Coldwater's Abomination Vaults

Game Master Quentin Coldwater

You get the feeling that this is the vampiric mist you've heard so much about. It seems to be lying on the ground (sleeping?) for now.

A very small patch of clean ground appears as Kka pokes the blood, as if it's retreating from your dagger.

Also, I gave you some pieces of information already.

When the blood retreats from Kka's dagger, she says, "Did you see thaat?! It moved!" She takes a step back as she realizes what they might be dealing with. "Why do I get the feeling that this is the vaampiric mist we've heard so much about. Looks like it's in some sort of dormaant liquid form right now." "...for which I am eternally grateful".

She stares at it for a moment contemplating their options. "Well, we could try and mop it up and stick it in a bottle or something. Not sure thaat will hold it though. How about we try to burn it, or fry it, or freeze it, or disolve it, or, or... Hold on a minute!" She pauses mid breath as her eyes open up in excitement. All in a rush, she says, "If it's vaampiric, then it's undead, right? Maaybe we can heal it to death or dissolve it in Holy Water! Shall we give it a try?"
Kka looks over at Cherry. "You've still got that waand, right?"

Looking back back down at the pool of blood, she frowns. "Odd! I wonder why it hasn't launched itself at us yet. Not that I'm complaaining or anything, but we better take caare of it before it waakes up."

Looks like that Wand of Healing we found may come in handy after all :)

Lough's sensitive stomach rebels against him when his inner ear is jostled by the magical transportation - splinching it's innards onto the ground, our paranoid hero loses his lunch with a loud chuck, spewing hot onto the stone ground, a single heavy heave, lurching his body at the violence of the impulse, and recoiling slowly to regain his composure, wiping his mouth with the backside of his clawed hand.

Hearing Kka's idea, he nods, and if others seem ready to agree, looks ready to wake the sleeping (or whatever) mist with that same claw.

Kvit is surprised. He had heard of vampiric mist before and knows a little about them but expected them to be more, well, mist-like. "Could be dormant during the daylight hours. I don't know a lot about these things, but if it is vampiric mist, fire should do some damage to them. I know we found out earlier today that we don't have much on-demand fire capabilities between us, but I do have some torches. I'm sure it'd do some damage easily, or at least maybe keep it at bay?"

Kka eyes Lough nervously as he pulls out his claw and reaches for the blood. "Uh! Lough, Whaat are you doing? I don't think our weapons are going to work real good on a puddle. I think we should give the heal spell a try first. Best thing about it is thaat we don't have to be near the thing when it goes off." Turning to the others, she says, "Why don't we all step out into the main room a waays and find some cover. Cherry can then caast the spell through the open door. Great idea, no? I caan't wait to find out whaat it will do to the thing."

"We should light these torches first. We don't actually know if healing spells will do anything to it. And it will take too long to light them if the thing wakes up."

Lough and Kvit knows that Vampiric Mists are aberrations. They're called "Vampiric" because they drain blood, not because they're undead.

Lough and Kvit knows that Vampiric Mists are aberrations. They're called "Vampiric" because they drain blood, not because they're undead.

Should I assume that these bits of private knowledge held by Kvit and Lough are automatically shared with the rest of the group? I've been working on the assumption that if the information isn't passed along as part of RP, then it is not known to all.

Kka shrugs at Kvit's insistence on lighting torches. "Whatever. But if we're going to fry this thing then let's do it right and build a bonfire over it. I'm thinking a little torch won't finish the job."

Can I take it that there is plenty of combustible material around in the form of old timbers, rotting paper, tapestries, etc?

I put it in spoiler tags for them to share, but they haven't done so yet.
Yeah, there's enough stuff to build a decent fire.

"How is everyone doing health wise?" Cherry asks. "I'll definitely be casting my support spells during this combat. Magic Weapon could give Lough a big boost at the least."

Cherry pauses for a moment. "Should we double up and vast Bless as well, or instead of Magic Weapon? I'm new to this whole adventuring thing, and I don't know if I should spend both my non-heals or not."

