GM PDK IRONFANG INVASION (Inactive)

Game Master Purple Dragon Knight

Luke opens the secret door to the west. As soon as he pushes open the acoustically sealed door you can all hear the ring of metal on metal. The chamber beyond is all but buried in a pile of rubble. Difficult terrain for all! Finished walls encircle part of the room but end in a collapse to the south. Dried flesh and wisps of white hair still cling to a handful of ancient bones lying on the floor. A trio of small-sized skeletons are hammering away at battered iron blanks in a long-cold forge. The skeletons tolerate no interference it seems, and turn to attack who has dared to interrupt their labor.

Round 1 - Bold may go!
Herman
Vale
Luke
Small Skeletons
Arthur
Grenwold
Dommer

Channel positive: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 6) = 11
"Return to death were you belong, foul abominations!" Shaman Vale said as a wave of holy energy slammed into the skeletons.

DC 14 Will save for half

The skeletons shake visibly upon Vale's energy release, but they all still stand. Saves will be made on their turn.

Luke moves to the closest skeleton and strikes.

+1 adamantine Greatsword (+ Furious Focus, power attack ) - std.: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14
damage: 2d6 + 11 + 6 ⇒ (4, 6) + 11 + 6 = 27

I can't edit the map.

The skeleton blocks Luke's sword with his hammer.

Round 1 - Bold may go!
Vale
Luke
Herman
Small Skeletons [will req'd]
Arthur
Grenwold
Dommer

"You'd think someone would have heard those blockheads hammering away like that before opening the door," Herman grumbles to nobody in particular as he pulls out a string with a leather pad in the center and digs out a round stone from his pocket. Placing the rock in the sling, he gives it a quick whirl.

Move action to retrieve sling, move action to load. Also, Mulch will be in Herman's square until otherwise noted.

Gren is trying to check - but it's still a bit chaotic :).

Herman gets his sling ready. The skeletons swarm Luke.

Skel 1: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26
Skel 2: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11
Skel 3: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21
dmg: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
dmg: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8

Round 1 - Bold may go!
Vale
Luke -15
Herman -6
Small Skeletons [-5 / -11 / -5]
Arthur -5
Grenwold -6
Ringo -6
Dommer

Round 2 - Bold may go!
Vale
Luke -15
Herman -6
Small Skeletons [-5 / -11 / -5]
Arthur -5
Grenwold -6
Ringo -6
Dommer

Carried on damages from last battle, from those who wondered, and I've included Vale's CLW heal wand use on Luke

Gren and Ringo head into the room, ignoring the broken stone, and Ringo takes a swipe at the closest skeleton, while Gren tries to pummel the far one with his glaive.

Grenwold glaive: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15
Grenwold glaive damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Even if that hits, I doubt it damages the thing, let's try Ringo.

Ringo snuffs at the little skeleton, obviously annoyed to be pummeling a bonebag.

Ringo Gore (piercing damage only, skeleton south of Luke), outflank, Bull, PA: 1d20 + 4 + 4 + 1 - 1 ⇒ (13) + 4 + 4 + 1 - 1 = 21
gore, bull, PA: 1d8 + 1 + 2 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 1 + 2 + 3 = 9

Might damage it.

Arthur moves forward, rolling through the space the elk is occupying trying to avoid any stray strikes from the creatures.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (3) + 12 = 15

Then he tries to chop at the one in front of his with his halberd:
+1 Halberd: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (11) + 11 = 22
Damage: 1d10 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8

"Oh, you will not hit me again!" and Luke continues with his attack.

+1 adamantine Greatsword (+ Furious Focus, power attack ) - std.: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 10 = 26
damage: 2d6 + 11 + 6 ⇒ (3, 4) + 11 + 6 = 24

cleave

+1 adamantine Greatsword (+ Furious Focus, power attack ) - std.: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (14) + 10 = 24
damage: 2d6 + 11 + 6 ⇒ (2, 3) + 11 + 6 = 22

Dommer touches his arm, feeling his skin grow tougher, then moves in the room to help the others.

Standard to barkskin, then move in. I assumed the terrain past Vale is difficult so I couldn't go too far

Herman slips closer to the chaos and twirls his sling a few more times around his head before feebly releasing it.

