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Thanks for the kind words Ebonfist! That AP you ran that involved the storm... Yes, I know the scene you mean, from Ire of the Storm. A great gang of people and a fun scenario too. The end scene for that one was great as well ! If anyone starts running games for a subset of this group, let me know. Likewise. It's all about the people you are with. I'm going to sign up for WaterySoup/Diazepane's 2E first level game for now but I'll be on the forums spectating too...
Gents I’m sorry to say that I want to call the ‘Ire of the Storm’ here. I’ve had a blast with you all, and with the others who have taken us this far, but I’m no longer enjoying our story. With the departure of some memorable characters we have significantly slowed down the frequency of our posts and in some cases, the length and quality of them too. My view is that pbp games live or die on momentum, and as a group we’ve run low. It’s not as if we have a short distance to go either. I was drawn to this module by the wilderness element; I think it flows better in a pbp format. After some final confrontations in Pridon plus some recruitment of new party members, the last leg would have been two levels of dungeon crawl through the Sky Tempest Temple. At recent post rates, all that would have translated into a terribly slow grind. I want to thank you each for the contributions you have made and the time you have invested in getting us this far. You have created and shared some very memorable moments! If you use a private mail to send me your email address I’ll give you read access on our shared drive to my copy of the module, so you can see the rest of the story and the background behind the storm. You have my apologies for letting you down – I had hoped that this story would go all the way. I would have liked to see whether Iradyiel could found the Pridon Pathfinder Lodge in memory of his parents; whether Aza could discover some link between the furious weather system overhead and the strange electrical storm that has left her so scarred; which of Pious and Vedic would kill the other first; and who, out of CT and Francis, would become the defining legendary folk hero to generations of Pridon colonists to come. Actually, we settled that last one months ago – it’s so obviously going to be Francis. Perhaps it’s better to leave the Papaya Knights forever frozen in battle, engaging a terrifying flaming undead foe in a long-lost shrine to a dead civilisation’s gods, deep in the hot steamy jungles of southern Sargava, and leave it to our fevered imaginations as to what happened next… GM Abyss Dancer
Running forward towards the shrine at the end of the long corridor, the elven mage lobs a cannister of liquid fire into the pit, handing another off to Iradyiel who does the same. As Vedic steps back towards the rear of the group his extra-dimensional pit elapses: with a peculiar, eye-wrenching twist of space the surrounding floor straightens. The shine is suddenly thrown into sharp illumination by the terrifying ascent of an enormous nine-foot tall heavy-set cyclops skeleton, decked in an ancient breastplate and helm and dripping alchemist’s fire from head to toe, gliding impassively upward into full view. Achahut, Chest Thumper and Francis leap forward with furious battle cries as the cyclops does the same and the rest of the Papaya Knights brace themselves - this is a battle the like of which tavern tales are told ! Fade to black…
Am I mistaken on any of that? No no, it was just the extreme range and lack of any line of sight I was concerned about. Closer up (I have moved you on the map) I'm happy to allow it.
Aza’s timely restorative powers sooth Iradyiel’s wounds – he straightens again, bracing himself for the onslaught as the skeleton pulls itself out of the pit. Achahut, now off to one side of the pit, tries to strike the limbs of the skeleton , attempting to knock it back into the pit. She fails to trip it outright but succeeded at least in distracted its undead attention; as bony fingers slip on the pit edge, it slumps backward with a deafening crash of metal and bone, falling into the pit.
Round 3
Round 4
gm rolls:
DM data:
The Last Keeper = 5 + 11 + 9 + 9 = 34 Achahut = 7
Chest Thumper flare detonates adjacent to the cyclops skeleton as it rises from the pit - but without visible effect. Likewise, Iradyiel's slingshot merely bounces off its breastplate. Round 3
DM data:
The Last Keeper = 5 + 11 + 9 + 9 = 34 Achahut = 7
The Papaya Knights continue to rain missiles ineffectively at the skeleton in the pit, despite Vedic’s ill-explained shouting from 20’ back up the corridor to “Use the fire!”. In return they receive another powerfully-propelled hunk of rock; this time it hits Achahut as she aims a javelin. The blow knocks the weapon away and catches her a glancing blow to the bony. After this, the creature attempts to climb out from the hole, heaving itself up and out of the shaft but failing to progress all the way out.
