GM Mauve's Cradle of Night (1e)

Game Master MauveAvengr

Q: is this the module's final boss?

Since this guy is proving to be a P.I.T.A. I'm thinking I'm going to drop a Fear spell on him should I be able to act normally, or I can drop a Rage spell on one of the melee types, but I think that's not great for anyone in the party?

I say keep inspiring us to victory and use that crossbow of yours; every little bit counts! you can even time it to 'ready an action to shoot if he cast a spell' to try to take away his concentration! ;)

(Same tactic with ear-piercing scream, if you can afford it; also ask GM if this thing is flying or climbing on the walls; if the latter, grease that wall! ;) )

(Also, I'm waiting on GM input ref. line of effect, see invisibility, and wall of force in regards to Akku's last action; once I hear back I'll determine what to do for Akku's turn)

Ezkurian is visible (he was invisible at first, but once combat started, invisibility wore off). And from what I read, Wall of Force blocks all spells so you wouldn't have Line of Effect. You'd either need to climb up/float up to get LoE. If you find some other ruling, please let me know! There's a lot of rules out there and I don't know them all.

And he seems to be clinging to the wall, but has been hovering up and down (e.g. he's flying).

After Ezkurian, theres only one more dungeon left...

I feel lazy and I don't want to draw a side view of your slides, buuuuut.... if this thing is large and sitting 20' up, and the wall is only 10' up... and Akku is 10' from the wall... sounds like it's well above the wall of force no?

Edit: I thought this monster was 20' up but it looks like it came down, which could explain why I'm confused now. :)

He came down when he cast Lightning Bolt :)

If he moves up 5 ft, then you and Galadhan can target him over the Wall of Force.

Once Galadhan shoots at Ezkurian and the Confusion is dealt with, we are basically done with Chapter 2. All you have to do is figure out how to get up the well and talk to the prisoners briefly.

Once out of the Sadist Spires, you level up! There is only one real danger left - the Foresaken Fane where the Reborn are headquartered.

It is one fairly large dungeon but I am planning on cutting out the boring/uneventful combats and combining some of them.

Also I suggest you read up on corruptions, particularly the Shadowbound Corruptions!. Just as a hint, your shadowbound corruptions are going to be more prevalent!

Nyx currently does not have any corruption, that he or I know of...

Have to say that the confusion was rough - very effective for the enemy in taking 60% of the team out. And just bad luck that Nyx failed it at +14 will.

Was the drider immune to sleep?

Would sort of make sense he was since in the old-school DnD lore they are part elf.

The drider was indeed immune to sleep. And yeah, that confusion was pretty awful for you guys. Hopefully you wont have such bad luck going forward

It didn't help that when Leon did finally get a full attack off that I started rolling garbage.

For Leon's confusion I'm just watching to see if he takes any damage.

For our level-up period, is there enough of a break to do some shopping? If possible, it would be good to get some upgrades and/or new gear.

I will update loot sheet tonight or tomorrow but except for the drider loot it should be up to date.

You are welcome to take as long of a rest you need. I want you guys to go into the next part fully rested and fully geared.

Do we have the ability to upgrade gear, instead of just buying new stuff? I haven't looked at what kind of funds we have available yet, but upgrading Leon's Shadow full plate to +3 would be helpful, just as an example.

Sure, I'll say you can reasonably find someone that'll help you upgrade gear. Note that the next dungeon is the last dungeon so this will be the last time for any last minute upgrades/purchases.

Once you level up and upgrade your gear, please update your stat line. Also, leave a note with any fun/new abilities you gain! Once everyone has levelled up, I'll push to the next/final dungeon.

Nyx gains +1 to will saves, already his best save, but important vs things like confusion.

His BAB increases by 1 and he gains too few skill points, which will go mostly into Perception and Diplomacy, while keeping his Sense Motive maxed.

He gains a 4th and 5th level spell, but has to wait a level to learn 6th level spells. He will likely start carrying and using Greater False Life after his brush with death in the last fight.

