Age of Ashes (Team Alseta)

Game Master Delta Arena

“Violence is common and contagious, but not universal,” Ellaeaanda responds to Netkin in a distant voice. “Necessary and unnecessary, but many lack the wisdom to distinguish which and when.” The elf glides about the room, taking everything in with a sidelong glance and ensuring that the location is secure before tending to the injured.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24
Medicine (Treat Wounds on Ardoinel): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14
Medicine (Treat Wounds on Resa): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10

Netkin

Unfortunately, Resa still needs about 25 min to be affected by Treat Wounds again.

Resa

There are some noises coming from the room next door B10 but it doesn’t sounds like whatever is inside is about to jump you. Not this time.

Cerrus

Yes, Netkin did get a minor hit.

Ardoinel

I know, enemies are not just attacking. It’s easy to fall for that pit trap running NPCs.

Ellaeaanda

You hear the noises Resa hears. There are splashes of water for a moment, before they quiet down to a continuous dripping sound.

Ardoinel actually has 45 minutes on his Treat Wounds timer, since he was treated after Resa and Alak.

“Splashing water; drip, drip ,drip,” Ellaeaanda intones enigmatically while pondering what might cause such splashing. “Opener of doors?” she asks Resa.

Pursue a Lead: dropping the bear in favor of figuring out what’s causing the splashing

Cerrus will leave the work of patching up the group to those better able than him. He searches the bodies for valuables and the scans the room for anything interesting.

Including an actual roll for my previous post.

As he inspects the room, he hears Ellaeaanda mention opening the door to the next room. He speaks quietly to avoid "Are we sure we are ready for another fight? Maybe it's best we just wait quietly. Here or back in the entry way."

"Oh! I only got a chair thrown at me. I think. That leg hit me pretty good! But I don't think I need stitches... I will just get a bump," Netkin chuckles nervously.

"I-I still have a few elixirs I can make... If anyone needs anything before another battle... Gosh, I'm tired of battles."

Ardoinel gives a small chuckle at Netkin's words.

"Welcome to the life of a hero," he says dryly. "Constant strife and constant striving to make things better."

Cerrus

They are not carrying anything other than their weapons. Small hide armour, sickle and whip. And anything that might have been valuable in the room has been either smashed or repurposed into the trash-jungle.

"Are we sure we are ready for another fight? Maybe it's best we just wait quietly. Here or back in the entry way."

Ellaeaanda glances at Resa and the others, but no one else asks for healing, or for time to rest their wounds—on the contrary, Netkin dismisses his own injury as inconsequential. “None object, save the hale, and death comes not yet,” she replies to Cerrus, then quietly walks towards the northern door and opens it.

Cerrus nods at Ellaeaanda as she approaches the door. "They know better than I if they are ready. Let's clean this dungeon for the goblins." He readies himself for another onslaught of combat.

There is a steady dripping from the stone ceiling which has ruined the room’s floor. Just beneath the dripping there is a deep, bog-like puddle. Ringing the puddle are splintered pieces of wood stuck into the flagstones’ rubble, rising up like bizarre foliage.

Ellaeaanda, I’m keeping your previous perception roll.

Inside the puddle Ellaeaanda see what looks like two pieces of floating wood, but what she recognizes as two more boggards laying in wait.

“Boggards await,” Ellaeaanda quietly informs the others, “two traps in a watery grave.” She trades her longbow for her whip, but does not enter; instead she steps back and waits for a frog-man to emerge from the puddle’s safety. “Fate favors many against few,” she says, recognizing the advantage of bringing their numbers to bear against a solitary foe in the chokepoint of the doorway.

"Ah. Well, my bombs will not work underwater..." Maybe that's something that needs fixing, Netkin reckons.

"Do you think we need to make them come out?"

Cerrus thinks for a moment about how to engage the mostly hidden boggards. "Resa, do you think you could quietly advance and attack them before they can react? If not, I could attack from here with a thrown weapon.

"My spells can do the same," Ardoinel adds with a nod.

Netkin and Ardoinel. Looking at the rules the only bombs and spells that don't work are fire ones. Although there is an added resitance to acid as well.

Cerrus, approaching would definitely trigger before she can attack.

Oh, I was agreeing with Cerrus in that statement. I plan on hitting them with good ol' needle darts!

@GM Delta Arena: Got it. Thanks for the clarification.

"Okay, everyone who can attack from range, do so. On three."

Cerrus grabs a smaller hammer from his belt and readies himself to attack as one with the group.

