Coldwater's Abomination Vaults

Game Master Quentin Coldwater

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That puts 3.6gp back in the kitty for a new grand total of 386.5gp (assuming we sell the staff and spellbook, or 231.5gp if we don't).

Go ahead and sell both.

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It's moving day folks! ...

Awesome! Good luck!

Honestly there isn't a lot that Cherry really needs that is in level. And other than heal spells, not a lot Cherry really does either.

The scrolls sound like a good idea, but Kka is right, we have an excess of healing.

I made a second tab on the loot sheet with the intention of making our (mostly Kka's) life easier.

It lists all our buying wishlists. And it compiles the lists into a single cell that can be copy pasted into the forum post here and automatically formatted.

So if you ever want to pull it in here, just go to sheet 2 "Wishlists" and then copy cell E1 and paste it here.

If you want to add stuff, just add it, column G will auto-fill
If you get something you can check it off and it will be left off the list when copy-pasted.

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I made a second tab on the loot sheet with the intention of making our (mostly Kka's) life easier.

Wow, nice work! Thanks. I checked Lough's +1 Striking Handwraps and Armor Potency +1 lines since he has those now. I also tweaked Kka's list because she's going with the Handwraps instead of the Sap, and the Armor Potency +1 is now her highest priority.

As an aside, I also found out the hard way with another PC of mine that you can't have both Handwraps and Healer's Gloves on at the same time. So even more reason for taking them off Kka's list.

@Cherry, what about a Guardian Staff (from the Treasure Vault) instead of a staff of healing?

@Kka, Also, for next time, I also made a template to try out for the overall loot accounting. It's the third tab on the loot sheet. Similar formatting to the wishlist tab. See below for example, (I just have placeholder names in there right now).

"

New loot document slides look good Kvit. If I knew my way around a spread sheet I'd help, but I was more on the coding side of things when I was working.

It's moving day folks!

Truck coming in the next hour or two, loading it up with about 60 boxes plus 10 furnitures, then catching a red eye into Portland Maine!

Will be mobile for posting these next few days at reduced technical capacity - but I will be tuning in here and there.

Cheers.

Good luck, Lough!

Good luck on your move, Lough! Hope it goes smoothly!

I think the guardian staff is a better choice. It will at least get Cherry a few spells they don't normally run, but would probably use if they had the slots.

@GM

You linked to the item info for the Gauntlight

1) how much of what's listed there do we know? All of it? Including how it's destroyed?

2) it mentions that it attempts to counteract teleportation into it, including summons. Does that mean (as a wizard) I can't use things like summon construct or summon animal?

@The rest of you

It seems like based on timing, it will activate again about 5 days after we finish our current downtime (of 9 days). It's taking us about 1-2 days per level so far.

Are we okay with handling at least one more activation (ie, defending the town from _____)? Or should we cut the Time to just 1 (or 2) days and I'll skip learning Infernal and Celestial by retraining for Multilingual?

Considering the great pay she's collecting as a barmaid, Kka is more than happy to cut her time back in town to a minimum. Not sure that learning infernal/celestial is going to be all that useful in the vaults, so I vote to do another level (and get bumped up to 5th level - major boost) before we deal with the next army of undead.

Considering the great pay she's collecting as a barmaid, Kka is more than happy to cut her time back in town to a minimum. Not sure that learning infernal/celestial is going to be all that useful in the vaults, so I vote to do another level (and get bumped up to 5th level - major boost) before we deal with the next army of undead.

I'm not sure about the second language choice, but we've already run into the need for infernal twice I think.

I mean if we know in-character that another attack is imminent, I'm fine with 2 or 3 days of downtime and then heading back in. However, I do think Kvit has a point about Infernal. If it's already come up twice, there's a good chance it will come up again. Still, having an extra level (and the juicy stat boosts that come with it) might be more beneficial than the languages, at least in the short-term.

We could always ask the DM if the next activation assumes we are level 4 or 5? He might not answer, rightfully, but it could shape how things happen.

@GM

You linked to the item info for the Gauntlight

1) how much of what's listed there do we know? All of it? Including how it's destroyed?

2) it mentions that it attempts to counteract teleportation into it, including summons. Does that mean (as a wizard) I can't use things like summon construct or summon animal?

1) Maybe linking it directly wasn't the best idea, but the notes are pretty thorough. You know pretty much everything there is to know. Maybe not in those exact words, but close enough. As for its destruction, maybe not that you need to destroy Belcorra, but she has put considerable time and resources into the lighthouse. You'll probably have to do something at the base of the lighthouse to dismantle the magic from it.

2) Let's skip that part. Making summons not work is weird, and you've already done so before. I don't see a mechanical reason to keep that up, though I haven't read the other two books yet.
I promise I won't abuse it from my side, at least.

