Vitalis speaks telepathically. "It seems like Chance's analysis that this is a graveknight is correct. And it's element appears to be sonic."
Vitalis follows after the Warden and continues to attack. "Over here, worms-for-brains. I challenged you."
Edrakk sneaks away, drawing and downing an elixir, hoping to maintain some cloaking after the invisibility drops.
So much for that plan. She knows I'm here, might as well drop the invisibility so I can attack.
Damnation!
Chance’s world goes silent except for the painful ringing his ears. The bard hurries forward to stab at the graveknight before moving quickly out of its reach.
Jisara casts shield then casts dispel magic in an attempt to get rid of the First Warden’s heroism.
Jisara’s spell shatters the First Warden’s own spell.
Thatch moves to be right behind Vitalis.
Edrakk drinks his elixir and Sneaks.
Chance closes the gap and attacks the First Warden. As he gets close to her, however, the ringing in his ears gets replaced by the strange whispers that surrounded the First Warden, as Chance “hears” them even while deafened. He then makes a strategic disengagement. And while he can’t get a proper wound with Reprisal itself , the sword fully starts to unravel the First Warden’s spirit!
Vitalis re-engages the First Warden and attacks her!
Once again, the area of the First Warden’s noise blast explodes in sound.
The First Warden clicks her tongue as she Strides forward. When she does, Chance, Edrakk, and Vitalis are once more overwhelmed by the constant whispers that seem to cloud their minds.
”In the name of Lord Asmodeus, I command you to flee!”
As the First Warden casts, Chance uses the opportunity to try to drown out her words with his music! But the strange whispers cloud his mind, making it difficult to concentrate on casting his spell.
Success --> Critical Success (counter performance)
Round 3 —> 4
==============
Edrakk (-21)
Chance (-5)
Vitalis
The First Warden (-58 from “2+1” attacks [before resistances])
Jisara
==============
Vitalis takes a step and attacks the First Warden again.
Chance picks up his inspiring ditty again.
“Graveknight or a lich, man,
Biddy biddy biddy bum!
All day long we’ll beat you like drum,
In the end you’re still damned!”
Glancing at Reprisal, he breaks into a grin. “Hey, I just remembered something else this sword can do! See how you like the Lucky Drunk’s Light!”
Bright light erupts from Reprisal, filling the room.
MAJOR GIFT EVOCATION GOOD
Aspect celestial
Activate command, Interact; Effect Your relic shines with holy light. This creates bright light in a 30-foot emanation around the item. Evil creatures in the area are frightened 1, and can't lower their frightened value below 1 as long as they remain in the light. Fiends in the area increase any weakness to good damage they have by 5. You can Sustain this Activation for up to 1 minute.
Edrakk, breaking the invisibility, throws a vial of deep blue at the creature, before drawing and using a set of dye.
Jisara flings a beam of sickly green energy from her hand, bouncing it off of her familiar and into the Warden's back!
Jisara channels her magic through Thatch to weaken the First Warden!
Jisara successfully saps the undead’s strength!
Edrakk throws a bomb at the First Warden, but misses. And the cold does not seem to do anything to the undead.
Chance begins to sing, but his mind is once more filled with distracting whispers.
Vitalis attacks the First Warden twice!
When the First Warden is damaged, however, she shouts ”Feel the wrath of Hell!”
Success --> Crit Success (Divine Will)
The First Warden Casts a Spell, which causes the runes on her mace to glow more intensely! She then makes a Zealous Rush toward Chance and swings at the gnome!
Round 4 —> 5
==============
Edrakk (-21)
Chance (-23)
Vitalis
The First Warden (-93 from “2+2” attacks [before resistances]) {enfeebled 2; frightened 1}
Jisara
==============
the fire damage did nothing
The enemy seems to have stopped using area spells, so Vitalis takes the chance of moving back between his allies. He attacks the Warden twice but not particularly well.
“Biddy biddy biddy bum…”
Chance continues his courageous anthem and Reprisal’s Sacred Glow, then lunges to stab at the First Warden.
