Things got more complicated since last time. We still had 3 wisps that half of us could not affect and an undead hand. Plus, the Witch and her menacing puppy familiar was creeping towards us. And now the Laughing Man had appeared on a throne at the north end of the chamber. He started to give a running commentary on our struggles. The fact that Oakwood was confused, he thought this was a significant event. Especially since “more were coming”. Out of an alcove we had innocently walked past, came an undead Wight sort of thing. Its first action was to do a scary wail. It was a tough Will save for all against fear. Most failed and took -1 on most everything. We kept swinging however when confused Oakwood went, he attacked the Witch. She put up an earthen barrier and took no damage. And then two misses however it got her involved. She appeared to be another one of these “way too powerful, don’t mess with them” NPC/monsters. She unleashed a Poison Cloud. The save was big and so was the damage. Plus, low visibility. However, because Clarisa was already near death from the Wight, she went out. And since the spell had the Death trait, she was dead. Brian declared retroactive play. The Witch was smart enough to know that the attack on her was probably a mistake and wouldn’t have wanted to kill anyone over it. She, instead, hit Oakwood with a spell that did damage, moved him towards her like a puppet and put him on his knees. A more fitting display of her power over us.
Another Wight appeared but it was the confusing wisps that were the real problem. Near death Clarisa got confused next and she randomly attacked the puppy. She elected to punch it but with an action to stand and a double move to get there, she didn’t actually get to attack. In reaction, the puppy grew to large size and the Witch stole her shadow. (Enfeebled 1?) Oakwood ran after her and hit her with a heal. Late arriving Brisco used his last AOE heal to heal multiple characters and damage the undead Wights. As is often the case, this turned the tide and soon enough the last Wisp faded away. The Laughing man commanded the Witch to come with him and they both teleported away. Xeeile and Brisco and her magic lantern started searching. Oakwood did the Ocean’s Balm on TerStegan and Xeelie. However, the room was still disturbing. Most missed a Fear save and those minuses would not go away until we got out of there. We decided to head for home to recharge the Druid’s healing spells. We grabbed the body of the Werewolf Druid and started the usual game of trying to find our way back out by the most direct path.
However, this time we had an encounter along the way. In the Morlock’s altar room, we came upon a Swarm of Bone Flies feasting on a body. Initiative. It had a 33. Yes, another superpowered foe, designed to challenge the whole group by itself. Its AC and Saves were super high. In one round, it nearly took out Xeeile with 3 attacks. She managed to move forward, out of the room. (Once again, we were fighting in tight quarters with doorway bottlenecks.) Being a Swarm, it was resistant to most of our attacks. The second round, it nearly took out 3 more of us. Basically, when it attacked, it attacked everyone in its area (4 squares). We spread out as we could. We got smarter about what would affect it. AOEs were good but its Reflex saves were monstrous. It was less resistant to bludgeoning although TerStegan blew through that resistance. Brisco did Battlefield Medicine on TerStegan and himself and Oakwood did it on himself so that hopefully they could survive the next round. Clarisa went last. She had an AOE cone on a Fort save but she’d hit Brisco and Oakwood as well. The damage was low but the hope was that the flies would take double so she took the shot. And took it out. A 3-round fight of panic, TPK fears and victory.
We left. Everyone that was hit by the flies was assumed to have been diseased. That was everyone but Clarisa. Brian sent us to our cabin and rather grind our way through the Treat Disease rules, assumed we all got better after 3-4 days. We sold some stuff and distributed some stuff. Brisco’s Returning Trident was upgraded with a striking rune. The body was returned to the general store owner along with his wife’s necklace. That got us some gold and discounts at his store. Next time, I guess we’ll try to navigate the acquisition of the town artifacts Otari said we needed to move down a level. Although, there were still unexplored areas of the current level so maybe we should wait until the next trip.
We started with a conversation with Otari’s ghost. Several people had various things to say but I think it can be summarized into 3 primary areas. What happened to him. The Roseguard fought Belcora 500 years ago. Their wizard had some up with a spell to prevent her from fleeing down into the lower levels. Most of the fight occurred on the second story which is all but gone. He fell into the lower levels when the stairs collapsed. He wandered, looking for an exit. He passed through a lot of the challenges we had faced however he hadn’t gone below where we already were. He went through the library, killed the Minotaur whose bones we saw and eventually fell to the Otyugh whose body we had found. He/we assumed the fight continued and she fell at that pool of blood at the base of the tower.
Second, what do we have to do. There is a barrier at this level that prevents going any lower. He thinks she turned their wizard’s barrier against them. She used “something precious” from each Roseguard member to power the ritual. He thought that we’d need to retrieve those items, find the ritual and reverse it to get passed. His item is his Skeleton key, found with his body. We also need the Rajani sword, currently under lock and key by the adults in town. And linked to Amicia. To our surprise, the holy symbol in the procession of Oakwood’s father was not an item. Otari thought her cloak would be more precious to her. We assume she was buried with it so it would be in her sealed tomb under the town of Otari. And we need that holy symbol to open it so we still have to get it from the adults. Lastly is the wizard’s book which hopefully has the ritual. We had no idea where that might be. If it’s amongst all the books we’ve seen in this place, that’s quite a haystack. However, when asked, Otari thought it might be elsewhere. He “suggested” (hint hint) we talk to the town wizard. Anyhow, that’s quite a list of difficult problems to solve. The big question will be weather we try to convince the adults on what is going on or assume they’ll shut us down again and “steal” the stuff we need to save the world.
Lastly, what can we do for him. Our ghost experts think that he is tied to this cave, the place of his death. He thought he could not move on because he is somehow tied to the Gauntlight. Our working theory is if we can stop Belcora (or her ghost or her minions) he’d be free. Xeelie asked what he’d like done with his bones. He wanted to be reunited with the cleric in the tomb under the town. Apart in death but together again in the afterlife. We gathered his bones so we could put them in the tomb when we break it open. In addition to his Skeleton Key, he pointed us to his +1 studded leather armor (which was given to Brisco) and Venom Dagger (which will be sold). He told us where the ritual and barrier were. And asked that we keep him updated. It’s been kind of boring down here after 500 years. At least the Will O Wisp won’t be bothering him anymore. Eventually, we managed to pry the knowledge thirsty away and continued with our explorations. Xeelie took lots of notes.
We followed one river and discovered that it led to the room with the Gibbering Mouther we had recently killed. The next cave led to a vast hallway. To the south, we could see the scintillating barrier. To the north, a hexagonal room. However, there was some lady and her puppy at the barrier so we headed that way. She claimed to be heading to the gladiatorial matches, promised to be down here somewhere. Some players had vague memories of talking to someone about them long ago. She didn’t seem to be a ghost and was up on current events in Otari. She asked who we were voting for which opened the discussion on whether we could vote. What is the voting age and what was our age? She had two different colored eyes that evidently identified her as a Hag or hag related. Her puppy gave people the “powerful evil demon” vibes. There were continued discussions while Xeelie tried to use all of her knowledges but other characters started wandering off. Since this hag/witch wasn’t doing anything, we decided to ignore her and head north. After all, we’re not murder hobos.
To the north was a large room with a raised platform in the middle. On that was a huge stone with seven gashes across it where energy was pulsating out. There were 2-3 doors exiting. However, before we could do anything, 4 undead hands crawled out followed by 4 Lesser Wisps. As per normal, people demanded to know their strengths and weaknesses since we had fought them before. And were pointed at the Bestiary list. And as per normal, the information there was lacking. But we already knew what there was to know. The Wisps were immune to all magic and had no weaknesses. And the hands were undead. With a full load of players and 8 monsters, the initiative order was packed. Everyone did their normal stuff. TerStegan waited for his initiative to come up so he could start slaughtering them. Brisco complained about not having any healing spells left and not having any other spells that were useful. Xeelie did her Find Weakness class powers. Clarisa fired a cantrip at two hands and last going Oakwood finished them off with vitality energy blasts.
After a round and a half, 3 hands were out and 1 wisp. Everyone saved against the Wisp’s sparkles in round one although TerStegan used a hero point. Clarisa critically saved so she was immune for 24 hours. However round two, Oakwood missed his save and became Confused. And is poised to start attacking random friends. Meanwhile, that witch and her evil puppy had moved up. Were they going to help or attack? However, at that this point, Brian had a potential emergency and had to drop off. It turned out to not be an emergency but by then, it was too late to get back going. Next game is next week to accommodate BTO’s schedule where we’ll pick up in mid round.
Pathfinder Game 32 - 03/21/2025 - Rest In Peace
Written by David Green
We started with more character changes. Wade had loaded the latest version of Brisco and updated his token accordingly. However, it didn’t seem like Dave had 100% decided that was the way he wanted to go. But after a month of discussion and indecision, Wade decided. So, he’s still a Druid but made Storm his primary and Leaf his secondary and dropped Wild. Storm’s focus spell is a good ranged damage spell. And while it could be debated how comparable the combat wild shapes are, the bottom line was that Dave had only used it once in 5 levels. And with a side of Medic. This makes him more of a caster and a better Battlefield Medicine healer. Wade also gave him a +1 returning trident for his troubles. Dave Green made a few changes as well. He dumped Darkvision since he’s not going to be sneaking out front anymore and took Shield Block and that Reenforced shield we earned for saving that dwarf. That qualified him for the Bastion dedication which he took at 4th. That net effect was that it made him tougher. Good now that DS stayed a caster and didn’t change to Champion as had been discussed. Once DG updated his character and DS updated his spells, we were ready to go.
First up was the last ghost on level 3. The book repairer. The previous ghost, we tried to talk into “moving on” but ended up fighting. We assumed the same would be true with this one. Wade pointed out that by merely defeating a ghost in combat, it would eventually return. So, we debated whether to even try but decided to give it a shot. She was still busy going through the motions of repairing the piles of books in her room. We tried to talk to her and make Recall Knowledge rolls but got nowhere. I think Paul suggested that if we removed the damaged books, she’d think she was done. And maybe she could rest. We moved them out, politely, however once gone she stayed at her workbench waiting for more. We then realized she was linked to her tools. We moved them out, politely, and she finally moved on. Her long dead body had a Crafter’s Eyepiece (+1 on crafting rolls, repair hit points equal to 10+10 per skill rank on a success and 15s on a critical success), a key and a gold paperweight. We moved on as well.
