GM Dustin's #7–24: Dead Man's Debt (Inactive)

Game Master dwilhelmi

Please refrain from any other posts - combat incoming :D. Probably won't be able to post it until late tonight or tomorrow, though. Feel free to rearrange your icons on slide 4 (scroll down to see unfogged part of map). Only restriction is that Ash is somewhere on the ledge, and the rest of you are not.

When Ash completes his climb, he has just a brief second to take in his new surroundings - a semicircle of twelve wooden stakes, each topped with a severed head, is arranged in front of a wide split in the cliff face. Some are barely more than skulls, their flesh nearly gone, while others appear to be more recent. Two are almost completely covered with ants, busily working to take anything they can eat. The victims appear to be elven. Eleven of the heads have been mounted in such a way that they face toward the split in the rock, while one faces outward toward the clearing.

However, just after Ash crests the climb and takes a look around, four of the heads float up off of their spikes; the one facing out and three others. The one facing outward lets out a horrible scream, while the other three belch out a stream of fire toward him.

Ash will save DC 10: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
Ash is shaken for 1d4 ⇒ 2 rounds

Belch vs touch AC 14: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
Belch vs touch AC 14: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20
Fire damage: 1d6 ⇒ 3
Belch vs touch AC 14: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12

Combat round 1

Beheaded
Devin
Bob
Ilarien
Sakura
Essilor
Ash - shaken (2 rounds)

The bold may act!

Reminders: it is a DC15 climb check to get up to the ledge, and you may not take 10 during combat. The ledge is 30ft up from the ground. You can climb at 1/4 your normal speed, or at 1/2 your normal speed by taking a -5 penalty. Failing the check by 4 or less means you make no progress. Failing the check by 5 or more means you fall.

As you are below the cliff, you can hear sounds of ... something, and then Ash screaming "What in the name of the Everbloom are YOU?"

He tossses the coiled rope down the cliff while holding one end, and quickly tries to find a rock to his end to. As he does that, he is hit by a ray of flames that singes his clothes, and a bit of skin. "Ow! Guys - I could use a hand!"

Crunch: Free action- drop rope, 2x move action make a circle around a large stone to secure the rope, at least partially. Still holding my end of the rope in hands.

“I hate climbing!!!“ Sakura says.

She gets off her horse and moves to the rope.

Bob rushes over to hold the bottom of the rope in place Allow me. Better safe than sorry

Bob hold the bottom of the rope to stop it swinging, and hopfully aiding a little in the climb for the others.

"Well, apologies for causing you discomfort, now if you don't mind, I think they want to cook me for dinner."

I'm not seeing the map in the document

Devn will begin scaling the wall, with the rope

I think that the rope and the wall brings the DC 5? If that this the case I'll scale at 2x, If the dc remains at 15 I'll scale at 1/4 speed.

climbing: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16

Ok up the wall we go

Essilor looks at the top of the cliff, then at the rope, then back at the top of the cliff. Then, he looks at the floating heads and purses his lips.

"I'm not doing THAT," he says before gathering up his prodigious mental power and flinging it out as two missiles of pure force.

Magic Missile: 2d4 + 2 ⇒ (4, 1) + 2 = 7

I'm sending them at the closest one to me.

Assuming you are wearing your armor, Devin, and assuming you had to use one move action just to get to the base of the rope, that would put you currently on the rope 10ft off the ground - your speed is 20ft, so half speed on the climb would be 10ft per move action.

The map is on slide 4. When you select the slide, it will look entirely grey. You need to scroll down to see the active part of the map.

The group quickly starts to work through the logistics of getting people up to help Ash. The solo half-orc quickly braces the rope with only a modicum of complaint. Sakura quickly dismounts and moves over next to the rope. The armored Devin makes his way over as quickly as he can and begins to climb, though he still has a way to go.

Meanwhile, the clever Essilor takes the better part of valor and chooses to not throw himself into elevated melee with floating screaming fire-belching heads, and instead uses his magical talents to send a stream of energy flying quickly upwards. The missiles easily drop one of the four heads.

Combat round 1

Beheaded - 3/4 still flying
Devin
Bob
Ilarien
Sakura
Essilor
Ash - shaken (2 rounds)

The bold may act!