Rolling the attack now since I'm AFK most of the weekend. Cerrus only attacks once the group is ready.

Exploit Vulnerability: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9

Ranged Attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21
Bludgeoning Dmg: 1d6 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 3 + 2 = 10

On Cerrus’ cue, Ellaeaanda flicks her hand open and unleashes a beam of divine energy into the puddle. “The norns have spoken.”

Divine Lance: attack & damage: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 232d4 ⇒ (3, 4) = 7

"Oh, I've used up all my bombs, but... I suppose... It will be diluted in the water though," Netkin grabs his alchemical toolkit and tinkers with vials as he speaks. He pours a few careful drops of what looks to be an extremely corrosive liquid in an empty vial, shuts it with a cork, and tosses it in the water. "Any second now.."

Use 1 Versatile Vial to create 1 Acid Flask (lesser)

Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 4 +1 Acid Damage, +1 Splash damage if it applies

Ardoinel nods at Cerrus as he takes out his small chunk of metal and begins the arcane incantation, followed by prayer for good measure, letting it spin in the air between his fingers until it sculpts itself into the needles he then sends zipping into the puddle!

Needle Darts: Attack & Damage: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 153d4 ⇒ (3, 2, 3) = 8

Resa shook her head at everyone when questioned could she sneak up on the boggards. She could not sneak in water that she knew of, and even says that. Instead she just gets ready to attack once her party members draw them out of the water.

On Cerrus’ cue, you all launch your strikes, raining blows on the small pond in the middle of the room. Cerrus’ hammer hits the left one on the head, while Ellaeaanda’s magical beam, and Netkin’s Acid flask crash into the one on the right. Ardoinel’s darts, however, ricochet against the nearby shore, and bounce above the boggards’ heads.

Seeing their hiding in the water fail, the two boggards rise from the water.

Ardoinel’s Initiative: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
Cerrus’ Initiative: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
Ellaeaanda’s Initiative: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28
Netkin’s Initiative: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19
Resa’s Initiative: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15

Ellaeaanda, you can take your turn before the boggards.

Devise a Stratagem: 1d20 ⇒ 10

Foreseeing an opening in both time and space, Ellaeaanda strides in with light, quick steps before the enemy can react. She lashes her whip across the left boggard, then returns to her position at the rear—after all, elves are renowned for their delicate grace, not their sturdy stamina.

Attack = 10 + 8 = 18 Whip damage (S, nonlethal): 1d4 ⇒ 3 Strategic Strike: 1d6 ⇒ 4

◇Devise a Stratagem (free as an Active Lead)
◇Recall Knowledge (free from Known Weaknesses)
◆Stride into melee range
◆Strike blue (top boggard); Shared Stratagem makes this enemy off-guard to Resa
◆Stride back to where she started

"Slag..." Ardoinel mutters.

Ellaeaanda

You rush in and out, cutting the boggard with your whip in the process. But so focussed were you in striking the creature down, that you don’t get enough time to analyse the creatures defences in the way you desired.

Boggard (Green)

Raising from the water, muck and blood dripping down from it, the boggard lets out a deep croak that sounds more like the earth groaning that a sound a creature should make.

Ardoinel’s Will Save: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25
Cerrus’ Will Save: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24
Ellaeaanda’s Will Save: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14
Resa’s Will Save: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13
Netkin’s Will Save: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25

It is an unnatural sound that evoques dark places, bad memories, or bad promonitions. Ellaeaanda, Resa and Alak are Frightened 1.

The oggard then hops forward, out of the water, and lands in front of Cerrus, ready to strike him down.

Moving swiftly and with precision, the morningstar connects with Cerrus, bruising him.

AB: Terrifying Croak*, Stride*, Strike*

Boggard (Teal)

As everyone pays attention to the croak of its companion, the second boggard launches its tongue towards Resa.

The tongue grabs unto one of Resa's arms, Resa is now Grabbed by the boggard but can move to within 10 ft of it and the boggard takes the opportunity to close the gap with her, and to swing its morningstar towards her ribs.

Which Resa sees coming, but with the limited mobility from the boggard's tongue she is unable to avoid the impact.

AB: Strike*, Stride*, Strike*

You can all take your turns.

Ardoinel squeezes around Alak and chants in rumbling, sibilant Draconic, the glittering shape of a muscular claw reappearing about his sword and sword-arm as he hacks down on the boggard!

