GM FurtiveZoog's page

Thanks very much for playing, all, and I hope you did enjoy the game!

Interestingly, you didn't find the one thing I was most concerned about (for a variety of reasons) which was the suicide haunt in the kitchen. So, worries for nothing. It was the true cause of the halfling father's suicide, or he was especially susceptible to it. In any event, it disappears with the defeat of Sifkesh's influence on the temple.

Hi all,

I've posted everyone's Chronicles in this folder. As always, check them over for errors and let me know!

I'll report the game with the gameday form later tonight. I'm not sure how long it will take to show up on your characters' session pages.

I haven't decided what I am going to run next or when I am going to run it. I think I will take a break for a week or two and then make a decision - perhaps waiting until the July 14th, the day after Wuliem is going to be using his character?

Thanks, Matt

Storn, I don't think I got a Boon roll for you. Would you do a d20?

Di Duang, speaking for everyone, emphasizes, "You are welcome to stay as long as you want, and the Pathfinder Society will always be welcome back here."

I hate to end things, especially on a non-directly linear scenario like this, until the players say so, but I won't keep you hanging. Feel free, as always to roleplay anything more you want.

Epilogue
The body of Wei, the halfling patriarch is soon found, not having been on a walk but having hung himself in the kitchen, where no one normally went and where the party had not visited. Previously, bodies were wrapped in a white sheet and delivered to Dakang, whom they thought performed a private ritual to “celestially transcend” the dead, but now the devotees decide to bury the body in the nearby field.

Good, "Dave Powell". Funny thing, but it also asks for a credit card number. I think they are moving to credit cards as being more secure that PFS numbers.

~~

Yeah, the shadow, on a good crit, can make another shadow out of one of party, too, so that is bad.

We had the small short sword and someone sized to use it, our wizard had disrupt undead prepared, and I had channel energies. I don't remember what else.

Imagine, though, going through with only 4 players in addition, which I remember reading somewhere was the thought for Thornkeep.

Watch out: As it has been said, "Thornkeep is PFS set on 'Hard Mode'." The second part wasn't too bad, really, (although people certainly spent some time in the negatives) but the final monster of the third part was the one that was chewing up and spit out our 3rd level characters like an ogre high on kobolds.

That said, I am trying to advance my 3rd level Thornkeep survivor, currently at 4th level (an aasimar cleric), up to 6th so he'll be able to find a Thornkeep campaign for the 4th and 5th parts, trying to finish out the dang thing.

Hi all, I'm working on get the Chronicle sheets and reporting all together and the reporting for has a space for "Player Name". Now, so far, I've either put the 'player name' on the boards in that spot, or left it blank, but we people prefer me to put their Real Life name in the Player Name space? Or something else? (The reporting form does say it can be entered as "Anonymous", so it is no big deal.)

~~

Another thing that definitely could have made the final encounter much harder would have been if anyone had committed 'heresies', which would have protected Dakang. Each 'heresy point' would have made the player roll twice for a roll in the combat with Dakang and take the worse result one time, or up to four successive rolls for the four possible heresy points. The heresies were participating in the face inking, reciting the mantra in the meditation room, participating in the Kiss of Korada ritual in the garden, and dealing lethal damage to the aasimar bodyguards. Only Turan 'earned' even one heresy point, for reciting the mantra, and that ended up not making a difference. (Wuliem earned something, but it is not covered in game terms. ;-)

(Alternating the last and first syllables of each line produces the true meaning, which is "Bind my soul to Sifkesh"

Light combined,
My peace find;
Calm my soul,
To control;
Woes I sift,
Catching gifts

The aasimar are still cowed, and are now very contrite about, well, everything. More than anything they are mentally stunned, as are all of the devotees as the truths about Dakang and about his worship - something that is all they have know, done, and devoted themselves to their entire lives - has been revealed to not only a lie, but a five-mawed demonic lie.

Di Duang, your guide, says, bowing deeply, that, "We will be forever grateful for leading us to the right path, and will spend our lives from now unraveling Korada’s teachings from Dakang’s perversions."

Does anyone want to do anything else before going back through the tapestry?

Not much loot, but you pretty much get the same gp rewards either way.

Searching the room, you find Dakang’s quarterstaff is crafted of fine metals and exhibits exquisite craftsmanship, especially in its elegant representation of the Spiral of Korada.
It's worth 415 gp.

