GM Harrow’s Curse of the Crimson Throne - AE

Game Master GM Harrow

Shrike's silence is clearly disapproving, but she does not interfere further for the moment. The tunnel turns out to be another crawl space too small for her, and she dislikes the thought of being caught by something while trying to squeeze through it, so she leaves it alone. She does briefly search the derros and takes whatever weapons, valuables or information she finds on their bodies or on the table while Pava is wheedling the healing wand off Abella. It's probably too much to hope for that one of them will have a map of the caverns with a clearly labeled Corpsery on it, but might as well check.

Out of character I'm fine with using up one charge of the party healing wand to enact Pava's priorities here, and Shrike isn't going to object in-character more than she already has. It looks like just the first roll will do. Since magic healing heals both HP damage and nonlethal damage at a 1-1 rate, if they're just normal derros that leaves it at 21/25 HP and 17 nonlethal damage, enough to come back to consciousness.

Shane was startled that the fight ended so abruptly. He cast detect magic on the Derros, their goods, and the surrounding area near them

The derros don't have much on them. They are wearing leather armour and the aklys they didn't manage to draw are still sheathed at their sides. Each of them carries 10 or so darts, their tips blackened by some sort of substance, and a vial of a thick, viscous dark liquid.

Shane's own investigation leads him to a small wooden crate under the table, where a few things are stuffed under a haphazard pile of strips of once-beautiful fabric, mismatched shoes and other junk. A beautiful amber necklace is tangled among the remains of a silk scarf, a silver dagger has been 'sheathed' in a slipper and a ring set with three small sapphires has been hidden inside a boot. There's also a wand and a small metal flask sealed with wax.

Loot: 2 small leather armours, 2 aklys, 20 (poisoned) darts), 2 vials of poison. In the crate: amber necklace (Appraisal to estimate value), silver dagger, ring of swimming, wand of spiritual weapon (48 charges), elixir of vision.

It takes only one tap of the healing wand to awaken the derro. The pale eyes snap open, round and huge, darting in every direction frantically.

Shane explains his find to the others. See above and assume knowledge is shared ICly ;) When the Derro wake and start talking, he admits, "That particular language is not among my many communicative options."

Pava squints in annoyance. "Taldane? Varisian?" If that doesn't work "Any of you lot know how to talk to this babbler?"

”Not here. I only speak Taldane and Bad Taldane…” Elric says, keeping his guard up and his eyes on the tunnels and passages.

Take 10 Perception for 20

Shrike shakes her head wordlessly, unable to parse the derro's strange speech. She can't even say if it's a real language or gibbering.

Hearing that someone had gotten one of the derro awake, Audria quietly asks Tally to let the others know what she heard.

A few moments later, the thrush joins the others and lands on Shrike's shoulder.

"Audria says she heard some things coming from the other tunnels. Humming and mumbling from the south and a buzzing from the southeast. She's worried that the derro might alert whatever's down those tunnels," she explains as quietly as she can while still being heard.

Shane asks one question... but in a different tongue each time

"Do you understand me?" He waits a moent for a response, then moves on

Trying all of his languages: Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Elven, Halfling, Infernal, Varisian

Abella will throw a little Shadowtongue out to see if she gets any recognition. She pulls a scroll off her belt if none of their other attempts work. ”I have a scroll of comprehend languages, but alas that only works on half the problem.”

”Taking a prisoner to gain intel was a good idea, but it is useless if we can’t communicate with it. An interrogation is risky when the rest of the complex is not secure and may be alerted to our presence. I suggest we knock it out again. If we don’t find what we seek, we can come back and try again.” Elric says, shifting position so he has a clear line to rush approaching enemies.

Shrike nods in acknowledgement of Talanaliel's words to the group. She shifts her stance minutely, the spearpoint ready to silence the derro forever if it should start to make any loud noise.

Pava gives Elric a quick salute with their cosh and promptly knocks the Derro's head against the floor.

"Well that got us nowhere so let's get ourselves somewhere else."

The derro doesn't seem to understand any of the languages that Shane attempts, nor Abella's Shadowtongue. Those who are knowledgeable of derros perhaps remember that they generally only speak two languages - Aklo and Undercommon. It seems this one has not used their stay in Korvosa to further their linguistic education, alas.

With one derro dead and the other one knocked out again, the group is free to continue their explorations.

What is your marching order, double file and single file?

Moving into the other branch of the caverns, the light from ioun stones and lamps is supplemented here and there by a faint bluish glow from patches of eerily glowing mold. The patches seem cultivated and tended, located at intersections and inside some of the caverns. Down this branch, the smell of rotting flesh makes itself present, together with the scent of old blood.

