JD's Abomination Vaults

Game Master Jack Daniels

Although Penflower is used to seeing Jon and Mac's excellent fighting skills, he is still impressed by them. Not wanting to lag behind, he swings his sword summoning his fire at the hurt creature. Then he raises his shield at it.

If yellow is still up, target that one, if not, attack red.

Spellstrike with Ignition: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (5) + 11 = 16
Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11
Fire damage: 3d6 ⇒ (3, 5, 6) = 14

Hagrym strides forward with the group and again casts divine lance at the remaining enemy.

Ranged divine attack 1d20 + 10 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 10 + 1 = 12
Damage 2d4 ⇒ (1, 2) = 3

Mac's reactive strike kills the yellow monster and he inflicts 33 damage on red.
Pen mises his attack as does Hagrym.

Round 2: Red Scallathrax

The red one focuses its attacks on Mac, but he has the gods on his side and all of the attacks miss.
Bite: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (6) + 13 = 19
Bite: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15
Bite: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14

Jon and the rest of the party in Round 3 are up.

Got lucky there! After Jon, Mac full-attacks spider creature!

Attack on off-guard creature: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (12) + 13 = 25
Damage: 2d10 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (2, 3) + 4 + 2 = 11
Attack on off-guard creature: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25
Damage: 2d10 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (4, 10) + 4 + 2 = 20
Attack on off-guard creature: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15

Jon steps behind◆ Pen and swings his scorpion whip at the creature, making a Reloading Strike◆, loading in a round of aberration bane ammo.

+1 Scorpion Whip: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (9) + 11 = 20
S Damage + Precision: 1d4 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 2 + 1 = 5

Then, full of panache from his successful demoralization, he swings his whip again in a finishing blow◆.

+1 Scorpion Whip -5 MAP - Basic Finisher (finisher, swashbuckler): 1d20 + 11 - 5 ⇒ (7) + 11 - 5 = 13
S Damage + Precision: 1d4 + 2 + 1d6 ⇒ (1) + 2 + (5) = 8

Penflower sees that the group is going well. He sees that the creature is focused on Mac, so he lowers his defenses for more firepower, literally!

Recharge Spellstrike, then spellstrike. If the creature attacks me, and it makes a difference, I will Emergency Targe for an extra 2 AC.

Spellstrike: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (20) + 11 = 31
Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11
Fire damage: 3d6 ⇒ (6, 4, 3) = 13

That's double damage

strides forward with the group and again casts divine lance at the remaining enemy, wondering why has aim had been so bad recently.

Ranged divine attack 1d20 + 10 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 10 + 1 = 17
Damage 2d4 ⇒ (2, 4) = 6

The creature is destroyed, ending the battle. Unfortunately, there is no treasure to be found. Two passageways lead from this cavern, one to the north and one to the east. Both end in secret doors, which are quite apparent to see from this side. Which way? N or E?

My vote is N after we rest for 10 minutes to fully heal as I am down 5 hps.

N works for me.

You follow a winding natural cavern north that leads to a secret door to reveal:

Three five-foot-square iron cages, the bars lined with spikes on the inside, hang from chains in the middle of this room. Blood-crusted manacles dangle from chains on the west wall. A stout wooden table with more manacles anchored to it stands in the southwest corner, and on it sits a whip made of blood-red leather with a silver handle.

A human-sized naked female with blue skin covered by chains draping her form stands in the middle of the room (image in Slides). She seems bored but bothered by your presence. She looks up and speaks in a confident and sinister tone, "Intruders, please depart my chamber and never return if you value your lives."

Knowledge (religion) is appropriate check here, if you're interested.

Knowledge Religion: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26
Besides what she is, Mac is interested in her weaknesses, special abilities, special attacks, immunities, etc. in that order.

Aid Mac in Recall Knowledge: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

Penflower wonders about the reason for the secret cave to exist and also where they are, as he discusses with Mac what this is.

Know. Religion 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (20) + 12 = 32

Hagrym’s cheeks flushed a bit seeing the naked lady in the dungeon all by herself lonesome. Surely tjeee is nothing ominous about that?!

Mac looks at Hagrym with a knowing look. "Sorry for disturbing you, lady, We will be leaving." Mac leads the party back through the secret door and we head back to the cavern where we fought the spider creatures. Making sure, she is not following them, Mac, in a soft tone, reveals all he knows about the Velstrac in the spoiler to the party. You can go ahead and read it. After he finishes, he looks to Hagrym, "Anything you want to add?" After Hagrym shares his information, Mac ponders. "Is this fight worth it? Besides the side door leading east from her room, she doesn't seem to be guarding anything of worth. I have a salve that can cover my weapon with silver for an hour, so if I hit her, that will stop her regeneration for a few seconds (1 round). She is a fiend, so I am inclined to want to kill her. But, as Hagrym says, if it will be a tough fight, we may want to avoid her, for now. Up to the rest of you. I'm game if you all want. We would need Bless in the fight, since we don't know how hard she is to hit and it will help against her fear gaze. What say ye all? Jon, do you have silver bullets? We can instead go east from this cavern and ignore her and not go north."