◆ Stride
◆◆ Spellstrike (Gouging Claw)

Attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19
Damage (Strike, Slashing): 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
Damage (Gouging Claw, Piercing): 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (2, 1) + 2 = 5

Grimacing from the wallop, Cerrus draws his sword and runs a piece of debris from his bag of trinkets along the razor sharp edge. Swinging the sword from right to left, he slashes at the boggard in front of him.

◆ Draw longsword
◆ Exploit Vulnerability
◆ Strike

EV: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23

Strike: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20
Slashing Dmg: 1d8 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 3 + 2 = 9 Assuming EV is successful, additional damage for boggard's weakness or +3

Devise a Stratagem: 1d20 ⇒ 1

The deep, low croak feels like it is vibrating into her very soul. For a moment Ellaeaanda stands stock-still, indecisive with fear. She sees all of her attacks falter, rendered useless by the terror that grips her heart. But then she sees another vision of the future, one bolstered by the assurance of the fates, and she confidently strides forth into battle. Lightly stepping around the far side of the puddle, she swings her whip low and fast, sweeping both boggards off their feet.

◇Devise a Stratagem (free as an Active Lead)
◇Recall Knowledge (free from Known Weaknesses)
◆Stride
◆Trip teal: Assurance on Athletics for 10+6=16
◆Trip green: Assurance on Athletics for 10+6=16

"Resa, you need to stop getting hit all the time! I'm running out of space I can put bandages on!!" Netkin runs at the rogue's side, and hands her a small vial.

Stride, Interact, Interact (Elixir of Life, Lesser)

Resa takes the vial handed to her, and attempts to drink it. Afterwards she will attempt to stab the boggard two times

drink attempt: 1d20 ⇒ 6
stab: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11
stab attempt: 1d20 ⇒ 10
stab damage: 1d4 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6
stab: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9
stab attempt: 1d20 ⇒ 19
stab damage: 1d4 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Ardoinel

The boggard freezes at the sight of the claw, and it is unable to prevent it from cutting through it.

Cerrus

Not wasting the opportunity, Cerrus follows up on Ardoinel’s attack with his own. The debris on his sword burns the boggard with its touch, and makes the weapon slice deeper. After that, there is no more fight left in it.

Ellaeaanda

Ellaeaanda tries to think of the strengths of the boggard, but every thought gets replaced by the deep, guttural sound of the croak in her mind. But, in the end, the best way to deal with your fears is to trip them down and bring them to your knees, and so she does. The remaining boggard is swept off the ground by Ellaeaanda.

You’d technically have one more action but...

Netkin

Netkin rummages through his pouches until he find and draws his last prepared Elixir to hand over to Resa.

Just to confirm, that was the one you had prepared from daily preparations of were you using a versatile vial?

Resa

Feeling invigorated by the elixir that Resa almost dropped but didn’t, she tries to finish off the boggard on the ground.

Dice shenanigans that I’ll explain at the end.

On her first swing, the boggard rolls around in the ground, avoiding Resa’s blade. On her second swing, however, Resa brings down the blade straight into the boogard’s chest, pushing it deep until the boggard ceases to move.

The Strike action doesn’t have the Manipulate trait. Judging by the actions that have it, Manipulate seems to be reserved for actions that require precision on the hands and fingers, rather than full swing of the arms while holding something. That means no flat check to Strike, which means that your third d20 roll, the 10, would have been your second Strike. 10+4 is actually enough to hit since the boggard was off-guard due to being prone. I hope that makes sense.

You get 60xp for defeating the two boggards.

With the boggards vanquished, the strangely tight fear in Ellaeaanda’s chest dissipates completely. She glances around, satisfied that no one is in dire need of healing, then peers down into the puddle. “Deep must be this mystery to conceal two boggards. May fate reveal its depths.” With a wave of her hand, she conjures a yellow orb of light that slowly descends into the water, illuminating the watery depths for all to see.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (2) + 9 = 11

I used the vial from my daily preparations!

"No, bit more to your left - oh dear. You missed that. Doesn't really matter," Netkin gently places the vial in Resa's hands now that the boggards are dead and she's stopped flailing around.

He moves to Ellaeaanda's side, and squints at the murky water. "It's hard to see anything!"

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Cerrus retrieves his hammer and wipes away the muck and dirt adhered to it from landing at the edge of the puddle. He touches the tender area on his shoulder and grimaces again. "Not a terrible wound, but I've felt better."

Seeing Ellaeaanda examining the pool where the boggards tried to hide, Cerrus joins her in the search. "How deep does this go? Must be fairly deep to hide the boggards decently well."