With the warden standing in range of both, Thatch and Jisara simultaneously attack the monster with their magic.
Edrakk sighs. I don't think I have much, honestly. Still, he tries to sneak around to get a clear shot while making a small vial of acid and hurling it at the warden.
Jisara and Thatch both attack the First Warden!
Edrakk sneaks and throws a bomb.
Chance sings and maintains the effect of Reprisal, but the strange whispers surround the First Warden makes it difficult to concentrate.
The First Warden stares directly into Chances eyes and utters two simple words:
”Go home.”
The First Warden then casts shield and uses Zealous Rush to move right next to Jisara, causing the whispers to overwhelm her mind!
Round 5 —> 6
==============
Edrakk (-21)
Chance (-23)
Vitalis
The First Warden (-110 from “3+3” attacks [before resistances]) {enfeebled 2: Round 2 of 10}
Jisara
==============
Vitalis moves up to flank the Warden and continues his attack.
Jisara retreats from the Warden to stand behind Vitalis, throwing a bit of mental trickery of her own at them as she moves.
Edrakk, a bit at a loss for how to attack the warden, glances southward and realizes that the door is unguarded. Slowly he makes his way, trying to keep out of sight, before starting to try to open it.
“Right! OK, guys, time to get going! We just need to avoid being noticed. We’ll be back for you later, FW!”
Chance walks decisively to the door, peers cautiously around it, and tip-toes through .
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Jisara attempts to send the First Warden into a laughing fit.
Edrakk sneaks over and uses the skeleton key in his hand to open the cell door—it seems that the locks haven’t been changed in the intervening decades.
Chance, under the First Warden’s magic, attempts to “go home.”
Vitalis advances on the First Warden and attacks her.
When Edrakk opens the door, he finds a simple, concrete room with no windows whatsoever. What he is a bit surprised by is that he also hears singing—not the best singing, but certainly not bad either.
♫ ”…When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes…” ♫
The singer is an elf woman who sits on the ground, leaning against the far wall. She has strawberry-blonde hair and deep purple orbs for eyes. She looks haggard and malnourished, practically clinging onto what little life she has left. This is one of the founders of the original Silver Ravens: Jackdaw.
When the door opens, Jackdaw ceases her singing and looks up in confusion at the door seeming to be opened by an unseen being.
She then notices the First Warden, and Edrakk can see the gears in her head—what few remain after several decades of solitary confinement—begin to turn.
With a burst of energy that she must not have used in decades, she quickly leaps up from her place on the ground and rushes straight at Edrakk!!
Edrakk is caught so off-guard by how quickly this woman moves that he is barely cognizant of when she leapfrogs over him and kicks off his back for a bit of extra distance—the tengu would have collapsed to the ground if he didn’t have the doorframe to grab onto to maintain his balance.
Jackdaw smiles as she finds herself in a state of euphoria she has not felt in decades. With one more quick burst of movement, she does numerous backflips to get into position to flank the First Warden, then delivers an absolutely devastating uppercut into the Warden’s chin!
The First Warden is more than a little caught off-guard by the sudden appearance of Jackdaw. She takes a brief second to assess the situation before determining the best course of action: subdue her ward. The Warden’s hand that wields her mace becomes infused with void energy that mends her wounds as she attacks Jackdaw!
But Vitalis takes this opportunity to attack the First Warden in an effort to protect Jackdaw!
plus 4 persistent spirit damage
With this opportunity, Jackdaw moves to make another punch at the First Warden!
The First Warden growls and sends another attack at Jackdaw!
Round 6 —> 7
==============
Edrakk (-21)
Chance (-23)
Vitalis
Jackdaw (-46) {drained 2; stupefied 2}
The First Warden (-122 from “3+5” attacks [before resistances]) {enfeebled 2: Round 3 of 10; no reactions}
Jisara
==============
Edrakk, after getting just a glimpse of Jackdaw as she bolts out to fight the warden, recovers and runs after her, before trying to help her recover.
What was that? What did she say?