Round 2
Round 3
GM rolls:
DM data: The Last Keeper = 5 + 11 + 9 + 9 = 34 Achahut = 7
The corded muscles in Chest Thumper’s arms wind up then release as he hurls the enchanted rock at the Cyclops with lethal speed. Even with the partial cover provided by the pit, the rock connects heavily with its chest, shattering bone before ricocheting upward onto its cranium, eliciting a comedy ringing bell-like noise on impact. In return, the Skeleton sweeps up several of the rocks summoned by Vedic’s ‘Stone Call’ spell, and hurls one back at the party, targeting the half elf barbarian. Clearly this was not something Iradyiel expected - the rock, a chunk of basalt as large as his head, catches him square in the midriff almost knocking him to the floor. Round 1
Round 2
gm rolls:
DM data: The Last Keeper = 5 + 11 + 9 + 9 = 34
The party holds its collective breath (except Pious, who is breathing his last, and Achuhut, who is yelling fiercely) as Vedic's spell creates a yawning chasm at the cyclops' feet. It slips, performs a comedy cartoon scrabbly-feet dance on the edge, and crashes down ! A clattering thimp echoes upward from the hole; enough to cause Achahut, briming with bravado, to slow hercharge to a more cautious approach across the boulder-littered floor to the sloping edge. She turns, unable to approach closer, and looks quizzically at the others: "What now?" Round 1
gm rolls:
DM data: The Last Keeper = 5 + 11 + 9 = 27
It seems odd, surreal even, to be facing such a terrifying foe pacing back and forth, glaring at them with its one red glowing eye, and to be plotting its destruction out loud in front it. Yet that is what they do, and on a synchronised ”1, 2, 3 !” a salvo of missiles are let fly at the cyclops. Iradyiel and CT’s stone miss or make no impact on the armoured monstrosity. Aza’s, much to her surprise, impacts heavily direct on the forehead, fracturing the skull with a mighty impact, and spitting stone fragments to both sides. Which is when, as has happened before, Pious sends the plan awry. With a shout of righteous fury, he charges directly into melee, dodges a sweeping rake from the skeleton's fist as he closes and then Vedic’s arcane powers pepper the room with stones from above. Pious almost disappears in the hail of bludgeoning debris, yet emerges bloodied but still standing, swinging wildly at his foe and hammering its ribcage with a crashing blow. Blind to the damage it has taken, the enormous cyclops hammers into the lone warrior, pummelling him once, then twice with its heavy fists. Staggered by the first, he is caught off guard by the second - there is a sickening crack! as it connects. To the hooror of the Papaya Knights behind him, the mad inquisitor instantly folds and topples to the ground amidst the rubble. Achahut starts into action, a roar of lizard battle fury in her throat, and a returned glint of suicidal zeal in her eyes - she too charges into the room!
Round 1
gm rolls:
DM data: The Last Keeper = 5 + 11 + 9 = 25
Go go go - let's not delay.
The Papaya Knights retreat from the shrine, down the corridor and through the secret door. Closing it beehind themselves, they head back into the tower's basement to rest and recuperate from their wounds. Their rest is fitful and disturbed; several times each is woken by imagined noises in the night, either the noise of the seawater swelling and falling in the tunnel to the north, the skittering of small insects in the darkness, or a more nightmarish threat of being suddenly woken by heavy rending blows from a giant one-eyed cyclops. In the event the night passes without event - though the morning allows Francis to discover the source of the skittering noises. From a passageway into the rock to the east, a host of small baby-mimics has emerged. No larger than a child's fist in size and a pasty yellowy-brown in colour, maybe a score of more have spread from an egg sac in that cave's wall and scattered across the main basement walls and ceiling. Some of them have already made their way into the watery tunnel to the sea. None are harmful although one drops ambitiously onto Francis from the roof before being brushed away, and another has digested a small hole in Pious's coat. A third causes some hilarity when discovered 'hiding' disguised as a perfect, albeit miniature, copy of Aza' left boot. In the morning, once fed, prepared and readied, they return to the chapel. At the sound of there advance, the skeleton returns to his watchful patrol, sweeping angry glowing eyes across their number, almost daring them to enter the hallowed room...
