Ouchie, them's some high DCs for 1st level pcs to meet. In fact, impossible for me!
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Combat Map: Vanderboren Vault
Lavinia stepped into the Vault with wide eyes, lighting the way with a bullseye lantern. Spinnaker Jon, Annie, and Bryson remained close to her as she took in the domed ceiling and the intricate carvings of the pillars. With a single glance, Lavinia demurely conveyed her desire for the impressive half-orc to stay close to her, then returned her gaze to the vault walls, trying to hide an embarrassed smile from the others.
With preternatural silence, two shapes slithered out from behind the pillars and attacked. By the light of the lantern, what appeared at first to be enormous cobras, each the size of a full-grown man, were quickly revealed to be something else entirely. The monsters' bodies were made up of dozens of circular iron bands, fitted together to form a snakelike body. A forked silver tongue flickered like a flame between each creature's fangs.
The creature on the right lunged for Spinnaker Jon, taking him by surprise. The creature on the left slithered into range of Lavinia and Annie, striking at Annie with its fangs.
Annie cries out as the snake sinks its fangs into her, and calls on Cayden Cailean for aid.
Annie straightens a little and pulls out her rapier and club. "Miss Lavina! If you can, step back carefully! Here, if you have no weapon to defend yourself, take this!" She holds out the club.
Byrson will take a 5 foot step trying to get between Lavinia and the metal snake. Then I'll draw my sword and attack.
Atk:
Dmg:
Round 1
Wondering idly what the thing could be, Spinnaker Jon tries to think...
Knowledge (Arcana): (1d20+6=24)
Caught flatfooted by the attack, he takes a hit.
Desperately he tries to cast Mage Armor defensively...
Casting Defensively vs DC 17: (1d20+3=4)
...and fails miserably.
Ghirrak explodes into action, surging forward protectively as he launces a pair of vicious blows at the serpentine creature.
Bindlplotz drops down and and sets his shield as a bipod, he takes aim at one of the creatures and fires. dmg
"It be looking like a trap left by your parents..."
Is there any way to move in F,-1 from where I am? If so, I go there and I attack E,0
short sword
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Is there any way to move in F,-1 from where I am? If so, I go there and I attack E,0
short sword 1d20 + 4; 1d6 + 2
You'd be risking an attack of opportunity as you passed through those friendly spaces, but an acrobatics check would let you avoid the AoO. If you want to risk the AoO, you would have cover by moving behind Ghirrak as you go to F, -1.
You'd be risking an attack of opportunity as you passed through those friendly spaces, but an acrobatics check would let you avoid the AoO. If you want to risk the AoO, you would have cover by moving behind Ghirrak as you go to F, -1.Is there any way to move in F,-1 from where I am? If so, I go there and I attack E,0
short sword 1d20 + 4; 1d6 + 2
Here it is... acrobatics check:
Dgrim advances to the iron cobra on the right, swinging his large axe wildly at this opponent.
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Desperately he tries to cast Mage Armor defensively...Casting Defensively vs DC 17: (1d20+3=4)
...and fails miserably.
Spinnaker Jon feels the venom of the creature enter his blood, doing Strength damage and forcing another save next round to avoid further effects of the poison.
Knowledge(Arcana) DC 12:
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Round 1: Annie used her divine magic to heal herself and her comrades of 6 points of damage. Bryson, Sneaky, Ghirrak, Dgrim, and Bindlplotz all attempted to fight back against the snake-like constructs but none of their attacks connected. Fortunately for Spinnaker Jon, his defensive casting prevented another deadly attack, but his spell failed to go off.
Lavinia watched Annie start to offer her weapon and shook her head, drawing a rapier from the folds of her gown. She struck at the snake on the western side of her(, to confirm critical for ), joining the fray.
Round 2: Its tail shaking with menace, the western cobra struck at Ghirrak(, possibly doing damage and forcing a Fortitude save), while the eastern cobra attacked Spinnaker Jon a second time(, possibly doing damage and forcing a more difficult Fortitude save than the first).
Lavinia saw Sneaky's new position and took a 5-foot-step to (D, 1), shouting to the nimble rogue as she attacked, "I'll try to distract it!" and giving him a flanking bonus on his next sneak attack, while her own attack() gained a slight edge, thanks to Sneaky's position on the other side of it.
Round 2
Spinnaker Jon gasps with relief as Annie's healing pulse eliminates the critical damage he took. He easily dodges the fumbling second attack of the Iron Cobra. He then shifts to (F,3) and cast Mage Armor, this time without having to deal with an attack of opportunity.
Secondary Fort Save:
Fort Save: (1d20+0=9)
He shouts, "They're Iron Cobras! Anyone have any adamantine on 'em?"
