GM Dan's page

Rising up from the floor, almost as if from the fresco itself, is a ghostly version of a hydra. Its six heads are writhing up at the ceiling and shoot beams of fire until it completely rises, after which its heads each target one of you. You could feel the heat so the fire is most definitely real, despite the spectral appearance of the hydra.

Sorry, I can't figure out where to plug in a hydra icon so I grabbed one of the dead vexenion qlippoths and made it Huge.

Knowledge religion: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (6) + 14 = 20

Doc realizes the creature isn't an undead but is an echo of the creature from its moment of suffering and death, sometimes referred to as a haunt. "Don't bother with weapons, it's not real, we need positive energy and holy water, whatever! Sometimes these have other weaknesses related to their living bodies but fer the life of me I'm not thinking straight." Not a great knowledge check.

He pulls out a wand of cure light wounds and tries to hand it to Ayita or Half-Tsuurm.

ROUND ONE
Ezranadir
Nasir
Half-Tsuurm
Ayita
Haunting Hydra
Doc Hatfield
—------------------------------------------------
BOLD may go!

As you explore this room and the smashed hydra fresco in the floor,

INITIATIVE
HAIL HYDRA!

Sorted Initiative SURPRISE ROUND
Ezranadir
Nasir
Half-Tsuurm
Ayita
Doc Hatfield
—------------------------------------------------
BOLD may go (one standard or move action only)!

Blue takes the damage from Ezranadir's magic missile barrage and survives, barely. But a split second later Half-Tsuurm's last cold iron arrows pierce its body and finally put the creature tumbling down on top of Red with a resounding SPLAT. Eventually the two amorphous bodies stop jiggling and lay still.

Healer's way on Nasir: 4d6 + 1 ⇒ (5, 2, 4, 3) + 1 = 15 +6 hp to Doc
Wand of cure light on Doc: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Wand of cure light on Ayita: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Everyone is healed except 4 hp on Doc and 1 point of nonlethal on Ayita. Good, or use more charges? Any other individual or group actions?

There is no treasure to be found in here. Once everyone is ready to move on, you get up on the platform with the pillars, move through, and find another round pit with a 20' drop, after which you climb or fly back up and end up in an even larger round room. (I moved Doc just into this room so it's clear which one I'm referring to.) The ceiling of this large domed chamber rises thirty-five feet, while a wall of iron bars blocks a broad hall heading off to the west. A fresco of a six-headed serpent covers the floor, though parts of it have been worn away by the passage of time, and it appears as if someone has smashed the serpent’s six heads with some form of heavy bludgeon, leaving those parts of the fresco cracked and damaged.

Botting Nasir.

Nasir, having little desire to experience the inside of this qlippoth, desperately struggles to escape the grapple.

CMB: 1d20 + 12 - 2 ⇒ (7) + 12 - 2 = 17

Try as he might, Nasir cannot break loose from the many tentacles holding him in place.

Since he effectively cast liberating command last round as a swift action rather than an immediate action, Doc will cast it again, this time as an immediate action before Blue's turn.

Nasir escape artist check: 1d20 + 2 + 16 - 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 + 16 - 2 = 36

Success! Nasir is free. Life link kicks in and five more hp transfer from Nasir to Doc.

Blue is frustrated that its meal keeps trying to get away.

Tentacle 1: 1d20 + 11 - 2 ⇒ (4) + 11 - 2 = 13 Damage 1: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8
Tentacle 2: 1d20 + 11 - 2 ⇒ (19) + 11 - 2 = 28 Damage 2: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8
Tentacle 3: 1d20 + 11 - 2 ⇒ (15) + 11 - 2 = 24 Damage 3: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9
Tentacle 4: 1d20 + 11 - 2 ⇒ (4) + 11 - 2 = 13 Damage 4: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

Blue's second tentacle should have hit but it is shaken from having the human woman yell and gesture in her intimidating way!

ROUND SEVEN
Nasir: Unable to escape
Doc: Immediate action to command Nasir to break free, success, life link
Blue Vexenion: Four tentacles miss
Ezranadir
Half-Tsuurm
Ayita
—------------------------------------------------
BOLD may go!