You also find some of the texts that were missing from the library (themselves of nominal value, around 50 gp), each carefully and extensively marked with notes, you can see from a quick perusal, on how the true faith of Korada can be circumvented to pay homage to the demon lord Sifkesh, demon lord of heresy and suicide.

I hope that wasn't too anti-climactic of a battle. You guys got some good hits in, though, and didn't even accidentally hit the mirror image with any good hits.

Plus, you have the right types of weapons (ranged and cold iron), and the frost bombs, while it has resistance 10 to cold, just overwhelmed it. Bane wasn't the best move, but it was in its tactics. So was Cause Fear against the most dangerous opponent, which was Hagan at that point, having just landed a good smite.

(Some have made the demon accidentally harder and had its Mass Inflict Light Wounds ability hitting everyone, while it is actually limited to 1 per caster level, and that is only level 3, even though the spell is normally a fairly high level one.)

The "juju zombie" in Tier 4-5 are the real killers in the scenario, so that was the biggest danger playing up. Defense on them is pretty good, but their offense is a killer: 1d10+10 with a +10 to hit and an 18-20 crit range can really make for a bad day.

Human juju zombie fighter (two-handed fighter) 3
...
DEFENSE
AC 22, touch 13, flat-footed 19 (+6 armor, +3 Dex, +3 natural) hp 30 each ...
OFFENSE
Melee mwk nodachi +10 (1d10+10/18–20)
...
Feats Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Step Up, Toughness, Weapon Focus (nodachi)

Turan's shot, Image or Real: 1d2 ⇒ 2
Turan hit the demon on the ceiling, piercing the worm and causing great convulsions.
An 18 would have missed, but I think you forgot +1 for Bless, and a 19 hits.

I didn't see a Will save vs. Bane, so I'll do it here. (Dakang cast it after your attack.)
Turan's Will save vs. Bane: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13
So, for Turan, Bane cancels out Storn's Bless.

Fort Save, DC 15: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (14) + 10 = 24
Wuliem then throws his frost bomb and it goes down the creature's gullet, exploding and causing horrendous damage, frozen chunks of worm flying out of the beast's maw. The demon then, though still stuck to the ceiling, falls limp, writhing and dying, 20 feet up, bleeding gore in wide sprays to the ground below.
With Turan's arrow, the slightly recalculated damage from the frost bomb is enough to send it below zero.

Herman's small bolt is now able to shoot and stick in the creature, adding a small insult to injury.

Combat is over (assuming someone just finishes it off).

Well, we will definitely be done with this one by then (who knows about the other one), and I'm thinking of a break after this one, so you could use Wuliem for some games.

Sorry about that Turan! Believe it not, I was 'ninja'ed' and didn't see your post. It takes me a long time to make a post, so I missed yours. I'll sort it out when I get back tonight.

Hi all, We have just one week (until July 5th) to finish this thingy up. (It might be possible for me to report the results ahead of time, going back later to make any necessary corrections, but I am not sure.)

Jani, I still need a boon roll for you. Thanks!

Image or Real: 1d2 ⇒ 2
A cold iron bolt, right?

Storn hits the real demon Dakang, grazing one of the five jaws with his bolt.

Hagan is overcome by the fear spell, if not fear itself, and runs from the room, overcome.
It isn't clear about frightened and panicked how far you must flee. I would say only to where the source can no longer be readily seen or hear, such as just past a few doors. Fleeing for 3 rounds and then having to come back for three rounds seems excessive.

Image or Real: 1d2 ⇒ 1
Wuliem aims at the creature but chooses the wrong target, obliterating merely an image.

Round 3
Storn moves into the room, fires and misses terribly, perhaps because of his great rage at both the demon and the blasted contraption in his hand.
Another tiny thing: you can't move through a corner, so a 5' step wouldn't work, but you can make a regular move into the room.

Jani restores some of the life drained from their body.

Turan fires another cold iron arrow with his strong bow, but misses.
bow: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 101d8 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Dakang moves weirdly and creates another mirror to replace the one destroyed, then casts a spell to undue the blessing of Gorum.
Bane, which 'counters and dispels Bless'. Dispel, in these instances is unclear, IMO, but let's say that you get a save vs. Bane, rather than it being an automatic dispel.
DC 14 Will save or -1 to attacks and -1 to saves vs. fear, essentially reversing the Bless. (Jani and Hagan will be unaffected, since they are out of the LOE.)

Hagan moves through the next door, then stops, panting and shaking.
Herman and Wuliem are up in Round 3 and Storn, Turan, Jani are up as Round 4.

