Player info
Date: Wealsday the 30th of Rova, 4714 AR
Time: 09:30 am
Location: The House of Pentheru, the Necropolis, Wati,
Current Weather: Cloudy, 24° C
Map: Battlemap |
Quests: Explore the House of Pentheru
Seben gives a slight frozen shudders when Indus makes a crack about worms. Though secretly, it's more at the use of this 'bone burn' thing. She wonders what would happen if she came into contact with it, and steps carefully around any drops or puddles on the floor.
GM JaceDK wrote:
Make sure to update your current hp and handle any healing you do before you move on.
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Well that was ominous!
I wonder if this is a reference to Indus still being at risk for disease or poison.
"Right, that demon dog bite," she says to Indus, "How are you doing? Still feels okay?"
Can Seben make a follow-up Heal check and see how he's doing? Ignore this roll if she can't. Maybe Lueck or someone else with Heal can give a second opinion?
With the additional damage Indus took from the skeletons, Sobekhotep realises that the man is now reasonably injured, and casts Infernal Healing on him, again.
I believe he was exactly 10 hp down, after the skeleton strike and his own splash damage, so he should now be at full.
Lueck gathers the others around him. "Lady of the Battle, these warriors have been wounded in righteous battle. Mend their wounds so that they may press forward and continue the crusade to restore your glory, and the glory of your peers."
Channel positive energy 1d6 ⇒ 3
Channel positive energy 1d6 ⇒ 2
One channel remaining. Does anyone have any injuries beyond that?
Taking the lead, Lueck carefully approaches the small granary. His movements are far from as silent as he had hoped, but both he and several other group members are highly alert and pay close attention to potential signs of trouble.
First, faint marks in the sand-covered ground before the the granary seem to indicate that the door has been opened multiple times fairly recently.
Secondly, Seben and Lueck both pick up the almost imperceptible sound of chittering, as if numerous tiny creatures are moving within the building.
Double Nat 20's on the perception checks - that should warrant a bit of bonus info
"Wait!" calls Seben, before realizing that Lueck hears it too. "Don't open that just yet..."
Seben quietly shares what she hears with the others.
I'm gonna guess that "chittering" is the universal callsign for swarms. I feel like the Bask is overdue. But on the other hand, I wouldn't think swarms would be the type to use doors.
Anybody got any more flasks? The treasure sheet Luke put together suggests Diorio and Luek may each have a flask of alchemist fire.
Seben will put her bow away and light her one singular torch. She'll ready that in front of her, ready to deliver its one point of fire damage.
"I've got a single flask of that cocktail you had a demonstration of earlier as well as alchemist's fire, but I'm all for regrouping if you aren't fully prepared," Indus chimes in from the rear.
4 x alchemist's fire, 1 x bone burn. Happy to share if anyone is short, though the bone burn should be saved for undead enemies.
Nervously changing her mind, Seben plants her burning torch in the sand, so that it is easily on hand. She then pulls her bow out once more, knocking an arrow aiming towards the door.
Watch it not be a swarm at all... but I would think a rat swarm in a granary makes sense.
How about Seben borrows an alchemist fire off of Indus? She'll pay him for it, if she doesn't hand it back after this encounter.
I'm good either way, but while we're deciding, maybe I'll follow-up on Diorio's smart suggestion.
Diorio wrote:
"Oooh, that sound sets my nerves jangling. Sobek, can you tell if your fox friend, Neith, smells something specific?"
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Seben will call down the Sacred Ibis and, after he has taken a look with his +11 Perception via Animal Focus (Falcon), Seben swaps it to Animal Focus (Wolf), which will temporarily grant the scent ability to a range of 20 feet. If a check is required, Seven will cast guidance to add a further +1 to it.
Seben will then ask the Sacred Ibis to identify what is coming in and out of that door. There will be some semi-comical pantomiming and charades-like-guessing involved as, while the Sacred Ibis is intelligent, he cannot speak, per say.
Maybe that will yield some information and help the decision.
I'm good either way, but while we're deciding, maybe I'll follow-up on Diorio's smart suggestion.
Diorio wrote:
"Oooh, that sound sets my nerves jangling. Sobek, can you tell if your fox friend, Neith, smells something specific?"
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Seben will call down the Sacred Ibis and, after he has taken a look with his +11 Perception via Animal Focus (Falcon), Seben swaps it to Animal Focus (Wolf), which will temporarily grant the scent ability to a range of 20 feet. If a check is required, Seven will cast guidance to add a further +1 to it.
Seben will then ask the Sacred Ibis to identify what is coming in and out of that door. There will be some semi-comical pantomiming and charades-like-guessing involved as, while the Sacred Ibis is intelligent, he cannot speak, per say.
Maybe that will yield some information and help the decision.
This one's a bit of a curveball. After a bit of consideration, I'm going to rule that the Ibis can't convey the kind of complex information this would require (or more likely won't demean itself to hopping around playing charades). You're just going to have to go on the info you already have, which is more than the adventure specifies. Go do some heroic stuff, people.