Sling, Cover, Shooting into Melee: 1d20 + 4 - 4 - 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 - 4 - 4 = -1
Bludgeoning damage: 1d4 - 1 ⇒ (4) - 1 = 3

"Bah!" he yells, throwing the offending weapon on the ground and kicking it. "Worthless!" After a few seconds of thought, however, he begrudgingly picks it back up.

5 ft step, standard to attack, free action to drop weapon, move action to retrieve weapon. Don't mind Herman - he's just being useless over here. XD

Seeing his friends getting wounded, the next wave of energy helped heal their wounds.

Channel Positive to heal: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 2) = 7

@Everyone: from now on, every time your character deals damage, please list the type(s) of damage inflicted, e.g. silver piercing dmg; magical slashing dmg; cold iron good bludgeoning dmg; etc.

Gren misses the skeleton, but Ringo is able to do some minor damage as its antlers tangle with the skeleton's ribcage. That same skeleton takes a swipe at Arthur as he filters into the room. AoO Skel 3 vs Arthur: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25 bludgeoning dmg: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6 Cursing at his bad luck, he nevertheless sticks his halberd back at the thing, causing minor damage. Luke obliterates the two skeletons to the west with a massive swipe of his greatsword! their bones fall to the ground and remain silent. @Luke: I don't think you can mix Overhand Chop with Cleave, but even if I remove 2 pts. of dmg on each hit, you still kill the two skeletons. For the future please look into that for me please; thx. I'd like to know the answer to that. If you can't find a clear ruling I'll ask Tyranius, the PbP VC. Dommer moves unimpeded since the eastern skeleton is already busy with Ringo and Arthur. Herman moves in, sling's-a-twirlin', and releases... the stone clatters on the west wall, and you hear Herman protest this development. Vale pours in some much needed healing into his friends, almost healing back everyone to full health!

The remaining skeleton keeps swiping at its original target mindlessly.
Skel 3: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15
The bony undead's strike is deflected harmlessly by Luke's armor.

Round 2 - Bold may go!
Vale
Luke -8
Herman
Small Skeleton [-12]
Arthur -6
Grenwold
Ringo
Dommer

Round 3 - Bold may go!
Vale
Luke -8
Herman
Small Skeleton [-12]
Arthur -6
Grenwold
Ringo
Dommer

@Luke: I don't think you can mix Overhand Chop with Cleave, but even if I remove 2 pts. of dmg on each hit, you still kill the two skeletons. For the future please look into that for me please; thx. I'd like to know the answer to that. If you can't find a clear ruling I'll ask Tyranius, the PbP VC.

You are right! Cleave-Power-Attack-Charging-and-Overhand-Chop

Dommer moves around Luke and, using his short Dwarven legs, kicks the skeleton.

Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19
Damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6 Blunt

Luke attacks remaining skeleton.

+1 adamantine Greatsword (+ Furious Focus, power attack ) - std.: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17
damage slashing adamantine magic: 2d6 + 11 + 6 ⇒ (1, 3) + 11 + 6 = 21

Dommer crushes several bones with his thick dwarven leg. Amazingly, the small-sized skeleton still shambles forward. Luke swings and misses!

Round 2 - Bold may go!
Vale
Luke -8
Herman
Small Skeleton [-18]
Arthur -6
Grenwold
Ringo
Dommer

Round 3 - Bold may go!
Luke -8
Vale
Herman
Small Skeleton [-18]
Arthur -6
Grenwold
Ringo
Dommer

Ringo tries to pummel again

Ringo Gore (piercing damage only, skeleton south of Luke), outflank, Bull, PA: 1d20 + 4 + 4 + 1 - 1 ⇒ (14) + 4 + 4 + 1 - 1 = 22
gore (piercing damage), bull, PA: 1d8 + 1 + 2 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 1 + 2 + 3 = 11

Ringo and Gren then step north of Luke to allow Grenwold a chance to swing.

Gren also attacks after Ringo, swinging past Luke.

Grenwold glaive, soft cover: 1d20 + 6 - 4 ⇒ (14) + 6 - 4 = 16
Grenwold glaive damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

Shaman Vale watched as the group tried to pound the small skeleton to bits, keeping an eye out in case there are any serious injuries.

