Geedra wriggles her way out of the curse's nagging hold once more, both pushing her crackling sphere of lightning and conjuring a sudden detonation of sonic force around the fey's head. She nimbly evades the lightning but then staggers for a moment, wincing and slapping the side of her head, but seems to shake loose of the worst of the second spell. Saved vs both but still takes the half damage from the scream. Unfortunately this wily fey has some nasty saving throws :(
Skäne bullies through the nymph's aura with pure rage and resolve, bringing his shield up for a series of strikes. He smashes into her lithe form once, twice, each blow delivering a resounding crack...as well as the spectral roar coming from the bear head emblem on the shield! She hisses and screams at the sound of the roar and the cold iron battering against her body.
"No, no, no! I hate that!" she screams.
I think we glossed over this quickly in the fight with the torturers in a previous room, but don't forget the newfound ability of your shield - it deals an additional 1d6 sonic damage against fey creatures ! :) you can roll it. A solid 30 damage thus far from those blows.
I'll let Byakko go and then finish off the round..Skane technically goes after the enemy but that's ok. I'll just switch them to make the order a little easier. Also thinking Silas might have underestimated his busyness when he came aboard, so I'll take him up for the battle and then see where he is with things.
Back from a short vacation and feeling refreshed after a trying week, so should be able to focus down on things here finally.
Round 2
Skäne delivers a pair of skewering strikes on the malevolent fey, with one pushing into her corrupted flesh, splitting it against the tip of the spear. She doesn't seem too bothered by it, though, leaning in close to the stern warrior and hissing before playfully pushing him away as the wound remains blood free. "Come now, you can do better than that."
Round 3
The frenzy of the melee continues with Skäne's mighty stabs interlacing with Byakko and Enii's swipes, but this adversary is possessed of impressive mettle and she dodges the thrusts in a wickedly beautiful dance. As the vikingr roars his threat, she leans back from him, hunching down and hissing once more, but it is difficult to say if it is our of fear, rage, or some combination... You did hit that DC right on the nose, so shaken for 1 round :)
Hey Skäne you still get your action for the end of round 2 :) I'll fill in for Silas.
Round 2
Silas darts around from behind the menhir and fires off a shot at the nymph, but her agility is truly otherworldly and she nimble shifts out of the way of another strike. Silas yelps a bit and ducks back around the menhir, disappearing from sight once more.
Round 3
Geedra surveys the melee and readies herself to weave another spell or hex into the fray, opportunist as she is.
Silas pops out again and tries another shot, this one succeeding in biting into the fey's inner elbow, a well-struck sneack attack. She winces and grimaces slightly, calling out to her assailant. "No no little mouse, I'll have you as a snack..." The bolt was a direct shot to the joint, but other than a slow drip of sickly black-purple blood, the strike does not seem to bother her overmuch.. Silas doesn't much like the sound of that, and ducks around again. Sniper stealth successful again. The sneak attck also did successfully lower the nymph's AC for the next round via Debilitating injury
Byakko and Enii once more work in tandem to flank the debased fey, and while the unfortunately blinded tigress fails to find any fey flesh, Byakko's bladework proves more fruitful. The blade cuts twice across her green-grey flesh! ...but no blood or wound to show. As the oracle's fangs snap down out of reach of the woman, she laughs.
"Lovely try! And oh, I didn't know you liked to bite!" she licks her own sharpened teeth.
Krosh's voice comes forth. "Nay. Moonsweft - cold iron. The blade given by the centaur.. use it!" As he intones this wisdom, he fiddles with a hanging trinket and touches Enii. The darkness fades from her eyes and her sight is regained.
The nymph raises an eye to the orcish shaman. "Spilling secrets are we?"
She turns to Byakko and gives him a tsk tsk. "Not so fast, love," she coos, coming at him again with another rapid strike of claws...that both batter against armor and shield. She howls. "You are NO fun!"a pair of bad rolls for her to be sure.
Back to Skäne for rounds 2 and 3. and then on to 4. No movements so map is the same as last post.
Damn, hope you made out alright with that tornado and didn't sustain any damage!
Sorry guys, it's been a week. Wife's grandfather passed and she got some other unrelated bad news as well. Should be able to get a post up tomorrow after work though as things are calming down.
As the rippling aura manifests around the horrid fey, Byakko and Skäne are steadfast in their resistance. The wretched power that seeks to take hold of their senses is rejected. Enii is not so fortunate, however, and her eyes go a full, blank white as the realm of sight is stolen away from her. Byakko continues his resistance, refusing to submit once more as the long-fingered hand maneuvers in its with its cruel caress. The woman bares bloodstained, sharpened teeth and hisses.
Skäne tenses, muscles tightening beneath of layers of metal, leather, fur, and flesh as ire wells within. With shield and spear in position he advances through the strange chamber with furious purpose. As he closes in on the fey, he feels the weight behind his eyes once more...but is again able to shake it off.
Round 2
The roiling electricity directed by Geedra weaves to strike the creature again, but even midst the gathered melee, her supernatural senses and movements aid her well as she twists and shifts to safety. Geedra then bests the Witch Tree's curse once more and invokes magic to tug once more on the strands of fate, filling her allies with a whetted resolve as the spell thrums through them.
As Byakko goes on the offensive, he can feel the strange sensation from the fey's form try to overcome him again...but he resists once more. He and Enii strike in tandem, coming at their target with a flurry of blades, fangs, and claws. Fortunately Enii's ability to track such a close target through scent at least lets her have guidance in the direction of her strikes. The corrupted fey, however, is no easy prey. She weaves and shifts in abstract movements, putting herself out of the path of each strike from the hunting companions.
Enii is blinded for the foreseeable future, though Krosh might be able to help with that ;) Scent allows Enii to pinpoint the 5 foot square the creature is in, but still will attack with a blindness/concealment miss chance; knows what spot to attack but still disadvantaged as she can't track the target within that spot, if that makes sense. Don't need to make perception checks for the scent within 5 feet, though, so full attacks are good unless she has to find the fey again.
Krosh cautiously enters the room, yelling out. "A nymph once, now something else. Don't look at her, or her flesh will take your eyes!"