Roger that, but having sniffed at the door, does the Sacred Ibis ward us away before returning skyward?
Seben wants to know if she should be miffed at the Ibis later - I mean, she was going to be anyways, but perhaps depending on what happens next she may have extra reason.
The door to the granary begins to slide open without much difficulty. Immediately, a foul stench that has nothing to do with grain assault your senses along with a chorus of thousands of tiny clicking and clacking jaws.
Inside the circular interior of the granary, a host of iridescent blue-black beetles take flight and quickly fill the entire space. Drawn to the open door, the swarm surges forward, but the well-prepared Smokin' Bask Brigade reacts faster.
Seben drops her bow, in favor of hurling the small glass vial Indus provided her with.
By my count Seben can just barely hurl the flask without a range increment penalty, but if not, let me know.
Also, I don't know if you will permit me to include +1 for guidance. I had a post that it be a standing order to cast it before the party opens a door. I did not specifically say it in my post on preparation in this case, though. My roll below currently includes it.
Attempted hurl of lesser alchemist fire from Indus:1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 3 + 1 = 20
Possible damage from lesser alchemist fire: 1d8 ⇒ 4fire damage, plus 1 point of persistent fire damage and 1 point of fire splash damage.(Edit: I think that's 6 points of fire damage with the extra 50%)
"Quick! Spread out!" Seben calls as she dashes across the sand.
After her throw, Seben takes a move action to move south west - she gets to the edge of the stairs, next to the pillar. Unfortunately, she's separated herself from her lit torch. If she had to use her move action to ready the flask, she instead stays put and doesn't follow her own advice.
Lueck hurls his vial at the swarm and backs away. As he backpedals, his tongue lashes out repeatedly, ineffectually taking out several individual bugs with each strike.
To hit with vial, 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20, damage 1d8 ⇒ 7.
"Good thing that granary wasn't choke full of flour, or we'd be blown to straight over the Barrier Wall by the blast," Indus says when his flask bursts open raining fiery death on the beetles.
The barrage of alchemical fire quickly crisps enough scarabs to render the swarm harmless.
Sifting through the interior of the granary, you find an assortment of human bones, picked clean of any flesh.
Heal DC 15:
The bones are from three separate humans, who appear to have died relatively recently (which could still be months or years ago). They have likely been dumped in the granary as fresh corpses and devoured by the scarab swarm.
Among the debris you find a filthy, but perfectly usable adamantine heavy flail.
This completes the points of interest for this section of the courtyard. Do you want to return to the western garden ad explore the crypt or enter the main house?
"There are some bones here. Possibly connected at some point to one or more creatures. Definitely dead!" Indus says, realising he knows nothing about forensics.
"This flail looks valuable, but maybe we should save it in case we run into more skeletons?"
I'm for exploring the main building before heading underground (I assume the crypt is an underground kinda crypt?)
"Poor souls. It looks to have been three of them, humans most likely. It looks as though they may have already been dead when they were dumped in the granary, and then striped to the bone by the scarabs."
Well thank goodness Indus was prepared like a boy scout. I think that could have otherwise gone a lot worse for us.
Heal:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13
Seben hears Lueck's explanation.
"So maybe some thugs are using this room to stash their victims? Perhaps they even count on the beetles to devour the evidence."
She shakes her head in disgust and then looks at the much larger structure to the west.
"I don't like it. It's conceivable, we could find whoever is doing this is now hiding out in the mansion. This place just keeps getting worse."
Seben is the only one who uses martial weapons? That's a terrifying thought. I would think Diorio can use a flail in a pinch? Maybe give it to him? Or make it a morning star and give it to Lueck? Seben will certainly take it if no one else will as I think it's a great find, but she's probably not the highest and best use for it.
Perhaps we'll need it against something like a golem with DR/adamantine. You can also get creative and use it to trash structures, like walls or load-bearing columns. It bypasses hardness.
Not feeling too strongly towards any of the options here.
Heavy Flail: 1d10 (two-handed) vs Morning Star: 1d8 (one-handed).
Better damage with the flail and Diorio doesn't carry a shield anyway, but I bet he's got a bunch of abilities that are keyed around one-handed weapons. I guess if it's a morning star we could potentially pass it around to more people?
If we sell, there's a fractional extra value in the flail, but I'd lean towards keeping it. What if it was planted here cause we're going to need it later on?
How about a morning star to Indus as a 'thank you' for going on that shopping trip when he did? It's like a muffin basket, only adamantine and spikey.
I'll likely multi-class into fighter at level up, so I should get the necessary proficiency for flail, and since I'm going into trip chain, I don't mind it staying a heavy flail.
That’s settled then. Just note who’s carrying the flail for now and we’ll move on. If you are exploring the main house, I can go off Sobekhoteps post above where he examined the side entrance.