That last hostile being on this level was the Wood Golem guarding Belcora’s private library. Last time, we couldn’t touch it and only survived because we got out of the room. But TerStegan was confident (and eager for riches) this time. DG suggested we use its (hoped) inability to leave its room and pepper it from range. However, that would leave TerStegan mostly idle so he decided to do it his way. Basically, let him go toe to toe while the rest tried to keep him up. Once again, after the first round, it was untouched and we were battered. It didn’t help that TerStegan went last. Oakwood and Brisco used half their actions trying to keep him up. As usual, he was doing the lion’s share of the hitting and damage. The rest were either missing, failing or bouncing off its resistances. Its retribution reaction attacks were taking a toll on us but the key was TerStegan who never went down. A couple of highlights. TerStegan got good use out of his new Bless spell, getting hits from that +1. Oakwood’s Protector Tree took 30 points of damage once there was a gap for him to place it. And Brisco did a ton of healing with his spells and improved Battlefield Medicine. As is usually the case with a 4 on 1 battle, it was dire for 3 rounds and then over. The room had 4 bulk of old history books on Absolm worth a projected 20 gps. On to the 4th level.
We had previously explored two areas down there. The dining room and torture chamber which had several unexplored doors. Or the Mad Ranger(?) and his pet wolf that Otari’s ghost had led us past. We elected to follow Otari although I’m not sure that spirit has our best interests at heart. We decided to treat the Ranger as a haunt and try to figure out what he wanted. Our Druid talked to him but rolled poorly. He did manage to get him to stop growling and start talking. But it was a “None Shall Pass” dead end. We started to talk about bribing him or just going past him when initiative was rolled. As always, the monster went first, Brisco next and TerStegan last. It cast a 4d12 Lightning Bolt at everyone but Clarisa. (Once again, we were fighting in a 5-foot hallway, stacked up against each other.) So, it was a Druid. DS was insistent that this should have given him an advantage in the previous negotiations, Druid to Druid, but Wade was unmoved by his repeated pleas.
The wolf moved up to block the way and we attacked. In general, both sides rolled poorly. Oakwood did roll two 20s in the same round and took out the wolf. But the Druid went next and healed it back up. But then TerStegan took it down again. At this point, the Druid cast Grease in our hallway and retreated. TerStegan and Oakwood saved but Brisco fell. TerStegan was on its edge so he could move freely and chased after him. The rest faced a DC26 Reflex save for each square moved or taking 5-foot steps without the risk. They did that but it delayed them a round. The Druid then cast a Wall of Thorns which, in addition to causing damage and difficult terrain for those walking through it, gave him cover from most of us. But it was just another delay tactic. TerStegan mostly exchanged misses with him while the rest of us tried to get into the fight. When the Druid was almost out, he jumped into the lake below the platform we were fighting on. TerStegan jumped in after him. And missed. Oakwood and Clarisa manged to get a ranged shot but missed as well. (His AC and Defenses and damage reduction were the usual big numbers for a single foe.)
At this point it was after 1:30AM so the chronicler went to bed. I assume he was finished off unless he turned into a fish and swam away. Or maybe they stopped to start again next time. Underwater combat was another untapped section of rules that will probably take time to dig into. Unless Wade storyboarded his defeat, they probably stopped. There’s one door in there but Otari’s ghost went over the lake and into a cavern/corridor so maybe we head that way.
Pathfinder Game 31 - 03/07/2025 - Do You Know Your Already Dead?
Written by Daniel Ruth
We started with character changes. Paul had already added the Bard free archetype to his Fighter/Marshal last time so he was good to go. Dan added Oracle to his Sorcerer which was only adding a couple of feats. DG had the most work to do. He transformed his Monk+Kineticist into a Kineticist+Monk so he had to transfer inventory and add Monk feats. DS still hadn’t figured out what to do so he was running Brisco with the addition of the Medic archetype. And BTO couldn’t make it but his latest plan was an Alchemist/Witch+Investigator. Evidently the remaster rules have fixed up both Alchemist and Investigator which he had considered back when we started. And we were off.
We came up to the camp at the Smuggler’s Cave that we suspected the kids from Otari had gone. We elected to announce ourselves rather than sneak up. Bardish TerStegan took the lead but he came on pretty strong. “We know Amicia Rajani took the sword and we know you’re heading into the Gauntlight. That’s way too dangerous and you all should go home.” They denied it all. Amicia was not seen and the other 3 seemed to be delaying us. He made an intimidation roll on Oakwood’s sister and rolled so well; she started crying. Eventually, we just went past them and into the cave and talked to Amicia. As we suspected, she had the missing sword. TerStegan repeated his accusation but it didn’t work so well. But it did force out what had really happened. Eventually. The sword had broken itself out of the case and flown to her in her room. She assumed it had “chosen” her as the last blood of the Rajani family line. Given the stuff that been happening around Otrari and the evidence, that was probably true. Her plan was to embrace her presumed destiny and go become an adventurer. She was heading to Absolum (not the Gauntlight) and was hiding in the cave because the town was looking for her. And talked her friends into coming too, although only the Gobin was planning on doing the adventuring thing.
There were more discussions with TerStegan doing most of the talking. He believed her story and would support her goals but she needed to go home first and explain what had happened. She was reluctant. Oakwood tossed in that her father, in addition to being worried about her missing daughter, was being accused of stealing the sword. She had to clear his name, at the very least. Eventually, with promises of support from TerStegan, we talked them into going home. Oakwood went to get Longsaddle with Clarisa while the other two went to the Rajani home. Oakwood filled in Longsaddle and advised him that tack, not force was needed. Especially, given that he could be working for the Rajani family in the near future. We all came together and the two “adults” had a secret meeting. They agreed to take the sword into custody until they could do their due diligence of investigation. TerStagen was mad about that but got out authoritied. TerStegan was certain the sword would escape soon enough and told them to put a guard on it 24/7 so that when it left, they wouldn’t have to reaccuse anyone. With that, we ended that side plot thread for now.
TerStegan decided to write a short easy song about how the sword chose Amicia in hopes of swinging public opinion to his point of view. Unfortunately, that was taken as proof that her father is destined to take over as mayor. Oakwood stopped by his parent’s house to give his father a heads up. He was thinking, as mayor, he’d be pulled into Longsaddle’s investigation and he wanted to try to give him the right information before it got muddled up. However, his father realized the impact this might have on the election. He proposed starting a rumor that Oakwood was “chosen” by the Otari holy symbol relic. Oakwood didn’t want to be dishonest and pointed out that he had never been that popular in town. Black Sheep and such. Maybe his older sister was a better choice. He left his father to scheme. But it doesn’t look good for the upcoming election, at least for the Memhemes family. We went back to the cabin to get a night’s sleep before returning to the Gauntlight. This was all the same day we rescued the dwarf from level 4.
Looking at the architectural plans we recently found, there were 3 secret areas on level 3 we never got to so we decided to finish it off. First was another teleportation room that was otherwise unremarkable. Next was a secret reading room off the Restricted Area that we had burned. In the big room, we found a giant skeleton that seemed to have toppled over in the fire. There was nothing left in there but the secret room was unharmed. In there we found 3-4 potions. However, we did not have Xeelie so we couldn’t identify them. We also found Belcora’s journal, however Xeelie was the only one that could read the demon language. Lastly, we found specifications on the construction of the teleportation circles. It would be possible to use them to fix the circles but we needed someone with a lot of crafting skill. We miss Xeelie. Hopefully her new version has all the same skills. The circle on the first floor was the only one that was damaged but given time and money, even it could be fixed.
Lastly was the presumed office of the Scribner ghost. We were hesitant to take on a haunt but decided to go for it. We were reminded that her room had a body with armor, a portrait of the chief craftsmen and a small iron key. All of which we had already taken. Brisco and Oakwood went in to try to convince her that she was dead (see body) and that it was time to move on. Figuring it was a Haunt/skill challenge. However, it turned out to be another boss battle. Once again, she had super high stats to make her a challenge for 4-5 characters all by herself. Like a 25 AC. Brisco went first. He spent an action to convince her not to fight (succeeded but failed) and then hit her with a 2 action heal (harm). She went, doing an AOE Moanful Groan. Brisco missed the Fort save and was Slowed 1. Oakwood made his and the other two were too far away. She then crit Brisco for 39 points of damage. We attacked and/or moved up and attacked. Brisco did Battlefield Medicine on himself but the next round, was hit again for 25+ more. Oakwood and Clarisa were doing full damage with vitality damage but TerStegan’s damage was getting resisted. But he crit so he did more anyway.
After 3-4 rounds, it was over. Oakwood used Ocean Balm to heal Brisco and Brisco healed himself with another 10-minute Treat Wounds. Meanwhile, her office was searched. We found some valuable books in a cabinet after TerStegan busted it open. He crit failed his Pick Locks and broken them first. And then crit succeeded with the Force Open. In there were also plans for the Gauntlight itself. It would take time but if we could figure out how it worked, we might be able to figure out how to stop it from working. However, it was in a language we didn’t know. Maybe Xeelie did. We also got a side view handout showing it going 400 feet down. If we understood it correctly, there were 7 levels and we were on level 3. And had briefly been on level 4. Levels after 4 seemed to be very high? Not sure. By this point, Paul was asleep so we stopped there. The plan next time is to go deal with the ghost that was fixing books. Is she a haunt or another boss battle? The last thing on this level was that wooden golem in the private library. Are we tough enough to fight it or is it one of those unbeatable monsters? Hopefully a Recall Knowledge will tell us what to do.
Pathfinder Game 30 - 02/21/2025 - Detective Orc Smash is on the Case!
Written by David Green
BTO was in Hawaii and DG was late due to Skype issues. When he did get on, he asked where we were at with regard to the Free Archetype offer that Brian had emailed the week before. It had not come up. Dan hadn’t had a chance to do enough research. Dave wasn’t even sure what to do with his Druid let alone another archetype. And Paul hadn’t checked his email all week. Once it was explained to him, he was 100% on board. This would allow him to take his first Bard feat at 4th instead of 10th (due to his need to finish off his Marshal dedication.). He could achieve the Fighter(Marshal)/Bard of his dreams. DG took Kineticist with the Wood element to give him some capabilities he wouldn’t get from Monk without using focus points. So those two updated their characters in Foundry.
