Yeah, PF2 has some nice things to it, but personally it failed to address most of my complaints regarding PF1.
At the end of the day both systems encourage a type of storytelling I’m not super keen on, and I think it showed a lot towards the last leg of our journey. I wonder what Pathfinder would look like if it didn’t use 500 out of the 600 pages of the core rulebook for combat rules.
Anyway, hope to see you around! I’ll probably take a (very long) break from GMing, but would love to end up in a party with any of you.
So, we are done. I thank you all for putting up with me and not giving up even when RL began to rear its head.
For me, personally, this was very fun and interesting—though also exhausting. Never again I will underestimate the difficulties of running an AP (especially through PbP).
I hope you had some fun too and that this ending, despite not being necessarily the one we had envisioned, gave at least some degree of satisfactory closure to you. Again, you were all great and amazing, and I thank you wholeheartedly.
Once the feast is done, the Wayward Wonders take a few last days to rest and discuss how the circus would be moving forward without Myron. The debate is mostly civil and ends in surprisingly little changes to how things were working: the Professor would become the official responsible for accountancy and management—more of what he had already been doing behind the scenes, in short.
The question of the ringmaster is put to a vote. Cubby, the talking dog, wins by a small margin over other candidates. Tahala and Ceija immediately begin work on an outfit which includes a top hat and a jacket studded with shiny beads.
For some, the departure is bittersweet. They had lost Myron, yes, but they knew Abberton was a bit better now than when they arrived, and to them this was of considerable solace. “Myron would have been proud,” they say.
Just as many are happy to leave this ugly town that cost them so much behind. “Let’s go somewhere where the biggest attraction is not ‘the temple of f&~*ing bloodthirsty monks’ this time, eh?”
Everyone, however, was very happy with the reward the Mayor of Abberton offered them. Though she would never admit it to anyone, Finch was pointedly not disappointed.
With goodbyes said and tents unpitched, the Circus of Wayward Wonders rode away on an early morning. And so this chapter in the life of the Circus of Wayward Wonders came to a close—hopefully a bloody and tragic beginning that leads to a long story of joy and merriment.
A few minutes later, the first of the enthralled comes into consciousness. The dark-skinned young woman with piercing amber eyes is, to the Wonders’ joy, Mayor Amber’s daughter. After a brief round of presentations, she sighs in relief.
“So I’ve got that old bugger of a father to thank for sending you…I'll never hear the end of it. But, yes, I assume you more or less pieced it all out. I came here with father's message, was met by some monks I had never seen before. Proper eerie bastards, I can tell you that much. They brought me to the guest room, knocked me out, brought me to some guy or girl I also had never seen before. They wanted me to deface some Gozreh relic, I tried to escape…and that’s all I remember. That old man over there, he’s the abbot. The others are hermits, I think.”
Slowly but surely the others wake up. Though none are hurt, many are malnourished, prompting a sharing of whatever rations and fresh water the Wonders can share. The return to Abberton is blissfully uneventful.
Their return, accompanied by the hermits and mayor Abber's daughter, quickly evolves into an impromptu feast. Grog’s tentative thoughts meet the undeniable reality. For these people, they are heroes. Not only because through their actions they saved a few people’s lives—he had heard about the old feud between Abberton’s residents and Gozreh’s hermits. And here and now, seeing the unbridled gratitude shining in the eyes of these austere and wizened men and women, he believes the rift might begin to close. Pandir sees the seeds she has sown with her friends and she does believe Mother Meredith would be satisfied.
The whole circus is invited, of course, and there is no shortage of little spectacles here and there—much to Finch's despair at the absolute waste. They could have been bleeding the townsfolk dry, but, no, apparently Ceija, Katala, and everyone else is happy to perform in exchange of smiles and rainbows.
Feel free to narrate what happens during/after the feast. My next post should be the last, tying up the story and sending the wayward wonders away from Abberton.
