Ekan's eyes light up upon seeing the book, "Ah, now this is what we need!" But his expression quickly turns to annoyance at the double traps preventing him from getting to it. "I think Thangardt mentioned something about being handy with traps when he and Jazaka were talking earlier." He looks around as if he expects his companions to appear out of thin air just because he needs them. He tentitively calls out, "Thangardt...Jazaka...I found a book here that we must look at. It seems you were correct to come this way first". If there's no response he'll try repeating himself several times, getting a louder each time.
The bracers are bracers of armor +1. Davina can tell that it's the medallion is keeping this corpse preserved since any body wearing it is indefinitely under the effects of gentle repose. It will also give a living wearer a +1 resistance bonus on all saving throws and bestow the effects of false life once per day.
Nothing else seems amiss in their final pass through the crypt. It would probably be prudent to move Esme out of the crypt sooner rather than later and do something to conceal the passage out to the cliffs. The Two are familiar enough with Pharasmins to know that they don't usually move very fast on things but there's always the chance that they have some reason to start using this level of the crypt in the very near future.
The cleric is quite pleased with the Two's efforts and gives them the full reward and substantial payment for the Pharasmin paraphernalia. (I'll give the module a final pass-through to pull out everything you found with selling values before we restart so I'm not gonna look it up now.) If the Two are interested in exploring the next level of the crypt (the stairs the goblin snake went down) she says she'll need to discuss it with her superiors but does not foresee any reason not to higher the Two to clear it as well. She requests that they return in a week to discuss it further.
None of the Two can find anything particularly out of place with this guy (other than how obviously well preserved his corpse is - and it is definitely an inanimate corpse). I'm sure that during all of this examining it occurs to Davina to cast detect magic which clearly reveals that the seven-pointed star medallion and the bracers are magical. spellcraft anyone?
BMO clearly missed the snake by a very large hair because Dolgrin just finished flattening it into the ground.
opening the coffin...:
...reveals an extraordinarily well-preserved human man with dark hair, a high forehead, and expressive brows. He wears robes f a deep emerald and a medallion of a seven-pointed star around his neck and well-made leather bracers on his forearms.
I believe that just leaves getting Esme out of the crypt and talking to the cleric again.
While not as destructive as usual, BMO's attacks are definitely whittling away at this snakey thing. In retaliation it whipps it's head around to catch one of his hands in its fangs.
bite:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19 damage:1d6 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
round 4
initiative:
The Two
snake (AC 20, touch 13)
Dolgrin puts a dent in the snake, though not as much as he would have expected. Both Dolgrin and BMO can tell that this thing seems to have some resistance to their normal damage.
The snake whips it's head around, biting the air where Dolgrin's arm just was.
bite:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14
round 3
initiative:
The Two
snake (AC 20, touch 13)
how does Davina know it's a construct? Dolgrin didn't make his knowledge check and no one else rolled one.
The snake 5-ft slithers out of it's nook only to be the target of BMO's attack (which doesn't even scratch its scales). It seems entirely unfazed by Davina's spell and snaps at BMO's arm several seconds too late.
bite:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7
luckily for the Two, skeletor has critically failed his perception roll for a grand total of 1
Davina's arrow pings harmlessly off of skeletor's armor (that shot would have hit the flat-footed AC for just about anything else here, but skeletor's got some real armor) but does succeed in drawing all of skeletor's attention to her.
BMO nicks skeletor's spinal cord and Dolgrin takes advantage of that nick to smash through the rest of the way, leaving skeletor a pile of dust and armor.
Searching this crypt, the Two find 90 gp worth of various goods amonst the dusty bones of the crypt's inanimate inhabitants and pull half-plate armor, a heavy steel shield, and a mw ranseur out of skeletor's dust pile.
I believe that just leaves the small room off of the pit room to the north uncleared? The brown mold in the east south-eastern crypt shouldn't be a problem to leave since it's not actually a creature.