Glancing into the next space shows a wide room, three wooden tables standing in the middle of it. The wood is stained rusty red and crisscrossed with cuts. To the east stands a ten-foot-wide hutch with wicker doors opening into a straw-lined cage. A body is laid out on one of the tables, and Audria figures out what the buzzing sound was - four stirges are attached to the body, sucking the blood contently. Two others remain inside the hutch, and they seem less inclined to let juicy bloodbags pass by without a nibble. A good thing they are behind the wicker doors and the latch is secure.

Elric votes for double file marching order when possible.

When he spots the distracted Stirges, Elric carefully holstes his hammer and readies his bow. Using hand signals, he alerts the rest of the group to the danger and imminent combat.

Once everyone are ready, he loses two arrows at the bloodsuckers in rapid succession, then steps aside to let the others through.

Elric is using Rapid shot, which is a full-round action. If he can only make a single standard attack, use the first of the shots below and add +2

Generally, I'd like Shrike to be in the first line in the double-file marching order, or just behind Elric when we're in single file if that's what he prefers. Thanks GM.

Shrike stiffens as they round the corner and see some of the oversized mosquitolike creatures she has sometimes observed buzzing about the Shingles, attached to and sucking the blood from a humanoid body. Could it be Gaekhen?
Knowledge (Local) - Stirges?: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

The buglike monstrosities — had Sorcia called them stirges, or scourges? — don't seem to care about their presence in their focus on their meal, which argues that they are no more intelligent than animals. But the cage with the other two says they have a caretaker somewhere nearby, which let these ones out. "Watch for the keeper." Shrike moves quietly into the room to get a better look at the body on the table, staying near the edge to allow the others to come forward too, and looking for any sign of the intelligent creature managing these. But her focus keeps returning to the nauseating sight on the table. Her spear is out and in hand, ready to swipe at any stirges that she disturbs or that come close.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

Under Elric's plan: Shrike wants to move forward with her spear out, enough to not be in the way of anyone who wants to use a ranged attack, before the first ranged attack happens. I'll wait to see how initiative shakes out, whether we get a surprise round, etc., before posting any further actions.

2nd row when doublefile (ideally behind Shrike since she's more likely to move out of the path of a partial charge) - I'd prefer 3rd when singlefile, but Audria might have an opposing pitch. And I'd prefer to be doublefile where possible.

Pava gives a humorless grin to Shrike's observation about the keeper, but otherwise goes straight for the stirges and their prey. "Right, eyes up for the keeper, 'specially in back. But if they've got enough blood for these leeches to care about, might mean we can still save 'em."

Deffo triggering the surprise round

Sorry, today has been very busy!

Perception stirges: 1d20 + 1 - 5 ⇒ (17) + 1 - 5 = 13 Assuming everyone has been taking 10 on Stealth

Everyone but Abella (sorry, Abella) gets a surprise round. Elric already went.

An arrow whistles through the stale air of the caverns, skewering the closest stirge and instantly killing it.

Double line sounds good. Shane would defer to others suggestions on where to be placed as long as he's not on the front line ;)

Shane holds back until the others start

Shrike attempts to skewer the nearest (blue) stirge to the table like a beetle on a pin.
Thorn v. stirge: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25
Piercing damage, Thorn, Hidden Strike: 1d8 + 3 + 2d8 ⇒ (6) + 3 + (5, 4) = 18

Surprise Round standard action to attack. If stirges are only flat-footed instead of unaware, Hidden Strike changes to 2d4.

As far as marching order goes, the closer Audria is to the front the better. She's slowed by her armor and she isn't exactly an archer. That said, it looks like Audria's in the second row, so she'd have her bow out.

This assumes that Elric moves so Pava can charge.

Attack (Longbow, Deadly Aim) vs. Pink: 1d20 + 6 - 1 ⇒ (19) + 6 - 1 = 24
Damage: 1d8 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 3 + 2 = 9

After Pava charges in, Audria aims for one of the stirges that is not yet engaged by her party, taking a step forward to get a better angle.

Look at those attack rolls!

Shrike and Abella kill two more of the creatures, which causes the fourth one to raise its proboscis and buzz in what is probably the insectile equivalent of "Hmm? Oh shi-!".

Pava and Shane still have a standard action or a move action.

Pava lunges forward, their long legs devouring the distance to the stirge before they skewer it on their klar's blade.

Cut-Down Klar (Charge): 1d20 + 8 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 8 + 2 = 27
B/P+Precision: 1d4 + 4 + 2d6 ⇒ (4) + 4 + (5, 4) = 17

With all four free stirges dead beyond any shadow of a doubt, picking off the ones still in the cage with arrows and bolts is a simple matter, although they buzz furiously at being unable to reach the warm blood-bags that are now sticking them instead of the other way around.