The creature retreats further, making ever grander and desperate requests, trying to strike a bargain with the raging Wayward Wonders. They do not go down silently, their draining touch drinking generously from Grog and Pandir. They do not go down silently, embracing a comically cuddly and loving Finch and drinking deep from her vitality. But they do go down. The creature wails a last time, gives Finch one last kiss that brings the halfling within inches of death’s door, and is burned to a crisp by Katala’s fiery spell.
A few seconds pass, and every enthralled person in the room falls into a clump of exhaustion both psychic and physical. The demon who had ensorcelled the Hermitage of the Blessed Lightning, tortured Abberton, and murdered Myron is no more.
The fight rages on, with the creature’s requests growing increasingly absurd in the face of them clearly draining the life energy of anyone they touch. They begin to retreat as Grog and Pandir’s blows hit their mark, and as they do so, their magic begins to falter.
It is as if a pall has been lifted and the Wayward Wonders can finally see clearly. The person waving the gigantic feather is a young woman who greatly resembles the Abberton’s mayor; a few monks are inscribe unholy symbols on the walls, whilst an older man, most likely the head of the hermitage, carefully draws a summoning circle amongst the rubble of toppled statues of Gozreh.
“Very well, you seem to have gotten me on the retreat, my friends. I offer you a choice. You care about these people around us? If you continue to hurt me, I will have no recourse but to drain their vitality—I very much do not want to die, you see. If you allow me to leave, I will do so, and never return to this boring little island. And your friends survive,”they say, motioning with their head at their enthralled subjects.
Arcana/Religion DC 24:
From your knowledge of how demons, undead, and their ilk drain the life force of others, direct contact is usually necessary. Though there are many exceptions to that rule, you don’t think this creature is capable of drawing enough energy from a distance.
Perception DC 28:
This may be a demon or fiend, but it’s always surprising how similar they are to humans, elves, orcs, and so forth. A desperate bluff is a desperate bluff.
Katala cosies up even deeper into the creature’s arms. She basks in its warmth and Pandir’s words feel like cold wind and, just for a moment, she almost hates her leshy friend. This all goes away when Grog’s heavy hand grabs her by the scruff of her neck as if she were a kitten and throws her away across the room.
The creature hisses.
“How dare you? She was clearly enjoying herself! Don’t worry, my dear, I will defend you!”
Grog, Pandir, and Finch move forward with fist, pickaxe, and dagger. As their blows land on the screeching stranger, the Wayward Wonders feel their senses begin to muddle and their limbs weaken at the slightest touch of the smiling and uncommonly alluring stranger.
“What do you want from me, invaders? I can be such a good friend, if you just let me.”
The person Finch baptised “iffy b~!~!” flinches at the accusation. Finch and Grog clearly see it as a ruse—and a bad one at that.
“What is the meaning of this. I am wound—” before they can finish their sentence, Grog lunges and strikes them.
They raise their arm just in time to avoid the pick digging a new hole on their head, but the blow still knocks them back.
“Kitty cat, please, help me! Hug me! Save me from these brutes!”
Though shocked and somewhat disoriented at the sudden violence, Katala moves forward and embraces the probably-a-demon. Her friends can see small wounds opening over her body at the same time the creature’s arm mends itself. Katala takes 10 negative dmg and is grappled. Will save DC 24 to escape the embrace.
After seeing the result of the embrace on Katala, Pandir can start taking hostile actions if she wants.
I’m not rolling initiative, let’s just each post up to 3 actions one at a time.
Longest couple hours ever. Sorry again, but things are in a better place now and I should have time/energy to post regularly until the end of the game.
I'm not entirely sure what we mean by combat-narration, but am quite willing to try.
The Wayward Wonders discover the gates need nary a nudge before opening, now that they find themselves in possession of the token. If some might have been expecting a scene of carnage behind the doors, however, they are, in a way, disappointed.