Round 2 -
Annie looks around the room - if these creatures were left here by Lavinia's parents, there must be a way to defeat them without endangering lives - maybe there are adamantine weapons somewhere? Or some other way to dismiss them?
She drops her proffered club as she steps back and readies her shield and rapier.
Ghirrak continues to press his attacks trying desperately to hammer the serpent and forcibly occupy its attention.
Really? I tested that before and I hadn't noticed any edit rerolls.
Dgrim drops his axe and shield and steps in close to the cobra, attempting to grapple it and take it down.
Annie looks around the room - if these creatures were left here by Lavinia's parents, there must be a way to defeat them without endangering lives - maybe there are adamantine weapons somewhere? Or some other way to dismiss them?
mmm... if Annie is right they could be here just to protect the vault and then they should not attack us... "miss Lavinia" shouted Sneaky "try to make it clear you are the right owner... show them your ring... tell your parents name aloud..."
Perception roll to look on the right and on the left in search of something to use the ring with...
1d20+4; [8,4] = (12)
full attack roll for Sneaky just to try the miracle
very bad I fear
1d20+2; 1d6+2;1d20+2;1d6+1; [3,2] = (5)
1d20+2; 1d6+2;1d20+2;1d6+1; [4,2] = (6)
1d20+2; 1d6+2;1d20+2;1d6+1; [5,2] = (7)
1d20+2; 1d6+2;1d20+2;1d6+1; [3,1] = (4)
I can avoid to roll for sneak attacks I think with these rolls to hit.
Dgrim** spoiler omitted **
Bindlplotz glances over his shield..."BLAST IT!" Bindl then cracks the breech and reloads, then lines up another shot.
+5=16
Round 3
Spinnaker Jon- Points his finger at the nearest construct and fires a Lightning Ray.
Ranged touch attack:
1d20+4=24
Critical Threat-
1d20+4=6
Lightning Ray damage: (1d6+1=3)
Spinnaker Jon shouts "Arr, is there an off button on these things? See if there's another
ring swich on this side! Check the walls and pillars!"
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Round 3
The western cobra snapped its fangs at Ghirrak(d20+2=21) for 7 damage and forced a Fortitude save. The cobra to the east struck at Bryson(d20+2=5) but missed.
Lavinia heard Sneaky's shout and glanced down at the ring on her finger. Was it possible that the ring did more than just open the vault? She made a fist and thrust the ring toward the Iron Cobra attacking Ghirrak. Immediately, the cobra withdrew and slithered back to its hiding place behind the pillar. Lavinia swung her arm in the direction of the other construct and it withdrew as well. She let out a huge sigh, smiling awkwardly. "Perhaps if my parents had left me a little more than obscure riddles, we might have avoided bloodshed. Is everyone all right?"
Seeing Ghirrak hurt before the creatures retreated, Annie released another healing surge into the group, keeping Cayden Cailean's blessing from the iron cobras just in case their retreat ended for some reason.
As everyone began looking around the room, Annie decided to do what she could to help Bryson out. He seemed to have sharp eyes, and spotted things she missed.
Round 3 (Revised)
About to fire a lightning ray, Spinnaker Jon watches the Iron Cobras slither back into hiding and slumps against the wall with relief.
"Arr that be mighty terrifying sight that were. Didn't think we'd be getting free that easy."
At Annie's suggestion, he tries searching as well...
"Nope, nothing here."
Bryson isn't totally convinced that the 'Iron Cobras' are standing down and keeps a wary eye on them as he searches the room. He rankles at how well these magical abominations mimic the natural creature.
Perception:
Dgrim tilts his head a little as the Iron Cobras withdraw and become disanimated. "Hmph," he ponders out loud. He moves up to one of the constructs and hits it hard with with blunt of the tip of his axe, then sets his feet in preparation for retaliation. When it seems he can't incite a reaction from the once-threatening snake, Dgrim states, "Brilliant! What a piece of engineering and magic! Who could've designed this? What you think, Bindlplotz?"
When he's done with the cobra, Dgrim starts searching the area around him.
Dgrim tilts his head a little as the Iron Cobras withdraw and become disanimated. "Hmph," he ponders out loud. He moves up to one of the constructs and hits it hard with with blunt of the tip of his axe, then sets his feet in preparation for retaliation. When it seems he can't incite a reaction from the once-threatening snake, Dgrim states, "Brilliant! What a piece of engineering and magic! Who could've designed this? What you think, Bindlplotz?"
When he's done with the cobra, Dgrim starts searching the area around him.
"Oi, thems must be magical constructs, I see no vents for exhaust, and I heard no ticking of clockwork gears...work of some wizard I'm sure."
On second thought, I'd like to take 20 on my perception check if I may.
That would bring my total up to 36 with Annie's aid.