Kka looks over at Cherry with a new sense of respect. "You go girl! I didn't know you were so gung-ho to beat things up." She looks down at the blood. "Don't know how effective our weapons are going to be against this thing though. Might be best to give the fire a try first."

Magic Weapon will not work on Lough's claw. It only works on weapons, not unarmed attacks. For the latter you need a Magic Fang talisman of +1 Striking Handwraps to get the same effect. On the other hand, Kka's shortsword or Sam's bow can use it, but I'm pretty sure that physical damage will be difficult to inflict on a liquid or a mist (it might well be immune to it); I suspect the spellcasters will be doing most of the damage dealing if it comes to that. Bless is good, but you will probably want to wait until the encounter starts (if it ever does), otherwise with a 1 minute max duration, you may just end up wasting it. Same goes for Magic Weapon.

Kka then wanders around the complex and collects chunks of broken wood, splinters, pieces of paper, torn tapestries, and anything else that she thinks will burn hot. She brings it all back to the circular room. "Well don't just staand there gaawking. Go get more wood while I build the fire."

First, she carefully constructs a low shelf over the blood stain to keep the wood from touching it. Then she starts building a really big bonfire on top of it.

Survival: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19

She looks at her work with pride. "Okaay, everyone outside! Kvit, why don't you light your torch and use it to get the fire going. Keep the door ajaar so there's plenty of air and so we caan see whaat's going on inside. This should be fun."

Assuming we go ahead with this plan, we should move our PCs behind cover in the main entrance area outside the base of the Gauntlight before Kvit lights the fire.

Kvit had dug out his torches and flint and steel while the bonfire was being built. He watched with a skeptical look. He suddenly looks concerned and surprised by Kka's suggestion. "Well, I, uh, would really rather not be the one to wake that thing up."

He starts lighting a torch and will light four of them. Offering the lit torches to anyone that'll take them. "Even a small bit of fire should be able to hurt it so hang onto these in case the bonfire doesn't work out"

I plan to share any relevant secret info, generally RP style. But I could make it more clear with ooc info on what he means. This thing is vulnerable to fire, a torch does 1d4 bludgeoning and 1 fire damage which is enough to trigger its vulnerability.

"I had a dream once" Lough begins "This "Mist" is alien in origin, and not from beyond the pale. I saw one once, and it followed me, and sucked my blood, engorging itself on my life essence..." he pauses for a breath "I did my best to defend myself, but it was difficult, resistant to my claws, laughing at me..." darting his eyes around "It killed me in a matter of seconds before I suddenly woke up in a cold sweat!"

Translation: not undead, semi-corporeal, resist physical attacks, inflicts bleed and drained, no surprise attacks!

He turns to Kvit "Give me that torch! We will burn it!"

In the blood on the floor, two eye-like shapes form and quickly disappear again repeatedly as Kka is building the structure. Looks like it's aware of what you're doing, but doesn't seem to take action yet.

Kka notices the bloodstain sprout two eyes and watch her build the bonfire. "Um. It's loooking at me guys. We better hurry before it waakes up all the waay." Once done, she scootches out of the room and past Lough holding the burning torch. "Let her rip, Lough!" She finds some cover around a corner and with torch in one hand and rapier in the other, pokes her head out to see what happens.

Zoiks!

Unable to enunciate, Fear swallows Lough's voice, and his Body nearly loses it's Nerve when he observes that he is being Watched!?! Turning to run just when Kka addresses him directly, he accidentally runs towards the Mist in his confusion, and, in his panic, looking at Kvit's torch in his hand, lights the kindle!

Heart racing well over a hundred beats per minute!

Kka watches as Lough with panic in his eyes runs into the room and puts the torch to the kindling. He seemed frozen in place. "What the heck does the lunatic think he's doing just standing there?". Hoping to prod him into action before he became part of the bonfire himself, Kka shouts out, "Good job, big maan. Now get the your butt out of there, and I mean NOW!"

Lough lights the kindle and the structure immediately catches fire. The pool of blood on the floor shrieks and recoils in fear, then forms into a semisolid form, the edges of his shape already evaporating from the heat.