Lying on a chaise longue is a person dressed in an unadorned silk gown which, despite its simplicity, is clearly of excellent making. The corner of their mouth twitches in a smile.
“Welcome, my heroes. You cannot imagine how much I longed to finally meet you.”
Shadow and light, silence and noise—the elements play around this person, tugging the Wonders’ eyes, ears, and noses so everything they see, hear, and smell promises safety, peace, and pleasure.
There are people around them. Someone waves a gigantic feather fan next to this person. Someone else massages their back. Another reads something out loud—perhaps poetry, but, truly, no one cares about their feeble hushed words when the person speaks.
“The servants have run amok, as you have seen. I had no choice but to hide here, with the ones most faithful to me. And hope for a saviour to come before we all starve to death. Now you are here. I am saved.”
They extend a hand, waiting for someone to help them stand up.
Will save DC 21. If you fail, you cannot take any hostile actions against the person on the chair and will be left with the feeling they really might be exactly what you need in your life.
While Katala and Pandir treat their friends’ wounds, Finch goes around the room, dedicating herself equally to sneering at various objects of worship, looking for things she might be able to palm for coin, and looking for anything that looks useful.
Bak and Lessa had apparently been too busy bickering to truly claim the chambers, and as such most of Harlok’s belongings remain scattered around the room. To Finch’s disappointment she finds no copies of The Lust-Crazed Abbey or any similar smut with religious themes. To the joy of the group, she does find a book describing the hermitage rules.
One particular bit stands out: the inner sanctum of the hermitage, protected by the impregnable gates, can only be accessed by followers of Gozreh or by guests in possession of an anointed pearl token.
Together, the Wayward Wonders quickly realise the pearl they had found the librarian’s cell.
Katala Arcana DC 23:
Katala, by now finished with mending everyone’s wounds, remembers the book fragments she read on the library, describing rituals against succubi using holy objects.
Grog’s pick went inside Lessa’s shoulder the first time, then on her flank the second time. She screamed in pain, the burning hatred inside her eyes a stark contrast against the orc’s cold and beady eyes.
Lessa is yelling a crazed chain of invectives, threatening the murder of the Wayward Wonders’ brothers, uncles, grandmothers, daughters, and any other blood relation less than twice removed when Pandir struck her on the throat, then on the stomach. Finch jumped in for good measure, making sure the already half-unconscious monk solidly crossed the gates into the realm of the dead.
Bak raises an eyebrow and seems to almost sigh in relief. He takes a step back.
“Hallowed be Gozreh, the impudent heretic is dead. You have done me a favour and for that I will let you live,” he says.
The wall behind him erupts in a sudden storm of stone, lightning, and blood forming a terrible portal. Katala sends her lightning bolt just as he crosses the threshold and disappears—whether it hits or not, no one can say. The portal collapses at the same time as the flaming sphere.
Also, there’s some confusion, largely my fault because I used the wrong colour on the map. Lessa is the red monk, Bak is the yellow monk. Grog, since you are explicitly focussing on the monk who cast the fire spell, I’m adjusting your movement so you’re targeting Lessa.
Grog comes in like a wrecking ball, but is met with uncanny resistance from the monk called Lessa. She dodges his attempt to shove her, spits on his face. Spitting on an angry orc is not a wise action, however, as the hand almost choking her clearly indicates.
Lessa sees right through Pandir’s movements, even whilst busying herself against the massive hand on her neck. The leshy's second attack hits the woman on the face.
Katala’s lightning bolt, meanwhile, jumps through both hermits once again, managing only a glancing blow on both of them.
Finch, in an extremely foul mood, pushes through the conflagration and tries to stab him twice, with no success.
Bak, slaps Grog. The shape of his hand grows dark on the orc’s face. Grog takes 3 P dmg and must make a fortitude save or take another 2 poison dmg. He also gets an AoO against Bak, if he wants.