Dolgrin completely obliterates my poor defenseless devil...despite its resistance to non-silver weapons...and it vanishes in a puff of smoke. BMO stabs uselessly at the lingering smoke.
After thoroughly searching this crypt, BMO and Davina find nothing of value.
Coming back to the north north-western door, the Two see that the flesh blob has congealed to a vaguely humanoid shape. It begins lumbering towards the door when Davina's mega-crazy-hopped-up-spell-that-can-never-hit-anything hits the wall several feet away from it. BMO's arrow hit it squarely in the torso-ish area (although his boring regular arrow doesn't seem to hurt as much as he'd expected) as it lumbers to the entrance to the crypt.
BMO's arrow damage:1d4 + 1d6 ⇒ (3) + (3) = 6
Nobody's really surprising anybody at this point, and since the Two are shooting into the crypt, nothing would have changed if this thing had won initiative. So I'm going to assume that Dolgrin has a readied action to swing at it if it comes close and just jump into combat.
round 2
initiative:
The Two
Humanoid fleshy-blob (AC 14, touch 10)
knowledge planes DC 11:
This is a Lemure, the lowest of devils. More info with higher checks.
Unfortunately for BMO, the glaive is attacking him, not reflexing him...barely nicks him though, so maybe his reflexing helped?
glaive attack:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25damage:1d10 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
Within about 10 seconds of beginning to search the crypt, BMO and Davina notice that the glaive trap resets itself. Despite their best efforts at searching, they are only able to find about 50 gp worth of coins and jewelry.
This secret door opens into the dead-end of the secret crypt in the alchemist's lair.
Moving on the the final unopened secret door
After listening carefully at the door, neither Davina nor BMO hear anything from the crypt beyond. Cracking the door revels a final crypt with several alcoves on either side, the remains of their occupants mostly decayed.
perception DC 20 (BMO gets his trap sense bonus):
The first 10 feet of this crypt are rigged to release a swinging glaive. disable device DC 20
BMO opens this door to find another crypt, although this one is somewhat different from the others. Only one side of this crypt has alcoves and the bodies they contained are mostly dust. The Two are able to find several ancient holy symbols of Pharasma among what's left of the remains (7 total, worth 25gp each, but recall that the Pharasmians were particularly interested in any Phrarasma paraphernalia the Two find). There is also a bone wand of disrupt undead(30 charges) and a secret door in the far wall.
As BMO reaches the brown stuff, the temperature continues decreasing and he feels his arm start to seize up as he stabs it with his dagger (taking 3d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 6) = 15 points of nonlethal cold damage). He does succeed in liberating enough of the stuff from under the dust to get a decent look at it.
knowledge (dungeoneering) DC 17:
This is brown mold. It feeds on warmth, drawing heat from everything around it. Thus fire and other extreme heat sources cause it to grow. It can be destroyed by cold damage.
Hearing nothing, BMO opens the door to the next crypt to find a room even colder than the rest of these rooms. A rime of ice crystals coats the walls and the remains of the dead interred here.
perception DC 15:
The floor of the far end of the crypt is covered by a thick brown substance under a thick layer of dust.
Waking BMO up was Dolgrin's standard action for round 1. Thus his attack on the skeleton is round 2 and the skeleton gets its round 2 turn first.
claw 1:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19damage:1d4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3 claw 2:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7
The skeleton manages to scratch Dolgrin before gory shards of its skull are scattered across the crypt.
Davina and BMO's blindness and stunned-ness will fade within a minute. If the Two search the crypt, roll will saves again (DC 20), this time with a +2 bonus.
pass:
Upon closer inspection, the finery in this crypt slowly begins to fade into a shadowy image, apparently just an illusion masking an otherwise cold bland crypt.
fail:
All of the finery in this crypt remains stuck where it is despite any attempts to remove it.
If this were a regular game, I'd add Davina and BMO to the initiative after whatever woke them up (or roll their initiative when the spell effect wore off). But with the way we're doing initiative, I think they'll just go where ever Dolgrin ends up. Also, just re-read construct immunities, so see my chat message and if you don't want to tweak things, BMO is only blinded.