Jani attempts to hex the demon with a glance of an evil eye before retreating.

Storn draws and loads his crossbow.
If it doesn't show well on the map, you are still behind the wall, though. Do you also want to move into the room?

I'll ghost Wuliem as having drank his targeted bomb admixture.

I'll ghost Turan, pretending he took my advice to buy a +4 Str composite bow with cold iron arrows.
Turan, having slung his three-section staff, draws his powerful composite longbow and fires at the demon, hitting the real one in the gut.
CBow: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 191d8 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8
Image or Real: 1d2 ⇒ 2

Dakang gestures and gurgles an intonation, pointing a dead-fleshy finger at Hagan!

Everyone is up! Hagan, Herman, and Wuliem will be in Round 2, and Jani, Storn, and Turan at the start of Round 3.

Hagan hitting (low) an image or (high) the real thing: 1d100 ⇒ 54
Hagan's arrow flies true, propelled by divine might, and hit the real Dakang, piercing the dead flesh of the human disguise and thick hide of the demon.

Round 2: Storn, Turan, Jani! (And we'll get a clarification from Wuliem) Then Dakang will go again.

Wuliem, drinking the extract is still, I believe, a standard action, even though you might have drawn it earlier. Basically, it is like casting a spell. (Drinking a potion, which is similar, is also a standard action.) Should I keep the ghast retch throw as your action?

Storn, no problem at all. I just look a lot of things up since I am never very confident and so I tend to find things and relate what I find.

Hagan, It is standing on the ceiling (which is 20' up), so it is at least 15 above the ground. If you were right near it or under it, you might be able to reach it with a reach weapon. Do you want to draw a bow or throw a spear? You could both do that move and attack, and smite evil works with ranged weapons. Being enlarged also would help.

Herman, It is actually a Fort save, unfortunately.

Quite unexpectedly, the demon seems completely unfazed by Herman's silent scream.
Spell resistance.

Wuliem is up!

I'd GMPC Turan, but his sheet doesn't have any information about weapons other than the sansetsukon (a regular melee weapon), I'll just have him delay for now, ready to attack if it drops.

The vermlek Dakang moves strangely (as you have seen another nightmare creature do) and suddenly there are appear to be two of it! It then pauses for a moment and the room fills with a deadly aura, seeking and draining the life energy from Jani, Turan, and Wuliem! (A Spell-like ability.)
1d8 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9
DC 16 Will save for half damage (4 pts).

Turan's Will save: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16
Turan summons just enough will to resist the worst of it, but is still drained.
Turan is at 10/14 HP.

Hagan, Herman, and Wuliem are up! Remember that you are Blessed (+1 to attack rolls here).

Storn, Two small notes for future reference. :) One, the Pearl of Power takes a SA to recall the spell, and then it would be another SA to cast it. But, no matter since you could have done that first bit in the round(s) before. Second, Bless is a Burst spell, and so as people and walls are laid out you might not get everyone with its Line of Effect (Wuliem and/or Jani would be the most likely problem areas). So, we'll probably just assume it goes off once everyone is in the right place, like a readied action.

Turan moves in with a hostile pose and seeing that his attempt at an audience will not success, a hoarse snarl erupts from the high priest, and he moves his profound bulk towards the northeast corner of the room and, without a pause, he begins to climb the wall like some bloated spider, turning and climbing along the roof, now 20 feet above you!

As he prepares to cast a spell, his head suddenly swells and then explodes, showering the area below with bits of face and flesh, revealing the mouth end of a toothy, five-jawed worm! (The real Dakang.)

Round 1: Storn, Turan, Jani, *Dakang, Hagan, Herman, Wuliem

Storn, Turan, and Jani are up!

Just the climactic battle, that's all! Well, probably. But, have a good, safe trip! :)

Where would you like to be standing, Wuliem?

(In what is likely fortunate for all involved, none of they boys is available to take Wuliem's bottle, as the keep a good distance, sneaking quick peeks around corners now and then.)

Hmm. I was totally hoping for a Diplomacy there, and the rules don't cover Intimidate, and it is odd to be intimidating someone perfectly willing to fight to the death in their position, but, with the statement of evidence, why not? (Although there is also a -4 penalty for being smaller than those you are trying to intimidate. Obviously, a rule written by someone who doesn't have small children.)

Herman's effort at intimidation, while seemingly coming off rather weakly, at least for him (i.e. the poor roll), still, remarkably, seems to have the desired effect, cowing the three bodyguards.
There may also be some Wisdom damage going on with them, you think.