Lessa tries to escape the grapple, while snickering and saying: “burn, bastard, burn! For the glory of the Abbess!” Though she is unable to free herself, she still lands a painful kick on Grog’s stomach. Grog takes 6 B dmg.
Everyone within the spells AoE must attempt a new basic reflex save DC 20 or take 13 fire dmg.
Everyone’s up (Grog on round #2, others on round #3)!
The monk named Bak takes Pandir’s first blow without flinching, then avoids the second effortlessly.
“A corrupted plant. How sad.”
No sooner are the words out of his mouth than he is hit squarely on the chest by Katala’s bolt. Finch comes from the side and stabs him on the stomach, snickering.
“You impudent curs! Lessa, you deal with this rabble!” He says, taking a few steps away and casting a potent healing spell on himself.
The woman curses and raises her left hand, creating a conflagration of flames at the centre of first chamber. Everyone who enters/passes through the area must make a basic reflex save or take 7 Fire dmg.
Then, laughing, she throws a punch at Pandir’s face, but misses.
Everyone's up—Grog on round #1, everyone else round #2.
Summary wrote:
1. Pandir
2. Katala
3. Finch
4. Red monk (Bak) -13HP
5. Green monk (Lessa) -7HP
6. Grog
Apologies for the silence, was travelling last week and got sick.
When the group opens the door, they are greeted by a heated discussion between two monks—a fiery-headed woman and a bald man with jaundiced skin.
“Harlock is as good as dead. I’m the oldest member of the order after him. Ergo, I should inherit his position. And thus these chambers belong to me,” the man spoke in soft but decisive whispers.
“You’re the oldest, eh? So the whole place has been going to absolute s~!& on your watch and you think you can claim authority over anything? I’m the youngest here, the second to embrace the Abbess. I should be flaying you for your sins, you—“ the woman stops mid-sentence when she sees Grog’s bulk open the door. “By Gozreh’s red piss, who are you? How dare you invade this holiest of places! Bak, make them suffer!”
Pandir opens the door and finds a very small room with a simple cot, a small desk, and a open scroll. The text, illuminated with a dramatic stormy landscape, seems to have once spoken about Gozreh. Now, however, it is defaced with scrawling and demonic symbols.
As they move through the rooms, the group finds similar scenes in each and every one of them. A few chambers are stained with blood, though no corpse nor blood trail can be found. The utter silence of the monastery takes a sadder, more desolate tone. The Wayward Wonders are alone among empty bedrooms that must have once housed more than twenty pious monks.
Awarding one hero point to Katala for excellence in bookkeeping. Since you're topped up, you can give it to one of your companions.
Grog finds a few conspicuously marked pages that seem of some importance among the pile of tomes the demon was in the process of destroying. With Katala’s help, the group eventually pieces together some interesting information.
The notes all speak about succubi, a type of lust demon. The highlighted passages, curiously, are all about how to please succubi: from what souls it craves to more mundane and carnal pleasures.
One particular fragment catches Katala’s attention. Succubi offer profane gifts to mortals. These gifts grant a shard of demonic power to whoever holds it, but also allows the succubus to dominate that person completely. If, however, the receiver is in possession of a holy token and recites an enchantment upon being gifted the profane object, they can turn the demon’s magic against it and force the succubus to do anything they want—the author of the original tome was very keen on using the opportunity to banish the creature back to the Abyss.
You find nothing else of interest besides paper, ink, and other mundane items you'd usually find in a library.
Katala continues her magical onslaught, her barrage of darts each coming at the monster from different sides. Pandir and Grog come together in a joint storm of blows and make quick work of the demon.
Pandir’s desperate blows hit the demon with exacting precision: one on the jaw, the other on the neck. The creature falls with a dry and papery gurgle.
Seeing the fallen monster, Katala turns her attention to the next foe. Her spell hits it in full, singeing its greasy hair and filling the room with a nauseous smell.
Finch uses the distraction to rush at the creature and stabs it to her heart’s contentment.
