'Gallows of Madness - The Festering Blot'

Game Master Shadow Dragon

”Thanks! You’ve seen this sort of thing before?” Lucinus asks Cannoli. ”It sounds a bit like a frog with a really bad throat infection, but it has mainly asked questions so far.”

”I will, I’ve been warned of such things before. Tales of devils seeking deals or creatures from the dark tapestry who drive their victims to madness.” he adds responding to Jakeric and Daegon.

Then he turns back to the voice ”If you can’t remember your name then do you know what you are and where you are?”

He's suddenly hearing voices? Uh-oh...

Vreekka stays alert. If Lucinus turns against them she will be ready to chuck bombs in his direction!

”Thanks! You’ve seen this sort of thing before?” Lucinus asks Cannoli. ”It sounds a bit like a frog with a really bad throat infection, but it has mainly asked questions so far.”

”I will, I’ve been warned of such things before. Tales of devils seeking deals or creatures from the dark tapestry who drive their victims to madness.” he adds responding to Jakeric and Daegon.

Then he turns back to the voice ”If you can’t remember your name then do you know what you are and where you are?”

Lucinus is deep in thought while Vreekka is thinking Lucinus might need some heat treatment (aka fire bombs) to get his mind right!

Lucinus smiles knowingly.

moving over to a nearby surface he scrawls "Its lying to me." in the dust.

"And what will we gain from helping you?" he asks the voice.

Lucinus smiles knowingly.

moving over to a nearby surface he scrawls "Its lying to me." in the dust.

"And what will we gain from helping you?" he asks the voice.

"It seems we are not in a position to help you right now, but perhaps we will be in the future." Lucinus suggests to the voice.

He then turns his attention back to his companions.

"I'm not sure the conversation with my new friend is going anywhere. Shall we investigate the remaining unopened door on this floor of the building?"

If everyone agrees he'll check the remaning door for traps...

perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

Lucinus checks the door; is Vreekka going to bomb him now? He might be opening a portal to evil that will steal your souls! Or it could be just a regular door...

Lucinus believes the door is free of traps.

Cannoli puts up the hand sign to the group that means…

Hold your attacks against Lucinus, he is probably already corrupted and leading us to our doom but let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. Besides, he is good looking and we should always allow good looking people more leeway. Do any of you remember if I left the oven on at the camp? My brain is trying to tell me I did.

And with that simple hand signal resolving everything, she watches as Guardian or someone opens the door.

Getting the message perfectly, Guardian replies out loud

Probably, but it's way too late to turn that oven off! That camp is toast!

He opens the door.

Hm... he sounds reasonable... for now...

Satisfied (at least for the moment), Vreekka holds the napalm bombs.
She checks the door for traps, too, begore giving Guardian the ok to open it.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15

Vreekka, thinking either Lucinus is out to kill you all or just not up to finding traps, decides to check the door.

She barely finishes checking it when Guardian XI proclaims that Cannoli burned the camp down; that should scare any monsters!

Guardian XI then muscles his way past Vreekka to open the door. Let's hope he didn't pin Vreekka behind it!

The door leads back to the Entrance Hall where it looks like some amateur burglars enterprising adventurers have stolen 'rescued' some valuable paintings. I'm sure they'll donate the proceeds to a charitable foundation!

One door left in this area to search; who will search it though??? I moved everyone back to the 'big' map; last door has the lightning bolt.

Guardian, automated door opener, will happily open the way, if he thinks it is safe…

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28

Guardian XI has never seen a safer door! And he should know; he's seen things...

Upon opening the door Guardian XI finds a cloakroom! But he's confused as there are more than just cloaks in this room.

In the cloakroom, there is a quiver with 5 cold iron arrows, a quiver with 5 cold iron bolts, and a moldy purse. There are various other garments in the cloakroom, but all are moldy and have a dank smell wafting about them, eliminating any value they once had.

Will Guardian XI check with Cannoli and her legendary sense of fashion about the purse? Or maybe look inside the purse?

Appraise: 1d20 ⇒ 7

Cannoli sneezes at the mildew scent, ”Purses are for holding gold, or rocks if you want a cheap option for self defense. I’m hoping for cold hard coinage, check inside.”

She eyes Lucinus very closely when she mentions the valuable currency, watching to see if the demon possessing him maybe has gold fever.

Perception Cannoli: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (5) - 1 = 4

As Cannoli examines the purse, and determines it definitely does NOT match her current wardrobe, she knows it is fairly worthless due to the sneeze-inducing mold spores spewing forth.

While waiting for Guardian XI to open the purse she thinks she hears Lucinus whisper something like, "My precious!"

"If you don't like it, let me see it, Cannoli."

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15
Appraise: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25

Vreekka agrees, yep, the purse is worthless. It also doesn't appear to be trapped if someone wants to open it...

If you dare! Muahaha! ;)

Daegon examines the bag with his arcane sight.

Guardian opens the purse Taldoran hand bag.