With all the blood-sucking creatures dead, they can now examine the space at leisure. The body on the table is unfortunately not Gaekhen. The clothing is gone, so trying to infer anything about their circumstances from their attire is impossible, but by their emaciated frame and unkept hair and beard they seem to be one of the many vagrants in Korvosa. There are no visible wounds on the body, so they probably died of illness, exposure or any one of the seemingly little things that can be fatal when you live on the streets.

No loot, because stirges don't have pockets.

Shrike flicks the first stirge's body from the blade of her spear in a unconscious gesture. Once the other stirges are dealt with, the shrike mask tilts down to examine the face and form of the vagrant on the table for only a moment before moving on with seeming dispassion.

He is neither a threat, nor their target, and does not seem to hold any information from the manner of his death that could help them prepare for this place's inhabitants. Taking his clothes and draining his blood is bizarre, but that's derros for you. He's not going anywhere or getting any deader. She can wrap him in one of the stinking derro blankets and haul him out of here to the priests at the cathedral for a proper burial in Everyman Ward later. That unpleasant duty fell to her the last time and probably will again.

She moves south on cat-quiet feet to examine the closest exit.

Taking 10 for 15 Perception, 20 Stealth.

Shane blinks, then mutters "Some folks in this group kill like Pharasma's butler when she hits the bellrope."

He looks over the dead bodies, and decides to add, "May your journey to the boneyard be kinder than your exit from the living."

Audria says a silent prayer over the unfortunate soul. She feels guilty about leaving him out on the table, but there's nothing else she can do for him. After she's done all she can for the deceased at the moment, she notices what appears to be another passage to the north. She shoulders her bow and pulls out her halberd before quietly approaching it.

Stealth(Take 10): 10 + 6 = 16
Perception(Take 10): 10 + 5 = 15

Taking 10 for stealth so 15 total

"Feels like if the little nutters bothered to build a stirge cage, they had some manner of use for the blood... Or a use for bloodless bodies... Abella? Mage? Anything in your noted and revered expertise or a class you might've audited at the Acadamae that that give a wink and a nudge towards?"

I think I forgot to actually post this earlier, but Pava's not going into these crypts without an Antiplague up!

Satisfied with the combat effectiveness of the entire team, Elric spends a few moments carefully checking the walls for other signs of secret passages, to ensure that they don't leave themselves open to ambush.

He asks Tally to provide her magicale inspiration.

Perception Take 10 + guidance for 21

Elric doesn't find much in the way of secret passages or other hidden features. There is another crawl space entrance to the north, a passageway that begins to show signs of worked stone to the east, and another passageway to the south-west.

Shrike moves to inspect this latter passage, which seems to be part of the same network of caverns as the spaces they have seen since leaving the ossuary. The short tunnel opens up into a large cave, most of the floor a nasty-looking stretch of mud kept damp by rivulets of water seeping from the walls. A patch of solid ground extends from the corridor into the mud to form a sort of island, on which is heaped a reeking pile of refuse.

On that pile squats an otyugh, humming happily to themselves as their prehensile tentacles sift through the garbage.

Shrike does not instinctively recoil, though it is a near thing. Plenty of natural creatures are unlovely to her humanoid eyes, but an otyugh always looks so utterly wrong somehow, like an affront to nature itself. Perhaps it's the three legs. Or the lack of a real face above the giant maw. She steps slowly and quietly back around the corner and out of sight, hoping the creature did not notice her.

She signals the others — one monster, big — and approaches enough to whisper. "Otyugh. Aggressive trash-eaters. Sewer dwellers usually. But supposedly intelligent. Could try talking from here. But be prepared for a fight."

So saying, Shrike returns to position herself just to one side of the tunnel again, so that if the otyugh comes charging out of it, it will encounter a surprise spear point.

Elric nods and swithces to his lucerne hammer, positioning himself on the opposite side of the tunnel. If the big monster comes charging through, it will be caught in a deadly pincer between the two reach weapons

"Feels like if the little nutters bothered to build a stirge cage, they had some manner of use for the blood... Or a use for bloodless bodies... Abella? Mage? Anything in your noted and revered expertise or a class you might've audited at the Acadamae that that give a wink and a nudge towards?"

I think I forgot to actually post this earlier, but Pava's not going into these crypts without an Antiplague up!

"Feel free to call me Shane, please, Pava. And the more accurate term is wizard, mage is too broad a term for the biblothurgy that is the nature of the wizard study and.. " He realizes he is about to ramble rather than give Pava the answer they wanted, "Right, let me think on that."

And he does.