The cyclops skeleton paces angrily in the chapel, awaiting your next move. Watching it now for a short time you note its movements are repetitive and its angrily glowing red eyes seem to lose some of their threat as you realise this has no inherent intellect of its own. It is a remnant, a relic from a covilisation long lost to the mists of time.
The undead creature is not something you recognise from your studies: it appears to be no more potent than a normal skeleton, but its Cyclopean heritage and immense age may have given it unique capabilities. Certainly, it appears to be unintelligent, and bound in its behavior to act within certain limitations. It has not (for example) attacked you yet, despite your breaching the secret corridor and pushing open the chapel door..
The cyclops paces angrily in the chapel, awaiting your next move...
The cyclops skeleton paces aggressively on the other side of the door, swinging its huge taloned hands in impotent anger. It appears to be unable or unwilling to interefere with Iradyiel as he gradually attains some purchase on the huge stone door. Twisting, heaving, he topples it over, and it crashes to the ground splitting into three chunks in the process. As the terrific crash reverberates in the enclosed space underground, the party are able to make out more of what lies ahead. A giant skeletal cyclops (this is what Array was trying to convey - one eye not two) stands guard in the center of what appears to be a shrine or chapel to some long-forgotten cyclopean god. Heavy dust lies on all surfaces, barring a gust of dust raise into the ir by the fall of the stone door. Stone tablets the size of tabletops line the basalt walls, each engraved with meticulous script. The room in partially illuminated by the flickering light of two small glowing points orbiting a large stone statue at the far end of the shrine, of an imposing single-eyed giantess. DC13 Spellcraft:
The orbiting points of light are pale blue and pale yellow ioun torches Iradyiel:
If you wanted to impress the Pathfinder society, this looks right up their alley. You could even see this lighthouse, properly renovated, being an ideal site for a Sargaavan lodge for the area...
Skeletons are immune to cold damage. Array and I can't zap this one to death from a distance. Also relatively impervious to spider swarms, too. Apologies for the delay guys.
Actually, all of my PbP games have slowed down in the last couple weeks. 'all' - how many games are you juggling in your head at once? I'm struggling with GM'ing one, prepping for upcoming PSF and SFS games here in the UK next month, and starting up (as GM) a face to face CotCT game on Monday. My brain hurts...
With two out, and some others posting infrequently, I'll hold off on botting Vedic and Iradyiel. Let's pick up Monday with how the party is planning to deal with the shattered door and the threat beyond it. As an aside, I notice that as a group our pace is really slowing down. In the last 20 days the party has only posted 35 times between 5 players. I'm worried that we've hit a mid-game slump. Is everyone still on for continuing? Is there any feedback you can give me on how this is progressing? My intent was to run a game with one post each per day - do you still share that aim (vacation aside)? Please let me know.
Ewww. I'm OK with spiders, but not 1500 of the little buggers. Still, there are real-life examples far worse than this. In 2009, the Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant found themselves dealing with what they called an "extreme spider situation." An estimated 80 million orb-weaving spiders had colonized the plant, covering every surface with heavy sheets of web. The whole thing is detailed in a fascinating and horrifying article published by the Entomological Society of America, here: http://www.entsoc.org/PDF/2010/Orb-weaving-spiders.pdf I found this referenced on the excellent xkcd site, here:
Rounding the corner, the party move up towards the shattered door at the end of the corridor. Beyond the door, silhouetted in the dim light beyond, they see something looming in the darkness: a statue perhaps, inside what appears to be a dimly-lit chapel or shrine. Vedic, at the back, is trying to deal with an agitated Array. It seems to be trying to tell him something important: DC15 Linguistics check:
Array is trying to correct your understanding of what it saw. Replace the words ‘red glowing eyes’ from my description earlier, with ‘red glowing eye (singular)’. It seems to think this is important. From a distance of 15 feet away, you can see that the door is made of heavy stone and has been shattered from its hinges, lying at an angle in the doorframe. There’s no way to open it as such. You could attempt to either heave it out of the way or squeeze through the gap . One other option would be to blast the door, but you might want to save that for the silent skeletal looming figure on the other side of the door. It is giant sized, and bearing armour; light shines off a green-coloured metallic breastplate.
