Mary adds to Mylos's report. "Yeah, they didn't make it. On the plus side, we managed to clear out a hidden temple to Lamashtu and kill off its head priest. You may want to send some people over to properly cleanse it of the evil residue they undoubtedly left behind." She pauses for a beat before adding, "When your acolytes are done with that job, you can send them over to the castle so they can get going on the renovations."
Chronicle looks good to me. Don't beat yourself up about the small stuff, GM Farol. You have my gratitude for picking up the dropped baton and signing up for a year-long GMing job on short notice. You did your usual bang-up job and I enjoyed myself. It helps that the other players were also fun to play with; each character had a distinct personality and there was plenty of opportunity for some good RP. No doubt it won't be long before I play at another of your tables, and I look forward to bumping into the other players again when I do so. As to Mary? She was but a temporary construct to take through the Beginner Box and its sequel, so this is likely to be have been her last adventure.
Made it to California without too much trouble. Now recuperating from jet lag insomnia.
Mary purses her lips at the sight of the large creature. She leans slightly to one side to give the green figure a view of the carnage they'd just inflicted on Mwibah and his cronies. "Yeah, yeah. Blah, blah, blah. Cry me a river. Look, there's two ways this can go. Either you walk out of here on your own two legs and find yourself some a place to live a looooong way away from Otari, or we send you to join your great leader Mwibah licking Lamashtu's backside for eternity. Not much of a choice in my book. So how about you make it easy on all of us and take that long walk?"
A pair of Healing Potions II? I'll assume Lesser Healing Potions. Loot sheet updated, though now that I think about it, I doubt it will matter if this is the end of the adventure.
After patching everyone up with the help of Albrecht, Mary collects the loot and picks up the sun wheel along with enough of the bloodstained garments to identify the three dead Sarenites. "I guess we'll have some good news and some bad news for Vandy when we get back."
She then proceeds to search the room thoroughly to make sure they didn't miss anything (Concentrating on the west wall, for no apparent reason :).
"Okaaay then. Looks like we've still a little cleaning up to do down here before we can call it a day and head home." She heads over to the southern door and checks it for traps and locks.
In about 12 hours I will be getting on a flight from Europe to California. As such, I am unlikely to be posting this weekend, or at least not until later on Sunday, assuming the airlines don't screw me in some fashion.
Bonnie may want to Delay on Mary to catch the jackal flat-footed.
Mary sees Arity go down. "No time for a nap Arity. We've still got some unfinished business here." Since Mwibah was kind enough to close with them and put himself in a position to be flanked, Mary shrugs and does the honors.
Expecting the bugbear to be less agile than the jackal, she decides to duck past Bonnie, slide under the bugbear's legs, and pop up behind Mwibah...
Mary has more than enough speed to tumble through the bugbear and cut back to get into flanking position with Bonnie on Mwibah.
...a maneouver which (I'll assume) she carries out without any problems. She then stabs the jackal with her rapier and in one fluid motion pulls her shortsword out with her free hand and slashes open its belly.
Is the Hypnotic Stare still in place on Mary? It looked like the Jackal used all three actions for Strikes on Bonnie.
Mary decides to repeat her last successful foray against Mwibah. She dashes forward and dodging the jackal's jaws, shoves her rapier into the creature. Before retreating, she glances at Bonnie and says, "Uh, Capt'n? You got super lucky there. You may not want to tempt fate like that again."
Mary already has a +1 Striking rapier, so Magic Weapon isn't going to do anything for her. I think all the frontline has +1 Striking weapons, so you might be better off casting Heals.
With +15 to hit, 2d6 +5 damage and some extra abilities, it appears that Mwibah is definitely in BBEG territory, so if we can finish this fight on our feet, we may be in the clear. If those attack stats are anything to go by, experience suggests that Mwibah likely has an AC in the 22-24 range with 90-110 hit points. Hopefully we'll have a better idea after Mary's next attack.
Is Mary benefitting from Standard Cover to diagonal attacks across that hard corner? She should be. Wouldn't have mattered in the case of Mwibah's last attack as his attack roll of 25 would be good enough to hit even with Mary's Nimble Dodge AC of 23 and the +2 for Standard Cover, but knowing the exact odds of getting hit allows me to make better choices.