Chance looks back just in time to see the emaciated elf leap into the fray. He starts to step forward anyway, then stops, shakes his head, and turns back towards the First Warden’s dungeon. He is running before he realizes what he is doing.
“What were you singing, Madam? Was it something like this?”
The gnome begins to sing the snippet of verse he caught from Jackdaw, investing it with his inspiring occult magic.
“When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums…”
He skids to a halt next to the First Warden and lunges at her with Reprisal.
Vitalis is shocked at Jackdaw's acrobatic appearance. He knew Jackdaw was likely imprisoned here but did not expect her to be in such shape as to tumble and punch the Warden in the jaw.
After Vitalis lifts his jaw off the floor, he praises Edrakk. "Well done!"
He is also glad to see the Chance did not wander too far. "Welcome back. Let's finish the job."
"Warden, you've existed for decades only to guard this cell and now you've failed. It is time for you to cease to be."
Jisara, just as surprised by Jackdaw's sudden appearance as anyone else, struggles to maintain her concentration on her original spell, even as she hurls a jolt of electricity at the Warden.
Jisara sustains her spell and sends lightning at the First Warden.
Edrakk moves forward and uses his therapeutic skill to treat Jackdaw’s slipping mind!
I made Jackdaw stupefied 2 as a representation of her slipping sanity as a result of being confined to a windowless, concrete room for decades. Now, I’m aware that this is a world of magic and otherworldly feats, but to be able to “fix” such deeply ingrained psychological damage with a simple “I got a nat 20!” feels…disrespectful and shortsighted, to say the least. In fact, I was pretty much gonna say that to TRY to remove that stupefied condition it would’ve been at least DC 40 (as such an act is basically in the realm of a legendary psychologist). But again, that still feels disrespectful.
So, I’m gonna say that Edrakk’s Holistic Care still works, and does knock Jackdaw out of her major slippage into insanity (so now she can think clearly and properly determine friend from foe), but it does NOT fix the other underlying psychological issues that she developed as a result of her confinement, because that’s something that would take years of therapy and so forth.
I’m just saying this because a lot of what Pathfinder does right is being cognizant and sensitive to how things work in the real world—whether it be cultural respect, LGBTQ+ openness, or even changelings behavior in Pathfinder being autism-coded. The complexity of mental health is not something that I feel comfortable simply handwaving just because of a nat 20. I do want to reward players when they roll well, but I don’t want to disrespect deeply complex issues because of it.
Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk. Now back to our regulary-scheduled programing.
Chance is knocked out of his stupor as he rushes back inside and begins singing Jackdaw’s song! But once more, the strange whispers surrounding the First Warden makes it difficult to concentrate.
He then attacks the First Warden and misses.
Vitalis unleashes a flurry of attacks at the First Warden!
Jackdaw’s eyes suddenly become clearer as Edrakk assists her. She looks at the situation with new eyes, no longer seeing these four other people as agents of Thrune through the eyes of paranoia. The wits she had lost all those years ago comes back to her, and she sees Chance singing a familiar song—a song that she never forgot, as it was a reminder of her long-gone friends and comrades. She smiles warmly—something she hasn’t done in…decades? Centuries? She is unsure, as time started to lose all meaning when she could not observe the movement of the sun. But nevertheless, she knows one thing: these people—even this Hellknight—are friends.
She turns to her undying guard and sings in a way to try to get into the creature’s head just like how it got into hers over the years.
♫ “Do you hear the people sing?
Singing the song of angry men?
It is the music of the people
Who will not be slaves again!” ♫
As she distracts the First Warden, she once more acrobatically weaves around this monster—an embarrassment that she hopes to inflict on this agent of the devil of pride!
Jackdaw then whirls around, throwing a punch at the First Warden!
Jackdaw then spins around, making a roundhouse kick to impact with the First Warden’s head!
But the First Warden ducks out of the way of the attack.
The First Warden is surrounded and frustrated. Her ward has escaped, and these petulant children think they can simply get away with this?! She has a duty, and by the will of Asmodeus she will do it!