And he gains Countering Hex that lets him ready and use Dispel Magic once a day for each opponent he faces. This might be a good standard tactic for his first round of combat.

I fear I will need a reminder on how the loot sheet works and what funds are available to Nyx for upgrades. Nyx is not trained in Spellcraft and so cannot help identify the rod.

For purchases, I'm not sure I am reading the loot spreadsheet correctly, either. It has items well-assigned, but I don't see any loose unclaimed items that we can sell. Maybe there are none, which would be valid (just unexpected).

Given the uncertainty, I'll just put out a wishlist.

Basic: I'll start with spell support rather than an item. Leon's AC is his most glaring shortage as a frontliner. If he could get a Barkskin (or two in a longer dungeon, possibly extended if we can foot that), that would help him out more than anything else he could reasonably expect to get here. If spell slots are short, I'd be happy to recommend the purchase of a Pearl of Power II and/or Lesser Metamagic Rod of Extend Spell to assist with that.

If that sort of spell support isn't available, Leon could pick up a +1 Light Shield or +2 Light Shield as an alternative. I don't think it would hugely impact his offensive performance. Heavy shields are hard to work in with spellcasting, which is why I don't suggest those.

If those purchases aren't needed or we still have money left the next best thing would be an upgrade for his Cloak of Resistance +1. An upgrade for his +2 Shadow Full Plate would be nice but I'm guessing will be out of range.

Anything beyond that (like sword, headband or belt upgrades) I highly suspect would be outside of budget.

Nyx can cast the Barkskin. A lvl 2 pearl would ensure the availability. He has no way to extend it at the moment so the rod would be great.

Ah, before I forget, remember you have access to a library. You guys found a room in the Sadist Spires with quite a lot of mundane books about the Darklands. If you are curious about the Darklands, caligni, or Lyrudrada, feel free to make a pertinent Knowledge check with a +2 circumstance bonus. There is a full gazetteer in the module so theres quite a bit of lore/info if you're curious about anything.

I'm likely gonna set the scene for the next/final dungeon tomorrow but will wait until everyone has a chance to post their level ups before continuing.

Loot sheet updated. Only missing the Drider Rod value but otherwise all up to date I think.

Trying to find a backup G for you folks. Modules are a little more difficult but I am putting some feelers out. In the meantime I have reported Part 1 and your chronicles are below.

Part 1 Chronicles

@GM Mauve: any chance we could also get the Part 2 Chronicles for this?

Name of PC receiving credit: Maaldrek
PFS #: 4456-22
Faction: Sovereign Court

Thank you!

@GM: planning to finalize my level 10 stats in the next few days. For efficiency's sake, could you list the next level of corruption gained by our characters?

(For reference, you initially posted the Eerie Perception corruption here in the Gameplay thread)

also seconded on the credit:

Character name: Willard Ravenhair
PFS: 2387887-3
Faction: Concordance

Also, how much do we have to play with for additional gear?

My estimate based on the loot sheet:

Total cash on hand (gp value): 17,455.8
Sale of valuables (full value): 2105
Sale of magic items (half value, this assumes we keep nothing, but none of it looks good to me): 2825
Drider Rod (unknown: ???

Total value available: 22,385.8

If we just divide that by 5 players evenly, we get something like 4k gold to buy things with. The drider rod could change things a lot--I can't think of something that does str/con damage like that off the top of my head so it could be a big chunk of value.

If 4k is close to correct, though, I'll get that Pearl of Power II we discussed earlier.

Remember that Akku is carrying a staff of healing and Nyx has a bunch of curative wands, so don't waste any money on healing...

I'm into that Pearl of Power II we discussed, I can't think of anything at that price point for Farrar.

I’ll have Galadhan leveled up tonight…

I’ll have Galadhan leveled up tonight…

I won't be able to do that until Wednesday night... sorry guys. Busy week with off-site training day tomorrow... I'll need to hear about our next corruption power anyways before I finalize.

