"All's well that ends well. Have a good night, Captain. And I'll hold you to those favors. We'll need them."
Vitalis returns to the inn with the party. "So Marquel was the Poison Pen. Interesting... I wonder if he'll keep writing if Captain Sargaeta keeps him safe or if he'll decide it's not worth the risk."
"Before we were distracted, we were going to investigate the Lucky Bones. I suppose we should refocus on that unless something else comes up."
"I agree. At least this latest misadventure of ours has garnered us a useful ally. As for the 'Poison Pen,'" she adds, making a face, "I hate being wrong."
"I agree. At least this latest misadventure of ours has garnered us a useful ally. As for the 'Poison Pen,'" she adds, making a face, "I hate being wrong."
*
*
*
What remains of the Lucky Bones, at least on the surface, is very…pathetic. The ruins themselves have been picked over—very little remains but rubble, a tangle of timbers, and three partially collapsed brick fireplaces. On first glance there doesn’t seem to have been anyone here for years—though to those looking hard enough, they do find several tracks that indicate the area has recently been trodden—most likely by the changeling cultists that the PCs managed to figure out.
Thanks to Octavio’s intel, the PCs know that there is a trapdoor in the southernmost and largest fireplace. Sure enough, Octavio is correct—the trapdoor is indeed there, and is opened on well-oiled hinges to reveal a staircase descending downward.
Below the trap door, a flight of stairs descends into a partially collapsed basement. The air is thick with the cloying reek of garbage and decay, and clouds of fat flies buzz about, making it doubly unpleasant to breathe within the dank chamber. A wooden door, reinforced with rusting iron strips, sits in the eastern wall.
Edrakk
Jisara
Vitalis
Vitalis gets the sense that there’s certainly something in here—call it a gut feeling, but loose garbage doesn’t usually smell this bad (though to be fair, most of the time he’s had people to deal with the refuse for him).
Round 1
==============
Vitalis {sickened 1}
???
Chance {sickened 1 & slowed 1}
Jisara {sickened 1}
Edrakk {sickened 1}
==============
Erring on the side of caution, Vitalis opts not to rush into the room. He picks up a loose piece of debris and throws it hard against the far wall trying to make a loud noise and draw out any monster that might be lurking in the muck.
Vitalis chucks a rock that impacts with the far wall.
Suddenly, three mounds of filth rise up and start noisily screeching! The mounds of filth run straight at Vitalis, and the filth covering them slumps off to reveal a trio of strange (yet oddly cute) creatures—three-legged beasts with three tentacles protruding from its body, one of which has an eye on it. As the creatures approach, the horrid stench in the room becomes stronger as it’s clear that these are its source.
The first one to approach lashes out at the paladin with its tentacles.
The creature then wraps its tentacle around Vitalis.
The remaining two creatures then advance forward and bite and slam at the grabbed paladin!
At the last second, Vitalis sees the creature’s garbage-coated teeth that quickly sink into his side.
Success
Round 1 —> 2
==============
Vitalis (-17) {sickened 1; grabbed}
Red
Green
Blue
Chance {sickened 1 & slowed 1}
Jisara {sickened 1}
Edrakk {sickened 1}
==============
Jisara gags at the overpowering stench of the horrible creatures, but manages to keep her breakfast down, and cast a healing spell on Vitalis to boot. No easy feat.
"HURK!"
Chance's ruddy complexion is tinged with green as he doubles over, leans against the wall, and tries to lose his breakfast.
The gnome wipes his mouth and looks woozily at their attackers. Who or what are they?!?
Vitalis retches and while the stench remains, his stomach somewhat settles. Then he slashes at the creature grabbing him, hoping to either kill it or get it to release him.
Edrakk recoils from the creatures as they approach. Well, I've finally found something that smells worse than a laboratory waste bin or rotting fish, so that's something.
Wanting to get a bit of breathing room from the foul-smelling creatures, he ducks around the one in front of him to the other side of the room.
Thinking about it, this probably works better strategically, too. Maybe I could draw one away, give us a bit of space?
He draws a set of kitchen knives, all connected like a fan, and mocks a few slices through the air. "Hey, over here, you--" His sentence is cut off by his morning coffee rising to his throat again.
Jisara retches and casts a spell on Vitalis.