"I'm afraid I don't have any silver bullets, or any silver salve, and my energy ammunition is cold. I won't be much help with hurting it, but I could perhaps attempt to trip or disarm it with my whip," Jon says, poking through his ammunition as if to find a silver bullet he'd forgotten about.

”That thing can also frighten you with just a look, animate chains to attack you within a couple dozen feet and use a reactive strike just like Mac can. She would be a bear to take on if we were prepared, and suicide if we walk in without silvered weapons. I’d let her alone for now.”

"Very valid points, Grym. Thanfully, she was too busy or too bored to follow us. Next time we're in town, we can buy more silvered items and prepare for her. So, we go east."

The cavern's eastern passageway leads to a secret door that opens into the following scene of a wide hall:

The ceiling of this wide hall rises to a height of twenty-five feet. Stone sarcophagi carved with tormented, emaciated figures stand upright in alcoves along its walls. To the northeast, a fifteen-foot-wide portion of the wall has crumbled away into a series of ledges that drop down into a cavern. Eerie blue lights glow to the north and south — the light to the south is brighter and constant, while the light to the north flickers softly.

Map has been updated. Which way? N? S? NE?

Jon whistles. "Hey Garidan--" he frowns and sighs. "I'm no expert, but I'm guessing those figures in the alcoves aren't just for decoration. We should watch our step in here."

Jon will try to spot any traps or lurking threats in the hall.

"Let's head north first toward the flickering lights."

Hagrym nods as north was fine with him. His stomach growled, as he waited for the group to head forward.

The party heads north and thanks to Jon's keen eyes, the party is not surprised when two clearly undead figures burst from inside the two northernmost sarcophagi. They each carry longswords glowing with dark shadow energy (Image in Monsters tab).

Initiative:
Undead: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (20) + 11 = 31
Hagrym: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (10) + 10 = 20
Jon: 27 Perception check
Mac: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (20) + 12 = 32
Pen: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13
Order: Mac, Undead, Jon, Hagrym, and Pen.

Round 1:
Mac delays and lets the undead approach the party.

Round 1: Undead
The red undead steps to Mac and proceeds to attack him with his longsword!
Attack: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (2) + 14 = 16 --- miss!
Attack: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28 --- hits, not a critical
Damage: 1d8 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8 and Mac must make DC 18 Fort save or be drained 1.

The yellow undead strides and attacks Pen.
Attack: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (9) + 14 = 23 --- hits!
Pen shield blocks as his reaction with his minor sturdy shield and reduces damage by 8, so 1 damage and drain effect.
Damage: 1d8 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9 and Pen must make DC 18 Fort save or be drained 1.
Attack: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28 --- hits!
Damage: 1d8 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10 and Pen must make DC 18 Fort save or be drained 1.
After the 3 saves (2 by Pen and 1 by Mac), the party is up.
Mac: 8 damage
Pen: 11 damage.

Fortitude save: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (19) + 11 = 30

Round 1: Mac
Mac rages and strikes the undead twice.
Attack: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (1) + 13 = 14
Attack: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21
Damage: 2d10 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (6, 9) + 4 + 2 = 21
+7 temporary hps

Fort 1: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19
Fort 2: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10

So, there's an interesting interaction here. I picked the Aggressive Block feat this level. We need to decide how it's going to work in the PbP format. When I shield block the first attack, I'd want to shove yellow away from me. Then yellow needs to choose whether it's shoved or is now off-guard. But the text says it is off-guard until the start of my next turn. Does this mean I can't make use of the off-guard? In any case, if it gets shoved, it can't do the second attack.

Penflower takes the hit and assumes a more defensive position. He pulls up his magical shield, tries to remember what he knows about this creature and assumes a fighting stance.

Shield spell, Recall Knowledge religion, Arcane Cascade

Recall Knowledge: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22

Pen, this is how I would rule the interpretation of Aggressive Block. The plain language of the feat is that you cannot take advantage of the off-guard situation. The benefit is to make the enemy off-guard to your allies. And it's a free action. So in the present case, the undead enemy would choose the off-guard situation rather than be shoved away. So when you do this, I will assume, unless you specifically state otherwise, that you will hold your action to go near the end of the round to allow the rest of the team to enjoy the -2 AC debuff. So, in this fight, you got hit twice, failed one save, and the creature is off-guard.

Damage update:
Mac: -8 and 7 temp hps
Pen: -11 and DRAINED 1, so you also lose 4 more hps (-15) and max hps reduced by 4.

Jon and Hagrym are up. The yellow undead is off-guard.

