Blue and Purple both ↻ Shield Block Jisara’s spell. Because shield allows that.
Chance sings and sends a book flying Based on the flavor of Chance’s post, I’m assuming he’s attacking Green. Jisara uses ↻ Coven Spell to give Chance an extra +5 to damage. Green then ↻ Shield Blocks Chance’s spell.
Edrakk moves over and throws knives at Green. Retroactively applying courageous anthem.
Corrosive Damage:3d6 ⇒ (5, 6, 3) = 14
The priest’s robes are completely dissolved by Edrakk’s corrosive knife! This imposes a -1 penalty to his AC.
Green Fort vs Leadenleg; consecrate:1d20 + 14 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 14 + 1 = 35
Vitalis rushes forward and attacks Blue! Not a crit.
Blue ◆◆ casts a rank 3 heal on himself…
Healing to Blue:3d8 + 24 ⇒ (7, 7, 4) + 24 = 42
…then ◆ Sustains his spiritual armament to attack Vitalis!
Jisara finally advances into the hallway, while Thatch darts ahead, avoiding the stomping feet of Vitalis's opponents. This time, the electricity jumps directly from the witch's fingertips to the Asmodeans in front of her.
Electric Arc vs Blue and Purple, DC 31 basic Reflex:7d4 ⇒ (2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 1, 4) = 17
Jisara
◆ Stride
◆◆ Cast electric arc
↻ Coven Spell
At this point I’m gonna straight-up handwave this fight, because these guys are absolute pushovers with their pitiful AC and currently <20 HP.
GM Screen:
1d6 ⇒ 4
5 IPP
KLOOONG
KLOOONG
KLOOONG
KLOOONG
The Devil’s Bells peal out once more.
Healing:
Jisara and Vitalis use their focus spells to heal Vitalis back up to full, then each Refocus.
Edrakk Medicine; DC 20:1d20 + 22 ⇒ (20) + 22 = 42 Healing:4d8 + 15 ⇒ (1, 1, 8, 3) + 15 = 28
LG Human Champion 12 | 82/176 hp (Resist Mental 4, Slashing 4, Bludgeoning 3) | AC 32 | Fort +21 (Sacred Body), Ref +14 (+17 vs. Damage), Will +19 (Divine Will) | Perc +16 | Focus: 1/1 | Hero Pts 1/3 |
Vitalis hears the bells ring. "Well this mooks certainly weren't on our list of those with devil contracts, so that throws my theory about the bells out."
Jisars snorts in amusement as she scoops Thatch back up into her arms. She turns to Vitalis, one hand smoothing the cat's fur, and gives a shrug of her own. "Or perhaps we're simply that good. But you're probably right."
Four beds separated into semi-privacy by folding screens sit in the southern portion of this room, while to the north, several chairs face a long wooden counter.
GM Screen:
4d20 ⇒ (11, 15, 11, 11) = 48
Edrakk finds a hidden compartment, inside of which are five scrolls of 3rd-rank heal and three scrolls of 4th-rank cleanse affliction. Inventory Updated
The PCs search the various bedrooms, but find nothing noteworthy beyond personal effects of some of the priests.
Door at the end of the hallway
Cages, iron maidens, racks, and other instruments of torture adorn this room, leaving little doubt as to the chamber’s sinister purpose. A single, empty cell is situated in the room’s northernmost corner.
Southern Door
This large circular chamber is bare, save for a single lectern not far from the only door. No book sits on the lectern, but the wood appears scorched. In the center of the room, a softly glowing pentagram flickers on the floor. Map Updated
In this room are a pair of winged devils wielding massive axes. And when the PCs step into the room, they immediately attack!
I apologize (again) for my delays the last couple of weeks - I’ve been jammed at work and generally wiped out.
Chance tries to remember if he has ever read or heard anything about devils like these, then peers into the room at the glowing pentagram to identify what it’s for. Once he recalls what he can of the fiends and their symbol and calls out the salient information, he begins a new song.