The skeleton smacks BMO with a claw, but it harmlessly glances off of his armor.
claw 1:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7
Hearing nothing through the door, BMO peeks into another crypt, this one with a plush red carpet running down the narrow corridor between wood-paneled walls polished to a high sheen. Floating lanterns cast a gentle glow into each alcove flanking the corridor, where bodies wrapped in pristine linen are laid to rest in niches. Rather than the clammy chill of most underground rooms, this chamber is pleasantly warm, and the soothing sound of chimes tinkles softly in the distance.
DC 20 will save:
Upon closer inspection, the finery in this crypt slowly begins to fade into a shadowy image, apparently just an illusion masking an otherwise cold bland crypt.
BMO gets his trap bonus on this one...
perception DC 26:
There's a trap that triggers whenever a creature steps between the first two alcoves. Disable Device DC 26
moving 15 feet into the crypt:
If the above perception or disable device checks failed, the first person to walk between the first set of alcoves triggers a vivid cone of clashing colors so overwhelming that they and anyone else in the crypt entrance is knocked unconscious, blinded, and stunned (DC 12 will to negate). other stuff happens so stop your actions here...
moving 20 feet into the crypt:
A gore-soaked skeleton is lurking in the middle northern alcove. initiative! so stop your actions here...
BMO cautiously moves into the crypt, unaware of anything other than more piles of gnawed bones in the deeper alcoves. As Davina passes the first set of alcoves, she notices a pair of eyes tracking her from behind the bones.
surprise round
initiative:
25 Davina
12 baddies (AC 16, touch 14, ff 14 ff touch 12 [includes a +2 cover bonus from the pile of bones])
After Davina has a chance to take her surprise round action, a humanoid creature with long sharp teeth and saggy pallid skin hanging off of its starved frame bursts out from behind its bones, biting at the air over a foot in front of Davina's face.
ghoul 1 bite:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
Another creature steps out of the Alcove to the north-east of BMO, biting the air well over his head.
ghoul 2 bite:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
knowledge religion DC 11:
These creatures are ghouls. Their bites have been known to turn their victim's corpses into ghouls.
round 1
initiative:
26 the Two
12 baddies (AC 14, touch 12)
Davina first gets her surprise action (technically before her creature attacks). Then the Two act first in round 1.
Hearing nothing at the door, (I'm assuming) BMO cracks it to reveal another crypt. All that remains of the corpses in this one is bare bones, many of which seem to have been chewed on.
You got one too many disable device checks I think. The skeletal champion's statue was already disabled and one of the statues has an aid effect on it instead of a trap.
Hearing nothing behind this door, BMO opens it to find a crypt with attractive, pristinely preserved, naked bodies carefully arranged in lewd positions. Many of these bodies are, however, wearing jewelry. If the Two loot these corpses they find 400gp worth of various pieces.
Assuming the Two continue moving clockwise through the doors...
perception DC 32:
There's a faint odd sound barely perceptable through this door. Possibly semi-fluid flesh?
cracking the door:
A roiling wave of flesh is slowly gushing around the center of this crypt.
You can't take 20 on anything that has consequences for failure because taking 20 is actually saying you're going to do something over and over again until you get it right, thus triggering the failure consequences a some point(s). (Also, the 20->25 only applies for a natural 20 rolled on the first attempt at doing something.) For this first statue I guess it works because he can't really trigger the trap while it's resetting, but he won't be able to take 20 on any that haven't been triggered yet. Since he's already disabled one, I'll give him a +2 circumstance bonus on disabling the others.
With the trap disabled (either permanently or temporarily) the statues aren't too hard for the Two to scoot over a few feet so no checks required.
Neither BMO nor Davina hear anything through the door. Upon cracking the door, BMO sees that the skeleton must have heard all the noise the Two made moving the statue because he's watching both the secret door and the other entrance. (i.e. no surprise round.) If he has noticed BMO peaking through the door, there is no indication that he intends to do anything before someone actually enters the crypt.