The hideous demon turns to the halfling and tries to bite her. When it misses, Finch cannot help but blow raspberries and make a rude gesture—which proves to be a mistake, in hindsight. She only notices the monster’s claws when they already digging inside her flesh. Finch takes 20 P dmg
The red demon moves its focus onto Pandir and ravenously slashes at her with its claws. It matters little that she moved in a fast blur: the leshy is helpless at the brute’s savagery. Pandir takes 40 S dmg.
Its friend remains in its place, first eyeing Katala in frightful manner Katala, will save vs fear DC 20, then throwing another chunk of a statue at her. The stone hits the witch on the leg, almost forcing her to buckle. Katala takes 11 B dmg.
One of Grog’s enraged strikes hits the red demon, painting a few destroyed tomes in dark, acidic blood.
Pandir, Finch, and Katala are up
Summary wrote:
1. Demon (red) -60HP
2. Demon (green) -8HP
3. Katala -11HP / will save DC 20
4. Grog
5. Pandir -40HP
6. Finch
Grog runs inside the room full speed, but even before he begins roaring, the demons are on their feet.
One of them stands in place and stares at Grog with its frightful visage then throws a chunk of a statue against the orc and hits him square on the chest. Grog takes 11 B dmg and must make a will save vs fear DC 20
The other leaves leaves its books on the ground and meets Grog halfway. It grabs the orc with one claw, sinking the talons deep within the orc’s flesh, then takes a bite from his shoulder. Grog takes 27 S/P dmg and must make a fortitude save DC 21.
Grog, suddenly blood drenched, sinks his pick on the creature’s neck and hears a sizzling sound from the wound as it reacts with cold iron.
Katala’s bolt runs through both monsters, hitting them in full.
Finch and Pandir are up
Summary wrote:
1. Demon (red) -23HP
2. Demon (green) -8HP
3. Katala
4. Grog -38HP / fort save DC 21 / will save DC 20
5. Pandir
6. Finch
This library must once have been magnificent. Tall wooden bookcases still line the room’s walls, but many have been pulled over, spilling books of all types and sizes over the carpeted floor. Statuary busts decorate a few cases that remain standing, but others have toppled and shattered. Shredded paper and torn parchment cover the ground. Tables where hermits must once have studied ancient lore are flipped on their sides or upside down, their legs broken off. Archways to the north and south lead to reading rooms that have so far been spared from the damage to the library.
Two creatures, their faces a mess of wrong angles and tumors, are sitting in the middle of the room. One, with long and greasy white hair, holds a book from which it meticulously rips and shreds a page at time. The other, completely hairless, bashes two statuettes against the ground, apparently trying to grind them into dust. They do not seem to have noticed the Wayward Wonders.
The group examines the corpse first. There are grievous wounds on the man’s torso that could have been caused by a spear or a similar weapon. Someone, perhaps the man himself, tried to dress the wounds, but their efforts were clearly not enough. On his robe’s pockets they find a small prayer book and a pearl partially covered in engraved gold. The images, exquisitely crafted in rough but expressive lines, seem to show a key among typical Gozreian motifs.
The blood trail leads to and stops at the northern wall, something initially looks like a dead end. Katala is the one who, after careful examination, finds a well-disguised switch. Once pressed, it opens a secret door into what looks like the hermitage’s library. Essentially a door into the adjacent room, the one with the cyan dot.
With Katala’s help, Grog brings down the door with a loud crash.
This small cell looks like many of the others in the hermitage, but it is remarkable for the bloody corpse that stretches across the small single bed. The figure, a human male, is dressed in the grey robes of the other hermits, and also wears a gold sash decorated with a badge depicting an open book. A stack of books sits on a small bed stand, and an imposing mural of Gozreh that depicts the deity as a raging elemental looks down from the southern wall.
After a few minutes of silence only broken by Grog’s bowel movements, the group continues exploring the corrupted Hermitage of the Blessed Lightning.