The three look at each other uncertainly and let the group by, waiting in their quarters across the hallway from Dakang's.

Opening the door (none of the doors are locked or lockable in the temple), Hagan spies a spacious chamber contains a simple bed, a writing desk, and an enormous armoire. A Spiral of Korada is drawn along the north wall, but the drawing is made up of several small marks resembling double-headed arrows. A short stairway leads up to an archway blocked with a heavy curtain.

Dakang sits on an chair that seems greatly overmatched by his corpulant person, the desk in front of him piled with books and papers. A staff topped with a spiral of Korada and its spheres is nearby, and he uses this to lift himself up, saying, "Ah, the visitors from beyond! I was not planning a private audience, and am in the middle of planning the next sermon, as you can see. So, please, tell me why you are here in the temple and in my chamber?" He speaks through a white, silk scarf stitched with double-arrow symbols, as he wore during the service.

The Intimidate took about 1 minute, as per the rules, if you are keeping track on any timed items.

I'll assume that you go to confront the aasimar and Dakang now.

As you go, little halfling feet scatter before you (the halfling boys who trail your - or Wuliem's - every move now), and the usually-tranquil temple is alive with concerned whispers and hasty movements, spreading rapidly with news of an actual demon within the Temple of Empyreal Enlightenment, the holy temple of Korada!

Even before you have reached the aasimar guards, word has thus reached them of the more recent happenings, and the confusion of the slow unraveling of lifetimes' of beliefs seems apparent on each of the devotees' and aasimars' countenances.

"Give us your reasons for this intrusion," Devyna asks firmly, spear ready but tipped downwards, despite your earlier conflict.

I positioned everyone semi-randomly near the aasimars' quarters and the approach (or, at least, the main approach) to Dakang's quarters. The spaces are rather tight, so let me know if you would rather be in a different order.

Boon: 1d20 ⇒ 18

Oh well.

Herman's boon: 1d4 ⇒ 1

Herman, your boon is/will be:

Lingering Resonance: A recent encounter with an enemy spellcaster left your body strangely receptive to spell effects. At the beginning of a scenario, you may announce that you are using this boon. The next time that you fail a saving throw against any spell or spell-like ability from an enemy spellcaster, have your GM write the name of the spell below. Choose one of the following benefits, and cross the other off your Chronicle sheet.

• When you cast the listed spell, you may increase the DC of the saving throw by 2.

• When you roll a saving throw against the listed spell, you gain a +4 bonus on the save.

You may use this bonus once for free, after which you should check the box below; each additional use of the selected benefit costs 1 Prestige Point.

Hey, Herman, Thanks for clarifying about rolling for the boon.

Also, I completely understand about your taking a hiatus from playing; as you know, I keep declining various games - including some of yours - myself, trying to keep enough time and energy to contribute a little GMing, too. I'll probably continue with this group and recruit a replacement, then (since I like to have a full table), but you be welcome in my group(s) if you want to play some more again!

Hi all, since we are possibly close to the end, perhaps we should get any Day Job rolls and Boon rolls out of the way.

So, in order, roll for your Day Job (if you have one) and then for the Boon. I am emailing Herman for the details of the boons and rolling for them (I must have deleted the email accidentally), but I know that you aren't supposed to edit the post with the roll once you've made it.

Good luck!

Also, we won't be able to get The Confirmation done before the end of the gameday, I don't think, so what would people like to do next? Any ideas? That one or another one?

It is true that you have done all four things asked of you. Since it would end the scenario (well, unless you reenter the tapestry for some reason), I'll let everyone chime in before moving on.

While the party rushes to the fight, Turan pulps the creature's head with his staff, ending the brief battle. It falls, black gore sizzling on the crushed white granite paving the courtyard, then simply fades and vanishes, sent back to the Abyss.

Almost as suddenly, the stinking cloud also vanishes, leaving everyone to recover their wits (and stomachs).

The Fort save would actually be made each turn until it disappears (only 2 rounds, as it happened), but it wouldn't have mattered. Also, I'm not sure technically when the roll would be made, but I would say any round you finish in the cloud. Maybe someone else has a clearer ruling on that matter.

So, what do you want to do now? We'll say it is about 4:30 pm, and you have an hour and a half before the evening sermon.

I need to get the kid outside and then run errands, but I'll post again later tonight.

Herman, Yes, it is as the Stinking Cloud spell, which can be cast at Medium range and doesn't center around the caster. Where would you like to move to?