STATUS
-----------------------
Ayita (67/67hp) |slow 4/6| 4 nonlethal
Doc (58/73hp) ||
Ezranadir (47/47hp) ||
Half-Tsuurm (68/68hp) |sickened 6/7|
Nasir (55/68hp) |sickened 6/7| 6 nonlethal
Yazhi (51/51hp) |sickened 6/7|

An intimidate check? Wow, I had to look it up again, I've gotten so used to 2e rules!

Blue watches as Ayita yells at him. Is food allowed to do this? Either way, the demonstration of defiance is enough to make him shaken!

Nasir's cap turns the extra 6 hp of damage from the crit into nonlethal damage. I had been looking to see if I had your Escape Artist check right. No ranks, just a +2?

END OF ROUND SIX

ROUND SEVEN
Nasir
Blue
Doc
Ezranadir
Half-Tsuurm
Ayita
—------------------------------------------------
BOLD may go!

STATUS
-----------------------
Ayita (67/67hp) |slow 4/6| 4 nonlethal
Doc (63/73hp) ||
Ezranadir (47/47hp) ||
Half-Tsuurm (68/68hp) |sickened 6/7|
Nasir (50/68hp) |sickened 6/7| 6 nonlethal
Yazhi (51/51hp) |sickened 6/7|

Ezranadir's barrage of magic missiles rips into the creature, easily penetrating its SR. Half-Tsuurm's shot should have been easily dodged by Blue, but without its tentacle anchors and because it also has the grappled condition (-4 Dex), Half-Tsuurm's arrow hits for full damage. The creature is badly wounded at this point but is intent on merging Nasir into its body as soon as it can!

Its telepathic messages continue unabated. "Do not resist. We will be great together, combine your life essence with mine. I have waited so long for your arrival!" And so on.

Nasir feels that his best attack should have hit Blue, but because your opponent is using his three anchored tenacles to quickly dodge back and forth, Nasir's flurry misses all attacks.

Predictably, Blue releases his extra tentacles so that he can hold on to the wall with his body as normal and releases a flurry of tentacle attacks at Nasir, at the expense of giving up his dodge bonus.

Tentacle 1: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (19) + 11 = 30 damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8
Tentacle 2: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (8) + 11 = 19 damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8
Tentacle 3: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (20) + 11 = 31 damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9
Tentacle 4: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (20) + 11 = 31 damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

Improbably, 3 out of 4 hit!
Tentacle 3 crit confirm?: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (19) + 11 = 30 damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6 confirm, do you activate your buffering cap?
Tentacle 4 crit confirm?: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (9) + 11 = 20 damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

Nasir takes a total of 29 points of damage. Then the tentacles try to grab onto the armored warrior.

Grapple 1: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (12) + 16 = 28 Success
Grapple 3: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (1) + 16 = 17
Grapple 4: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (11) + 16 = 27

Once Blue has finished, Doc's lifelink transfers 5 hp of damage from Nasir and then he takes his readied action to cast liberating command on Nasir.

Nasir immediate action escape artist DC 26: 1d20 + 2 + 16 - 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 + 16 - 2 = 20 Fail

ROUND SIX
Nasir: Full attack, miss x3
Blue: On the wall, smacks Nasir x3 and grapples him
Doc: Lifelink, casts liberating command, Nasir fails to escape
Ezranadir
Half-Tsuurm
Ayita
—------------------------------------------------
BOLD may go!

STATUS
-----------------------
Ayita (67/67hp) |slow 3/6| 4 nonlethal
Doc (63/73hp) ||
Ezranadir (47/47hp) ||
Half-Tsuurm (68/68hp) |sickened 5/7, slow 3/3|
Nasir (44/68hp) |sickened 5/7, grappled|
Yazhi (51/51hp) |sickened 5/7|

What gp total should we be at? My desktop Herolab says Ayita is somewhere around 50K gp in gear and gold, including the 20K carpet of flying. By the time we get to Riddleport it might be a bit more.

