[Outpost VI] DM Carbide's CORE Penumbral Accords (2-11) (Inactive)

Game Master John Woodford

"I know that spell you used, Eveleth. An excellent choice. Perhaps we can compare spellbooks later?"

I know you're a sorcerer of course :) Alton, if you want to trade spells after the mission Korgaar is more than willing.

"Compare spellbooks? Certainly, that would be wonderful! I'll make sure my entire collection is nice and available, Korgaar."

Eveleth looks around excitedly. "What other exhibits are you thinking we'll see?"

Alton turns to the dwarf. "Sure sounds good!" He pulls something out of his pocket. It's a keychain that says Blakros Museum. "I "found" these on the floor. I think someone dropped them. Do they belong to anyone? People shouldn't drop their keychains!" He looks innocent.

Leon has taken a scratch from the skelesaurus, but the party is otherwise unharmed. There are three doors in the hall leading east; where do you want to go next?

Eveleth turns to her shadow. "What do you think?" They both shrug.

Finally, she commands, "Okay, door on the right it is. Go check it out."

Her shadow extends to fall on the door and it tries the handle.

Casting mage hand.

The Brute puts his wand away dejected, then lumbers over to the hall to see what is happening with the shadow.

"Does it always do that?" Korgaar asks as he glances nervously at the seemingly-animate shadow.

So no one can try to use Leon's wand to heal him?

A large placard above the door reads "The Evolution of Dragonkind" in bright, elaborate script. However, a shadowy sign next to the door bears a less pleasant inscription: "Pain Laboratory--Tests in Progress."

I've got the party arranged by the door; if the arrangement needs to be changed, go ahead and tweak it.

So no one can try to use Leon's wand to heal him?

Howirk attempts to utilize the wand.

"Good as, er, new?" he declares. He then suggests, "Shall I hold onto this?"

As the others approach the door, he falls in line. Reading the plaque, he mutters, "Sounds like a delightful place."

DM Carbide wrote:

So no one can try to use Leon's wand to heal him?

Howirk attempts to utilize the wand.

[dice=UMD]1d20+10
[dice=CLW]1d8+1

"Good as, er, new?" he declares. He then suggests, "Shall I hold onto this?"

As the others approach the door, he falls in line. Reading the plaque, he mutters, "Sounds like a delightful place."

"Yeah I guess cause I can't use it!"

Da big man grunts an affirmative to both questions, ”Nudder mishun, nudder scah.”

"Pain laboratory, eh? Best ready your weapons and magic, friends. This will be unpleasant. We'd better hope the Blakros women are intact - but who knows what the Onyx Alliance plans?"

Korgaar hefts axe and shield and prepares to storm the laboratory.

"Does it always do that?" Korgaar asks as he glances nervously at the seemingly-animate shadow.

Eveleth shrugs. "She always sticks close to me. I figure she can at least be occasionally useful."

The half orc wields her greataxe and nods to her shadow to open the door.

The door is unlocked, and opens easily. This room is filled with ancient tapestries of chromatic dragons besieging castles and battles between Dahak and Apsu at the dawn of time. An alabaster obelisk covered in Draconic runes occupies the far corner, surrounded by a spread of various dragonhides of all colors and thickness, and a taxidermied wyvern hangs from the ceiling above, its stinger flexed above its head. Umbral chains drop from the same ceiling on the Shadow Plane; gruesome hooks at the chains’ ends hold long-dead skeletons. The southern wall sports a massive wheel with shackles along its edge, apparently for holding writhing subjects in place during tests.

The party hears a slight noise from inside the room, but nothing moving is visible from outside.

Round 1:

Initiative order
Alton
?
Eveleth
Leon
Howirk
Korgaar

Alton can act!

Enemies: AC ? T ? FF ? HP taken - Black: 0 Grey: 0

The big man grunts, "seem safe, udder dan dat sound."

Alton?

Just Delay or Bot Alton?

Yeah.

Round 1 (ongoing):

Alton waits before entering the room. Nothing obvious happens, and the rest of the party can act!

Leon wanders inside, bringing his light to bear on the room to see what the sound was.

Move Action, 10 ft (unless something happens to redirect).

Leon wanders inside, bringing his light to bear on the room to see what the sound was.

Move Action, 10 ft (unless something happens to redirect).

The light allows, Howirk to peer further into the room.

He scans past the doorway.
Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22

If he doesn't see any threats, then he proceeds 20 feet (just south of Leon; against the wall)

Korgaar steps into the room, looking for trouble...

perception (darkvision): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22

sorry was swamped at work

Alton casts mage armor on himself.

"Anyone see anything?"

"Pssst, Eveleth!" Eveleth whispers, "What do you see?"

Delay.

Round 1 (ongoing):

Initiative order
Alton-acted
Enemies-acted
Eveleth
Leon
Howirk
Korgaar

Leon steps into the room and is promptly hit by a thrown flask of alchemist's fire for a point of fire damage. Then a sling bullet goes whizzing by the fighter's head.

The source of the projectiles is a pair of shadowy humanoids in black leather armor.

Everyone can react to their presence, and may move to engage if they have the movement.

Enemies: AC ? T ? FF ? HP taken - Black: 0 Grey: 0

The big hulking brute rumbles over and attempts to grab the first foe, ”Come ere, you!”

Improved Grapple vs. CMD: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (5) + 10 = 15

Leon grabs one of the enemies.