A couple of rule clarifications. Because there was no mention in the book to the contrary, you had to meet the preqs to take the free archetype. For most, that’s a +2 in the prime stat. There was mention of waiving them but only if players were being “forced” to take a particular archetype which we are not. However, it was also ruled that the free archetype exists in parallel to your original character so the “two feats in an archetype before you can start a new archetype” did not apply. They still apply to your base character progression. Paul wanted to know if he could use one of his fighter feats to take an additional bard feat at 8th. Brian ruled against that for now. They are on separate tracks so you can’t use class feats for the free archetype and vice versa. It is our assumption that BTO will stick with Rogue/Witch, advancing in both now. Lastly, pathfinder builder has an option to include the free archetypes but only if you bought the paid version for $5.99. Dan did so and Paul was considering it. In theory, if you can do something there, it was “legal.” However, Foundry isn’t that smart. It pretty much lets you do what you want. So, the legality of some of these rule nuisances depend on what program you have access to.
Back to the game. After defeating the Gibbering Mouther, they explored the cave and found a passageway south. After following it a bit, they concluded it was the same passageway (and the same Gibbering Mouther) we had run into under Otari. We tried to get going when it was realized some were still down hit points. DG successfully argued that during that hour of exploration mode, we could have healed up. So, we were ready to go. Late start. We went back to the library to find most of it burnt. All those books. The room with the giant idol was also burned away. We did find sand all over the place. If you remember, we found a barrel of sand for fire fighting in one of the small rooms. But that meant someone was using it. Probably Augrael again. But the fire damage ended about there. We headed for the Dwarf we failed to save last time. The reading Fey had moved one room over but was still occupied. He seemed extra annoyed by our presence but did nothing. We continued. Luckily Oakwood remembered the trapped door and used his Mage Hand to avoid it. Through a couple of secret doors and we were back to the Will O Wisp room.
The Dwarf from town was still alive but in dire shape. Still chained to the table, groaning for help. The WoW was nowhere to be seen and there was no blue light. TerStegan took a crack at the locks. With a +1 from Oakwood’s Aid, he rolled a 20 for a crit success. That opened two locks. The next lock, they failed. His picks had one failure left in them. They succeeded on the next two and he was freed. Meanwhile, Brisco was doing a medical assessment. The guy was in bad shape. Evidently, he had been captured by a blue skin bald woman a year ago and brought down here for torture. (For the rest of the night, Brisco asked if any new person we met was blue.) Brisco did a Treat Wounds and used a Healing Wand charge to get him from almost dead to badly wounded. He also had all kinds of conditions on him. We decided we had to get him back to town. We made it back to the cart without issue, although it was slow going with him, and headed back to Otari.
Before we got to the turn off for the clubhouse, we ran into our rival teen gang including Oakwood’s sister and TerStegan’s sort of girlfriend, Amicia Rajani. Brisco managed to dart into the woods but with the cart and the dwarf, the rest just met them. They claimed to be going camping but they were acting suspiciously. Amicia, in particular. They were equipped appropriately but they could also be heading to the Gauntlight. We advised them not to go but they would not be dissuaded. The goblin examined the wounds and bandages of the dwarf and made some adjustments. We think they were valid. Oakwood asked his sister how she was feeling, outside earshot of the rest. She said better but was evasive, looking toward Amicia. Eventually, we passed on by, although the goblin decided to stay with the wounded back to town. Brisco lingered in the woods, hoping to overhear some clue after the rest of us left but got nothing. He tried to follow them but missed his Stealth roll. He caught up. He sent his familiar to the cabin, in case they did something there, as the rest of us headed to town. At a mile distance, he could sense the emotional state of Saps. It was concerned/panicked. We decided to send the fastest, Oakwood, to the cabin as the rest pressed on.
Oakwood ran into Saps before he got there. He had a note from the high priestess addressed to the heroes of Otari. Evidently someone had stolen the ceremonial sword of Rosegaurd Rajani and she needed our help solving the mystery. She had given the note to some girls heading towards the Gauntlight and asked them to drop it off. Not sure why they didn’t mention it but it was pretty obvious they were hiding something. It said that Carmen Rajani is being accused since he’s been trying to gain procession of his family’s heirloom for years. The guards thought it would have taken an expert thief and/or magic user to get it. Oakwood scooped up Saps and headed to town. When he ran into the goblin, he begged her to stop his sister from going to the Gauntlight. He made a decent roll and the goblin decided to go to his family bakery and get some fermented muffins before going. (Oakwood’s mother had warned him to never eat those muffins.) Meanwhile the rest made it to the dwarf’s family bar. His mother was most grateful. She gave us a strong metal shield with her family crest on it. Unfortunately, no one would use it. It’ll be unfortunate when it shows up in the local pawn shop. (100 gp) The high priestess was sent for and did some stuff for the dwarf. He needs sleep more than anything else. (And maybe some PTSD counseling.) And then briefed the group on the theft. The same info from the note.
We all met at the Dawn Library and did our best CSI. At first glance, the glass case was busted and the sword gone. We puzzled as to why the guards thought magic was needed for a smash and grab. But on closer examination, the glass pane was “phased” out of the case without disturbing the mounting brackets and then broken. Brisco suggested using our Mending cantrip scroll to put the glass back together to get some clues however Clarisa wanted to transcribe it first. That would take time and we sort of moved on. Brisco changed into a dog, hoping his nose would learn something. He made a roll but there were just too many people through here for that to have any chance. Everyone was assuming Mr. Rajani took it, however Oakwood suggested (seconds before Brisco) that it might have been the daughter. If she was going into the dungeon (why, we don’t know) maybe she thought she needed the sword.
He headed to Longsaddle and found him talking to an irate Mr. Rajani. He resented the accusation and did not consent to his shop and home being searched. When he spotted Xeelie, he was eager to talk to her. (Too bad Brian wasn’t there.) We were all invited in. His daughter was missing and wanted Xeelie’s help finding her. We weren’t aware of any relationship between her and the Rajani family but we weren’t Xeelie either. We searched her room. We found three things. We found letters, tied in a bundle. They were mostly addressed to TerStegan with one to Oakwood. But obviously never sent. We decided not to invade her privacy by reading them. We found that one pane of her window had been removed and broken much like the library. It was too small to use as an escape. The working theory is that it was practice for the spell used there. We did not recall her having any magical training. Just a blacksmith/craftperson. Lastly, we found Xeeile’s doll familiar Lucy. However, Xeelie had Lucy so this was a duplicate. Our theory was that she was dabbling in pact magic like Xeelie to get the spells needed. Maybe coerced by a higher power?
We felt time was of the essence. We told the father we had some ideas and were acting on them ASAP. We told Longsaddle a bit more so that he could take the heat off the father. We left the cart at the bar, figuring it would slow us down, and headed to the Gauntlight. We tried some tracking but the path was too worn. We arrived just as darkness fell. At which point, Brian shared one more piece of information. Near here, on the water is an old smugglers hideout. The kids from town have been known to camp/party there from time to time. With magic muffins? So, we decided to head that way. As we approached, we could see the light of a fire. Teens, smugglers, demons? And stopped there. So, no combat but maybe a nice break from endless dungeon door roulette of death.
Pathfinder Game 29 - 02/07/2025 - Will-O Wisped!
Written by David Green
Evidently Brian had forgotten to apply something to Xeeile last time so we started with a save for her. She missed the Fort save and took a little damage. But was also Drained 1 which removes your level in hit points off the top which needs a long rest to recover. And poisoned with another save in an hour or it gets one stage worse. We started. Oakwood opened the door to the south that the villain came through, figuring it was safe. And had to make the same Fort save. He crit failed and got Drained 2 plus modest damage. Brisco did Treat Poison on them but that just gives +2 the eventual next save. For Oakwood, he was starting down a 3rd, most of which weren’t recoverable. And we were already down TerStegan and most of our high level spells. We also heard the screams again. We did a quick search of the office of the boss from last time. Amongst his papers were 3 scrolls and plans (i.e. maps) of levels 1-3. More screams and we found a secret door. And then another and entered a chamber.
We found a missing dwarf from town (side quest) chained to a stone table in the middle of a round room. He was inside the blue light we saw a level up. (Not to be confused with the blue light from the skeletons last time.) He was unconscious, being harmed and healed over and over. A skill challenge. As usual, without initiative order, it was a bit chaotic. We could not move the table or move him without unlocking him. We knew the blue light meant significant damage. Brisco immediately concluded that the copper bath tub in the last room would shield us but a Recall Knowledge from Xeelie said that wouldn’t work since it was already flowing through floors. Oakwood thought he could unlock him with his Mage Hand if we could find the right key. He had some keys we found along the way and tried the one that looked closest. He had just determined it wasn’t the right key when it turned into a severe combat challenge.
A Will o Wisp attacked from invisible surprise. It crit Xeelie and did 40 points. Since she was already depleted from the leftover trap, she was at 1 hit point. (It had an initiative of 33.) It then thankfully missed Oakwood. Oakwood then missed (it had an AC of 29!) and missed again. He retreated/fled. He’d need a 15 on his first attack and a 20 on his second to hit. Xeelie also fled, facing the same long odds. Clarisa pondered her spell choices and used Divine Lance cantrip. She missed, by rolling a 19, due to partial cover from her line of sight. Since casters were still only trained in combat magic and didn’t have magic weapons, they were 3 worse than the melee guys. At least against AC but its saves were likely just as high. She fled. It moved to block the door back to the dining room, went invisible and attacked with lightning. It crit Brisco but only did 25. Oakwood missed twice and fled. He ran through its square but it only cost double movement. Brisco, after some convincing, fled as well.
Xeelie cast her focus heal spell on Brisco as she headed up the stairs. Clarisa fled to the next level ending her movement next to the creepy reader in the lounge. It moved at least 35 (60) and got next to Oakwood and Brisco on the stairs. It attacked Brisco. Since its to hit was +19, it hit Oakwood on a 3 and crit on a 13. Others were higher or lower but it wasn’t good. It did 29 to Brisco with a crit, taking him out. Oakwood grabbed his body, leaving his dropped steel shield, and double moved onto level 3. It continued to chase. Any hopes of it staying on its level were dashed. Xeelie activated her +10 to speed item and fled. Clarisa fled and jumped into her arms. Brisco got 6 back. Reset his initiative and stayed in Oakwood’s arms. It moved, went invisible and attacked the winged fey and missed. We continued to flee to level two. Brian did a monster battle to see how that fight might end.