"Also DAS habt ihr Würmer gemacht. Ihr wart mir auf den Fersen, oder? Ich hatte gehofft, ich könnte einen von euch überrumpeln, aber ihr musstet schmutzig kämpfen," it growls at you in a guttural tone.

Cherry Berry: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20
Giyozara: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17
Kka: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16
Kvit: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19
Lough: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21
Sam: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21
Mist: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 10 = 26

Mist
Lough - 9 damage, Fort save required, 1d6 persistent bleed damage
Cherry Berry
Sam
Kvit
Giyozara
Kka

The mist skitters/floats away from the fire, unaware that Lough is quick enough to intercept it Lough gets an attack of opportunity, if he wants, then it lands behind Lough and lashes a misty tendril at him.

Tendril attack at Lough: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25
Slashing damage: 2d6 ⇒ (3, 6) = 9

Somehow, despite the fact that the mist is mostly vapour, its claws leave terrible wounds, and Lough starts bleeding profusely. You have persistent bleed damage now.
Lough, please make me a Fortitude save as it drains your life force.

The mist inhales deeply as it draws fresh blood, and you see some of Lough's blood droplets being pulled towards the mist's form. It then lashes out once more, but misses.

Tendril attack, MAP, agile: 1d20 + 10 - 4 ⇒ (9) + 10 - 4 = 15

Everyone may act!

Spasmodically, Lough wags his torch at the source of the sudden movement!

↺) Attack of Opportunity

Improvised (-2) Torch (1d4 Blunt +1 Fire) vs Mist: 1d20 + 9 - 2 ⇒ (7) + 9 - 2 = 141d4 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 4 + 1 = 9
Hero Point!
Improvised (-2) Torch (1d4 Blunt +1 Fire) vs Mist: 1d20 + 9 - 2 ⇒ (20) + 9 - 2 = 271d4 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 4 + 1 = 6

Then he screams as his skin is ripped open before his eyes!

Lough Fortitude: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18

Whirling around, his reflexes kick in, and he raises his shield and swipes twice more!

Improvised (-2) Torch (1d4 Blunt +1 Fire) vs Mist: 1d20 + 9 - 2 ⇒ (6) + 9 - 2 = 131d4 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 4 + 1 = 6
Improvised (-2) Torch (1d4 Blunt +1 Fire) vs Mist: 1d20 + 9 - 5 - 2 ⇒ (2) + 9 - 5 - 2 = 41d4 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 4 + 1 = 8

◆) Raise Shield (to AC 20)
◆◆) Strike x2
+
↺) Shield Block (Hardness 5, HP 17/20, BT 10)
↺) Attack of Opportunity (torch +7 @ 1d4+4+1 B+Fire)
~) Whichever reaction triggers first

Persistent Bleed (1d6) plus Flat Check (DC 15): 1d6 ⇒ 21d20 ⇒ 18

Stumbling a moment into the fire behind him, an errant spark lands on his wound and cauterizes it(!?)

He looks to Kvit (The "smart" one) and asks "What it say?"

But it was too late. The mist was on Lough before he could get out. "Dang it!"

"Oh well, nothing for it I suppose. Can't very well leave the big man to his fate now... or can we? No, better not; we might need him later."

Kka charges out and deciding to listen to Kvit for once, smacks the mist from behind with her torch a couple of times.

According to the rules a Torch is an improvised weapon that deals 1d4 bludgeoning damage plus 1 fire damage. Looking at the rules for Improvised Weapons we see that you take a –2 item penalty to attack rolls with an improvised weapon. Unless the GM says otherwise, I'm assuming that it isn't a finesse weapon, Ugh! No Dex to Attack/Damage and no Sneak Attack.

Action 1 (◆): Stride (30 feet) - Fingers crossed for no AoO

Action 2 (◆): Strike (Improvised Weapon - Torch) vs Mist.

Torch Attack: 1d20 + 3 - 2 ⇒ (16) + 3 - 2 = 17 vs Flat-Footed
Torch Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 1 bludgeoning damage
Torch Fire Damage: 1 = 1 fire damage

Action 3 (◆): Strike (Improvised Weapon - Torch) with MAP1 vs Mist.