Chance retches and tries to figure something out about these creatures.
Vitalis retches and slices twice at the creature that has him grabbed, but it continues to remain standing.
Edrakk retches, draws his weapon, and leapfrogs over Blue.
Green maintains its grab on Vitalis, then its tentacles tighten around the paladin!
Success
Green then proceeds to bite at the grabbed paladin.
Blue bites and slams at Vitalis.
Blue then likewise wraps its tentacles around Vitalis.
Red sees Edrakk and Steps over and swings its tentacle at the tengu.
Vitalis swiftly interjects the attack to protect Edrakk. But the creature nevertheless wraps its tentacles around Edrakk.
Round 2 —> 3
==============
Vitalis (-11) {Fast Healing 6: Round 1 of 4; grabbed}
Red
Green (-31)
Blue
Chance
Jisara
Edrakk (-3) {grabbed}
==============
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Jisara ventures forward just enough to get a clearer look at just what the hell has Vitalis so wrapped up, and nearly stumbles backwards into Chance at the sight. She begins weaving together a new spell, one to take advantage of the two monsters' close proximity to one another.
"They're otyughs - sewer-dwelling garbage eaters! Be glad these are just the kids! But even so, watch out for those tentacles, they can constrict you if they grab you!" Chance looks up at Vitalis and Edrakk, each writhing in the grip of an aberration. "Oh, right."
Voice raw from retching, Chance begins to sing.
"We did not come down here to suffer
We did not come down here to gag
We came to clear out all the monsters
And put all of their loot in a bag!
Now now now
Let my people GO GO GO!
You gotta let my people GO!
C'mon guys, let's GO GO GO!"
◆: Cast a spell, liberating command, targeting Edrakk
◆: Cast a spell, liberating command, targeting Vitalis
◆: Cast a spell,inspire courage
Chance really inspires Vitalis and he channels his inner woodsman to chop and chop. He slashes left and he slashes right and he chops down the middle, cutting the otyughs into gory stinky bits.
Edrakk scrambles out of the Otyugh's grasp. After taking a second to catch his breath, he takes a step forward and slashes at the Otyugh who attacked him with his fan blade. "So, you live in sewage, let's hope that hasn't heightened your immune system too much." He draws a rectangular vial of sickly green liquid.
Vitalis slashes his glaive into Red and moves it over.
Jisara moves forward and launches electricity.
Vitalis swings his glaive at Green and slices it in half. He then turns his attention to Blue, and after two hits likewise slices it in twain.
Edrakk steps forward and attacks the remaining otyugh and misses.
The remaining otyugh looks over at the bodies of its fallen allies and its singular eye begins tearing up. It starts bawling and runs over to the nearest pile of refuse and cowers within it.
Vitalis casts lay on hands on Edrakk.
Vitalis, Chance, and Jisara all spend 10 minutes Refocusing.
In a niche in the corner of the room are several items that the otyughs seem to have horded because they’re sparkly: a silver comb (worth 10 gp), an iron chalice inlaid with pearls (worth 35 gp), a set of infiltrator thieves’ tools , and an item that Edrakk is unable to identify while the others are Refocusing, so he hands it to Jisara, who identifies it as an iron cube.
Vitalis goes to open the door in this room, he notices that it’s locked. With his newly-acquired set of tools, Edrakk goes to work trying to open the lock, only to suddenly find himself on the receiving end of a spring-loaded spine that extends out from the lock!
Edrakk looks down at the wound on his hand and realizes that it’s done something to him that he’s done to himself accidentally before: he’s been poisoned.
plus clumsy 1
He shouldn’t be surprised—Blackfingers is an aspect of the god Norgorber that specializes in poisons and other alchemical ailments, and the Lucky Bones WAS a gathering place of Norgorberites. He thinks fast as he uses Quick Alchemy to make a lesser antidote and drinks it. He then attempts to Treat Poison on himself.
Crit fail.
That, unfortunately, does not go over so well.
plus clumsy 2
The venom of a giant wasp, it seems like. Edrakk can feel the slight paralytic effects of the venom. Luckily he’s built up a resistance to the effects of such venoms.
plus clumsy 1
He’s gotten much of the poison out of his system, thankfully.
plus clumsy 2
The effects shouldn’t last too long; venom such as this is only active in a person’s system for about a minute.
plus clumsy 1
Just a little bit longer.
