JD's Abomination Vaults

Game Master Jack Daniels

Whoa, the dice swing in the party's favor, dashing Mr. Beak's 22 AC!

Jon's comment about the warning shots was true and his aim on the next shot is perfect, as he inflicts 22 points of damage on Mister Beak.

Pen, barely standing, follows up with a burning strike that inflicts 16 damage to the doll and it drops to the floor dead, its wings singed!

It had exactly 38 hit points. And even if that didn't kill it, Mac's 2 attacks would have dropped it. Well done! Combat over.

Hagrym, seeing the results of the actions before yours, you can save the heal spell and try to cure Pen with Treat Wounds if you wish. Your call. If you wish to save the spell, you can roll a Medicine check instead.

Hagrym grabs the medical kit and attempts to Treat Wounds on Pen, saving his magic for an emergency.

Knowledge Medicine 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

He gets the blood flow stopped and gets Pen back on his feet.

Healed damage 2d8 ⇒ (4, 7) = 11

Good call, Hagrym.

With the threat neutralized and Pen healed, you carefully search the room so as not to fall on the glass. You find a bejeweled spyglass on the display rack, which you assume must be the "shiny". On the reverse side of the Mister Beak doll, you find a small black gem placed in a "slot" on the doll's back, which you can remove if you so wish.

Pen can take 10 minutes and roll and try to repair his shield again, if he wishes.

There is a door to the SW. You can forge ahead, go back to the brownie, or do something else.

"Hey Grym, you mind patching me up too? It hit with some sort of whammy at the start there and it rang my bell a bit," Jon says, wiping sweat from his brow.

Mac looks at Jon, "I gotcha wounds, Deadeye. I am almost as good as my cousin." During the same 10 minutes that Grym heals Pen, Mac treats wounds on Jon.

Treat Wounds: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18
Healing: 2d8 ⇒ (8, 8) = 16

”Anyone know what the gem does in the doll? I say we take it. Maybe worth few gold at least.”. If no one objects, he grabs the gem and throws it into the bag with the other treasure.

”Let’s take this spyglass back to that little brownie as well. Whatever information they have is probably worth more to us than the actual spyglass is,” he announced to the group.

Penflower is panting heavily as the doll is destroyed, too scared to step on the broken glass. Afterwards, as Hagrym starts tending to his wounds, he is brought back to reality and says "Thank you."

As he feels better, although sore, he says "Give me a few minutes, I need to tend to my shield... Please..."

Crafting: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15

If the DC is 14 like before, this repairs 10 HP.

As he is repairing the shield, he notices the others discussing the things they found. He stops for a moment to say "See if this spying glass is aimed at something interesting first. This is great to look at the stars." He is a bit sad they won't bring it to Wrin, she'd love it.

As he's done, he takes a look at the black gem.

Recall knowledge arcana: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12

”My vote would be to check out next room to SW and then head back to Tangletop. We have healing left.”

Pen repairs his shield as best he can. He cannot discern any arcane knowledge from the gem. Where to? 1 vote for brownie, 1 vote for SW room.

"We may as well check out the room to the southwest before we head back," Jon says. After Penflower has studied the gem to no avail, he says, "Hey Pen, if you're done with it, pass that gem over and I'll see what I can make of it."

Penflower hands it over to Jon before stretching his muscles, feeling the ache and the bruises. His mother would tell him to rest, but he still feels ready. Once all are ready, he straps on his very bent shield, does a few practice swings with the morningstar to feel its unbalanced weight, and moves in, shield first.

Jon does not discern any magical knowledge about the gem either.

You open the door to the SW to reveal:

This old wooden pier has partially collapsed into the swamp, and the portion remaining above water looks ready to follow the rest at the slightest touch.

A wisp rises from the swamp and begins to glow and writhe!

Initiative:
Wisp: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (7) + 9 = 16
Hagrym: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27
Jon: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20
Mac: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17
Pen: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15
Order: Hagrym, Jon, Mac, Wisp, and Pen.

