Morthak Bonerattle's page

If Trevol were actually ghoul in disguise then that would have made a neat tie-in.

The trouble is, the players in this module don't seem to have any agency. None of the investigating we did bore any real fruit. Nothing we did seemed to matter. Was it bad rolling? Or bad writing? I haven't read the module, so I can't tell. But if that was the way it was [i]supposed[i] to go, then I suspect the latter.

If the adventure is written so the characters just sit and observe and try to survive as things happen to them, and then when all the events have happened they can tally up the clues and say "Aha! The mystery is solved," well, I don't consider that very good adventure writing. The characters should have the chance to do things that affect the story.

And Luc's cryptic word salad clues were useless to the point of being irritating. They were the kind of clues where there certainly is something the author is trying to get at, but there are so many ways to arrange the words that will sound good but are in fact wrong that it isn't worth wasting time on them.

I do think that as an old-school module it is probably written with the intent that there will be a cleric in the party who can turn undead. That was a staple of early D&D and would have made some of those fights with ghouls so much easier.

Fair enough.

The adventure is pretty frustrating and it seems like an ability to do things that advance the story hinges on individual skill checks that we are not making successfully, leading to one dead end after another. Nothing is more frustrating than knowing that there is an adventure in there somewhere and not being able to get to it.

"Well, I'm not sure. We know now that the licorice killer is probably not a ghoul. After all, why would he use a dagger when his claws would be more effective? And ghouls are not known to travel above ground in daylight."

"We could canvass the town. There can't be that many people here. We know precisely when the attack happened, so we could try to see if anyone can't confirm their whereabouts. Assuming the killer was from the village, that is."

"I've been told that I'm not the most charming person though. Maybe someone else should do the talking."

"You said 'hideous-looking dagger.' What makes you say that? Was it just that he was attacking you with it, or was there something strange about it?"

Morthak nods.

"Whoever did this was a coward, and fled the moment he was discovered."

"Hm, strange. Well, this killer used a knife. I don't think it was a ghoul, because ghouls have claws which are a lot more dangerous than your typical dagger."

"Which may mean that there are two sets of villains operating in this town, possibly independent of one another."

"Well, the licorice killer failed for once. Lillin was lucky we heard her. Or unlucky to be out at that time..."

"She is probably safe now. I would be inclined to head back and follow whatever tracks we can find."

LOL I was thinking it was night based on the picture, but I recall now it is actually mid-afternoon.

Sorry if you were expecting something from me. I had already taken actions and was waiting for Atushia to make a perception roll after I told her about the invisible guy, and to hear from Lars, who is our tracker.

"A man in a hood attacked her. I think he used some kind of magic to become invisible but I believe he went that way." Morthak points towards the leaves that he saw earlier.

Morthak examines the door to the south.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (2) + 9 = 11

"Hm. Looks fine."

He gets ready to open the door. Unless anyone objects.

*note that Morthak hasn't conveyed what he's seen so far...

Actually, I have. Please see my previous post. Not sure if Lars would have been close enough to hear me but Atushia would have been.

Morthak reaches up and rubs his nose, conveniently covering his mouth. While he does so, he whispers to Atushia (and to Lars if he is here by now).

"I think he's invisible. Over there by those leaves. Watch for footprints."

Morthak continues to watch, now looking for fresh footprints.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23
Survival (untrained): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22

He sheathes one of his daggers and pulls a small bag from his belt. (A bag of powder. I have two!)

Morthak trots past Atushia as she tends to the fallen woman. He looks around trying to spot any sign of her attacker.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24

Is the hooded guy gone?

Morthak darts around the corner and makes a beeline for the man with the hood.

Do I recognize the fallen woman?

Morthak ducks back behind the building and whispers to those behind him.

"A hooded man with a blade, just struck down someone. At least it's not a ghoul. Maybe it's Greenway? Did he wear a hood?"

