Stormcrow's Return of the Runelords

Game Master stormcrow27

Grandfather Mossbeard casts a light spell upon his shillelagh and very gingerly follows into the rickety old house.

Lorel stays in the back, rapier raised, other hand up, ready to launch an acid ray.

The corridor opens into a stair well that leads to the second floor, as well as leading to the right to a close door and a hallway to the left.

"Let's clear this floor before heading up" Lorel points to the closed door.

Giving the newly made hole in the floorboards a very wary glance, Morelda gives it as wide a berth as she could manage in order to pass around it although she does give Eric a nod of encouragement as the Galtan Bard-turned Guardsman attempts to mend up the freshly made opening for the sake of the rest of the party.

Following in the Giant-sized, Nature-focused Mossbeard's casting of illumination upon his large-sized club, the Young novice Wizardess does likewise by taking out her purchased discount bargain-market prism crystal in one hand [her other hand still clutching at her disguised Bladed Scarf, thank you very much, oh eldritch arcane mysteries of the psychic mind!] from her newly purchased discount market-bargain bandolier and with a brief release of inner concentration, expends her psionic focus towards lighting the crystal up with her Crystal Light cantrip-leveled spell so that the group has some light emanating towards the rear echelons.

Taking another few seconds by realigning her psionic focus, Morelda hears Lorel's spoken reply of "Let's clear this floor before heading up" to Koshon's silent, unspoken motioning towards the direction of the stairs leading upwards.

Noting that Eric was still fairly busy casting some arcane mending cantrip upon the very hole that he had inadvertently made, Morelda asks the Pactmaker-to-the-Cave-Mother Lorel, the Sternish, Dark-Dwarven Thurin, the aforementioned Granfather Mossbeard [with his pet dinosaur still presumably lurking in the river depths below], and the Other-Planar, Lead-Guardsman Koshon, "While Eric's getting that floor fixed up, should we have someone else keep an eye out on those stairs while we check to see if all of the rooms down here are clear?".

Le moi can only do une thing at a time mon cherie, but I will be finished here soon. Your suggestion is a most prudent and wise one! Eric remarks cheerfully smiling at Moreldas good suggestion as he reduces further enviromental threats via mending.
But this reminds me of une thing, you see, I believe that Galt is as messed up as it is partly because its history gets constantly rewritten by whatever a!+&%!#% is currently in power. By all records, Sir Roderik was a brave man, perhaps his house should be restored, so that the citoyens of Roderiks cove may draw strength and inspiration from it?
It is the purposes of archeology after all to uncover the truth of the past, so that it even becomes possible to learn anything from it... He trails off.

One he is finished with mending, he will follow anyone with actually good perception, Lucerne Hammer in hand, to explore the rest of the floor.

No intention of holding anyone off, but I think we dont have any overly time relevant buffs on?

Two doors inside of this moldy room provide exits to the north and east.
The floor drops to the south so the lowest corner of the room brushes the surface of the river as it flows by. The ceiling in the northern and eastern part of the room is torn. The remains of a snap desk lean into the northwestern corner of the room, a desk drawer awkwardly protruding out as if pleading for help against the passing of the ages.
No creatures or dancing bards are immediately visible.

Lorel moves carefully into the room. She does a quick search of the desk. Anything interesting in the desk?

True to his word, Eric lends aid to Madmoisselle Millerson as she performs her search, covering her from any yet unseen attackers.

Perception aid another: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

But probably confusing her in the process!

Yay, thats a one burned on hopefully nothing! right? Right?

Silently Thurin kept his eyes and ears open. He saw no need for idle chatter.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23

But this reminds me of une thing, you see, I believe that Galt is as messed up as it is partly because its history gets constantly rewritten by whatever a@!#&$%$ is currently in power. By all records, Sir Roderik was a brave man, perhaps his house should be restored, so that the citoyens of Roderiks cove may draw strength and inspiration from it? It is the purposes of archeology after all to uncover the truth of the past, so that it even becomes possible to learn anything from it... He trails off.

