GM Rotation, The COREageous Crew

Game Master Pete H.

"I'll turn you into a shish kebab!" Cortina charges and stabs at the devil...

cold iron longspear, charge: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 4 + 2 = 9 :-(
Piercing: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

possible AoO:
AoO cold iron longspear: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17
Piercing: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

current AC 16 T 10 FF 14

I am quite sure that her regular attack didn't hit, so...

"Dammit!"

Sorry for the delays, but... busy holidays and way too much extra work at work. Anyway, onwards! Also, the fight would probably have been over two rounds ago if Jack could hit for crap. Jeepers what a bad string of rolls, that sucks.

Cortina charges in, but stumbles with her long spear and barely misses impaling Jack!

Jack freaks out, seeing the spear headed right at his gut and flinches away. The moment of distraction causes his own attack to completely miss.

Nal moves through the central room to work his way around behind the flying foe (double move).

Cashel sprints away again.

Paloma negates most of Cashel's hurt, with a well placed spell of healing. Cheeper stands by close.

Paul is up!

Round Three: That floor is definitely an OSHA violation.
Devil (-15 HP, flying 5-ft up)
Cortina
Jack (-5 HP)
Nal
Paloma/Cheeper
Cashel (-1 HP)
Paul

Bold may go!

Paul follows Nal, his longer legs enabling him to pass the halfling. Double move.

Paul…

…

…

…MOVES!

(Dun dun duuuuun)

The devil ignores him and slashes at the barely wounded Jack.

Claw 1 + HG: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 6 + 1 = 26 for 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
Claw 2 + HG: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 6 + 1 = 18 for 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

And causes several very deep paper cuts on the fighter. Ouch those sting!

Round Four: This devil needs anger management training, what a jerk
Devil (-15 HP, flying 5-ft up)
Cortina
Jack (-9 HP)
Nal
Paloma/Cheeper
Cashel (-1 HP)
Paul

Bold may go!

Cashel calmly fires an unerring missile of pure force at the devil.

Force Missile: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4 Force damage.

Paul crosses into the room and stabs at the devil. His aim is good, but the creature's supernaturally-touch flesh turns his blade.

Rapier attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20
Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

"Jack, please end this fight. Here, this should help!"

Cortina extends a hand to Jack and provides the Fighter with a bit of (Desna's) luck.

Bit of Luck: For 1 round roll each D20 twice and take the better result.

Jack could use a bit of luck at this point so attempts to finish this.
greatsword: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27
greatsword: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

slashing: 2d6 + 4 ⇒ (6, 5) + 4 = 15

crit check: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21
crit danage: 2d6 + 4 ⇒ (4, 5) + 4 = 13

Lol, now he rolls good.

Jack chops the flying devil in two, spraying black blood onto everyone in the room!

Combat very obviously over.

Paul sheathes his unblooded rapier. "Well struck! Is anyone badly hurt?"

"Well, the bisected devil certainly is," Cashel notes dryly.

Lol, now he rolls good.

All because of Cortina's help the divine intervention of the Lady Luck! Praise Desna! ^_^

Jack chops the flying devil in two, spraying black blood onto everyone in the room!

Well, then it's a good thing that - technically - Cortina is currently not in the room. ;-)

The cleric checks the devil halves for any equipment that might have survived Jack's greatsword.

The cleric enjoys inspecting the devil’s muscled naked body for hidden treasures, even if there is a lot of blood and gore. Sadly she finds no equipment and gear, but then she remembers the spear it dropped!

Darn, nothing useful at all! Wait. It did drop a spear, didn't it?

Cortina moves back to where the spear was dropped and checks it with detect magic.

I approximately moved Cortina to where the spear was dropped, because I do not remember the exact spot.

She sees a magic aura upon the spear! It also looks greasy.

"This spear looks magical! Nice... wait. Is your spell still active, Cashel?"

Cashel checks to see if the aura is something *other* that his Grease spell.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27.