◆: Recall Knowledge (special attacks?) ◆: Occultism (or Recall Knowledge check with another skill?) ◆: Cast a spell, courageous anthem ↻: Fortuitous Shift (if triggered)
Jisara reacts first, throwing a flurry of silvery shards at the closer devil. With her other hand she traces the outline of a rune in the air, blessing the minds of both Vitalis and Chance.
Needle Darts vs Blue:1d20 + 21 ⇒ (18) + 21 = 39 Piercing, Silver:8d4 ⇒ (3, 3, 4, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3) = 20They're off-guard thanks to Surprise Attack, so if that crits then they take double damage and also have 6 persistent bleed damage.
◆◆ Cast needle darts
◆ Cast discern secrets on Vitalis and Chance for a free RK and a +1 status bonus for a round.
Jisara sends silver needles at Blue not a crit, due to cover, then gives Chance and Vitalis some blessings of the mind. This causes the runes on Thatch to start distractingly shifting, which is normal this is the thing that lets Thatch occasionally flank. However, the script shifts violently, seeming to actually jump off of the familiar’s fur and into the air before dissipating; this has never happened before.
Gonna just say what Vitalis learns from Hell Lore here because he’s out for a bit: These are munagolas—executioner devils. They are experts of aerial combat and are known for relentlessly pursuing foes that try to run from them. However, they are primarily offense rather than defensive, and are not particularly adept at doing more than blocking a hit Translation: Their AC is good, but all of their saving throw bonuses are fairly close to each other and not really SUPER great. Though, their lowest save is still Will, but by a thin margin.
Chance (ALL of the RKs):
Bardic Lore (on the devils): These devils are definitely adept at aerial combat, but are also known for using the air to their advantage—they are very adept at divebombing a variant Sudden Charge that gives a bonus to the attack roll if they descend in elevation, and are known for having such devastating follow-up attacks that it can knock their opponents out of the sky! ”Felling AssaultWhen a munagola hits with a melee Strike, they gain Improved Knockdown on all subsequent melee Strikes against that target until the end of the munagola's turn.”
Occultism (on the circle): This is 100% a binding circle, meant to keep planar entities trapped for a time when calling them from the Outer Sphere. You also recognize that this room has magical effects on it that makes casting rituals such as binding circle or planar servitor easier when used to call fiends. It seems the circle and the empowering magic of the room is tied to the magic of the Hell Engines that likewise power the temple’s consecrate effect.
Green spreads their wings and ◆ Flies straight at Vitalis as they swing their axe!
Green then retreats, ◆ Flying upward until their head is at the ceiling which means they’re 15 feet off the ground, so still within reach of Vitalis’s halberd.
Jisara and Thatch part ways, entering the room beyond and hurling a jolt of electricity at the wounded devil. She has little time to wonder just what the hell happened to the script on her familiar.
Electric Arc vs Blue, DC 31 basic Reflex:7d4 ⇒ (4, 3, 1, 1, 2, 2, 4) = 17
So…I ‘m unsure how splash damage interacts with the weakness from Blessed Counterstrike, because it’s a weird corner case. For now I’ll rule “it’s damage made as part of the Strike action, so it’s ‘Strike damage,’” so it’ll activate the weakness.
Tangent 2:
I also COMPLETELY forgot about something last round. Firstly, the devils’ greataxe Strikes should be doing an extra 1d6 fire damage. And on top of that, that made me also forget about a whole thing with Asmodeus cursing y’all with weakness 5 to fire. Luckily Vitalis grants resistance 14 to all damage, so that extra 1d6+5 means literally nothing. From here on out I will TRY to remember that weakness to fire damage (for a temple to a fire god, not a whole lot of fire damage being thrown around).
Edrakk throws both a bomb and a javelin. Both miss, but see tangent above. And because of the weakness from Vitalis, that downs Blue.
Jisara moves into the room and sends lightning at the remaining devil. Adjusted your positioning to be able to get Green; the altitude difference changed the math a bit.
Chance sings and calls upon the light of Cayden Cailean!
Green sees the horrid, holy light from Chance and decides that SOMETHING must be done about that! The devil makes a ◆◆ Sudden Dive! Flies twice then Strikes. If it Strikes at a lower altitude than where it started, it gets a +1 circumstance bonus to the attack roll. And because it entered the Sacred Glow, it immediately becomes frightened 1.
