Valda, clearly done with this particular battle, perforates the doll with four perfectly placed arrows. With more pointy things in it than a pincushion the doll collapses with a final exhausted sigh.
Combat over.
The two bodies prove to be boggarts, clad in odd skins. Clearly they were not ready for their tiny, but powerful foe.
DC18 Society:
The clothes these creatures are wearing aren't from around here - more like... the Mwangi Expanse!
There is nothing of value here apart from numerous doors and a number of small obsidian figurines. They'd likely be worth a decent collection of coins. 20gp.
Larachelle conjures a ball of flame and hurls it towards the doll. Both her spell and Orchid's strike the construct cleanly. Valda also hits with an arrow, although Arabella's flickmace is dodged by the small construct.
The doll looks much the worse for wear and jumps towards Arabella, swinging its tiny fists and still screaming. It lands a nasty blow on the thaumaturge's knee, which bends unnaturally and causes a lot of pain.
"I cannot say that the idea of goblins living in the citadel fills me with joy..." Alak murmurs, "But they will be better neighbours than some." He pauses for a minute, considering, and then nods. "Very well, I will help you. Now I'd suggest heading to the armories. There may still be weapons there we can use."
He leads the way down the main corridor and into a large room with several doors in different directions. A splintered table stretches across the center of the room, while broken chairs, moldy books, and general detritus
litter the floor. Two bodies that appear to be frog-like humanoids lie sprawled on the floor near the center of the room. Of the several doors that provide exits from this room, the ones to the west and southeast hang wide open. As the group enters a doll, sitting slumped against one of the corpses, picks itself up with jerky movements before fixating on Alak and screaming in Infernal.
Alak steps over to Orchid and reaches into the drawer she indicated, casting a curious glance at the tiny tony as he does so. The drawer has a false bottom and he pulls a key from his belt, unlocks the box, and finds his family’s signet ring placed carefully there on a bed of crushed velvet. The armiger slips the ring on a finger and is quiet for several moments, before smiling with wistful charm.
“I remember sitting on my father’s lap and turning this ring on his finger when I was but a boy,” The maralictor says, his voice solemn, rich, and deep. “Thank you for reuniting me with those memories, my
friends. You have the Order of the Nail’s gratitude - and mine. I found this earlier. The order kept it to use in the chambers below - some sort of old defenses which can be bypassed with it.”
He leans down and hands Orchid a silver holy symbol.
Religion DC12:
It's a holy symbol of Alseta, the elven goddess of gateways.
The room beyond is narrow and filled with various storage racks. Some are empty, though others still contain dusty banners with the Order of the Nail’s sunburst insignia, stylized Asmodean paraphernalia, and other trappings clearly designed for formal funerals. Curiously, in the back of the room, a dirt-walled tunnel opens in the wall and stretches into the gloom; and a set of tracks leads from this tunnel to the door leading back into the vaults.
Survival DC17:
It seems, from the direction of the tunnel, that it must head back towards Breachill.
"Whoever came in must have fled once the defenses were activated." Alak says musingly. "Why were you down here anyway? There's a lot of creatures in the other wings - are you trying to clear the whole fortress for some reason?"
Ilyria lands two powerful blows, although the ooze's blood clots in the wounds with surprising rapidity. It lashes out violently at her and then does something which causes Nutmeg, Rashk and Illyria to bleed violently from... well, everywhere.
“Armiger Alak Stagram of the Order of the Nail. Formerly of Citadel Altaerein, currently of Citadel Vraid in Varisia.” He gives a formal bow and offers a rather wry smile. “How nice to meet you in this beautiful and well-kept estate."[/b]
Sarcasm appears to sit easily on his tongue.
"Before you continue your interrogation," He continues. "I will admit that I am here on a leave of absence. Family business. I had hoped to find an heirloom of my family here but as you can see..." He waves his hand around the ruined room. "The staff have been very lax in their duties recently."
PC's who wish to get on Alak's good side can assist him in his search of the room. A DC 15 perception check is enough to locate a storage box with a false bottom which seems promising.
