DM Joseph Rauel's Crypt of the Everflame into Home-Brew

Game Master Dm Joseph Rauel

okay sounds good. I will save the rolls for next round when the summon would appear.

Thanks. I never play spellcasters.

Herskor's unconscious rather than actually dead... right?

No, Herskor is dead. He took 30 points of damage last round, which puts him at -18, assuming he was at max HP. When you reach negative HP equal to your constitution score, you're dead. Herskor's constitution is 14.

Oof, we should probably ignore the skeletons and focus on the big guy.

Since you are all resting, go ahead and roll for your HP at this level up. Also, level up! Share below what you gained this level.

[dice=Aldmus]1d6 Ouch
[dice=Herskor]1d10 Nice

He levelled up and has 22 hp (or 23 if he used his FCB) at max - unless I’m missing something?

Oops, that didn’t show it properly but the roll was an 8.

Oof, we should probably ignore the skeletons and focus on the big guy.

That's Felix' plan, but he has to get through one more skeleton to get to the big guy.

Is he dead? Humm....

Guess I'll have to try and find out...

Esgean, that touch attack is a crit! You can roll another d8+2 for damage!

You have to confirm it first. But it is a threat .

You will also have to Cast Defensively or it will provoke an AoO

I looked around online before posting to see if casting defensively roll was required for spell touch attacks and could not really find anything. I also did not realize that spells qualify for crits. First time running a spellcaster in Pathfinder. Thanks for your patience.

You have to confirm it first. But it is a threat .

Yes, you're right. I just got excited!

I looked around online before posting to see if casting defensively roll was required for spell touch attacks and could not really find anything. I also did not realize that spells qualify for crits.

It's one of those 'rules of omission.' The rule for critical hits doesn't specifically talk about spells. It says that anything that has an attack roll has the potential to crit. It will deal double damage unless it specifies that it does more. There's even a rule (or an assumption based on rules, I forget) regarding crits for spells with an attack roll that don't do direct HP damage.

First time running a spellcaster in Pathfinder. Thanks for your patience.

No worries here!

Esgean, yes you can add +1 for bless as you’re rolling an attack - it doesn’t specify any particular kind of attack. It doesn’t give +1 damage though (sadly).

@GM - now I’m next to him, can I tell whether Herskor is alive? I assume I’d be able to see him breathing and feel for a pulse.

Esgean, yes you can add +1 for bless as you’re rolling an attack - it doesn’t specify any particular kind of attack. It doesn’t give +1 damage though (sadly).

Oh well, 17 total damage if the crit lands. That's my best and last shot! I'm out of spells... :(

Well, I have to say, this feels like the perfect old-school finish to an old-school module. I can't imagine that we did anywhere near enough damage to take out the main boss, but it reminds me of playing D&D in the 80's, when my DM would, on rare but appropriately dramatic occasion, allow divine intervention. In all the number-crunching and the dense fabric of Pathfinder rules I think it's easy to lose sight of the idea that we're all just gamers having fun. I'm guilty of that in this game.

Thank you, DM Joseph, for keeping it old-school.

I don't know, I quickly scanned through the fight, and we did about 40 points of damage on the guy. Our track record for attack rolls hasn't been great, but we nearly made up for it in this fight. I think every attack against the boss hit, and we even got a crit or two in!

We ended it quickly, but we also got sort of lucky with those hits.

I've also enjoyed everything up to this point, and I'm looking forward to returning to town (to get our original equipment back)!

Thanks Esgean! But, I'm just playing it as the dice roll. You all did a total of -45 HP to the big guy at the end which was enough it drop him.

Oh come on Felix, are you sure you want all that original equipment? Look how well you all did with what you were given. Just leave it behind and move on. lol

In that case, I lost track to who was attacking what. I actually thought we only did damage to him this last turn, having cleaned up the other skeletons first. Glad you're the one keeping track and not me!

Oh come on Felix, are you sure you want all that original equipment? Look how well you all did with what you were given. Just leave it behind and move on. lol

Felix owns a compass! It's probably not enough to keep him from getting lost, but at least it shows he's trying! Also, a crowbar! Manacles! Many useful applications for those items that Felix may or may not think of!

I hope we get to keep the masterwork backpack from the town, though.

In that case, I lost track to who was attacking what. I actually thought we only did damage to him this last turn, having cleaned up the other skeletons first. Glad you're the one keeping track and not me!

I hadn't realised we'd done quite so much either but that was an awesome crit with the spell!

@Felix - we're the local heroes, of course we get to keep it. ;-)

And I wholeheartedly concur, thank you for running the game, GM.

Just for clarification, are you heading off to the drinking fountain that is on this level? just south on the starting landing. Or are you going to the pool with the fountain where the keys were one level above?

Also, you guys are very welcome! This was a cool module and you a blast to run for. I do have some ideas to kick off the home-brew portion that will start to come to light.

the pool that healed us, i believe that's the one on this level.

Hey gang. I've started a Loot List for us to track treasure and items that we've found. I don't mind running it, but it's editable by anyone, and I encourage anyone to add or edit as needed. Google Drive is blocked at my work, so I'll really only have time to maintain it during my limited time in the evening.

Or on my old phone with it's tiny, tiny screen.

I've only added items from this final room and the newly-identified Ring of Swimming in Kevan's pocket. If there's still anything unclaimed not on the list, feel free to add it.

DM, would you mind putting the link at the top of the campaign pages or on the Campaign Info tab? Thanks.

Thanks Felix, good work and much appreciated for setting that up.

I'm here lurking. Seems like the interaction with Kassen is in good hands. No need for Esgean to muddle the dialog.

Awesome idea Felix. I will add it to the top!

