Salingiel the 2nd level elven sorcerer
Burnt Offerings
Catacombs of Wrath
Death by sinspawn
The irrepressible elf made what amounted to a colossal mistake when he dropped some blood into the runewell, thus summoning a sinspawn. This was done when the party was half in this chamber and half in the previous one, and not at all ready for a fight. Salingiel also only had one HP at the time, and knew what would happen as they had summoned a sinspawn previously.
Salingiel thought he was clever by using Mage Hand to drop a vial of blood into the runewell from a short distance away. The sinspawn won initiative and proceeded to rush the sorcerer and bite his face off, dropping him to -7 HP immediately; the sorcerer only had an 8 Constitution so he had one turn to stabilize or bleed out. He bled out.
This could almost be considered suicide by summoning, if I know this player well (and after almost thirty years of friendship I think I do). Then again, the elf was always eager to keep on with the delving, and didn't want to wait while the party debated about what to do next. This got him into trouble in the glassworks as well, as he went into the basement alone and ran into Tsuto and a whole mess of trouble while the rest of the party was occupied interrogating a goblin.
RIP Salingiel, you'll be missed by not just your fellow adventurers, but all of Sandpoint (especially Shayliss).
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Yikes!
My condolences. Are there any plans to send in a back-up party from Sandpoint/Magnimar when there is no more contact from the orginal characters?
They weren't organised enough as a party to have set up a contingency plan, but I've offered them a similar arrangement as many influential NPCs in both places knew where they were going.
They haven't decided yet though, as we were planning on moving onto Strange Aeons when we finished RotR, and we might just move onto that AP early.
Well RotR's worst possible ending is pretty Lovecraftian so that is oddly suitable :D
I tend to be quite an easy going GM, and only kill characters when it is really needed.
Anyway, the bard with 8 hitpoints went toe-to-toe with Two Lamia Matriarchs whilst the Shadowdancer and the Barbarian were still what seemed like a mile away from the combat.
RIP you gloriously stupid B***ard!
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Well RotR's worst possible ending is pretty Lovecraftian so that is oddly suitable :DYikes!
My condolences. Are there any plans to send in a back-up party from Sandpoint/Magnimar when there is no more contact from the orginal characters?
They weren't organised enough as a party to have set up a contingency plan, but I've offered them a similar arrangement as many influential NPCs in both places knew where they were going.
They haven't decided yet though, as we were planning on moving onto Strange Aeons when we finished RotR, and we might just move onto that AP early.
Quick update: we forgot the Black Blade had the True Resurrection 1/month special purpose power (randomly rolled).
So the BBlade True Rezzed the Magus, who then used a scroll to Planar Ally in a Glabrezu, and made a Treacherous Wishcraft (the Mark of Treachery variant) deal with it to Wish for the Revive the Dead option of the Wish spell, which then Rezzed the rest of the party.
Campaign continues! Woo!
Also the Magus now owes a Glabrezu a Wish spell...
Name: Nanook, Wolf animal companion of Fiddle-Eye the Elvish Ranger.
Level: 5
Catalyst: Hungry Ghouls.
All my PCs stormed into the Farmhouse full of Bravado and bad dice rolls. Everyone started to get paralyzed so I ruled they were hungry and took a couple rounds to feast on Nanook so they could flee and avoid a TPK.
Name: Ruby, Roc Animal Companion of Stonefist the Druid
Level:7
Catalyst: Petrified while flying.
While fighting Xanesha on top of the clock tower she climbed down onto the outside of the tower, so Stonefist sent his just recently upgraded Roc to try and knock her off. One Medusa mask blast later we got a gigantic bird statue falling about 160 feet to the surface below. I was quite glad that bird was proving to be pesky.
Name: The Badgerine, Badger animal Companion of Fiddle-Eye.
Level: 8
Catalyst: Angry Ogrekin
While trying to save the firepelt cougar animal companion, Rukus lays waste to Fiddle-Eye's second companion. He was not impressed.
Name: Kazmucker dwarven Barbarian of ridiculous strength
Level: 9
Catalyst: Interupted a masterpiece.
Gragavan did not appreciate his painting being disturbed, so when Kazmucker just laughed when Gragavan threw his "paintbrush" at him, he went to work. My first ogre hook crit and a very satisfying first PC kill. Unfortunately for me Stone-Fist his adopted Half-Orc Brother cast reincarnate and Kazmucker rolled up an Orc. He couldn't be happier with the change.
Name: Fluffy, Boa Constrictor Animal Companion of Fiddle-Eye.
Level: 9
Catalyst: Second Ogre Hook Crit of the session.
Papa Jaagrath did not like being grappled by the powerful snake, so he split it in half like a hot dog bun with his ogre hook.
Name: Stone-Fist, Half-Orc Druid.
Level: 9
Catalyst: Scorpion Construct with a skull addiction.
The sight of the dreaded skull ripper really freaked most of the party out so when Stone-Fist got grabbed nobody was able to get to him in time to save him. Luckily Gomukson their Dwarven Cleric got to right beside him though. One Breath of Life down his Throat Hole later and he was back with 4 HP.
Name: Fiddle-Eye, Elvish Ranger.
Level: 11
Catalyst: Stone Giants making last stand.
The party was quite quick on thwarting the raid on Sandpoint but in order to do so they split the party. Fiddle-eye and Gomukson found themselves alone stopping the Band of giants raiding the noble houses. Frustrated with their inability to hit the dwarf, they gained up on the skinny elf shooting at them from afar. Unfortunately reinforcements via a flying wizard was too late to stop his death. Fortunately life was just a quick plea to Gomukson for some Raise Dead after the raid was mopped up.
Name: Aldamir
Race/Class: 17 Elf Wizard (Conjuration)
Adventure: Spires of Xin Shalast
Catalyst: Karzoug Image, rolling a 1 on a save and chain lightning
Group is just entering the Pinnacle. The Wardens of Wind at the "front door" call out an alarm before they are quickly slaughtered. Viorian and the Wardens of Thunder respond and confront the pc's in X2 (I don't believe in the "monster waits in its room" philosophy.) A round into the fight, Karzoug's image shows up and drops a Wail of the Banshee on the pc's (and some summoned T-rex's) - I also don't believe in slow pitch so I see no reason for Karzoug to hold back - the pc's are here for one reason - to kill him.
The wizard has Moment of Prescience running so his chance of saving is really good. But not if you roll a 1. He has two Hero Points and cheats death. Unfortunately, the Wardens haven't unleashed their Chain Lightning's yet. They hit a surviving T-Rex - since it has the most pc's within 30 feet of it for the secondary bolts, including the unconscious wizard (See Also, the downside of gargantuan allies.). The first one is stopped by the unconscious wizard's spell resistance (from Holy Aura) but the second one isn't. Unconscious wizard is now a dead wizard. The cleric uses a True Resurrection scroll in the next round to bring him back. Thank you, Morgiv and the Spared.