Finally. The poison’s out of his system.
The door opens to reveal a set of stairs descending downward.
Twin rows of stone pillars support a shallow vaulted ceiling ten feet above the floor of this wide room. A number of wooden doors hang half open on rusty hinges to the north and south, and fragments of tables and chairs lie in various states of ruin throughout the room. To the west, a stone stage stands empty, while empty torch sconces line the walls between the doors. Images of a one-eyed insectile face, smeared on the walls in what appears to be blood, decorate the spaces between sconces.
Before they have a chance to fully process what they’re seeing, the PCs see a group of human women with clawed hands and mismatched eyes—changelings. The changelings see the group that they do not recognize and shout in anger!
Green Steps down and pulls out a small package that she then chucks at Vitalis! As it flies through the air, the package opens to reveal a net!
Yellow does the same, moving over and throwing a net at Vitalis.
Orange moves over, and, once again, throws a net at Vitalis.
Blue takes a different approach as she moves over and pulls out a cord with several weights on it—a bola.
Red likewise moves out and pulls out a bola, she then throws the bola right at Vitalis!
Round 1
==============
Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Purple
Edrakk
Jisara
Chance/Vitalis
==============
Jisara cackles malevolently when every single attempt to tangle up Vitalis meets with utter failure.
"Is that the best you can do?" she taunts, reaching out a hand. "Let me try."
Once Edrakk is done coughing up the poison, he shakily stands up and thinks for a minute. "It's a good start, I liked how to the point it was, clearly very professional. Unfortunately, it felt like a lot of show, and there wasn't much substance. I'd give it a solid 7 out of 10."
-----------------------------------
Ok, this shouldn't be too bad. They're all fairly close together, and I don't see any reason why a blight bomb wouldn't--
Wait, uhh... are they really attacking us?
I mean, they threw the bolas and stuff, sure, but that's not really that violent? I'd feel weird about responding with that much more force than they did.
Ok, hold on...
Edrakk reaches into his bag and pulls out a vial of yellow powder, steps into the room, and tosses it towards two of the changelings. The vial hits the ground and breaks, causing a cloud of yellow gas to surround them.
Vitalis feels a little conflicted when the remaining otyugh runs off in tears but he isn't about to go comfort the tentacle monster either. Also, he thinks to himself, "If these were children, is there a mother somewhere...?"
Images of a one-eyed insectile face, smeared on the walls in what appears to be blood
When the changelings attack, Vitalis looks at the tangle of nets at his feet and gives them a quizzical look. "Listen, I'm going to offer you the chance to surrender but I doubt that you will accept it. But feel free to let me know if you change your mind."
Vitalis steps into the room and chooses one changeling to be an example.
"Hang on a moment!" As the Silver Ravens make their way deeper underground, Chance begins to stop occasionally - particularly at intersections and doorways - and casts sigil to create a mark on the wall (invisible to anyone else) in the shape of a stylized raven. "There! Better than breadcrumbs, anyway."
"Hey, what's going on?" Chance squeezes past Jisara on the stairs, then stops. "Whoa, what're they doing? We aren't going to stand still for that, are we?"
"Flugantaj rokoj por ĵokeoj!" A broken table leg floats up from the floor and flies at the green changeling.
Images of a one-eyed insectile face, smeared on the walls in what appears to be blood
Jisara scares one of the changelings and arcs electricity between two of them.
Vitalis moves into the room, but as he does so an unseen changeling throws a bola right at him!
Vitalis then swings once at Orange and easily knocks her to the ground , then swings again at Blue.
Chance moves down the stairs then throws a table leg that sends Green flying!
Edrakk moves in and releases a vial of inhaled poison.
Like her sisters, Purple takes out a net and tries to throw it onto Vitalis.
Purple then takes out a bola.
Blue just stands around staring at Edrakk’s broken vial.
Red is clearly distracted by the cloud, but she nevertheless takes out a bola and throws it at the cloud’s originator: Edrakk.
Yellow also takes out another bola and throws it at Edrakk.
She likewise retreats.