What do others have, am I off?

The standard Wealth By Level that I found, for Level 9, says 46K.

Which amount should I use? Assuming a restriction that there has to be one item around 20K?

GM Derek just went through this exercise a few weeks ago when building Half-Tsuurm, he can provide the amount he used, then add to it the share of treasure from the Sepulchurs.

As soon as Ezranadir dismisses the ring of fire, Half-Tsuurm takes a measured shot at Blue. He feels like it should hit, but Blue didn't use its tentacles to attack and instead has them reaching out to grab hold of pillars and walls. This allows Blue to more quickly pull part of his body out of the way, dodging the arrow!

Ayita then exhales a reinvigorating wind to Half-Tsuurm, cutting the slow spell on him in half. In one more round he'll be able to move full speed again.

Doc again readies a liberating command, expecting Blue to use its tentacles on Nasir.

END OF ROUND FIVE

ROUND SIX
Nasir
Blue
Ezranadir
Half-Tsuurm
Ayita
Doc Hatfield
—------------------------------------------------
BOLD may go!

STATUS
-----------------------
Ayita (67/67hp) |slow 3/6| 4 nonlethal
Doc (68/73hp) ||
Ezranadir (47/47hp) ||
Half-Tsuurm (68/68hp) |sickened 5/7, slow 3/3|
Nasir (68/68hp) |sickened 5/7|
Yazhi (51/51hp) |sickened 5/7|

Sorry, long day yesterday.

The CRB is very clear.

Because a cone must shoot AWAY from the caster, there is no way you can also be in it. In none of the spell area graphics on page 216 is the caster within a cone.

Ayita slllloooooowwwwlllyy moves up a bit so she can maybe attack next round.

If you are able to take only a standard action on your turn, you can still charge, but you are only allowed to move up to your speed (instead of up to double your speed) and you cannot draw a weapon unless you possess the Quick Draw feat. You can’t use this option unless you are restricted to taking only a standard action on your turn.

We always called this the "stagger charge", since you can't take a double move and attack like a normal charge. You also know the creature's tentacles can reach way out so your movement would provoke. Life's full of tough choices!

ROUND FOUR ends with Nasir readying.

ROUND FIVE

Not able to see anything outside the ring of fire, Blue emerges from the spell and immediately gets bashed by Nasir. His shield doesn't do a lot of damage after DR but the free bull rush smashes it back through the fire! Unable to attack, it uses a second move action to re-emerge from the ring of fire, using its tentacles to give it extra dodginess.

Nasir: Readied action goes off, successful shield bash
Blue Vexenion: On the wall
Ezranadir
Half-Tsuurm
Ayita
Doc Hatfield
—------------------------------------------------
BOLD may go!

STATUS
-----------------------
Ayita (67/67hp) |slow 2/6| 4 nonlethal
Doc (68/73hp) ||
Ezranadir (47/47hp) ||
Half-Tsuurm (68/68hp) |sickened 4/7, slow 2/6|
Nasir (68/68hp) |sickened 4/7|
Yazhi (51/51hp) |sickened 4/7|

I'm AFK until next Tuesday, May 19. 'Bot Half-Tsuurm, if necessary.

Understood.

Don't forget, Wall of Fire is opaque, meaning you can't see through it without a special ability. You don't know for sure where Blue is or if the fire is affecting it, just where it was before the wall appeared. By the same token, it shouldn't be able to see you, either.

Ezranadir's Ring of Fire appears, completely obscuring Blue from view and passing through Red. Unfortunately, this time the magic appears to have no affect on them due to their spell resistance.

Half-Tsuurm's single arrow comes next and buries itself in the portion of Red that you can see. Thanks to its cold iron coating it does full damage and the creature finally slumps to the ground, tentacles going limp! Because it is partially hanging out over the pit, it's weight causes is to slowly slide out of the pillar room and the lifeless body slams to the bottom of the pit 20' below.

Ayita, does this change your action? Nasir, without a visible enemy to target I'm going to assume you delay unless you have another action you'd like to take.