Morthak keeps running, but when he is about to go round a building to where he thinks the scream comes from, he stops. He runs to the edge of the building and peeks around the corner, trying to keep under cover.

Just in case...

Stealth: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (20) + 13 = 33
Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17

Are folks moving yet?

Morthak and Atushia are, at least.

Morthak calls back to Samantha. "The scream came from over there!" he points.

"Up ahead! Something's amiss!" Morthak dashes ahead towards the source of the sound.

"There has to be more than this," Morthak says. "Let's look around."

Morthak begins making a search for secret exits.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21

If we don't find anything on the first pass, let's take 20.

Are there keys with the Manacles?

"Hmmm... I'm tempted to take these, though I doubt we will be taking any prisoners here. Perhaps I could damage the lock, so if someone was bound with them, they could escape easily."

Morthak shrugs.

If people think that is a good idea and it is allowed, I will attempt that. Either way I guess we go through the other door afterwards.

disable device take 10: 10 + 11 = 21

"Not a madman... ghouls. They live off human flesh. To them, living folk are merely meat on the hoof."

Morthak continues looking around.

Just waiting for answers to questions and results of rolls.

After that I vote we go east.

"I suppose even cannibals need a larder," Morthak grumbles. "Who knows how many people have been denied a rightful burial in this village?"

Morthak eyes the bodies hanging from the ceiling.

Are they undead?

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10
Knowledge (religion): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18

"Well... I see two doors out of here. And... are those cages?"

In the SE corner there are two things... might be cages or floor gratings... can't tell which from the map. If they are cages, is there anything in them?

"Hm... not pretty. But then, we didn't expect that."

If Samantha casts light on something then we can keep that object with us, while Atushia continually casts dancing lights. I wouldn't mind an everburning torch though.

Morthak makes his way down, carefully and quietly.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18
Stealth: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (7) + 13 = 20

Can we get a map?

"Strange... the whole house is empty, not even any servants."

Morthak returns to the trap door. "Shall we see what is below? Bring the light over here."

Morthak opens the trap door and peers down.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17

Guys:

Do you just want to go with four vials of holy water? Or should we ask for scrolls of CLW for backup healing? They cost the same.

Edit: also, I assume we slept through much of the morning. Does this qualify as a night's rest for regaining HP? If so I will be at 16.

"When your enemy makes a mistake, don't correct him," says Morthak.

He slowly peels back the carpet, carefully looking for traps.

Perception Take 20: 20 + 9 = 29

"Do you want to go down this way now? Or shall we scout the levels above ground first?"

GMCan we retcon and say we dumped all that stuff at the general store and bought stuff from Burcian before heading to the house?

By my math they are worth in trade:
4 x leather armor = 20 gp
4 x dogslicer = 16 gp
3 x shortbow = 45 gp

This plus the cash we already had, we can buy four vials of holy water. Or we could get two vials and then two scrolls of cure light wounds if he has those.

Morthak Bonerattle wrote:

I have 7 gp left over from character creation. Did we find any money so far in the adventure?

The group did find gold on the goblins at least. Otherwise the party found some stuff in the chest in the swamp, but most of the encounters haven't really offered up much raw coin:

On the goblins are various oddities. Leather armor x4, goblin dogslicers x4, short bows x4, arrows x 29, a black eye patch (with a hole in the middle), a bladder bag filled with various pieces of broken glass, two desnan candles, and 23 silver, 12 gold.

Morthak will keep a shortbow and the arrows (why not) but let's see if Burcian will take any of this stuff in trade. If not, let's see if we can get rid of it anywhere in town and then go back to Burcian with the money.

For the record, Morthak has masterwork thieves' tools and knows how to use them. Using them I have +11 in disable device.

Unless you think we will be discovering a lot of magical traps, the trapfinding ability isn't necessary. Sam and Atushia both have detect magic.

I have 7 gp left over from character creation. Did we find any money so far in the adventure?