Torch Attack: 1d20 + 3 - 2 - 5 ⇒ (3) + 3 - 2 - 5 = -1 vs Flat-Footed
Torch Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 2 bludgeoning damage
Torch Fire Damage: 1 = 1 fire damage

You spellcasters better have something good up your sleeves, because we are NOT going to beat this thing to death with just torches, burning or otherwise. Oh, and get those Heal spells ready because we're going to need them. You may want to try the 3-action version just to see what happens to the mist.

Our only other hope is that the creature's movements are restricted to the interior of the Gauntlight. If so, Lough can Tumble Through out of there and we can back up to see what happens. Hopefully the raging bonfire within will finish the job, or we can lob spells/arrows at it through the door.

Kvit tossed the other two torches on the ground nearby for whoever wants them. They're on the map

Lough, that Fort save is not enough. You're Drained 1.

The mist breathes in deeply, and Lough's blood flows into the entity, making it seem a little more healthy than it was before.

Lough's attack of opportunity hits it and hurts it a lot, but his next to swings miss.

Kka, I'll give you torches are finesse-able.
Kka's first torch attack also strikes true, causing more shrieks from the thing, but as it is basically a walking cloud, Kka can't find any vital organs to injure. Looks like it can be flanked, but is either immune or resists precision damage. It resists the majority of Kka's attack, but the torch's fire eats away at it at a frightening pace.

It seems to have about equal physical resistance as it has a weakness to fire, so as long as you're using torches, your damage output is about the same.

Mist - 14 damage
Lough - 11 damage, drained 1
Cherry Berry
Sam
Kvit
Giyozara
Kka

"Do any of you know if it is a proper evil creature, or just an animal?"

Cherry gestures sharly with one 'hand' and an aura of golden light springs up around them.

◆◆ Casting Bless. It is initially 5ft radius
◆Cast Shield on self.

"Oh I'm pretty sure this thing is evil. Plus it just talked to us and it's not happy. Apparently we're "fighting dirty" even though it was the one lying in wait for us. I don't have any fire, but there is not much that can resist a few magic missile bolts."

◆◆◆ Magic Missile
3 action magic missile: 3d4 + 3 ⇒ (4, 3, 4) + 3 = 14

Lough concedes "Well. We did break into it's domain, build a trap for it, and disturb it's slumber..." wondering if the thing can understand him "It's not wrong!"

Kka is impressed by Kvits bolts of power. "Woo hoo! Now thaat's what I was hoping for. Keep them coming, Kvit." Especially if you can get another set of damage dice like that.

Preparing to take another whack at the mist with her torch, Kka looks over her shoulder at Giyozara. "What about you Giyozara? You got anything thaat can hurt this thing?"

Kka rolls her eyes at Lough's moralizing. "This creature is just the tip of an evil arrow pointing directly at the heart of Otaari. The sooner we destroy it, the sooner we'll all sleep easier in our beds." "Plus, it might be hiding a bunch of cool loot we could use."

Giyozara charages a massive ball of lightning in his hands, and it just keeps charging, and charging.

◆◆◆ Horizon Thunder Sphere
"Psychic BOMB!"
attack, if attack fails it takes 1/2 damage: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9
Damn, that thing never hits
1/2 damage as lighning damage: 3d6 ⇒ (5, 2, 4) = 11

Slight retcon as I implement the mechanics of the fire you built.

As the pyre is lit, some flames fall onto the mist and it catches on fire. The fire eats away rapidly at its form as it attacks in a blind rage. Kvit's Magic Missiles punch big holes in its form and it loses cohesion. What is left of the shape falls to the ground in a wet splat and the fire takes care of the rest. The stench of burning blood hangs heavy in the air, but the thing is no more.

Combat over!

Giyozara, the thing's dead before your turn, so you still have your spell.

Maybe slightly anticlimactic after all that hyping up, but you made preparations and that really sped up the process. Again, maybe I should've intervened a little sooner, but I also wanted to reward you.

"Lough, let me see to your wounds." Cherry says as they approach.

Medicine: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20
Healing: 2d8 ⇒ (7, 5) = 12

Lough hisses with pain as Cherry tends to his open wounds.