Mulling about the general state of disrepair inside of the 'wreck', Morelda concedes to Eric, "At the very least, Sir Roderic's Ghost would have a place to linger besides the Circle Marketplace..."

The remains of a snap desk lean into the northwestern corner of the room, a desk drawer awkwardly protruding out as if pleading for help against the passing of the ages.

Scott "Lorel" Millerson wrote:

Lorel moves carefully into the room. She does a quick search of the desk.

Eric de St. Cyr wrote:

True to his word, Eric lends aid to Madmoisselle Millerson as she performs her search, covering her from any yet unseen attackers.

Thurin Foehammer wrote:

Silently Thurin kept his eyes and ears open. He saw no need for idle chatter.

As both Lorel and Eric search about the old desk drawer, the Young Novice Wizardess opts to hang back and observe for any magical phenomenon or auras as she does a casting of the Detect Magic cantrip.

Perception to aid, if needed: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17.

Eric de St. Cyr wrote:

But this reminds me of une thing, you see, I believe that Galt is as messed up as it is partly because its history gets constantly rewritten by whatever a@!#&$%$ is currently in power. By all records, Sir Roderik was a brave man, perhaps his house should be restored, so that the citoyens of Roderiks cove may draw strength and inspiration from it? It is the purposes of archeology after all to uncover the truth of the past, so that it even becomes possible to learn anything from it... He trails off.

Mulling about the general state of disrepair inside of the 'wreck', Morelda concedes to Eric, "At the very least, Sir Roderic's Ghost would have a place to linger besides the Circle Marketplace..."

stormcrow27 wrote:

The remains of a snap desk lean into the northwestern corner of the room, a desk drawer awkwardly protruding out as if pleading for help against the passing of the ages.

Scott "Lorel" Millerson wrote:

Lorel moves carefully into the room. She does a quick search of the desk.

Eric de St. Cyr wrote:

True to his word, Eric lends aid to Madmoisselle Millerson as she performs her search, covering her from any yet unseen attackers.

Thurin Foehammer wrote:

Silently Thurin kept his eyes and ears open. He saw no need for idle chatter.

As both Lorel and Eric search about the old desk drawer, the Young Novice Wizardess opts to hang back and observe for any magical phenomenon or auras as she does a casting of the Detect Magic cantrip.

[dice=Perception to aid, if needed]1d20+4.

Morelda finds no magic in the room.

Thurin hears scurrying underneath the floorboards of this room. Lorel find a piece of paper stuck to the bottom of the desk drawer by a film of mold. The moldering pages shows an X in the middle of some woods, as well as the letters "St. Hs."

Une interesting clue, let le moi make some light to see more! Treasure would always be welcome, but I doubt we have found all that is here to find!
Eric casts dancing lights, 3 of them moving around in the room and one assisting Lorelda with perception.

Lorel shows the paper to the others. "Anyone know where this is?"

Grandfather Mossbeard takes the paper from Lorel, his large hands surprisingly gentle with the paper. He had wandered much of these lands and may recognize the location on the primitive map.

Survival (?): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7
Know (Geo(?)): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25

Eric Assists Mossbeard in his Geographical forays! A wanderer he is as well!

Kn. Geo to assist: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20 Am Skald do knowledge! 27 looks pretty hot for level 1

Thurin hears scurrying underneath the floorboards of this room. Lorel find a piece of paper stuck to the bottom of the desk drawer by a film of mold. The moldering pages shows an X in the middle of some woods, as well as the letters "St. Hs."

The gregori looks over the duergar's shoulder. "St. Hs.? Hmm. Wonder what that could mean?"

Grandfather Mossbeard, aided by the dashing, if overenthusiastic Eric, figures out the map is of the nearby Churlwood, a forest close to Roderic's Cove. Thurin also notices the scurrying under the floorboards has become louder, and the pary starts to hear chittering.