Mary is not happy being the target of Mwibah's attentions, but takes his bite in stride. She looks over to their eastern flank and sees that Sir Miles is out of position. Pointing at the open square to the east of Arity, she says, "Someone plug that gap! We don't want these guys getting past our line and attacking from behind." While Arity reacts to the bugbear's attack, Mary darts forward to repay Mwibah in kind for his attack on her, then retreats to her previous position.
@Arity, might I suggest that instead of staying put and raising your buckler (only to be pummeled by multiple enemy combatants) that you stride 2 squares north so that we can set up the usual defense. I described what I thought we should do in my turn posting.
But, if you really want to just stay put instead, that's fine, but it will put us at a tactical disadvantage and substantially increase the chances of a TPK.
I take it that there's no saving throw for this Hypnotic Stare.
Mary is strangely transfixed by Mwibah's third eye and quickly shakes it off, but the strange effect it has on her mind seems to linger. She quickly assesses the situation and says, "Same drill as before. Attack and then fall back." She then ducks past the bugbear and, flanking with Arity, shoves her rapier deep into the creature before ducking past it again and taking her position at the end of the short entryway.
If we remain where we are, the remaining two bad guys will move up and all four of them will be able to attack our two current frontliners. By the end of our turns, we need to fall back two squares and line up against the opening like we did when we were dealing with the ogres and owlbears earlier. That means that Flory will need to step back to make room for Bonnie, and Arity will need to step back two squares. Sir Miles will end up to the East of Arity and Mary will end up to the West of Bonnie.
Action 1 (◆): Stride (40 feet) - Mary will end up in the square SW of Green to get flanking on it with Arity
When the true scope of the situation becomes apparent to Mary, she curses under her breath. "Why am I not surprised. After all, life is just an endless sequence of deadly battles." She quickly realizes that this confrontation was going to end badly, but if this doggo was the head honcho of this place, then maybe they could get some answers for Vandy before things turned violent.
"I take it that you're the head man, uh... dog around here? Maybe you can answer some questions before we go on our way." Not waiting for an answer, she continues. "We've been sent here to find out what happened to a friend of ours. Have you heard of a Champion of Dawnflower called Thida Aubade? I don't suppose you happen to know what happened to her and her two colleagues, a halfling and a dwarf. I really recommend that you answer my questions, or I might get angry... You really don't want me to get angry."
Activity: Coerce vs jackal Intimidation (Coerce):1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26vs jackal Will DC
Mary whispers over her shoulder. "It's just a bugbear and an ogre. This shouldn't take long." When everyone is ready, She pushes the door open with her foot and says loudly, "Knock, knock! Anybody home?"
Arity, I see from your header bar that you've been BMed already today. Your immunity to Battle Medicine is medic specific. Since I don't have you on my list of people that Mary has BMed so far today (namely: Bonnie, Mary), I assume that it was Albrecht that patched you up. Mary can still do Battle Medicine on you today if necessary.
Mary takes the valuables and adds them to her bag of loot. "I don't think our flying friends will be needing these anymore."
She eyes the door at the other end of the long gallery and wonders whether they should try it next, or instead try the door they can see at the south end of the owlbear room.
Which door should we go for next? Mary is good either way.
Once they decide which door to try next, Mary gets to work on the lock.
Action: Pick a Lock with Skeleton Key vs Wooden Doors Thievery (Pick a Lock) vs DC ??:1d20 + 12 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 12 + 1 = 21
With the death of the last harpy, Mary breathes out a sigh or relief. "Good job everyone, but after that, I need a breather." She cleans off her blade and resheathes it before getting to work patching everyone up with Albrecht's help.
Once Mary gets her hit points back, she's good to go without needing to rest. If the spellcasters need to replenish their slots, then I guess we could leave and come back tomorrow, but Mary's druthers would be to continue on and not give the enemy a chance to recover.
Once they return to exploring, Mary heads quietly into the next room and looks at the other two openings. She points to the north opening. "There's no door in that direction, so that's probably where the owlbear found its two flying friends. I say we check it out to see if they left any loot behind."
I'm going to assume here that with the death of the last owlbear, Mary is no longer grabbed.