Round 2
==============
Red {Yellow Musk Poison: Stage 2}
Yellow
Blue (-13) {Yellow Musk Poison: Stage 2}
Purple
Jisara
Vitalis
Chance
Edrakk
==============
For the record, the fascinated condition isn’t as debilitating as it was in 1e; it mostly just prevents taking concentrate actions and provides a penalty to skills and Perception. That said, It does still have its uses.
Vitalis is startled by the attack from the woman hiding the the bedroom but since he is unharmed, he shrugs it off and maintains his focus on the others. He moves further into the room after the retreating changelings and attacks the wounded one again. "It's not too late to change your mind. Prison may be more favorable than death but if you choose death, Shelyn will provide it to you swifty."
"Don't quite know what we are searching for
Teenage otyughs running wild, a million stinky sewers and
Every time we thought we'd found the end
We found the air was not so sweet
Then we looked and found a stairway
Though we didn't have a hint
Of what we would find down at the bottom
We're much too fast to wait and check
"Ch- ch- ch- changelings!
Stand and face them down
Ch- ch- ch- changelings!
Don't want to be captured by them!
Ch- ch- ch- changelings!
Stand and face them down
Ch- ch- ch- changelings!
We're gonna have to fight until the end
Nets might catch us
But we won't back down."
The red-garbed changeling being just out of reach of his telekinesis, Chance sends a blast of mental energy at her instead.
Jisara steps forward for a better view of the melee, and her eyes settle on one of the fallen bolas. She considers it for a moment, before sending it hurtling at one of the confused cultists .
[dice=Yellow bola vs Edrakk 1d20+7
Edrakk steps forward a bit and draws one of his vials of reddish gas. "I'm guessing a peaceful solution is out of the picture at this point." He then hurls it into the room to the side, aiming for the changeling. The vial explodes, causing the gas inside to condense into pointy crystals.
Vitalis strikes down Blue and then slashes at Yellow.
Chance mentally blasts Red.
Which knocks Red out.
Jisara moves forward and launches a bola at Purple, likewise knocking her out.
Edrakk throws a crystal shard bomb at the remaining cultist and knocks her out.
The PCs figure out that the strange symbols are stylized renditions of the holy symbol of Mahathallah, the Queen of the Night of death, vanity, and fate. The Dowager of Illusions is a nihilistic deity that teaches to seek the truths that underlie every falsehood.
The changeling is brought back to consciousness and does nothing but spit vile curses and constantly attempt to escape.
Through blatant threats, Vitalis manages to get the cultist to speak. ”Mahathallah’s chosen will spill the blood of those twins on the altar, and the Queen of the Night herself will descend upon you!”
Suddenly, a pair of terrified cries echo throughout the corridors:
”HELP!!!”
The changeling looks up at Vitalis and gives the widest sh*t-eating grin. ”Better hurry.”
Vitalis, bound by his tenets to not let innocents come to harm to inaction, knocks out the cultist with the butt of his glaive and runs toward the source of the screaming. He eventually comes to a hallway where to the right it continues toward a pit However, the source of the screaming comes from the open door to his left.
Floor-to-ceiling shelving lines the walls of this storage space, although little beyond cobwebs and dust-covered fragments remain on the shelves. A large nest of filthy rags, soiled clothing, and moldy pillows lies in a heap to the west.
In this room are a pair of humans—male identical twins who look no younger than 16 years old—who have been manacled to the leg of one of the shelves that has been bolted to the floor. As the PCs enter, their faces light up. ”Oh thank the gods!” The move up into an awkward squat due to their wrists being shackled near the ground. ”Please, get us out of these!”
Edrakk moves forward with his newly-acquired thieves’ tools and tries to release them.
Chance and Vitalis are well aware that they are probably not the only ones who heard the twins’ cries, and are at the ready for anything and everything that might come at them.
Round 1
==============
Chance
Vitalis
???
Jisara
Edrakk
==============
Vitalis keeps an eye out for danger. At the same time, he doesn't fully trust these humans who were found. He watches their mannerisms to see if they are truly who they appear to me.
Chance draws his +1 silver dagger and looks around suspiciously while Edrakk gets to work on the lock.
"My screaming boys bring all the monsters to the yard..." he mutters. "You'd better work fast, Edrakk!"
The twins look at one another and quickly use their free hands to push down on a hidden latch on the manacles.