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The only scripted moment when the lighthouse is supposed to fire is during level 1, where you got a taste of what it can do. The rest is all up to me. I can in theory up the difficulty of the monthly encounters so they're not all level 1 undead, but I also don't want to overburden you. If I'm going to scale the beam, I'll scale it to your level, don't worry. Whether you're level 4 or 5, I'll make sure it's level-appropriate.

Also note that in its current state, the lighthouse functions only once a month. If it gets fixed (somehow), it can be done once per minute. Again, I don't have a timeframe (yet) for when it is fixed, but assume there's a clock ticking in the background. This was clearly a test-fire.

I mean if we know in-character that another attack is imminent, I'm fine with 2 or 3 days of downtime and then heading back in. However, I do think Kvit has a point about Infernal. If it's already come up twice, there's a good chance it will come up again. Still, having an extra level (and the juicy stat boosts that come with it) might be more beneficial than the languages, at least in the short-term.

Seconding

I just bought the data package for Treasure Vault on HLO, and that caused me to finally sit down and make a wishlist for Fuin. Here are the items I definitely want at some point, from most to least:

1. A mask (see below)
2. Mirror Goggles: Nice little bump to Perception and a situational ability against visual effects. Also looks cool.
3. Slippers of Spider Climbing: Kind of expensive, so probably not for a bit.
4. Armbands of Athleticism: As a 9th level item, these are at the bottom of the list since it will be several levels before we're likely able to afford them.

I looked at the Cassisian Helmet, the Tactician's Helm, and the Rhinoceros Mask. All three look interesting and useful, but I can't decide. Probably the tactician mask is the most generally useful but all of them are pretty situational (I have yet to perform an AoO, for example). Thoughts?

All those look like interesting options. I think the Cassisian Helmet would likely get the most use. Tactician's helmet looks interesting, but you don't use a shield and stay away from melee, so I'm not sure you'd get a lot of use out of it. And like you said, you haven't made an AoO yet. Rhinoceros Mask is actually an interesting choice, we have run into trying to destroy objects multiple times so far.

For the slippers, I could buy the formula for Spiderfoot Brew and use quick alchemy to make it if we need it. It would only last a minute though. Just an alternative suggestion/idea.

The main uses of the Tactician's Helmet for me would be the Athletics checks, since I just took Knockdown as a class feat. Since I don't have Expert in Athletics (and likely never will, at least not in this AP) the +2 would be very helpful. It would, of course, get superseded by the Armbands of Athleticism, but as a 9th level item, that's a long way off.

Overall though, I guess the Rhinoceros Mask or Cassisian Helmet would probably get more use. The eye beam ability for the helmet probably wouldn't see much use, tbh. It would mainly be for the +1 AC/saves against Evil creatures. I dunno, it's a hard choice, but I'm leaning toward the helmet. I wonder if I can get one where the wings are made of raven feathers? I don't wanna ruin my aesthetic. XD

Kka listens as Cherry explains the situation with the bandits and Kvit gives his opinion. "I dunno. If it's some of those Canker Cult ghouls, then they're out here 'cause we chased them out of the Gauntlight, which kinda makes us responsible. They're also pretty nasty creatures and if the merchants' guards couldn't handle them, then I doubt the city guard is up to the job either. Maybe we should go by there on the way back to the Gauntlight and see what the deal is before we decide to get involved. It shouldn't take a lot of extra time."

A CN Rogue feeling responsible for the consequences of their own actions? What madness is this?

A CN Rogue feeling responsible for the consequences of their own actions? What madness is this?

:P

:)

Kka's just playing to the crowd. After all this recent taste of adventure, she's desperate to get away from her boring day job and back out into the field; she'll use whatever arguments she thinks might expedite that outcome.

Though she'll deny it, she's also quite attached to Otari, if much less so to the people in it (with a few notable exceptions). It's the only home she's known and she'll defend it to the death. And speaking of death, her fear of it is disconcertingly low and decreasing with every brush she has with it. She's not suicidal (yet), but not caring whether she lives or dies makes her way more willing to seek out and throw herself into dangerous situations... such as facing a bunch of ghouls messing with her precious Otari.

Kka Magwi wrote:

Kka listens as Cherry explains the situation with the bandits and Kvit gives his opinion. "I dunno. If it's some of those Canker Cult ghouls, then they're out here 'cause we chased them out of the Gauntlight, which kinda makes us responsible. They're also pretty nasty creatures and if the merchants' guards couldn't handle them, then I doubt the city guard is up to the job either. Maybe we should go by there on the way back to the Gauntlight and see what the deal is before we decide to get involved. It shouldn't take a lot of extra time."

A CN Rogue feeling responsible for the consequences of their own actions? What madness is this?