Thanks to the expanded aura: Vitalis makes a ↻ Retributive “Strike” to protect Chance! But the devil is too far away for the actual Strike part of it. That will mean Chance only takes 16 slashing damage.
The devil then follows up with a headbutt at Chance with their horns!
As one devil falls, Jisara whirls and flings another spray of silver at the other. A final flourish channels a bit of healing magic to keep Chance in fighting form.
Just gonna do some botting because this’ll be easy: Vitalis attacks.
Vitalis vs Green w/frightened 1:1d20 + 23 ⇒ (19) + 23 = 42 Holy Slashing Damage (doubled from crit):3d10 + 7 ⇒ (10, 3, 9) + 7 = 29Sonic Damage (doubled from crit):1d6 ⇒ 5Spirit Damage (doubled from crit); vs. unholy:2d4 ⇒ (1, 2) = 3
And the devil falls!
GM Screen:
1d20 ⇒ 15
1d6 ⇒ 2
7 IPP
KLOOONG
KLOOONG
The Devil’s Bells peal out twice more.
Healing:
Chance heals from the remainder of the life boost. Vitalis casts lay on hands on Edrakk and then Refocuses. (Jisara likewise Refocuses)
The PCs begin looking around the room and find only one thing of note: the lectern in this room has a strange marking burned into its wooden top. It seems to be a fiendish skull and several other markings contained within an approximately 1-foot-by-2-foot rectangle.
With the knowledge that the Book of the Damned was here under their belts, the PCs continue forth, opening the door to the west and finding a curtain of pure blackness. Jisara (as the only one with darkvision) can barely make something out through the magical darkness and sees something massive in the dark before it seems to reposition and become unnoticeable in the darkness.
The PCs close the door for a moment and Chance pulls out several scrolls of darkvision to give it to himself and his allies. With some time, Jisara is able to determine that the darkness is the effects of a 7th-rank darkness that is sustained by the Hell Engines—dispelling the darkness will, at best, be a temporary solution unless the Hell Engines are dealt with.
With this knowledge, Vitalis spends 10 minutes concentrating on his halberd to swap his holy rune with a brilliant rune. With both Chance’s darkvisions and the new rune, Vitalis opens the door once again and plunges his halberd into the darkness! As previously established, Shine Bright will only work against this thing on a nat 20, and even then it’ll only remove a 20-foot burst of darkness for 1 hour.
Here’s the thing, though…the thing in the darkness DOES NOT attack during that time. It’s animalistic and a VERY patient ambush predator, so it is willing to wait for an opportunity to strike. It’s only when Vitalis successfully counteracts the darkness that the creature feels threatened enough to attack despite its ambush-predator nature—you dispelling the darkness is basically an act of aggression in tarnishing its territory.
Also, I could rule that some of y’all were searching the darkness for the creature and trying to Recall Knowledge about it during those 50 rolls, but it has a Stealth DC of 37 and this is not a very perceptive party, so I’m just gonna rule “You can’t find this thing even WITH darkvision.”
Vitalis finally manages to use his weapon to undo some of the darkness! The AoE that I put on the map is meant to be the area with NORMAL lighting conditions.
I guess I’ll say Vitalis rolls the brilliant rune’s counteract bonus for initiative?? Feels weird, but it makes sense to me.
Note that even though Jisara and Vitalis go BEFORE this thing in initiative, its Stealth check for initiative still beat everyone’s Perception DCs. Thus, I have not put it on the map yet because y’all don’t know where it is (a classic case of undetected but not unnoticed).
Lost in the Darkness
Round 1
==============
Jisara/Vitalis
???
Chance
Edrakk
==============
If it could attack us from the safety of the darkness, I bet it would have already. Let's make the approach a little trickier.
Jisara steps up behind Chance to get a better look through the door, then conjures a layer of slippery grease in the room beyond to at least slow the thing down when it comes for them.
◆ Step
◆◆ Cast grease in the purple area, DC 31 Reflex or Acrobatics to Balance.