Go ahead and set-up your battle plan then open the spoiler below for initiative
round 1
initiative:
26 the Two
17 skeleton (ff AC 20, ff touch 11)
closing with the skeleton:
Might be on shaky footing by RAW, but since this is an undead guardian who is aware of creatures outside of his crypt, I'm going to give him a readied-action attack on the first creature to come within his range even if it takes the Two awhile to actually enter the crypt. This will NOT affect him being flat-footed until he acts on his turn.
readied ranseur attack:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14
The Two can indeed find a secret door behind the statue directly south of the western entrance to the large central cavern. Davina and BMO both notice that all the statues in this room actually have secret doors behind them. BMO realizes that seven of these statues are trapped to shock anyone touching them (for the sake of efficiency, the disable device DC on them is 26). With a bit of help from a detect magic spell that Davina is sure to remember to cast, the statue of Phrasma (south-southeast statue) has an aid effect on it that will affect any creature to touch it once a day. All the statues will need to be moved over several feet to open the doors behind them.
failed disable device:
Shocking grasp for 2d6 electricity damage, DC 12 reflex save for half. The trap resets itself automatically after 7 minutes.
IIRC the two rolled crappily on their general perception checks for this room and then didn't really poke around at anything specifically their first time through.
Esme (zombie magus girl) doesn't seem too bothered by BMO direct approach to conversation. Actually, she seems to find it preferable to Svilennius’s mad ramblings. She doesn't seem inclined to join the Two in actual adventuring for the moment, but could likely be convinced to provide support (scrolls, crafting, etc.) in exchange for their protection and assistance in finding a way to help her. (If we go this way, I'll rebuild her character as more of a support character and the Two will have access to her crafting feats and time to get whatever she can make at cost.)
This large chamber has a vaulted ceiling, and unlike the rest of the ossuary, bears a distinct impression of habitation rather than abandonment. Lit candelabras reveal old tapestries hanging from the walls to ward off the subterranean chill, and a threadbare carpet covers the floor. Shabby furniture—a few chairs and tables, an armoire, and a dresser—flanks a large canopied bed in the center of the room, topped with satin sheets and a heap of lumpy pillows. Although everything has obviously been setup with great care, the pieces themselves have likely been liberated from rubbish piles.
I believe that just leaves the skeletal champion...
Around the corner BMO finds a narrow corridor ending in a solid wall. A narrow alcove in the east wall is filled by a square shaft dropping straight down into the darkness. This is another "beyond the scope of this adventure" points that can be explored later.
Also forgot to mention that this crypt is sloping downward (and going around the southern corner is particularly steep) so between the entrance and the dead-end wall the Two have descended about 30 ft.
Dolgrin smashes his skeleton to dust, leaving BMO nothing but empty air to stab his daggers at. From this position, the Two...well primarily Dolgrin...will be able to dispatch the remaining skeletons without much problem. So unless you object, we can skip several days of back and forth posts and just move onto exploring the crypt.
With (presumable) all the skeletons now dusted, the Two are free to look around this crypt. There are lines of footprints marking the dust on the floor. All the burial nitches only contain ancient scraps of yellowed linen. A gate that appears to be crafted of bleached bone blocks the southern exit of the tomb.
perception DC 20:
The bone gate at the south end of the crypt is rigged with a sharp bone spear that stabs in front of the gate whenever it is touched.
knowledge religion DC 25:
This gate is somehow fueled by negative energy so channeling positive energy near it will likely disrupt that and cause it to open.
One of the skeletal claws swipes BMO forearm as he moves out. All the skeletons follow the Two's reteat, the foremost of them reaching the door. Note that the skeleton in the doorway will get a +2 cover bonus to its AC for attacks from Davina and BMO
skeleton claw vs Dolgrin:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10
round 3
initiative:
27 the Two
24 skeleton (AC 18, touch 12)
The skeletons move in to surround BMO, claws flying everywhere. Once the north-east skeleton 5-ft steps up, all four will get flanking. The two southern ones can't 5-ft step around corners.