:P

Perhaps the beginning of a character arc?

I'm honestly already impressed you've thought so much about your character. My characters never come alive in my head that much, so it's cool to see your do. :)

Seconded!

Before we go, Lough is looking to Learn a Spell: Shield.

Anyone can teach him?

Kvit can! Only fair since Lough taught him Telekinetic projectile

Fuin can too actually. Tag team teachers? :D

We might need it. When Lough taught Kvit it took many tries...

Oh does it take a skill check of some sort? Coz Fuin is not trained in Arcana or Occult :S

Lol, no just the learner has to roll. I blamed Kvit's failures on Lough's teaching, lol.

Ah okay. Whew!

Think we might need a little DM poke to get us moving again.

Yeah, Kvit already started walking so y'all better catch up!

Whelp, sorry. Been in a weird mindspace lately. Starting new things is difficult.

So, doing something unscripted here and I'd like to make sure I don't mess up. I'm transplanting an encounter from the last level to here, and I'm making a few adjustments to keep it challenging. The encounter was a Moderate encounter at level 3 (single creature at level+2, worth 80 XP). Since it's now level+1, I have 20 XP to play with.

A regular Ghoul is level 1, but kinda flimsy compared to you now. But their paralysis is also scary enough that I don't want to underestimate them. But their next-strongest version is level 3, which is immediately much scarier. If I decide to make them Weak, I think I can throw in two of them next to the original encounter to make it challenging without making it overkill, but I'd like to make sure you are okay with it. Two Weak cultists (20 xp each) and the original encounter (60 xp) should make for an encounter in between moderate and severe. Does that sound okay?

It should be fine. I'd have given the level 1 versions the Elite template instead of taking the level 3 versions down a peg, but I think it's mostly academic. Since there's five of us, it shouldn't be too much of a concern.

Also, I threw up a quick post but I'm elbow-deep in an editing gig, and I'm finding myself with a disheartening lack of free time. Feel free to bot me over the next two to three days. Hopefully I'm done by then and free to post once more.

Good luck, Fuìn!

I took a quick look at the difference between Elite normal ghouls and Weak special ones. The special ones have slightly more HP and damage output, but overall lower AC and to hit, so it seems pretty balanced. I'll keep things in mind if stuff goes sideways.

What slide number are we on?

slide Four, the one with the lots of grassy area

The link in my header should immediately jump to the right slide. If it doesn't (or you use a different way of accessing the slides), slide four, as Kvit said.

Despite the terrible paralysis things going on....

I'm liking this opportunity to blow all Kvit's spells in one fight

Yeah, it's fun to blow your resources in one big fight. :)

Sorry I've been gone longer than I thought I'd be. It's been kind of a grueling gig. I have some time right now so I'm going to catch up and hopefully post (if I'm up). I should be available enough to post now, since the gig is pretty close to wrapping up.

Welcome back! You didn't miss much, you spent a round in paralysis and got hit pretty hard. But at least you got the killing blow. :)

I wanted to do this fight to show that your actions really do have consequences. You basically cleared out all the head ghouls, so the flunkies escaped and started up shop somewhere else. I'm glad I took the level 3 ghouls and made them a bit weaker instead of grabbing the normal level 1 ones, the spellcasting makes them a little bit more interesting. I think I could've added one more for a more exciting fight (this didn't really feel "epic" to me, but maybe you disagree. One miniboss and two mooks feels kinda meh to me), but I'm glad I erred on the side of caution. The paralysis could easily swing things in their favour.

Yeah, ghouls are notoriously overpowered for their level/CR. Always have been. The paralysis can turn a "moderate" or even "trivial" encounter into a TPK with a couple bad Fortitude saves. Had they been something other than ghouls, we probably could have handled another minion, but adding an extra pair of saving throws every hit can wreck that fast. Plus even if the party survives the fight, the ghoul fever can still take somebody out if the party has too few tools against disease. The antiplagues should help us significantly, though.

So, where do people wanna go? I think most want to make a dent in Gauntlight's fourth floor, but I think Kvit thought this was gonna be a one-combat day, considering he blew most of his spells already (which is fine, by the way, didn't mean to make that sound judgmental).

Probably best to hit that fourth level at full strength, so heading back to Otari in triumph for a night's rest might be the way to go. That will not only recharge Kvit's spells, but it'll give us ghoul fever sufferers a chance to get rid of the affliction (with the help of Kvit's anti-plagues), even if it means paying the temple for a cure in the case of a failed save.

I'm okay either way. I just assumed folks wouldn't want back to the gauntlight all diseased like.

Cool, I'll set up level 4 and lead you there when I get home from work.

Without the antiplague, Fuìn would have failed his save. Yay Kvit!