"Father, do you happen to have any holy water? I'm not sure how much money we have, but it would seem a sensible thing to buy."

After that, perhaps getting a proper rest would be in order, and then maybe try the big house again during the daytime.

I generally don't post in a thread until I see activity there, so I haven't been posting, but yes, I am still here and able to continue.

Just an FYI guys:

Holiday Plans:

This Friday (i.e. tomorrow), Saturday, Sunday, and Monday I have Christmas events to attend (and I may be busy Tuesday too). I will be travelling for some of that period. I still expect to have internet access and I'll try to get online in that period but my posting frequency may suffer. Wednesday night I will be back home and things will return to normal for me.

I don't think that the ability to find magical traps is really a priority. I am a rogue but I traded that ability away for cooler sneak attacks.

Anyway, I think I'm ready to move on.

At 2nd level Morthak gets

+10 HP (see above!) :)
+1 BAB
+1 Reflex Save
Evasion
Rogue Talent
+9 Skill Ranks:
+1 Climb
+1 Acrobatics
+1 Escape Artist
+1 Disable Device
+1 Stealth
+1 Heal
+1 Perception
+1 Bluff
+1 Use Magic Device

GM: I was wondering if we could consider Twist Away to be a combat feat? Technically it is not (though I don't know why it wouldn't be). If yes I can use the Combat Trick talent to take it this level. I have a feeling there are going to be a TON more Fortitude Saves this adventure.

It sounds like we have to roll.

HP: 1d8 ⇒ 8

...which, I'm not going to complain about!

Yay, positive HP! I am now at 4 HP.

"The people in town seem resigned to this kind of thing. I'm surprised they don't leave."

"There are strange and dangerous creatures running about. Some have claws and fangs with a paralyzing venom. They did this," Morthak shows the priest his wounds.

"Then there was some sort of cloud, and it seemed to kill someone in the inn and turn him into a zombie. He attacked us in the hallway."

"If you are capable of treating these wounds, we would appreciate it."

"Yes, let's go talk to him. And while we do so, perhaps he can tell us more about what is going on."

"The strange thing is... you can't make a living man into a zombie. It requires a corpse. From the sounds of it he was alive until quite recently, so how did he die?"

Morthak examines the body for wounds that were not made by the party.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18

Morthak looks around the corner at the dead creature.

knowledge (religion): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10

"Hm... looks like a zombie. That's a mindless animated corpse. I wonder if that cloud of gas caused this creature to come alive? Inns don't normally keep them in stock."

"We should look in the room it came from. Maybe there's a clue there."

Did we need a knowledge (religion) check? Morthak has that, but he hasn't actually seen the enemy yet.

Morthak draws his dagger and gets ready.

"Fall back!" he hisses. "Let him come to us!"

Can't really get at the enemy from here. But if Samantha steps to one side, and Atushia shuts the door, the Zombie should follow into the hall. If we can get him to follow past the door then Lars could come in behind and you would both be flanking it in the hallway.

Yeah, daze should really be called daze person. It only works on humanoids. You might not know that undead are immune to mind-affecting effects, but you probably would know that your spell specifically only works on living people. Unless you thought he was still alive and just... sick maybe.

Morthak opens the door carefully, peering out, then opens it without a word.

"Something's going on next door," he says, after the other enter and shut the door.

BTW I don't have sound on the machine I am at right now.

Does the perception roll I made earlier count? If not...

Percpetion: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22

Hmmm, what's that noise?

Morthak presses his ear to the wall to see if he can hear anything else.

Morthak continues to wait upstairs. He continues to move between the window and the door, keeping watch on both.

Morthak continues to keep watch, periodically going over to the window to look out, and then back to watch the door.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16

"Strawberries. Right."

Morthak draws a dagger and prepares to engage anyone who comes through the door without saying the password.

That will cause me to go down but I could get a sneak attack in from it.