Name: Perellon Derexhi
Level/Race/Class: 13/Half-Elf/Cavalier
Adventure: Sins of the Saviours
Catalyst: Fighting alone against Yerrin-Ku, while the rest of the group fought on other fronts
This was pretty straight forward. On the day of his wedding with Shayliss Vinder, after the wedding the group went down into Scribbler's lair. Perellon was the only one fighting against the Glabrezu, while the rest of the group fought against The Scribbler and two Hezrou demons at the same time. It was a long fight, both participants dealt damage, about 60 points per round on average, but in the end, Yerrin-Ku had hit points left while Perellon died. He was of course ressurrected shortly after to die another day. Obviously, death did technically part him and his newly wed wife. So, I'm not sure if he did that on purpose to get unwed by a technicality.
Name: Damiana Verbana of the Silken Veil
Level/Race/Class: 13/Changeling/Cleric
Adventure: Sins of the Saviours
Catalyst: Friendly Fire by the Wizard
Trapped in a fog cloud and unable to see his targets, Peter, the wizard, decided to cast Colour Spray on The Scribbler and one of the Hezrou. The rogue, Azarni, used her fog-cutting lenses to see through the cloud and guide his aim. Due to miscalculation however, Damiana got caught in the spell. The dice rolled bad for her and she was poisoned which resulted in instant death. She too was brought back later.
Honorable Mention: Peter, 13/Elf/Wizard
Saved by his Cobstitution score, he didn't die, but had a very, very close near death experience before the rogue could bring him the healing potion at the last second.
Worst wedding party ever
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That sounds more like a Prismatic Spray than a Colour Spray ...
Possibly dying "on purpose to get unwed by a technicality" and "Worst wedding party ever" have got to be some of the funniest comments on this thread! :D
That sounds more like a Prismatic Spray than a Colour Spray ...
You're absolutely right. That's what I get for posting after midnight
Vomitus the 3rd level dwarven fighter
Killed by Ripnugget
Vomitus was laid low by a critical hit from Ripnugget's magical shortsword in the Thistletop Trophy Room. He slowly bled out while the rest of the party tried to fight off Ripnugget's minions, but they were unsuccessful in their attempts to aid him. Vomitus will always be remembered, for his name is forever carved into the timbers of The Hagfish.
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Name: Scro Varrus
Level/Race/Class: 3/Human/Paladin
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Nualia
The party found the stairs leading to the lowest level of Thistletop and immediately descended, avoiding the cathedral and leaving themselves vulnerable to the yeth hound's bay. Nualia, alerted to their presence, cast obscuring mist, leading them directly into the glaive trap. The ranger was then affected by the hounds bay, leaving the party without their main ranged damage dealer. After a few (pretty successful!) rounds of combat, the paladin, down to 12HP, charged at Nualia, down to 4HP. Pally missed, Nualia went next and crit, and after the party retreated and rested, they went into the cathedral and found the Paladin's corpse sacrificed as an offering to Lamashtu. The party cleric, who also worshipped Sarenrae, was so wracked with guilt that he considered leaving the party for good to try to atone for his failure to protect him.
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Name: Nordramel Embermaw
Vital Statistics: Kobold Unchained Rogue 3/Pride Illusionist 3/Arcane Trickster 1
(I let him use Gloves of Arcane Cheating to get around the Mage Hand prerequisite, okay?)
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders, Part 7
Catalyst: Xanesha, Pride, Fall.
The Gory Details:
Xanesha hadn't dropped anyone, had been affected by a Touch of Gracelessness, and a max-damage crit from the greatsword-wielding fighter had her on the ropes. She handily made her Acrobatics check to avoid AoOs from everyone as she leapt off the tower to Feather Fall to safety. Everyone was out of spells, the only one with a bow had given up, and the fighter just fell past her, relying on his Boots of the Cat and missed with his attack. Xanehsa was able to heal herself in mid-air, and everyone was afraid that she'd get away on the next round.
Nordramel had only one recourse: His Stealth beating her Perception, he leapt off the tower, the point of his rapier leading the way. Counting as a charge and a sneak attack, as well as an extra d6 of impact damage, he landed directly on Xanesha's head, instantly killing them both.
Apsu himself was impressed by Nordramel's heroic sacrifice, and allowed Sarenrae to help him back to the living world, where he was still needed.
Best. Death. Ever.
Name: Rumble
Level/Race/Class: 14/Dwarf/Arcanist
Adventure: Sins of the Saviours
Catalyst: Splitting the party/Chernobue Darkness
The party began wandering in the Festering Maze, and split up to track more ground. When they ran into the Omox Demons, I thought they would stick together afterwards, given that they had a hard time of it, but they split up again, and when the party tank found the Chernobue, Rumble thought for sure that the tunnel he was in would loop around so he could flank. He was right, but he himself crossed paths with the second Chernobue. I should mention that this particular Dwarf often enjoys popping into the front line, relying on his Dimension Slide Arcanist to allow him to exit when he gets hurt. However, when the Chernobue used it's spell like ability to create a magical darkness, Rumble could no longer see a place in which to slide away. He thought the druid was backing him up, but she had one of those prescient player moments, and fled back to the levers to pull the "cleaning" lever not knowing what it would do. It turned out well for the party as a whole, but Rumble dropped unconscious the next round and bled out while the Chernobue was dragging him through the muck to munch on him in it's preferred eating spot.
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Name of PC: Relyn
Class/Level: Flame Oracle 13
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants
Catalyst: Mokmurian
Story: Mokmurian is smart enough to target the healer early and often once he knows who that is. All it took was a single Disintegrate spell to take Relyn from full HP to dust.So am I a "soft" GM for only having 2 PC deaths so far, this late in the adventure path? I actually had two other opportunities to kill PCs, but I let them survive by intentionally using weak monster tactics instead of going for the killing blow. In both cases the weaker tactics could be justified given the situations, but the more ruthless tactics made slightly more sense and are probably what I should have done.
And two years later, we'll still playing this AP, and Relyn died again... to the same spell.
Name of PC: Relyn
Class/Level: Flame Oracle 17
Adventure: Spires of Xin Shalast
Catalyst: Karzoug
Story: They went in the "front" entrance to the spire, instead of Mokmurian's entrance, and faced the giant guards. As soon as they finished those and opened the doors to go further in, things got a little nuts. Besides the Karzoug projection, there were giants, Khalib, hungerers, Viorian, etc coming at them in wave after wave of combat. Karzoug and Khalib intentionally hit the group with low level mass transmutations to eliminate the 3 defenses per day from their dominant weapons from some of them before hitting them with harder stuff.
They survived all that ok, killing lots of Karzoug's top lieutenants. Then they opened the other door near the entrance, just looking for a place to rest up safely, and saw another Karzoug image on the other side. He beat most of the party in initiative, and knowing that Relyn's weapon had already absorbed 3 transmutations and was no longer protecting him, Karzoug shot him with a Disintegrate spell. Relyn rolled a 29 on the save, which isn't enough. If I'd rolled average damage, he would have just barely survived, but I rolled really well on the damage, and Relyn is once again a pile of dust.