Leaning slightly round the secret doorway, CT is able to target a spot on the wall 30' away, in the main corridor leading to the broken door. He sights the eruption of spiders emerge from the wall and floor, and instantly moving as one, skitter down the corridor to the east, out from his vision. He leans back, concentrating on maintaining the spell, and listening hard. Nothing. No shout of alarm, no noise of movement. You sense your spell is still active, but that's it. A minute passes. Still nothing.
DM rolls:
The previously secret door is 12 tall by 10' wide. You can swing it shut if you like - just tell me. Array swoops inside the corridor on the other side of the secret door, to find it empty. Thirty feet away at the end of the corridor lies the shattered stone door, hanging in the doorway into a much larger chamber beyond. Silhouetted in the doorway is a large figure, it's red glowing eyes looking up the corridor at Array. More than this Array cannot pass on; it is dim lighting at best, plus Array cannot communicate easily from a distance.
The party gather to form a bottleneck at the entrance to the secret door; beyond them, down the corridor: several heavy footfalls, then silence. Nothing approaches down the stone-lined corridor from the chamber at the end... Round 1
Round 2
Nope. Achahut was at the north end of the room with Vedic and Aza, whilst Iradyiel explored to the south. The trunk/mimic burrowed in from the sea, after the lizard folk were last here.
It was not; but you can surmise that whatever made the noise was large, and that the noise was an unintelligible roar, not language.
"If that is an option, yes." Vedic said. "Depends on how high the ceilings are." The corridor (and the basement you stand in) is giant; the roof is vaulted but 12' tall in the centre. It would be easy for Array to stay out of reach of any medium-size creature.
"Well?" Achahut looks around at the others, confused, "Are we going to explore this, or..." A bellow, echoing and resonant, roars out from within the cavern at the end of the corridor. The pale magical light does not alter, but shadows do - something LARGE is stirring inside... Roll for initiative! GM rolls:
Round 1
Iradyiel opens the concealed door behind the dead mimic, to reveal a dark and dusty corridor behind (. As the stone door slides smoothly open, the resultant waft of air whips up a billow of dust from the stone-flagged floor: this corridor has not been used in a long long while. The party eyes Achahut, who wide-eyed shakes her head; "This is unknown to my people - we have never found this..." The stonework here was clearly designed long ago by giant-sized peoples - it is imposing in its scale and age. Could this be a relic of the ancient Ghol-Gan Cyclopean empire? Peering up the corridor, which runs from the concealed door off to the east, you see it leads about 40' into the gloom before ending in a collapsed stone doorway. Beyond the collapsed door, a large space beyond is oh-so dimly illuminated my a shifting magical light, although from this distance no other detail is visible.
A few moments after the creature dies, the adhesive effect which had captured Iradyiel, Francis, and thew weapons of Pious and Achahut releases its grip. This creature, whatever it was, carries with it a whiff of alchemical magic in its nature, and that glue-like secretion is unlike any you have ever seen on a natural animal.