Ready action: Stabilize if anyone goes down.

Ringo tears the last skeleton to pieces with its antlers.

COMBAT OVER

Hazard: Although the gas vents were mostly blocked when the complex collapsed, a slow trickle over hundreds of years has filled this room with a nearly odorless poisonous gas. Living creatures entering the room must succeed at a DC 12 Fortitude save each round or take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage. Creatures that take any nonlethal damage from this bad air also become fatigued. A character can spend 30 minutes outside the chamber breathing normally to remove the fatigued condition and any accumulated nonlethal damage caused by the gas.

The natural gas filling this chamber is highly flammable. Any flames brought into the room— such as a lantern or torch—burn much brighter and spark. Each round, a naked flame has a 50% chance of igniting the gas (25% for protected flames such as hooded lanterns), dealing 3d6 points of fire damage to all creatures in the room. The sparks from clashing weapons or the skeleton’s hapless forging are too cool and brief to risk igniting the gas.

Igniting the gas or leaving the door open for 1 hour causes the accumulated gas to dissipate, removing this hazard from the room.

I will assume you will wait outside for an hour before re-entering to search for the loot.

Treasure: The skeletons each had a masterwork light hammer. Two sets of masterwork smithing tools and one set of masterwork mining tools can be found in the rubble. A character who succeeds at a DC 20 Perception check also turns up a +1 light steel shield, slightly rusted, but easily polished up.

Development: The forge here can easily be repaired by clearing the gas lines and airways and reigniting its flame, providing refugees with a place to work metal once they claim the lair. Making the area usable once again requires a total of 10 days’ work, though multiple creatures can work together to shorten this time.

"This will surely be a useful place for our group."

"Ya think?" Herman replies sourly, kicking a skull against the wall. "But there's still that fae nonsense, and I don't see any woe here besides whatever killed these three. Let's not sit on our hands any longer."

Inventory updated.

Perception: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (9) + 18 = 27
"Hey, look what I found!" Shaman Vale said as he pulled out a shield tucked under a pile of shop rags.

The dwarf comes closer to the forge and taps it lovingly, as one would do with a pet dog.

'Tis a beauty, 'aye tell 'ya. - he says, distracted, before replying Herman - Yeah, old bum beard's right. We need 'tae keep goin'.

With that said, he pulls back the bow and assumes his position on the marching order.

Grenwold nods at the others, "great job everyone. Let's go back east, to the other side. There's a passageway heading south. There are likely more monsters down here, right?" He hefts his glaive and waits as the bruisers take the lead.

I think there's an exit from the eastern room, right?

"Let's go! But first I need some medical care! "

Luke takes the lead.

Luke and Arthur are both still injured; are you healing them before moving on?

Shaman Vale flipped out a wand from a wrist sheath before treating their wounds.

-CLW Luke: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
-CLW Arthur: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
-CLW Arthur: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Luke's all healed up (3+5) and Arthur has a few scratches left (3). The party heads east and then turn south.

The tunnel opens into a long, irregular cavern running north to south. Streaks of purple crystal run along one wall. To the east, the room descends down at a steep angle to a tunnel: a low, ethereal moan rises from the cold depths, and a barricade built of masonry blocks and crudely quarried chunks of stone partially blocks that wide, low eastbound tunnel. The south part of this room is unblocked however, and continues further.

Further south, Luke squeezes through a tight passage and arrives into a large circular chamber, which seems to have partially collapsed on its north side. Crude carvings of reptilian heads and bodies cover the wall, snaking around empty sockets in the stone walls. A thin, bluish mist hovers in the air, swirling gently. The mist rises about halfway up the walls, like a diaphanous ocean.

Luke spots something moving into the blue mist... barely visible through the waist-high fog due to its small size.

Luke, you are the first into the room; what do you do?

"Guys, there's something!" whispers Luke.

I saw you moved Luke forward on the map; understood.

Luke moves forward into the cave, surprising the creature. It rushes towards Luke.

What do you do?

Arthur follows behind Luke, weapons drawn.