We had two with minimal hit points, still down high level spells, still two drained and poisoned. Because the last 3 wouldn’t recover without a long rest, we decided to make for the cabin. We wanted to make a heroic rescue of the dwarf but it was just a bridge too far. At least it seemed that way to us. Maybe at full strength and full numbers, we might have had a chance but we never hit it even once. Back home, Oakwood and Xeelie saved against the poison. We did two long rests to get the Drain back. In that time, we sold what treasure we had accumulated since the last trip to town. Oakwood and TerStegan bought +1 armor, borrowing money from Clarissa since she got her +1 armor as treasure. Brian marked the side quest as failed and asked if we were going to tell his mother. Since the players didn’t actually know he was dead, we did not. Plus, maybe we could at least retrieve his body. We then debated where to attack the dungeon next. Armed with the maps, we could see the areas of level 3 that we’d skipped in our attempt to save the dwarf. We’d go there. With that scary looking dread knight thing lurking in that area?
We came in the usual way and took a peek at the fey. He was still reading so it must have won the fight. So, in retrospect and free of the panic fleeing of the moment, if we had taken a short rest, we might have been able to go save that dwarf after all. Or be killed. It’s so hard to know what’s hard and what’s impossible in this system. The restricted section was mostly empty. The next room to the north had been cleaned out as well. There was a 15-foot statue that looked a lot like Belcora. It seemed to be stitched together out of pieces of dead bodies. The stink was even worse in this room. TerStegan bravely crept in and lit it on fire. As the room filled with smoke, we left and closed the doors. Xeelie tried to seal the edges with old rugs with minimal success. Brian seemed eager to punish us with the “fires in confined space” rules but the room was big, the ceilings high, the walls stone so it didn’t seem that dire. TBD.
Meanwhile, we went south. It took a bit to find the secret doors we knew were there from the map/plans. That led to an underground grotto with our old friend, the Gibbering Mouther. It was one of those “flee or die” monsters when it killed us at 2nd. Is it the same or has it been scaled up to 5th to be impossible again. We attacked. At least we were full up and had TerStegan this time. Brisco saved versus the confusion but not Clarisa. She failed and attacked TerStegan and missed. (Remember the good old D&D days when Confusion meant a random action. In PE2, it means full attack on a random thing and since there were more of us than of it, our odds were not good.) It went, firing goo at Ter Stegen, hitting once. At least he made his DC24 Fort save against the blindness. TerStegan missed his Will save, used a hero point and made that save. (At least those that save were immune for 10 rounds.) TerStegan hit but because it was a slashing weapon, a new mouth appeared and attacked him back as a reaction. That reaction did more damage than his attack. Plus, TerStegan was taking persistent bleed damage.
Oakwood missed the Will save, used a hero point, missed again, used a hero point and missed again. Thus confused, he attacked TerStegan, hitting once and putting Stun 3 on him. Brisco hit it with a claw. Clarisa missed her save, used a hero point and saved. She hit it with a full load of magic missiles doing 42. It attacked TerStegan and missed by his new magical armor bonus. And flowed onto his square. He rolled a 20 on his Reflex save and it went on by. Xeelie attempted to tumble through it to give herself flanking but failed. And then swung and missed. And cast Fasting healing on TerStegan. TerStegan lost all his actions due to the stun but got his fast healing, took his persistent damage and saved against it. Oakwood missed the Will save again and attacked Brisco this time. He Stun 1 him and then missed him 3 times. Brisco cast a Gale Blast but then it was pointed out it had no range. Clarisa missed with TK, used a hero point and hit. That moved it to badly damaged. It attacked Xeelie and hit by 1 on a 7 on the die. She took 22 plus the persistent. Then restrained her and then tried to engulf her. She went, escaped and cast Live Wire for 17. Some of it was slashing so it did 16 as a reaction. She then took the persistent damage and didn’t save. TerStegan finally got to go and crit, of course. Did 51 and killed it.
So, it was another tough fight but no permanent damage and few spells used. We searched around and found some coins in the pools. And followed the tunnels long enough to confirm they linked to those on level 2. And stopped there.
Pathfinder Game 28 - 01/24/2025 - Persistant Worms
Written by David Green
We talked to Augrael again and he was actually helpful. He was happy to see the dead librarians and seemed eager to start munching. Evidently the Morlocks had been displaced from below and he was infected by the ghoul pox during their migration. So, he didn’t really have any loyalty to them. We tried to pump him for information. He wouldn’t say anything about what monsters were below or the dread knight we had seen in the next room but he did say that the column of green light was “tapping” an innocent victim that we would probably “like”. Townsperson or maybe one of the side quests? And that they’d be dead by midnight. After some discussions, we decided to forgo finishing off level 3 and make for level 4. He gave us a map of parts of the next level but it was so crude, I’m not sure anyone gained anything from it. Southeast from the stairs behind Belcora’s office.
We came to a grand dining room with 8 doors. In there were 4 skeletons that we assumed would animate. Xeelie tried to do a Recall Knowledge to recall their resistances and Brian pointed us to a catalog of foes we’ve faced on a tab in Foundry. However, there wasn’t much in there but question marks and it turned out these we Corpselights, not skeletons. They weren’t too tough but they resisted slashing and piercing. Double from bashing though. Once they dropped, the blue light animating them moved to find another body. The only thing that seemed to affect those was Clarisa’s Vitality Lash. So, we bashed them and she finished them off. One got away and returned with a new corpse just as we thought it was over. Unfortunately, Oakwood was standing by the door and got crit. That moved him from barely injured to badly injured. TerStegan wasn’t so great either nor was Xeelie. The plan was to take 10 or 20 to heal up and refocus but the door to the south opened before we could.
Volluk Azrinae arrived, identified us as intruders and attacked. As usual, the big monster went first. (This was a 7th level monster, upsized to 8th to make us sweat.) It seemed to be a human shaped bag of bugs. We’ve encountered Belcora’s chief craftsman at each level in some form. He cast Worm Repast on TerStegan. He took 6d6+4 plus persistent damage and was almost out. With more persistent damage to come. He then used a hero point to reroll and critically failed instead. So rather than bleed out before he can go, he just dropped. It then Demoralized Brisco for good measure. Clarissa cast a full load of magic missile and at least moved it to injured. Its AC and DCs were up at 27. Xeelie, once she cast fast healing on herself, bravely ran across the room and closed the door since Volluk hadn’t actually stepped in yet. Oakwood grabbed Ter Stegan and his axe and got back to the stairs. The DC of 27 was too high to stop the persistent damage and stabilizing him wouldn’t do any good since he'd just take more damage anyway. Brisco cast AOE heal and got him up.
Volluk went next and cast Dimension Door through the closed door into the room. Unfortunately, he arrived right where the stairs entered the room. That really gummed up the movement for the next few rounds. And ended any thoughts of fleeing. He then attacked Clarisa and critted. (Of course.) That attack did no damage but did 4d8+2*10 persistent damage. She cast more magic missiles and it was badly damaged. (That spell doesn’t have to hit or best a DC.) She then took 47 and missed the flat check. TerStegan stood and his axe was given to him for free since Oakwood used an action to bring it. But he couldn’t reach or get past us and it. Brian allowed him to shove past us and get engaged. But he missed its AC 27 by 1. He then missed the Acrobatics roll Brian made him roll for the shove and switch maneuver. He missed it and fell prone. However, he took minimal damage and saved against the persistent damage. He was barely conscious. Xeelie ran up and rolled a 19 on the die and hit. Plus, her sneak attack damage. But he was still only badly damaged. Of course, he resisted some of it, being made of bugs.
Brisco missed a Gouging Claw. Oakwood did the same position switch that TerStegan did to get in range and rolled a 1 on the Acrobatics. But he had just earned a hero point so he used it. But then missed anyway. It was Volluk’s turn again. (Using actions to keep people from dying really impacts our damage output.) First, he regenerated 7. Then he stepped into Xeelie square. Reflex save 25. Saved for half. 17/2 for 8. And then did a 30-foot cone on a 27 Reflex save. Oakwood and Brisco critically failed and TerStegan and Clarisa just failed. TerStegan used Dive for Cover hero card to automatically save but become Clumsy 1. But still took half. Brisco used his Halfling Luck and just saved. So, everyone took 15 and Oakwood took 30. TerStegan stood up, ran around to get flanking with Brisco and missed by 1. Xeelie delayed her turn to try to get flanking (and sneak dice) but Brisco didn’t end up moving. Instead he turned into a Giant Insect and attacked. He did 13 but again it was reduced. Xeelie got out of its square and attempted to give herself flat footedness with her Tumble Through. She could not best its Reflex DC. She then did a recall Knowledge but like everything else, that DC was too high for it. She missed her attack, used a hero point and hit but it wasn’t enough.
Somewhere in there Clarisa went down. Again, Oakwood Medicine skill wasn’t good enough to do any good. He instead did Battlefield Medicine on her for 2D8. That at least reset her Dying clock. (I’m not sure we did the Dying, Wounded and Dead rules right but TerStegan would have probably died if we had.) Oakwood then moved and attacked. He missed, used his last hero point and hit with a crit. He rolled crap damage but it was enough. Its bugs started to scatter and evidently we needed an AOE damager to finish them off. Clarisa stood and cast her Floating Flame on the square. She needed a 15 flat check to succeed. She missed it, used a hero point and made it. And then took 31 more points from the persistent and dropped. But somehow in there the persistent ended. TerStegan went next. He ran over to her and administered a healing potion for 19. Somehow, we all lived. We hid in the storeroom for 5 10-minute blocks to do healing and refocusing. It seemed like a lot but it’s better than the 5 hours it used to take. Nothing more attacked us.
During that last 10 minutes, those not refocusing searched the dining room. The villain had nothing however the skeletons did. We got 48 gold and a Bracelet of Dashing (+1 on acrobatics rolls and +10 movement for 1 minute once a day). That went to Xeelie who was planning on building one when she had the cash. We also found a Viper arrow. (When shot, it turns into a viper and acts like a summoned creature.) I think the plan was to sell it since no one much uses a bow. Although Brisco was talking about taking it and using it to create a trap at our clubhouse. Not sure what use that would be but Dave hates to give up anything magical. He held onto that smoking spear for 3 levels, despite not being able to switch from two handed weapon to a shield to a caster fast enough to get any use out of it. So, we’re back to almost full hit points. The casters are depleted, especially of their high-level spell. But we’ve got someone to save so I think we will press on next time. We did two rooms in one night. This is going to take a while.