"Into the fray again!" Jon says cheerfully, drawing his pistol and whip◇ and striding forward◇. (Free draw and Stride from Into the Fray)

He takes aim and fires◆ at the wisp.

Double-Barreled Pistol: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24
P/Concussive Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Then he flicks his whip◆ at the wisp and reloads his pistol.

Whip -5 MAP: 1d20 + 7 - 5 ⇒ (15) + 7 - 5 = 17
S Damage, nonlethal: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

Then he shoots a last shot from the hip◆ at the wisp.
Double-Barreled Pistol -10 MAP: 1d20 + 9 - 10 ⇒ (5) + 9 - 10 = 4
P/Concussive Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Round 1: Mac
Not wanting to break the line or step on the shoddy pier, Mac readies an action should the wisp come within range.
Readied action: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14

Hagrym knew at his size that the pier didn’t look very inviting. ”Bring that thing back to us, Jon! All I can do where it is at now is to fall through the pier and drown!”

Readied action to cast Divine Lance if I can see the wisp …

Attack 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26
Divine damage 2d4 ⇒ (1, 2) = 3

Jon's gunshot hits but is not a critical - 2 damage. His whip misses.

When Jon steps onto the pier, it gives way and falls into the 3 feet of water beneath it. The sucking mud beneath makes it greater difficult terrain (1 square = 15 feet of movement).

Round 1: Wisp

The wisp flies 5' closer to Jon and attempts to touch him. Hagrym's Divne Lance spell goes off and strikes the wisp perfectly, but it seems to have had no effect on the creature. It proceeds to attack Jon, trying to touch him. Jon evades the first strike, but the second sends a jolt of electric shock through Jon that nearly causes him to go unconscious.

Attack #1: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15 --- Miss
Attack #2: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21 --- Hit
Damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10 electricity
Jon is at 1 hp.

Pen is up to finish Round 1 and then the rest of the party in Round 2.

EDIT: Looking at the map, the part where Jon is when the pier gives way is solid ground on the island. So ignore the difficult terrain part.

Someone may need to take the +1 morningstar. In Arcane Cascade, all my attacks are magical, so if one of the dwarves want it, raise your hand and I'll throw it to them.

Penflower enters the special fighting stance he knows and hands over the morningstar to the dwarf next to him, then he moves forward next to Jon, draws his sword and swings it at the wisp.

Arcane Cascade, Stride, Strike. I'm hoping me handing a mace to someone else is a free action. If not, please ignore my attack.

Strike: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15
Damage: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11

Note to GM: In Arcane Cascade, I can Shield Block magical attacks and spells.

Round 1: Mac

"Jon, get your butt to the back. You have a pistol, stay at ranged my friend."

Mac strides and then vicious swings, trying to end the wisp's existence:
Vicious Swing: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24
Damage: 2d10 + 4 ⇒ (8, 3) + 4 = 15

@GM: How far did I fall? Would I be able to Leap back up? (Vertical leaps can get you 3 feet off the ground and also move 5 feet horizontally.) In order to Climb back up I'd have to empty both hands and I'd rather not do that if I don't have to.

Penflower misses his attack.
Mac lands a powerful blow on the wisp, inflicting 15 damage.
Jon, you did not read my Edit post. You did not fall into the water since that part of the bridge is on part of the island. You can move freely.
Jon and Hagrym are up.

I read your edit, but my understanding was that I still fell through the pier, just landed on ground instead of water. Did the pier not break at all? Or is the pier so close to the ground I don't need to do anything special to move?

I read your edit, but my understanding was that I still fell through the pier, just landed on ground instead of water. Did the pier not break at all? Or is the pier so close to the ground I don't need to do anything special to move?

The second option. Had you fallen into the water, you would be submerged 3 feet in and the terrain would be greater difficult ground.

Still twitching and smoking slightly from his electrical burns, Jon Steps◆ carefully backwards, then retreats◆ further into the room before firing his pistol◆ at the wisp.

