[Gameday X] GM Zin's 6-06 Hall of the Flesh Eaters (Inactive)

Game Master Zin Z'arin

Then she reminds everyone that the enemies may be all evil, just too weak to detect. She's not suggesting hurting them, just being careful.

Mika is correct; with some exceptions (undead, outsiders, clerics/paladins), evil creatures are only revealed by detect evil if they have more than 4 HD.

right now, at least some of you detect as evil... :Q

Let's tie them up and give them some food, to see if they're in a mood to talk?

"Good idea Bocke. I'm sure they wont want to talk, but I really want to know more about this place." Uoralveren takes some rations out of his bag. "Food is a great motivator."

Indranna regards the Kitsune with annoyance. "Wands of Infernal Healing give off a false aura while healing occurs." Indranna says calmly. "The kuru other than the spellcaster may be willing to talk to us if we offer them food." Indranna also gets out some of her rations.

The kuru (other than the leader) are currently unconscious due to nonlethal damage exceeding their current hp. They will need to be healed before they can be woken.

Dimak tries to use his wand of infernal healing on the unconcious and bound kuru who was wounded by Bocke's arrows.

UMD: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21 Success!

Dimak's spell begins its work immediately; wounds begin stitching themselves together until the kuru awakens with a groan. He glares at you with violence in his eyes.

Status
Bocke
Dimak
Ejtehah
Indranna
Mika
Uoralvern (comprehend languages)

Kuru
- red (-16 hp, prone, unconscious, stable)
- orange (-52 hp, dead)
- yellow (-16 hp, prone, unconscious, stable)
- green (-15 hp, prone, unconscious, stable)
- cyan (-15 hp, prone, unconscious, stable)
- blue (-21 hp, prone, unconscious, stable)
- purple, dashed (motionless, vacant eyes)
- pink (-59 hp; prone, tied up)

Active Effects
Dim light: Creatures within this area have concealment (20% miss chance in combat) from those without darkvision or the ability to see in darkness. A creature within an area of dim light can make a Stealth check to conceal itself.

Uoralveren gives the kuru some of his rations. "Here you go, buddy. There's more where that came from!" He watches the kuru curiously. "Now, can you tell me more about yourselves? Why are you here?"

The kuru leader spits in your face. "I'm here for the glory of the Blood Queen! We will feast upon your bones!"

Uoralveren wipes the spit off his face and takes the ration back (dried nuts and hard, flavorless jerky). "Well sounds like you don't want this. Who is this Blood Queen? If you tell us, perhaps we can give you something more fresh and meaty.".

Have we seen any wild animals nearby? We could hunt or fish for something and give it to the kuru as a trade deal.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (11) + 11 = 22

The kuru leader spits in your face. "I'm here for the glory of the Blood Queen! We will feast upon your bones!"

Sorry if there was some confusion in my last post, but Dimak did not heal the leader of the kuru. He used the wand on the normal kuru who dropped last (cyan) because of Bocke's arrows.

Dimak tries to use his wand of infernal healing on the unconcious and bound kuru who was wounded by Bocke's arrows.

Sorry, I keyed off "bound" as you'd only bound one kuru (unless I missed someone's post); that was the leader. I thought that was enough to ID and stopped there.

Retcon
The kuru awakens as nearly all of the arrow wounds stitch up. It ravenously devours the handful of nuts and berries, but looks in confusion at Uoralvern's words. The confusion seems to spark some situational awareness; you see a mix of both fear and fury join the barely satiated hunger. The kuru doesn't quite attack, but looks to be on the edge of doing just that.

Status
Bocke
Dimak
Ejtehah
Indranna
Mika
Uoralvern (comprehend languages)

Kuru
- red (-16 hp, 5 nl, prone, unconscious, stable)
- orange (-52 hp, dead)
- yellow (-16 hp, 5 nl, prone, unconscious, stable)
- green (-15 hp, 5 nl, prone, unconscious, stable)
- cyan (-5 hp, 5 nl, prone)
- blue (-21 hp, 5 nl, dead) oops, I mathed this one wrong; two total are dead
- purple, dashed (motionless, vacant eyes)
- pink (-69 hp; prone, tied up)

Active Effects
Dim light: Creatures within this area have concealment (20% miss chance in combat) from those without darkvision or the ability to see in darkness. A creature within an area of dim light can make a Stealth check to conceal itself.

@GM Zin:
No problem. And you're right - we followed Bocke's idea without actually posting that we tied them up before we healed them. Sorry about that.
Can we please also retcon that we actually bound the kuru that we woke up with infernal healing (cyan)?
Then we should be all on the same page to move on from there...

Indranna studies the kuru.
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 10 = 26

"He seems to have been bespelled." Indranna tells her companions.