Doc's lifelink transfers Nasir's damage to him. As a standard action, he casts create water and douses Nasir with a downpour of 16 gallons of water, washing the acid off of him. It's very refreshing! And quite distracting in the middle of a fight.

I'm trying to play Doc like the life oracle I played many years ago in PFS 1e. Preventing damage is even better than healing after the fact!

Red looks very hurt but has waited for thousands of years to eat something!

As a swift action he'll use three of his tentacles defensively again while attacking Nasir only once.

Red tentacle: 1d20 + 11 - 1 ⇒ (4) + 11 - 1 = 14

Unable to reach Nasir with a tentacle, Blue casts a spell and shoots a magical arrow made of acid at him instead.

Acid arrow ranged touch: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (18) + 12 = 30
Acid damage: 2d4 ⇒ (3, 2) = 5

The acid remains, burning Nasir for additional rounds.

ROUND FOUR
Red Vexenion: Slowed, misses
Blue Vexenion: Casts acid arrow, hits Nasir
Ezranadir
Half-Tsuurm
Nasir
Ayita
Doc Hatfield
—------------------------------------------------
BOLD may go!

STATUS
-----------------------
Ayita (67/67hp) |slow| 4 nonlethal
Doc (73/73hp) ||
Ezranadir (47/47hp) ||
Half-Tsuurm (68/68hp) |sickened 3/7, slow|
Nasir (63/68hp) |sickened 3/7, acid arrow|
Yazhi (51/51hp) |sickened 3/7|

Red is moving as slowly as Half-Tsuurm and used all of its tentacles to attack Nasir instead of defend itself, thus the single arrow gets through and strikes true! The cold iron coating on the arrowhead lets it fully affect the qlippoth.

botting Nasir, I assume another full attack.

Scimitar Full Attack Sickened 1: 1d20 + 14 - 2 - 2 ⇒ (17) + 14 - 2 - 2 = 27 HIT
Scimitar Dmg 1: 1d6 + 7 - 2 ⇒ (2) + 7 - 2 = 7
Scimitar Fire Dmg 1: 1d6 ⇒ 3 No damage

Scimitar Full Attack Sickened 2: 1d20 + 14 - 2 - 2 - 5 ⇒ (11) + 14 - 2 - 2 - 5 = 16
Scimitar Dmg 2: 1d6 + 7 - 2 ⇒ (4) + 7 - 2 = 9
Scimitar Fire Dmg 2: 1d6 ⇒ 2

Shield Bash Full Attack Sickened: 1d20 + 14 - 2 - 2 ⇒ (4) + 14 - 2 - 2 = 14
Shield Bash Dmg: 1d6 + 6 - 2 ⇒ (6) + 6 - 2 = 10

Only one hit.

END OF ROUND THREE
Red Vexenion: Full attacks, misses.
Blue vexenion: Casts slow, Ayita and Half-Tsuurm fail
Ezranadir: Casts slow, Red fails
Half-Tsuurm: One shot, hits
Nasir: One scimitar hit
Ayita: Attacks Red, hits
Doc Hatfield: Readies liberating command

Ayita hits Red with Social Control, with more than half of her damage getting through its resistance.

Doc isn't sure what to do. He's already cast guidance on Ezranadir and Ayita and no one needs healing. He waits to see if either vexenion is able to grapple a party member. If that happens, he'll cast another liberating command as an immediate action.

ROUND THREE
Red Vexenion: Full attacks, misses.
Blue vexenion: Casts slow, Ayita and Half-Tsuurm fail
Ezranadir: Casts slow, Red fails
Half-Tsuurm:
Nasir:
Ayita: Attacks Red, hits
Doc Hatfield: Readies liberating command
—------------------------------------------------
BOLD may go!

Assimilate this!

Ayita uses haft bash from her polearm, using the feat, since she's adjacent to the creature and slowed.

[dice=haft bash]1d20+10
[dice=damage]1d6+4

Because you had used your Round Two actions to prepare and hand your cold iron coated arrows to Half-Tsuurm, I had to move you back 5' last round to get adjacent to him again after being grappled and pulled in. If you look at the map you're 10' from Red, you should roll normal damage instead of haft bash damage.