Finished up Leon's level 10. He gained a fourth smite and his first level 3 spell, which I used to memorize Archon's Aura. I'm also assuming the purchase of the Pearl of Power II, which he'll plan to have Nyxis use for more Barkskin.

I'd still recommend a purchase of a Lesser Metamagic Rod of Extend Spell by someone in the party. If we end up with the funds left over after everyone is done, Leon could also use an upgrade of his Cloak of Resistance +1 for 3000.

I should be done with levelling by the end of today!

I can get a Lesser Metamagic Rod of Extend for the Barkskins.

Would not mind getting a belt of dexterity as that helps skills, and saves, and AC and range to hit. If there are party funds for the lesser rod then I can still get my belt. :)

Hey guys, sorry for the delay... I was supposed to have Monday and Wednesday off of work, but got called in last minute both days. Working again today.

If you want a chronicle sheet, please drop your info and I should get those out ASAP.

@Everyone, the moment you step on Ancestor's Isle (the location of the Reborn), you gain the Manifestation wretched pain with a manifestation level of 2nd.

Once everyone is finished leveling their character, we can continue..

done levelling!

GM Mauve, we are still waiting for you to identify that rod so we can finalize the loot list and our shopping.

Nyx is going to buy the dex item since he does not need extended spells hiimself. If someone else can get the rod or if the party wants to chip in and get the rod I am good with that and can use it to extend barkskins.

Other than finalizing shopping Nyx has bee n update.

I'll assume Nyx also gets the mentioned manifestation even though he had no corruption so far. Is that correct? And if so does he also get a level or corruption? Not sure how that works.

We should also snag a fresh Wand of Cure Light Wounds if we have the funds. You never know when post-combat healing needs are going to get egregious.

I don't think I'd been paying sufficient attention to the shadowbound corruption stuff. Finally read the link and it helped in some ways. Need confirmation in others.

The progression section in particular is pretty concerning, but we haven't seen anything too related to that section so far. I think? Seems like it could be hard to remain a paladin if we delve very far into that.

It's one thing if we're being physically corrupted, but if this area is drawing us into evil intentions, we should get through here as quickly as we can. On to the Foresaken Fane would be Leon's vote. And resisting his corruption, though that seems unlikely to last for long at one save/minute.

I have a mostly full wand of Cure Light that I started with.

Mine is over half full. Maybe we're fine on that front.

Hmm... seems like my last message never got posted. It's a Rod of Withering

And yes, everyone gets the corruption. Nyx would also gain the corruption eerie perception if he hasn't already. You can do the Will save to try to resist the corruption though.

For the corruption, you can basically ignore most of the rules. All you gain os the gift and stain for each manifestation (right now, just eerie perception and wretched pain). Since you have two manifestations, your manifestation level is 2. Think of it as the closer you get to the Reborn, the more the Shadow Plane influences/corrupts you. Since the Shadow Plane isn't evil, a paladin should be fine.

For example, for wretched pain, perhaps inflicting pain on evildoers 'stirs you' and you resist inflicting pain on any good/neutral enemies.

Ah, that is a pricey piece. So, if we sold it, we'd get 12,500 and would bring our per-player allotment to a bit short of 7000.

Thanks for the clarification on the corruption. The full version would actually be an interesting story as well, I guess. It's good to know the score for our current game. If the corruption is bringing us closer to the Reborn, I think Leon will still try to resist it even if that looks hopeless.

OK then Character sheet is updated, included corruptions.

I recommend we sell the rod and use some of the proceeds to buy the lesser metamagic rod of extend.

I support that decision! Let's do that.

We haven't used the staff of healing yet; should I assume I never bought it or do you guys want to keep it as a backup?

I will sell the rod and update loot / level up tonight.

Thx all!

Ref. Rod: sure you guys wanna sell? That would make Farrar scary as heck in melee!!!

That is true, he'd actually be a threat in melee rather than just a buff machine, but I'm good with anything.