Reminders: it is a DC15 climb check to get up to the ledge, and you may not take 10 during combat. The ledge is 30ft up from the ground. You can climb at 1/4 your normal speed, or at 1/2 your normal speed by taking a -5 penalty. Failing the check by 4 or less means you make no progress. Failing the check by 5 or more means you fall.

Ilarien advances and casts a magical ward about herself. "At least they appear to be fragile, unlike the watch on the Slee--no, forget I said that."

Casting mage armor.

Belch vs touch AC 14: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
Belch vs touch AC 14: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
Belch vs touch AC 14: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13

The three remaining heads belch out more fire against the distracted Ash, but the half-orc is nimble enough to dodge all three of them. The heads then fade back from the edge of the cliff to avoid any more ranged missiles.

With them being 15ft up, and the ledge being 30ft up, any line of sight to them from the bottom would be blocked unless you back up an awful lot. To make the math easy, I'm gonna say you need to be twice the distance from the ledge as they are in order to see them. Without being able to see them, they have total cover, so you can't magic missile them.

Combat round 2

Beheaded
Devin
Bob
Ilarien - Mage Armor
Sakura
Essilor
Ash - shaken (1 round)

The bold may act!

Reminders: it is a DC15 climb check to get up to the ledge, and you may not take 10 during combat. The ledge is 30ft up from the ground. You can climb at 1/4 your normal speed, or at 1/2 your normal speed by taking a -5 penalty. Failing the check by 4 or less means you make no progress. Failing the check by 5 or more means you fall.

Sakura starts to climb up!!

climb move action dc 5 : 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (15) - 1 = 14
climb move action dc 5 : 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (9) - 1 = 8

“Did I mention that I hate climbing … especially in armor!!“

Devin makes his way up the wall like 1950s batman.

climb: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

Keeps going up using the rope 10 feet more to go.

O crud totally forgot the armor check -4 which negates my strength, gives me a flat roll of 5 still good enough for 5 feet

The witch patiently waits her turn at the bottom of the rope.

Essilor is extremely annoyed that the heads moved so that he can't get to them. While he waits for his turn with the rope, he once more casts Mage Armor on himself.

Devin, since you are already on the rope, you can climb with both your move and your standard action. Going forward, you have to decide whether you want to do an accelerated climb before you do the actual roll, you can't decide based on the roll output. To move things along, I'll take what you have and bot another roll for your standard action.
Devin climb bot, with armor: 1d20 + 4 - 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 - 4 = 2
Devin climbs 5 feet up the rope, dangling halfway to the top.

Sakura grabs the bottom of the rope and begins climbing right behind him, easily making it up 10ft himself.

Asb the horse calmly looks on from the floor, his tail flicking back and forth nervously.

Illarien and Bob both wait patiently at the base of the rope.

Essilor casts another spell, causing ghostly armor to once more flare briefly to life around him.

Botting Ash
Ash takes the end of the rope he is holding and ties it off to an earlier loop in the rope, thus securing it and allowing him to have his hands free going forward.

The floating heads once more belch their flames toward the now-rope-free Ash.

Belch vs touch AC 14: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Belch vs touch AC 14: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8
Belch vs touch AC 14: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15
Fire damage: 1d6 ⇒ 3

Ash dodges the first two cases of massive heartburn from the floating heads, but the third connects, singeing some more hairs off his arm.

Combat round 3

Beheaded
Devin - 15ft up rope
Bob
Ilarien - Mage Armor
Sakura - 10ft up rope
Essilor - Mage Armor
Ash

The bold may act!

Reminders: it is a DC15 climb check to scale the cliff face, or a DC5 climb check to climb the rope. You may not take 10 during combat. The ledge is 30ft up from the ground. You can climb at 1/4 your normal speed, or at 1/2 your normal speed by choosing to take a -5 penalty before you roll. Failing the check by 4 or less means you make no progress. Failing the check by 5 or more means you fall.

Sakura continues to climb up but she needs to be faster as Ash is shouting!!

“I am coming!!“

climb move action dc 5 more speed -5 : 1d20 - 1 - 5 ⇒ (16) - 1 - 5 = 10
climb move action dc 5 more speed -5: 1d20 - 1 - 5 ⇒ (20) - 1 - 5 = 14

Essilor has nothing more to do. He waits his turn (last) at the bottom of the rope. Or for one of the heads to appear.