I rolled for Byakko and Skäne on their turns and both saved again, but every round on your turn you'll need to make the save again (fort vs 21) if you are within 30 feet of the corrupted nymph. You can choose to avert your eyes while fighting her, but doing so will incur a 50% miss chance on any attacks against her.
The orc-blooded shaman advances through the room, taking his own advice and keeping his eyes trained on the floor as he moves into a position to assist.
The nymph shrieks with wild laughter. "Clever oaf!" she coos at Krosh. "But...why wouldn't you want to look?" her eyes dart to Byakko as she moves her form to better bare herself to him, biting her lip just before her face turns to a snarl and she attacks him. Her bloody claws lash out, but the oracle is just able to bring his shield up in time to turn the blows aside. A narrow miss! Furious, the nymph screams. "I want to feel your BLOOD!"
I'll let Silas get his action in but Skäne et all and go ahead and continue as well to top off round 2 and start the third.
Getting a post up today. For some reason this week I kept getting 404'd trying to post anything on the forums except on mobile? Wasn't about to try and type up a combat round on my phone (though I guess I could have typed it on the PC put it on Drive or something..hindsight) but looks like it is working again now!
Byakko and Enii move in concert to converge on the dark fey, flanking her as they lash out with sword and fang. This adversary seems to be as wily and agile as she is vile and mad, however, and with her strange, supernatural movements she shifts out of the way of both blows, laughing all the while.
Silas, lingering in the back, outright vanishes from view of the enemy, using the ample cover in the room to obfuscate his position.
Krosh focuses his gaze on the fey and a rippling silver energy flashes in his eyes before a similar aura shimmers across the creature's flesh before disappearing. He then readies his spear. Utilizes the Metal Curse hex granted by today's Wandering Hex..the fey now has a -2 penalty on AC against metallic weapons for 2 turns.
A different sort of aura then blazes around the fey as a supernatural veil ripples across her form, projecting her twisted beauty in the space around her.
Need those within 30 feet that can see the Nymph - looks like Skäne, Byakko, and Enii - to make a DC 21 Fortitude Save or be blinded.
She then turns her attention to Byakko and reaches as bloody, clawd hand out for a touch. Greenish light flows from her into the Oracle, further pushing her attempted campaign against his physicality. And Byakko give me a second Fortitude Save against DC 16
Geedra resists the curse that tugs at her tongue and conjures up a roiling cloud of nascent storm, loosing a strike of lightning from it to strike the cruel fey. With otherwordly grace, however, the creature bends and shifts out of the path of the bolts. The electricity cracks against the earth, sending a spray of stone and dirt into the air.
"Tsk tsk, litte one," she coos. "I've beheld witchcraft for many of your lifetimes. You'll have to try more than that." her sultry tease suddenly pivots to a wild cackle of unsettling laughter as she throws her head back in a mirthful display.
I'll give others another day or so to reply but I'll move us along tomorrow evening or so either way.
Byakko feels a sudden supernatural force ripple through his flesh, blood and bones, intent on seizing his every nerve. Just as this presence penetrates his form, however, the primal, moon-blessed instincts take hold and his body rejects the intrusion, just barely. Just made that save :)
We can say you bull's strength before the encounter, that's fine.
"Prey then..not play," the fey coos, though it is difficult to say if she is pleased or dismayed with the outcome. Her eyes snap to Skäne as he steps forward with his proclamation. "I've slain larger and stronger men than you, cub. So be it." she hisses and bares sharpened teeth, her bloodied claws seem to grow longer, and her hair begins to float about her body as if were an entity unto itself...
Byakko and Enni move forward to scout the room, set on edge by the gruesome display. Enni's senses are ravaged by the foul stenches here; the heaviness of the blood in the air, the disemboweled corpses, the half-rotted flowers.
The sound of shifting plants and displaced liquid softly calls out from the center of the room and a voice whispers out...darkly seductive but tinged with some sort of disjointed iciness.
"Tap tap, the tapping feet of mice in my chambers..." it coos. "Bigger rats came and bled for me a bath, what do these little mice come to gift...aside from words and whispers"
From behind one of the menhirs you spot a form half-appear, still mostly obscured by the large stone. A woman, naked, but covered heavily in dark, wet blood peers out. Her flesh beneath of the blood is a dark grey-green, her hair reaches the floor and is black as jet. Red eyes look out from angular features that are simultaneously beautiful and horrible. The tall, incredibly long ears suggest some sort of fey lineage, but the elongated fingers ending in cruel claws suggest something worse.
"Not a mouse, not a mouse," she says with a smirk. "A little kitten come to play. Will it hiss or purr?" She licks a smear of blood off of her lips. "Play or prey...choices..." her voice suddenly breaks into a short, bursting fit of cackling laughter that subsides as soon as it starts. "All of my hungers are endless, but which to sate?" She steps behind the menhir before peering out once more from the other side.
"I feel fickle today. I will let you decide, in a way..." She gives Byakko a slowly spreading smile as her eyes suddenly flash...
Go ahead and make me a Fortitude Save, Byakko. I'll also give a shot for other responses/reactions for everyone.
Your sleep is nothing luxurious, but it serves its purpose. Waking and gearing up for the next leg of your travel, Byakko moves to test the stone door that leads out of the room. After spending a few moments to search it, it doesn't appear to be trapped or locked. Pushing it open reveals a long hall of rough-cut stone stairs that lead down and curve away out of view.
Following the path sends you down further into this bizarre statue's interior, the steps gently curving to the left as you descent. After a hundred feet or so, the steps level out and open up into a chamber ahead, from which you can see some flickering light. As you gain the entrance, you see that said flickering light fills the whole 80-foot diameter chamber beyond, emanating from the empty eye sockets of nine skulls hanging from chains staked into the stone walls with iron spikes. Huge stone menhirs, seven in all, form a ring around the perimeter of the room, catching the candlelight and tearing it into swaths of wavering shadows.
The gutted corpses of two frost giants hang from two of the menhirs, facing one another from the east and west. Bound to the massive stones with rusted chains, the giants are soaked with their own blood, which flows into the center of the room to disappear into a huge pile of of wilted wildflower blossoms. A strange and horrid sight to behold...
Just as you take stock of the room and decide to rest, the tiredness and fatigue of your long journey and many battles suddenly set in. Figuring this place is no worse or better than any other in this strange dungeon, you settle in for what rest you can.