Uoralveren pulls out more rations. He puts his hand on the kuru's shoulders and says a quick prayer to The Guiding Hand.

"May you heal these kuru and bless them with the wisdom to guide us."

The kuru recovers some of its nonlethal damage as Findeladlara heals them.

Forgot Uoralveren has the option to heal nonlethal damage per the Community domain - Calming Touch ability from his archetype.

non-lethal damage recovered: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

I can do this 4 more times. Should I do it to the remaining kuru?

I think we should keep the nonlethal damage on them, and minimally heal them, in case things don't go well on the talky talky front.

Normal healing also heals nonlethal damage. I made an error on cyan's status; he shouldn't have any more nonlethal damage remaining; Uoralveren's ability won't have any effect on cyan, so you can take that use/day back.

Indranna looks around for the hidden tomb entrance.
Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

perception aid : 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 12

I think we have to explore the map further, because:

Ra’geh Ejtehah wrote:

Did my survival check find any entrance?

No; there is no entrance to Sevenfingers Tomb in any uncovered area.

Where we're at:

You've bound all of the kuru. You've healed and fed one of the normal kuru. It has responded angrily, on the verge of attack. The leader is still unconscious, as are the rest of the kuru except the one with vacant eyes, who still sits drooling, seemingly unaware. (Did you bind this one too?)

Its obvious that you won't get answers from the normal kuru unless something changes.

Indranna studies the kuru.

[dice=Spellcraft]1d20+10

Something else occurs to Indranna. The vacant-eyed kuru is exceedingly odd; she can't think of anything else like it in any cultures she's known. Perhaps it has something to do with the compulsion you've seen in the other kuru?

Thanks GM! I am in favor of moving along. :-)

It seems we do not have a dispel magic available at the moment... What about protection from evil? It would give us a chance to end the compulsion(s) - Bocke's communal version would allow all 5 living kuru (except the leader) a new save. If the dice bot does not hate us, that should net us at least one success, right?

"He seems to have been bespelled." Indranna tells her companions.

Dimak thinks really hard for a few seconds, then speaks up.

"Well, then, can any of you magic studying people 'un-bespell' these kuru? I mean, I can do it, too (with my hammer) - but the results would be... rather unpleasant to the eye."

Indranna Grace wrote:

Indranna studies the kuru.

[dice=Spellcraft]1d20+10

Something else occurs to Indranna. The vacant-eyed kuru is exceedingly odd; she can't think of anything else like it in any cultures she's known. Perhaps it has something to do with the compulsion you've seen in the other kuru?

** spoiler omitted **

This is where you need to focus to free the kuru.

Bocke has protection from evil (communal) - he'll tie everyone up (he has 50' of rope) and cast it on 5 live ones.

The spell seems to have no effect; the kuru seem as angry and aggressive as before. Not sure if you fed and woke more... Any that are awake strain at their bonds, as if they wanted to fight despite your obvious advantage over them.

Bocke has protection from evil (communal) - he'll tie everyone up (he has 50' of rope) and cast it on 5 live ones.

These five kuru (and of course the evil leader) are still alive:

- red (-16 hp, 5 nl, prone, unconscious, stable)
- yellow (-16 hp, 5 nl, prone, unconscious, stable)
- green (-15 hp, 5 nl, prone, unconscious, stable)
- cyan (-5 hp, 5 nl, prone)
- purple, dashed (motionless, vacant eyes)

So if we do this and cyan and purple fail their saves, we need to heal the others one by one to check if the compulsion is suppressed.
However, the compulsion is only suppressed for one minute. So maybe we should heal the three unconcious before Bocke casts protection from evil (communal)?
Dimak is willing to use the three charges from his wand for this.

Edit: Can we retcon, please? Dimak would certainly ask Bocke why he is binding the unconscious and the one who is motionless - and share his thoughts...

"Wait, Bocke! Let's heal the unconscious first."

I'm in favor of moving along too.

"I'd rather not kill them if they were magically coerced into attacking." Uoralveren watches the kuru closely, leaving another ration or two for the others. "They need it more than I do," he shrugs.

"I'm in favor of leaving the kuru be and find the entrance to the tomb."

"Aren't you courious what happened to them, Uor...Uorave...veren? And we should not let the evil leader be freed by the others - and that's what possibly happens if we just go now. I do not want to have to look over my shoulder for the whole mission. That flash of light really hurt..."

I'm in favor of trying the spell on the five (not evil) kuru while they are conscious and give them some food. If that does not gain us new information, we can certainly move on.

Ejtehah has smelling salts to wake them up!

”I food not have though!!“

Uoralveren can Calming Touch them one by one to recover the nonlethal damage which should wake some of them up.

"Ah, yes. You do make a good point Dimak. And please, call me Wandering Dream."

Bocke is ready to move on.

I'm ready to move on as well.

