The floor of the short tunnel comes to a sudden 10ft drop that leads into the next chamber. Set in the middle of said chamber, there is a massive throne constructed of old bones and broken furniture tied together with ropes and chains, and draped with moth-eaten velvet. Arranged around the throne in concentric circles are the skeletal corpses of small, oblong-skulled humanoids posed with their heads inclined towards the throne seat. The oddly built throne takes up a 15-foot circle in the centre of the cavern, and rises 10 feet from the ground. I’ve made a circle for the throne.
A bulking figure with a bat-like face and a wolf-like hide paces about the cavern, walking by the corpses.
Ardoinel’s position is the closest you can get before the creature notices you.
The scimitar is an average, human-made steel sword. Detailing on the hilt has elements of different coastal cultures, suggesting that it might have come from somewhere in the Shackles. It is engraved with a potency and a striking rune.
Most of the human-sized lumps are filled with nothing but death and decay, but one of them, containing a desiccated human body, also has a rune-infused scimitar that could not save its owner.
Ellaeaanda is right, the last sentence from guidance gives immunity to guidance for 1-hour.
Clearly, Ellaeaanda knows what she is doing, as the herbs begin to absorb some of the toxins.
The few remaining toxins are further neutralized by Netkin's antidote.
Resa, since you were healed by Cerrus you don't need a recovery check. I'll take the roll as the save against the venom, which would have a +9 from your fort and Ellaeaanda and Netkin's aid for a total of 23.
Resa's muscles are back under her control, and the poison is gone from her system. The danger has passed.
You each get 120xp for surviving the spiders, bringing you to Level 4! You have 50xp after leveling up. And for surviving the ordeal, you can also have a Hero Point each!
I have failed to keep track of hero points. But there is something that almost everyone can do to make sure Resa is save without the need for a skill roll.
The spider venom is a quick acting toxin meant to slow down the spider's victim so that the spider can trap it with its webs. As such, the Venom is unlikely to kill someone on its own, and it tends to last less than a minute in the system.
In my last post I had written Ardoinel instead of Netkin for turns. Netkin, you still have your turn since your previous post was just clarifying if it was possible to turn a versatile vial into an antidote.
dice rolls:
Recovery check = 6
Fortitude Save = 29 or 31 depending on Netkin’s actions
Resa, may vary depending on Netkin’s actions:
You lean closer and closer to death, you are Dying 2, but the actions of Ellaeaanda and Ardoinel help lessen the effects of the venom running through your system, You go down to Stage 1. However, you still take poison damage, bringing you down to Dying 3!
If Netkin heals you, instead of using an antidote, you would lose the Dying condition, go down to Stage 1, and take 1 poison damage instead.
After Netkin, everyone can take their turns, including Netkin’s next turn.
Resa does go down to Dying 1 at the end of her turn.
Ellaeaanda knows her plants, as she crushes just the right herbs to significantly slow down the effects of the venom. +4 circumstance bonus
Hearing Ardoinel, Yelral does intercite to guide Resa's body into expelling the venom from her system. +1 status bonus
Yes, you can use Quick Alchemy to turn a Versatile Vial into any alchemical consumable on your formula book of your level or lower. You do need to use it in the same turn that you prepared it.
Resa currently has a +10 to her next Save againt the venom. +5 from her fort and another +5 from Ellaeaanda and Ardoinel.
Cerrus and Ardoinel can take their turns before Resa's Recovery Save and Fortitude Save.
Unfortunately, the venom has already started affecting Resa’s nervous system, and the blood extraction is unable to help her against it. In fact, Resa’s condition seems to worsen.
dice roll:
Fort save = 9
Poison damage = 6
Resa, I have rolled the save and the damage, but the results would happen at the end of your turn. You can take your three actions before looking at the dice rolls and resolving the results of the roll.
results:
You take 6 poison damage and enter Stage 3, becoming Clumsy 2 and off-guard
The last spider gets pinned down by Ellaeaanda’s arrow. It tries to struggle at first in order to get out, until Ellaeaanda also removes its vitality. Pinned and drained, the spider is an easy target for Cerrus to finish it off, slicing it cleanly. The spider falls to the ground.
All of the spiders are down, but we’ll keep turn order until the venom on Resa is dealt with. Netkin and Ardoinel would still have a turn before we loop back to Resa for another save.