We started where we left off, wounded with books and ghoul gore scattered about the library. Xeelie and TerStegan had a handful of hit points and Oakwood had a bit more. The question was to run or heal a bit and then run. However, Brian told us we saw ghostly footprints walking through the battlefield. We thought they were from an Otari spirit. So, the question became to follow them or not. It was now or never. Two were for not and two were for following. Clarisa was not online yet to vote. TerStegan broke the tie by going so the rest followed. I think Brisco managed to cast his Goodberry and get a few hit points into some of us.
We followed them through the restricted section where we saw a dangerous looking undead knight. It ignored us so we avoided it. Someone made a recall knowledge and determined it was too powerful for us. We went down a level, concerned with so much left unexplored on level 3. We came into a natural cavern with a lake and a platform built over it. There was one other door and some land between the lake and the walls. The spirit walked to a rogue ranger sort of guy who turned towards us. There was also a giant wolf on a bed. The dude started barking and growling when Oakwood asked if he was Otari. The spirit then went across the water. At this point, TerStegan said he had gone far enough and we went back up. We’ll have to figure that guy out another day.
Back to heal or flee. We reached a consensus pretty quick to do 10-20 minutes of healing before deciding that. But where? We wanted to avoid active monsters and gore and get out of the way. We decided to head to the secret teleportation room however when we went down that hall, we ran into that morlock ghoul that loaned us those books. Augrael. He had questions about the sounds of battle, our wounded state and such. Xeelie was still disguised as a ghoul and tried to talk to him. He guided us to the guest reading room but he was becoming more suspicious and wouldn’t leave us alone. Oakwood noted the stairs up and suggested we just leave him. We did. Once up, we went to that level’s secret portal room and healed up some. Still wounded and at least 3 of us infected with ghoul fever, we decided to go home. Oakwood led us through to level 1 and out. Back at home, Brisco did Treat Disease on all of us. That gives you a +2 on your next save. No one missed it. We got a long rest or two and headed back down.
The next discussion was where to re-enter level 3. We decided to go the way we came last time so that we wouldn’t have to face another barricade and potentially raise another alarm. However, that was communicated poorly to Brian who placed us at a different entry point. We decided to just bust through but neither strong guys could do it. So, we went back up to level 2, around and back down to where we wanted to be in the first place. 2 hours of effort and we were back to where we stopped last time. We could see someone had moved some books. We wanted to go to the restricted section but decided to search this area first. Finish it off. We had a half dozen doors of potential doom to face.
The first door was to the workroom. In there was a ghost (not a haunt) who was busy repairing books. However, on closer inspection, she was going through the motions but not able to actually touch anything. Xeelie talked to her a bit but she seemed single minded. There was a door that led to her bedroom but we decided to avoid a confrontation and hope there was nothing of interest in there. Next was the repair room full of supplies. We searched it and TerStegan found 2 scrolls of mending and one of hypercognation. Next was Belcorra’s office. We actually had the key for that one. We picked up an everburn crystal in the first room and ran into a fey in the next. He was adding illustrations to a book on torturer. Laughing to himself. We tried to talk to him but he ignored us. From there were stairs down and a washroom. We searched the book shelves in the main room and found a scroll of ghost weapon and formula of make undead. We left the fey and moved on.
Next was the north hall. The first door required a key we found in the sofa cushion in the office. In there was what appeared to be a private library. Visions of knowledge and/or cash danced in our eyes. However, there was a big wooden construct in there. When TerStegan stepped in, it moved to attack. Brisco changed his mind a couple times and ended up firing a cantrip. Oakwood waited for TerStegan to get out of the way. When TerStegan hit it, it did a reaction splinter attack. That crit for 30+ points. Oakwood moved in and missed twice. It went, firing a zero range AOE hail of splinters which crit TerStegan and Oakwood for 30+. And then attacked and hit and crit. And like that, TerStegan was reduced to a couple of hit points. Panic. It had an AC of 25, 5 points of damage resistance and +15 to hit. Our Leaf Druid tried to talk to it, plant to plant, but determined that it was a mindless guard. However, he did learn that if we left the room, it probably wouldn’t follow. (Like that wasn’t the plan.) Xeelie cast her fast healing focus spell on TerStegan and got out. He grabbed Brisco and got out. Lastly Oakwood left, closing and locking the door behind him.
We healed up again. We found another wash room and a room that was under construction. Or was 500 years ago. The next room was surprising warm. In there was a Vengeful Stove. It had fire attacks with reach and 13 points of damage resistance since it was an iron stove. And couldn’t be critted. We had no choice but to grind through it. We got battered. Oakwood hit it twice (with crits that didn’t count) and one of the features of flurry of blows is that if both hit, they count as one for the purposes of damage resistance. That finally finished it off. We searched the ashes and found a copper ring with a song bird engraved on it. Xeelie fast identified it and it was a ventriloquist ring. +1 deception and once per day ventriloquist spell. TerStegan took it for now but it might be better to sell it. At that point, it was getting late so we decided to finish off a few more doors and hit the restricted section next time. We went into the safety office which had sand and buckets to put out fires. Next was the break area which had some beds and a bunch of body parts served up on a table. We did 10 minutes of focus point healing and headed for the restricted area. But first, Augrael showed up again so I guess we have to deal with him first.
Pathfinder Game 26 - 12/27/2024 - Save the Book!
Written by David Green
We started where we left off. Poised to attack the Ghoul librarians on level 3. There was simply nowhere else to go. We rolled initiative and one of the many ghouls went first. It stepped up to TerStegan. However, that quickly revealed the log jam problem. We couldn’t get into the room and we were limited as to who could attack. (Although it was really just Xeelie who was limited.) She went next and bravely Tumbled into the room, giving flanking to herself and TerStegan. But she was quickly surrounded. Since they couldn’t get past TerStegan even if they wanted to, there weren’t many targets. She hoped her Elvin immunity to paralysis, her Rogue immunity to flat-footedness and her new Shield cantrip would save her. The first two were true however the Shield did not work as BTO had hoped. Or at least the GM didn’t rule it that way. Brian thought that the Shield Block ability lasted until the hardness was overcome and it took damage. Kind of like a real shield. However, the wording was that once she used the Shield Block ability, she couldn’t use it again for 10 minutes. I.e. once an encounter. So, she was battered by the slices of a hundred cuts and badly damaged after a round or two.
Meanwhile, TerStegan destroyed ghouls that walked up to him but had no actions left to move into the room. (And no reason to.) Oakwood used his reach to attack around him and the casters fired over the both of them. In retrospect, we would have fared better in this configuration, healing TerStegan and shooting around him. However, Xeelie was near death so when Oakwood had a chance, he had to move into the room to help her. That worked temporarily in that he dropped a couple but he was soon surrounded as well. He lost hit points but the killer was that he had to make multiple paralysis saves. The lesser ghouls, it was a 75% chance and the greater ghouls was more like 50%. But with 3 attacks a ghoul and 4-5 saves a round, he had no chance. He pretty much stayed paralyzed for the rest of the fight. The casters had no reason (or desire) to get into the room so they fired from ranged safety. Brisco did an AOE heal that healed us and harmed them but because he was still in the hall, he didn’t get as many of each as we’d like. But the big problem was that there were so many of them. Each round, a few more arrived from the other areas of the library.
Clarisa used a Fireball from her necklace which damaged a lot of them but damage Xeelie, Oakwood and TerStegan as well. Did it help? It cut their numbers in half but they still outnumbered us, two to one. Soon enough, Xeelie and Oakwood were taking turns going down. And then TerStegan started falling as well. Various powers and skills were used to get them back up but that used up actions that could have been used to attack. When the named ghoul entered the fight, things got dire. Not enough actions, hero points, spells. Xeelie went down 3 times, TerStegan and Oakwood twice. Brisco nearly ran a couple of times but was talked into using his remaining heal spells to keep TerStegan from dying. Brian cut us a few breaks, having the ghouls attack Xeelie’s familiar or saving some of the books instead of finishing off the melee guys. Brian rolled extremely. Lots of 1s but lots of crits too. TerStegan made several attacks from Prone because he couldn’t afford the action to stand up. Finally, the tide started to turn. With our handful of hit points and Wounded, Dying and Paralyzed conditions, they started to fall. The last one turned to flee and Oakwood dropped him with a crit opportunity attack. By then it was after midnight. Wade had to shutdown so we left it there. We are battered and depleted but alive. We’ll probably do a quick 10 or 20 minutes of healing and run for home. Unless the draw of treasure cannot be resisted. Another perfectly balanced encounter to almost kill us all. Exciting but at one room a night, it’ll take 3 years to clear out this place.
Evidently, we healed up at the end of last game so the only issue was lack of spells. Brisco said he was short, healing in particular, but since Dan missed the previous game, Clarissa had plenty of hers. So, we convince Dave to continue on for a bit more. We wanted to avoid the main library section since the alarm had been raised but luckily there were two stairs up yet to explore. One went to somewhere we’d been before but one went to a room in a corner of level 2 we hadn’t gotten to. In there was a strange looking torture machine. It had a hunk of flesh in the middle and a gem at the top. The gem looked like the soul storing gem we saw in the outhouse but since this one wasn’t glowing, we assumed it was empty. Evidently the flesh was what was left after the procedure. We spread out to search, examine, grab and guard. The flesh split into two Flesh Worms and attacked.
We had them surrounded so we had flanking. Did some damage. However, when they went, it was the usual devastation. TerStegan was hit, grabbed, sucked of blood which healed it and Drained 1. (Drained gave minuses to Con stuff like Enfeeble did to STR. Plus reduced your max hit points.) Oakwood ran around the table to regain flanking and missed 3 times. When he was attacked, it was the same as TerStegan except that first hit was a crit. (on a 16 roll. Ouch.) When the first one fell, it exploded in a cloud of goo. Those that saved took 15 and those that didn’t took 30. Oakwood was knocked out, taking 80 hit points in one round. We scrambled to save him. Xeelie couldn’t reach him so used her Fast Healing focus spell. Brisco sneaked in and did First Aid to stabilize him. TerStegan attacked the last one but didn’t do enough. Clarissa hesitated, fearing another explosion might take us out. She was convinced some of us would survive and unloaded a full Force Barrage. It died and exploded. Luckily, Brian rolled lower on the damage and only Oakwood went out again. He was saved again but there was a bunch of rules looking up to figure out the timing. He was Wounded 3 in addition to Drained 1.