They trace back their steps to the first door in the corridor leading from the dining hall. Grog’s scenic kick barely budges it and a quick inspection makes Finch whistle: the mechanism is more complex than she would have expected in a place like this. Athletics or Thievery, DC 25.
Perception DC 28:
When Grog leaves, the door takes an uncomfortable amount of time to close behind him.
Grog opens the door, prepared to face a demon coming straight from the cloaca of the abyss. Instead, as the light from the corridor slowly seeps into the room, the group sees a few holes dug on the ground and directly into the rock. Above the holes, bunches of dried lavender and rosemary failed to cover the odour of what were in all likelihood clogged pit toilets. An almost empty bucket of extremely dirty water with vinegar sat on a corner, a pair of stick with glued sponges inside.
The Wayward Wonders had discovered the hermitage’s privies.
That’s top adventuring content, y’all. I’m sorry, I didn’t create the map.
Grog’s scream echoes along a corridor that, if followed to its end, loops back into the main hall where the group had met Yoril and her vermleks.
The westernmost wall and the northern section of the corridor are lined up with identical wooden doors. A particularly foul odour emanates from one of them brown.
On the eastern wall of this corridor, instead, there are two doors: the first red, right after the dining hall, is old and is secured with a heavy and intricate; the second cyan is a double swinging door, the ground beneath it smoothed over many years and visitors.
I have marked all “special” doors with a dot. It doesn’t matter which one of the unmarked doors you open.
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Dining hall — Round 4
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A curious thing happens when Grog ignores the wolf’s whimpers and lands his strike on the beast’s belly: as soon as it drops dead, its body convulses and snaps, the fur disappears and what is left is the tiny shrivelled body of a green demon.
Meanwhile, Finch turns towards where the group last saw one of the demons and searches for it, with no success.
Katala sends her flaming orb towards the escaping foe, but misses and manages only to scorch the hermitage’s wall. Pandir is more successful, hitting a painful punch on the demon’s diminutive abdomen and smacking it against the wall.
The remaining visible demon wastes no time lingering in front of the leshy. In a shrill and pained voice it yells:
“BYE F*+~OS!”
Before running down the corridor. Pandir sees its body quickly turning transparent.
All your foes are either dead or escaped. There’s no immediate threat to you at the moment, so I’m taking us out of initiative.
Summary wrote:
1. Grog: poisoned 1, Fort save DC 17
2. Cook
3. Green demons (green: dead, red (invisible): -10 HP, pink: dead, blue: -8 HP)
4. Finch
5. Katala: -9 HP
6. Pandir
@Grog: regarding holding an action to charge, I don't believe that is possible. The only similar thing I could find in the rules was the delay action (https://pf2easy.com/index.php?id=1081&name=Delay), which allows you to act later. The fact it is a free action with a trigger of "your turn begins" seems to indicate you cannot break your turn in two.
For reference, this is the full list of basic encounter actions: https://pf2easy.com/index.php?id=5874&name=Basic_Actions
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Dining hall — Round 4
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As hard as he searches, the demons elude Grog. It is only when a deep chill runs down the orc’s spine and a budding panic begins to come from somewhere deep within him that he sees a demon materialising across the room. It runs towards the corridor. Grog, make a will save DC 17 or become frightened 1.
The wounded wolf, meanwhile, changes its demeanour completely. It whimpers and lowers its ears, as if asking for forgiveness.
Yes, you can roll a fort save again, same DC. Afflictions (poisons, diseases, etc) all work more or less the same way: once you are exposed to it, you roll a first save. If you fail, you enter affliction stage 1 (in this case, some poison damage). From then on, each tick of the affliction (in this case, one round) you get another save. Failing increments the stage, succeeding decrements it. If you reach stage 0, you no longer have that affliction. Most afflictions tend to go away naturally as well, after a set amount of time (though of course reaching the final stage of some might result in death).