Krosh can expend his healing hex, 2d8+8, on anyone who has not received benefit from it today. There are also hits from the Cure Light Wounds wand if anyone needs them.
After about an hour, you are given a start as the bodies of the slain fey begin to glow, but before you can muster a response, they simply burn away into cascades of glittering ashes that promptly vanish, leaving behind only their daggers.
Fortunately your rest comes undisturbed...whether you've dealt with many of the enemies in the area or this room is off the beaten path is unclear, but you take solace in getting rest as good as this place will allow.
Stripped of all of their tricks and supernatural advantages, the injured fey are pressed on their heels as the party surges forward. In a flurry of spear thrusts, sword slashes, claw swipes, and fangs the cruel backstabbers are cut down and left in ruin.
In the aftermath of the battle you find amidst this room the four daggers (masterwork) of the fey creatures but little else, until Geedra remembers her earlier detect magic spell and looks down at the hole in the floor her and Skäne were standing over. Within the hole, which is about two feet deep, is a lustrous, multifaceted prism about ten inches long. Magical analysis shows it to function as a gem of brightness with 25 charges. Other than this, the room is barren. A path leads to the right (from your entry point) out of the chamber, while a stone door sits in the wall to the left.
Full disclosure, coming back into things I couldn't find my doc where I was tracking HP and that sort of thing and rather than try to go through post by post and figure everything out I just nudged the bout to it's conclusion. Enemies were injured and I doubt you guys would have failed ;) . I figure we'll get off to a bit of a fresh start after the messiness of the month, sorry about that!
That said, it has been a while since you guys have rested - the last time was before you even got to Artrosa, still on the road with your centaur guide. Krosh is out of channels and nearly out of spells and I'm sure some of the rest of you are also down on resources, just to throw that out there, so if you are looking to hunker down now might be a good opportunity.
Hey guys, sorry for the silence as of late. Been dealing with some health issues, bouncing around between doctors and spent 8 hours in the ER on Wednesday getting a bunch of tests. I think things have calmed down for now until a follow up appointment Monday so I should be able to get back to it over the weekend. Thanks for bearing with me.
The strange, blurry creatures react with wild surprise upon being seen, letting out high-pitched squeals of frustration and anger as they continue to lash out with their razor-thin blades. The pair flanking Skäne leap forward, driving their daggers at the defensive Ulfen. One blow is once more deflected by the shield, but the second actually manages to find purchase, neatly finding the smallest of gaps in his defenses to slice into flesh. 14 points of damage to Skäne.
Elsewhere, Byakko continue squaring off against his opponent, his ability to see the enemy now lending its aid to his wily instincts and he deftly avoids the blade coming for him.
The final sprite, pinned by Enii, struggles again against the weight of the tigress but fails to wriggle free.
Skäne punches back hard at the enemy before him, connecting twice with his spear and sending more glowing golden blood spattering onto the floor. The wounded foe staggers back in a limp, still standing but barely.
Byakko slashes and bites at his opponent, but only the first swipe manages to land on the evasive, flickery form.
I think Enii has a +12 to attack (unless she was power attacking?) and since the enemy is prone she gets a +4 bonus for attacking it, so I do believe she hits each strike :)
Enii lays into her prey, fang and claws eviscerating the form beneath her. As the screams turn to gurgles and eventually silence, the golden light from the creature fades to reveal some sort of fey with alabaster flesh.
Silas loads his crossbow and fires off another bolt at the mortally wounded fey in front of Skäne, finishing the bugger off as the bolt thuds into its chest.
Geedra steps away from any would-be attacks and uses her misfortune hex on the remaining enemy vexing her and Skäne as Krosh mends her with a healing hand. 2d8 + 8 ⇒ (3, 4) + 8 = 15 hp back to geedra
Back to you all, will update map hopefully tomorrow, though not much has changed positioning wise. 2 baddies left.
The invisible foes lash out again, but their slashing blows find only armor against Skäne and Byakko. Enii can feel the creature beneath her paw struggle to wriggle free, but she holds her weight down on it and keeps it there.
SKäne punches forth with his trusty spear, guided by Geedra's frantic points and calls. The tip cuts by something and a spatter of yellowish-gold blood trickles across the floor.
A bolt comes soaring in from the hallway, loosed by Silas's crossbow, and it too finds purchase on Skänes target, causing an audible yelp.
Byakko steps away from the direction of his assailant and channels his lunar magic into a restorative weave to close some of his own wounds as Enii savages the prone creature, biting and clawing. The room is filled with high pitched cries of pain as the tigress's white fur is stained with gold.
Krosh's head swivels about for a moment and then fixates on the hole below Geedra and Skäne. He immediately begins muttering an incantation and weaving his hands, moving them in an arc out in front of him. A soft, humming bluish-grey light emanates from the shaman across the room, and a moment later the bright light in the room dims, casting the cave into a semi-light gloom. As the simulated sunlight fades, your assailants suddenly become visible! Four small humanoid shapes, their glowing forms nebulous amalgamations of light that blurs at their edges, rending their fine features indiscernible. They appear to be some sort of small faerie or sprites, however, with flitting dragonfly-like wings of white draped down their backs. They each carry a wicked knife and move in strange, flickery patterns.
Another flurry of stabbing attacks from the unseen forces lash out. The clamorous ring of metal sounds out as whatever implements being employed crash against Skäne's armor and shield, the limning glow of sparks evident with each collision.
Byakko's heightened animal senses ripple through him as he suddenly lurches back, a ragged edge of his clothing receiving a tear as he narrowly avoids another wound. Unfortunately he can not outmaneuver the blow from his flank and feels another painful bite as something sharp punctures his flesh. 19 points of damage.
Byakko turns his blade into an outward slash, but finds only air as the whispers in his ears become taunting laughs. His snarl is broken by Enii's sudden roar as the tiger bounds into the room. Catching a foreign scent, she springs and lashes out with a claw, hitting something solid and digging in. A loud yelp breaks through the phantom whispers and Enii pushes the advantage, slamming an invisible something onto the floor and holding it there with her powerful paw.
Skäne closes his defense even more, effectively fending off the unseen attacks.