The ooze is thoroughly battered but it still seems to have enough fight in it to keep going. It swarms over Rashk, preventing him doing more than glancing at the wall where the orc disappeared. The distraction is nearly lethal though as the ooze smashes him brutally into the floor before it glides on, a second pseudopod reaching out to swing at Illyria, who is just able to parry.
Amidst a flurry of blows Arabella finally lands a final blow, smashing the skeleton's skull and sending the rest of its bones clattering to the floor, finally at rest.
Everyone can level up to 2. New spell slots come in filled but old spell slots don't refill.
Investigating the open chamber off the main room reveals an ossuary. Narrow stone walls filled with coffin-sized compartments stretch from the floor to the ceiling in the dark, claustrophobic chamber. Most of the compartments are occupied with shroud-covered bodies, though some of them are conspicuously empty.
Perception DC20 and 10 minutes searching:
You find a wand of heal and 12gp in mundane rings, bracelets and amulets among the corpses.
After that there is only one more door to explore, at the far end of the crypt. Rows of large, metal-and-stone lockboxes line the winding walls of this storeroom, as do occasional shelves and what look like filing cabinets intended for the storage of documents. The lockboxes hang ajar, having been opened and emptied long ago. A pile of ashes and a few melted candle stubs lie atop a low table in the center of the room where a tall man with short-cropped hair and dark skin, clad in hellknight armour is searching under the table and cursing softly.
As the door opens he stands and frowns. "Impressive, you fought your way through the guards. What is your purpose? More thieves to ransack my order's remains?"
Illyria lands a powerful blow on the orc and he swears harshly, especially as Illyria's wounds close up before his eyes and a tree sprouts to protect them both.
"That'll do then." The orc sneers. "Enjoy my work!"
He ducks away and sprints for the back of the room, before disappearing from sight somehow. Unfortunately the ooze does no such thing and continues to flail with mindless aggression. The tree interposes itself and is reduced to kindling for its trouble.
Arabella lands a strong blow and Bunnit another, although the skeleton's nature resistance proves yet again that piercing weapons are little and less use against it.
Still the creature looks much more battered than it has been until now and, without allies (as Arabella so kindly points out), begins to act a little more... cautiously. Unable to strike Bunnit at such close quarters it strikes at Arabella with the halberd and then claws at the dashing bunny-swordsman.
Halberd, Claws:1d20 + 11 ⇒ (10) + 11 = 211d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 171d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20 Damage:1d10 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 141d6 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5 14 damage to Arabella, 5 to Bunit. Bunnit needs to make a DC17 will save or be stunned 1. 2d6 damage on a critical fail.
Illyria's blow is telegraphed and the orc easily ducks away from it.
"Naughty naughty." He grins. "Guess I'll need a new friend too."
He splashes a liquid all over the writhing man and there is a brief scream before the man begins to bleed from every pore. In seconds he is clearly dead but the bloody mass that poured out of him maintains a shape of sorts, much bigger than the man himself was, and lashes out at Illyria! Not one to miss an opportunity the orc stabs at her with a concealed blade too! Stopping the orc leaves her terribly open and the ooze smashes the fighter into the ground.
Valda's arrows continue to be ineffective, simply lacking the stopping power required to halt creatures of metal and bone. Bunnit on the other hand has much more success, leaping into battle and severing the skeleton's spine with a precise thrust that collapses the undead creature into inert fragments once more.
Orchid sensibly falls back from danger, but with Arabella taking a nasty battering the poppet's skills seem likely to be called upon once more. The thaumaturge keeps her shield high at the cost of damage but the skeletal champion is assailed by Larachelle the Dazzling who, if nothing else, is always good as a distraction!
Will:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
Completely unprepared for the magical attack the skeleton reels as it is assailed by bright lights!
The starlight wave crumbles one skeleton into dust and a second resists it just long enough for Bunnit to sever its spine for good. The third resists the effects entirely and neither Larachelle's flames nor Valda's arrow achieves anything of note.
Arabella meanwhile recognises her foe as a skeletal champion, probably deliberately interred here to watch over the worthy dead whose bodies rested here. Sadly he was buried in his half-plate which turns her flail without difficulty.
The champion strikes twice at Arabella before stepping back warily, while the one remaining skeleton turns on the most dangerous target - the tiny form of Orchid and does its best to bisect her. The poppet is struck hard but manages to duck under the skeleton's follow-up blows.