You bring your hammer down on the spider, and it squashes its abdomen underneath it. The spider collapses on the ground, its legs spreading to the side.
Yellow is down
Green spider
The spider hanging above Resa’s head launches towards her, trying to bite her. Moving from side to side, Resa avoids two of its bites, but the third one comes from an odd angle, and the spider’s chelicerae sink on her.Resa, you take 8 piercing damage
The bite is bad, but once again, the spider doesn’t inject enough poison for it to take a grip on Resa.
dice rolls:
Bite = 15
Bite = 7
Bite = 19 (Nat 20)
Damage = 8
Fort Save = 19
Purple spider
Hoping to at least get one victim, the last spider tries to bring the injured Resa down. Resa keeps avoiding the spiders’ attacks, but bit eventually breaks through. Resa, you take another 3 piercing damage
With the poison building little by little, it finally hits Resa, starting as some mild pain and numbness. You are now under Stage 1 of the Hunting Spider Venom. You take 2 poison damage and you are off-guard.
dice rolls:
Bite = 23
Damage = 3
Fort Save = 11
Poison damage = 2
Bite = 20
Bite = 12
Resa
You lash out against the spiders, cutting down the one above you, that falls, legless, besides your feet, and leaving two deep cuts against the one in front of you, that chitters in pain as your starknife sinks on it.
With your heart racing, the venom strengthens its hold on you. The numbness and the pain are followed by haziness and headache. Stage 2. You take 4 poison damage and you are Clumsy 1 and off-guard
dice roll:
Fort Save = 14
Poison = 4
Damage summary: Resa 11 piercing damage and 6 poison damage
Condition summary: Resa is suffering from Stage 2 of Hunting Spider Venom (Clumsy 1 and off-guard). The construct prototype is immobilized.
Netkin, Cerrus and Ellaeaanda, you can take your turns.
Ardoinel, would you like to keep the turn you had previously written, or would you like to do something different now that the spiders have acted.
Resa, your turn takes place after the spiders, as you had already taken the previous turn. I replied to it, so you have visibility on the outcome, but let me know if the spiders actions would change your turn.
@GM: I love the mid-round updates--it helps so much to know if an enemy's still alive or not--but might I suggest that you also add a list of who's up (aka who can post). Something like
'Players X and Y up'
or
'Cerrus up (2 actions only)'
or
'Spiders up--I'm just waiting on a reply before finishing the enemies' turn'
Sounds good, I'll do that going forward.
And sorry I am late with replying i've been working overtime again this week. I'll catch up as soon as I can.
The construct’s spike punches a hole in the spider, that chitters as it regains its balance.
Resa
With spiders all around you, it is no wonder you are having trouble swinging the blade, but you manage to cut open the thorax of one of them. It skitters backwards, tumbles, and curls itself up.
One less live spider surrounding you.
Brown is down
Cerrus
It takes some force, but the webbing does give way. It tears as you pull yourself apart.
The escape is successful, you can take your other two actions.
Ardoinel
Sorry, Cerrus still has two actions, and then it’s the spiders’ turns before you can take your turn. You already killed one spider this turn.
Wounded and weakened, the spider threatens to fall on Resa’s head, but it manages to hold onto the wall, if a bit unsteady. If certainly looks wrinkly and slimmer, like a raisin, now that it has had its life drained.
Ardoinel
It is messy. As your blade slides through it, the spark of destruction ignites inside of the spider and makes it burst. The legs are scattered throughout.
With swift movements you cut through the spider besides you, removing two of its legs with your blade. The spider limps as it turns towards you, but it remains standing.
Cerrus
The web is sticky, and holds you firmly against the wall.
Yellow spider
One of the injured spiders throws a web against the approaching construct. The web spreads and jams the gears of the construct and sticks the actuated legs to the ground underneath.
The spider rushes towards its trapped prey and takes a bite at it, but it is not prepared for the hard materials it finds, and its fangs do not penetrate the construct.
dice rolls:
Web = 18
Fangs = 12
AB: Web*, Stride*, Fangs*
Brown spider
Retaliating against the one who cut of its legs, the spider doesn’t hesitate to bite Resa as much as it can. But Resa proofs to be too fast for the spider, as she swiftly dodges out of the way the spider at every single attempts.
dice rolls:
Fangs = 11
Fangs = 11
Fangs = 6
AB: Fangs* x3
Purple spider
With Resa partly surrounded, the other spider besides her also launches for her. Resa once again dodges everything but a superficial scratch. Resa, you take 3 piercing damage And a good thing that it was superficial, as Resa can see the poison dripping just besides the wound. Save succeeded
dice rolls:
Fangs = 18
Fangs = 23
Damage = 3
Resa’s fort save = 24
Fangs = 10
AB: Fangs* x3
Blue spider
Trying to keep in place yet another member of the party, the spider throws its web at Ardoinel.