Geedra wriggles out of the curse to cast a spell just as Krosh plods into the room, reading from a scroll. As Krosh dispels the blindness claiming Geedra's eyes, her own spell bends the light around the room through her vision and she can now see the assailants.
Geedra:
You now see 4 small humanoid creatures, their forms blurry and bleeding away at the edges into the surrounding light, making them appear out of focus and making their facial and body features indiscernible. They are wielding cruel daggers - 2 flank you and Skäne, 1 stands by Byakko, and the last is laying prone on the floor, held down by Enii's paw.
Skäne closes ranks with Geedra, covering his goblin comrade with his shield while pulling her up out of harms way. The sounds of the whispers circle around and the warrior pivots in place, moving his ursine bulwark around in preemptive defense.
Byakko feels the incisive burn in his wound, venom trying to work its way into his veins, but through clenched teeth he manages to resist just as he casts a spell to improve his defenses. Scanning his surroundings, he isn't able to pick up on whatever enemy or enemies might be present, but he too is assaulted by the whispers that seem to be spinning around the chamber.
Enii hisses and growls from the entrance of the room, doing her best to pick up the assailants. Enii can use her scent ability here which should give her a +8 to detect via perception via smell. The tigress crouches though and growls more, pushing a empathic thought to her companion. Four prey...fast..moving...
Krosh takes a deep breath and fiddles with his talismans as he has time and time again, releasing the warming shower of silver sparks that swarm around his allies. 4d6 ⇒ (2, 4, 5, 2) = 13health back to everyone.
onto round 2..I'll give Silas a ping; I know he's been busy To save us some back and forth, if you want to make attacks against these annoyingly invisible foes, you can make Perception checks on your turn as a move action and attack as a standard action and then roll a d100 as well. I'll let you know if the combo of rolls lands.
Skäne pushes into the room, eyes scanning the light-bathed chamber as he closes in on Geedra's position. Moving his shield into a defensive position to cover his goblin ally, the warrior isn't able to detect the source of the sudden attacks..though he too now hears the whispers in the room that seem to emanate from everywhere all at once.
Geedra bemoans her current situation as she falls prey to the envenomed wound... 1 point of STR damage
Darkness pools in Geedra's eyes and the witch's vision fades away as some malign effect takes hold of her. The same presence tries to claim Byakko's as well, but as the edges of his periphery start to bleed to black, he shakes off whatever curse it is and retains his faculties.
There is a heavy moment of silence and hesitation and just as it is about to fade, Geedra screams out in a furious pain as some unseen force lashes out. A puncture wound appears on the front of her torso and a moment later a second follows on her back; both stabs issue a cough of blood a moment later. Geedra takes 9 damage followed by 12 for a total of 21.
The sound of metal on metal erupts as another invisible source clatters against his upraised shield, but the assailant slides off of the bulwark and inside of Byakko's defenses, inflicting a painful wound of its own. The oracle suffers a second blow as well as something sharp and cold bites into his thigh from behind, followed by the warm flow of blood. 10 and 8 damage to Byakko for a total of 18Very close...Would've had both of those blocked with the shielded AC if not for being Flat-footed at the moment.
Both make another Fort save for me as well if you would.
Geedra and Byakko enter the room. While Byakko moves cautiously, scanning slowly and keeping behind his shield, Geedra saunters directly in and over to the hole, weaving some magic as she goes. As the witch nears the orifice, both she and Byakko begin to hear a sibilant campaign of unintelligible whispers filter into their ears. It seems as though they are coming from everywhere, eerily close and distant simultaneously.
Geedra:
You do sense an aura of evocation coming from the hole in the room, and getting close to it the aura is strong inside of the hole
Geedra makes it to the hole regardless and standing over it her form does interrupt the flow of light very slightly - akin to putting your fingers in the cone of light shed from a bullseye lantern.
The whispers in the room seem unhappy with the goblin's proximity to the hole in the ground. They swell for a moment and both Geedra and Byakko suddenly experience a haze of encroaching darkness around their eyes...
Go ahead and make Fortitude Saves for me to resist being blinded
You take the key back up the path you were just previously led through by Ungrist, finding yourselves back in the room of partitioned sleeping quarters where you first encountered the duplicitous woman Cagriel. Moving to the far side of the room you encounter a wall made of unmortared fieldstone with a door set within it, its stone surface carved with the image of a young woman walking with a deer in the forest.
The door is indeed locked, but when Byakko tries the newfound key, you are pleased to hear an agreeable click as the door unlocks and is able to be pushed open. Moving past it, you find yourselves on another flight of rough-hewn stairs leading down. You begin your descent, quickly noticing ahead that a light of intense brightness is spilling out of a room ahead into the corridor. This is no torch- or firelight, but something brighter, whiter, and uniform, without the movement that light shed from flame would be. Passing into the light, it causes you no harm other than forcing you to squint, and eventually you come to the end of the hallway as it opens into another large chamber of natural stone; it is barren save for the single 6 inch diameter hole in the floor. You are readily able to ascertain that this hole is the source of the light. You notice that the light seems to be even stronger in the room ahead as you stand on the threshold of the corridor. Another hallway leads out of the room on the far wall to your right, while the wall on the far left houses another stone door.
Thanks guys. Managed to get into the dentist and they cleaned it all out. Still pretty sore and annoying but this is the first time I haven't had a splitting headache in almost 2 weeks so that's been wonderful. Feeling better in time for the incoming snowstorm in the Mid-Atlantic states which is good because it's my favorite weather!
As a group you exchange glances and mutually understand that perhaps a battle with this particular enemy is unnecessary. Having successfully recovered the key "dropped" by Jadrenka, and with the warden - and Ungrist - now vanished from the metamorphosed chamber, you slowly back out the way you came as the bull stomps and snorts its sickly green mist, but upon your egress makes no move to pursue you.
Krosh sounds out a half-groan, half-hum, shaking his head. "This place is strange, and its warden stranger. These pawns of the Witch Queen need always speak in riddles..." He looks around at the walls and ceiling. "It could well be anything we see here is not truly what it appears. Be it structure or being. And I do not think these halls are merely halls. We entered atop the Maiden, yet that Ungrist said his Warden was "not here, but back in the Maiden." I think we have magically moved between the statues, maybe more than once or twice. And the three statues are miles apart." He breathes and touches one of the walls as if testing it for realness. "We delve into shadows and illusions. Be wary."