”Chittering from below. If we have everything we need then we should leave. It isn’t efficient to have battles without purpose.” He offered in the same tone of voice as someone suggesting a place to eat or some other mundane activity.

I do not think we have discovered the entirety of this place yes, and there will soon be chittering things well, it is best to fight them on our own terms! This will likely be some type of swarm, ideally have some things that can attack these, like a torch for example.

Being Genre savy enough, Eric lights a torch, and puts a bottle of oil in his left hand, the odds of good Galtese cooking for the party are decreasing andinto a position of some distance (10 feet away) from the rest of the party. He begins singing seeking to distract whatever will attack from the rest of the party so they can deal with it:

Inspire Ferocity

Aux armees citoyens,
Forme voux Battalion!

At the mention of possibly of fighting some manner of vermin swarm, Morelda mentally reviews her memorized spell output for the day and comes to the unsettling realization that nothing that she has memorized will be of much use against a determined swarm.

Clutching at her lone Acid Flask, the Young Wizardess tacitly admits, "None of my memorized spells are likely to be of much use against something like that..."

I'm not even sure if my Entangling Ectoplasm spell would even affect such a swarm in the first place...

Boring out of the floorboards comes the clicking of four giant cockroaches! (I'll get init later on today).

Merde, should have stuck with the Lucerne hammer! Thinks Eric, preemptively.

Witnessing four enormously-sized bug-thingy's that look very reminiscent of roaches emerging up from underneath the floorboards, Morelda is both simultaneously relieved that they don't appear to be like your typical massed swarm of tiny-sized vermin and disgusted at the unnerving appearance of the big bug-monsters... complete with waving long antennas.

Fortunately, Eric's rousing Galtan singing, along with Thurin's preemptive warning of their arrival, has helped the novice Wizardess in mitigating some of the general feelings of fear and disgust inflicted by the very presence of these creatures!

Initiative roll for this upcoming, presumptive combat: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12.

Initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10

Much of my turn would on where I am on Init order. Will likely seek to throw he torch at one, draw hammer as part of move action and move to some place I can AoO from, possible variation is dropping the torch, drawing and smacking something.

Koshon sighs as he readies himself for combat.
Initative: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

Init: 1d20 ⇒ 16

Lorel feels a surge of disgust looking at the creatures.
initative: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

Sorry for the delay. I had a burst of depression and anxiety this weekend that took a couple of days to work through. Init for insects

Cockroach init: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

Eric throws the torch at one of the cockroaches.
ranged attack, improvised weapon: 1d20 + 2 - 4 ⇒ (5) + 2 - 4 = 3
Cursing as the torch flies wide.

Before drawing his lucerne hammer, and interposing himself to use AoOs.

Rolling my AoOs just in case, I seriously doubt that I would get all three.
AoO 1, ferocity is currently on: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12
damage: 1d12 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19

AoO 2, ferocity is currently on: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21
damage: 1d12 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18

AoO 3, ferocity is currently on: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12
damage: 1d12 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18

Sadface concerning the high damage dice, I think I squish one if 2 of them provoke.

Grandfather Mossbeard is too distracted by the bug's shiny carapaces to be able to bring himself to smoosh one.

Bug Squash: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 4 + 1 = 7
B Damage: 1d6 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 4 + 1 = 10

Koshon generates his celestial armor as a free action and takes a swipe at one of the giant vermin with his reach weapon.
Bardiche: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13
Dmg.: 1d10 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12 Two 10s!

Koshon generates his celestial armor as a free action and takes a swipe at one of the giant vermin with his reach weapon.

[dice=Bardiche]1d20 + 3
[dice=Dmg.]1d10 + 2 Two 10s!

I am inspring ferocity atm, and I dont think it would block the abilities you have at level 1, so probably a +1 and +1 to both. Nothing in your abilities states its a spell or requires concentration. You may also have a flanking bonus but thats up to GM.