Halberd vs. A:1d20 + 11 ⇒ (6) + 11 = 171d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 231d10 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12 Arabella takes 12 piercing damage and must make a DC17 will save. She's stunned 1 on a failure and also takes 2d6 damage on a crit fail.
Frozen, stabbed, slashed and stabbed again the alchemist falls under the not-so-tender ministrations of the adventurers and silence falls over the small room. Despite the damage done there would likely be plenty for an alchemist to salvage from this room - but unfortunately you don't have one to do it.
You can retrieve 3 minor elixirs of life, two lesser bottled lightnings and a lesser alchemist's fire from the bodies.
A narrow and winding passageway leads to a refuse pit, where a careful search turns up a low-grade cold iron dagger, a wolf fang talisman, and 8 gp in miscellaneous coins among the bones, but nothing else useful. Returning to the alchemy lab and using the stairs this time leads to a large storage room with a single closed door leading onwards. The tactically astute make use of this time and the opportunity of the closed door to prepare and then Rashk leads the way into whatever awaits beyond.
The door itself is lovingly, if crudely, painted with images of a town in flames and it is clear that said town is meant to be Etran's Folly. The room beyond however is a large and sterile laboratory. The opening door releases a chorus of moans which originate from the center of the chamber, where a human man is strapped to a large rack. His flesh is missing in places, replaced with large glass and metal cauldrons that seem to be extracting blood from him, mixing that blood with reagents to transform it, then pumping the blood back into the poor man. Around the room, it is easy to see the shackles mounted to the wall where previous prisoners must have spent their final moments.
A tall orc, dressed in an apron and goggles, seems to be waiting for you.
"So you're the vandals ruining all my hard work?" He asks with a sigh. "A shame. Now I'll need new assistants. At least you'll provide me with new materials to work on."
The man moans in obvious agony and something ripples unnaturally in his emaciated chest.
Between Rashk, Illyria and Baldur one of the alchemists is felled and the other lets out a mixture of a roar and a scream before pelting the melee characters with explosives. One vial strikes Rashk in the chest, dousing him in flames and scorching Illyria too!
Alchemy:2d20 ⇒ (2, 5) = 7 Alchemists Fire:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 241d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9 Damage:1d8 ⇒ 7 Rashk takes 7 fire damage and one persistent fire damage. Illyria takes 1 fire damage from the splash.
I'm going to fudge the initiative order slightly for the sake of speed. So the normal skeletons are acting now but if Bunnit does something particularly heroic I'll try to account for it.
Valda Damage:1d6 ⇒ 3
Valda hits with two arrows, although the skeleton seems largely impervious to such pointed weapons. Orchid however has no such issues and her bolt shatters the skeleton's skull, dropping the undead creature.
Arabella meanwhile moves up and, remembering how skeletons are best dealt with by main force, smashes a second one into tiny, irrecoverable pieces.
The armoured skeleton strides forwards and retaliates against the thaumaturge with its halberd before directing its skeletal minions into the attack. The skeletons hurry forwards, one circling around behind her in a surprising display of tactical capability. It doesn't help their accuracy though.
Halberd:1d20 + 11 ⇒ (16) + 11 = 271d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8 Damage:1d10 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6 Skeletons:1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 141d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 71d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14 Arabella takes 6 piercing damage and must make a DC17 will save. She's stunned 1 on a failure and also takes 2d6 damage on a crit fail.
Following the first passage to the roof the heroes proceed through the darkness and find four monuments looming in a dark and somber room, each with prominent carvings of black-winged angels and various stylized pentagrams. Burnished plaques along the floor next to each sepulcher bear the names of those interred within, while atop the northern wall near the ceiling the words “Sepulcher of the Nail” are carved in prominent relief.
Each sarcophagus is carved with details of the residents deeds and actions, telling of their heroism and service to the order which earned their honoured burial. One sarcophagus, that of Master of Blades Renten Viselli, is partially open and a feather step stone can be found inside. This prompts an investigation of the other tombs which contain bracers of missile deflection, a pair of doubling rings and a monkey pin.