The angle is not in the spider’s favour, and the web flies too high and gets stuck on the ceiling.
Having failed from a distance, the spider closes in to take a bite up close. The chelicerae of the spider break through Ardoinel’s skin and inject a small dose of poison, that Ardoinel is able to shake off. Ardoinel, you take 4 piercing damage. Save succeeded
dice rolls:
Web = 10
Fangs = 21
Damage = 4
Ardoinel’s fort save = 23
AB: Web*, Stride*, Fangs*
Green spider
The entrance to the tunnel is crowded, but the walls and the ceiling are not. The last spider moves towards the wall and move up on it, crawling on it until it is besides Resa. I don’t think this counts as flanking. Since the spider is above Resa and not on the other side of her, the line between brown and green does not pass through opposite sides of Resa.
From its favourable angle above Resa, the spider bites her. Its chelicerae sink in Resa’s skin and inject the spider’s poison into her. Resa can feel the poison, but she keeps her grip on her weapons and remains focussed. She soon realizes that the doze has not enough to affect her. Resa, you take 8 piercing damage. Save succeeded
dice rolls:
Fangs = 22
Damage = 8
Resa’s fort save = 18
Fangs = 8
Your aim with the bow is true, and the arrow hits the far away spider directly. Your magic, on the other hand, only makes the spider flinch for a brief second.
Netkin
With no easy way out, the spider is unable to avoid the fist of the construct, and the punch drives into its squishy abdomen. The spider is left significantly beaten, but still standing.
Resa
Resa, you have two spiders around you, Brown and Purple, which one are you attacking?
Ardoinel
With your shield in position, you place a spark on your blade and pass it onto the spider besides you. The spark expands inside the spider, that bursts in a quick flame.
The red spider is down
I’ll wait a day or two for Cerrus before taking my turn.
Netkin and Ellaeaanda, sorry, I was just checking for Resa’s reaction. It is still the spiders turn.
I tried numbering them this time to differentiate them. Clearly, it doesn’t work as well as colours. I’ll change them to different colours.
Yellow Spider
The spider advances on the group until it is close enough to Cerrus to launch its web. It throws its web at the thaumaturge, but the web falls short, only reaching half-way there.
AB: Stride*, Web*
Blue Spider
The third spider follows suit, moving and throwing its web at Cerrus. This time, the web does hit its target, launching Cerrus against the wall and holding him there. Cerrus, you are now Immobilized.
AB: Stride*, Web*
Purple Spider
The fourth spider rushes in, trying to run straight into the tunnel and, much to its surprise, running straight into Resa!
The following might change depending on Resa’s reaction
Face to face with one of the intruders, the spider tries to bite Resa. But Resa is too fast for the spider, and she is able to avoid the spider’s chelicerae.
AB: Stride*, Strike*
Brown and Green Spiders
Too far from the action, the remaining spiders do what they can to close the gap.
AB: Stride*x2
Conditions Summary: Cerrus is Immobilized
You can all take your turns. Ellaeaanda, please let me know if the spiders' actions change what you'd like to do for your second turn or not.
Having a hard time following initiative. Is Cerrus up?
Yes. Both Cerrus and Ardoinel can act.
Sorry, I had interrupted the spiders' turns to check on whether Resa was going to use her reaction. I am taking the rest of spiders' turns now. Then you can act.
There are two main ways in which it could be happening. She could be doing what Netkin does, using some sort of concoction that affects the spiders’ behaviour, or she could be using magic to manipulate them.
The first arrow hits one of the spiders, that chitters in pain.
RK:
Judging by their animal nature, you believe it should be one of their physical characteristics.
Resa
Stealth:
27
You press yourself against the wall, making sure to not touch the webs.
I’ll take the move as your starting positions and then Hide* and Ready**
Spiders
Threading their webs, the spiders descent from the ceiling to meet their prey at ground level.
