JD's Abomination Vaults

Game Master Jack Daniels

Round 3: Mac

Mac grunts, "Neat trick!", as he bleeds from his open wounds.

Attack vs. Off-guard: 1d20 + 12 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 12 + 1 = 21
Damage: 1d10 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 4 + 2 = 8
1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 7 + 1 = 13
1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 2 + 1 = 15
AC: 20

Garidan does two two quick slashes then retreats. He is bleeding heavily.

◆Scorpion Whip: 1d20 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 9 + 1 = 15
Slashing and Fire Damage: 1d4 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 3 + 2 = 9
◆Scorpion Whip: 1d20 + 9 + 1 - 5 ⇒ (19) + 9 + 1 - 5 = 24
Slashing and Fire Damage: 1d4 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 3 + 2 = 7

HP: 4

Garidan picks up his whip and attacks twice. He misses the first time and hits the second. While the whip does no damage to the golem, the fire inflicts 4d8 ⇒ (1, 5, 1, 1) = 8 damage. Too funny! The golem still stands with 89 damage.

Pen, Jon, and Hagrym are up.

Sorry, forgot about the pick up. Thx. Oh man, 8 Damage on a 4d8.

Jon uses a reloading strike◆ on the golem to load in a life shot round.

+1 Whip: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (18) + 10 = 28
Immune to NLD

Then he does another to load◆ an aberration round into the other barrel.
+1 Whip -5 MAP: 1d20 + 10 - 5 ⇒ (3) + 10 - 5 = 8
Immune to NLD

Sword & Pistol: If either of those hit, it cannot use Reactive Strike or similar on my next ranged attack against it.

Then Jon steps forward◆ in hopes of swapping to his shortsword next round to have a prayer of dealing any melee damage.

Penflower snaps his fingers and points at the golem, shooting fire at it. Then he recharges his attack.

Cast Ignition from a distance, recharge spellstrike

Ranged spell attack: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27
Fire damage: 3d4 ⇒ (1, 4, 3) = 8

I doubt that this crits, but if it does, it takes an extra 2d4 ⇒ (3, 2) = 5 persistent fire damage on top of double damage.

Hagrym uses another 2nd level heal, this one healing everyone within a 30’ burst.

Heal 2d8 ⇒ (2, 5) = 7

Pen's ignition spell, instead of its normal damage, inflicts 4d8 ⇒ (3, 1, 1, 3) = 8 fire damage on the wood golem, which is just enough for the golem to "go down in flames", as it collapses to the floor. Combat over! Everyone gets one Hero Point.

"Puh. That hit hard. Sorry, Mac, for not going all in, but I was pissing my pants." Says a bleeding Garidan.
11 HP, after the latest healing spell

"No worries, Gar. I thank you and Pen for your fire magic. It got us through the fight. Cuz, thanks for the healing. Next time, we're in town, we definitely have to look into purchasing some alchemical items for the future. Mac searches the room for any things out of the ordinary.

You find 4 Bulks' worth of books in this room for Morbilint. Pen, Garridan, and Jon are wounded. With his Assurance skill, Hagrym automakes DC 20 check, so if he uses it, you each heal:
Garidan: 2d8 + 15 ⇒ (6, 7) + 15 = 28
Jon: 2d8 + 15 ⇒ (5, 4) + 15 = 24
Pen: 2d8 + 15 ⇒ (8, 6) + 15 = 29
That takes 30 minutes of time, which pass without incident.

Closest locations to explore from your current location - updated map in Slide 6:
Door to the NW
Door to the W.
Door to the SE leading from the main library.

Which way do you go?

"Thanks, Grym," Jon says after Hagrym's administrations. "Shall we check out the door to the northwest?"

With my assurance and new Crafter's Eyepiece, I repair my shield to full as well.

Penflower says "That was tough. If I ever get myself a lab, I'll want a golem like that protecting it. Also, why do the ghouls have such a golem? And the other room that they were so concerned about fires... Were they maybe protecting this golem?" The elf shuts up before he spirals into too many questions.

He agrees to go northwest as Jon suggests.

After healing, you head to the NW to find:

The walls of this room are only partially completed and bear the telltale marks of chisels and picks. Discarded stone-working tools lie against the unfinished walls.

It looks like someone perhaps was planning an expansion of the natural cavern, but never got to finishing the job. Most of the mining tools remaining here are mundane, but one of them is a +1 striking pick.

You head west and open the door at the western end of the corridor.

The air in this room feels blisteringly hot, although the source of the heat isn’t apparent. Neither the wooden barrel containing a few iron scoops nor the metal bin with a hatch-like lid seems to be the source.

What do you do? Map is updated and you are all outside the room.

Woohoo! Mac happily claims the magical pick, assuming no one objects. He will use it for now, but has plans to move the striking rune to his greatpick when they next return to town.

No objection here!

"Should we check out the western door while we're on this side of the building?" Jon asks.

Go ahead! Is your current rune going to be up for grabs? My sword is still lame and non-magical.

Before they continue, Penflower scans the room for magical auras. He says "Why would ghouls want a sauna?"

Go ahead! Is your current rune going to be up for grabs? My sword is still lame and non-magical.