It is sadly most definitely only his own grease spell.

But the weapon looks to be of high quality at least (masterwork).

Paloma and Cheeper turn their attention back the way the devil came to the broken bridge ahead, the cat sniffing delicately.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27
Cheeper Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15

After making sure no further dangers await, she pulls out two lengths of rope.
Do we see a way to secure the rope to make the crossing easier? Maybe a pillar Cheeper can wind around and then come back if we tie the rope to her barding?

Thanks. I guess the 'bit of luck' did the trick.

Paloma sees nice secure carved stone windows in the walls that could have ropes tied through them or grappling hooked, but no pillars. It also seems trap free to her, though she hears a very faint clanging from the other side of the door.

Paul notices Jack is still injured, but he’s probably fiiiine.

"Jack, come here - I'll take care of your injuries. It should heal your remainig scratch, too, Cashel." Cortina waits until Jack is near enough, then channels Desna's divine energy. A silver light washes over the party, and all wounds begin to heal. She then uses her wand of CLW on Jack's remaining injuries.

Channel: 1d6 ⇒ 6 Yes! :-D
CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

"There, as good as new." The cleric puts her wand back and grabs her longspear. "Let's go explore further."

The party should be back at full HP.

Thank you Cortina .... and Desna

He then moves to Paloma's side.

Found something interesting?

"Just sizing up how best to cross this gap." She points out the windows, "I don't suppose you ever picked up that grappling hook, did you? We might secure the rope there, but that trick is beyond Cheeper. I do have my Climbing Kit, but I suspect someone will need to jump across to secure the rope." She turns to the nimble halfling and half-elf, "Nal, Paul? What do you think? We could tie the rope around your chest like we did me at the pool in the pit. That way if you did slip, we could be sure to catch you and pull you back up." She says as she begins to knot the rope.

Jack starts wishing Paloma was the one making that jump and there was water in the gap for her to fall in.

Ummm ... yeah .. grappling hook. Here it is.

He pulls out a brand new grappling hook out of his bag that still has the price tag attached.

"Oh good, you did remember." Paloma says with a smile as she ties the rope to the shiny new grappling hook. She casts a guidance and swings it around to try and hook onto the window.
Ranged Throw, guidance: 1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 3 + 1 = 14

If she misses, she will either try again or hand off to someone with better coordination.

Paloma ignores the creepy drooling look Jack gives her as he hands it to her.

The Druid has no issues catching the grappling hook to a window on the other side of the chasm.

Hopefully Jack is a bit more discrete than that as he watches the grappling hook fly over and hook on.

I suppose the next thing to do is the lightest person to climb along that with the strongest person keeping the tension up.

"Sounds good, Jack. But... it doesn't have to be only one person keeping the tension up, does it? We can work together - like we did with the big doors." Cortina winks at the fighter.

Jack hasn’t struck me as discrete at all, lol. But you are quite correct that he wasn’t going to be cartoonishly drooling there, that was just me stirring the pot. :D

The group also easily notices that there are more windows all down the hall if they want to tie the line off on this side of the pit.

With that done (rope braced on wall) y’all could probably take ten to climb across.

Paul ties off the line on the west side. "Nal, do you want to lead, or shall I?"

Nal easily climbs across, it’s barely an inconvenience.

The halfling notices a shield decorated with a bull’s head leaning against the wall (masterwork heavy steel shield). When he moves it to check the quality a small bag falls to the ground. Inside the bag is a collection of shiny trinkets and smooth stones and a tattered book. The book, written in Common, is the journal of one of the ancient cult’s slaves and describes her recruitment, enslavement, and the initial assault of Sarenrae’s crusaders on the Citadel, including a graphic description of the battle-crazed dervishes slaughter of many of the Citadel’s slaves.

Paul follows, scanning the area (especially the double doors at the end of the hall) for traps and other dangers.

Paul survives the harrowing wall climb!