Regarding visible enemies: at the moment you only see the wolf. The translucent avatars mark the last known position of each enemy. The demons are invisible. More info on invisible: https://pf2easy.com/index.php?id=416&name=invisible
You can try to attack their last position. If they are there, they're considered hidden to you, which means there's a chance you will miss even if you roll really well. More info on
You can also use the seek action to try and find where they are right now. More info on seek: https://pf2easy.com/index.php?id=1088&name=Seek
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Dining hall — Round 3
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The Wayward Wonders rained flame, steel, and blunt force on the wolf that came seemingly out of nowhere. Though very wounded, the creature was still alive and aggressively nipping at Katala
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Dining hall — Round 1
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Katala fires her magic bolt hits one of the creatures in full, but only barely singes the other. Pandir concentrates her attacks on the most weakened demon, who grunts in pain but continues very much alive.
Finch takes a step forward and tries to strike at the demon closest to Grog, but it is too fast for her and the stabs miss their target.
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Dining hall — Round 2
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Grog feels the poison coursing through his veins Grog takes 2 poison dmg, but shrugs it off. There are more important things to do, like utterly destroying the demon in front of him.
The remaining creature takes a step away and, like its other friends, vanishes into thin air.
Katala hears something moving behind her and turns just in time to see a wolf jumping on her. Its jaws sink deep within the witch’s shoulder, who finds herself knocked prone by the sheer strength of the creature. Katala takes 9 P dmg and is now prone.
Everyone’s up (Grog on round 3, everyone else round 2)!
Failing the Fort save means you will be poisoned, which is a status effect. Poison damage aside (which may or may not be recurrent and may or may be bigger than the current value), there might be other negative consequences coming with it, which vary with the type of poison. There are many legitimate reasons to willingly fail the roll and I'm all for it, but I wanted you to be aware this is not a move without some risk.
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Dining hall — Round 1
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The woman suffers Grog’s repeated blows without flinching, even as her blood drenches the enraged orc. After his last strike, she crumples to the ground with a wet thud.
For a moment, there is silence.
And then, four small creatures with red eyes and pasty green skin erupt from drawers and cupboards all around the kitchen. They squeal and scream in a mimicry of laughter, flying around Grog’s head.
Two concentrate their little razor sharp claws in a flurry of attacks against the orc. Though his thick skin and clumsy armour mostly protect him, one attack does come through. The moment the creature touches his skin, Grog feels pure evil seeping into his being. Grog takes 1 S dmg, 4 Evil dmg, and must make a Fort save DC 17 or take an extra 3 poison damage and become poison.
The other two fly away—one south, the other east—and disappear in the blink of an eye. Semi-transparent pawns indicate last known location.
Everyone’s up!
Summary wrote:
1. Grog -1 S, -4 Evil, Fort save DC 17 or 3 Poison
The moment Katala approaches the door next to the kitchen counter, the cook turns her head and her empty stares follows the witch's movements—unnervingly, she continues chopping meat even as her eyes seem to follow Katala's every move. Despite that, she makes no motion to stop the group from opening the door to a mostly empty pantry.
It is only when Katala places her hand on the handle of the remaining door that the cook throws her cleaver. The bloody instrument lodges itself in the wooden door with a thwack that might have been comic in a different situation.
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Dining hall — Round 1
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Grog pretty much saw this coming and springs into action.
The woman does not react to Katala’s question and instead continues chopping meat. It is hard for Pandir to guess its exact provenance, but she can still deduce a few things without standing right next to the cook: the meat has very little fat, is not particularly fresh, and comes from a fairly big creature—not smaller than a human, not bigger than a cow.
The cook takes a few steps to her side and drops the meat on the cauldron with a wet thud. She returns to where she stood before and continues her work, without acknowledging any of the Wayward Wonders.
After inspecting the rooms, the group makes their way beyond the door at the end of the southern hallway.