Mary shrugs out of the grip of the owlbear as the creature slumps to the floor dead. She glances over at their last remaining foe, and seeing an opportunity to flank it darts over to strike at it from behind.
Sheesh! What does the owlbear have against Mary? :)
Mary feels her recently healed wounds reopen under the assault of the owlbear, and to add insult to injury, the creature now has her tightly in its grip. She's not particularly concerned; clearly this was a fight to the death and she had no better place to be right now. Unfortunately, she could do little to patch herself up, so if she couldn't take this creature down soon she'd likely be joining her ancestors. Not seeing much else she can do, she lashes out with her rapier hoping for a lucky hit.
Mary will patch herself with Battle Medicine but it's unlikely to be enough to keep her on her feet if she takes another set of hits like that from either creature. At the very least, she can provide Bonnie and Arity with flanking to flat-foot the owlbear this round.
Mary is pleased to see the first harpy go down, but watches in dismay as the other one gets past their guard to allow the owlbear room to advance. Her dismay turns into pain as the owlbear decides to take out its frustrations on her. Barely hanging on by a thread, Mary slaps a quick patch onto the worst of her bleeding wounds before ducking past the owlbear and poking it with her rapier from behind.
Mary looks around and sees that everyone seems to be back to normal. "Okay gang. Take your shot and then head back to the crossing!" Mary proceeds to poke her harpy twice before scrambling back to her usual place at the crossing.
If we concentrate out firepower on the Pink harpy first, then maybe we can get her off the board and only have to deal with the White one at the crossing.
Mary watches with some dismay as her friends start wandering down the hallway towards her. "What are you guys doing? Get back to the crossing!" But she soon realizes that they cannot control themselves; the harpy song has mesmerized them. Looking at the owlbear behind the harpy, she thinks, "at least we're still only dealing with one of them at a time."
Knowing that if she moves away it might provide enough space for the owlbear to advance, she sighs and proceeds to poke and slash the harpy as best she can.
For some reason, Mylos's token is next to Mary's in the hallway. Not sure how he got there, but I strongly suggest that he return to where he came from. Mary is planning to retreat to the crossing, which will leave the soft sorcerer hanging out in no-man's land again.
Mary watches with satisfaction as the second creature bites the dust, but her joy is cut short as she hears the remaining owlbear approach from behind. She turns just in time to be slashed by the talons of one of its avian colleagues. "That's just great. It went and found some friends". She then hears the enchanting voice of the harpy and finds herself strangely attracted to the creature...
Will Save vs DC 21:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25
... but manages to shake her head to dispel the effect. "Try not to listen to the song! It's a trap!".
Mimi took 8 HP of damage and is now at 34/42. The owlbear presumably will take a swat at her before she gets to retreat. Let's hope she stays on her feet.
With the squares being 2x2 grid lines, and a little squished to boot, the large owlbear seemed to be taking up 2x1.5 squares (or 4x3 grid lines) of space. I went ahead and resized it so that it now takes up 2x2 squares (or 4x4 grid lines).
Mary sees the other owlbear stride out of view. "I hope it isn't going for reinforcements. We've got our hands full here already." With one hand, she quickly applies a patch to Bonnie's worst wounds. Then, with only the one creature remaining, Mary decides to try and get behind it before stabbing it with her rapier.
Bonnie swings and hits! Her strikes digs deep Hit red - 21
Mary tumbles through and then she stubs the creature, but she fails to crit. Hit red - 13
...
Red (-58 HP)
I don't think you added (subtracted?) Bonnie's 21 HP of damage into Red's final HP count. Red was at (-45) at the start of all the strikes, so should be at -45-21-13 = -79 by my count.
Did I miss something?
By the by, this weekend I'm on a road trip heading back to Spain from Italy. I should be able to post along the way once I get to my hotels in the evening, but if something happens and I fall silent, you'll know why.
When Bonnie and Arity step back, Mary seizes her chance and shoots down the hallway before the creatures can react. She slips between her friends and ducking under the outstretched claws, slides her rapier into the soft belly of the towering beast before reversing course and retreating to the crossing.