Double-Barreled Pistol: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20
P/Concussive Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2 I'm getting sick of this chip damage twice in a row lol

Jon's bullet strikes the wisp and it vanishes into nothingness. It had 1 hp left! Combat over.

Penflower proceeds to sheathe his sword and pick up the morningstar on the ground. He says "Stay safe, Jon. Are you all right?" He takes a brief look at the waters and says "Remember there's a swamp dragon here. We don't know what kind of dragon it is, but those are usually a bad idea. We shouldn't poke around here too much. Nonetheless, a quick search here should be safe, since we can retreat into the house."

He gets his shield in position, waiting for the others to get ready to move on.

Hagrym again grabs the medical kit and attempts to Treat Wounds on Jon, saving his remaining magic.

Knowledge Medicine 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27

Healed damage, if successful 2d8 ⇒ (3, 5) = 8

Since critical success, additional healing 2d8 ⇒ (6, 1) = 7

"Nice shooting, Jon. Grym will get you all healed up and now we can head back to the brownie. I hope his information is worth the shiny spyglass."

"Thanks, Mac. And thanks for the healing, Grym," Jon says, getting to his feet and reloading his empty barrel. "Perhaps I should start looking before I leap."

You head back inside the building until you run into Tangletop again. In his child-like voice, he screams out, "You're alive! That must mean that you beat that evil doll down and that you have the shiny, right??" When he sees the spyglass, the brownie jumps for joy. "Please hand it over and I will keep my word and tell you the 3 secrets that I have learned about this place. Now, please, hand over the shiny....please! I want, want, want!" Tangletop acts like a petulant child, waiting for you to hand over the spyglass.

Do you hand over the bejeweled spyglass? You estimate the spyglass is worth around 20 gp.

"Tangletop, getting this shiny was dangerous and it's pretty valuable, and we never promised to give it to you. We want to make sure that you're giving us a fair trade, so we would like to hear one of your secrets before we hand it over. If your secret is good enough, we will trade it to you for the other two. If not, we have another shiny object with us we might be willing to trade you for your secrets instead," Jon says.

Diplomacy (T): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16

Tangletop ponders Jon's offer and accepts. "Hmmm, which secret shall I reveal? Ok, how about this one? This building that we're in right now used to belong to someone named Volluk Azrinae. Hmmmmm? I bet that you did not know that! Am I right? So now, you give me the shiny?"

"Is that secret knowledge? It seems like the kind of thing a few hours of research in Otari would turn up," Jon whispers to his companions.

"I agree, Jon. Tangletop, that was not a great secret. You got anything better? Because that was not worth this shiny and valuable spyglass. If that's the best you got, then we will be leaving." Mac gestures to the rest of the party with a nod as we start moving toward the exit from the building.

”Does that name mean anything to anyone? I don’t think I’ve ever heard it before..l”

Penflower scratches his head as he searches his mind for that name.

Society: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22

Pen remembers reading some obscure book about the history of Otari, wherein the name of Volluk Azrinae was mentioned in passing as a drow from the Darklands who served as apprentice to Belcorra. However, after her death 500 years ago, his name disappeared from the history books.

Just as Mac and the party turn to leave, Tangletop gets nervous and blurt out, "Wait, don't leave with my shiny. Volluk was an apprentice to
someone else named Belcorra, and even though this Volluk person seemed like someone who was mean and dangerous, Belcorra seemed much worse! That was my second secret....may I have the shiny now?"

Jon raises an eyebrow. "Tangletop, we don't need trivia about the names of the previous owners. We could find out things like that with a day or two of research in Otari. Somewhere this creepy, it's pretty obvious it was built by someone mean and dangerous. If we sold this shiny, we could get 200 silver pieces out of it. So far, you've only given us maybe 5 silvers' worth of information, and that's being generous. What else do you know that's worth 195 more silver pieces?"