And despite have two scrolls of True Resurrection and a scroll of Resurrection that could be used to bring him back, they no longer have a party member who can use those scrolls. Nobody else even trained UMD. I'm thinking the Planetar should be able to do it, if they can get his help, but they don't know about him yet, and they're reluctant to continue exploring without their healer.
Also, after being disintegrated as a human the first time, Relyn was reincarnated as a halfling. If they do True Res this time, will he come back as human or halfling?
Technically this death was averted by hero points (which I only allow for escaping death), but I think that it still counts. :)
Name of PC: Ashlon
Class/Level: elven male, Evoker 11
Adventure: Fortress of the Stone Giants
Catalyst: Scythe critical from a redcap
Name of PC: Aily Everlocks
Class and Level: female human Rogue 9
Adventure: Skull's Crossing
Catalyst: Skulltaker troll
The fight was going great until she got hit with a rend attack. Luckily saved a permanent death by a nearby cleric of Sarenrae who'd just learned breath of life!
Name of PC: Aily Everlocks AGAIN
Class and Level: female human Rogue 9
Adventure: Skull's Crossing AGAIN
Catalyst: Grazuul
Having been forced to flee from him earlier when he knocked out both the rogue and the fighter, the party figured they were prepped and ready for a second match and came busting into his lair ready to go. The cunning troll was, alas, hiding in his side room. Once the party split up to find him, it was pretty easy for him to grab Aily for some underwater shredding action. Aily was saved again by the cleric and after the wizard polymorphed the fighter into a giant octopus, the scrag had no chance.
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I've been playing RotR for years and years now, but I don't have that many obits to speak of! Well, none that lasted. Does it count if they were rezzed?
Name of PC: Karromar Blood-of-Dawn
Class/Level: CG Shoanti Bloodrager
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Sicknasty combo of Erylium and Sinspawn
Story: Karromar was always eager for a fight but this was the first real spellcaster we'd encountered and the poor fella had a terrible will save. He'd done some crazy things in his short existence but the well-timed combo of a sleep spell/hex and a Sinspawn coupe-de-grace were all she wrote for the poor fella. With the party's meatshield gone the Sinspawn were free to focus on our party's oracle and take them out as well.
Name of PC: Milosh
Class/Level: NG Varisian Oracle of Lore 2
Adventure: Burnt offerings
Catalyst: See above
Story: Sadly, also see above. Milosh, however, was mostly bodily intact and able to come back later! Him being but a poor farm boy who was caught up into things he didn't fully understand, however, decided to stick it out at Sandpoint and help teach the children with his newfound mystic knowledge.
Name of PC: Ailen
Class/Level: CG Chelish Oracle of Battle 3
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: A random encounter table gone horribly wrong.
Story: Y'know people talk about the Sandpoint devil... But it's a whole other thing to actually be dumb enough to fight it. Especially at lower level. The party tried to take what was left of his body, which was sadly only a lower leg with his boot still on, and were dismayed to find out that raise dead needs a bit more than that. Ailen didn't receive a proper resurrection until we scraped up enough cash to go to Magnimar but that leg was just never the same.
Name of PC: Mimlindia, Tennyson, and Aidan
Class/Level: All roughly around 9 or 10; Gnome Necromancer, Human Bard, Human Oracle, accompanied by Shalelu Andosana
Adventure: the Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst: Black Magga
Story: One of those nights with bad rolls, sadly. Magga's breath rendered us all confused save for the wizard who was summarily taken out the next round by a tentacle. Shalelu accidentally killed the Bard in her confusion, and the Oracle was the next target of Magga's tentacles. Shalelu nearly killed herself, but Magga retreated and she had the arduous task of dragging all the bodies out of the water.
Name of PC: Shuo
Class/Level: samurai 5/fighter 2
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Xanesha
Story: One charcter in the party had a bird familiar. When they approached the Seven's Sawmill, it was sent to scout and was able to find the rookery and talk to ravens. In the end, the party decided to go to the Clock Tower first, completely skipping the Sawmill for the time being.
In the tower, after defeating the Scarecrow, they once again sent their bird familiar to scout. He got as high as to the faceless stalker's level and saw them having a trap prepared. To prevent them from triggering it,they sent the samurai had fly cast upon him and was sent ahead. He succesfully kept the facelass stalkers occupied, but by the time the rest of the party joined him, he took some significant damage. They sent the bird to scout again, but by now, Xanesha was alerted and invisible, so it hasn't spotted her. The party decided to check the top. In the resulting fight the samurai died, and the rest of the party was forced to flee.
Name of PC: Hargev
Class/Level: barbarian 9
Adventure: The Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst: ogre hook power attack critical from a Kreeg ogre
Story: Using a lot of clairvoyance, the party was able to locate Jaagrath's room while staying unnoticed, and using a combination of dimension door and invisibility they assasinated him in his sleep, although they put the fort on alert and had to dimension door away again. Knowing that there's an enemy who can strike them in such a way, Lucrecia decided to abandon the fort, but remained in the area.
A couple of days later, the PCs were ambushed on the road, and in the fight the barbarian was hit with a power attack critical hit by one of the Kreegs, resulting in 6d8+66=104 damage in one hit.
Story: Karromar was always eager for a fight but this was the first real spellcaster we'd encountered and the poor fella had a terrible will save. He'd done some crazy things in his short existence but the well-timed combo of a sleep spell/hex and a Sinspawn coupe-de-grace were all she wrote for the poor fella. With the party's meatshield gone the Sinspawn were free to focus on our party's oracle and take them out as well.
A coup de grâce on a PC? That's rough.
Name of PC: Murka! Avertin
Class and Level: male half-orc Fighter 9
Adventure: Shimmerglens
Catalyst: Juju zombie ogre fighter
So Chapter 3 has not been so kind to my party! I knew that one of my team would get bored in the Shimmerglens without anything to fight so I slammed out a quick encounter - a couple ogres and one of the Kreegs, the ogres that Lamatar and Myriana managed to kill before being ambushed, transformed into juju zombies by the fen's twisted magic. Murka! the brave half-orc was chopped down by 73-hp crit and a failed Fort save against massive damage.
Lacking diamonds and having just learned that Myariana can cast reincarnation, the team returned to her to plead their case. The nymph was unconvinced...until the ranger rolled a 20 on a Perform (dance) check and reminded her, for just a moment, of the things she once loved. Murka!, now Murka'a the half-elf, lives again to fight another day.
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Name of PC:Parker
Class and Level: Female Half-Elf 5th lvl Rouge
Adventure: Misgivings
Catalyst: True Love
Parker it should be noted was the chosen one. Upon entry to the Laboratory the druid leading them became convinced he saw his shadow on the wall and began eating it. Upon Parker's entry the Skinsaw man ran forward and got a critical on her. The Sorcerer promptly hit this new attacker with magic missle. When the skinsawman next got a chance to act Aldern made an appearance deeply sorrowful for everything, before he got too far though Lordship took control and continued the assault. The druid and Sorcerer both fought hard but Parker was convinced she could reach the man with in and spent her round with diplomacy and intimidation trying to draw out the man she loved ("Iesha maybe dead, but I'm still here!" was a favorite of mine), saddly her resolution to save the man was her undoing, lacking Parkers attacks it took to long to kill the former man and she died.