AB: All of them will start their respective turns with Descend on a Web*
Spider 1
Sensing the oracle within range, the spider throws its web in Ardoinel’s direction. Ardoinel sees the web coming and dodges out of the way, the web striking the wall besides him. The spider, then, scurries towards the group.
Resa, do you want to use your reaction to strike the spider? If so, feel free to roll your strike. Attacking would give your position away to the other spiders.
Ellaeaanda and Resa, you can take your turns before the spiders. I have drawn a yellow line on the map, you can start on any square to the left of that line.
There is, Netkin's Animal Repellent. Unfortunately, one dose is only enough to coat one of you to pass by them. Due to the webbing, the would feel even the most silent creature passing through the room. It would be a matter of keeping them away rather than sneaking past them.
It takes almost another hour of navigating through the tunnels before they open back up into a sprawling cavern. Somehow, the cavern seems even more claustrophobic than the tunnels. Viscous spiderwebs crisscross nearly every inch of the place. Along the northern wall, several human-sized lumps in the webs are thickly wrapped in silk webbing, while the entire floor is covered in sticky goop.
New map. All of D1, including the tunnels to D2 and D3 are difficult terrain.
Along the ceiling of the cavern hang six hunting spiders.
That’s odd:
There is something odd about the northern wall, besides the lumps of webs.
Ardoinel’s was a success, but I’ll take your roll for the second column.
Seeing Ardoinel’s work, and with Netkin's experience working on the construct, he see the critical points of the column and start patching them up with the help of Ellaeaanda. With some of his reagents he manages to create a sticky substance to use as a glue to secure the pieces as Ellaeaanda holds them in place.
The second column is also stable now.
You get 44xp for dealing with the centipedes and the column hazards.
Are you pressing forward, going back, or doing something else in this cavern?
The cracks run deep as the crashing of the centipedes and the rumbling of the ground have fracture the pillar. Some of the cracks are actually large enough that they can be filled with other rocks. Ardoinel finds the right shape stones, or cut those he finds to the right shape, and fills in the gaps. Like a cyclopean wall, the weight of stone falls on stone with no gap in between, the immense pressure self-stabilizing the structure.
With quick steps, you move besides Netkin's construct and slice through the giant centepede. All it takes is one clean cut across it, and the two pieces curl up as they fall to the ground.
The two centepedes are down.
We can go back to exploration mode, but the two columns are still unstable.
This hinges on a technicality, but, it seems like needle darts cannot be readied, since needle darts takes two actions to cast. Ready says it can be used for a single action or a free action. What are your opinions and readying two-action actions?
The centipedes sense the construct moving away, and they immediately beggin to follow. As they enter the tunnel they sense something else. They sense the body heat radiating out you. In an instant, they raise their body and get ready to fight.
You can all take your turns. The centipedes, while not entirely outside the map, are no longer adjacent to the columns.
The two giant centipedes scuttle towards the construct, waving their antennae as they approach. They raise some of their front legs and raise their heads up high. Their eyes and mandibles aimed directly at the torch; they seem to stare at it.
You can target their personal antithesis. However, to attack the centipedes you'd want to move them away from the columns or avoid projectiles and physical attacks (including bombs). Admitedly, this affects you and Netkin more than the rest of the team. Alternatively, you could try to reinforce the columns to prevent them from collapsing. This would two Actions and a Crafting check to Disable the Hazard.
Ellaeaanda RK:
The giant insects opperate on instict rather than wits or bravery. Will is their weakest save
The tunnel from Voz’s encamping is a long and winding one. Along the way, the path is littered with the bones and torn flesh of the once undead, and the carcasses of several oversized insects. Occasionally, you see a torn spider leg or a left-over chelicerae.
More than an hour into the tunnel, Resa comes across a larger chamber which, unlike the previous ones, is still inhabited.
The ceiling of the chamber is held by two cracked pillars that threaten to break down at any moment, as they are battered and chipped around their whole circumference. The reason for which is obvious to Resa. The passages between the pillars are too narrow for the two giant centipedes that squeeze themselves through them, hitting the pillars over and over with their limbs as they pass.
There is little doubt that swinging weapons around the pillars is sure to bring them down.
I have added a new map, courtesy of Paths to Adventure, who has hundreds of free maps available for download.