I assume nobody is going to mind if Felix claims Asar's chainmail and sword? Now that he knows that Asar used to be good (or at least non-evil), he can be convinced that those armaments can be redeemed.

Plus, if we're switching to a four person group, I'm going to bump up Felix' defense a bit with a shield, so he'll start using a sword instead of the two-handed flail.

Go for it.

Fine by me - I can’t use either of them anyway. And generally I’m in favour of gear going to whoever it makes most sense to. For stuff that is useful to all then we can discuss or could roll for it. Easy with whatever people are happy with.

Sir Kevan is more of a rustic knight and will stick with leather so he makes no claims on the armor.

I'm a little confused at this point. Is the piece of the hammer that was in the sarcophagus missing or did we recover it? What does Asar have to do with the Empty Hand? Were there more orcs and did they take the hammer piece? What caused Asar to be undead and why was Asar here in Kassen's tomb? And is our next logical destination Asar's tomb to find the other piece of the hammer or can we assume that if Asar is here then that piece is already in someone else' hands?

Sorry to be so dense but I would appreciate just having this all explained to me.

Kessan's and Asar's adventuring party recovered a hammer from the evil Empty Hand tribe. They dismantled the hammer into three pieces. Then Kessan and Asar (and the rest of the party) split up. Kessan took one part of the hammer, and Asar took another.

I don't know what happened to the third. Perhaps we should ask.

Kessan founded our PC's town. Asar -- wherever he went -- became corrupted by the evil of his hammer fragment. Asar came to Kassen to take Kassen's fragment. Both Asar and Kassen died in the ensuing battle. Kassen's townsfolk interred Asar, Kassen, and their two hammer fragments in this tomb.

The Empty Hand tribe is now trying to recover the fragments, and they came to Kassen's tomb to steal the two fragments there. When they took Asar's fragment from his sarcophagus, it seems like that disturbance woke up Asar as an undead.

Kassen has tasked us with recovering the pieces of the hammer that was stolen from this tomb.

Asar's sarcophagus is here too? I completely missed that. Why would they be buried in the same tomb together if Asar turned against Kassen? Dimira even said, "He Arrived..." as if Asar was not initially present in the tomb. Also, Dimira did not reply to Felix' question about the orcs - we don't know when they arrived but she makes no mention of them.

What caused Asar to become undead - and for that matter why are there so many undead in this module? Did we ever figure that out?

Why is the Hammer important? It sounds powerful but what will happen if it is reassmebled? I feel like I'm missing the hook. I don't want to pepper Kassen with questions but I will if we don't have these answers already. He seems like he's open to dialog.

Asar's sarcophagus is here too?

From this post: "Moving to the western edge you see this crypt contains the resting place for some of the raiders that attacked Kassen so many years ago. The central sarcophagus has been disturbed, its lid lying broken on the ground in front of it. The corpse of an orc and half-orc laying at the base of it."

I'm assuming that the central sarcophagus held Asar.

Why would they be buried in the same tomb together if Asar turned against Kassen?

I can only speculate. Perhaps Kassen still felt some affection for his old companion.

Dimira even said, "He Arrived..." as if Asar was not initially present in the tomb.

I took it to mean that Asar arrived in the room.

What caused Asar to become undead - and for that matter why are there so many undead in this module? Did we ever figure that out?

Again, I can only speculate. I imagine that whatever corruption the hammer had on Asar is the reason he turned undead. Even Kassen's spirit says he can still feel the pull of his fragment.

And judging from the fact that the henchman skeletons collapsed when Asar died, it could be that Asar raised them, whether intentionally or not.

Why is the Hammer important?

It sounds like because it's dangerous? We haven't been told directly.

It sounds powerful but what will happen if it is reassmebled? I feel like I'm missing the hook. I don't want to pepper Kassen with questions but I will if we don't have these answers already. He seems like he's open to dialog.

Go for it.

I'll wait for the DM to respond.

Seems like Felix covered all of Esgean's questions based on informations given. (Thanks Felix) Some of the questions asked your characters wouldn't know because you haven't been given that information. Please feel free to ask any questions your PCs might have, he is open to questions

Aldmus will remain quiet unless called upon, Herskor can be entombed in here or under a rocky grave as Esgean suggested. It is your call. I would only make a single post because, as Esgean mentioned, he ghosted us and doesn't need a long scene with the character's death. Thought in the story it would be recognized.

Sorry all, I am traveling for a funeral this weekend and I can't put this together right now. Esgean doesn't need to know everything - these questions were more for my understanding as a player.

Understandable - my condolences and I hope the funeral goes ok.

I am sorry for your loss. As always, real life takes priority over a silly game. drive/fly safely

It's a pretty busy day for me today. I probably won't have time to make any post worthy of saying goodbye to Old Man Kassen, especially since Felix is seeing Jhessa's oath and thinking, "Oh dang, I should have done that!"

So don't wait on me to have the party exit the dungeon.

I just wanted to make sure everyone has their chance to ask any questions. Besides seeing if they can put their hand through them... (Kevan) lol

Hopefully clear from my post but I think I’m done and ready to head back to town.

I am clear with your character. Just wanted to be sure about Esgean/Felix/Kevan before heading out. I am going to progress forward, if there is anything that the rest of you wanted to ask but hadn't feel free to do so before the weekend.

Thanks for the consideration, but I didn't want to hold anything up. I'm glad we're leaving the dungeon and returning to town.

I assumed Kevan was asking about the wand that we found on the dead tomb robber, not the wand of mage armor that Aldmus has been carrying all this time.

oh... I wasn't thinking of that because the player has been gone for a while. If he was talking about the Magic Missile wand that is open for anyone to claim or not.