BMO's rather ineffective dagger flourish gets the skeletons' attention and they begin moving towards him. (And it's a surprise round, so only one attack)
Davina is able to find the secret door without too much trouble. Not hearing anything through the door, BMO opens it to find another crypt. This one with lines of footprints marking the dust on the floor. As BMO peaks in further around the corner, he can see that the four central burial niches host four motionless alchemical skeletons and the rest only contain ancient scraps of yellowed linen. A gate that appears to be crafted of bleached bone blocks the southern exit of the tomb.
claw vs Dolgrin:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18I'm assuming the Two will take a few moments to rest after this fight so I don't have to look up its damage
Even with the lack of flesh on the skeleton for BMO to mutilate, BMO's blow severs it's spine and the skeleton crumbles to a pile of dust.
Other than lots of bone-y and fleshy footprints in the dust covering the floor, there is nothing of interest in the plain stone room. Assuming the Two listen at and then open the remaining closed doors...The door to the north opens into the hallway to the necromancer's lab, just south of the secret door. The double doors on the east wall of the previous room open to the wide hallway that runs north-south along the eastern side of the crypt.
Which I believe brings the list of currently unexplored areas to:
1. skeletal champion's crypt
2. northern end of the alchemist's lair
3. concealed crypts in the alchemist's lair
Dolgrin also seems to have forgotten that he has a shiny new...er rather dusty newly-aquired...smashy weapon that might not go through skeletal ribs quite so eaisly...
The skeleton lashes out at Dolgrin, swiping a claw across his arm.
claw:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18damage:1d4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3 claw:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
round 2
initiative:
20 the Two
15 skeleton (AC 12, touch 10)
In the case of stealth in surprise rounds, I think the best (both logically and consistently with the rest of the rules) way to handle it is the surprise round doesn't actually start until BMO takes his attack. That way his movement is not part of the surprise round. Just sneaking around the corner like this seem reasonable but if the zombie had been across the room (2 squares north) this wouldn't have worked since he can't stealth that far in an open room with two creatures with darkvision. He can't full attack in a surprise round because that's a full-round action and he only gets a move action or standard action (charging falls under the charge rule where you can use a standard action to charge iff you're restricted to only a standard action).
I'm gonna use the "charge" rolls for BMO, but subtract off the +2 for charging. Then he also doesn't take a -2 to AC.
BMO rips into the zombie's chest, freeing some rotting guts onto the floor.
Since BMO warned the other Two, Dolgrin and Davina get to move in the surprise round, so no AoOs.
To be clear, it's just the door that's flesh. The room itself is a normal room with the walls covered by black curtains. The red around the walls on the map is wrong.
BMO's first attempt at disabling the trap is almost successful. Since taking 10 is not sufficient, I'm going to keep rolling his disable check in case he triggers the trap before disabling it. disable device:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27
It takes about a minute, but after a minor setback BMO is easily able to disable the trap. He is quite positive that the room beyond is safe and cracks the door. He is quite surprised to see a zombie lumbering around 15ft away who luckily does't notice him.
BMO stealth:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (7) + 12 = 19 zombie perception:1d20 ⇒ 17
Everything does indeed go smoothly and when the glyph is placed in the indentation the the stone slowly changes into a rippling mass of flesh and a bloody wound opens in the middle of the flesh. The wound slowly pulls apart to reveal room with the walls draped in heavy black curtains and a thick layer of dust on the floor. Another set of stone double doors is in the east wall (these are real doors).
perception DC 15:
There is also a single door behind the curtains on the northern end of the eastern wall.
perception DC 25:
There is a trap on the hidden single door set to trigger if the door is opened.
Davina is quite certain that this statue is not trapped. The door does currently appear to be quite solid. Despite wracking their brains, the Two can't relate any of their previously acquired knowledge to this. However, it looks like the glyph from the records room (a stone thing that would probably come off the wall) would fit nicely into the impression in this "door"...