The room beyond is equally gloomy but even then along the southern wall a large relief carving of a sunburst made of nails is visible. Instead of typical flagstones, the floor is made up of headstones with names and dates.
Curiously, six of the headstones seem to be pried open to reveal empty graves within. Unfortunately their occupants are still present in the rooms - six skeletons, one of whom is dressed in a partial suit of armor.
The ray strikes one alchemist in the arm and he howls as his entire arm is covered in ice. He scans the table in front of him for a moment and then hurls something at the druid.
The vial smashes just in front of Nutmeg and douses her in something foul smelling but apparently harmless. The other alchemist however launches a bottle of crackling blue energy.
Bomb:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (2) + 9 = 111d6 ⇒ 5
Fortunately the druid dances away once more, taking no damage.
Helba is as good as her word and leads the small group to a partially concealed door in the hill behind the citadel.
"When inside be careful." She says, sketching roughly in the dirt. "Monsters here, and dead people there. Also be careful, Big Bumble will be hungry." Further questioning reveals that Big Bumble is in fact a grizzly bear that the goblins lured underground and attempted to tame. "Now we feed it from far away." Helba concludes, which says rather clearly how well the taming attempts went. "If you let him out he'll fight really well! Just... don't stand in front?"
With that cheerful advice she hurries away, followed by the rest of the Bumblebrashers in a rag-tag mob. Through the doors is a wide, empty stone hallway that is oppressive and dark after the bright light outside. To the east, the hall ends at three separate open doorways, while six additional corridors branch off to the north and south. A mass of rubble spills out of a clogged archway in the northeastern portion of the room.
After a few nervous minutes as Rashk patches everyone up the party proceeds, following the footsteps in the mud which mark the most used entrance. Inside the bright light from outside is replaced by flickering torchlight in a narrow passageway cut deeply into the hillside. Suddenly, the passage opens into a broad natural cavern containing a series of large tables on the far side of the room. A series of alchemical experiments, most bubbling and frothing as they cook, are arranged atop the work spaces and two burly orcs look up as Rashk leads the way in.
"Intruders!" One grunts, reaching for a bubbling vial as the other pulls a mask over his face.
Its ferocity is considerable, but even with the obvious enhancements it has received it can't achieve much and is squashed flat moments later.
Calling this combat. The one rat won't pose much threat.
Two caves offer further options - one is narrow and opens to the south, even a cursory examination shows that it's not much travelled. The other larger one, to the north, shows signs of regular travel in and out.
As the dust from the drama on the battlements settles and your discussion reaches an impasse, you hear a distinctive, garbled throat-clearing coming from nearby. Soon, the short, slight goblin woman who’d been held hostage by Calmont approaches, although she's careful to stay well away from the halfling. “Excuse me,” she says, in a voice like that of a hoarse bird. “Excuse me, and thank you, friends. You are friends? You must be friends, because you’ve just saved the Bumblebrashers from that man. So much flailing! And shrieking! Ack!
“I am Helba, and I am the Bumblebrashers’ chieftain. We have been stuck up here for so long—days it feels like! Maybe even weeks? Hard to keep track. First those awful monsters chased us from our comfy basement, then that dragon-dog came, and then that awful halfling man showed up talking about elves and other nonsense! No elves live here! Just us Bumblebrashers!”
Helba looks back at her people, and a deeply morose look settles upon her face. “I just want to protect my people. But everything—everyone—wants us dead. Angry people - Cinderclaws! Drove us from home! They said our home was their home now. They threatened to roast us! To peel us and eat us! Ack! And they had dragon monsters with them! So we ran from the vaults. Then so many monsters on the ground floor, so we ran up here, to the battlements. That dragon thing down in the courtyard kept us from getting away! It wanted to eat us! But you brave! You killed it! Go to vaults? Make home safe again? We show you how! Is secret door down the hill, to the west. It’s not hard to find when you look, but I can show it to you! It goes right to the vaults, where we used to live; we used the door all the time to go out and hunt for food.”
She looks pleadingly at you all and the other goblins behind her adopt similar postures with varying degrees of success.
"Deal." Calmont says sullenly. Once the money is handed over he counts it slowly and then scowls. "We need to get down below the keep. That's where the Ring is. They were going to tell me how." He adds, scowling at the goblins.
shouldn't I have gotten to the orc? Ido have 25 ft move and if I didn't need to attack, I should have gotten there.