The First Warden once more raises her right arm as this time, the wand that has replaced her radius bone begins to glow. ”Know your place before a servant of the Prince of Darkness!”
Failure
Critical Failure
Failure
Failure
Critical Failure
The First Warden realizes her brief mistake as Jackdaw seems about ready to bolt. The undead takes the opportunity to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Vitalis once more moves to protect Jackdaw from the First Warden!
plus 4 persistent spirit
Chance and Jackdaw then take the opportunity to likewise attack the First Warden!
Round 7 —> 8
==============
Edrakk (-21) {frightened 2}
Chance (-23)
Vitalis {frightened 2}
Jackdaw (-51) {drained 2; frightened 3; Fleeing: Round 0 of 1}
The First Warden (-220 from “4+9” attacks [before resistances]) {enfeebled 2: Round 4 of 10}
Jisara {frightened 3; Fleeing: Round 0 of 1}
Thatch {frightened 2}
==============
“Hey, Jisara, wait! You don’t have to go home!” Chance watches the tiefling run off.
“Is that the next verse? I love it!” He repeats the verse, matching back as well as he can, but distracted by the creepy whispers, he sings it off-key.
♫ ”Do you hear the people sing?
Singing the song of angry men?
It is the music of the people
Who will not be slaves again!” ♫
◆: Cast a spell, courageous anthem
He lunges forward at the First Warden, stabbing twice while she is distracted by Jackdaw.
◆: Strike
◆: Strike
Would the mistform elixir apply here?
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Fear seeps into Vitalis' mind and he begins to doubt the party's ability to defeat this creature. If it weren't for his allies still fighting, perhaps he would have fled, but his resolution to protect his allies is stronger than his fear and he stands his ground. "Why won't you die?!"
Vitalis swings his weapon wildly.
Edrakk continues to try to calm Jackdaw down, before shifting his position in the corner to keep out of view.
Jisara, mental defenses overwhelmed by one of her own favorite tricks, flees to the corner of the room in the southeast.
Jisara turns tail and runs.
Edrakk tries (and fails) to treat Jackdaw’s fear.
Chance continues trying to sing and trying to hit the First Warden (and failing at both).
Vitalis attacks the First Warden.
Jackdaw is filled with fear and runs to join Jisara in the oubliette.
The First Warden stretches her neck and turns her attention toward the current threat: the Hellknight. Her hands once more fill with void energy as she moves to attack!
Round 8 —> 9
==============
Edrakk (-21) {frightened 1}
Chance (-23)
Vitalis (-43) {frightened 1}
Jackdaw (-51) {drained 2; frightened 2}
The First Warden (-207 from “4+10” attacks [before resistances]) {enfeebled 2: Round 5 of 10}
Jisara {frightened 2}
Thatch {frightened 1}
==============
Vitalis looks glumly as his allies flee. He privately wishes he had more options than to keep swinging at this hard-to-hit foe. He moves to flank with Chance to slightly increase his chances.
◆Stride
◆Strike
◆Strike
Jisara whirls around, fury in her eyes, and whips a spell through the connection between her and Thatch. The cat glows for just a moment before the magic surges out and into Vitalis, granting him celerity.
Jisara does go before Vitalis, so you do have an extra action you can take, Vitalis.
Edrakk grabs Vitalis on the shoulder, spreading his gloves' healing magic, before drawing and throwing another light blue vial.
Jisara hastens Vitalis.
Edrakk heals Vitalis then throws a bomb that the First Warden merely smacks away.
Vitalis tries and fails to get through the First Warden’s armor.
Chance moves away from the First Warden’s whisper aura then uses The Dischordance to summon forth a cacophony of distracting sounds of his own!
Jackdaw gets a hold of her senses once more and Strides forward before attempting to Tumble Through the First Warden!
She then spins around and attempts to uppercut into the First Warden’s head!
The First Warden is knocked more than a little off-kilter by the various attacks coming at her. She Strides and attempts to Cast a Spell amidst the loud noises and Jackdaw’s hit.