Luke waits for creature to come closer.
ready attack - if creature attacks Luke will return a hit.

+1 adamantine Greatsword (+ Furious Focus, power attack ) - std.: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23
damage slashing adamantine magic: 2d6 + 11 + 6 ⇒ (1, 1) + 11 + 6 = 19

Heading in to join the others, Shaman Vale inched his way through the narrow area, cold iron morningstar ready in case it was needed.

Gren and Ringo scurry in behind Luke, squeezing through the narrow passage.

Double moved.

Dommer moves with the others, keeping his exotic bow at hands.

The creature does not attack Luke but keeps trying to climb over him.

Sense Motive everyone. Luke has +5 bonus. Anyone with Wild Empathy or who makes a DC 18 Knowledge the Planes or DC 20 Perception or DC 20 Knowledge (engineering) get a +5 bonus as well.

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (12) + 11 = 23
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 8 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 8 + 5 = 23

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (19) + 11 = 30
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 2 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 2 + 5 = 21

Dommer and Grenwold realize the thing is trying to grab the orbiting ioun torch around Luke's head, and seems quite excited about it. It's crystal scorpion tail is wagging happily from left to right.

Grenwold says quickly, "hold your weapons! This creature does not seem aggressive. It just wants the ioun torch - for some reason." He points at the ioun stone.

Perception vs DC 15: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14
Knowledge (planes) vs DC 18: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (3) + 11 = 14
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23

"Bah! Probably trying to eat it," Herman grumps. "Don't let it near any of our stuff."

Gren and Dommer now notice the impressions of crystal veins in the tunnels that have been entirely hollowed out in this section of the caves.

Grenwold nods at Herman, "um, or we could just find it some other food. It likes ioun stones. Maybe it would like some other crystals? Something inexpensive - at least" He points at the veins, "look, it ate that quartz - which is worthless. It seems better than getting into a fight, right?" He cheerfully puts away his weapon while he waits for assent.

The creature is making a deep rumbling sound that vibrates through you all like a tremor...

It then begin to tilt its head sideways, looking past Luke... and it immediately darts between Luke and Arthur AoOs if they want; the following occurs if Luke and Arthur do not hit the creature as it passes:

The creature reaches Ringo... or more precisely, Ringo's saddlebags! it begins to poke the bags with its pointy crystalline legs and rubbing its face against them, the creature's sharp edges threatening to pierce a few holes in the canvas... Ringo holds his ground and doesn't panic, his training for staying calm in the presence of unusual creatures kicking in. Grenwold can feel the elk's pulse quickening and the elk's eyes widening in apprehension through the empathic link he shares with it.

Gonna let the others decide before I react.

As said, Grenwold believes that the foe is too powerful if they escape and he can’t catch them, so he only tries for ten minutes. I originally said an hour, but it was revised here.

Ok thanks.

Suggest maybe 4 man watch shifts to cover the night before leaving out in the morning-- 2 PCs + 2 NPCs, spellcasters getting first or last to get their 8 uninterrupted for spells, in three shifts?

Good idea, that’s why Gren chose first one. I can also give Ringo semi-permanent dark vision and myself temporary dark vision through animal focus.

I will move my character when I can, PDK.

time / PCs / NPCs / location (use map if not within the cave entrance)
8-12 /-----/-----/-----
12-4 /-----/-----/-----
4-8 /-----/-----/-----

fill in the blanks please.

time / PCs / NPCs / location (use map if not within the cave entrance)
8-12 /Vale/-----/-----
12-4 /-----/-----/-----
4-8 /-----/-----/-----

fill in the blanks please.

time / PCs / NPCs / location (use map if not within the cave entrance)
8-12 /Vale/-----/-----
12-4 /Luke/-----/-----
4-8 /-----/-----/-----

fill in the blanks please.

time / PCs / NPCs / location (use map if not within the cave entrance)
8-12 /Vale-Grenwold/——/-----
12-4 /Luke/-----/-----
4-8 /-----/-----/-----

Looks like the bushes are too exposed and will trigger the shriekers. Might as well stay inside.

time / PCs / NPCs / location (use map if not within the cave entrance)
8-12 /Vale-Grenwold/——/-----
12-4 /Luke/Sadi/-----
4-8 /Herman/Dyna/-----

Maybe Arthur wants to join Herman on the last watch so it's not just squishy casters? XD

8-12 /Vale-Grenwold/——/-----
12-4 /Luke/Sadi/-----
4-8 /Herman/Dyna/Arthur

I can do that.