I see, thanks. It did sound too good to be true.

Penflower says "These are cairn wights... They suck your life out of you, I just felt it, it's not nice. Don't get killed by them, you'll rise as one of them."

Not sure how I could translate this into in-game talk, so @Team, feel free to read my spoiler above, it has meta info on them.

Into the Fray◇ (on rolling Init) Jon draws his pistol and leaves his other hand free.

He draws◆ and lobs◆ his last remaining bomb, a moderate Ghost Charge, at the yellow undead.

Moderate Ghost Charge Bomb + 1 item bonus: 1d20 + 10 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 10 + 1 = 25
Vitality Damage on Hit + Splash: 2d8 + 2 ⇒ (3, 5) + 2 = 10
On a hit, target is enfeebled 1 til the start of my next turn.

Then Jon fires◆ a black powder round at the yellow undead.

+1 Double-Barreled Pistol -5 MAP (rng. 30'): 1d20 + 13 - 5 ⇒ (18) + 13 - 5 = 26
P/Concussive + Precision: 1d4 + 1d4 ⇒ (2) + (3) = 5

Having trouble with the map this morning. If I am within 30’ of an undead, I won’t move. If not, I’ll stride ahead to get within 30’ of one of them.

Hagrym grasps his holy symbol and calls on the divine power to cast Vitality Lash on the nearest undead.

Damage 2d6 ⇒ (3, 6) = 9. Need a basic Fort save v DC 20. If critically fails, is enfeebled until hagrym’s next turn.

Both of Jon's attacks hit the yellow wight, but none crit.
Wight Fort save: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (16) + 12 = 28 --- successful, takes 4 damage.
Red Undead: +5 temp hps - 21 hps.
Yellow Undead: - 9 damage, enfeebled 1.

Round 2: Wights
The red wight full-attacks Mac with its longsword, trying to drain him, but cannot penetrate the dwarf's full plate armor!
1d20 + 14 ⇒ (7) + 14 = 21 --- miss
1d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13 --- miss
1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10 --- miss

The yellow wight follows suit and full-attacks Pen and lands one hit.
1d20 + 14 - 1 ⇒ (12) + 14 - 1 = 25 --- hit
Damage: 1d8 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14 --- Pen shield blocks, reducing damage by 8 and takes 6 damage. Yellow again chooses to be off-guard rather than shoved.
Pen must make DC 18 Fort save or be drained 2.
1d20 + 9 - 1 ⇒ (6) + 9 - 1 = 14 --- miss
1d20 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (9) + 4 - 1 = 12 --- miss

Bad round of rolls for me. Party is up!

Round 2: Mac
"Thanks for the info, Pen!" Mac will go for the off-guard yellow wight, hoping to land more strikes.

◆Step
◆Attack 1: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (12) + 13 = 25
Damage: 2d10 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (9, 8) + 4 + 2 = 23
◆Attack 2: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18
Damage: 2d10 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (9, 4) + 4 + 2 = 19

Jon fires◆ his non-active aberration bane round at the yellow cairn wight.

+1 Double-Barreled Pistol (rng. 30'): 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (9) + 13 = 22
P/Concussive + Precision: 1d4 + 1d4 ⇒ (3) + (4) = 7

Then he flicks his whip twice in two◆◆ reloading strikes.

Due to my Sword & Pistol feat, the wight is off-guard to the first melee strike.

+1 Scorpion Whip -5 MAP: 1d20 + 11 - 5 ⇒ (18) + 11 - 5 = 24
S Damage + Precision: 1d4 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 2 + 1 = 7

Jon loads in a round of life shot.

+1 Scorpion Whip -10 MAP: 1d20 + 11 - 10 ⇒ (16) + 11 - 10 = 17
S Damage + Precision: 1d4 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 1 = 4

Jon loads in a black powder round.

Mac's greatpick inflicts 42 damage on the off-guard yellow cairn wight.
Jon's bullet hits for 7 and his first scorpion whip strike destroys the undead. He can't reach the red undead so Jon can change his last action (maybe move or something else). The attack would have missed anyway, even if he were within range.
Only Red is left.

Unfortunately I used the shield spell last round so I could activate Arcane Cascade, and it only has 5 hardness.

Fortitude save, enfeebled 1, arcane cascade: 1d20 + 8 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 8 - 1 + 1 = 23

Penflower moves to flank the red creature and swings a fiery sword.

Stride, spellstrike with ignition

Spellstrike: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (14) + 11 = 25
Damage: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7
Fire damage: 3d6 ⇒ (3, 1, 1) = 5

Mac's greatpick inflicts 42 damage on the off-guard yellow cairn wight.

Jon's bullet hits for 7 and his first scorpion whip strike destroys the undead. He can't reach the red undead so Jon can change his last action (maybe move or something else). The attack would have missed anyway, even if he were within range.
Only Red is left.