↻ Blood Vendetta
LG Human Champion 12 | 82/176 hp (Resist Mental 4, Slashing 4, Bludgeoning 3) | AC 32 | Fort +21 (Sacred Body), Ref +14 (+17 vs. Damage), Will +19 (Divine Will) | Perc +16 | Focus: 1/1 | Hero Pts 1/3 |
Since he can't see the enemy, Vitalis decides now would be a good time to drink the titanic fury cocktail that Edrakk gave him. He drinks the elixir and grows in size.
◆Draw elixir
◆Drink titanic fury cocktail
◆Put hand back on weapon
Jisara steps out and puts grease on the ground. I’m changing the positioning of the grease, because I think you completely misunderstood which room the party was going into.
Vitalis drinks Edrakk’s elixir and grows. I’m assuming that’s the moderate version, so Vitalis will gain a net +1 to melee attacks (since it doesn’t stack with potency runes), and take a net -2 to AC and -3 to Reflex saves.
Stealth:1d20 + 27 ⇒ (1) + 27 = 28Oh well.
The creature ◆ “Sneaks” forward, and it is now that the PCs finally get a good enough look at the beast: a massive, shadowy serpent with a head at each end of its body!
Both heads then rear up their fangs and unleash a disturbingly accurate spray of venom!
LG Human Champion 12 | 82/176 hp (Resist Mental 4, Slashing 4, Bludgeoning 3) | AC 32 | Fort +21 (Sacred Body), Ref +14 (+17 vs. Damage), Will +19 (Divine Will) | Perc +16 | Focus: 1/1 | Hero Pts 1/3 |
Long Jump:1d20 + 25 ⇒ (14) + 25 = 39
Vitalis expands his aura then blindly leaps over the grease and towards the enemy.
Since he saw the monster before being blinded, he'll attempt a Lore check to identify it. Hell +18 or Religion +15. If neither apply, +11 on any other Lore check with Untrained Improvisation. Also apply Unmistakable Lore if applicable.
With my Recall Knowledge, let me know if any of the other properties of the Brilliant Rune apply (if it is a fiend or undead): This rune causes a weapon to transform into pure, brilliant energy. The weapon deals an additional 1d4 fire damage on a successful Strike, as well as 1d4 spirit damage to fiends and 1d4 vitality damage to undead. On a critical hit, the target must succeed at a DC 29 Fortitude save or be blinded for 1 round.
While Vitalis advances into the gloom, Jisara weaves together a spell that turns the floor beneath the serpent into a swirling mass of quicksand that threatens to pull the creature down and through.
Jisara
◆◆◆ Cast oneiric mire in the blue area, DC 31 Will.
Chance moves forward and attempts to banish the creature! Reminder that this is still magical darkness, so the creature is concealed to y’all (and it’s concealed BECAUSE y’all have darkvision).
DC 5 flat:1d20 ⇒ 19
Serpent Will:1d20 + 20 ⇒ (20) + 20 = 40Ouch. So Chance is stunned 1.
And I’m gonna give Chance a consolation Hero Point since nothing meaningful happened on his turn.
Edrakk rushes forward and throws a bomb.
DC 5 flat:1d20 ⇒ 11
Jisara spawns a mass of illusory quicksand.
Serpent Will:1d20 + 20 ⇒ (10) + 20 = 30
GM Screen:
1d20 ⇒ 4
Vitalis jumps over and expands his aura.
Vitalis:
Netherworld Lore: This creature is made from solid shadowstuff, but it has very similar properties to an undead shadow, and can sap the strength out of creatures it bites. Translation: is does indeed have the undead trait.
The shadow around the serpent seems to suffuse into it, mending and closing its wounds. The creature heals back to full HP. The serpent then ◆ Strides and bites at Vitalis!
LG Human Champion 12 | 82/176 hp (Resist Mental 4, Slashing 4, Bludgeoning 3) | AC 32 | Fort +21 (Sacred Body), Ref +14 (+17 vs. Damage), Will +19 (Divine Will) | Perc +16 | Focus: 1/1 | Hero Pts 1/3 |
Vitalis calls out the information he knows about the creature.
Netherworld Lore: This creature is made from solid shadowstuff, but it has very similar properties to an undead shadow, and can sap the strength out of creatures it bites. Translation: is does indeed have the undead trait.