Name of PC: Thorsun
Class and Level: Half-Orc Paladin 7th level
Adventure: Fort Rannick
Cataylst: Hookmaw Kreeg
Battling a few Ogres in the corridor, the noise alerted Hookmaw Kreeg to intruders. Hookmaw moved to the door and readied an attack if the door opened.
Thosun, the half-orc paladin was firing arrows down the corridor with his back to the door. It seemed like the ogres in the corridor were close to being finished off, so a wizard in the party decided to open the door. He was immediately attacked by Hookmaw, survived, but ran off. Blocked by everyone else in the corridor, Thorsun the half-orc paladin tried to fire some arrows at Hookmaw. But the close proximity, reach, and attacks of opportunity lead to a few massive blows and Thorsun was slain quickly.
The wizard deeply regretted his actions, and will be forever wondering, why oh why did I open that door?
as a GM, I only had one foe to attack, so there were no other choices. I didn't realize the paladin was so low on HP, and the final blow did 20 points of damage (when he only had 3). The player forgot to heal himself with "lay on hands", otherwise, would have likely survived. This was the first time a player ever died with me as GM.
Three mistakes were made that all helped contribute to the death of a PC:
1) going off on your own (opening a door) - wizard
2) not using lay on hands to heal (swift action) - paladin
3) using a bow in melee (attacks of opportunity from Ogre) - paladin
Name of Pc: Stonefist
Class and Level: Level 12 Half-orc Druid
Adventure:Under Jorgenfist
Catalyst:Bad Campsite
The party had cleared out Mokurian and his minions on the library level, but still had no password to access the library. They decided it must be in the black tower. They went up to the level they had mostly cleared and faced the Lamia cleric sisters and their dragon pets. After this battle they decided to rest up and cast Stone wall to enclose themselves in.
I was nice enough to wait until morning before Lokansir came knocking and used his Earthshaking bellow to collapse their stonewall encampment onto themselves.
Stonefist wildshaped into an Earth Elemental to escape the rubble but ended up right in front of Lokansir. And he of course got a crit. Was a bad wake up call. Another Raise Dead from Gomoksun fixed him right up.
Name of Pc:Fiddle-Eye
Class and Level:Level 12 Ranger
Adventure:The Black Tower
Catalyst:Flurry of Blows
The gang made their way into the icy tower with everyone flying, and charged straight into The Black Monks tomb. Everyone except Fiddle-Eye failed their save against his despair aura. The Black Monk assumed that he must be the strongest to not fall to his aura. Boy was he wrong. Fiddle-Eye dropped after the fourth punch. Once the rest of the gang got their act together and put the Monk to rest, Fiddle-Eye opted for a resurrection spell. He rolled a Half-Orc of course. Now my original 3 players are all some form of Orc. I can see the whole party being Orcs before we are done lol.
Name of PC: Narcela
Class and Level: Ranger 7
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Xanesha's Spear
Details: Xanesha opened up against the ranger after drawing the group up into an ambush using an illusion. While the initial attack was insufficient to down the ranger, a thrust or two later and the spear plunged through Narcela's heart - ending the Shifter Ranger with no chance of healing pulling her back from the brink.
Name of PC: Kena
Class and Level: Druid 7
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Xanesha's Medusa Mask
Details: Kena had chosen to keep out of the range of the spear by keeping herself as an owl, flying around the outskirts of the tower. Unfortunately, Xanesha was able to take advantage of this by using the power of her mask to attempt to turn the spellcasting owl to stone. One failed Fortitude save later, the gnome Druid plunged from the sky, taking enough damage even as a statue upon hitting the ground to kill her outright.
Name of PC: Galverist Ironthroat
Class and Level: Alchemist 3
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Shadows in Thistletop
Details: Exploring with the ranger. Got surrounded and drained
Name of PC: Groznak Ironthroat
Class and Level: Barbarian 10/ Alchemist 1/ Grey Paladin 2
Adventure: The Skinshaw Murders/Under Jorgenfist
Catalyst: Xaneshas Spear Critical/Fireball Trap/An old Friend
Details: Xanesha full round attacked to finish with a crit. Reincarnated and killed again in JorgenFist by the Kobald fireball trap. Reincarnated again and killed by a PC turned Enemy NPC. Reincarnated again left the party after dieting too much to try to become a god (and by product immortal)
Name of PC: Odek
Class and Level: Cleric 10
Adventure: Fort Rannick
Catalyst: Crushed by the Skullripper
Details: Tried to save the parties arcane trickster and got caught in the skullrippers claws
Name of PC: Thorn Ironbeard
Class and Level: Slayer 14
Adventure: Sins of the Savior
Catalyst: Rouge sneak attack
Details: 153 damage on a sneak attack from xyrodeck
Name of PC: Qahllabbath
Class and Level: Unchained Monk 14
Adventure: Sin Savior
Catalyst: Death Clutch spell
Details: Necromancer in Melendez range. Passed Cast Defensive, Passed Spell Resistance, Monk fails fort save rerolls with bottle cap. Raise Dead and Regeneration later he's back.
Hello guys! First post on the boards and it just so happens to be the obituaries... Though I was rather hoping I'd be reporting someone else's death.
Name of PC: Xandos Dewtide, Half-elf, 23 years old
Class and Level: Summoner 4
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Bruthasmus' Elf Bane Arrows
Story:
The party (which I'll make an introduction post for shortly) was making a rather easy time of Thistletop. They had almost killed Gogmurt when the party's Druid accidentally attempted Diplomacy goblin-style ("Join us or you die!"). We almost lost Xandos when the rope bridge fell (due to circumstances involving a rope and a cliff, he took 3d6 twice, I rolled 18 out of his 19 health...). And the party pretty much owned the first level of the fortress. They released the rabbits down the stairs closest to the stockade and went down the stairs in the back, right into Lyrie and Tsuto (who Lyrie had made invisible).
They dispatched them (both captured once Tsuto was dropped and threatened with death) and proceeded to blind-side me by saying "Yeah, let's just go down the stairs here and not worry about the rest of this level." I hastily drew the map for the third level...
After the party's Monk almost lost his hand testing the presence of the Slashing Cage trap, everybody but Xandos and Shalelu jumped over the trapped square (Shalelu was to go after Xandos, but Xandos got caught in the trap). He was at 17 out of 24 HP, so Shalelu healed him to full and hoped he'd survive the trap.
Round 1 he survived at, ironically enough, 7 out of 24 HP. He made an Acrobatics check to get between one statue and the wall, causing both to miss him in round 2 and him not be able to fall into the pit. During this time, he heard Bruthasmus coming down the stairs from level 2 and warned Shalelu. His Eidolon flew past so he could get out of the trap (he opted to be out on Bruthasmus' side instead of Nualia's side).
Next round, Bruthasmus is down to 2 Elf Bane arrows and Xandos charges forward to help, with his 7HP and 12AC (16 with Potion of Barkskin +2). When all was said and done, Bruthasmus knocked him down to -15, three points past Dead.