I just realized I never used an action to actually draw my whip so I guess I couldn't have made that 3rd action anyway lol.

Pen's strike hits and burns the red wight, who is now at +5 temp hps and -33 damage.
True, Jon, forgot about the whip. But since in you're in a dungeon, I would assume that you are walking around with pistol and whip out.

Pen's strike hits and burns the red wight, who is now at +5 temp hps and -33 damage.

True, Jon, forgot about the whip. But since in you're in a dungeon, I would assume that you are walking around with pistol and whip out.

Since Into the Fray gives me 2 free draws on rolling initiative, I don't actually carry weapons in my hands so as to keep my options open, and I had specifically not drawn my whip so I could draw and throw that ghost charge bomb last turn.

Hagrym moves to the red enemy, casts a heal spell into his weapon and swings at it.

Attack 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22
Damage 1d10 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10 plus
Vitality damage 1d8 ⇒ 4

Undead gets a fort save vs the vitality damage.

Actually, Hagrym, if you hit with a Channel Smite, as you did, the target auto-fails the save vs. the vitality damage. If you critically hit with the attack roll, it critically fails the save.

The red wight takes another 14 damage for a total of 42 damage total.

Round 3: Cairn Wight
An angry wight sets its sights now on the dwarf who just burned him with holy energy.

Attacks on Hagrym:
1d20 + 14 ⇒ (17) + 14 = 31 --- critical!
Damage: 1d8 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11 x2: 22 damage! Hagry, please make DC 18 Fort save or be drained 1.
1d20 + 9 ⇒ (10) + 9 = 19 --- miss!
1d20 - 4 ⇒ (13) - 4 = 9 --- miss!

The wight is no longer off-guard and has +5 temporary hit points.Party is up.

Ouch, Hagrym! Ballsy move!

Round 3:
Mac will step to the wight with anger in his eyes for hurting his cousin.
◆Step toward wight
◆Attack: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (17) + 13 = 30...that might be a crit if it was AC 18 off-guard
If so: Crit damage: 2d12 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (8, 7) + 4 + 2 = 21 x2 + 1d12 ⇒ 8 = 50 damage!
◆Attack: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23
Damage: 2d10 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (2, 5) + 4 + 2 = 13

Well, that was quick.
Mac delivers a devastating blow with his greatpick.
The wight lashes out one last time as a reaction at Mac:
Attack: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (6) + 14 = 20 --- miss!
The wight has been destroyed.
COMBAT OVER!
Just need Hagrym's Fort save to see if he is drained before you heal and decide your next action.

Fort save 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (8) + 11 = 19

”That reminds me why I usually let you do all the up close fighting, cousin,” the cleric groaned as he tried to patch himself up.

Ok, Hagrym, Mac, and Pen are injured, but with Hagrym's Assurance skill, he can Treat Wounds and heal himself and each of you for 2d8+15 without rolling. This takes 30 minutes. Pen is Drained 1. This means he has -1 penalty on Fort saves and his max hps are 38/42. He needs to get a full-night's rest to recover from the drain. Let me know what you do next. You can continue going north, NE through the crumbled wall, south, or go back to town to rest.

I will leave the decision to Pen. If he wants to go back to town and rest, we can do so. If he wants to continue, we go further north.

Penflower thanks Hagrym for his treatment and fixes his shield before suggesting moving on.

After you heal and Pen fixes his shield, you head north and find the central room under the lighthouse:

This vast octagonal chamber is mostly empty. The walls are carved and painted to resemble a sprawling graveyard half-sunken into a swampy morass, yet all the graves in the mural are open and empty. Carved images of shrieking ghosts parade upward and into the hungry pupil of a malevolent eye at the apex of this room, thirty feet above. A circular fifteen-foot-diameter platform sits in the middle of the room, raised three feet off the surrounding floor. The platform supports an altar stone made of an irregular slab of rock marked by seven deep indentations, almost as if a huge, seven-fingered hand had gripped the stone with enough force to leave grooves behind. Now and then, a faint blue light flickers and pulses inside one of these indentations. Small objects lie heaped atop the altar. Two doors, one leading east, and one leading west flank the room.

Hagrym K religion: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (16) + 12 = 28

Hagrym identifies this chamber as a shrine dedicated to Nhimbaloth, the Outer God of despair, ghosts, and swamps. Her shrines are often empty of additional furnishings, such as statues or benches, symbolizing the emptiness of death itself. Worshipers typically kneel or prostrate themselves on the stone floor while priests lead sermons and sacrifices at the altar.

Mac identifies the small objects on the altar as four severed hands.

You have not yet entered the room. What do you do?

"We've seen a few references to Nhimbaloth in this place. Well, we're not going to let this ominous room stop us, right?" Mac grips his weapon tightly and steps into the room.