Then, suddenly, the twins’ forms melt away, their skin writhing and twisting into a claylike substance as they grow claws and their face melts away!
Red then claws at the agape Edrakk!
The faceless creature then digs its nails into the tengu.
Blue then Steps over to get away from Vitalis, and likewise swings a claw at the grabbed Edrakk.
Round 1 —> 2
==============
Chance
Vitalis
Red
Blue (-33)
Jisara
Edrakk (-35) {grabbed}
==============
Vitalis steps closer and attacks the wounded enemy (blue).
"I knew something felt fishy here. I'm sorry for not speaking up, Edrakk."
Jisara blinks in surprise as the twins melt into vaguely humanoid blob monsters, but taps into her patron's well of knowledge with a snap of her fingers. With her other hand, she sends a bolt of electricity that leaps from one to the other.
"No... worries... Vitalis..." Edrakk says through gasps, as he tries to wriggle his way out of the clay thing's grasp.
He then moves back behind Vitalis and draws one of his prepared elixirs.
Vitalis moves forward and slices twice at Blue.
Jisara uses her magic to arc between the two creatures.
The electrical discharge causes Blue to completely explode, while Red takes a lot of damage from it.
Edrakk tries to escape, and fails, so he does so again.
He escapes the creature’s grasp and moves away from it.
Chance sees Edrakk move over and so uses the activation on his healer’s gloves on the tengu.
The gnome then casts inspire courage and Steps over to allow Vitalis to get the music’s benefits.
More than a little disoriented, Red moves over and sweeps Vitalis’s legs!
The creature then brings a claw down on the paladin!
Round 2 —> 3
==============
Chance
Vitalis {prone}
Red (-16)
Jisara
Edrakk (-20)
==============
Chance continues his inspiring song, then flicks a finger to cause one of the false manacles to launch itself at the remaining shapeshifter.
"Flugantaj rokoj por ĵokeoj!"
"Hey! Leave the bird alone, you ugly sack of s$%@!" Jisara roars, flinging the other shackle at the remaining doppelganger.
Vitalis stands up and hits the creature again. "Really? Do you know how hard it is to stand back up in plate armor? Such a pain."
An examination of the nest reveals that much of the clothing is in relatively good shape, barring its filthy condition. Among them is a fully-functional (if grime-encrusted) clandestine cloak.
A ten-foot-wide pit yawns in the center of this room, leaving a five-foot-wide walkway surrounding it. No railing guards the edges of the pit, which are decorated with shards of jagged glass and metal.
As Vitalis walks adjacent to the pit , he hears a faint click, and suddenly the floor beneath him slants downward on a hinge toward the pit! He feels his feet give way as he starts to fall toward the pit!
“A creature may choose to take the Release free action immediately before applying the result of their roll with this reaction if both hands are occupied. (Thus, the order is Grab an Edge, roll Reflex save for Grab an Edge, learn the degree of success, choose whether or not to Release, and apply the results of the degree of success.)”
This shouldn’t be a huge issue here, since Vitalis’s hands aren’t each holding a different item, but I find it absolutely stupid that a falling person wouldn’t instinctually let go of something to try and grab an edge. I do still like that the critical success condition, but not that in most average adventuring conditions Grabbing an Edge almost always requires a critical success.
As Vitalis falls toward the pit, one hand lets go of his glaive and grabs at the southern edge of the pit, the hinged floors returning to their original, hidden position.
Vitalis pulls himself up, and the other PCs avoid the hinged floor by jumping over it.
An antique wooden desk sits in the southwestern corner of this room, attended by a high-backed chair with tufts of stuffing protruding here and there from its rotting cushions. Partially broken shelves sit against the north and east walls, and strange symbols of a one-eyed insectile face—the symbol of Mahathallah—have been painted on the walls along with curving lines of strange, sinister script written in Infernal, conveying prayers to the Queen of the Night.
In the corner of the room, standing behind the desk, is a tall, horned fiend with a long glaive, red skin, and a “beard” of wriggling tendrils.
The fiend looks up at the PCs as they enter the room, and raises a single eyebrow. ”Huh.” He then shrugs. ”Hey. Question for you: Does a soul reach maturity?“
”Someone’s—? Hello! Please help us!”
Muffled cries come from the closed doorway on the other side of the room, but the fiend doesn’t seem to notice it—or if he does, he makes no acknowledgement of it.