GMPCing Turan, just to keep it moving.
Turan's Santsetsukon: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 111d10 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Turan runs out of the cloud and into the courtyard and, spying the dretch, swings his three-section staff at the dretch with as much force as he can muster, but misses.

Wuliem (Nauseated), moves to S20

Herman (Nauseated), moves to V23
Hagan makes his attack and hits
Jani makes their save, moves to W18
Storn casts PfE on Hagan, draws greatsword
*Dretch withdraws to Z18
Turan (delayed), moves to Y19 and attacks, missing

Round 2

Jani runs around the corner and out into the courtyard, finding the dretch.
Jani, that was 30', so you could have a standard or move action as part of round 1. I'd also allow you to stop at Z16 instead, seeing the dretch ahead.

Everyone is up!

Yeah, both of the emails for the local VC and VL were bad, and the Facebook page wasn't being maintained, but there was a link to a site on the Facebook page that worked.

There actually were, I think, four tables, and it probably could have been five with more GMs and/or slightly smaller groups, so it was a pretty big group of people.

~~

I'll GMPC Turan tonight if he hasn't moved. I put up a new pic with what people will see if they run out into they courtyard. You can just pretend you don't know exactly where things are until you do so.

I haven't figured out, however, how to make the picture larger right off, although I did rediscover the Control-+ and Control-- (minus) that will enlarge or shrink everything on the page, respectively. Also, clicking on the picture will make it full size, since it is sometimes shrunk to fit the page a bit.

I went to my first F2F PFS game last night. Only one really odd individual, but he was sitting next to me (to be fair, he might have been thinking the same thing).

It wasn't too challenging since it was an early-season scenario and we had a party of 7 for most of it, but we did 'play up' to tier 4-5 and had a fair number of 1st level pregens. It also was undead heavy and we had two Sun-domain clerics, myself and a Kyra, so that helped. The GM also didn't know that incorporeal undead are "immune to all nonmagical attack forms" in addition to the 50% business, and I didn't want to argue and seem argumentative to the detriment of the party, so that made it easier. (Side note: Since alchemist's are "infusing them with their magical reserves to create powerful bombs that they can hurl at their enemies", do they count as magical weapons for going against incorporeal undead?)

One good point was that, after seeing the level of GM preparation and rules knowledge, I don't feel so daunted about GMing one myself someday. Edit: (<--Boy, that is arrogant! o.O)

Jani moves out of the fog and into the hallway, but does not see the dretch. (It went around the corner and apparently, from the noise of the doors, went out the doors at Z/AA-16/17.)

Turan, is the Current View map too small? It is currently only showing about 12 x 16 squares. I made it cover a somewhat larger area than it was since the battlefield grew with the movement of the dretch. No one currently has a line of sight to the dretch, both because of walls and, more so, the total cover provided by trying to see through more than 5' of the stinking cloud. You could guess it would be somewhere in the "courtyard", centered at Z-19.

Wuliem - Hmm. You are still nauseated for 2 rounds after leaving the cloud, and it says "An alchemist can draw and drink an extract as a standard action.", but nausea only allows a single move action per turn. :-\ (Interestingly, drinking a potion or applying an oil is also a standard action.) So, you wouldn't be able to do it until not nauseated.

Hi all, Sorry about all of the delays, and thank you for your patience! (I am reminded of Jake Blues' 'apology' in "The Blues Brothers" (video): "I ran outta gas. I had a flat tire. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from outta town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake, a terrible flood, locusts. It wasn't my fault!! I swear to God!!")

Also, I now see that I messed up the spoilers (in several ways) for the ‘Obscurred sight effect’ and ‘Fort Save’. Below is how it was supposed to have looked.

Obscured sight effect:

The fog obscures all sight, including darkvision, beyond 5 feet. A creature within 5 feet has concealment (attacks have a 20% miss chance). Creatures farther away have total concealment (50% miss chance, and the attacker can't use sight to locate the target).

If you fail a DC 13 Fort save
You are nauseated for as long as you are in the cloud and for 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2 rounds.
(The cloud doesn't actually extend outside, at least until a door is opened.)

Back to the game!

R 1:

Wuliem (Nauseated), moves to S20
Herman (Nauseated), moves to V23
Hagan makes his attack and hits
Jani makes their save, have actions
Storn casts PfE on Hagan, draws greatsword

Delayed, since you can't occupy an already-occupied square: :-\
Turan makes his save, wants to move to W20 and attack

Turan attempts to move towards the dretch, but his way is blocked momentarily by the slow, fleeing and retching devotees.

