpina say to burn it. Rather than set it on fire she focused and once again her eyes turned black as she tore the last tethers of it's life force that may be holding it there asunder and ensured it would die quickly and without any further suffering.

I use consume life on the spider, if it is at least two HD (fat chance of that) then I get a reservoir point back.

Katsumi moves to intercept and stop Rahella. "This creature is not dying and you will not kill it simply to give yourself power." I was using nonlethal damage, so it should be unconscious but it still have >0 hit points.

Katsumi moves to intercept and stop Rahella. "This creature is not dying and you will not kill it simply to give yourself power." I was using nonlethal damage, so it should be unconscious but it still have >0 hit points.

Do you stop, Rahella? Do you know what she is doing, Katsumi?

We just downed a creature and Rahella told us her plans, so I think Katsumi knows exactly what she's trying to do. But also, her ability doesn't work if the creature has >0HP. It took 4 points of damage to bring it down and I did 6 points of nonlethal damage, so it must still have positive hit points. So even if he didn't know, her ability wouldn't work unless she attacked it again to bring it below 0HP.

Edit: That being said, I'm willing to let Katsumi "lose" this argument/be maneuvered around so Rahella can use her ability if she's willing to "lose" her moral high ground and accept the fact that she literally is killing something for personal gain. Which is to say, I don't want role play to get in the way of Rahella's build and am willing to talk through how to resolve this in a mutually satisfactory way. Katsumi may object to her trying to Consume Life on the spider, but I the player do not.

All true, all true. so does Rahella try to use her ability in spite of the warning, knowing ooc that it will probably not work anyway?.

I am glad I refreshed before I posted. All things considered I think it makes sense that Katsumi would realize what she is up to so I can see this happening. I'm good with the conflict, to a degree, it is a very morally grey thing she does and I expected this.

Rahella paused when she realized the spider was still breathing and turned her gaze on Katsumi as he intercepted her and said, "I don't do this for power Katsumi, I do it as a mercy. That I gain from it is a side effect, not the purpose. If they are not dying then what I do will not work." Rahella raised one eyebrow and stated, "Given how you object to my mercy it is you who have the problem with wanting power and being willing to kill for it, not me."

Rahella narrowed her eyes and looked at Kasumi, meeting his eyes, and said, "There is one more thing," Rahella asked quietly, "are you my Master? Do you own me? Am I property in your eyes?" There was a very dangerous tone in her voice, "If not then you have no right to order me around and force your views onto me. If you are then you show yourself to be an honorless bastard who only pays lip service to his religion."[b]

Rahella managed to stop herself and paused a moment to calm her emotions before she said in a softer voice, [b]"I can understand your fear of what I do, the distaste it might be to you, but I am not evil, I will not go around killing everyone in sight just to gain power." She became thoughtful as her expression softened and said, "If at any time you feel I am out of control, that I have become the monster you fear I might be, then you are free to do what you need if it will protect any of us or innocents from my magics. If it came to that I would rather you kill me so that I was no longer a threat. If you feel that I am slipping then call me on it, I am willing to listen, or should be, and if I am not then I want you to stop me because I don't want to become the kind of monster that I grew up around,"

Katsumi paused. And the burst out laughing at the sheer absurdity of most of what the woman was saying. Her mental acrobatics were truly to be marveled if she actually believed any of her baseless accusations. "You think I want to kill for power? Look around. I'm the only one here who has made any effort to avoid killing. While I don't fault others for protecting themselves with lethal force, I've trained for years to be able to curb my blows without incurring a disadvantage."

"As to slavery, it speaks more to your world view than mine if you believe preventing you from harming another is an infringement upon your freedom. As they say, your right to swing your fist ends where another's nose begins."

As Rahella then went on to talk about what she might become, a light of understanding shone upon him. She tries to walk a narrow ledge and fears falling into darkness. He nodded, voice grave. "Very well. I will warn you when you're about to kill something that isn't beyond saving but will hold my tongue when you approach a creature already at death's door. Does this sound amenable to you?"