Time to put some muscle behind it. Devin climbs on.

climb 1/2 speed: 1d20 - 5 ⇒ (3) - 5 = -2
climb 1/2 speed: 1d20 - 5 ⇒ (8) - 5 = 3

[occ]And Devin comes comes off the wall with a -2[/occ]

falling damage 15': 2d6 ⇒ (5, 5) = 10

Ilarien offers the fighter a healing hand up. "I don't think it's supposed to work that way."

Healing hex, cures: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8

Devin brushes himself off. Smiling sheepishly.

You have my thanks. Us armored turtles are just built to climb.

Devin falls 15 feet to the ground with a sickening crunch. As he stands up, he sees a spectacular dent in the ground where his armor hit. Luckily, Ilarien is on hand to heal up the fighter, and the warm magic flows gently through him and knits him back together again.

Essilor continues to bide his time.

Sakura easily bounds up the remaining length of rope and crests the ledge, taking in the creepy floating heads that continue to hover back from the edge in fear of the magic missiles.

Botting Ash
Ash nods in welcome to Sakura when she crests the lip. "About time. I've had about enough of those things." He pulls out his shortbow and sends an arrow flying in at the nearest head.
Shortbow: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 201d6 ⇒ 4

With a sickening splat, the nearest head (green) gets skewered by Ash's arrow and quickly falls to the ground, rolling a little until it settles on its side, empty dead eyes staring at the one who killed it. Again.

The remaining floating heads respond in kind, still focusing their fire on the singed Ash.
Belch vs touch AC 14: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Belch vs touch AC 14: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18
Fire damage: 1d6 ⇒ 6

The first one Ash easily dodges, but in doing so puts himself directly face-to-flame with the second shot, and he takes a rather painful hit. One eyebrow is completely burned off, the other half-burned and still smoldering.

Combat round 3/4

Beheaded
Devin
Bob - feel free to still take your round 3 turn retroactively in addition to your round 4 turn, since I didn't respond to your discussion question for a while.
Ilarien - Mage Armor
Sakura
Essilor - Mage Armor
Ash - 12 fire damage, 14/26 hp remaining

The bold may act!

Reminders: it is a DC15 climb check to scale the cliff face, or a DC5 climb check to climb the rope. You may not take 10 during combat. The ledge is 30ft up from the ground. You can climb at 1/4 your normal speed, or at 1/2 your normal speed by choosing to take a -5 penalty before you roll. Failing the check by 4 or less means you make no progress. Failing the check by 5 or more means you fall.

Sakura 5 ft steps forward and draws her sling and loads it with a stone.

Essilor has no desire to be one of the first ones up the rope. He waits for one of the more heavily armored and beefier folks to get up there. Maybe Bob or Devin.

"Go ahead, guys," he offers them.

Well here we go again. Thanks Ilarien

Devin climbs again.

climb 1/2 speed: 1d20 - 5 ⇒ (15) - 5 = 10
climb 1/2 speed: 1d20 - 5 ⇒ (2) - 5 = -3

And comes off the wall again.

fall: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 1) = 6

the electronic dice gods hate me.

The witch draws a wand. Shaking her head, she taps Devin with it. "Somehow, I don't think that's how climbing is supposed to work."

CLW from wand: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Bob bends down to Devin, helping him stand. You make a good anker. Appaling bird though. Third time lucky

climb: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3 aid to Devin and his climbing by holding the giving him leg up and holding the rope.

I'll follow up once I'm sure you're not coming back down. At speed.

I'll hold my mext action until Devin gets to the top

Devin hops right back on the rope again, climbs up 10 feet, then slips and falls right back to the ground again. Your speed is 20ft in armor, so 1/2 climb speed is 10ft, which means you only fell 10ft, which is 1d6 damage rather than 2d6. Ignoring the second dice, Ilarien's healing should completely heal this fall damage. Ilarien once again applies healing to the armored man.

Essilor continues to bide his time.

Sakura pulls out a sling and prepares to engage the floating heads.