You have a key, though it looks much like a mundane key for a door and not like a key to the cauldron in the hut - those keys are never actual keys, but maybe it will help your progress through Artrosa. I've updated a map showing everywhere you have been so far and made notations of what was where. You have two paths leading south where you stand now (just outside the Jadrenka / Metallic Bull room on the bottom), as well as a locked door where you met Caigreal, and then two corridors leading out of the room you fought Ungrist in. Pick your poison!
Hope everyone had good holidays indeed. I've been dealing with a very fun abscessed infection in my gum that my very kind wisdom tooth decided to gift me, so forgive me for the absence this week. Hopefully I'll be able to get into the dentist in the coming days to get it sorted.
Yes, there is an exit behind you, the same way you entered. Forgot to confirm that in the new room description.
Skäne accepts the sudden challenge of the metallic bull, matching the beast's snorts with guff as he readies and braces his spear. Byakko manages to get the key and pocket it without drawing the bull's ire and begins to back away, hesitantly producing his weapon as well while Geedra attempts to advise the others to pull back.
You have the key and an exit is behind you, so you do have a final moment to break away if you want. I'll give you another moment to decide, but Skäne seems keen on a trophy ;)
Jadrenka smirks, her face suddenly betraying her with an of air of delight.
"Riders, you say?" she says playfully. "I'm not sure if that is ominous or fortuitous." She sighs and stretches. "Still, not all intruders are made equal, it would seem. Perhaps our paths do not need to cross in woe? Desires, ambitions...fickle things." She absentmindedly fiddles with her necklace of keys, slipping a finger through the eye of one and begins twirling it on her finger. "In any case, it certainly would be nice if all of those loud, lumbering oafs were to find themselves...well, not so loud or capable of lumbering anymore, no?" she gives a wink. "We shall meet again, I am sure. Oh, and...forgive me, I cannot explain the intricacies, but when the illusion fades, best be on your way. Warden I may be, but I can't control everything here," she says, glancing to the ox before continuing in a whisper. "And he may be hungry."
A final spin of the key sends it flying from her finger and landing in the grass a few feet in front of your group. "Oh my, how...clumsy of me. Pleasant travels, my dears," she chuckles, winking again.
The ring on her finger flashes and Jadrenka vanishes. A moment later, the endless meadow of wildflowers melts away around you, swiftly leaving you in a bare cavern; floor, ceiling, an walls of rough-hewn stone. The muscular ox is an ox no longer, but a huge bull with flesh that appears to be interlocking bluish-gray metallic plates. Massive horns curve forward, similarly colored. The beast stamps and snorts, a sickly green mist escaping its flared nostrils as it does, but doesn't move to strike..yet.
You're good Byakko, it just got me thinking of the path as a whole and I wanted to make sure no one felt bad for feeling confused at any point. Plus it's harder to follow on PbP when 1 day ago in game was a month ago in playtime. I appreciate the kind words from everyone regardless. Maybe one day if we're all still kickin around here I can run a homebrew for you all.
I also made a post in the gameplay thread when I made the discussion thread post...but the boards disagree. Getting another one up now.
This adventure is just really weird. My biggest pain with adventure paths is that sometimes they are just so focused on the structure or machination of the adventure/lore/behind the scenes stuff that it actually spites the players/characters. There are sometimes I read portions of these books and it's just the most self-congratulatory "look how cool and interesting I am" passages from the authors...like a high school kid writing edge poetry or something. Like, there will be one paragraph of player-presented information about a given NPC or story beat but then 8 paragraphs of "the players will assume this but really this is only happening because of that which in turn is because of this but they will never know that because of this other thing and plus there's this fourth thing that has to do with the third thing and now let me lore dump this reasoning to you that never matters because as I said the players specifically CANNOT know about it because of things 2 and 5." This sort of stuff is really prevalent in this adventure and if anything I think it makes it harder for a DM to run because you are left trying to find ways to explain apparently inexplicable things and give players something to work with while the adventure itself fights you in doing that.
I ran this adventure path in an offline group once as well (this was the last book we did before that playgroup fizzled) and it was hard in person to and I ended up just having to take a lot of liberties because the players were so confused. The adventure path really has this heavy hand in trying to force a "the players and their characters are too dumb to even hope to possibly comprehend the machinations of Baba Yaga" vibe which I just don't think makes for a great experience. I haven't read the last 3 books in this path yet but I hope they do a bit better in these regards.
The Jadrenka stuff is probably some of the most confusing in the book. The book point blank says that she will never reveal to the PCs who she is or that she is the Warden or anything, and is forbidden to help them because of she does actively help them than her pacts with Baba Yaga are broken and she loses all of her powers and status as the Warden...but nowhere else does it explain this pact or why that is part of the pact or how it makes sense...and it specifically doesn't make sense because the party are the goddamn riders of Baba Yaga. I understand not wanting to have her help the party directly because she's powerful and would trivialize a lot of stuff, and that they want some of this adventure to remain enigmatic with the raven riddles and all, but I feel like they could come up with a better reason than "she's not allowed to because I said so." The book pretty much assumes that every room you come to you will just kill whatever enemy there is and doesn't really touch on "what if they talk to this person" so I guess it also assumes that you'll never have any interactions with anyone else about the Warden? (other than Caigreal who tries to maneuver you against her...but if you do act against her you kind of just break the adventure for yourselves?).
Anyway didn't mean to go off there, my ultimate point is if you are ever feeling lost, confused, or frustrated with this adventure, I'm right there with you, lol. I'm trying to ease the pains by being a bit more straightforward with some things.
Jadrenka perks up a bit and smiles at Geedra, taking her arm from around the stoic ox next to her she kneels down to put herself more at the goblin's eye level. You can spot a series of silver necklace chains around her neck, one of which holds several keys of different materials, and the other a few feathers, bones, and a gold nugget. "Truly little witch, you serve Baba Yaga as well? When did you see her last? Did she give you any messages to pass along?" She sighs somewhat whimsically and closes her eyes momentarily, basking in some recollection, and then opens them again. She waves her hand in the air in front of her, a ring on her finger shimmering in a mystic light as she does. "Hm, interesting..."