Action 1 (◆): Tumble Through with Tumble Behind vs Red. (40 feet) Acrobatics (Tumble Through/Behind):1d20 + 12 ⇒ (11) + 12 = 23vs Red Reflex DC
I'll take that as a success, but if not, then ignore the flat-footedness and sneak attack damage.
Mary shakes off the fear she felt at hearing the owlbear screech and feels a lot better all of a sudden. "Thanks for that Mylos, but what the heck are you still doing in the hallway?" She yells down to the frontliners. "Bonnie, Arity! Time to retreat."
I notice a small problem. Mylos's next turn is after Blue and he's still in the hallway, which means that if Bonnie and Arity retreat and take their planned positions between Mary and Sir Miles, Mylos will be left behind to deal with Blue on his own. In fact, he will act as a cork to stop the owlbears from getting to the crossing where we're waiting for them.
So it seems that we're going to have to do this in two stages. Bonnie and Arity attack, then step back 5 ft to limit the number of attacking owlbears to just one (likely Blue). On his next turn (after Blue), Mylos retreats so that he is next to Albrecht and out of harm's way. Arity and Bonnie can then attack and retreat to the crossing and we're good to go.
On this turn, Mary is going to wait for either Bonnie or Arity to clear one of the squares next to Red before darting in (hopefully with a successful Tumble Behind for Sneak Attack damage), striking once, and darting back to the crossing.
Action (◇): Delay until after Bonnie or Arity clears a square next to Red.
I see two DC values for a Will Save: 20 or 22. I certainly hope it's the first, because otherwise we're in more trouble than I thought. I'm going to assume the more reasonable value of 20.
Where we stand right now, all three owlbears can get to our two frontliners, so we need to fall back. If we step back up the hallway 5 feet, then we're dealing with one owlbear at a time, but only two of us will be within melee range, presumably Bonnie and Arity. That would mean that Mary will be stuck shooting arrows, which reduces her damage dealing potential substantially. Flory and Sir Miles will not be able to do much to help either. If we fall back all the way to the crossing, then we can deal with them like with the ogres: 4 of us within melee range and only one owlbear at a time. Another option is for Mary to Tumble Through into the room, but that's almost certain suicide, so forget about it. I'm going to have Mary Tumble Through in-place, stab with her rapier and then fall back to the crossing.
Mary cringes against the owlbear screech...
Will Save vs DC 20:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22
...and only just barely gets her hands up to her ears in time to avoid being completely affected.
Seeing the dire situation they are in, Mary calls out "Fall back to the crossing. We're toast if we stay here." She then does some fancy footwork to get the Owlbear off balance, stabs her rapier in deep and falls back to the crossing to make room for Bonnie.
Action 1 (◆): Tumble Through with Tumble Behind vs Red. (40 feet) - Move east one square , then west one square to end up where she started
Acrobatics (Tumble Through/Behind):1d20 + 12 ⇒ (1) + 12 = 13vs Red Reflex DC Ugh. Hero Point re-roll
Acrobatics (Tumble Through/Behind):1d20 + 12 ⇒ (16) + 12 = 28vs Red Reflex DC
Mary wipes off her rapier and together with Albrecht, patch everyone up. She pockets the Bloodseeker Beaks for later resale.
Loot sheet updated.
She looks at the bodies and wonders what to do about them when FLory suggests dumping them into the pit. "Good idea. Let's do it." All together they try to wrestle the corpses into the pit one at a time.
Not sure if this requires a Thievery check, but just in case.
Thievery:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (16) + 12 = 28
She then moves down the main hallway to examine the doors at the end.
Mary cushions Bonnie's battered body as it slumps to the ground. Just as she's about to start patching her up, Mylos casts his spell. "Glad you're back amongst the living Capt'n. Hold tight for a sec." Seeing that Bonnie's wounds are not all healed and that there was still plenty of fighting left, Mary does some additional patching up.
Action 1 (◆): Battle Medicine (Assurance:Medicine) on Bonnie vs DC 15 Assurance: Medicine (Battle Medicine) vs DC 15:10 + 6 = 16 Battle Medicine Healing:2d8 ⇒ (5, 5) = 10hit points healed
Ducking down, she tries some fancy footwork to throw off the ogre before sliding her rapier into their belly.