Round 9 —> 10
==============
Edrakk (-21)
Vitalis (-11) {Hasted: Round 1 of 10}
Chance (-23)
Jackdaw (-51) {drained 2; frightened 1}
The First Warden (-231 from “4+11” attacks [before resistances]) {enfeebled 2: Round 6 of 10; Off-guard until start of Chance’s turn; stupefied 2: Round 0 of 1}
Jisara {frightened 1}
Thatch
==============
Vitalis tries some other tactics to knock the warden off guard. He tries knocking the warden over and then smacking the weapon out of his hand.
Chance picks up the melody of his inspirational tune again, then looks back at Reprisal.
“It’s a little grim in here, and everyone’s so serious! Let’s lighten the mood!”
The sword starts glowing brightly.
Edrakk runs over to Jackdaw to continue to try to patch her up before throwing another bomb at the Warden.
Jisara casts sure strike from her staff then sends a disintegrate at the First Warden!
Edrakk heals Jackdaw and throws a bomb at the First Warden!
Vitalis tries (and fails) to trip the First Warden.
Jackdaw smiles at Edrakk for his help, then turns her attention to the First Warden once more.
”Aren’t really used to dealing with more than one person, are ya, Warden?!”
Jackdaw then Strides over to flank with Vitalis, once again throwing an uppercut toward the First Warden’s head!
The First Warden desperately clutches at her head. ”What in Asmodeus’s name is going on?!” The undead glares over at Chance. ”And will you stop it with the damn sword?!”
The First Warden growls in frustration as she swings her mace at Jackdaw ”And will you just shut up!”
plus 4 8 persistent spirit
Round 10 —> 11
==============
Edrakk (-21)
Vitalis (-11) {Hasted: Round 2 of 10}
Chance (-23)
Jackdaw (-24) {drained 2}
The First Warden (-345 from “4+13+1” attacks [before resistances]) {8 persistent spirit; 1d10 persistent fire; enfeebled 2: Round 7 of 10; frightened 1; Bon Motted; stupefied 2: Round 0 of 1}
Jisara
Thatch
==============
Sensing the enemy's weakness, he tries to finish it off with a series of rapid strikes. Whack, whack, whack, whack!
"And will you stop it with the damn sword?!"
"Sword?" Chance glances at Reprisal and its merrily glowing blade. "Oh, this sword?" The gnome smirks. "It's just glowing, Warden. Don't you think you've got bigger problems? Like the problems that keep hitting you in what's left of your face?"
"If I were a Warden,
Biddy-biddy-biddy... ouch! That looks painful!
Biddy-biddy-biddy bum!..."
As he sings, Chance crouches behind some of the debris that clutters up the room just in case the First Warden tries to fling a spell at him.
Edrakk, running out of anything useful, runs around the Warden to, as a last-ditch effort, try just attacking it with a dagger.
Jisara, running low on options, uses a hex to command Thatch! She then uses Familiar Conduit and casts howling winds through Thatch!
Edrakk moves over and attempts to stab the First Warden.
Vitalis, now flanking the First Warden, unleashes a series of attacks!
Chance continues singing.
Jackdaw once again acrobatically moves across the battlefield to leap over the First Warden!
Jackdaw then uppercuts the First Warden once more!
”Aww, sorry there, Warden. You havin’ a tough time with little ol’ me?”
”ENOUGH!!!”
”That…was a bad idea…” The First Warden, more than a little beaten up, desperately attempts to Cast a Spell
”Oh no.” Her magic failing at an inopportune moment, the First Warden’s last vestiges of unlife are engulfed in the holy energy of Shelyn as collapses to the ground, her boney body disintegrating and leaving nothing left but her equipment.
Okay, so…originally I was gonna have her do a rank 7 summon fiend to start the combat, but after a conversation with one of my friends, I realized that that would have absolutely ANNIHILATED her action economy (especially since she still needed to buff), so at the last minute I swapped that out for an energy aegis. Dear god, what monster have I created?! She had resistance 5 to acid, electricity, fire, force, sonic, vitality, and void; resistance 15 to cold, and resistance 10 to physical, except MAGICAL BLUDGEONING!