She stands up and stretches. "Caegriel is a horrid old hag. We have a troubled past, but forced we are to coexist here, for the time. I cannot say much. Oh, if only I could reveal the secrets of this place..." she winks towards to the human and elven men and bites her finger playfully. "But, I cannot. Though if you want to find what was lost, you could follow the taker to the Mother, where she kneels to pray."
You guys can make some Diplomacy checks during your interactions as well.
Jadrenka's ears and eyebrows perk a bit at the mention of Baba Yaga, and it is this topic that she latches onto.
"You've news on Baba Yaga?" she asks with a sly, inviting smile. She tosses her hair behind her shoulder and relaxes her stance. "I have not heard from her in some time...t'is a strange thing." She let out a drawn out sigh. "And what might you know about these boorish giants that have come intruding and stomping about?" A pang of anger and annoyance flashes across her visage as she mentions them. She reverts to a devious smile to add: "You're in my domain, my dashing adventurers. Perhaps if you answer my questions, I would consider answering yours."
No worries, this is kind of a convoluted adventure path even at a table, let alone in a a PbP.
Basically Baba Yaga in her infinite wisdom and planning left a breadcrumb trail for her Riders if anything was to ever happen to her and she disappeared. It was ascertainable that something did indeed happen to her when she didn't return for her removal of the current Whitethrone Queen and installation of a new one which she has done every 100 years for 1000+ years. The Riders are charged with following these breadcrumbs in the form of keys that when placed in the Dancing hut cauldron take the Hut and the Riders on the next step of this trail.
The original keys were given to you what feels like eons ago by the Black Rider. Putting those keys in the hut brought you to Iobaria and ultimately Artrosa where the next set of keys are. The ravens' riddles in the campaign info tab give some hint as to the nature of the keys. But that's your main reason to be here - to find the keys for the hut to continue your Riders' quest to find Baba Yaga as only she can stop the machinations of the usurper Queen Elvanna.
"Warden is Jadrenka. Jadrenka is Warden. Master of all Artrosa, title given by Baba Yaga herselfs!" He smiles a truly grotesque smile. "Hmmm, where she be...Warden can move through all Artrosa in a blink," he repeats. He taps his head a few times. "Last I knows she not in Crone. She went over to Maiden. Come, come!" You realize he just said this a moment ago, and it seems as though this strange man might be a touch unbound in the head.
He rushes past you and moves into the hallway you came from, bidding you follow.
"Strange..." Krosh intones. "We entered the Maiden statue...what oddity this creature spinning." He sighs.
Following the quilled miscreant, you are taken back to the room where you fought the three fiendish feyfolk torturers. Ungrist whistles and coughs. "Oh oh! Looks here...you did in for the Nymph's bastards, huh?" He laughs. "Good riddance! Always so loud and making Ungrist annoyed. Always squabbling and shouting. Killings them mights make their sires mad though...or maybe not. Don't think they liked them much!" he laughs again and moves through the room, once more back the way you came. On his way through and stops at the corpses of one of the torturers and whispers "not so loud now!" before skipping along.
Back through the long hallway and you are back in the partitioned room where you met Greala..or, apparently, Caegriel. Ungrist walks on his tiptoes in this room, and turns back to whisper at you.
"Shhh, hags sleep in this room. Don't want to pester hags. They mean."
He slowly leads you around the exterior of the partitions until you reach another hallway leaving this room which you have not traversed. Another flight of rough-hewn stairs leads you to a splitting path left and right, and after a second of supposed contemplation, Ungrist leads you left, passing under a stone arch. Beyond, you enter an impossible expanse of broad meadow bathed in bright daylight filled with swaying wildflowers. There are no walls, no ceiling, and the floor beneath you is suddenly grass.
Ungrist seems unperturbed, and squints, getting excited. "Aha!" he exclaims, pointing.
Out in the field you see a figure walking leisurely next to a large bovine creature. Ungrist rushes forward and eventually you get close enough to get a good look.
A striking young woman with black hair worn in myriad braids walks barefoot in the flowers. She wears a simple roughspun dress of grey but wears a mantle of raven feathers. Her pale skin his flawless and her features delicate and exquisite, she regards you with yellow-amber eyes. Her arm is draped around the muscular neck of the ox that walks beside her.
"Warden!" Ungrist calls, rushing to her. He dashes behind her legs and hugs them. "More new...friends have come. They beat up poor Ungrist but then we talk and is well. Caegriel trickses them and takes friend. But want friend and gold for stopping beating up Ungrist."
The Warden takes in what the strange fellow has to say and gives him a soft smile and pat on the head. She turns to look at you again. "My domain has been gifted with many visitors of late," she says in a sultry voice. Her eyes drift to Skäne and Byakko. [b]"Oh, but none so handsome." She smiles impishly and giggles. "I would hope that, despite your exchange of violence with poor Ungrist, your visit is for better reasons than the others that have come." She twirls a braid of hair in her finger and smiles again. "What brings you here? Amuse me."
"Shoot?!" Ungrist shouts in protest. "Shoots Ungrist?" He stomps his foot. "Bad gnome. Ungrist saves gnome from giants snack-bags and gnomes want to be shoot Ungrist?" He scowls and mutters some string of unfamiliar words in an alien tongue. "Ungrates-ful...."
He turns to Geedra and the others to implore them. "Comes now..not be shoot Ungrist. I take you to Warden, yes?"
"Whats? Whats? Does Ungrist looks like Caegriel? Hows Ungrist to know wheres Caegriel takings the elf?!" He stomps in a sort of tantrum. "Ungrist no being friend of Caegriel, nots these days. Wells, nots in old days, too." His voice lowers. "Means old hag. Thinks she ruler of all. Pah. Great Baba Yaga made Jadrenka Warden, not Caegriel, so Caegriel always angry. But Jadrenka is Ungrist friend. Want elf, talk to Warden." he adds, matter-of-factly.
To the gnome he smirks. "Ungrist save you from giant belly snack, but then these ones beats up Ungrist and keep him from makings you forever friend. At least yous a lucky gnome once today!"
Sorry all. Been under the weather this week and..processing the political climate, as it were.