He clutches his tumultuously-turning stomach all the meanwhile.

Even when Berry finishes, Lough still looks a little, well, drained...

"Huh, good job everyone . . . I didn't even get to cast a spell."

Kka lets out a cheer when Kvit's power bolts tear apart the burning mist and its remains boil away. "Good job Kvit! For a moment there I thought we were in real trouble, but it all turned out great in the end." She turns to look at Lough as Cherry tends to his wounds. "You okaay Lough? You look terrible. Nothing a good night's sleep won't taake caare of, eh? Ark ark."

That drained condition is a real pain. There doesn't seem to be a way to remove it without a full night’s rest.

She bats away at the smell of burning blood. "Pee-ew! Maan, that's gross!" She takes a few steps back to get away from the acrid smoke and waits for the fire to die down in the base of the Gauntlight.

Once things cool down enough to go back inside, Kka steps in and looks up the stairs at the trap door in the ceiling nearly a hundred feet above. "Okaay then. Now that we've taaken caare of the evil vampiric mist guard, why don't we go taake a look upstairs? Thaat is whaat we're here for, no?" Making sure that the stairs are sturdy enough to hold her weight, she starts climbing. When she gets to the trap door, she goes through her usual trap and lock scanning routine.

Kvit beams with pride. "Ah. Yeah, well we're just lucky it worked. Good idea with the bonfire though. I wasn't sure if we could pull that off. I'll have to prepare some fire spells from now on."

He wrinkles his nose. His sensitive nose far more affected by the gross smell than Kka. You're right, that smell is vile."

He moves into the room near the stairs.

Kka checks out the trap door, but doesn't detect any traps. She (or Lough) pushes open the door and finds the following.

Rows of black metal bars encase this circular chamber like a cage. Shimmering waves of force flicker between the bars and gives the illusion that softly glowing glass encases this entire area. The floor to the north has an iron trapdoor; otherwise, this room appears empty save for a human‑sized encasement of glass and iron that flickers and glows with an unsettling, almost nauseating pale blue shimmer—Gauntlight’s lantern!

A map of this floor is in the lower left corner of the map, right below the compass.

Giyozara will pop his head up the ladder to check on the glowing lighthouse to see if it is under a magical effect.

Kka hops up into the room and looks at the sickly blue light as if entranced. She walks around the room to make sure it is as empty as it appears to be.

Activity: Search - SECRET - Perception +7 with Trap Finder

She then looks at the weird light source some more. "Huh! So thaat's it then? The Gauntlight appears to be working great and no ghost. Only question left is why did it turn back on... out of the blue. Ark ark."

Those with Arcana or Occultism might want to try a Recall Knowledge, otherwise what? We can't Dispel Magic yet. If it's a hazard, then we could try disabling it or smashing it, I guess.

Kka does another circuit of the room looking to see if she can find some sort of mechanism controlling the light or any other way to turn it off.

Thievery: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20

Lough thinks... has he heard any stories about a glowing prison? Shuddering at the thought...

Note that my medicine check takes 10 minutes and is based on someone loaning me their Med Kit. I was a little too over-eager on the skill check.

Kvit speaks up to Giyozara, "What do you think, Giyozara? Want me to take a look?"

He does a little double take, "Kka! Did you just say the Gauntlight is working great?! What's that supposed to mean?"

As you walk around the upper floor, you feel that Boss Skrawng was right - the flame is entirely heatless, and it moves in such a way that natural fire shouldn't. Clearly, this construction's primary function wasn't intended as a lighthouse in the first place.

When Cherry asks for Healer's Tools, Kka hands over hers. "Here you go Cherry. I guess we'll add one to our shopping list for you." When Cherry finishes patching up Lough, Kka makes sure to get it back. "Let me know if you need it again, but I better hold onto it in caase I need to get to it quickly during a fight."

He does a little double take, "Kka! Did you just say the Gauntlight is working great?! What's that supposed to mean?"

Kka looks at Kvit like he's an idiot. "Well, duh! It's a lighthouse and now it's lit. Seems like it's doing its job to me. Admittedly the color is a bit odd, but I try not to be too judgemental about such things."