Pious and Iradyiel continue to try to free Pious’ sword and Iradyiel himself from the creature, without success. Array’s cold blast seems to cause some damage this time, as the monster flinches from its impact. Aza casts her Cause Fear spell without conviction, and rightfully so: it has no visible effect on the voracious chest. Meanwhile, it continues to mangle and digest Iradyiel, . Achahut, horrified by this whales a massive blow deep into the rear of the chest lid with her pick, but loses it in the process. The monster is now looking decidedly battered, oozing green blood and flailing injured tentacles about weakly… GM rolls:
Round 3
Round 4
GM data: Mimic – 51
As the front line engage the monster, the party’s ranged magic contingent hustles forward in support. A barrage of sizzling ice and corrosive acid projectiles arc through the air, but without a single hit on either their target, or (fortunately) their allies. It might even be this which puts off Pious’ swing; a huge overhead chop which connects but connects weakly with its horny hide, and sticks fast. . Francis, adhered by the jaw to the top of the chest rakes it with one claw - the other misses entirely. CT bestows the hollering, bleeding barbarian with divine healing. As he does so , the creature emits a echoing gurgle; whether this is in frustrated hunger, satisfaction with the results of its sticky ensnarements, or pain, it is not possible to say… GM rolls:
Round 2
Round 3
GM data: Mimic – 39
Aaand I'll be away again for a bit. Celebrating my 20th wedding anniversary over the next few days. I'll try to post once per day but probably won't get more than that. Wow - 20 years. That's a long-running campaign. What level 'husband' are you now?
Sorry all. Work is a s**t fest from hell right now. I think you mean a 'monkey flanker'.
The space around Iradyiel is getting crowded as the party congregates about him, attacking the trunk-monster for all they can. Iradyiel himself is now almost bent double within its maw, straining to escape but with blood welling from his wounds, he's clearly in mortal danger. In his aid, Achahut runs in to attach, and both her and Francis rain down savage attacks on the creature’s hide leaving bloody lacerations in their wake. But this is not without consequences - as Francis' oversized jaws clamp down, his face and jaw are themselves ensnared by the monster's adhesive grip ! Undeterred, the remorselessly crushing of Iradyiel continues ...but seemingly the barbarian's exhertions are enough at least for it to fail to constrict him in its acidic grip. GM rolls:
Round 2
GM data: Mimic – 30
Iradyiel’s shouts grow louder and more alarmed as he struggles in the creature’s adhesive grasp. Not only is the monster attempting to crush him in its iron grip, but the surface of its rough hide is almost unnaturally sticky – and acidic! As iradyiel struggles to free himself, Pious and Francis arrive on the scene, the ape dealing a savage ripping claw strike to the monster's side. Fortunately, Francis' claw swings free of the its adhesive hide, such is its power. All this makes no difference to the creature, which squeezes and squeezes Iradyiel...
Pious only:
This creature is an amphibious variety of Mimic, and you know all about it. It has stats identical to the block in the Bestiary, but +1 HD and an acid component to its constrict attack… GM rolls::
Round 1
Round 2
GM data: Mimic - 11
An element of caution creeps into the party as they fan out across the room, seeking more information about the cause of the tunnel into the tower basement. Vedic peers into the sea tunnel, alongside Array, considering its origin: as best he can imagine, it must have been some sort of flexibly-shaped aquatic creature, able to insinuate itself into an existing faultline in the rock and then using naturally acidic excretions to corrode a wider pathway - maybe some sort of aberant octopus, or slime? Behind Vedic, Aza and Achahut stand close to the murals watching warily; CT and Francis move alongside Pious into the centre of the room. From there they can see a secondary excavated tunnel, 5 foot tall and 5 foot wide, leading off to the east and disappearing into the gloom. Closer to where they stand, the three of them carefully inspect the rubble and debris in the midsection of the room, but notice nothing special or remarkable. Iradyiel however discovers two things of interest as he crouches and takes his time to examine the large trunk in the southern wall. The first is an observation that the wall behind the trunk houses what he assumes to be a concealed doorway; a hidden lever catches his eye in a fissure in the wall, and once spotted, the shape of an secret opening beside the lever becomes quite apparent. ( His second observation is more of a surprise – peering at the wall behind the trunk, Iradyiel is caught totally off guard as what appeared to be a wooden chest surges upward in one fluid motion, growing long, glistening tentacles and a number of sharp teeth, and lunging down at him with murderous intent!