He sees no dangers related to the hall or door, but does hear a faint clanging from the other side. Sorta sounds like a blacksmith's hammer.

Cortina is not trained in climbing, but she is strong. And with a little help from her goddess, everything is possible, right? So she tries to climb over to the other side...

Take 10 Climb - ACP, guidance: 10 + 3 - 4 + 1 = 10

Paloma casts guidance on Jack, Cheeper and herself while the others make their crossing. Then she carefully makes the climb herself cand calls for Cheeper to come, and with a running start, the cat soars over the gap easily.

Climb, take 10, guidance: 10 + 1 + 1 = 12
Cheeper Jump: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (7) + 17 = 24

Jack is currently wrestling with another problem. Without leaving the rope behind - how does the last person get across? Running jump?

I think we will need to cross here again on our way back anyway.
Cortina has a rope, too, so let's just get the grappling hook and leave your rope here for now.
Alternatively, we can set up Cortina's rope here while Jack is still on the other side; then he can untie his rope, cross and pick up his grappling hook, too.

Paloma sees Jack worrying over the logistics and understands his issue. "Ok, I'll remove the grappling hook and tie this end. You tie off yours so you can cross too. We have more rope, besides, we might need to return this way to get back out." She tells him, as she removes the hook and secures her end.

Rope Use(Survival): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28

Ha! Sorta ninja'd with very similar conclusions. ^_^

I was a bit worried about losing it but I wasn't really sure about that six for 5gp deal. Why would someone want half a dozen grappling hooks?

He ties off the rope at this end and gives it a good pull to make sure it's secure before carefully making his way over.

climb: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23

A well prepared elf, that’s who!

The door seems safe and super welcoming, as much as a closed door in a cultist’s fortress can.

Once everyone is across, Paul prepares to open the door, rapier in one hand. "Ready?"

Cortina hands out divine blessings to everyone near her and also herself. Then she grabs her longspear with both hands and answers: "I'm ready!"

The cleric casts guidance on people near her and then herself. Hopefully, Cashel and Paloma are doing the same... ;-)

Paloma helps Cortina in handing out guidance and readies her shield and sling before nodding her assent to proceed to Paul.

Jack draws his weapon in preparation

The group squeezes into the small hallway and prepares for battle! Paul opens the door.

The red glow of lava dimly lights this vast room. Rivulets of molten rock thread the hall’s floor, fed by streams of lava flowing down the walls. Four enormous forges are spaced evenly around the room, with large hammers, bellows, anvils, and tanks of water dripping on the lava below. A circular ramp rises gently near the center of the room, looping above the lava channels before disappearing into the gloom above.

The lava channels are only a foot wide, so they pose no real danger to Small or larger creatures unless they touch or fall into the lava.

And more importantly, a dwarf is hammering away on an anvil, oblivious to the group (so far).

Having trouble editing the slide on my phone.
Perception: 1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 7 + 1 = 15
Cheeper Perception: 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 5 + 1 = 19

Moving into the room, Paloma and Cheeper keep an eye out for hidden dangers. Or some sign this dwarf had been pressed into service. She casts another guidance on herself as she prepares to try to appeal to their sense of reason again.

"This does not look like a particularly safe work environment. Do you need help? Blink twice if you're being held against your will."
Diplomacy: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 6 + 1 = 23

Definitely time to call OSHA!

Paloma notices chains on the walls in several places. And though the dwarf is not currently chained up she notices scars on his wrists that indicate prior manacle related injuries.

He turns and smiles, teeth quite dirty with a bit of some sort of gristly meat stuck in between two. His beard is singed in multiple places and he speaks with a disquieting giggle, ”Keh keh, welcome pretty lady! There ain’t need for sneakiness tho, I am definitely here against my will. But it ain’t the first time I’ve been in this situation. Why just recently another pretty lady talked me into following her out here and well, it ain’t my best call. Keh keh. I guess I gotta thing for dames like you. So what can I do for ya?”