My bad, I saw the -5ft on your breastplate and missed the rule about strength reducing the penalty by 5 ft. If you'd moved up that far then the rats would have attacked you so I'll leave it as it is and you can get the drop on them this round!
Illyria's magically enhanced weapon continues to be brutally effective, cleaving through one rat and into the ground below as Nutmeg sends lightning dancing between the remaining enemies.
While Baldur proves that he is not even close to a champion shot, Illyria demonstrates her weapon skill quite masterfully. Although the horse is clearly physically tough Illyria's first blow sends cracks running throughout its body and the second shatters it entirely.
Nutmeg pulls back the magic of her spell at the last second and Rashk hurries as fast as he can towards the remaining orc, since there is no need to fight a shattered horse.
The orc gapes for a moment before frantically fumbling with the next cage and dragging the door open. From inside the mesh cage burst a pair of unpleasantly large rats!
Calmont’s slight amusement shifts to a rant as Bunnit asks about Voz he
begins to rant. “Voz is my employer, but she thinks she’s my god. Always bossin’ me around! ‘Calmont do this, Calmont read that, Calmont that’s not how you pronounce Norgorber!’ She’s a jerk! I hate her! I’ve been digging around her stuff for weeks, trying to find something I could sell to buy my way out of this stupid job. Didn’t find any goodies. But I did find her notes about Alseta’s Ring. What’s she planning to do with that information? Don’t care! I just want to get paid!”
As Arabella interferes further, he slackens his grip on the goblin, who squeals and takes the opportunity to run behind you for safety, rubbing her throat as she does so.
Calmont sighs and throws up his hands in frustration. "Look what you did!" He says, pointing his knife at Arabella. "You went and distracted me! You don't know if people haven't already come through the gates but haven't said - I want my payday and this was going to be IT!"
He drops his hand to his side, his face full of fury.
The closest Orc os covered in a thick layer of frost and he struggles against it, letting out a ferocious roar but before he can even act, he is eviscerated by Rashk.
Rashk will need to double move for 20ft movement so only taking the first strike.
The other orc quickly fumbles with the gate lock on the cage, letting the very bad-tempered horse free before rushing to another cage on the far side of the enclosure.
Despite seemingly being taunted by the orc previously, the stony horse still leaps towards Rashk all in defense of its masters rearing up and bringing its metallic hooves down on the Paladin.
Noala nods, concerned about your findings. "It does indeed sound that way. I don't know any caves nearby that contain any access to signficant sources of water though. Rashk is right that we need to look wider but my only lead is to travel to the largest blight in these woods. I've never really explored it myself as its full of the nastiest predators. Its pretty unforgiving wilderness to get there and I will wait until morning to set off - its not safe at night with this threat. I will camp here but understand if you want to head back into the town to rest tonight."
Feel free to do any shopping etc you need before the next part - just back post here. But Im moving you onto the blight for now.
The journey to the Pen is long and challenging and it takes all your energy just to put one foot in front of the other after a full day of hacking away at the tangled thick woodland withuneven footing.
Upon arrival, it is obvious that this resembles the blight surrounding the wolves' den. The plants on the perimeter are sickly and dying.
"I am going to patrol the perimeter to check for any other signs, but you should take these before I do - you may need them."
She hands you 2 lesser healing potions and 2 barkskin potions.
It is even slower movement as you begin to head further into the blight. At first, it is just rotting trees and dying plants, but after 20 minutes or so all of the plants have died, lying limp and rotten; the air thick with the scent of sweet decay. There is no sound of chirping birds or insects and there are only remains of some critters who have succumbed to the blight.
Passing through this section takes another 15-20 minutes but it clears up into an area where smaller trees and plants seem to have returned to twisted life. Their leaves drip with an oily sap, their branches are gnarled yet strangely pliable, and their bark looks like scales. Many of these plants are covered in odd pustules that emit a faintly glowing light, and biting gnats swarm around you. Swatting these gnats causes them to burst into tiny flames that does not hurt but emits a terrible smell.