Bob goes to grab the rope again to steady it, and instead smacks the rope away from everyone, causing it to bounce around like crazy for a few seconds.
Nat-1 on the aid causes a bit of turbulence, but not enough to cause a real penalty. This time :).

Botting Ash
Ash looses another arrow at one of the annoying floating heads.
Shortbow: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 201d6 ⇒ 1

The arrow grazes the side of the next nearest head (red), but it doesn't slow the head down at all.

The two heads belch again, trying to bring down the injured half-orc.
Belch vs touch AC 14: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22
Crit confirm AC 14: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11
Fire damage: 1d6 ⇒ 1
Belch vs touch AC 14: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22
Crit confirm AC 14: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
Fire damage: 1d6 ⇒ 6
Two crits, no confirms - close one!

Both lines of fire come screaming in, looking for all the world as though they were going to hit some very delicate areas, but Ash manages to be agile enough to dodge the worst of it. Still, he is clearly struggling with all the direct fire hits.

Combat round 5

Beheaded - red (1 damage)
Devin
Bob
Ilarien - Mage Armor
Sakura
Essilor - Mage Armor
Ash - 19 fire damage, 7/26 hp remaining

The bold may act!

Reminders: it is a DC15 climb check to scale the cliff face, or a DC5 climb check to climb the rope. You may not take 10 during combat. The ledge is 30ft up from the ground. You can climb at 1/4 your normal speed, or at 1/2 your normal speed by choosing to take a -5 penalty before you roll. Failing the check by 4 or less means you make no progress. Failing the check by 5 or more means you fall.

Sakura takes a shot and reloads her sling.

sling : 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 141d4 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Devin grits his teeth and gets back on the rope.

climb 1/2 speed: 1d20 - 5 ⇒ (1) - 5 = -4
climb 1/2 speed: 1d20 - 5 ⇒ (7) - 5 = 2

And falls again.

falling damage: 1d6 ⇒ 4

Diven sits down at the bottom of the cliff thinking about his life choices

Bob steps past Devin, and has a go at climbing up

dice=climb]1d20 + 2[/dice]

Bob steps past Devin, and has a go at climbing up

climb: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17
climb: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22

And he's up the rope like he's been climbing rigging his whole life. Which he has.

Devin tries and tries again, but once more the rope eludes his attempts to scale it. Not even attempting to get back up, with his pride being injured more than his body, he has a front row seat to the excellent climbing performance of their resident pirate. Bob grabs hold of the rope, and his lighter armor doesn't interfere nearly as much as the heavier armor of the poor fallen fighter. He quickly scrambles up the rope, and in a very short amount of time finds himself standing on top of the ledge, taking in the fight scene.

Just as Bob begins to look at the floating heads, he sees Sakura fling her stone at one of them. It smacks the head right between the eyes, you hear a sickening crack, see splattering ichor, and the once-floating head falls lifeless to the ground.

Botting Ash
Ash looses another arrow at the last head.
Shortbow: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 91d6 ⇒ 1
Unfortunately, the arrow flies wide.

The one remaining head, seeing now three enemies prepared to engage it, lets out a sickening scream. Those of you on the ground can hear it, but while it makes you uncomfortable it has no ill effect on you. The three on the ledge, though, feel the scream in your bones and struggle to remain focused on the task at hand.

Ash, Sakura, and Bob all must make a DC 10 Will save or be shaken for 1d4 rounds.

AshBot will save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16
Ash shakes his head a bit at the horrible sound, but quickly moves on from the impact of it, ready to finally end this fight.

Combat round 6

Beheaded - red (1 damage)
Devin
Bob
Ilarien - Mage Armor
Sakura
Essilor - Mage Armor
Ash - 19 fire damage, 7/26 hp remaining

The bold may act!

Reminders: it is a DC15 climb check to scale the cliff face, or a DC5 climb check to climb the rope. You may not take 10 during combat. The ledge is 30ft up from the ground. You can climb at 1/4 your normal speed, or at 1/2 your normal speed by choosing to take a -5 penalty before you roll. Failing the check by 4 or less means you make no progress. Failing the check by 5 or more means you fall.