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

In spite of his words, Netkin actually sees something at the bottom of the puddle thanks to the light that Ellaeaanda created. The puddle is about 4ft deep, and resting at the bottom there is a little vial with a clear liquid inside.

I realized that I missed giving 120xp for finding out what the cultists are up to. My bad! 120xp for everyone.

"Oh - there!" Netkin points at the puddle. "There's something twinkling there!... It looks like a potion of sorts."

"Um. Anyone knows how to swim? I'm afraid to say I've never learned..."

"I do."

Ardoinel sheathes his sword, coughs out some ash to clear his lungs and descends into the water, taking a deep breath before it covers his head.

Swim (Athletics): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9

AGAIN the dice foil any attempt at gravitas I make!

“In the lakes and rivers of Kyonin have I swum, the crystal waters of my youth.” Seeing Ardoinel struggle a little bit, Ellaeaanda carefully sets down her bow, whip, and pack, then dives in after him.

Thanks to Assurance, Athletics = 10+6 = 16 to Swim

Cerrus attempts to aid Ardoinel and Ellaeaanda by keeping a hand on them as they enter the water and helping them back out of the large puddle.

Athletics to Aid: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

Resa stays away from the water, a bit red in the face as she admits " I never learned to swim. Wasn't something I was able to do." She does try to watch and study what Ellaeaanda does so in the future she might be able to swim, or at least not drown. She does check the rest of the room, just in case there is something that was missed before.

I think this is another secret check

Hahahaha, I love how much effort went into this. It's a 4ft deep pool, some of you can literally stand with your heads still out.

Cerrus pulls Ardoinel out of the water as he starts coughing, making it clear that now is not the moment for him to hold his breath. Ellaeaanda has no trouble jumping into the water and reaching for the vial. Ellaeaanda's form is good, and Resa can see how she uses both her arms and her legs to move in the water and steady herself. Once surfaced, Cerrus offers her a hand and pulls her out of the water.

Upon closer inspection, Netkin identifies the content in the vial as an invisibility potion.

Nothing else of value so I won't make a roll.

Resa notices that the broken furniture in the room was made of imported and exepensive wood, and there are some fabric remains of silk and velvet. Whomever this room belong to was certainly of importance to the order.

Ardoinel coughs out some water this time and gives a sour frown.

"Gonna have to polish and oil everything tonight, make sure it doesn't slagging rust," he mutters.

Once Netkin identifies the potion he looks to Resa with a raised eyebrow.

"You'd get the most benefit out of that," he says.

" I bet I could, but there is no telling if anyone else is even here. We may need to save it for later. Let us check the other places"

Resa would take to the door to the south of them, leading to b11 and checks to ensure nothing is in that area before she opens the door and would check the next door if that room is clear.

Cerrus readies himself behind Resa, hoping that this path gives the group some reprieve from battle.

"Ready when you are, Resa."

Ellaeaanda takes some time to dry herself off with the remnants of silk and velvet. “Two kobolds await, before and after the charau-ka. But what fate draws them here?” She muses on this riddle while following after Resa and Cerrus.

Drop the splashing investigation. Pursue a Lead on why the kobolds are here.

"I think Skorp and Venak mentioned the kobolds, something about them already being here when the Cinderclaws arrived. Maybe they can be talked to...or at least bribed," Ardoinel adds.

The furniture in this room is all askew, revealing a mountain-like pile in the centre made up largely of garbage such as filthy cloth, chunks of rubble, and bent nails, though there are a few shining glints in the mix. On the southern wall, scrawled in a chunky substance in a childlike hand there is text in draconic that says পরাক্রমশালী ড্রাগন সাবধান

Ellaeaanda peers around Resa and steps into the room, paying particular attention to the eastern wall, though the words on the nearby southern wall are also taken in with a quick glance. She speaks to the empty room in a strange sibilant tongue.

Only after this introduction to any unseen occupants does she point out the damaged eastern wall to her companions.

Perception +9

"So they're the self-important kind of kobolds," Ardoinel mutters. "That pile must be their 'hoard.'"

All of this draconic is starting to make Netkin feel like he's being left out of a very important conversation - a pretty common feeling, but an unpleasant one nonetheless.

"Dragons?!" he squeaks. "But we're not well-equipped to go against dragons!!!"

He looks frantically around the room - as if the messy pile of stuff could somehow hold a vorpal blade somewhere.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23