Turnabout is fair play! Said no qlippoth ever...

Red will save: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10
Blue will save: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20

Blue resists the spell, but Red fails miserably. It is now just a little easier to hit.

You each receive messages streaming telepathically into your brains. They're in Abyssal but you can still understand them even if you don't know the language. "Why won't you let us merge with you? Come, let us be together. Join with us. Resistance is futile!"

Nonlethal damage will not trigger life link.

Life Link, APG pg 49: Each round at the start of your turn, if the bonded creature is wounded for 5 or more hit points below its maximum hit points, it heals 5 hit points and you take 5 hit points of damage.

Nonlethal Damage, CRB pg 191: When you take nonlethal damage, keep a running total of how much you’ve accumulated. Do not deduct the nonlethal damage number from your current hit points. It is not “real” damage.

ROUND THREE

Red vexenion gives up using some of his tentacles defensively and full attacks Nasir, who dared to push him around with his shield!

Tentacle 1: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (12) + 11 = 23, damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9
Tentacle 2: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (13) + 11 = 24, damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8
Tentacle 3: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (8) + 11 = 19, damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8
Tentacle 4: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (16) + 11 = 27, damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

Red snarls with frustration at being unable to penetrate Nasir's defenses.

In the meantime, Blue vexenion, unable to easily move into a better position, moves his tentacles and casts a spell at the group. Your muscles start to tighten up as your bodies begin to Slow! He excludes Yazhi from the spell, unable to affect so many enemies.

ROUND THREE
Vexenion: Full attack, all misses. Casts Slow.
Ezranadir
Half-Tsuurm
Nasir
Ayita
Doc Hatfield
—------------------------------------------------
BOLD may go!

STATUS
-----------------------
Ayita (67/67hp) |Slow| 4 nonlethal
Doc (73/73hp) ||
Ezranadir (47/47hp) ||
Half-Tsuurm (68/68hp) |sickened 2/7, Slow|
Nasir (68/68hp) |sickened 2/7|
Yazhi (51/51hp) |sickened 2/7|

Thanks for the reminder, I forgot about the Ablative Barrier. I wonder how nonlethal damage works with lifelink? Looks like I need to do some research.

"Magic items produce spells or spell-like effects. For a saving throw against a spell or spell-like effect from a magic item, the DC is 10 + the level of the spell or effect + the ability modifier of the minimum ability score needed to cast that level of spell." For fireball, that's a 3rd level spell and a minimum Int of 13 for a +1, so DC 14. For SR, since 3rd level spells require a minimum of 5th level, the CL check should be 1d20 + 5.

Spell Penetration: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

Reflex save Red: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9 vs DC14
Reflex save Blue: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8 vs DC14

The creatures resist some of the fire damage but the rest burns them!

STATUS
-----------------------
Ayita (67/67hp) || 4 nonlethal
Doc (73/73hp) ||
Ezranadir (47/47hp) ||
Half-Tsuurm (68/68hp) |sickened 1/7|
Nasir (68/68hp) |sickened 1/7|
Yazhi (51/51hp) |sickened 1/7|

END OF ROUND TWO

Ayita would have needed to take a 5' step back to be able to hand the arrows off. I moved you.

Half-Tsuurm's manyshot arrows confuse the creature as they go around the tentacles he has up in an attempt to block attacks. However, your follow-on shots don't hit. The cold iron coating on the arrowheads makes them fully effective!

Nasir's first scimitar swing hits and would have been a confirmed crit, but a tentacle slap deflected it just enough that it doesn't do the extra damage. The fire is unable to get through its resistance.

The shield bash hits as well, but doesn't do any damage thanks to the creature's DR. Because it was half in the opening back to the pillar room and half hanging down, there's a chance the bull rush will make it fall.

Reflex save: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25

It catches hold of a pillar and the force of the shield bash pushes it partially back into the pillar room.

Ezranadir may go!