The rest of the party is dealing with Nualia (Monk and Fighter around 10HP, Druid at 34HP, Nualia prone and at 16HP) and have no idea he's dead, besides Bruthasmus' roar of triumph. And now Shalelu is alone and trapped with her mortal enemy... :D
Xandos' player knew it was just a matter of time (and honestly, with 12 AC, everyone was surprised he'd lived that long), so now he's rolled up a Paladin [Holy Gun, Warrior of Sunlight] 4.
Character: Cicero Ton-Thalas
Class and Level: Arcane Duelist Bard 7
Cause of Death: Xanesha
Cicero was a jaunty and lanky elf. The sole survivor of a brutal ogre attack on his family settlement, he approached life with a careless, live-for-the-moment attitude to keep his inner turmoil at bay. Not the most skilled at instruments, his oratory and dancing were beyond compare through Magnimar and Sand Point. A founding member of the "Best Friends Adventuring Company," he traveled to many interesting and dangerous locations. His poem "The Sad Refrain of Nualia and the Victory Over Thistletop" was a masterpiece telling the story of his groups adventures.
Unfortunately, as the only party member capable of seeing invisible things, he attracted Xanesha's wrath as the party stumbled on her lair atop a clock tower. She turned him to stone and flung him off the tower in revenge for foiling her ambush.
He is succeeded by his best friends and adventuring companions Timoty, Bilius, and Wesh, as well as his unseen servant, Tad Cooper.
Name of PC: Gaius
Class and Level: Paladin 8
Adventure: The Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst: Silas Kreeg
Details: After infiltrating Fort Rannick through the basement and driving Lucrecia into a full blown retreat, they ultimately find themselves face to face with Silas Kreeg a few moments later. Unfortunately, the ogre is quick to his feet and quicker to slamming his ogre hook right into the heart of the Paladin at the fore.
One Power Attack and critical damage later, the battle began with the corpse of the Paladin of Erastil laid out at their feet.
PC: Serafin Zoel
Race/Class/Level: Elven Nightblade 8
Adventure: The Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst: Malugus Kreeg
Details: The party of six adventurers (having grown in size with the addition of a surviving Black Arrow when someone new joined the game) found themselves atop Skull's Crossing facing Malugus Kreeg and his demolition crew. Excited to find themselves with plenty of room to maneuver after some cramped encounters earlier, the party spreads out and surrounds the ogres. Unfortunately for Serafin, he didn't take Malugus' reach into account when maneuvering and took a mighty blow from his pickaxe. Malugus then scored two more hits on Serafin while the rest of the party was engaging his minions, and Serafin went down to -22 HP in one round, well below his threshold for death.
All is well, though! I use the Plot Twist cards at my table and two players each used one (without knowing what the other player's card was) that synergized quite well with the other player. One card's effect was Something Unexpected Happens while the other was An Ally Appears Out of Nowhere, so I ruled that as the party's Warpriest of Bolka said a prayer over the body of his fallen ally, Serafin's eyes opened, each pupil replaced with Pharasma's spiraling comet.
We left the session there, but I am going to start the next one with some roleplaying about how and why Serafin returned from the dead. It is going to take place in the realm between life and death, and involve a brief conversation with the spirit of Vomitus (Serafin's ally who fell in Thistletop) and a manifestation of Pharasma, who is not letting Serafin die just yet as she has plans for him. I'm really looking forward to it.
Name of PC: Shin
Class/Level: Magus 9
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre: Down Comes the Rain
Catalyst: Black Magga, the Golarion Loch Ness Monster
Story: After saving the school children, the encountered this beast right outside the church. The beast's escape was stopped by the party Arcanist, and eventually slaughtered by the party, but not without suffering a casualty from the monster's extra turns for being trapped.
The limp body (killed by a crit) of the magus fell under the water, and started to drift away before getting caught on the brawler's legs. (The brawler happened to be the magus' brother nonetheless).
Name of PC: Obmas (forget the last name), Halfling, ~20 years old
Class and Level: Paladin 5 / Gunslinger 1
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Is a Paladin in an Undead mystery (and wanted to swap characters)
Story:
After the group had investigated all of the clues except for the visit to the Sanitorium, the Paladin and the Monk went to the Church late at night for extra supplies, since they had learned the serial killer was an undead. On the way back, they heard someone in front and behind them, so they split up to check things out.
The Paladin failed all three of his Perception checks (this wasn't scripted), so he was killed by a Faceless Stalker off-screen (a Small Faceless Stalker) and replaced.
The Monk tracked down his guy (who was pretending to be a half-orc)and was sorely outmatched in the fight. He was at 2HP when the "Paladin" returned and killed the other Faceless Stalker to keep his cover from being blown. The Monk saw the dead one revert to its true form and brought the body to the Sherriff.
The next day, they talked to Grayst at the Sanitorium before being contacted by the Sherriff to get back to town because of "trouble". They left the Druid and the "Paladin" at the Sanitorium to attempt to help Grayst...
After an incredibly successful start to the campaign with only three players, Tsuto was dealt with, with ease. He barely got a chance to do anything (I rolled a 3 on almost every roll, including all acrobatics) and so the PC's ended up clearing out the Catacombs of Wrath with relative ease. Koruvus was a tougher fight than Tsuto, but they still got him good.
Fast-forward to todays session and we have the first PC death of the campaign.
Name of PC: Rikter Von Eisling
Class/Level: Bard 3 (Dervish Dancer)
Adventure: Burnt Offerings - Thistletop
Catalyst: The Howling Hole
Story: After dealing with the Licktoad Tribe refugees, the party (along with their new member, Ashryn), found themselves looking down a particularly large hole. This was the Howling Hole and what caught their eye was the treasure below.
Climbing down alone, Rikter went into the hole unaware of the Bunyip below (with a successful stealth check of 26). The Bunyip snuck up next to him, took a bite out of him and swam away, circling him in the darkness (it was nighttime too) like a shark, testing what it could get away with. Landing three attacks before Rikter could do anything, Rikter began to drown (failing his swim check), managed to swim back to the surface to heal, got bitten again, each time suffering the bite and additional bleed.
There were three rounds before this where the bunyip kept missing and ended up critting itself twice, biting its tongue and catching its fang on itself, taking 8 damage, 1 bleed and 4 Strength damage. This was even before it landed the first attack on an unaware Rikter.
He managed to heal twice before running out of curatives and still attached to the rope he initially climbed down, the other PC's noticed what was happening and began to pull him up. He was on 6hp and dangling 10ft above the water surface, with the Bunyip constantly circling below and leaping up in an attempt to take more chunks out of him.
After attempting this for two rounds and being pelted with arrows and slingstaff bullets, the Bunyip roared, terrifying two of the three party members above, one of which was holding the rope with Rikter.
Down plummets Rikter, back into the dark waters below, as Arizar the Half-Orc Alchemist runs in fear, dropping the rope as he and Ashryn the Ranger/Rogue run away from the hole. The Bunyip takes another chunk out of the Swashbuckling Bard and as the rope slides along the ground, Cora, the Halfling Cleric of Desna tries to grab it, but fails and things are looking really bleak.