Greala narrows her eyes, brow furrowing as the gnome speaks. She meets his gaze and lets out a long sigh. "Couldn't just make things easy, could you, little cricket?" Her voice is different, sharp, low, with a slight rasp. [b]"I'd hoped to make tools of you lot, but I don't think you'd be receptive to my methods. No matter, I'll at least see what I can do with one of you."
Her fingers upon Mithas's shoulder tighten and she grins. "Ta ta for now, lovelies."
There is a ripple across her, the colors comprising her being flickering and stretching for a brief second, which carries through to Mithas. A breath later, with a light pop of sound, they are gone.
Ungrist stands blinking for several seconds before he erupts in laughter. "Hahahahahaha! We weres all hoodswinked by Caegriel!" He slaps his thighs as he goes on, chuckles punctuating his words. "Should have known! Tricksy one! Good prank."
"Anyway, give yous gnome, yous get golds from Jadrenka Warden, we all friends, yes?"
Haha, hardly! But the campaign tab now has a list of NPCs and short blurbs on them and an important info spoiler that I will add to for yours guys' quick reference to pertinent bits of information you pick up.
Completely ignoring the tension of the room, Ungrist shrugs in his overly dramatic way. "Warden cans be anywhere - moves through all Artrosa as she wills. Warden is master of her domain, afer all! Ha ha! Have not seens her here, maybe back that way to Maiden," he says, pointing back the way you came. "Wardens move about like that, thoughs" he adds, snapping fingers. After a long pause he looks at the gnome. "Sooo...you still takings gnome? Or just golds for you and gnomes Ungrist have...?" he says hopefully.
Meanwhile, Krosh slinks up behind Byakko and Skäne and mutters "Truly I do not believe the woman knows the gnome...but the gnome knows the woman."
Got up a list of some importantish NPCs in the campaign tab dating back to the beginning of your time in Irrisen. Also added a spoiler for Important Info you've picked up for quick reference; right now it just has the riddles of the ravens from the hut.
Updated the campaign tab with the new loot list. It should be everything you guys have picked up that hasn't been claimed by someone/is recorded on their sheet.
Next goal is to get up a dramatis personae with all of the (importantish) NPCs you've encountered in your adventures.
"Listens," he states emphatically. "Me Ungrist. Jadrenka Warden. Ungrist - ME - is Warden's favoritest of friends. So surelys Warden give nasty tres- ehhhhh - nice guests - golds for not being means and hurts old Ungrist. Understand??"
Greala looks to the gnome, puzzled. She looks a bit taken off guard. "W-what? What do you mean? I've not seen you before." As he reaches for the dagger she moves behind Mithas even more. "What are you doing?!"
Sense Motive DC 15:
Despite Greala's state of surprise, she seems to be telling the truth about never having seen this gnome before.
aww no sweet quilled man and gnome embrace this day.
While most of the group interacts with the gnome, the quilled specimen and Geedra seem to be having a tiff off in the sideline.
Gold? Gold?! Bah on gold. What good is gold? Can't eats it, can't dead it, can't make it new friend after deading it! Wrinkly she-goblin wants gold!" the thing rants. "hope horse bits goblin's nose off and shits it on her head. Come in the Lady's house and beats up on her...oooh, ha ha ha. Jadrenka knows golds. Probably has golds. She would give gold. Ungrist is Warden's favorite friend. I bets Warden knows where golds is." he grins and claps, then near coughs up a lung, black spittle dribbling from his mouth, which he sucks back in and resumes grinning.
"please no..." Greala whimpers from the back. "not the Warden. This is obviously some sort of trap..the gnome is probably part of it, too. This place is naught but deception..."
finally finished going through the game and gathering an updated loot list. I just need to get some final totals and organize it and I'll get it posted
The quilled man looks dumbfounded. "Better? Better? Better!?" he gestures dramatically towards the unconscious gnome. "What better? Good for many things! Do what you wants with it. Make it slave? Eat it! Turn it into zombie pet. Trade it to giants? Sacrifice to Baba Yaga!"
Krosh grunts in mild disgust as he pushes past to investigate the gnome, kneeling down and putting his hands on him. After a moment, the shaman speaks.
"Not injured, so to speak. Just unconscious, maybe from an ether or nonlethal blow to the head." He rummages around in some sachets and bags from beneath his many furs and hides until he produces a small container that he uncorks and waves under the nose of the gnome.
Within an instant the gnome's eyes spring open and he awakens in a start, nose stinging and burning from the acrid, pungent stench of the contents.
Silas, you awaken to a stinging nose and surroundings - and beings - unfamiliar to you. Standing over you is a tall, sturdy form whose identity is shrouded beneath many layers of different animal hides, pelts, and furs, and whose head is concealed beneath a helmet made of a full elk skull, antlers and all. Many trinkets, talismans, feathers, and bones hang from bits of twine and rawhide strings from the antlers.
Behind this being you see a goblin woman with a toothy grin currently half-arguing with a small, grotesque humanoid covered in quills and wearing a smock made of humanoid skin. There's also a brawny, bearded human man, armored in breastplate and carrying a spear and heavy shield with a bear motif embossed on it, and a half-elf possessed of an air that is equal parts sleek and feral. Beside him is a fully grown white tiger.
Behind all of them is a lithe, bow-wielding elf in leathers and an attractive, brown-haired woman cowering behind him.
The quilled man squints at Greala and pokes his chin, advancing on her and circling her with a look of intense thought. "Hmmmm..." he muses, looking her up and down. Greala looks beyond nervous, a little frightened, moving a bit more behind Mithas. "I not sees this one before..bah, many news visitors stomping arounds here lately. Horsefolk and ginats. Crowded! Not like."
Checking the bundle, it doesn't seem to be trapped in anyway, nor does there seem to be a way to trap it. It is some sort of burlap tarp or sheet that has been wrapped a few times around something, the whole thing is only about three feet in length. A single length of hempen rope as been looped once around it with a four foot lead that the quilled man was using to drag it. The bundle is slightly lumpy, alternatively rigid or yelding depending on where it is prodded.
Cheers WS - yeah been a mad few weeks - the scars of which will heal, but it'll be in our own hus, at our own pace.