Eric also ceases performing at the end of his turn, due to lingering performance, it will keep up for 2 more turns.

Morelad is up

Morelda will attempt to use her Entangling Ectoplasm (DC 15) upon an Unengaged-in-Melee Giant Cockroach by spending a single Psionic Power Point to help the novice Wizardess of the Twilight Academy lob an ectoplasmic ball of 'goo' upon it's dark carapace, thereby saving her 1st-Level Spell Slots for later use.

Ranged Touch attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7.

Seems unlikely to hit though.

Morelda's ectoplasm spashes nearby one of fhe cockroaxhes abs misses. Two of the cockroaches bite at Grandfather Mossbeard, while one gets crushed by Eric's frantic thrashing.

attack roll cockroach: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 = 101d20 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 41d20 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

The cockroaches all miss. Koshon's bardiche slashes at a cockroach, but it nimbly dodges out of the way. Thurin and Lorel are up.

Lorel steps carefully away from her allies and around to the back of the swarm. She unleashes Ghoulish fire on the swarm.

fire: 1d6 ⇒ 6 DC 14.

Hit: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7
Damage: 1d10 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13

The Deurgar tried to stomp on the cockroaches. It did not work, given their large size and his short legs.

The remaining cockroaches fry in ghoulishly green fire.

The gregori retracts his angelic armor. "Well done, Ms. Lorel."

Eric begins to stamp out any fire he may have caused.

Lorel Blushes. "Wasn't anything. Cave Mother teaches me the secrets of fire."

The room smells of burning cockroaches and wet wood. Strangely, it reminds you of home. A door to the north stands open. Even more strangely, this doesn't smell of burning cockroaches, just wet wood.

Further adventure awaits friends? May our next enemies carry some loot!

A most interesting ability Madmoisselle Lorelle! Well struck!

Eric will go through the northern door, as soon as another PC indiciates he/she will move through, Eric has no in character idea of Lorels condition.

Spellcraft on Lorel's Ghoulish Fire: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23.

Beaming excitedly at Lorel upon witnessing what those odd greenish flames have wrought upon the four formerly living roaches, Morelda says to the blushing Pactmaker, "That was amazing, Miss Lorel; is this Cave Mother of yours a relative that's well-versed in the arcane arts? Those flames of yours seemed like they share much in commonality with what the Evokers will usually use, apart from being much more flammable compared to them."

The Young Wizardess isn't quite as curious about either Eric's Song-power or Koshon's Instantaneous Celestial Armor summoning having deduced them to being intrinsic abilities borne to both through either birthright or outright training.

In terms of the open doorway to the north, Morelda will follow the rest of the party in entering past it.

"Cave mother is an ancient ancestor of us all. She was the first to master fire, both magic and mundane. She paid a terrible cost to do so." Lorel is well studied in the history of her spirits and knows that most love to have their stories shared."I could tell you the full tragic story later." Lorel stays near the back of the group as they enter the doorway.

Vou are curious about my song power? It is related to a Bards, but it tends to tap into the slightly different emotional states then a Bards would, which interestingly enough means that the effecs stack! I had une good friend back in Galt, Aurore de Valois! Under the combined effects of our songs, mere peasenats-militias could stand up the Chelish regulars!
I hope she managed to escape as I did, when la revolucion got betrayed by its leaders and began to consume itself.

Thurin ignored the talk about magic. Whether it came from carving runes, chanting words of power, or singing, it was all magic to him. It amazed him how people cared so much about emotional reasons for choosing one form or another. To him, all that mattered was effectiveness, and what came most naturally. For him it was psychic magic, so that is what he practiced. If it came naturally to him, then that is what he worked on. There was no more to it than that.

All that said, it was intriguing to hear Eric talk about the cumulative effect of song-magic. To turn otherwise worthless human rabble into an effective fighting force spoke volumes about his abilities. His respect for the man increased. But not enough to join in the conversation, for it was far more important to keep his eyes and ears sharp for any further danger.