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21

Jon senses the desperation in the brownie as he realizes he is out of options. "I never said my information was hard to discover. I only promised I would tell you 3 secrets in exchange for the spyglass. I will trust that you are people of your word. My last secret is that the spooky magic lighthouse can do more than just shine an eerie light; it can also shoot a beam full of ghosts. There you have it. Now, may I have the shiny please?" The brownie is to the point of tears.

Mac sighs, "Really?! A beam full of ghosts?? Did you get that from seeing the "painting of the city of Absalom in flames with ghosts rising from the city streets between the burning buildings." I agree with Jon, that is at best worth 1 gp for your troubles. The coin is shiny. Enjoy it Tangletop. Boys, let's go." Mac leads the group back to swamp.

Where to? We can go back to town, report to Wrin, and level up and sell gear, buy gear, and investigate/research about town. And then come back - we got the top of the lighthouse and 2 staircases down to investigate. Or we can head up the stairs to the top of the lighthouse now? Or we can go back to town, do all of that stuff, and come back at night? I'm leaning towards leveling up first but what do you guys think?

I vote leaving, reporting to Wrin, leveling up, etc. I'm all out of my infused ammunition for the day and have used up about a fourth of my backup stockpile of purchased ammunition.

Yes, we should go back. I feel bad for Tangletop.

Harry votes to give the brownie the spyglass after all. ”The little guy has been straight up with us and it wouldn’t hurt to have a friendly face in the area who might end up finding out more secrets he could fill us in about. I’d much rather have that than someone who wants revenge on us. Besides, I’m sure there is much better and more valuable treasure deeper in…”

Penflower lights up at Hagrym's comment. He is a bit greedy with the spyglass as well, but feels bad to leave the little guy hanging.

"I mean, he threatened to kill us at first. How do we even know that it's his to begin with? Could just be something he's had his eye on and wanted us to steal for him." Still, his conscience eating at him, Jon sighs and turns back to Tangletop.

"Tangletop, be straight with us. How did you come to possess the shiny and how did you lose it? Or did someone else own the shiny and you just wanted us to steal it for you?"

Tangletop lights up at Hagrym's comment, but gets quiet when Jon questions him. He sheepishly looks at the floor, not making eye contact. "Uh...I never said the shiny was actually mine. I just immediately liked it when I saw it - so pretty - when I walked into that other room, but that darn raven doll attacked and drove me off. I didn't ask you to steal it, just get it for me....once you got rid of the doll. Thank you for that by the way. I saw the shiny first - doesn't that give me some right to ownership?"

Penflower flares up in anger "Why you little... You actually made me feel sorry for you. No, you do not get to call something just because you saw it first!"

He shuts himself up to calm down then says "Hey, how about something else you like? Imagine, that whole room was the doll's room. Now it's empty and it can be all yours! It needs to be tidied a bit, but there's a bunch of pretty things inside. This way everybody wins!"

Mac nods, "Good mediation, Pen. You can have the doll's room, TT. That is fair. Well, stay safe. We're heading back to town."

This is my preliminary list of stuff to do in town:
1. Speak to Wrin about what we discovered in the ruins.
2. Ask Wrin about Azrinae.
3. Describe lady in painting to Wrin - could it be Belcorra?
4. Describe last wisp to Wrin.
5. Mention Nhymbaloth to Wrin.
6. Ask Wrin about swamp dragon.
7. Visit Crook's Nook - On the rowboat, you rind a stash of pastries, smoked salmon in a fish-shaped doughy exterior. You also find a carving of a flying bird decorating the inside of the boat near the bow. Pen told us the pastries were fishcakes sold at Crook's Nook in Otari - someone recently there visited the ruins and may be dead.
Did I miss other issues to investigate?

Waiting on a resolution on if the Brownie gets the spyglass or not. 2 people have posted no - waiting on Hagrym and Jon. And Mac posted a question in his post - I think he's waiting for a response. Once we resolve this, we can move on.