Don’t get me wrong, I designed this combat to be kinda tough, but I did NOT expect the war of attrition that it ACTUALLY was! She had ONE hit point when she tried to cast that last harm! And by the way, SHE STILL HAD ONE MORE HARM!
”And THAT’S…how…” Not used to the sudden spike in adrenaline, Jackdaw’s body begins to fail her as her legs buckle and she falls to the ground, unconscious.
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After the Warden falls, Edrakk starts looking around at his allies, trying to diagnose their injuries, before realizing that most have little more than bruises.
He sighs as he gets out his healer's kit and starts working. "No one to poison... invisibility to sneak... barely any injuries... next you're gonna say you've all stopped needing to eat."
He crouches down by Jackdaw, investigating her condition.
As Edrakk examines Jackdaw, he soon figures out that the elf simply fainted. As he patches everyone up, he does some simple first aid to make sure Jackdaw is alright.
The elf eventually recovers from her fainting episode with a groan. She starts to get up again, but is gently kept down by Edrakk, who knows standing up too quickly will be detrimental.
Jackdaw then lays down on the ground, putting her cheek on the concrete floor as she gets into a fetal position. Without even looking up, she asks ”That…wasn’t a dream. Right?”
"Thank Shelyn that's over."
"Is this an undead that comes back? Do we need to purify it or anything?"
Since Edrakk is taking care of Jackdaw, Vitalis inspects the Warden.
”That…wasn’t a dream. Right?”
"No, fair lady. It isn't a dream. You are rescued. We will take you somewhere safe."
If Chance is correct and this was a graveknight, then she will eventually be reborn if her armor is not destroyed (and will be reborn quicker if someone WEARS the armor). In this case, the only thing you can do to prevent this is to somehow completely annihilate the armor, such as by throwing it into a volcano.
If Jisara is correct and this was a lich, then she will eventually be reborn near her soul cage, wherever that may be. If the First Warden was a lich, then there really is not a whole lot you can do to prevent her rebirth.
"No, fair lady. It isn't a dream. You are rescued. We will take you somewhere safe."
”Heh. The Song of the Spheres still sings upon me, I guess.” Jackdaw smiles, but the smile fades as she stares off into the distance.
”Who are you? And…why did you help me?”
“Hi! We’re the Silver Ravens! I mean, the new Silver Ravens as far as you’re concerned. If you are who we think you are. Which I think you are! Anyway, while we’ve been fighting against the minions of the current Lord High Muck Muck Barzillai Thrune, we found records saying that you’d been imprisoned here all this time, and figured we should try to break you free on general principles. The first of those principles being %&*! the Thrunes.” Chance pauses for breath. “And we also hoped you might be able to help us figure out the lyrics to the Song of Silver.”
“If you are who we think you are. Which I think you are!”
”Names were always…weird to me. I never saw a point to feeling proud of a bunch of letters that signify your parents and your parents’ parents. Obviously I went by something, but I would go by something else on Desna’s whim. If you know about the Silver Ravens, then the name you’d likely know me by is ‘Jackdaw.’ Very similar birds to ravens. It’s why I chose it around the time the Silver Ravens were born.”
Barzillai Thrune,
”Thrune…” There is sorrow in Jackdaw’s voice. ”How…how long have I been down here?”
Jackdaw switches positions, instead lying on her back and looking up at the ceiling. ”10 years…Ba had said that these kinds of regimes usually only last around 10 years before losing steam. I guess a deal with the devil makes House Thrune more than just ‘usual.’” She sighs. ”You’re not gonna win. House Thrune has a god on their side. It’ll only be a matter of time before your closest friends are slaughtered. Maybe if one of you is lucky, you’ll surrender and will ‘only’ be stuck in a cell for the next six decades with only an insane undead monster to keep you company.”
“And we also hoped you might be able to help us figure out the lyrics to the Song of Silver.”
At this, Jackdaw finally lifts her head to meet Chance’s gaze. ”You…you know about the song?”