In the time it takes them to stagger out the the other door to the mediation room (the door between X-20 & 21), the dretch - now unable to approach Hagan - withdraws around the corner and to the south, as seen by Hagan (and maybe Storn). Another door is heard to burst open (likely, the main entrance doors) and there is a fresh round of sickened, hoarse screaming from the worshipers who are now in the courtyard.
You can hear the devotees as being near and beyond that door, but the sickening fog obscures everyone's sight.

Jani and Turan have their actions (Turan can change since the situation changed), and then Round 2 is up with everyone.

Sure, sign me up! You'll probably have to 'bot me' for, well, probably forever, unless we take a vacation that way someday... Hmm. Better just make an NPC or henchman/hireling/cohort with some variation of the name Norine/Norna/Naurin/Knorrin.

I think I might, in a few months, see about doing a live PFS game as a GM, although I have my first face-to-face PFS game scheduled for this Friday. I only have one character free (a 4th level cleric) but I thought I might also play a pregen - Kyra is always needed, although I'd have to get used to not having a good range of equipment.

Hi All, Thanks for the thoughts! I got myself a little out of my rhythm for a few days as Mrs. Zoog is on break from nursing school, but hopefully will get things going again tonight.

Herman, that sounds like an amazing day. :) Sadly, I am (so far) the only dork in the family, although my wife has expressed some interest in gaming and PbP - probably just to humor me.

Hagan, Sadly, I was a teenager when Fraggle Rock debuted, so, I missed out on that, but I might get a second chance as Little Zoog grows up.

Hey, Hoping that everyone is having a nice Fathers' Day.

I'm terribly proud of a personalized mug I got for Father's Day. Seeing the (in my opinion) all-too-frequent mugs with "World's Greatest/Best/#1 Dad" on them, I always thought, "What would be the odds? C'mon, let's be practical." So, I thought of and dropped a hint for a mug with "Not the World's Worst Dad" on it, and my wife kindly obliged. :D

Remember to do the Fort save. If it isn't clear from the picture, the entire party and most of the devotees are in the cloud.

Hagan, so backtracking a bit, I'll postpone Hagan's damage to the next round, with you drawing your spear during the surprise round.

Storn, I'll have you just drawing the wand for your move action.

Hagan looks to move back, but runs into Herman.

Herman tries to alert the devotees, but, sitting and meditating, they are slow to react.

The dretch now acts, summoning up a thick, most-foully stinking cloud, obscuring all sight!

(The cloud doesn't actually extend outside, at least until a door is opened.)

Round 1: The Party is Up! Then the *Dretch and then the *Devotees. (They all failed the surprise round.)

I should probably have had you draw your weapon first, though, since you were in a meditation room and in the temple, more generally, and so wouldn't likely have your weapons drawn regularly.

Hagan pierces the bloated thing with his spear like it was a rotten melon, dealing it a heavy blow.

Oops. I thought I put the knowledge check in there, but I forgot it in the end.

Discussing (well, ... so to speak) the matter with Zhuang, it becomes obvious that despite his skill in balancing the spheres, he does not, it seems, receive the blessing of the type that Herman describes. Zhuang remains calm, but does appear troubled by the discrepancy.

As the party gets ready to leave, Hagan about ready to open the door, Herman, Hagan, and Storn hear something outside, an ungainly fleshy and clawed footfall against the temple floor!

Moments later, the door is suddenly flung inward! Before Hagan stands slouching a smelling, festering, bloated abomination, barely four-foot tall but likely as heavy as he is. The evil intent is clear in its ready eyes, and it lunges at Hagan with claws and maw, screeching and gurgling!

SR: Hagan, Herman, and Storn go first, then the monster.

Zhuang seems very encouraged by Herman's success, although he is disappointed the bard did not also speak the mantra as he did so. "But," he says, smiling congenially, "Baby steps on the road to enlightenment!"

Herman, do you tell Zhuang or the others about your blessing?

I just realized something, so a bit a of backtrack: The font or fountain in the southwest corner of the room should have detected as a moderate transmutation effect. I don't know if anyone did Detect Magic in the chapel, but we'll just pretend so because do so makes GM FurtiveZoog happy.

Hi All, I'll be on a short vacation to the coast this Wednesday through Friday and will have less computer access, so I will likely be less responsive.