Once I'm ensconced in my new abode I'll have a home office/study (read geek station) - hopefully have more time and inclination and if so will likely take on the quarter mastering duties (did it once before for Shackled City AP here on the boards). You've enough on your plate herding us in the right direction lol.
Sounds good, friend. I won't oppose anyone wanting to take up the role, surely! I'll still continue my effort of compiling everything up until now to get things squared up; I've a long weekend next weekend for the old birthday so I plan on getting it finished up then.
The strange, grotesque, quilled specimen before you sweats and shifts his beady eyes back and forth, half-mumbling in search of an answer before he snaps his long fingers.
"Oh oh, what you get?" I know," he chirps, pointing back to the bundle he had been dragging into the room. It looks like a lumpy bedroll or other cylindrical array of fabric. "Have this! I stoles it from those nasty giants that came in. Thumping around, so loud, so loud! Stoles their little treasure right under their noses, dids I!" He grins, showing off his sharp yellowed fangs pocked with brown. "I'd give you pets too, but you deaded them all," he says with a sigh. "Hard work finding and making, now have to make more.." His eyes glaze over for a moment as he seems to be coming up with some sort of mental plan before he realizes you are all still standing there. "Oh, uhh...so, we make nice?"
Greala, from behind Mithas, half-calls, half-whispers, "are you really going to let this vile thing go? It must serve the warden...I can only imagine what other horrors...and what other victims..it will find.."
Byakko delivers another flurry of slashes at the remaining undead cat, finding purchase with one but only catching glancing blows with the others, and his feral bite coming just shy of a landing. Still, the connecting slash is a good one, opening a long gash that exposes more of the tight, necreotic musculature holding the beast together.
Enii charges off in pursuit of the strange quilled being, leaping and crashing into the vile thing with all of her weight. Fangs break through his wrinkled flesh, and in the tangled thrashing the two become, claws from both fore- and hind paws tear into him further, sending blood spraying all about the floor. The entity screams out in a tantrum, thrashing about.
Skäne marches to the fray, yelling out a threatening promise, but the creature is either too insane or too ignorant to the call due to his current predicament to offer much of a response.
Krosh takes a measured step of his own, hands gripped tight on his boar spear, and thrusts it into the final zombified panther, capitalizing on the wounds opened by Byakko. The head of the spear sinks in and twists, putting an end to the final beast of this eerie menagerie.
Mithas takes advantage of the beset enemy to fire another well-placed arrow, sinking it into the shoulder. The thrashing slackens a little as he stops fighting back against Enii so hard and starts changing his tune.
"Alrights, alrights, stops it!" he screams. "Calls off your beastie! Yous wins!" His cries are punctuated by his coughing up globules of blood.
Byakko and Enii lay into the line of undead felines with abandon. A maelstrom of katana slashes, fangs, and claws wash over the risen dead in a divine wind, cutting ribbons through their cold, bloodless flesh. The carnage puts four of the cats back to rest, with Byakko cutting a swath through two as Enii crunches and swipes her way through another 2.
Geedra turns her sight on the now-visible quilled man, pushing her dire gaze upon him. The unsuspecting creature withers under the gaze, paranoia gripping its eyes as it looks swiftly around as if for some unseen entity. Fails save
Skäne barrels into the cat in front of him, stabbing twice with hard spear thrusts. Both impale the undead, putting it on the ground.
Krosh, breathing heavily, steps away from the sudden assailant and heals himself with his hex of healing, staunching the flow of blood.
Mithas puts some distance between himself and the creature before firing off another arrow., which catches the quilled main right in the collarbone. Critical hit with the bow
The remaining zombie cat lashes out at Byakko with fangs and claws, and even a headbutt, but each of the blows fails to find purchase.
Round 3
The quilled man shrieks and dashes back towards the hallway from which he came, skidding to a stop to fling two quills from its back at Byakko and Enii. "Hate, hate hate! he screams. Both of the vicious looking quills seem to be perfectly on target before veering off and clattering to the ground. Geedra cackles in the back as her hex takes hold. Both hits negated by misfortune :)
Skäne marches forward in an inevitable advance and plunges his spear into the nearest undead cat, skewering the abomination and putting it to rest. It gives a faint moan as it collapses, the necromantic energy draining from it.
Byakko and Enii follow suit, the former becoming a bit more bestial as he invokes a spell with guttural intonations, moonlight flashing across his eyes as his speed and reflexes heighten. Enii takes a mighty swipe at the smaller feline, but it seems quicker on its feet than it appears, twisting out of the claw's reach.
Geedra starts calling up her own spell, but her tongue betrays her, fumbling the words as the Witch Tree's curse takes hold once again. The goblin can almost hear the crackling chuckle of the tree in the back of her mind.
Krosh rounds the corner to put eyes on the cats and he shakes his head slowly. "Foul things..." he mutters. A jingling talisman releases the shower of warming silver motes you know so well, though this time when they spiral they do not flutter around your wounds like pollen, but rather swarm aggressively as wasps around the undead cats. They groan as the sacred energy courses through them. Channeling to harm undead, dealing damage to all of the zombies
Mithas takes up a position against one of the grotesque totem poles and chooses out a target near Enii. He looses an arrow that streaks between Skäne and the tiger to strike one of the undead panthers in the head, ending it instantly.
The cats finally react, rushing forward with impressive speed for corpses, swarming around Byakko, Enii, and Skäne, aiming to clamp their gruesome fangs down on their targets.
Skäne batteries away a leaping zombie panther with his shield. It lands in front of him and lets out a half-groan, half hiss.
Two leap at Enii, and both look to find purchase with their bites, but at the last moment Byakko casts a dire glance at one of them, forcing it off target with a shove of misfortune. 6 points of damage from the bite that does hit
As three teem around Byakko, his enchanted agility assists him in dodging and parrying all three bites.
Round 2
With a horrifying screech, the strange quilled man reappears, right behind Krosh. "No! My pets! No sacred magics here!" He screams, lashing out with his sickle-like claws. Krosh grunts as both claws dig into his back, and when the strange man pulls them back they are dripping with blood. 21 points of damage to krosh from a pair of sneak attacks, though pretty low roll all things considered.
Back to you Map
Quilled Man: 23
Skäne: 20
Byakko: 17
Krosh: 14
Mithas: 8
Gredra: 8
Cats: 7