GM rolls:
initiatives: Surprise round
Round 1
The lights reveal the melted, dissolved sides to the limestone tunnel, leading down at first in a slope, then a sharp drop, to the seawater below. Seaweed and the oscillation of the water surface (presumably in time with the waves outside) prevent any visibility below the surface. There is no reaction to the presence of the dancing lights from anything in the tunnel.
Pious and Iradyiel approach the two urns, Iradyiel examining them whilst Pious stands a little further back. These shattered urns appear to have once been used to store food, wine, and lamp oil. The two remaining urns cracked centuries ago, spilling their wine across the floor, judging by the faded brown stains left behind. Further to the north, Achahut and Aza examine the opening in the wall beyond the paintings. A narrow column leads down 10' or more down to seawater, and seemingly connects to the sea outside, judging by the undulating surface of the water. Curiously, columnar tunnel looks to have been eroded, or dissolved, upward through solid rock. Achahut scratches her scaly chin in bemusement {b]"I...don't recall this being here before...[/b] she muses.
Achahut watched as Aza's wand restored her health. Flexing her chest, she dipped her her in silent thanks as the rest of the party looked at the paintings. Aza's lantern revealed more of the cavern behind them . Black stone lines the walls of this rubble-strewn chamber. Bundles of fishing supplies — faded and dusty — rest near the base of the stairs, while the broken remains of far older pottery line the walls. Two clay urns, each the size of a person, still stand to the east near a natural opening in the stone wall, and a dusty chest lies near the southern wall. To the north, some sort of animal-dug burrow descends into brackish water. Once the storeroom for the now-destroyed lighthouse, this chamber is carved from the rock of the cliff face and lined with basalt. It extends southward, eventually opening up to a smaller room beyond.
”Come, “ gestured Achahut, rubbing her sore throat, ”I will show you.” She carefully picked her way down the rubble-strewn steps down from the clearing, clearly carrying an injury to her pride as well as her lacerated and bruised chest. She cautiously flips a lattice of interwoven vines and other debris aside with her pick, wary of creatures which might be residing within it. ”One of my tribe found a small jelly-like ooze amongst this last time we were here – it had razor sharp teeth.”. With the way cleared, she ventures further down the stairs, to reveal in the darkened gloom a series of detailed maps painted upon the smooth curving masonry wall. At the foot of the steps, behind the paintings, the party’s voices echo in what is clearly a large chamber, lost in the darkness. Some more casual images can be seen at the edges of the walls, varying from the whimsical to the obscene (it appears that just as with other humanoids, bored lizardfolk amuse themselves with rude graffiti), but the centrepiece here and on the wall at the foot of the stairs is a detailed graphic of the hills and forests of the peninsular, with nature trails and points of interest inscribed. Standing out clearly, a square walled stone complex seemingly open to the skies can be seen drawn with undue prominence in the jungles to the south east. With some form of artificial illumination it is possible to triangulate from the nearby hills, rivers and trails, and locate its exact site and the best way to reach it. Achahut steps back from the pictures as the party examine it. ”These maps are old, and many of these trails are no longer used. I share this with you now to aid you in confronting Daruthek, but I must destroy these images when you have taken note of the temple’s location. I would not want knowledge of my tribe’s pathways to be used against us.” Her voice echoes in the musty empty gloom of the huge cavern behind her.
In a shower of blows from the party’s front-line fighters, the vine throttling Achahut is chopped into kindling. Its twisting sinuous graspings diminish in intensity until, with a final shudder, it shivers and is still. Pulling fingers of tendril from the lizardfolk’s body, Iradyiel and Chest Thumper free Achahut from its grasp; ”Thank you,” she shudders, ”I feel foolish – it came at me from behind. I should have seen it coming. Her voice is weak and rough as she rubs her bruised throat. Across the clearing Aza and Francis look carefully into the foliage, searching for any sign of an enemy. And there it is – another of these choking vines, easing itself across the rocky rubble, sliding back into cover under the bruised limbs of other plants. Unmolested it retreats deeper into the jungle foliage.
Once again you have the clearing to yourself…
GM rolls:
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