Will save : 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

Sakura feels fear rising but she again takes a shot and reloads her sling.

sling, shaken : 1d20 + 3 - 2 ⇒ (16) + 3 - 2 = 171d4 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Fighting through the fear, Sakura loads her sling once more and lets the stone sail. It flies through the air near perfectly, hitting with another sickly crack, and the last head falls dead to the ground. There are no other sounds other than the faint echoing of the dead head's final scream, a scream of frustration and pain that even in new life, death was inevitable at the hands of this merciless group of pathfinders and their mighty stones.

Combat over! You are now free to take 10 on the rope climb, which should be an auto-success if your climb modifier is -5 or higher.

Essilor waits a moment but hears only silence from above.

"Is everything ok up there?" he asks.

Assuming he gets a positive reply, he starts heading up the rope, taking his time and being careful not to fall.

“Yes, the threat is over I believe! Can you check the whole area with detect magic?“ Sakura asks.

She looks around carefully to not miss anything.

Take 20 perception : 20 + 5 = 25

Ilarien follows the psychic up the rope after tucking up her dress. Once at the top, she casts a cantrip and looks for magical auras.

Devin eyes the rope suspiciously and slow climbs to the top.

"What took you so long? Were you making a fire down there? Because ..." Ash points to his now nonexistent brows "there was a barbecue here already. And the main dish was your truly."

"I know I am usually irresistible, but right now, I could have someone poke me with this a few times, if you guys don't mind."

Still sitting, he pulls out a wand from his backpack, and holds it on the top of his palm.

Fola slowly makes her way up the rope behind the adventurers, once she is sure the danger is passed. When she takes in the scene at the top of the ledge, her eyes widen in horror as her gaze bounces from head to head. "They are Ekaujae, all of them..." she says with a slight quiver in her voice. "I recognize that one" she says, pointing at one of the less decayed heads still on the pike, "he was one of the recent victims of this evil. Rastel was his name." Looking around at the others, she points out the elven features of the half-decayed heads. Her own head shakes with outrage. "This isn't right. Please, help me take these heads off the spikes." She struggles for a moment as she removes Rastel's head, and gently lays it on the ground. "We can give them a proper burial later, but at least lets get them off the spikes..."

No magic presents itself to your spellcasting. The ledge opens up into a narrow and dark tunnel that leads into a cave.

Sakura, I presume you have no way of getting your horse up to the ledge? Is he staying behind?

Ilarien takes the wand and taps the half-orc a few times.

2 CLW taps: 2d8 + 2 ⇒ (4, 7) + 2 = 13
3rd tap: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

"One more?"

Devin helps remove the heads, setting them down next to Rastel's

Sakura looks at Fola but does not seem to be very moved.

Nonetheless, she says "I will help you to get the heads down. This is horrible!"

Later Sakura will get down the rope again and tell her horse to stay.

"I will be back soon Asb! Do not worry!"

She then gets up so they can continue.

Ash's singed skin heals a bit. No eyebrows, though. He takes the wand back from Ilarien.

"Much better, thanks.

Essilor also helps with getting the heads down, though being small and having no psychic abilities that can help him, the help he provides isn't very helpful.

"Is there some sort of funerary rights we can perform?" he asks.

Sakura prepares to continue.

”Let us go in! Whatever did this must be near!“

She holds her Greatsword and advances.

perception : 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12

"Not necessarily, but the hypothesis is worth considering." Ilarien passes a hand along her staff as she murmurs a cantrip, setting the polished wood alight with cold phosphorescence. "Lead on."

Fola shakes her head briefly at Essilor's question. "This is enough for now. I'll see them properly laid to rest after." She nods her thanks at those who help retrieve the heads, then gathers herself to follow them into the cave.

The persistent heat and humidity of the jungle fades away quickly beyond the cut in the rock that leads to a sloping passageway. A subtle breeze, tinged with the odor of bat guano, flows from deeper within.

Sakura notices a series of ancient cave paintings that begin at a height of 20 feet off the ground. There are two layers of art. The older layer depicts humans and some type of bat-winged creatures worshiping a massive shadowy figure that resembles a gigantic bat. Over top of this layer are depictions of human figures battling and trapping the older figures. In fact, the newer art incorporates these older images into its own, imprisoning the old artwork within the new. These paintings continue for the rest of the cave tunnel, culminating in a series of images celebrating a carved stalactite.