1d20 ⇒ 12
Nutmeg manages to uncover a set of faint bootprints and following them leads you to a pen built into the side of a hill in the middle of a field of twisted poisonous-looking brambles.
Deeper into this massive blight, the plants take on unnatural shades, and their branches seem to shudder and quake at the sensation of something passing. Up ahead is a wall of thick brambles with some sort of thorny iris in the center.
Clustered near to this probable gateway are four more of those shrubs that you had a tough time with yesterday. Today you are much more prepared and manage to burn them to a crisp and hack them into splinter wood before they cause too much harm.
Skipping through this filler combat to continue....
H2
On the other side of the wall of brambles is a yard dominated by three large, wooden cages and a pool of bubbling sludge. A wretched-looking horse stands in one of the cages, while another cage is filled with a swarm of gigantic rats covered in white blisters. The third pen looks empty, but it appears to be built around a small cave located in the hillside. There is another cave entrance on the north side, near one of the pens.
As you carefully enter through the thorn iris, you see two orcs; one dumping a bucket of something into the pool and the other in front of the horse's cage, prodding it with a javelin for amusement.
Calmont sneers and waves his knife then cries out, “I will not just let her go as no one will listen to me! Not until these little pests tell me how to find Alseta’s Ring!”
Calmont snorts. “How do you not even know what an elf gate is? You and Larachelle say you are all clever and well-read but can't even know that?" Alseta’s Ring is a ring of elf gates. Connected to places all over the world. Elf. Gates.” Calmont emphasizes those last two words slowly. “You know those? Boy, are you daft! Don’t you realize how valuable that information is to richies who want to travel fast? Selling that information would get me out from under Voz’s thumb!”
Voz, as everybody here knows, is the owner of the bookshop but is often very busy which is why she has recently hired some part time help!
Perception DC 15:
Even with all his bravado, there is doubt in his eyes and you can tell he is starting to be more and more unsure of himself as you continue to talk.
The most likely solution to such a pollutant would be to destroy the source of the pollutant itself, but that source is not immediately obvious.
After searching for a little while, its clear that there is nothing else here apart from the sign of the blight and you return back to find Noala. You find Noala burning a pair of mangy wolf bodies at your meeting point. "Stragglers I caught trying to sneak out of the den after you went in, crazed by this blight."
"Tell me, did you discover anything of use to either of us?"
Calmont looks between Larachelle, Bunnit and Arabella, the whites of his eyes clear. His dagger remains at the goblin's throat, but the other goblins go quiet, when they see that you are trying to talk to the man, making the conversation just a little calmer.
“No one cares about me there. Stupid question! You're only customers, no more. ” Calmont chides Arabella. “Of course I wanted to set that little spark. Whoosh! Aha! You should’ve seen everyone’s faces. How else was I supposed to stop that stupid council from sending heroes”—Calmont sneers at the word— “to Hellknight Hill? That would have interrupted my plan to find the elf gates! But now you’re here anyway. Bah!” Calmont slaps his own forehead in frustration. “Should have set an even bigger fire!”
Citadel Altaerein’s battlements provide a breathtaking view. To the east rise the majestic Five Kings Mountains, looming as ageless rocky monoliths in the hazy fog. To the south, rolling foothills unfurl, nestled around Breachill’s rooftops. Along the battlements, six bonfires have been heaped, although currently only the southwestern three are burning fitfully, sending plumes of reddish smoke into the air.
As soon as you are up on the battlements, you find yourself amongst a rather chaotic standoff. A hunched halfling man, you recognise as Calmot with his hair wild and gestures manic, has a terrified goblin in a headlock as he waves a knife about menacingly, standing in the only surviving doorway in the northeast tower.
"Don't you come any closer! You'll make me slit her throat you will!" he screeches.
The remaining goblins stand back, gabbling in goblin, all talking over one another in a panic.
"You do-gooders were all supposed to burn in the fire! No...wait! No closer! I'll cut the goblins ears off if you don't turn around and leave at once!"
Rashk's powerful blow, combined with Baldur's telekinetic attack is enough to slay the last wolf! Everyone breathes a sigh of relief which is only heightened by Illyria's near miraculous state of not dying.