Action 2 (◆): Tumble Through with Tumble Behind vs Blue. (40 feet) Acrobatics (Tumble Through/Behind):1d20 + 12 ⇒ (20) + 12 = 32vs Ogre Reflex DC
Ugh! What a waste of a nat-20. At least she has it flat-footed for -2 circ to AC. If Mylos's Demoralize worked, then the ogre is an additional -1 stat to AC, so here goes nothing...
Mary is pleased that the first ogre goes down with relatively little cost to them, but notices the next coming straight at her. "Uh oh. I've got a bad feeling about this." She grunts as the axe nearly tears her in half and barely holds onto consciousness. "Medic?""Oh, that's me." But Mylos gets to her first and the loose parts of her body reattach themselves. "Thanks, Mylos. I needed that." Another ogre goes down. She was starting to see the light at the end of the tunel now. Just a little more effort and they'd take care of the last two.
Darting into the room, she tries some fancy footwork to distract the wounded ogre before jamming her rapier into it and retreating again.
Action 1 (◆): Tumble Through with Tumble Behind vs Green. (40 feet) Acrobatics (Tumble Through/Behind):1d20 + 12 ⇒ (2) + 12 = 14vs Ogre Reflex DC
They may be lumbering lugs but I'll assume that their Reflex is > +2, so no flat-footedness or sneak attack for Mary this round.
Oh dear, there are four of them. I only saw three earlier.
We got lucky that the one in front is last in the initiative order, so I suggest that we concentrate our fire on Yellow. If we can take that one down before it can act that will make our lives a little easier. I'm guessing they're too slow for AoO, but large weapons is all we know about their offensive capabilities. Let's hope they don't have anything ranged on them, though the ones in the back will need to fire through the one in the front to shoot at us. The other danger is Reach weapons as these guys are Large with large weapons. If that's the case, then the front-liners may want to take a step back so that the ogres have to advance right up to the edge of the crossing hallway, otherwise Mary and Sir Miles won't have them within Melee range.
When Mary sees the door start to open, she says, "Here they come!" Almost before the ogre has a chance to fully see them, Mary is on the move. Darting forward, she whips out her rapier and stabs the leading ogre in one fluid motion, before retreating back to her more protected position around the corner.
So how do you lure them out? Or simply kick in the door and stand in the corridor? If you plan to make some sound to make them go out that would be Deception: Create Diversion check. Efectivelly I need a more detailed description
Mylos is still out of position, but the ogre will be within range of his spells, so he can probably stay where he is.
Mary checks to make sure everyone is in position and ready to deal with the ogres once they come out of their lair and into the hallway. Satisfied, she cracks the door open slightly, ducks back around the corner, and clearing her throat, speaks quite loudly in the direction of the ogres. "Those kobolds weren't much of a challenge. Time to loot this place." She doesn't know if the creatures will understand her, but she figures that the loud talking should be enough to lure at least one of them out to have a look.
Action: Create a Diversion vs ogres Deception (Create a Diversion):1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24vs Ogres Perception DC
She peeks around the corner hoping to stay hidden and get the drop on the first ogre as it comes through the door.
I see that some of us have repositioned our tokens to take on the ogres, but Arity and Mylos have not moved yet and I strongly suspect that Flory does not really intend to be a frontliner with Bonnie in this situation. Might I suggest that Flory move to the back line along with Mylos and be replaced by Arity?
Mary's problem is going to be trying to catch the ogres flat-footed for sneak damage. I suspect that flanking will not be possible, so she's going to be doing a lot of Hides, Tumble Throughs and Feints to try and flat-foot them.
"Three very large and nasty looking thugs with nasty weapons and what looks like a big hole (or column, or firepit or stain?) in the middle of the room. Maybe we can lure them out here into the hallway and take them one at a time"
Mary wipes down her rapier and puts it away. She then searches the bodies and finding the Skeleton Key, whistles lightly in appreciation. "Now this might come in useful." She tucks it into a pocket next to her Thieves' Tools. Unless someone shows an interest in the Thunderstone or Shining Ammunition, Mary stows them with the rest of the loot for later sale.
Loot sheet updated. The Skeleton Key is the big find here. It gives a +1 to picking locks and good for 62.5gp when it comes time to sell it.