It's now a struggle to see who will survive - Rikter or the Bunyip. The Bunyip, still taking the 1 bleed every round, is finished off with a slingstaff pellet to the temple. I then allowed Cora to make survival checks to find a vine to rescue Rikter, but unfortunately Rikter still had 3 bleed whittling away at him he just couldn't do anything about.
He then dropped unconscious, began to sink as he was now drowning, with Cora only finding a sturdy vine as he succumbed to blood loss and suffocation.
Now cleared, Cora, Arizar and Ashryn (now composed after their frightful ordeal) climbed down the vine and into the water below, collecting the treasure and making sure to secure themselves to the vine beforehand, so they could easily climb back up and down, underwater or not. They claimed the treasure for themselves and left their comrade afloat, dead and facedown in the cove below.
Ultimately, Rikter was adventuring to regain his lost fame, but ended up just adding to the treasure horde already there, literally drowning his sorrows away.
They can battle forever more in the afterlife now that they both (eventually) lay dead together in the Howling Hole. A pretty good encounter I'd say!
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Name: Sir Atropos of Sothis, and Nebula, Atropos' Faithful Hound
Class/Level:Fighter 8/Huntmaster Cavalier of the Blue Rose 2 & Animal Companion
Adventure: The Hook Mountain Massacre, Harrowing the Hook
Catalyst: Atropos Remembers That He Is Dead.
Barl Breakbones had been reworked as a Stone Wizard, so he spent most of his time sitting on his throne and dropping his foes into holes. Atropos (Osiriani Catfolk) told Nebula (Ogre mutt rescued from the Grauls) to attack Barl's valet, only to fall into a hole and spend the next couple of rounds climbing out. He couldn't see Nebula try to fight a stone giant by himself, nor him getting crushed by the giant's club.
Atropos was infuriated, partially because the bard cast Rage on him after he had climbed out of the Acid Pit. He charged Barl, eating the AoO, then took a full attack that was further strengthened with heat damage from Barl's Draconic Resevoir. He lost consciousness, was healed by the bard's Moderate Healing Wand, then took another attack, dropping him again.
It was at this point that the Rage ran out, sending his CON back to normal, turning him from "dying" to "dead". Eventually, Barl surrendered, and the mountain's resident coven of hags agreed to get the Catfolk knight and his faithful mutt up and running again.
The PCs saw no problem with this, and happily ate the dumplings the hags served without even asking what was in them. They also didn't know what the hags did to the late head of the Black Arrows.
Atropos was Reincarnated as a Medium male yellow-scaled kobold aasimar, while his dog got a Smart Zombie template. The PC's reactions remain to be seen.
Name of PC: Toma
Class/Level: Brawler 10
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre: Harrowing the Hook
Catalyst: Barl Breakbone's Earthbreaker
Story: The party cleared out the majority of the Stronghold and now faced the great Stone Giant Necromancer, Barl Breakbones. They made it through a couple of rounds, finally approaching Barl. With his Earthbreaker, Barl took a massive full-round attack against the brawler in the lead. After rolling near max damage on first and third attack, and a critical on the 2nd, the brawler fell to the ground. His body laying limp on the floor.
The party immediately realized that this guy was a huge threat after OTK-ing the tank. They switched away from the stone giant bodyguard, and focused him down quickly. After speaking with dead, they found the brawler didn't want to come back, but instead arrived as a bard when they returned to sandpoint.
Two in a row for Barl? That's good to know as my players will be facing him in our next session. It will likely be even tougher than normal as Lucrecia will be at his side since the PCs accidentally alerted her to their presence in Rannick before engaging her. I expect it to be a tough fight for them, especially if they do not prepare appropriately.
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Lucrecia was with Barl when I ran it, as well. I swapped out her TWF feats for Improved Spell Focus and Spell Penetration, even though none of the PCs had Spell Resistance (she just figured she may have to enchant someone with SR, like a dragon) because how would she cast any spells with twin daggers at the ready?
Also, to avoid overkill, I gave them sub-optimal tactics: Barl didn't care for Lucrecia's safety, and even put a Dimensional Anchor on her before the fight to stop her from running away; Lucrecia tried to portray herself as a brutalized lackey, and they both blamed each other for their lack of co-ordination.
As for the PCs' reactions, everyone's fine with it, though the oracle really didn't want the dog to be undead. Nobody else seemed to care, at first.
I meant to post this last weekend, but it was pretty hectic with the overnight session... For the record, all of my obituary posts so far have been the SAME player. Such an unlucky sap; he's now known as the Red Shirt Player.
Name of PC: Alexandra Nightingale, Female Human
Class and Level: Swashbuckler 7
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Paralysis
Story:
We had finished up with the Sanitorium and the group learned about the farmstead off yonder that had been pretty quiet. The group went to investigate and got swarmed by 7 of the scarecrows on the way to the house.
One of the Sandpoint guards got paralyzed, the other coup-de-graced, and I had several other players paralyzed by low rolls on saves. The one player got rescued by another's charge, but the Swashbuckler wasn't so lucky. With a Fort save of +4 or something, she (male player, female character) had to make a save against a DC 20 and she rolled a 4...
The party retreated, though the Monk was the only one in the party that wanted to make the boat ride to Magnimar to have their local druid get a Reincarnate cast on the dead girl. The party earned some Sin points there for sure.
Because I asked them if they wanted to make things interesting and gave them the choice, the player opted to roll for gender as well as race and the female human came back as a male halfling... :)
Third character death, but it's finally not the Red Shirt player!
Name of PC: Malachi, Male Human
Class and Level: Druid 7
Adventure: The Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Being a Pyro!
Story:
The group finished their looting (though the Magus was un-specific about what he was looting and will need to go back...) and everyone but the Druid and the Fighter-Sorcerer left the house (and ran into the Carrion Storms). Meanwhile, these two that stayed behind tried to set the house on fire...
They both passed their saves on the Phantasmal Killer spell I hit them with. For lack of better info, I simply set the DCs at 25 (10 + Caster Level, which is the only info related to Vorel's abilities that I could find...). The Druid wasn't done yet, though. The house wasn't burning as well as a normal wooden house would, so he went upstairs, set his sword on fire and trailed it across the wall as he walked along. He didn't survive this Phantasmal Killer though; the Fighter-Sorcerer heard the body go thunk-thunk-thunk down the stairs. :)
With all the loot they got from the mansion, they were able to get him Reincarnate-ed in Magnimar two days later as a Male Half-elf. Then he almost died when he and the Fighter-Sorcerer went to the Townhouse. (Their reactions were AMAZING!)
Lucrecia was with Barl when I ran it, as well.
Turns out no one died in our encounter, but Lucrecia did get the party warpriest down to -13 by dealing 57 damage to him in one round with her twin daggers. Ouch.
Wow, that sounded very cinematic! :)
(But how did the cleric have so many Dim Doors ready, when it can only be prepared in a domain slot?)