Obviously, we needed to heal up quick and then get home. There was some debate as to where. We didn’t want to open an unknown room nor did we want to stay in this gore dripping room. So, we went down into the devil’s guard room. Despite the alarm being raised on this level, we’d hoped the ghouls would avoid this room. We got two or three 10 minute healing actions (Treat Wounds and Focus spells) without disturbance. Brisco burned through the last of his spells. We next debated how to get out fast. That’s tough since this place is so big and we can only see some of the map at a time. The fastest route was to the elevator but that meant going through the library so we didn’t do that. Long story (not quite) short, we made it out without being attacked. Oakwood managed to remember to avoid the Belcora Spirit room to Brian’s disappointment. We went to our cabin the get a long rest. The 3 with the Drained condition got undrained but they needed another night to get those hit points back.
We then spent a day around town. Xeelie stayed at the cabin to transform the +1 war hammer into a +1 sickle for Brisco. Brisco stayed with her, not liking town anyway. The rest went into Otari to discover Oakwood’s dad had lost the election. He went to his house and the family were understandably down. He checked on his sister who was still ailing. He made a Medicine roll and could find nothing physically wrong with her. TerStegan went on a date with the new mayor’s daughter. He tried a few Society rolls and it didn’t go well. We had some laughs imagining what actually happened. He also took the books he worked so hard to get to Morlibent. He offered 2.5 gold for the lot. We were disappointed. TerStegan decided to just keep them. Clarisa chose to avoid her mother since Brian said she had snuck out to come with us. (That was so long ago.) We sold some stuff including the Smoking Spear that Brisco doesn’t use anymore. But it wasn’t enough to put anyone over the “magic armor threshold”. We put in an order for the supplies Xeeile will need when we do have enough. With that, we went back to the dungeon to search for more money.
We went back to that door we stopped at and found it innocently went to an area we had already been. Next was probably the library but we desperately looked to some corner of level 3 that we could access instead. We could not find anything however at Xeelie’s suggestion, we did re-examine level two. Brian gave us 1 Survival roll to discover if there was any area of the map we’d missed. Brisco made that and we returned to a long hallway that we had never actually walked down. We found a secret room that lead into a big meeting room. There were no monsters or haunts. The only thing of interest was a nice (non-magical) chair at the head of the table. Brisco thought there was “new magic” in the area and we wasted some time with that cursed Detect Magic spell. He thought it might be up or down a level. We went up, dropped off the chair at the cart, searched where we thought that might be and found nothing. Back to the library. We discussed and pick an entry point. We found the door barricaded. We could force our way in but it would be loud. We decided to loop around to another door and it was barricaded as well. TerStegan bashed through it and made a bunch of noise. We stopped as the ghoul librarians began to attack. We assume access to level 4 is in there somewhere.
Pathfinder Game 24 - 10/11/2024 - A Hero's Welcome!
Written by David Green
Brian didn’t want to get bogged down with searching for treasure on the pirate ship and simply stated there was none. Or that it wouldn’t be ours, regardless. Likewise, the surviving pirates were declared to know nothing of the spy in Otari which saved us with the moral dilemma of threatening to chop off toes during interrogation. So, we moved on to the trip to the big city of Absolm. He wanted to use the Earn Income rules to cover the 7 days of travel. Unfortunately, the options were few as were the Lore skills possessed by the group so we had to get creative. We spent some time trying to come up with uses of the skills we did have, knowing that if it wasn’t a Lore, it wasn’t as profitable. We also realized that the jobs available going there (two ships) would be different than going back. So, he split it into two rolls.
Xeelie chose to use her Craft skill to fix up the pirate ship so that it would fetch a better price. Unfortunately, Brian rolled a 1. And used a hero point and rolled a 2. But a failure was better than a critical failure. She earned coppers and was told her services as a carpenter on the return trip would not be needed. TerStegan used his Intimidate skill to serve as a bosun on the pirate ship. Ordering people around. That was an officer level job so the pay was higher but so was the DC. He got a critical success and earned gold. To add a little spice, Brian said that his chair disappeared late into the voyage. An Intimidation roll got two sailors to finger Julian. He had tossed the chair off the ship. Another Intimidation roll and Julian became his chair. Oakwood used Athletics to work in the rigging. That was a low-level job but Brian gave him the night shift (darkvision) for a one step up. Brisco used his Nature to act as navigator. That was also an officer job but since we really just needed to follow the other ship, it wasn’t worth much. Both of them succeeded for silvers. Evidently Clarissa was sea sick and didn’t earn anything.
In Absolm, the pirate ship and the remaining pirates were handed over to the authorities. Our share was 50 gp, well above any treasure we might have found. We also had a chance to do some shopping however no one had enough to get magic armor or a striking rune for Xeelie. (Xeelie’s 50 went to Clarisa for past debts.) Brisco went to the local Druid temple (park?) and made an offering. Oakwood accompanied the merchant captain to the lumber buyer. He wanted to determine what the current lumber demand was so that his father’s company could be shipping what was desired most. Xeelie wanted to buy the recipe to create magic armor. It was 8 gp and everyone attending kicked in 2. Although, after discussing, having a player do it doesn’t save any money and having the recipe only speeds up the process by a day. So, I’m not sure there was a point. I guess Xeelie can do it on demand although the town NPCs play more often than Brian. Xeelie also bought a couple of cantrip scrolls which a witch can feed to her familiar and add it to her cantrip options. She’s still limited to two but she can choose them in the morning.
We sailed back. TerStegan and Brisco kept the same jobs and Brian let them use the same rolls to speed things up. Oakwood rolled anew and got a critical success this time. Xeelie took a job as a cook although they made her audition first after her carpentry failure. That was still a Crafting roll. (The super skill.) Once in town, there was a feast in our honor. Brisco chose not to attend, wanting to get away from the city. The only thing we did in town was TerStegan. He went to the town library/temple to see if they were interested in any particular books from the Gauntlight. (He talked to the town wizard earlier.) The priest’s first thought was that any books from there must be evil and therefore should be burned. Not what TerStegan was fishing for. Maybe they should be studied first in case there was something useful but it didn’t sound like he’d be getting much from them.
The next morning, we went back to the dungeon. By Brian’s reckoning, there was one door on level 2 still not opened. (Plus any secrets missed.) That led to a big room with a long dead purple worm decaying on a sandy floor. There was also a magically energy vortex going from ceiling to floor. Some Lore rolls revealed that this was similar to the energy tube we saw in the library. It somehow fed energy to the Gauntlight but again, it was beyond our level to mess with. TerStegan carved up the body and was rewarded with a +1 war hammer. It’ll be melted down for parts. Or sold. It’s the same difference. And distributed, I hope.
In there, was another door into what turned out to be a dead end. There were 6 alcoves, each with a sarcophagus. Once Xeelie and Oakwood snuck far enough, two Shadow’s attacked. Sadly, those two rolled at the bottom of the initiative and got in the way of the high man TerStegan. It was tight quarters but Xeelie used her Tumble Through to good effect again. They did significant damage, including negative, and also tugged on your shadow. That gave Enfeeble 1. (Minus 1 to STR stuff.) Oakwood got critted and reached Enfeeble 3 at which point his shadow was removed and became a weaker shadow and attacked. Xeelie used her healing focus spell on him to keep him up and Brisco cast a couple of heals. But no one went out but now that we’re 5th, the monsters are tougher still. These resisted all damage for 5 which I’m betting we’ll be seeing more of. Lore rolls revealed that it would take 1 hour to recover 1 level of Enfeeblement. With 1 hour, TerStegan and Brisco were good but Oakwood was still at -2. He voted for moving on, figuring it would take an hour of deciding and searching before the next fight anyway. But he was out voted.
It was near midnight and we considered stopping for the night but continuing on won out. We took the elevator room down to the 3rd level. TerStegan was eager to talk to the ghoul librarians about books. After picking a lock, we ended up in a ghoul craftsman’s room. At first, it looked like he was making books but upon closer examination, he was tattooing illustrations on skin pieces. And he was very annoyed at being interrupted. Xeelie was planning to pick up a tattooing feat and tried to engage him in conversation but he would have none of it. TerStegan came in and stood by the door out and got his dose of insults. When Oakwood moved to open the last door, that was enough. The ghoul started to attack and we rolled initiative.
Oakwood managed to hit him and he critically missed his Stunning Fist save. That lost him his first round. We beat on him. When he went, he tried to eat one of the skins on the wall to heal himself. However, that was a manipulate action so TerStegan got an opportunity attack. That was a crit so the action was interrupted. He didn’t live long after that however the fight alerted some of the ghoul librarians. They opened the door but TerStegan took them out, one a round, mostly by himself. The last one closed the door and fled. Xeelie and Brisco started gathering loot and TerStegan and Oakwood were not eager to charge off into a den of ghouls by themselves. So, to Brian’s surprise, we ended the fight and went into exploration mode. That’s probably the end of TerStegan’s plan to talk with them but we should probably be killing them anyway. Xeelie got some tattoo books and tools. Beyond stacks of Morlock bodies, the only other thing of interest was a silver hatchet which TerStegan took. No one attacked us yet but we hadn’t done any healing yet either. We had lost our momentum so we declared it “late” and quit for the night. Next game in two weeks.
Pathfinder Game 23 - 09/27/2024 - A Bad Trip With Shrooms
Written by Daniel Ruth
We started with the usual quandary on what to do next. Brian tried to start that discussion via email so he’d know what to prepare but didn’t get much response. We talked about the “sneak on a boat and wait for the pirates to attack” plan. The pros and cons and logistics and such. We also talked about the “trace a message bird back to its source to find the spy in Otari” plan. Watching the access points to see who leaves or enters town when a message is sent. And the practicality of shooting one down. However, we kept coming back to the point that the next ship out was a couple of days away. Since we were already in the Dungeon, seeking that other’s adventuring party’s path through the mushroom eyed people, we could afford a day of dungeon progress before going back to town. There was still some debate on the merits of going back early and we had trouble disengaging from planning the two town ideas. Eventually, thankfully, Brian simply stated that he was prepared to pursue the dungeon and if we went back to town to pursue those plot threads, it would be an early night. So, back to the dungeon.