As soon as he's released, the Tengu darts several tens of feet down the tunnel, then kinda slows down when he's sure none of the Two are following him. Assuming the Two go on their way, he eventually sneaks back to drag his buddy out too.
Upon closer inspection of the room the Tengu were barricaded in, the Two can tell that although the furnishings appear exceedingly valuable on first glance, the gold is only thin plating and the gems are only glass replicas of precious stones. It would take many hours of work to painstakingly remove bits and pieces of value for at most about 100gp worth of valuables.
here's the updated list of still unexplored areas:
1. skeletal champion's crypt
2. south end of the eastern-most hallway
3. door at the south end of the hallway to the alchamist's lair (supposedly has a skeleton and a zombie guarding it)
4. northern end of the alchemist's lair
5. concealed crypts in the alchemist's lair
6. "solid" stone doors in the room to the east of the entrance that have a symbol that matches one of the glyphs the Two found in the records room.
I think the "south end of the western-most hallway" from the last list should have been "eastern-most" since there's set of double doors you haven't gone through yet.
The tengu babble-squacks incoherently in Tengu. All three of the Two can tell that he is pretty pretty upset, but BMO (surprisingly) is the only one to realize that at the moment, he's probably assuming that everyone/thing in this crypt is trying to kill him and his friends and the Two just confirmed this belief.
If you really want to be delicate, choosing not to add a strength bonus seems reasonable.
After BMO's hit, the bird man faulters, barely managing to retain consciousness. Since Davina can obviously see this, let's say she doesn't put her full strength behind her blow, so it's only another 5 damage. Davina gently smacks birdie on the head with her dagger, causing him to slump into unconsiousness. The two are able to efficiently tie him up. Once he is safely tied up, Davina pours a potion down his throat, causing him to regain consiousness. Magical healing heals BOTH lethal and non-lethal damage simultaneously, so he's up a net 10 HP. He quickly looks around at the Two then tries to shrink back into his cloak to whatever extent the ropes allow.
round 4
initiative:
22 tengu (AC 15, touch 13, CMD 14)
12 the Two
The tengu continues to stand there unable to take any offensive actions.
Dealing non-leathal damage to knock him out might be a more effective way of subduing him. You can do non-lethal damage with a normal weapon if you take a -2 penalty. Note that BMO will not get sneak attack unless he has as actual non-lethal weapon like a sap.
The squaking whispers cease with BMO's question. After a few minutes of silence, Dolgrin returns from the badly carved tunnel and is easily able to force his way through. He actually hits the door so hard that he stumbles through it and sveral feet into the room where he is attacked by two dagger-wielding tengu rogues.
This room contains several biers of solid gold encrusted with glittering gems around the walls and empty golden candelabras. The walls depict a glorious afterlife filled with riches and luxury that are painted in bright pigments and gold leaf.
I did say that the passageway Dolgrin's currently walking down leads to cliffs outside, so I don't remember why it's on the unexplored list.
Dolgrin finds nothing of interest in his tunnel, but does consider the excavation job to be exceedingly sloppy.
BMO hears whispered squaks, likely some language he is unfamiliar with. Recall that the last time the Two checked this door, they found it barred or barricaded from the other side.
The annoyed/sulky hissing very quickly turns angry, "I have the uptmosssst resssspect for thosssse who have passssed beyond the veilsssss and would never defile their mortal remainssss. But it tisss you who disturbssss the peacsssse! You who come barging into my chambersssss uninvited! And when I kindly offer to ansssswer your quesssstions and ssssell you ssssafe passssage through thissss room you repay me by disssregarding cssssivil behavior and making threatssss to me in my home! Begone from thisssss placssssse oh Evil Onessss and do not trouble me again!" After this directive the hissing stops abruptly.
perception DC 22:
One side of the black cloth on the table moves slightly, seemingly of it own volition.
perception DC 55:
An invisible creature is slithering out the now open south door.