Some rolls..*Shakes wizard's head sees what falls out if anything*
Knowledge Arcana 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (9) + 10 = 19
Knowledge Dungeoneering: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9
Knowledge Nature: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17
Knowledge Planes: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27
Knowledge Religion: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11

********
When they get to the Otyugh

He tries to think of what he knows of that beyond what Shrike has said

Knowledge Dungeoneering again I believe? 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12

Shane cannot recall any additional details about otyughs, but he does recall that in certain necromantic practices (such as the building of flesh golems), exsanguinated body parts are preferred.

Audria moves over to Shrike as quietly as she can so she can speak softly and still be heard.

"Should we leave it for now," she asks. "If it's not going anywhere, I don't think we should risk fighting it right now."

He whispers "In answer to your earlier question, Pava? In some necromatic rituals, exsanguinated body parts are preferred. As to Audria's idea of temporary retreat from the ... visually unpleasant before us? Fine by me."

"Should we leave it for now," she asks. "If it's not going anywhere, I don't think we should risk fighting it right now."

"As to Audria's idea of temporary retreat from the ... visually unpleasant before us? Fine by me."

"Nothing's keeping it in there. Rather find out if it's hostile now. Not when it's at our backs." Shrike's whisper is equally quiet.

Aw, I thought Audria would be pleased with Shrike for wanting to try negotiating with the hideous aberration first instead of jumping straight to murder. Whatever Pava wanted to find out from the derro, it might know, and I think otyughs speak Common, though Shrike wouldn't be totally sure of that. Looks like two votes for "get the otyugh's attention and try to negotiate" and two for "leave the otyugh alone."

She is. She's also seen Shrike be right enough to trust her when she says that it's probably going to wind up being a fight.

"Very well. Tally, sorry about the smell, but I think I'll need you're help," she says as she holds out her arm for the little thrush to hop on and up into the hood of her cloak. A few short, soft notes are sung by Audria's ear as Tally gives the paladin a spark of divine favor.

"Wish me luck," She says before moving into the room.

"Pardon the intrusion," Audria says as she enters the Otyugh's lair. "I'm Audria Lumina, may I have your name," she asks the unnatural looking beast.

Diplomacy (Tally's in Arm's Reach) If needed: 1d20 + 9 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 9 + 3 = 26

"Wish me luck," She says before moving into the room.

"Don't get too close. Good luck." The shrike mask tilts slightly. Shrike can't see around the corner, but she listens with every nerve strung tight as pianoforte wire.

Shane's jaw drops. She's actually going to talk to it. I.. don't have time to pull out a quill and paper to record the upcoming conversation. I'll need my hands free!

Seeing Audria step into the room with the large scavenger, he slips his potion of enlarge potion out of his bandolier. Just in case the big fella ain’t interested in polite conversation.

The otyugh stops humming as Audria steps into the cavern and its sensory stalks stretch towards her.

"hi. i'm dafne." The voice is certainly strange, sounding like what Audria imagines alligators or crocodiles would if they could talk, and the words are somewhat distorted by the rows of sharp teeth crowding the huge maw, punctuated by whistling here and there.

"Hello Dafne. It's nice to meet you," Audria says as politely as she can manage. "Could you tell me how you wound up here," she asks, hoping to glean how friendly the otyugh is with the denizens of this necromancer's lair without coming right out and saying that she's there with her friends to help clear it out.

"two legs came, said free food and no-one bothers me." Dafne roots around in the garbage with one of her appendages, fishing out an old leather boot which she holds out. "snack?"

"Thank you, but I ate my fill before coming here," Audria replies. "If you'll stay here, I'll bring you a treat. Do you have anything that's your favorite?"

"Wind and sky. Well why not talk to the garbage monster?"

”So far, it’s polite, speaks Taldane and isn’t torturing anyone. Overall, I’d say that’s a huge improvement over the Derro. Keep your distance and be ready to help Audria if the conversation turns sour. I’ll cover our backs.” Elric says, slipping his potion back and switching out his hammer for the longbow.

Elric focuses his attention on the other exits, readying an action to shoot anything hostile that comes through.

The otyugh shoves the boot into her mouth and chews thoughtfully. "okay. i like old fishing nets. they have that salt crunch, you know? but hard to get here." She makes a sound like bellows deflating.

Audria judges that she doesn't seem interested in attacking, as she has plenty of food and is even willing to share.

"you come back? promise? there's no one to talk to here."

"Yup, and I'll even see if I can find you some old fishing nets," Audria promises. "I'm afraid that I'm a little busy at the moment, though, so I can't stay and chat. Until next time, I hope you have a good day, Dafne."

With that, she excuses herself and rejoins the others.

"I think we can leave Dafne there. She seems to have plenty of food and doesn't seem interested in turning us into lunch," she tells the others.

Tally pokes her head out from under the hood of Audria's cloak.

"I'm starting to think you're mad," she hisses. "You weren't even scared talking to her. She could have eaten you whole in one bite!"