Daegon's midnight purple eyes scan the moldy purse and find no evidence of magic.

Throwing caution to the wind Guardian XI opens the Taldoran hand bag purse (as if a Chelaxian noble would ever be caught with any Taldan accessories!) and finds twenty six gold measures. He's rich! He then looks over his shoulder and notices everyone else has their hands out for their share...

"Nice, you found us some gold! Shiny!"
Vreekka seems excited. She then addresses the group:
"I think we checked every room down here. Time to go upstairs!"

Cannoli nods proudly, ”Sweet, that’s at least eight gold each.”

She follows the group upstairs.

I never understood the appeal. As far as metals go, gold is so soft.

Vreekka decides to hang out with the erinyes statue on her way upstairs. Maybe she's trying to see if Lucinus reacts?

Cannoli pockets eight gold which leaves eighteen gold to divide among the other five adventurers. Hm, wait, that math doesn't add up!

Guardian XI expresses his preference for non-soft metals; hey I'm not going there!

New Slide 2 shows the staircase but are you going up the right or left side? One way is certain death and the other is unfathomable riches so choose wisely! ;)

Clockwise? To the right first? It is only logical...

"Sounds good to me." says Lucinus, who stops as he passes the erinyes statue to see if there is anything indicating the name of the erinyes.

Lucinus checks the erinyes statue but finds nothing of note.

Guardian XI leads the way to the right where he sees another door!

Vreekka checks the new door for traps, too.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

"Looks totally trap-free to me!"

Engaging door trap sensors (Perception): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19

Vreekka and Guardian XI agree: This door looks trap free!
Now who will open it? Hm!

Guardian pushes it open and peeks inside.

Daegon cover XI with his crossbow.

The large windows of this bedroom offer a magnificent view of the hills to the northeast.

The map for this room is on Slide 2. Let me know who is entering the room and what each PC is doing please.

Cannoli waits outside as usual for either screams or ‘oh hey, that’s interesting’.

If she hears the latter, she gives it a ten count to make sure whatever is interesting doesn’t also turn into screams.

Cannoli waits outside as usual for either screams or ‘oh hey, that’s interesting’.

If she hears the latter, she gives it a ten count to make sure whatever is interesting doesn’t also turn into screams.

So what happens if Cannoli hears a voice not Guardian XI's say, "I love it when dinner delivers itself."?

Oh hey, that's interesting!

He does a scan for the record's they're after. Perhaps a box under the bed? Eww, bedchamber. The bed side table? Behind the bathtub?

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19

"Looks like a bedroom..."

Aid Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18

Grizzlebin enters the bedroom to have a sniff around, while Jakeric stays safely outside.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

Waiting to see what Cannoli and Daegon are doing...eats more popcorn

Lucinus joins the rest of the party investigating the room...

perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21

After the ten count she heads in, sneezes again from the dust and heads back out to the hallway.

”Nope, too dusty. Bring anything interesting out to me.”

Daegon peers into the room, scanning with his eyes and his arcane sight.

perc: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17

Cannoli criticizes the lack of cleaning personnel and vacates the room.

Guardian XI seems interested in the tub; carrying it out and starting his own spa perhaps? While checking under the bed for loot (and monsters) he sees the words “help me” carved into the hardwood planks in a dark substance.

Heal check please or you can ask someone else with the skill for assistance.

Vreekka and Daegon agree it looks like a bedroom.

Grizzlebin doesn't see much; perhaps his fur got in the way?

Lucinus investigates the room (at the behest of the voice in his head?) and is about to give up when he notices something outside the window: A metallic glint on the roof of the gazebo in the garden!

I added a sun token on the gazebo in Slide 3. What would the group like to do?

Hey! I found a message under the bed! What do the rest of you make of this?

Apparently we need someone with... heal?!

Heal, trained: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6 :-/

Vreekka looks at the message, then shrugs.
"Well, I can tell you that it says 'help me'."

"There is something glinting on the roof of the gazebo in the garden." says Lucinus gazing out of the window.

He then takes a look at the message Guardian XI found...

heal: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23

No idea about the note...the healing arts are beyond my ken... Daegon says as he looks to where the others see a shiny object.

Perhaps one of us can climb the gazebo?

"On it," says Grizzlebin. The wolf-bear lopes outside and starts to quickly scale the side of the gazebo.

I knew that Climb speed would come in handy!

"There is something glinting on the roof of the gazebo in the garden." says Lucinus gazing out of the window.

He then takes a look at the message Guardian XI found...

[dice=heal]1d20+4

Despite the age of the writing Lucinus can identify the message was written in BLOOD!

"On it," says Grizzlebin. The wolf-bear lopes outside and starts to quickly scale the side of the gazebo.

I knew that Climb speed would come in handy!

Grizzlebin clambers up the gazebo and finds a brass key!

I was hoping for a race between Grizzlebin and Cannoli. Part-wolf vs. catfolk for total domination.