Vitalis swings his halberd at the snake. Then he takes a gamble. Although already badly wounded, he hopes to draw the enemy away from the group to keep it from using its twin bites. And also possibly use the oneiric mire to his advantage. He activates his quick runner's shirt for a burst of speed and rushes deeper into the room. "Hey, over here, two-heads! Eyes on me!"
Poison Fort Roll?:1d20 + 21 ⇒ (8) + 21 = 29
◆Strike
◆◆Quick Runner's Shirt (stride twice with a +10 ft. bonus [total 70 ft.])
Also hoping I can do this before Vitalis takes off.
Jisara hisses in sympathetic pain as the serpent tears into Vitalis, but reacts quickly to staunch the worst of his wounds. With the same hand, she points an accusatory finger in the snake's direction, launching a black bolt of energy off and into the darkness.
Chance's jaw goes slack and for a moment, the gnome's constant caffeinated jittering subsides, leaving him perfectly still.
He winces and blinks rapidly, trying to clear the backlash of his failed spell from his vision and his mind. "That was not at all fun," he mutters. "Maybe more light is the answer?"
Still gritting his teeth against the residual headache, Chance concentrates and reactivates Reprisal's Sacred Glow, filling the area around him (30' radius) with bright, holy light.
I think that's enough to catch part of the Serpent and will hopefully keep it Frightened 1 and (assuming Sacred Glow has a chance to counteract the darkness) maybe even deal with the concealment. Chance can start moving towards it next round if necessary.
Assuming this is resolved in turn order, meaning Edrakk goes before Vitalis:
Jisara wrote:
Also hoping I can do this before Vitalis takes off.
Have I not made it clear that I try to resolve things in turn order XD (I know I’ve NOT done that in the past, but I’m trying to get better about it).
Chance unleashes Reprisal’s sacred light, but the light does not extend into the darkness itself. The Sacred Glow functions, it just can’t overcome the darkness.
Edrakk attempts to patch up Vitalis and instead accidentally stabs him in the back. And I’ll say you keep the Hero Point since it didn’t make the situation better.
DC 5 flat (to target Vitalis in the darkness):1d20 ⇒ 20
Damage:1d8 ⇒ 8
Edrakk then throws a bomb and a poisoned dagger in quick succession!
DC 5 flat (bomb):1d20 ⇒ 7
DC 5 flat (dagger):1d20 ⇒ 12
Bomb hits, dagger missed.
Jisara attempts to heal Vitalis…
DC 5 flat:1d20 ⇒ 3
Gonna assume you Hero Point that one, since Vitalis is pretty hurt.
Reroll:1d20 ⇒ 17
Jisara then sends a bolt of energy at the serpent!
At the start of Vitalis’s turn, he heals 12 HP. Vitalis lashes out at the serpent and hits it! As he does, the serpent’s body momentarily seems to dissipate, as if the shadows making up the serpent’s body were struggling to keep itself together. FYI, you forgot the 1d4 fire damage from brilliant (doesn’t matter for this thing, since it would resist all of that damage). However, the serpent has weakness to Vitalis’s brilliant rune!
Vitalis then makes a tactical reposition.
Vitalis Tanessen wrote:
Poison Fort Roll?: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (8) + 21 = 29
Poison Damage:2d6 ⇒ (1, 2) = 3Void Damage:2d6 ⇒ (2, 4) = 6 plus enfeebled 2 and slowed 1.
The serpent heals 15 HP. The serpent seems hesitant of Vitalis, and instead lashes out at Edrakk! However, as the serpent pokes a head out of its magical darkness, it places it inside Reprisal’s Sacred Glow (which the serpent couldn’t tell was there due to its rudimentary intelligence and the limitations of what it can see with darkvision). It howls in pain as its face is seared by the holy light, hindering its attack! In order to attack Edrakk, the serpent would need to at least partially enter the Sacred Glow. It immediately becomes frightened 1 because of it, and it immediately takes damage equal to the weakness Vitalis activated from his brilliant rune, AND it takes a -2 circumstance penalty to the attack roll against Edrakk, since it wasn’t prepared for the painful light.