Doc sees his friend Ayita in danger! He moves forward and gives her guidance as a standard action, then as an immediate action he casts liberating command on her.

Ayita escape artist check: 1d20 + 3 + 16 ⇒ (11) + 3 + 16 = 30

With the massive +16 competence bonus from the spell, she wriggles free of the tentacle as her immediate action for this round!

Her damage isn't enough to trigger life link.

The first vexenion (red) crawls forward and partly down the wall into the pit, hanging there as easily as walking on flat ground. Unable to full attack because it moved, it raises three of its tentacles into a kind of defense position (swift action) and lashes out with its last tentacle.

1 Nasir, 2 Ayita: 1d2 ⇒ 2

It attacks Ayita!
Tentacle: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (13) + 11 = 24 Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4 + grab
free grapple check: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (11) + 16 = 27 Grappled! As part of the successful grapple, the creature pulls Ayita next to it.

At the same time, the second creature (blue) slides into view behind the first, raising all four tentacles defensively. The bloated, pulsating tumors covering its body suddenly bulge out into dozens of eyes, which just as quickly disappear into its wet flesh. It's horrific! Doc and Ter are just far enough away to not be affected by its supernatural ability.

For Half-Tsuurm, Nasir, and Yazhi, Sickened duration: 2d4 ⇒ (3, 4) = 7 rounds.

STATUS
-----------------------
Ayita (63/67hp) ||
Doc (73/73hp) ||
Ezranadir (47/47hp) ||
Half-Tsuurm (68/68hp) |sickened|
Nasir (68/68hp) |sickened|
Yazhi (51/51hp) |sickened|

ROUND TWO
Vexenion: 1: Attack and grapple, 2: Move and make faces
Ezranadir
Half-Tsuurm
Nasir
Ayita
Doc Hatfield
—------------------------------------------------
BOLD may go!

Doc steps forward and casts guidance on Ezranadir.

ROUND ONE
Vexenion: Move, attack Ter, miss x2
Ezranadir: Knowledge check, fireball
Half-Tsuurm: Move, shoot, miss
Nasir: Move, ready
Ayita: Ter retreats, cast spell on Half-Tsuurm
Doc Hatfield: Guidance on Ezranadir

END OF ROUND ONE

Ayita uses her turn to apply cold iron weapon balm to 10 arrows and pass them to Half-Tsuurm.

Friend, these might help against these creatures, cold iron balm.

Your round 1 action was to cast carrying winds on Half-Tsuurm, will this be your round 2 actions?

Reflex save #1, DC19: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25
Reflex save #2, DC19: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25

Ezranadir penetrates their SR but the pillars prove problematic for this fireball, giving the large creatures some protection. They also resist some of the fire but take damage nevertheless.

Nasir may go!

Ezranadir identifies the creature as a vexenion, another type of qlippoth. Qlippoths inhabited the Abyss long before demons arrived and wrested control of most, but not all, of that realm from them. There is no love lost between qlippoths, demons, or daemons.

Vexenion resist a small amount of damage from weapons unless they are cold iron or lawful, they resist electricity, fire, and spells, and they are immune to acid, cold, poison, and mind-affecting effects. Although they don't have a mouth, they use their tentacles to grab and pin prey, allowing them to quickly absorb creatures into their body to kill with their acidic interior.

Half-Tsuurm's arrow deflects off the creature, not quite hitting directly enough to do damage.

Yes and yes. Knowledge planes.

Ter goes invisible and flies over to the edge of the pillar room. It's hard to see through the pillars but he catches sight of a large, blood-red tumorous mass that has a shifting cluster of waving tentacles sprouting from its amorphous form, its body pulsating with a horrid vitality. Despite the pillars forcing all movement through narrow gaps, the creature's blob of a body seems able to easily squeeze between the pillars.

Artwork is available in Roll 20, Player Handouts, Bestiary, Vexenion.

Despite Ter's invisibility, the creature begins to move directly at him, tentacles reaching out to grab him!

CLASH IN THE COLUMNS

The big red tentacled monster squelches its body easily through the pillars and reaches out at Ter.