With more time to examine the den you can see that it is lit by a shimmering pool of oily water. The chamber stinks of wet fur and sickness. Next to the pool, between the gnarled and dying tree roots, is the rotting carcass of what must have once been a truly gigantic wolf.
The water gives off an acrid smell, and anyone who touches it notices it has an odd, oily texture.
Crafting DC 15 or Nature/Occultism DC20:
It is clearly polluted by something.
Critical Success
Spoiler:
You suspect the pollutant is mutagenic in some way and must be the source of what has happened to all the wolves.
Aside from the strange pool there is nothing else of interest or value in the den.
Bunnit and Arabella deal with the grauladon with a couple of precise blows as Orchid closes Bunnit's wounds and Valda and Larachelle ensure that the creature is quite dead.
The goblins above call out loudly although they're all speaking in goblin until another voice cries out in accented common. "Help!" Another voice swears (In halfling if anyone speaks it) loudly.
A grappling hook is lodged into the broken staircase and a hefty rope offers a way up to the battlements, where the goblins are now making frantic beckoning gestures, clearly entreating you all to come up.
The grauladon is shot, shot again and stabbed all in quick succession. It's almost hard not to feel sorry for the creature, until it opens its mouth wide and attempts to engulf Bunnit in teeth and horrific breath.
Its bite lands hard, punching deep into Bunnit's flesh, but its lashing tail can't strike the agile swashbuckler. 9 damage to Bunnit.
The shouting from above has tailed off and then redoubles, seemingly directed down towards Bunnit. Those not currently being bitten by an angry graulodon sees two or three large goblin heads poking over the edge of the battlements.
The wolf, now wise to Nutmeg's tricks, manages to dodge the lightning entirely, although Illyria drives her blade deep into its side. The wolf spins on her, biting and snapping like a mad thing.
The smell of burnt acrid hair fills the air as the wolves are zapped, just as Illyria manages to make deep wounds in the most threatening wolf, a think very dark blood, oozing from its wounds.
Larachelle recalls that Grauladons are vicious predators that appear crocodilian in form, but are in fact distant offshoots of dragonkind. Possessed of a greed befitting their more majestic dragon cousins, grauladons often take down prey larger than they need, jealously guarding the corpses to keep scavengers away even as the meat rots. Grauladons are highly territorial and won’t tolerate other predators living or hunting near their homes.
A Grauladon cannot be put to sleep or paralyzed and its breath can be seriously nauseating if you stand nearby.
Valda,. peering forwards quietly through the iron gate standing ajar, can make out a short flight of stairs directly in front of her that leads down to an open-air courtyard surrounded by imposing octagonal walls. A few errant milkweeds and tufts of crabgrass protrude from the cracked cobblestone flooring. The ground to the west is sunken in, creating a natural pool of rainwater. To the north, the battlements above have partially collapsed into a huge mound of stone and wooden rubble, under which some sort of reptilian creature seems to have been crushed. The top half of a flight of wooden stairs rises up to the battlements above the collapsed section of the walls; broken plants from the bottom half lie amid the rubble below. A thick rope has been affixed via a grappling hook to the lower portion of the stairs, dangling down to within a few feet of
the top of the rubble pile.
She can hear the shouts but its hard to see their source, as they seem to be coming from higher up in the courtyard and would need to get a better vantage point within the courtyard to make out the situation.
The source of the growling seems quite obvious, however, a crocodilian-looking creature, distracted and looking up towards the sound of the commotion itself.
Recall Knowledge -Arcana: DC 18
Unspecific Lore: DC 16
Specific Lore: DC 13
Reflex, yellow:1d20 + 11 ⇒ (16) + 11 = 27
Nutmeg's sends a jolt of electricity jumping toward the closest wolf, but unfortunately, the little Leshy cannot quite see the second wolf that Loki had warned them about from her position in the passageway.
The wolves close in on Rashk at the passageway exit with bared teeth, snarling viciously.
Red step ◆
The closest wolf launches at Rashk, ferociously tearing into his throat, and Rashk drops to the floor, a pool of blood growing around him.