Turning back to the bodies, she says, "How about we tuck these little guys back into their beds and make it look like nothing happened here. We wouldn't want to raise the alarm any sooner than necessary."
Looking back out into the hallway, she spots the doors directly south from the rusted metal gate. "How about we try them next?" She creeps down there quietly and finding it to be locked, she quietly pulls out her new skeleton key and quietly picks the lock.
Mary glances around the corner and sees her chance. She runs back in, ducks between Bonnie and Sir Miles, and sneaking up behind the kobold that Albrecht is entertaining, slips her rapier into it twice.
Assuming these are standard mook kobold warriors or scouts, then I guess there's a good chance that actually hit vs flat-footed and killed the kobold. If not, Mary will stab again.
Arity moves in with raised buckler and tries to tumble, she pulls on rope and hears the sound of contraption hitting
Ah, so that's what Black was doing the first round: Setting a trap. I was wondering about that. Why did we not notice it? Was it hidden from us around the corner?
I would say that Mary did not have her reaction to use Nimble dodge here, so that hits -2
Aw, maaan! The first time her Nimble Dodge would make a difference and she doesn't get to use it. Daaaang!
Mary unlocks the gate with a small degree of satisfaction, but the sound of rushing feet tells her that she wasn't quiet enough about it. Rusty locks are like that sometimes. She quickly puts her tools away but a crossbow bolt flies out of nowhere and grazes her arm. She ducks out of the way of the second, now that she knows it's coming.
She quickly takes in the situation. Three of the kobolds had gotten the drop on her, but there were several that were still scrambling into action. Picking one of these, she slides forward to engage it before it can react to her presence.
Ouch! I'm guessing that's probably enough to take out the kobold, unless it's some sort of super-kobold with high AC, in which case we're in a lot more trouble than I thought.
If Kobold Still Stands:
Surprised that the creature is still alive after such a devastating attack, she pokes it again.
Before it can get its hands on a weapon, Mary runs her rapier through the creature and it expires almost immediately. "One down". She turns but realizes that she doesn't have enough time to do much more before the remaining kobolds get to act.
If there's any cover at all, like the door to the cell, the corner of the wall, the kobold's corpse, or perhaps the cot, then Mary will attempt to Hide, otherwise she will head back to the cover of the hallway to avoid being pincushioned by crossbow bolts.
If There's No Cover:
Action 3 (◆): Stride (40 feet) - to the square in the hallway with the pink dot
Where do you go, and how do you go? Merrily walking in, rushing in, sneaking in? Sending scouting party?
Mary's sixth sense tells her that sneaking in might be the best approach. Good thing that's what she does anyway. Mary continues to Avoid Notice and move quietly... very quietly.
Mary had only just put away her tools when they reach the intersection with all the doors. Giving a quiet hand signal to the others to stay where they are and be quiet. She quietly moves to the rusted metal gate and quietly examines it. Finding it to be locked, she quietly pulls out her tools again and quietly picks the lock.
Mary slides up to the pressure plate and examines it. She bends down to see how hard it is to disable the nozzles.
Action: Disable a Device vs Nozzle Thievery (Disable a Device) vs DC 22:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (13) + 12 = 25"Snick!"
She stands up. "Not a gimme by any stretch, but I think I can take care of it without triggering the trap."(Crit fail on a nat-1 only)
In the style of Bonnie...
Thievery (Disable a Device) vs DC 22:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (5) + 12 = 17"Click!" Thievery (Disable a Device) vs DC 22:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (6) + 12 = 18"Click!" Thievery (Disable a Device) vs DC 22:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (3) + 12 = 15"Click!" Thievery (Disable a Device) vs DC 22:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (13) + 12 = 25"Snick!" Thievery (Disable a Device) vs DC 22:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (16) + 12 = 28"Snick!" Thievery (Disable a Device) vs DC 22:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (9) + 12 = 21"Click!" Thievery (Disable a Device) vs DC 22:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (10) + 12 = 22"Snick!"
Wow! Meri has a 65 deception? Why aren’t we bluffing our way out of everything?!
Lol! Fixed.
Instead of replacing the 5 with a 6, I replaced the +. Frankly, I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often given how many times I've had to make such changes.