Best NPCs seem to be-- Funny (War 4), then we have 3 War 2s-- does someone want to match those names across?

8-12 /Vale-Grenwold/-----/-----
12-4 /Luke-Dommer/Sadi/-----
4-8 /Herman+Arthur/Dyna/-----

As for position: since Luke can't see in the dark, I'd position him and the NPC by the entrance, but maybe 10-15 feet inside and with light sources (like a wall torch for example).

Dommer will stay close to the entrance but right outside, climbed up a tree - the tree itself no more than 10 or 15 feet from the entrance. He will hide the best he can and just be observing the surroundings and entry tunnel.

Are all our warrior NPCs humans, or do we have like dwarves or half-orcs or someone with darkvision as well? I'd still position him next Luke but further from the light source.

Note on shriekers, which you all know by now:

"emits a piercing sound that lasts for 1d3 rounds whenever there is movement or a light source within 10 feet. This shriek makes it impossible to hear any other sound within 50 feet. The sound attracts nearby creatures that are disposed to investigate it. Some creatures that live near shriekers learn that this noise means there is food or an intruder nearby."

Let’s get a named NPC like Kinning from 8-12. She can stay in the cave with me and help spot. Afaik 8-12 will be relying upon the shriekers. During the night Grenwold can switch Ringo’s default focus to dark vision as well. Kining’s got dark vision at least?

8-12 /Vale-Grenwold/Kinning/-----
12-4 /Luke-Dommer/Sadi/-----
4-8 /Herman+Arthur/Dyna/-----

Ok guys thanks for planning your nights. I'll assume you're always guarding the entrance of the cave.

As for reality, I'll be swamped with work all week and I have some vacation coming up next week. Let's start the holidays early and reconvene in January.

Happy holidays!

Happy holidays!

Enjoy the holidays, no matter what faith you practice and stay safe!

Indeed! Happy Holidays to you all as well!

Sounds okay with me. Happy holidays.

Sounds like a plan. Happy holidays! :D

Everything alright with everyone? It's been a little while since we had any activity in this campaign.

Still here. Might be people are having a hard time logging back on after the system burp.

I'm back in as well; was out for a day and a half, but it's been rough getting games rolling again without knowing whose back.

I’m still here!

Still here! I had to fight with the Paizo site for days :(

I am here

I'm here. I'll get off my arse at some point.

Apologies if I missed something, but I thought we were chasing someone who killed a hobgoblin that ambushed (most of) the party. Is that accurate?

No worries - the posts have been few and far between from my end in the last few months so a bit of confusion is understandable. Some of it stems from the fact that Herman was not - in game - with the rest of the party during the first hobgoblin battle. There was 6 hobgoblins in that fight. After the battle, the party looted four hobgoblin corpses while Grenwold started tracking a fleeing hobgoblin. The next day you found that hobgoblin dead, with tracks leading away from him. The rest is history... or at least, concealed more or less cleverly throughout the posts of this thread... alive within the words of various forest creatures, some of which may or may not be dumb, depending on who's asking... ;)

original tracking post

one more hint from unlikely places

It all makes sense to me - except why a female hobgoblin would've killed another one.

Wounded maybe? Didn't want him to slow her down? Didn't want him falling into enemy hands?

Gents I'd like to give you all a heads up. At this time I have decided that after Book 1 is complete, I will not continue to GM the rest of this AP. Feel free to seek a replacement GM well in advance at this time. We are coming towards the end of Book 1 and assuming a daily post rate, should be done in two weeks or so.

Regards,
PDK

It's sad to hear, but take care of yourself first GM. Hugs and best wishes.

Makes sense, sorry to see you go PDK and thanks for making the effort.

I’ll try to ask some people in Dak’s crew if anyone would like to pick this up.

Good luck!

Game reported. Chronicle sheet is here. I will move this as inactive in a few days.