Technically he'd just be transferring the striking rune from the pick to his +1 greatpick, leaving the potency rune on the +1 pick available for a transfer to another weapon. You don't have to (IIRC can't even) transfer all the runes on a weapon at once. You transfer them one at a time. I already have a +1 on my pistol and can duplicate it with my blazons of shared power onto my whip or shortsword (whichever one gets the blazon), so I don't need one right now. I'm fine with you taking it.

Hagrym had no objection to his cousin making his weapon better. ”Im fine with the western door, Jon. Seems as good as any to me. Hopefully, we’ve found our limit of golems today though.”

Penflower Khan wrote:

Go ahead! Is your current rune going to be up for grabs? My sword is still lame and non-magical.

Technically he'd just be transferring the striking rune from the pick to his +1 greatpick, leaving the potency rune on the +1 pick available for a transfer to another weapon. You don't have to (IIRC can't even) transfer all the runes on a weapon at once. You transfer them one at a time. I already have a +1 on my pistol and can duplicate it with my blazons of shared power onto my whip or shortsword (whichever one gets the blazon), so I don't need one right now. I'm fine with you taking it.

This is all correct.

Perception checks:
Garidan: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24
Hagrym: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23
Jon: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10
Mac: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28
Pen: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

As you analyze the room, Mac's sharp senses detect a trap in the room. Pen, via his magical scans, determines that the trap is not of an arcane nature. Hagrym, through his religious studies, can sense the presence of s restless spirit in the room that is related to fire. He determines that there is a haunt in the room emanating from the hatch. He can use his religious studies to quell the spirits, as he enters the room.

Knowledge Religion: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (12) + 11 = 23

Hagrym commands the spirit to leave and is successful in citing to holy text and exorcising the spirit. The room is now safe to explore and you find a Ventriloquist's Ring buried in the ashes.

Where to next? The eastern door from the library, the northern door from the mist elemental room, or the southern door from the lighthouse center, where Rosk died?

"Let's check out that door north of the room with the mist elemental now, eh? We'll have this floor cleared in no time," Jon says.

Perception checks:

Garidan: 1d20+7
Hagrym: 1d20+9
Jon: 1d20+7
Mac: 1d20+9
Pen: 1d20+5

As you analyze the room, Mac's sharp senses detect a trap in the room. Pen, via his magical scans, determines that the trap is not of an arcane nature. Hagrym, through his religious studies, can sense the presence of s restless spirit in the room that is related to fire. He determines that there is a haunt in the room emanating from the hatch. He can use his religious studies to quell the spirits, as he enters the room.

[dice=Knowledge Religion]1d20+11

Hagrym commands the spirit to leave and is successful in citing to holy text and exorcising the spirit. The room is now safe to explore and you find a Ventriloquist's Ring buried in the ashes.

Quick note for the future, this is the description for my Lantern:

The lantern's magical light attempts to reveal the unseen. You and your allies in the lantern's area of bright light gain a +1 status bonus to visual Perception checks to notice anything that is also within the bright light, and a +1 status bonus to checks to Recall Knowledge against creatures within the bright light, as the light exposes their true natures. During exploration, even if you aren't Searching, the GM rolls a secret check for you to find traps, environmental hazards, haunts, and secrets (such as secret doors). The GM rolls each time a given hazard or secret comes within 20 feet of you and within the lantern's bright light. These effects have the divination, magical, and revelation traits.

so within 20 ft of me, we all get +1 to Perception and RK and I have the equivalent of 1e Trapfinding, i.e. secret auto-Searching checks.

Penflower notes "Good job Hagrym. This was good foresight."

He then goes to the door that Jon suggested.

”I hate those tricky haunts! We got lucky there, I think,” he grumbles, happy to have avoided the thing. ”That door looks fine to me,” he agrees.

Mac follows the party, gleeful with his new magical pick, and eager to test out the striking rune on something.

There's also a southern door to explore from the mist room, but will explore the northern part first.

In the room with the mist elemental, you find a secret alcove to the west, which contains:
*Two lesser bravo’s brews
*Two lesser healing potions
*Moderate skeptic’s elixir
*Barkskin potion

You venture through the door to the north and find a door to the east and another door at the end of the corridor. You try the eastern door that leads to a staircase leading up to the room where you fought the Bloodsiphon on the second level.

You continue to the northern door at the end of the corridor and open it and enter to reveal:

The walls of this empty room are decorated with hundreds upon hundreds of tiny little hash marks, as if someone had been counting days for ages. To the northwest, an iron door with a barred window sits in the wall, a large but open padlock hanging from the door’s latch.

Standing in front of the door is a fiendish looking 6' tall muscular male creature with horns wearing a breastplate and wielding a trident in one hand a whip on its belt. It has red skin, hooves for feet, and a long tail. Image in Monster Slides.

Upon seeing the party open the door to its room, the creature stands at attention. In a slightly bored voice, it says, "Intruders, you are under arrest and should hand over your gear before stepping into the adjoining prison." It does not make any hostile intentions toward you, but it is clear that it expects you all to comply with its request.

What do you do? Combat? Something else?