Indranna would like to move on as well.

Does moving on involve any measures to address Dimak's concern about the kuru freeing the leader later off-screen?

Bocke advocates tying them ALL up - tranced, unconscious, conscious, angry, calm, fed, hungry, etc. We've tried feeding them, un-enchanting them, and talking with them.

If we think they're going to cause trouble after we leave, we can CDG them. Bocke won't do it personally, but he's not going to stop others from doing it because they're evil.

Unless someone has a new idea, or there's some new information that we get, I advocate moving on simply because we're out of things to do and I get the feeling we're just all standing around staring at each other at this point. The last combat-related post was September 24, it's been two weeks.

The party ensures that everyone is tied up securely, then begins searching for the entrance to the tomb again.

Heading towards the only other exit to this clearing, the party is grateful to only have to deal with the persistent fog. You didn't even know that your eyes were burning from the smoke under the canopy of trees around the campfire, but the relief to have it gone is palpable.

You come to another small clearing. Skewered here by a crudely carved post is a gruesome scarecrow constructed of tree branches, jungle vines, and bloodstained human bones. The skull-headed effigy accusingly points a bony arm down the trail leading west.

Map updated!

Mika moves forward. (only able to move 4 squares because of how much of map is still hidden)

The spell seems to have no effect; the kuru seem as angry and aggressive as before. Not sure if you fed and woke more... Any that are awake strain at their bonds, as if they wanted to fight despite your obvious advantage over them.

My hope was to retcon that we woke all five kuru before casting protection from evil on them. The crossposting did not help with that, it seems.

Anyhow, the party decided to move on, so I will let it go.
I'm still curious, though, so maybe we can get a peak behind the screen about what we missed after the scenario? Or is that a big No-No?

As soon Dimak sees the effigy, he draws his longhammer and carefully moves further west, following the trail.

I hope we find the entrance soon...

My hope was to retcon that we woke all five kuru before casting protection from evil on them. The crossposting did not help with that, it seems.

We can certainly retcon that; somebody would have to mark off extra charges of healing, and it doesn't really change anything. Someone doesn't need to be awake for that spell to have an effect.

I'm also curious if the kuru just failed the new saves they got or if they got no new save because something else is going on...

That's really behind-the-scenes information, sorry. I hinted as much as I care to already. :)

Anyhow, the party decided to move on, so I will let it go.

I'm still curious, though, so maybe we can get a peak behind the screen about what we missed after the scenario? Or is that a big No-No?

Already planning on it!

The Pathfinders continue along the trail, following the direction the skeletal hand points. Eventually the path diverges, splitting into a narrow branch that heads slightly north, and a wider branch that bends slightly south.

"Which way should we go?" Indranna asks. Then thinking for a few seconds, "Perhaps the narrow trail as few use it." she suggests.

Uoralveren nods. "Sure, but there is a higher chance of an ambush. I'd prefer walking somewhere that isn't so... constricted."

Dimak wrote:

I'm still curious, though, so maybe we can get a peak behind the screen about what we missed after the scenario? Or is that a big No-No?

Already planning on it!

Great, thank you! So let's move on.

"An ambush? Bah! Who cares? We diverged from the main path before and had little trouble despite the kuru attacking. I'll protect you, Wandering Dream." Dimak says with a wink.

He takes a few more steps on the more narrow path to check it out.

A crack in the earth splits the ground here, most of it covered by thick weeds and the roots of a huge strangler fig tree. There are several gaps between the roots through which an adventurer might squeeze. Below the tangled roots is a deep shaft that descends into the gloom.

Bocke will cast light on a rock and drop it in.

"Shall we check around the rest of the ground level before heading down?"

Bocke eyes the strangler fig warily. "Is this thing going to try to strangle us?"

Knowledge (nature): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21

The lighted rocks bounces off roots of the strangler fig and the craggy walls of the crack. It lands roughly 40 feet down in a wet, muddy mess, most of its light obscured almost immediately as the velocity of the fall embeds it in the muck.

The strangler fig is mundane.

Dimak walks another 10 feet forward to check out the crack. He looks into the shaft.

Perception (darkvision): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

"I had the very same thought, Bocke - let's secure the area first. We can always return here."

The thirty-foot-long, root-covered crack extends deep into the Gloomspire. Numerous gnarled tree roots creep down the sides of the shaft, a few of them hanging almost to the muddy floor. Dozens of shallow niches are set at irregular intervals down each of the four walls of the shaft. Though some are empty, most of the recesses hold squat, four-foot-tall stone idols of leering, horned fiends.

Medium creatures can squeeze past the roots as a full-round action; small creatures treat the opening as difficult terrain. Some roots would need to be hacked away for a Large creature to fit through the opening.

Dimak tells the others what he sees, but is still in favor of securing the area first.