After her closer examination of the light chamber and surrounding cage, Kka reports her findings. "Welp, I can't find any control box or source of fuel, so no way to turn it off mechanically. Looks to me like the flame is magical anyway, so I guess it'll take magic to turn it off. Anyone know how to do that? No? Well then, I guess it'll stay lit for the time being."

Lough gets defensive at Kka's scolding of Kvit, and plays the "big man" stepping between the two "Hasn't been lit for years and suddenly now it's lit? Don't have to be rude. And you should probably apologize" he turns around and winks at the little wizard.

When Lough calls her out for being rude, Kka rolls her red eyes exaggeratedly. "Fine, Daad!" Then turning to Kvit she adds, "Sorry if I was rude Kvit. I'll try to be less rude in the future, okaay?" "...especially when I'm asked stupid questions."

”Whoa! LOTTA magic flowing around in here. Ack!”Giyozara covers his eyes and looks away from the magical light of the lighthouse. ”Damn, that’s A LOTTA magic. Lessie. . .” he keeps his eyes closed, rubbing them with one arm while the other points all around the stones of the building. ”Abjuration magic around the lighthouse. Probably why it is the only thing that hasn’t fallen down yet, the tower itself is magically reinforced. I’ve read about it in, uh, Grundersnut’s guide to. . . Uh, something or other architectural preservation Magics. Really expensive, but it can keep you tower standing for ten millennia in some cases. Thassalonians liked to do it. Uhhhh, lessie.” Eyes still closed he waves his free arm in the general direction of the light part of the lighthouse.

”That thing is orders of magnitude stronger. Like, stupid amounts of magic coming off of it. First of all the thing housing the flame has the same enchantment as the tower but, like, double strength or something. Like, I’d be surprised if adamantine could get through the dang thing. And the flame radiates nearly every kind of magic. Strongest school is for evocation, to make the light obviously. Then there is divination, light is often used in divination, so no surprise there. Also there’s a lot of necromancy, which. . . I have NO idea why that is in the mix.”

"Nec-nec-nec... Necromancy!?"

A cool shiver propagates through our paranoid hero's spine - his eyes BUG - and instinctively, while the other is focused on the light prism, one of them crosses to look back towards the stairs, their only exit...

"Nec-nec-nec... Necromancy!?"

A cool shiver propagates through our paranoid hero's spine - his eyes BUG - and instinctively, while the other is focused on the light prism, one of them crosses to look back towards the stairs, their only exit...

”Relax big guy” Giyozara says, eyes still covered. ”Necromancy gets a bad rap. But healing spells are technically necromancy, as are spells that specifically kill undead, like disrupt undead. Necromancy can do as much good as harm.” he does pause for a second though. ”Though I will admit, dedicated necromancers tend to go the full on making undead route. Never understood that.”

Kvit hides his smirk as Lough reprimands and Kka half-apologizes. In a half-playful tone he say, "Apology accepted Kka!"

"It just sounded like you knew what was going on. Even if it's working great, we don't know what it's actually doing. I'm pretty concerned especially after Giyozara's assessment showing high amounts of necromantic energy. This thing could be summoning, creating, or powering tons of undead or who knows what."

He inspects the light and surrounding area, most likely only finding the same things Giyozara has already determined.

Muttering outloud, "We've got to figure out a way to disable this. But how, maybe, -no. Wrynn might have an idea. What if-" He sighs unsure of what to do next other than report back.

”Well, we certainly can’t brute force it closed. Even if I knew the spell ‘dispel magic,’ WHICH I DON’T, it would be like dropping a thimble full of water on a house fire. We’ll need to know the proper way to shut it off, if there is one, or somehow find a way to cut off its access to magic. But this is, like, archwizard-level stuff.”

Lough remains skeptical.

"Im not touching that" rubbing his shoulders here, in case anyone expected something out of him "Besides, even if we have a vague "what" of the thing, there remains the "why" - and I'm not sure that is something we want to find out" he glances around the room for support "Let's just put this whole thing behind us, and walk away. Who's with me?"