Surprised by the question as much as the fiend asking it, Chance begins to answer seriously, reverting to his past days as a young academician. “Well, I’d think that a soul born into a new life should mature as the person themself does, to the extent that the verb ‘to mature’ is often used interchangeably with the verb ‘to age.’ If you intend the more nuanced meaning of the word, and are asking whether a soul evolves, changes over time through the experiences of the individual, I would have to ... oh, bother! Why are you asking? Bearded devils are supposed to be the footsoldiers of Hell, not philosophers; masters of combat, weapons, and stubbornly bleeding wounds, not metaphysicians! Why are you here? Who’s that yelling in the other room?”
Vitalis gives the devil a moment to respond to Chance. But afterwards, he has little interest in debate with an evil outsider so he moves in to attack. "You can find out what happens to souls yourself when I send you back to Hell."
”You see, I just said—“ The devil stops as Vitalis yells righteous indignation at the fiend. He simply rolls his eyes and says ”Paladins.”
Round 1
==============
Vitalis
Edrakk
Jisara
Devil (-28)
Chance
==============
Jisara follows quickly in Vitalis's wake, a point of freezing energy collecting in her outstretched hand as she steps through the doorway. Another moment later, she fires it over the paladin's shoulder and at the devil.
Edrakk follows into the room as well, keeping to the walls to stay away from the fiend. He reaches into his bag and pulls out another vial of reddish gas, and tosses it at the fiend.
Vitalis moves forward and slices twice into the devil.
Jisara advances and launches a cold ray that hits the devil.
Edrakk moves forward and throws a bomb at the devil, missing him and causing the area to fill with glass shards. Unfortunately, all of the shards bounce off of the devil’s hide.
The fiend glances at the gash on his chest from Vitalis’s glaive. ”Silver. Someone came prepared.” With his own glaive, the bearded devil swipes at Vitalis!
plus 1d6 persistent bleed (doubled to 2d6 from crit)
The devil chops directly into Vitalis’s side and pulls sharply, bringing the paladin closer to the fiend, and straight into the caltrops!
Vitalis suddenly finds himself face-to-face with the bearded devil, who gives a toothy smile. ”Hello, sweetheart. What was that you were saying before?” The fiend’s beard then elongates and its individual tendrils lash out to jab at the paladin!
But Vitalis manages to swat the devil’s beard away. The devil then looks over at the group of backliners and smiles. He immediately disengages with Vitalis and moves right next to Jisara.
Round 1 —> 2
==============
Vitalis (-50) {2d6 persistent infernal bleed}
Edrakk
Jisara
Devil (-38)
Chance
==============
"You've got something on your face, cousin," Jisara taunts, stepping back through the door she'd just entered. She presses herself as flat as she can against the wall on the far side, only exposing enough to send a bit of healing magic Vitalis's way.
Jisara steps over and takes cover, casting a spell in an attempt to heal Vitalis. Unfortunately, the devil sees what she is doing and immediately swings his glaive at the hiding witch!
plus 1d6 persistent bleed
As her hex reaches Vitalis, it fails to take hold, the diabolic wound continuing to bleed profusely. And to add insult to injury, she herself is suffering from such a wound!
”Gonna need something more powerful than that. Infernal wounds are notoriously difficult to staunch!”
Round 1 —> 2
==============
Vitalis (-50) {2d6 persistent infernal bleed}
Edrakk
Jisara (-16) {1d6 persistent infernal bleed}
Devil (-38)
Chance
==============
Oh, that's not good! Can't see, I'm gonna have go in there, it's dangerous ... just roll the dice already!
Barely realizing that the witch has been hit, Chance darts past Jisara and under the devil's glaive, hoping that the fiend won't be able to react that quickly again right away. He skids to halt in front of the door in the southeast corner and sings his healing song to Vitalis.
A few drops of Jisara's blood splash onto the devil's own wounds, and Jisara offers him a pained smile.
"All according to plan," she tells him. "Now bleed."
Success The target takes half the persistent bleed damage.
Failure The target takes the full persistent bleed damage. Until the bleeding stops, the target has weakness 1 to piercing and slashing damage.
Critical Failure As failure, but the target takes double the persistent bleed damage.