At the end of the last game, Brian allowed us to find the Swamp Dragon’s treasure hoard without spending a bunch of time on it. There was a new axe for TerStegan but he needed to merge its magic with his current axe and that would take time and materials. There was a Wayfinder artifact that currently casts a light spell but was designed to hold infinity stones or some such that we have yet to find. And a Wand of Force Barrage that the Arcane or Occult casters could use. I think Xeelie was lobbying for it since Clarrisa already had the fireball wand. Plus, some cash. Next was some Treat Wounds. Brisco wasn’t ready yet so Oakwood did his best with his Medicine Assurance. We wanted to take the dragon body as we knew it was worth money from the last dragon we killed. However, it was very big and Brian didn’t think we could carry it easily. It at least warranted some discussion. Uko pointed out that we didn’t need the whole thing. Only the hide was valuable. A good Survival roll from him and we had the hide which Oakwood could drag and the head which TerStegan could carry.
And then where to? We could press on, avoiding the mushroom eyed people if we could. Or go down a level via the stairs. Or try to backtrack. We decided to go back to them and see what reward they might offer us for completing their request. So went back to the throne room (and back into the enforced darkness). The King was his usual arrogant unhelpful self. He declared us “Minions of the Ghost Queen” as our reward and bid us to follow him. Again, he led us through his territory, past closed doors and other subjects. Answering no questions along the way. We arrived at some sort of ruined workshop with 3 doors out. One of which was barricaded with multiple doors. At this point, he gave us two options. Remove our armor and arms and walk willingly into captivity. (Pass. But that might be where the adventurers went?) Or go down a level and fight the Cultist Ghouls we’ve fought before. Evidently, they appeared (recently?) and push these guys up a level. At this point, the parley started to break down. There was some debate as to who said what first but Brisco decided to cast his Light spell before anything went down.
However, in Pathfinder there’s really no such thing as a surprise round. We transitioned to combat mode and rolled initiative. Brisco rolled uncharacteristically low so that Light spell didn’t go until late in the round. Combat started. We generally rolled low. Xeelie, in particular. When Brisco did cast his Light, these Morlock were all blinded. That helped slow them down but they got a little better each round. There was the casting King, two engineers with bows and axes and two guards. Brisco got targeted a lot on that first round since he was the one making threatening motions and was quickly in bad shape. TerStegan took most of the King’s spells, giving him sustained problems like persistent bleeding. The quarters were tight but we got flanking where we could. Speaking of which, we had all kinds of troubles with Foundry. Things that had been working, like flanking, weren’t working anymore. It certainly slowed us down trying to figure out what was working, what wasn’t and why they weren’t. Oakwood did Battle Medicine on Brisco who eventually transformed into a combat Cat form since he was stuck in melee. TerStegan was also healed by Xeeile’s witch focus spell. It was dicey but no one went down. And no other Morlocks came to help. We then healed up. Between focus spells and Treat Wounds, we managed to get everyone healed up and recharged in 30 minutes which was much better than the old 2 hours. We decided to open the door to the right and found an old well room. Nothing remarkable but we did find gear for 3 human sized adventures(?). Did they surrender? It didn’t match the gear of the guys we were seeking. We grabbed what we could. We stopped before the next door and ended the night.
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Pathfinder Game 22 - 08/12/2024 - The Great Water Panic
Written by David Green
Brian was willing to assume that we could cure the Ghoul disease, given enough downtime, so we didn’t have to wrestle with all those rules. We gave Tangletop a funeral pyre send off. After a couple of days, we all went into town to take care of business. TerStegan talked to the rare book seller about learning the Underdark language. (He intends to up his INT at 5th so he’ll get a new language.) Unfortunately, we didn’t know what language it was. The book seller was going to do some research based on the few bits of information we did have. Nobody else had any business but some side quest advancing things came up. The girls noticed Xeelie’s mother putting a basket into the river and letting it drift through town towards the sea. Xeelie could not resist and grabbed it. The basket was filled with spicy food. Enough to feed someone for a couple of days. She put it back and followed it. At the ruined tavern, a Kobald emerged with a long pole and fished it out. Xeelie was told her mom had “a lot” of baskets. They left it at that. The boys went to talk to the head guard. They were making progress on the bandit problem and asked them to help scout and/or fight once they found the camp. The weaker members of the group could come too. Evidently, he valued brawn over brains.
However, the big topic, which took up most of the night, was the pirate problem. The girls noticed a small white bird flying over the town. It didn’t look native and seemed to be flying awfully straight for a bird. Xeelie tried to take action but Brian by the time they realized it was odd, it had passed. That was the end of that clue. In parallel, the boys were told of the pirate problem during their discussions with the head guard. Oakwood had overheard a discussion about this at his father’s house several games back. Ships loaded with lumber were being attacked at sea. The valuable lumber was taken, the rest dumped and the merchant ships and crew spared. All 3 lumber companies were being hit. Anyway recently, townsfolk have been noticing small birds flying across Otari. They came from “north” and were headed “to sea” and always at dusk. One of them was shot down. A lucky shot at that distance. It turns out, the bird was made of paper (medium level magic) and it carried a note. No one Longsaddle had access to could read it but the shipment that went out that day, was not attacked. He was trying to keep it quiet. The players made some suggestions about shooting more down or tracing them backwards or forward but that was “too hard”. Oakwood borrowed the note and took it to Xeelie. You know, the smart one. It was in a formal older Goblin script. It was a description of the shipment. Ship, date and time, cargo, crew, guards. There’s a spy in town.
I think the intent of the module is to give us bits of information on these side quests so that we could make slow progress while we attended to the main quest of the Gauntlight ruins. Brian even tried to get us back on the rails by saying that the next ship out wouldn’t be for a couple of days so you might as well go back to the Gauntlight. However, given a mystery to solve, we could not stop. In our defense, this threatens the livelihood of the whole town so it’s a pretty serious threat. Not “end of the world” but pretty high. More than a missing son or a rare book. However, once we started down this path, we could not get back out. Some of our players are pretty tenacious on this sort of thing. The first thoughts were to trace the birds back to the source or get on one of the ships and fight off the pirates. As for the second, Xeelie was all for it but she’s the only one with a long-range bow. The rest of us would have to wait until the sailors got us very close before we could do anything. And assuming we succeeded, we would have saved one ship. Can we assume there are more than one pirate ship? We can certainly assume the captured pirates would give us nothing. The better plan is to find the brains on land and shutdown the whole operation. The boat plan was rejected but might still be the way to go. At least it’s actionable.
But two days later, Brian sent out more information on the pirates, making that a more viable plan. Firstly, the “reasonable” rules on swimming and drowning and fighting in water. And then this list, that 3rd bullet, in particular.
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- The merchant ships have all been quickly chased down by the Pirates.
- Any merchant that surrenders have been left with their ships and lives intact, only goods have been taken / destroyed.
- It’s the same pirate each time, Captain Bellafide of the Dread Design.
- The pirates don’t always descend on the merchant ships at the same point, even if on the same route.
- Merchants hiring additional fighting crews significantly cuts into the profits.
- Merchants hiring escort vessels makes the endeavor non-profitable.
As for tracing the birds, that turned into a morass. We returned the note and talked to the head guard for more details. Brisco showed up around here. Turns out the bird was shot down by a farmer on the east side of town. The straight over town turned into somewhere to the north and somewhere at sea. That’s a much bigger area to cover. And we’d have to project backwards which is much harder than following it forward. We at least needed to know when the next shipment was so that we’d know when to look. Oakwood was hesitant to ask around since their ships were being attacked. We might get accused. He talked to his father. The next ship to go was the #2 company but he wasn’t sure when. His ship just left so it’ll be a week for him. It’s fluid because it’s a matter of when a ship is full. He did caution Oakwood about being careful and forbade him from going to sea. We talked to TerStegan’s adopted dad at his suggestion. He works at the mill that all 3 companies use. He might know. He said her ship would be ready in two days.
DG tried to get back on the “two day, go back to the dungeon” path but the rest could not give it up. DS, who was fresh and ready to go since he missed the first 1.5 hours of investigation, was eager to use his +0 CHR skills. We went to the #2 owner. She was also the one who had those accountants nosing around her rental properties. (Another side quest.) One of those properties was Clarisa’s home. Somehow, they got an audience, despite the late hour. The pirate stuff got deferred and Brisco and Xeeile dove into the accountant’s quest. She was told she was guilty of some sort of fraud and depending on the judge, she could be in big trouble. They were “suggesting” she pay a hefty fine, however that fine alone might ruin her. The players asked if she had any “assets” that they might be after. Only the lumber company. So, they convinced themselves that the two quests were linked. I.e. financially ruining one company is linked to ruining all companies. They promised to investigate it more but other than strong arming the accountants, I’m not sure they had any real ideas. Go to law school? Back on the pirates, Xeelie suggested she cancel her next shipment at the last second in hopes of throwing them off. She reluctantly agreed but the accountants are pressuring her to send out her best lumber ASAP in hopes of getting the needed cash. Her ship might be the ship we fight on if we go that way.
We had a bunch of discussions about the note. (Brian added some more info via email: When the origami bird was brought down, it struggled to continue its flight. After the arrow was removed, it nearly got away. The farmer doused the paper with water and the struggles reduced significantly. By the time the farmer brought it to the guards, the origami bird had ceased functioning and was just a damp parchment.) The paper was unremarkable but the penmanship was excellent. It was more likely a learned man who was using Goblin rather than a Goblin. A Wizard? The equipment also had to be good to write so much information on such a small piece of paper. The book seller in town best fit that description but that’s hardly proof. It was also noted that the notes were sent from the north but the information had to come from Otari. So, someone was going out there. Brisco asserted that he’d know about everyone that goes into town since he hangs out in the forest. Brian didn’t buy that but Brisco proposed that we could watch the roads to see who leaves or returns when the notes get set. A tough task given a lack of walls. We also discussed who the spy could be in town. Who knew all that info for all 3 companies. That was a short list but following all of them wouldn’t be easy either. And finding evidence? There was even talk of going to the thieves’ guild, opening that side quest box, and seeing if that would help us. And probably more ideas that I can’t recall that were even further afield.