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On second thought, I'd like to take 20 on my perception check if I may.
That would bring my total up to 36 with Annie's aid.
As Bryson examined each of the pillars, he noticed a small hidden switch on the northmost pillar. Pressing the switch with his thumb, the snakes that covered the northern pillar sprang to life and slithered onto the adjoining walls, revealing a hidden room.
The octagonal room that had been concealed by the false pillar was supported by a single large pillar with dozens of deep grooves along its sides. Curiously, the seven walls of the hidden chamber bore incredibly detailed bas-relief carvings of exotic monsters(though not the monsters described in the riddle). Starting at the wall immediately to the west of the entrance and moving clockwise, the carvings depicted a tentacled monster with a glaring red eye and a mouth full of teeth, a looming dragon, a fish-like creature with four tentacles and three eyes, a two-headed giant wielding a pair of immense clubs, a spherical creature with four eyestalks and a bulging central eye over a drooling maw, a gorilla-like beast with a fanged maw and six eyes, and a towering black spider with seven eyes. Each monster's eyes consisted of a glittering red stone. The ceiling above was only ten feet high, with the same eight-pointed star radiating from the grooved pillar. The arms of the star were black, save for the one pointing south toward the entrance, which was red.
Dgrim touched the pillar, testing a theory, and found that it could be rotated so that the red groove pointed at any of the displayed monsters, clicking like a combination lock as it moved from monster to monster.
Annie smiled at Dgrim. "Clever! Hm....look at these creatures. One, two, three...seven...the eyes." Annie closed her own eyes as she concentrated on the note from Lavinia's parents.
"Chimera looks to sunrise, Cyclops looks to sunset, Medusa looks to sunrise, Umber Hulk looks to sunset, Basilisk looks to sunrise." Her eyes popped open and her smile widened to a grin. "So sunrise is in the east, and chimera are three headed beasts - six eyes. We turn the pillar 'east' - I assume right? - to the six eyed wall, then sunset - left - to the one eyed wall, then...basilisk. That's just a lizard, right? Two eyes?"
Annie's grined became a bit sheepish. "Maybe someone with more nature or monster lore would be surer of the numbers of eyes. I think the basilisk and medusa both have two...but I would hate to be wrong! and I'm not sure what an Umber Hulk is...except I'm sure it's very large..."
Annie ran her hand over the eight pointed start motif that had been throughout the vault. "Miss Lavinia, do you know what the significance of this star is?"
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Annie ran her hand over the eight pointed start motif that had been throughout the vault. "Miss Lavinia, do you know what the significance of this star is?"
Lavinia shook her head. "I've seen it before on some of my parents' affects, but I don't know the meaning of the symbol. I asked about it not long before their deaths." She brushed a strand of hair from her face. "My father promised to tell me on my next birthday. I'll never know why."
"Lady Lavinia, it's the symbol of the Seekers. They are a worldwide group of adventurers, and I think there's a local chapter here in the city. It seems your parents were members." Dgrim points outs. "I'll show you where it is, if you'd like."
Then he moves on to the pillar. "Let's test your theory, girl." Dgrim grabs a couple of the grooves. "Grab your weapons and prepare for the worst, everyone." The dwarf then tries to rotate the pillar.
Bryson will leave the puzzle solving to the others, but he will otherwise aid where he can, like rotating the pillar or standing guard.
Spinnaker Jon, fascinated by the device, will help out as he can.
Bryson will leave the puzzle solving to the others, but he will otherwise aid where he can, like rotating the pillar or standing guard.
Annie walked over to where Bryson watched Jon and Dgrim turn the pillar. "What do you think Bryson? It seems you've been out in the wilds more than most of us." She ticked off the creatures mentioned in the note from the ring. "Chimera, cyclops, medusa, umber hulk, basilisk. I've guessed the chimera has six eyes because of its three heads. Cyclops of course have one. I'm guessing medusas have two, like people...but do the snakes on their head have eyes? And what about umber hulks? Do you know?"
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"Lady Lavinia, it's the symbol of the Seekers. They are a worldwide group of adventurers, and I think there's a local chapter here in the city. It seems your parents were members." Dgrim points outs. "I'll show you where it is, if you'd like."
Then he moves on to the pillar. "Let's test your theory, girl." Dgrim grabs a couple of the grooves. "Grab your weapons and prepare for the worst, everyone." The dwarf then tries to rotate the pillar.
The pillar clicked until it reached the intended bas-relief, but there was something different about the final click. If it was a combination, Dgrim had definitely succeeded in decoding the first number.
Lavinia looked thoughtfully at her father's signet ring. "My parents...adventurers? I never imagined such a thing. To travel to foreign lands and unexplored reaches..." She smiled a little. "What a life that must have been."