Name: Goruk-Rél
Class/Level: Anti-Paladin Insinuator 3
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Malfeshnekor
Name: Cora
Class/Level: Cleric of Desna 3
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Malfeshnekor
This one was epic!
Well, what can I say? Prepare yourselves for one of the craziest ways to go yet and the kicker? It all started with a door. This is a long read, but one I believe the community will love!
After essentially a TPK (all party members were knocked out, but not killed, including Bruthazmus), Lyrie being the one to mop the remaining PC's up notified Nualia, seeking more knowledge and power through research as a reward for capturing the intruders. As punishment for his failure, Bruthazmus was locked up also, with Orik on food duty, serving as the prison guard.
Orik didn't hate the party. He treated them as he'd like to be treated in a similar situation and after the events that followed, the party quickly discovered he could potentially become a temporary ally, provided they proved their worth. After all, he didn't want to help the losing side and his boss paid well, so the PC's needed to prove they could take on Nualia before he'd switch sides.
Later that night, Bruthazmus was lead out of his cell and into the Chapel of Lamashtu after Lyrie cast Ray of Enfeeblement on him, making sure he wouldn't put up much of a fight and that he'd stand little chance of escape. After threatening to screw the Elf out of the (currently imprisoned) parties Half-Elf Ranger/Rogue and hitting Orik in the face, bloodying his nose, Lyrie and Orik lead the Bugbear into the Chapel of Lamashtu.
Convinced until the very end that Nualia would be kind to him and after laughing at Orik who claimed escape was unlikely for him, so began the ceremony. After a speech from Nualia to Lamashtu, behind the closed door of the prison ward and out of sight of the players, but not out of earshot, the ritual opened up a tear in reality, leading to the abyss momentarily, with the wails of screams of countless damned souls echoing throughout the halls. Darkness and hues of red and orange light flashed in and out of existence under the doorway to the Chapel. What horrors occurred the other side of that door, you can be certain the players were glad they did not witness, however, Orik did.
Stepping up to the Altar beyond the door, Nualia gave her speech:
"My Queen, Lamashtu. The mother of monsters. The creator of corruption. My lady. My saviour.
I hereby present an offering in the form of my loyal bodyguard and Bugbear, the hunter Bruthazmus. Though he has slain countless Elves, Half-Elves and innocents, he has now failed me and so, I offer him to you as a slave in the afterlife. May you train him, sculpt him and craft him into the killing machine you so desire. May his essence flow into me, so that I can further aid you on the material plane and grow ever closer to demonhood as your loyal, unwavering champion."
The PC's then heard two quick thuds and then all of a sudden, silence. The ritual was complete and the two thuds? Bruthazmus' head bouncing across the floor. It was ironic - Where Bruthazmus couldn't bring the players to their knees, he instead was brought to his knees.....now without a head.
This gave the PC's 1-2 nights at the most before they too would be sacrificed one by one as an offering to Lamashtu, for Nualia to ascend to full Demonhood. With only Lyrié, Nualia, Malfeshnekor, the Giant Hermit Crab, Nualia's Yeth Hound and the three Shadows left, Orik had little to worry about and though scarred from seeing into the abyss and already feeling uncomfortable with his current life situation, he kindly informed the PC's if they didn't act soon, they'd be next.
The PC's escaped (averaging 1hp each & without gear as it had all been confiscated), the rogue/ranger picked the cell lock with an old rat bone, carefully ventured out and down the corridors in the dead of night, found and reclaimed the party gear and ended up walking in on Orik who, through being done with this place and wanting to get the hell out, listened to what the PC had to say without confrontation or any intention of fighting while Nualia and Lyrié slept in their own rooms. After agreeing to aid the party, should they prove their worth, he made one request - To take Lyrie alive.
The next day, the party made their way to Lyrie and after she had assumed the PC's escaped (they were just sleeping in a tower on the upper levels to replenish their abilities after a good nights rest), they captured her with relative ease, tying her up and leading her up to the tower they had just slept in, placing Orik on guard duty while they explored below.
Upon triggering the trap, Nualia was aware of an enemy presence and buffed up as needed. When the PC's opened the door to her room, I created a special segment, implied to have been a viewing into the past at Desna's desire:
As the door opens to this room, a brilliant white light washes over you as you find yourselves walking through the familiar streets of Sandpoint. A kaleidoscope of blue butterflies flit and flutter around you before taking to the sky in an entrancing and dizzying swirl.
Passing you is an incredibly attractive, silvery white haired girl, holding a book of some kind tightly to her chest and keeping to herself, smiling as one of the butterflies lands on her hand.
Moments later, a nasty teenaged boy runs up to the girl, plucking the butterfly from her hand and ripping the wings from its body right in front of her, before dropping it to the floor and stomping its still live body into the dirt.
The girl begins to sob, at which point the young boy laughs, pushing the beautiful teenaged girl to the ground. The onlookers did nothing to help the poor girl and as soon as she clambered to her feet, a group of boys pelted her with manure.
The girl ran home crying. Her pristine book now damaged, her face and clothes dirtied.
You're now outside the Cathedral, only it looks different to how you remember it. You're standing outside and looking up to the top, open window. That same girl from before is gently playing with another butterfly. The air is warm and as you feel the cool breeze brush past, the girls hair waves around with an otherworldly sheen.
The next morning, as she leaves the Cathedral and heads toward the academy, a group of boys and girls watch with malicious intent as she passes by, whispering to one another as if to plot something. The kids then run up to her, attempt to kick her legs out from behind with every step she takes.
Viewing from the academy, she spends most of her day in isolation, working hard to excel in all classes.
Back home, you appear to be watching from her bedroom, standing behind her as she sits at her desk in her almost transparent, white silk gown, lined with patterns of blue butterflies around the trim. She appears to be documenting the events of her life in a rather impressive looking, leather bound diary. At closer inspection, you can see tears streaming down her face, staining the pages with each teardrop.
Daylight breaks and school is over for the summer. The silvery haired girl makes her way down to the beach to quietly read a book. After what feels like several hours, a hateful man approaches her and seems friendly at first, until he grabbed her, claiming she's unnatural as he pinned her in place for his two sons to douse her hair in some kind of liquid.
As she struggled to break free, one of the boys ran back over with a torch, instantly lighting her hair ablaze. Undoubtedly expecting her to die and yet, she didn't. She seemed oddly resistant to fire as she dropped to the floor and frantically rolled to put it out.
Oddly, her hair was mostly fine, frayed and missing patches in places, but mostly undamaged, as was her delicate skin.
At her desk and sobbing once more, the girl closed her diary with a somewhat muffled thud. The cover reads "The Private Diary of Nualia Tobyn". Standing from her chair and stepping back, the walls of her room become engulfed in fire. Screams can be heard from outside, claiming the Cathedral of which you all stand within, is on fire.
Utterly distraught and wrought with fear, focus shifts to the tears of streaming down Nualia's face and as the flames grow closer and closer to her in their heated dance of destruction, you find yourselves back outside amongst the onlookers as the Cathedral begins to fall in on itself.