The north wall of this long dining hall contains a stone oven, a cauldron, and several metal tables. Several long, wooden tables and benches are lined up against the south wall, providing accommodations for two dozen people to eat together. Doors lead east and west.
A woman almost as tall and hefty as Grog busies herself on the metal table next to the cauldron, hacking away at a piece of meat. Her hair is frayed and dishevelled, her clothes are dirty, and if she finds any joy in her work, she’s very good at hiding it.
Pandir opens the door with dread, half-expecting to see some horrible demonic abomination. Instead, she is met by a fairly clean room with a a large and very comfortable canopied bed, an armoire filled with neatly folded bedclothes, a full-length mirror, and two fist-sized glowing orbs mounted in ornate wall sconces. A folding screen conceals a metal bathtub. For all the group could tell, this was a room dedicated to highly esteemed guests and hadn’t been used in sometime.
The room immediately in front of it is mostly the same, and so is a third one right next to it.
This third room, however, had indeed been used in the past few days. The bathtub is still filled with water, and so is a small carrier bag containing a few travel rations, 5 GP, and a single envelope containing Mayor Abber's letter to Harlock.
Letter:
To the Wayward Wonders relief, the contents of the letter are largely what they expect: a few pleasantries before an impassioned request for Harlock to come to Abberton, as an honoured guest, in order to pick up what was left of the hermitage’s monks—and explain why the misguided clerics had committed such crimes.
Finch grumpily inspects the runes. Afraid of triggering the trap again by touching it directly, she takes one tool after another. Time and again, the instruments are repelled before she can even understand the precise nature of the magic at work here. Eventually, the halfling clown gets frustrated, spits on one of the core runes of the enchantment, sticks her thumb and smudges it beyond recognition. Just like that, the trap is disarmed.
Unfortunately for the group, however, the gate is not only locked, it also has no visible handles nor keyholes.
Religion DC 22:
It is not uncommon for the inner halls of a holy place to be protected in such a way that only the faithful can enter. When non-believers are admitted in these hallowed sanctuaries, they are usually given an anointed token that effectively function as keys.
Grog walks decidedly to the door. So focussed is he on the barrier standing between him and the end of this nightmare that he does not notice the diminutive dark runes etched on the ground a few steps in front of the door.
The moment he tries to cross them, his friends see two things: one, Grog goes suddenly limp, as if his soul was quickly leaving his body; two, as the orc is about to faint, an invisible force throws him across the room.
Grog takes 19 points of negative dmg. Fort save DC 22 for half.
A brief inspection after the fact reveals the runes are still active—and so is the barrier protecting the door.
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Main hall — Round 3
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Yeah, that thing is very, very dead.
Seeing Grog running towards it, the vermlek begins to burrow its way inside Yoril's mouth. Katala’s projectile delays it a bit; Pandir’s blows even further; that’s about all the time the orc needs to pin the demon to the ground with his foot and then hack away until it is surely and irrevocably dead.
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Main hall — Round 2
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Katala’s advice is followed by barrage of energy hammering the vermlek; her magic is soon joined by Pandir’s strikes—one of which manages to hurt the creature. She winks at Finch and pushes the demon towards the halfling’s pointy and merciless blades. It squeals in pain for a brief moment before falling silent once and for all.
Seeing another foe felled, Grog turns to the remaining vermlek and strikes twice at it. As if afraid of the metal, it manages to slither away to relative safety, landing atop York’s corpse. Despite its attempts, the demon fails to land a bite on Grog.
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Main hall — Round 3
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Everyone’s up!
Summary wrote:
1. Finch
2. Pandir -22HP
3. Grog
4. Katala
5. Yoril 6. Vermlek green
7. Vermlek red -12HP
hi all—apologies for lack of posting, going through a very rough couple of weeks. Still committed to seeing this campaign through, will hopefully be in the mental state to resolve your actions tonight.