But seriously, if you do want that reservoir point, there are plenty of ways to do that, like just doing something behind Katsumi's back when he tries to dump the body outside again. Or a third person sneaking in and killing the spider while he's distracted talking to Rahella. It's more important to me that he try to save enemies than that he actually succeeds at doing so. I recognize that me having a trait that incentives doing nonlethal damage might be a bit of a bummer for you.

Actually I am not getting the sense that there is any feeling of a bummer going on here. I look at this an an excellent opportunity to play your characters and show who they are. Truly an iron sharpens iron kind of situation where each of your characters are being challenged by the other forcing you as players to think more deeply about the motivations and personalities and forcing your characters to confront an opposing point o view. You gotta love this kind of stuff. Beats pure hack and slash any day and I don't think of you all as hack and slash power gamers.

Katsumi paused. And the burst out laughing at the sheer absurdity of most of what the woman was saying. Her mental acrobatics were truly to be marveled if she actually believed any of her baseless accusations. "You think I want to kill for power? Look around. I'm the only one here who has made any effort to avoid killing. While I don't fault others for protecting themselves with lethal force, I've trained for years to be able to curb my blows without incurring a disadvantage."

"As to slavery, it speaks more to your world view than mine if you believe preventing you from harming another is an infringement upon your freedom. As they say, your right to swing your fist ends where another's nose begins."

As Rahella then went on to talk about what she might become, a light of understanding shone upon him. She tries to walk a narrow ledge and fears falling into darkness. He nodded, voice grave. "Very well. I will warn you when you're about to kill something that isn't beyond saving but will hold my tongue when you approach a creature already at death's door. Does this sound amenable to you?"

But seriously, if you do want that reservoir point, there are plenty of ways to do that, like just doing something behind Katsumi's back when he tries to dump the body outside again. Or a third person sneaking in and killing the spider while he's distracted talking to Rahella. It's more important to me that he try to save enemies than that he actually succeeds at doing so. I recognize that me having a trait that incentives doing nonlethal damage might be a bit of a bummer for you.

Casper begins to pray mentally, glaring fixedly at the vermin,

"Oh Great and Terrible Lord of the Black Fingers, accept thou this offering...."

Most of this goes over Lupes head. Is a big bug worth more than a small bug? Should he feel bad when he steps on an ant?

Sarona listens to the bickering between Katsumi and Rahella.

When the two come to an agreement, Sarona tilts her head at the armored man. "Why do you place greater importance on the life of a non-sentient being than on unit cohesion? It is highly probable that the creature lacks the capacity to understand--or appreciate--the concept of mercy."

The discussion is broken by the sound of a pistol blast. The spider is now very dead, and Vulpina blows the smoke off before resheathing her weapon.

”I do believe that’s settled.”

I don’t mind having this moral debate. Vulpina, however, values efficiency!

Katsumi tilted his head at Sarona. "Why wouldn't I? It's not about what the spider understands. It's about-" He's interrupted by the loud crack of the gun. He freezes for a moment before turning to stare impassively at Vulpina. Then without another word, he turned his back on the grisly scene, opening the unexplored door to the adjoining room.

Katsumi displays his disapproval by turning his back on the others and attempting to walk away from them. I say attempting because the door does not budge.

Also, the spider might not be dead. The attack that took it down was pretty minor and there was non-lethal damage mixed in there too. I would estimate that it will take somewhere around 15 points of damage to kill it or a successful coup de grace. How much damage do you do?

A coup de grace does Crit damage, which would be 4d6.

4d6 ⇒ (5, 6, 3, 2) = 16

Coup de grace is only for melee weapons or a bow or crossbow. Seems silly to me though. A bullet to the head seems as effective as a knife to the heart. Forget RAW. The thing is dead.

I think that rule was written before firearms were, in fairness!

The discussion is broken by the sound of a pistol blast. The spider is now very dead, and Vulpina blows the smoke off before resheathing her weapon.

”I do believe that’s settled.”

I don’t mind having this moral debate. Vulpina, however, values efficiency!

Casper smirks in wry amusement.