Red Jaws 1, Rashk ◆:1d20 + 11 ⇒ (18) + 11 = 291d8 + 4 + 1d6 ⇒ (6) + 4 + (6) = 16 ◆Tear - The wolf tears at the creature’s flesh, dealing 1d6+2 slashing damage and 1 persistent acid damage. Slashing:1d6 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7
Rashk takes 20 piercing damage and 12 acid damage from critical. He then takes 7 slashing damage from the Tear ability and then 1 persistent acid damage.
Rashk is on Dying 1 with 1 persistent acid damage
The second rabid wolf stays back, snarling, ready to defend its home.
Everybody but Nutmeg and Loki has to traverse the passageway on their knees, the stench of the blight and rot difficult to ignore. As you round the passageway, you can hear the sound of expectant growls awaiting you; the wolves protecting their home.
Nutmeg can act. Please see combat map. Currently, only Rashk is out of the passageway and standing upright. Everyone behind him cannot - apart from Nutmeg who is small.
A6
To the north of many rows of stadium-style benches stands a wide dais. Garbage clutters what was once undoubtedly a pristine floor. A small corridor near the dais leads to the west, while to the north, an iron gate provides a view into a central courtyard.
As you enter the room, you hear a curious, if not frightening sound coming from the Northl a series f barking and growls followed by the sound of claws scraping stone. Perhaps a little further in the way, you can hear what sounds like an argument.
DC 10 Perception and Goblin language:
You make out snatches of the argument, someone is making increasingly insulting demands that he be shown tot he citadel dungeon and others are refusing, throwing back creative insults of their own.
If you spend any time investigating the cabinets, read the spoiler:
Upon investigating the cabinets, you find several loose leather book bindings and leaves of pages strewn messily on the shelves. Looters have
destroyed the documents and books that were originally stored here. The titles on the remaining book bindings reveal that they once contained information about the Order of the Nail’s traditional drills and procedures. If you examine the surviving pages, you can find snippets
of details about old Hellknight drills— largely simulations between lawless bandits and raiders and the Order of the Nail Hellknights trained to defeat them.
The piecemeal documentation also includes a list of recruits’ names, along with indications of those who had been issued “temporary order badges.”
Loki scampers along the narrow tunnel which is slick with foul-smelling mud. Normally Loki loves to frolic in the mud, but this mud feels wrong. It leads down into a cramped den lit by a shimmering pool of oily water. The chamber stinks of wet fur and sickness. Next to the pool, between the gnarled and dying tree roots, Loki glimpses a rotting carcass of what must have once been a truly gigantic wolf. Nosing around it is a pair of hairless mutant wolves, their bodies deformed by large pustules and tumors. Although they have no eyes, they clearly detect Loki's presence, for they turn their heads and snarl.
Loki bounds back down the narrow tunnel as fast as his little legs can take him and rubs up against Baldur's legs upon his return, sharing everything telepathically.
To find your loot for the above, you will need to go back to my previous post!
A19
After taking a breather, everybody continues around anti-clockwise. Rows of desks here are bolted to the floor, though many of the cramped work spaces have been smashed to pieces or otherwise defaced. Wooden chairs have been thrown aside like discarded playthings. As you search through the room, a giant bat swoops down from the rafters as you distrub its home. Fortunately, its not too challenging to defend yourselves and Valda manages two well-timed arrows to down the creature.
A17
After a quick moment to gather yourselves again, you continue your search for any sign of Calmont or the Bramblebashers opening the door into a smaller room. This wrecked room holds toppled shelves and filing cabinets. Its southwestern wall has entirely collapsed, revealing the verdant weeds and undergrowth outside.
Owing to its exposure to the elements, most of the surfaces of this room are covered in moss and vines, including snarls of wild blackberries. Along the room’s southeastern wall is what looks like a mound of meat
or dirt.
Examine the mound of meat/dirt?:
Examining the mound reveals that this is a badly decomposed humanoid corpse, the flesh of which has sustained obvious small bite marks. You find two minor healing potions on the corpse’s belt.
Baldur notices a small opening beneath the old rotting tree, with an overpowering stench of wet, rotten fur coming from the hole. The hole isn't large and if Baldur wanted to investigate, he would have to go in on hands and knees.
The skeleton raises its arms defensively, but has not shiel to protect it as Bunnit manages to shatter enough of its bones to cause it to disassemble just before Arabella catches up to them and the room falls silent.