Eveleth, Howirk, and Korgaar?

Eveleth leaps into the room to stand on the table. Greataxe in hand, blades sewn into her cloak like a collar, spittle flecking off her tusked grin, she stares at the back shadowy man and bellows, "Oh, so you want to make this unfriendly?"

Move and Demoralize.

Intimidate: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (1) + 12 = 13

She giggles.

Howirk enters the room. Seeing the ambushers, he points his finger at the nearest one.
Ranged touch (ray of frost): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19
Damage (cold): 1d3 ⇒ 3

Round 1 (ongoing):

Initiative order
Alton-acted
Enemies-acted
Eveleth-acted
Leon-acted
Howirk-acted
Korgaar

The creature is unimpressed by Eveleth's challenge, and seems likewise unaffected by Howirk's cantrip despite the halfling's accuracy.

Korgaar?

Korgaar doesn't recognise the creatures - but their intent is clear enough. The dwarven mage responds in kind, raising his axe and closing on the grey humanoids with a snarl.

axe, rage: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13damage: 1d10 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11

Korgaar, are you attacking the one that Leon grappled?

Not being sure of Leon's intent - if he's trying to take one of the enemy alive - the raging dwarf goes for the free enemy.

Leon, just say the word if you're happy for Korgaar or anyone else to chop up enemies you get your hands on ;)

Leon grunts as he controls one arm of his foe, ”I gawt dis one fer info, take out da odder. Den we have nice chat.”

Korgaar barely misses the other enemy.

Round 2:

Initiative order
Alton
Enemies
Eveleth
Leon
Howirk
Korgaar

Alton is up!

Enemies: AC 14 T 11 FF 13 HP taken - Black: 0 Grey: 0

Alton moves as his short legs allow and grabs his crossbow then loads it.

"I'm coming guys!"

Round 2 (ongoing):

Initiative order
Alton-acted
Enemies-acted
Eveleth
Leon
Howirk
Korgaar

Alton loads his crossbow and gets into position. The grappled creature tries to slip free and almost manages it, but Leon's skill and strength are overpowering. The other one drops his sling and draws his sword, cutting at Korgaar and hitting the dwarf for 7 HP. The alchemist's fire on Leon sizzles a bit more before burning out. Leon, take another point of fire damage.

Everyone but Alton can act!

Leon pins his opponent’s arms behind his back, preventing almost all movement, ”Gimme a sec, I’ll have dis one tied up.”

Improved Grapple vs. CMD to keep and pin: 1d20 + 10 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 10 + 5 = 32

Round 2 (ongoing):

The unrestrained enemy looks somewhat concerned with Leon's successful pin of his companion.

Eveleth, Howirk, and Korgaar to go!

"Aw, we don't even know why we're fighting for our lives, we just are!" Eveleth observes.

She leaps off the table and closes around the unrestrained enemy and swings her axe.

Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19
Damage: 1d12 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14

The unrestrained enemy goes down before Eveleth's attack. At this, the restrained one stops struggling. "I surrender!"

Out of combat!

Leon doesn’t trust the ruse, whether it is one or not and simply ties them up with a coil of rope.

”Dere go. Nice n snug. Where da two leddies at?”

He then removes the foe’s weapons and valuables, as any good brute squad member would.

She doesn't try to escape, even when Leon switches from the pin to tying her up. "There's one woman in with the batch of brightlings--" The tone of her voice suggests that the term is an insult. "--back in there." She indicates the southern door in the east wall. "Lord Mak brought 'em in here, stashed 'em in the cells, and left us with the key. He maybe had some others with him, though. I couldn't tell."

Each of the enemies had a longsword, a sling and 9 or 10 bullets, a set of manacles, and three remaining flasks of alchemist's fire between them. In addition, the dead soldier was carrying a key.

"Show us where they are!"

Leon’s eyebrow raises, ”She said dat doh. I’ll open er.”

He takes the key over, checks for dangers and tries to pull it open. If locked he uses the key.

Perception: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (12) - 1 = 11

Knowledge(planes): 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (14) - 2 = 12

"Fascinating!" Eveleth exclaims, now that she gets a better look on the party's captive. "You're from the Shadow Plane!"

She turns to look at her shadow in derision. "Why didn't you introduce me?"

Eveleth inhales and waves off something in the dim light. "Please excuse her lack of manners. She's really just a lazy good-for-nothing, but she'll follow me through any ordeal. My name is Eveleth. It's a pleasure to meet one of her acquaintances. Thank you so much for your assistance. What's your name?"

Eveleth, do you have an ability that lets you attempt untrained Knowledge skill checks with DC>10? If not, you can't try to identify the enemies.

Leon cracks open the door, and all of the party can hear the sounds of running water and rattling chains. Several stalls stand against the east wall of the dank, stone room on the other side of the door. A large grate on the floor collects a steady stream of water coming from one of the stalls, and the stench of frightened, unwashed bodies fills the air.

I forget that. Should I change anything? I'd assume "from the shadow plane" might be something to leap to, given the situation.

Leon lumbers in to the obvious prison setup, ”An buddeh heah? We da rescu parteh.”

At the Brute's statement, there are gasps of relief from the stalls, followed by a gabble of pleas for help. There are five humans here, four men and one woman, all chained to the wall with well-made manacles. Two have odd symbols tattooed on their foreheads.

Alton tries to ID the creatures.

Know Planes: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24