Tentacle: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (5) + 11 = 16 MISS

Previously hidden further around the corner and behind the pillars, a second creature squeezes forward and lashes one of its own tentacles at Ter!

Tentacle: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (5) + 11 = 16 MISS

—------------------------------------------------
Sorted Initiative ROUND ONE

Vexenion: Move forward, attack, two misses
Ezranadir
Half-Tsuurm
Nasir
Ayita
Doc Hatfield

BOLD may go!

I turned on darkvision temporarily for Ayita. Ezranadir was already set as a light emitter.

I don't see anyone moving on the map so I have nothing new to add.

Ayita looks at the wall, finds no traps, and tests for climbability. It seems pretty easy, like DC10 easy. Nasir hovers above but does not need do any rescuing.

What are your sources of light?

As you look over at the opening to the pillar room, you realize you can only see a small portion of it. It seems to extend to the right but you don't have the angle to see very far into it, not without moving and being in the air.

The green painting on the floor of the pit is lacquered so that it shines in the presence of a light source as if it were carved from actual jade. The once tightly fitted brick that lines the walls of both pits has chipped and worn over the years, providing footholds for climbing.

Ezranadir does not detect any sources of magic in the hallway, the green pit room, or the little bit you can see of the pillar room.

Ayita sees no obvious traps, but then again you are 20' above the pit floor. Since you added in your Alertness bonus, I assume Ter is next to Ayita.

Might our characters be coming up on gaining another level? Or is that still a ways away?

Thanks!

Get past Thybidos first, then you should level up before getting to Riddleport.

Nasir has a +11 to climb so he'll auto-succeed. What next?

Ayita climb: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18

With Doc's lifelink in place, Ayita enters the shaft and slowly climbs it, jamming the various rings in the shaft walls that would turn it into a quisinart. Near the top she finds the magical sensor that triggers the trap and disables it, drawing upon all of her nimbleness and divine guidance (DC30) to finish the task. The way is safe!

To climb the shaft using the handholds is DC10, or DC5 if a rope is anchored at the top and thrown down the shaft.

While everyone climbs up, I'm going to assume Ayita will scout a short distance ahead to make sure there is no immediate danger waiting. After going 30' there is a half left bend, and 20' after that the hall ends abruptly at a precipice, descending 20' into a circular room decorated with a vibrant green fresco. The northeastern side of the pit opens into a second chamber whose floor is at the same level as where she stands, 20' above the green floor. This second room is filled with pillars set five feet apart. One of those pillars straddles the pit’s edge, extending down to the floor below.

I am guessing there was nothing further in the room or anything about the statue worthwhile?

Correct, I meant to overtly state that the room with the statue had nothing of value, and nothing hidden within the statue's remains. No more magic detected beyond what protects the art from aging.

Ezranadir detects an aura of magic in the shaft, and Ayita's amazing roll tells her much. The shaft is most definitely a magical trap: climbing incorrectly to the top will cause the glass cones to extend into the shaft and spin viciously around the circumference, a literal giant blender. However, Ayita notices that only the red cones are placed in sufficient quantities and locations to allow a single-color climb, while the green and yellow cones are placed too far apart to only use those. Climbing with these glass shards as handholds is a pretty low level of difficulty, but someone who is highly skilled might be able to climb without using any of these as handholds, especially if someone flies or teleports to the top and drops a rope. And in the end, it might still set off the trap.

Ayita thinks she can disable the trap, but it's pretty complex.

Does Ayita still want to send Ter up the shaft?

Ezranadir's two scorching rays hit the decapitated statue (yes, an 11 hit her touch AC), penetrate her SR, and put the statue down on the ground for good, covering Nasir with marble dust and fragments.

The secret door is open, with a narrow hallway beyond. Once you eventually travel down it, there are many twists and turns and long stairways that go down, down, down.

Eventually the hallway ends at the bottom of a shaft that rises 30 feet up. This shaft features no traditional method of ascent—no stairs, ropes, or ladders—but the shaft’s walls are studded with rough cones of red, yellow, or green glass, protruding here and there from the walls in shapes that could be used as hand- and foot-holds for a climb.