The imagery subsides and you find yourself staring at red marble lining the curving walls of this room, lit only by the four burning skulls in
each corner. Three chairs rest here, with both stone ledges covered with old books, scrolls, teeth, bones, scrimshaw artwork, jars of deformed creatures soaking in brine, taxidermied animals, limbs and other strange objects. To the north, a large round fountain filled
with frothy blue water fills the room with the gentle sound of bubbling and in front of it stands what looks to be a 30 year old woman, similar in looks to the teenaged girl you saw only moments ago.
Is this a dream? You're not sure, but she's charging right towards you!
During a pretty devastating fight with Nualia, two of the PC's went down (unconscious). With only the Half-Elf Rogue/Ranger and Half-Orc Anti-Paladin left standing (who had 24AC thanks to full plate armour and Smite), the fallen Aasimar failed to hit Goruk multiple times (even with her +17 to hit via buffs, due to the trap being triggered) and screamed with rage in his face as the Half-Elf backed down the corridor towards the L shaped room, pelting her with arrows.
As Nualia swung, invoking Lamashtu's name, Goruk who was previously imprisoned for three weeks (this is how I introduced his character after his previous characters death, Rikter), tortured by Bruthazmus and on the verge of either sacrifice or starvation was not a happy Half-Orc. Butting his face up against Nualia's, he said "The only mistake you made was crossing paths with me!" as he struck her down into unconsciousness. He'd already realised the girl in Desna's vision was Nualia, but he had no intention of redeeming her. He was (neutral) evil afterall, though he did say one thing as she lay there with a huge gash across her abdomen and that was "Truly, I feel sorry for you. Had your life gone a different direction, we would never have met, but due to your actions and your bright idea to keep me alive, today just isn't your day. May your next life treat you better." as he then plunged his sword deep within her chest, outright killing her and expelling her into the afterlife.
With the Yeth Hound and Nualia dead, the two left standing de-activated the trap, forced potions down their unconscious allies throats, ignoring Nualia's journal for now, and made their way through the rest of the complex.
During this time, Orik left his watchpost in search of Lyrie's cat, Skivver. Having previously been invited to join the PC's in Sandpoint, he had considered playing hero and escaping with Lyrie, but the PC's upheld their end of the deal and having visited Sandpoint once before (detailed in the AP), he decided to take them up on their offer to make a new life and hopefully work out some way to reduce Lyrie's sentence.
With a chunk of flesh now bitten out of Goruk's side, the rest of the party got involved. Due to the positioning the Halfling Cleric of Desna and Goruk were the two up front and so took another two attacks. With an attack from each of the party - A swipe from Goruk's Bastard Sword, a flurry of arrows from Ashryn's Rapid Shot Bow attack, a Bomb from Arizar, the Half-Orc Alchemist, all attacks missed. This continued to be the case and after just one round of Malfeshnekors attacks, the party were in serious trouble.
As they began to back out down the corridor, ensuring the girls were behind them, Goruk and Arizar blocked Mal from attacking the Halfling and Half-Elf, before an idea sprung to Goruks mind.
Goruk grabbed the door key/insert and took a step back towards the corridor as the doors slowly began to close. The rest of the party carried on with their desperate struggle, but being more intelligent than the entire party, Malfeshnekor saw through their plan and wasn't about to be imprisoned once more.
For 1 round, the beast attacked the party, landing all four attacks (three initially, but we use crit cards, which gave him an AoO on Goruk) on Goruk, ripping a fatal hole in the Full Plate wearing Half-Orcs chest, practically ripping him in two.
The Half-Orc Alchemist was done and fled for his life for a round until the Halfling and Half-Elf called him back, screaming for help. Cora then took a single attack, Arizar ran back in to throw fire at the beast and Ash let off another two shots. Firing a blast of Magic Missile from the wand they'd taken from Lyrie, Cora the Halfling fired off two darts, only to yet again miss (50% miss chance with Blink, even causing a spell that doesn't miss to miss).
The healer was out of healing spells and with no time to pull out a healing wand, it was clear that having not dealt a single bit of damage to the beast, they needed to get out of there. Arizar was terrified, for he was the only one to actually hit Malfeshnekor in his beast morph form, but failed to get through the Greater Barghest's DR.
Ash and Arizar fled, each taking considerable damage from a vicious claw swipe (the AoO for leaving the second square of the large creatures reach - Arizar had a max of 19 life and took 16 damage from that one swipe), with the only problem being Cora was the last to act in the initiative.
With the door now closing, the Greater Barghest leapt out of the room with a huge roar that echoed down the corridors and throughout the entire complex of Thistletop, blocking Coras escape, felling her with its huge teeth and clawing her body apart on the ground.
Both Ashryn and Arizar were thankful for disabling the trap as they fled as fast as they could through the rooms and tunnels leading to the upper levels. The only issue was Malfeshnekor now in full pursuit of them.
Slowed only by the cramped corridors for his size, the two remaining PC's made it back up the top and continued to run full speed ahead, taking the right path of the courtyard (where the dogs and the caged horse Shadowmist were/is), making sure to slam the doors behind them.
Running up the tower stairs, Orik was still waiting outside the trap door. Arizar shushed him and signalled to follow him swiftly up the ladder to the hatch above. Ashryn followed and closed the hatch as Orik, without thinking, placed his hand over Lyrie's face, where all four of them remained as still and quiet as possible, for their own lives depended on it. Orik didn't know what exactly had happened, but his gut instinct and brief interaction with Arizar answered all for him.
Making his way up to the courtyard, Malfeshnekor sniffed the air and after spotting the open 5ft door into the lobby, pelted it forward and out through the door (he rolled a 1 on his perception and I gave him a slight penalty with scent due to the wind direction above - in short, I was kind to the party as a 1 for skills doesn't mean failure).
Making it to the bridge, Malfeshnekor saw no sign of the party and though he believed the party were still in the complex, he thought there was a slight possibility the party had some way of teleporting away and so instead of dashing across the rickety old bridge, he climbed down the side of Thistletop and swum to who knows where.
The PC's were glad they accidentally left that door open, but being too afraid to leave in case it still roamed around and having it dawn on them that they'd just released this beast into the wild, they felt less than heroic and remained in the tower until the next day, bravely venturing down to where their comrades fell, just on the off-chance one of them survived.
Needless to say, the corridors and contents of every room in Malfeshnekor's path was now in ruins and even the stone corridors were now wider than they once were.
Managing not to trigger the Shadows, Arizar, Ashryn and Orik explored the remaining sections of Thistletop, successfully passing through the room with the shadows, without activating them, both on the way through and their return (even after defeating the Giant Hermit Crab and dragging the 300lb golden helmet through the room - I rolled a 6 for spawn time both times the PC's passed through the room and with all three of them guiding the helmet through, this was enough time to not have any further trouble head their way).
Taking Shadowmist back with them, Arizar, Ashryn, Orik and Lyrie made their way back to Sandpoint, taking several trips back and forth to transport their horde of newly acquired goods.
Orik is now set to be a permanent member of Sandpoints Town Guard and Lyrie is currently being held in a cell at Sandpoints Garrison.
Next up, the Skinsaw Murders!