Despite his roiling stomach, Half-Tsuurm gets solid hits with his multishot and his last shot. The arrows shatter on impact, spraying Nasir with wood splinters but also knocking large chunks of marble off the statue. It continues on but is heavily damaged. However, its programming seems to keep it focused on Nasir and Ayita and the secret door she opened.

Everyone is still stunned or sickened until the end of the statue's turn in Round Three.

—------------------------------------------------
STATUARY DEFENSE, ROUND THREE

Ezranadir:
Nasir:
Xiren Statue:
Ayita:
Doc:
Half-Tsuurm:
—------------------------------------------------
BOLD may go!

Ezranadir's spell has no effect on the statue.

Hearing Ezranadir's plan and the danger to his weapons inherent in attacking the statue in melee, Nasir steps back and assumes full defense, telling Ayita to stay behind him since the statue seems intent on getting to the person who opened the secret door.

Xiren the Statue presents her head and swings it around so that it gazes at all of you! It then takes a 5' step forward.

For one round, Doc and Ayita are

—------------------------------------------------
ROUND TWO

Ezranadir: Casts a spell, no effect
Nasir: Full defense
Xiren Statue: Dazing Gaze
Ayita: Stunned
Doc Hatfield (bot): Stunned
Half-Tsuurm: (has guidance)
—------------------------------------------------
BOLD may go!

STATUS

ROUND TWO

Ezranadir:
Nasir
Xiren Statue:
Ayita
Doc Hatfield (bot)
Half-Tsuurm
—------------------------------------------------
BOLD may go!

Half-Tsuurm's arrows shatter as they hit the statue but only the second shot hits hard enough to do damage. Ayita would have had to swap weapons, I believe, and thus can only take one shot, which misses.

Doc will step closer to Half-Tsuurm and cast guidance on him.

ROUND ONE End

Ezranadir: Knowledge check, Scorching Rays, move away
Nasir: Delay
Xiren Statue: Moves, swings and misses
Ayita: Swap weapons, shoot, miss
Doc Hatfield (bot): Guidance on Half-Tsuurm
Half-Tsuurm: Full attack, one hit

Nasir delays.

The two-ton statue lumbers forward and swings her head at Nasir, who is standing between her and Ayita.

Head slam: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (8) + 18 = 26

Nasir barely ducks under the powerful swing, despite being flat-footed!

ROUND ONE

Ezranadir: Knowledge check, Scorching Rays, move away
Nasir
Xiren Statue: Moves, swings and misses
Ayita
Doc Hatfield (bot)
Half-Tsuurm
—------------------------------------------------
BOLD may go!

Knowledge Arcana tells you that this is a cephalophore, normally a construct guardian appearing to be a looming statue of a decapitated humanoid, severed head held aloft in a gruesome warning or cradled like a precious prize. They are made to stand guard over a single location, typically a tomb or temple. But to have a marble creature hidden as a portrait? Not that you've ever heard of! Apparently a Thassilonian technique lost to the ages.

It has SR, normal construct traits, and a special defense known as shatter weapon. Weapons that strike it take damage (minus hardness) and gain the broken condition when the damage exceeds its hardness. Oddly, it doesn't have hardness or DR.

Ezranadir's fiery rays easily hit the Large statue and penetrate its SR, doing full damage.

She then goes to the secret door (I assume she checks and there's no traps, and that's how we all get to E7.)

The portrait room is E7, I thought you could see the room label like back in E2.

Ayita finds no traps on the door, but as she begins to open it the other party members see the painting of Xiren ripple and then pull itself away from the wall, solidifying into a large marble statue. Xiren's statue is holding its own decapitated head in one hand as it prepares to attack!

STATUARY DEFENSE

Ezranadir
Nasir
Xiren Statue
Ayita
Doc Hatfield (bot)
Half-Tsuurm
—------------------------------------------------
BOLD may go!

Given Ayita's perception check, she also notices that there's something different about the portrait of Xiren. It's not exactly alive or magical, but it does seem to be watching you.