Anyhow, we were spinning in circles and half the group had given up listening or caring. Xeelie tried to reach some sort of actionable conclusion but nobody had any brain power left. Paralysis of choices, none of them good. So as midnight approached, we decided to defer the pirate quest for a couple of days and go to the Gauntlight for some minimal thinking, hacking and slashing. Brian pulled up his summary email and said we had 9 choices on where to restart the dungeon. Doh! TerStegan voted for Oakwood’s idea of following the other adventuring party down the hole to the “mushroom eyed” people. Good enough. Once there, we could see their campsite and their excavation in the pit room by Boss Skag’s throne room. We went down the rope and landed in a big dark room with many doors. Through the fog of war, we could see it connected to areas we had already been to. There were no signs of the adventures but before we could start making tracking rolls, a half dozen Lurkers appeared. They would not answer our questions but would take us to their king. He does the talking. We decided to agree. We started moving down a corridor and were “handed off” to two bigger dudes. At this point, it came to light that these guys would not permit any light. There were some tense moments but eventually Brisco turned off Saps’ light spell. We figured he and Clarisa didn’t need to see to do the upcoming parley and if there was trouble, he could just turn it back on.
The conversation with the king was basically a repeat of the one with Boss Skrag above. He was the absolute ruler of all his people. And the ruler of his domain which consisted of one level of a ruin fortress. We asked him about the adventurers but he would give no straight answers. We did get him to admit there was some sort of disturbance two days ago but he didn’t concern himself about such things. Oakwood found it surprising he didn’t know if his people were killed or not. Basically, if we wanted anything from him, we had to kill the Swamp Dragon to the north. Since the adventurers did not go this way, they must have killed some puds and went another way. But since we had to kill that dragon eventually, we decided to just go for it. (Tiredness and boredom usually make for poor decisions.) We came to an underwater lake access with several ruined boats. We could see big footprints in the mud but we had no wish to fight a dragon in the water. So, we went up. The first door was locked. Xeelie critically failed her open locks roll so TerStegan busted it down. Oakwood was watching the lake behind us. In there was a big teleportation circle, similar to the small one we found in the closet upstairs. This one at least had the rare metal in the inlays although it would take quite some time to dig it out. The next door gave us two more doors. One to stairs up and one back to the mushroom eyed folks, we figured.
However, at this point, the River Drake emerged. There is no surprise round in PE2 so we went straight to initiative. And since it was a big monster, its was 32. DS used his Hero card, giving Oakwood 5 points of damage resistance for a round since he was the man to hold the line. It used its breath weapon, a glob of acid that hit Oakwood and the two casters (those in the back) for significant damage. Oakwood and Clarisa also missed the save and lost 10 feet of movement plus 1d6 persistent acid damage. It also did a reach tail swipe at Oakwood. TerStegan did his Sudden Charge and got in front of Oakwood and did his damage. Oakwood missed twice and then Tumbled Through to get on the other side to give flanking. (He should have done that in a different order.) Clarisa and Xeelie cast cantrips and Brisco healed Oakwood. The dragon slayer was also able to frighten it. However, after a round or two, it turned to flee back to its water. TerStegan hit but Oakwood missed his opportunity attack, even with his hero point. And it got away. However, Brian decided he didn’t want to deal with the hunting of a wounded drake and gave Oakwood another parting shot. This time he hit and finished it off. We signed off with visions of dragon treasure hoards.
Pathfinder Game 21 - 08/30/2024 - Goulish Feasts
Written by David Green
We started in the small elevator room that they ended in last time. There was a door to the north and south. We went south. In a small hallway, we could smell something bad coming. The next room had soil on one side, the rotted remains of some sort of organic material. Xeelie was hesitant to enter so Oakwood stepped up and prodded the soil with his reach Bo Staff. A fungus creature emerged and let loose a gas cloud. Unfortunately, it extended to where Oakwood was but fortunately, he saved. We rolled initiative and moved up as we could. It was tight quarters. The two of them weren’t much of a threat and only TerStegan was hit for little damage. Xeelie did her Detect Magic and as usual, she detected something new but we had no idea from where. We did the dance of moving around to no avail. There just wasn’t any room. TerStegan even dug through the dirt. Eventually it occurred to someone that the elevator might be magical. A Crafting roll said that it didn’t sound mechanical when we rode it so it must be magical. We moved on.
The next room had a big pile of flesh parts. The source of the smell. Oakwood thought it looked like another Gibbering Mouther which turned out to be true. Thankfully, it was dead. There were also two, what turned out to be, ghouls in there, praying to it. Brisco went first and fired a cantrip. On its turn, it ate a chunk of flesh and healed itself. TerStegan was hit on that first round, infected with Ghoul Fever and paralyzed. He stayed that way throughout the fight. The save DC was stiff although it did lower by one each round. He could do nothing. Xeelie did her Tumble Through thing and Oakwood moved up to give an alternate target to TerStegan. And then one of them leapt across the front lines and landed between the two casters in the back. One of them got paralyzed too. 2 of 5 unable to move and it looked dicey. Oakwood managed to Trip one which gave Xeelie two sneak attack hits, one of which was a crit. Oakwood also crit and then finished it off when it tried to stand up. 3 against 1 swung the odds back in our favor and it was dropped, trying to get to the healing flesh.
We made a bunch of rolls. The disease increases in severity once a day and Treat Disease took 8 hours of care so we couldn’t really do anything about the afflicted TerStegan and Brisco at this time. Oakwood did Treat Wounds on TerStegan while Brisco and Xeelie searched. With Xeelie’s new witch healing focus spell, TerStegan was good to go. We found nothing although we did avoid messing with the mound of flesh. We decided to press on after talking Brisco into taking 10 minutes to Treat himself. The next room was back to the library we had seen before. We saw a ghostly figure that looked a lot like the portrait of the head craftsman we saw in the workshop. He took a book from a ghoul and then faded into the floor. In the center of the room was a column of blue light with bits of flesh flowing through it. The light looked a lot like the Gauntlight Tower light however we didn’t think we could stop it here. We had to go down and stop it at the source. The librarians seemed ghoul-like but not as menacing. One asked what she could help us find. Xeelie spoke up from the back and asked for a book on Haunts. We were told we needed to go to the scriptorium for that.
So, we were led through the library, past shelves of books, ghoul librarians and lots of closed doors. The scriptorium had many desks for scribes to transcribe books. And a skeleton on the floor. Soon enough, a Haunt appeared and told us to get to work. She was the head librarian and assumed we were new scribes. Xeelie agreed that we were and got to work. Oakwood tried to explain that we weren’t scribes but was mostly ignored. Once we got to work, the Haunt touched a secret button which would open a secret door (to her office?) However, since she was a ghost, she just walked through it. One of our books had a letter put in it. Another letter from the Dr whose footsteps we seemed to be following. What I can remember, it said that as long as we worked, the Haunt wasn’t a problem. That the temple to the north was “interesting” but the priests were “touchy”. And something about a grand spiral staircase. It also guided us to a sack with some gems. Oakwood searched the skeleton and found a small portrait of the chief craftsman. He was a Cavern Elf although the Haunt of him looked a bit different. He also found a tiny iron key but no one saw anything to use it on in this room. Lastly, he removed the Chain Shirt. At this point, we decided to head home and deal with the disease.
Back in the library, one of the ghouls invited us to meet the high priest in the temple. Clarisa made a Recall Knowledge on the carvings around the door. The goddess of death. That told us they likely wanted to sacrifice us. We said, no thank you and moved on. There was some debate as to the quickest way back to the stairs up but Xeelie got that right. From there, it was up and out. We had no trouble until we met a 4-person adventuring party around a fire by the entrance. Evidently it was almost midnight in the above ground world. They were eager to trade information but since we knew way more than them, we didn’t give them much of anything. It helped that we were ”just kids” so they assumed we didn’t know anything. Evidently, the mayor had invited them to come over here and they were pleasantly surprised that someone had already cleared out the first level. You’re welcome. TerStegan suggested they start with the Gauntlight tower, to face the blood Delcora. Was that evil? Brisco mentioned our run in with undead. They had heard about the graveyard attack from the mayor, and again it didn’t occur to them that we could be the heroes that fought them off. They said they had found a way down a level to the mushroom men and were tackling that in the morning. At least they’re going a different way. If they get killed, we’d get lots of good stuff. Is that evil? But they look more formidable than the town guards.
Once we got TerStegan to stop talking about the Rose Guard Lore, we made it back to the club house. Brian assumed we could deal with the disease. And also assumed we could identify magic items. The bag had 4 one-use weapon talismans. We decided to sell those. And some medium strength anti poison potions that got distributed. The doctor’s letter had warned us about poison users coming. The miscellaneous wealth got distributed as well but it wasn’t much. The big ticket was the +1 chain shirt. TerStegan was eager to convert it into something he could use. But it was a 5th level item so, while we could use it(?), we couldn’t Craft with it. Oakwood asked if anyone could use it in the meantime. The Rouge could but since she lacked the STR, it would give her -1 on DEX skills. Plus, it had a DEX cap of +3 so she’d be losing out on some of it. The Sorcerer spent a feat to be able to use light armor so she could use it. She also lacked the STR but didn’t care so much about DEX skills. But she didn’t fight much. We assumed the Druid could not use it since it was metal but further research says PE2 removed that WotC limitation. We gave it to Clarisa for now, however when she turns 5th, she’ll likely bump her DEX to +4 at which point, maybe it will be converted. She went from the least wealthy to the most wealth and now Oakwood is on the bottom.
Pathfinder Game 20 - 08/16/2024 - Spider Apocalypse
Written by David Green
We started with the fact that Oakwood and Xeelie were already wounded from the game previous. It was successfully argued that when the rest of the group healed up last game, the non-existing two would have been healed as well. This allowed us to get going. As usual, we had a myriad of options but the main two were to go down the mold infested stairway or into the room with the animating bones. It was decided to stay on this level rather than go down although with all the twists and turns, no one was sure what “level” we were even at. However, a discussion was had on the mold problem regardless. TerStegan argued that since it absorbed heat, attacking it with cold would be good and heat would be bad. Several made Survival rolls and Xeelie was “fairly certain” she knew what to do. I think that was GM speak for “hazard avoided.” However, Paul and BTO demanded details (that Brian didn’t have) and guarantees (that Brian wouldn’t give). They were still thinking in terms of avoiding an encounter. And they could be right. But again, we decided to table that discussion until our mold talking Druid showed up and go the other way. To the Giant Skeleton.
The door was reopened and the bones started to pull together again. Initiative was rolled but until it was rebuilt by whatever background evil was present, there wasn’t really anything to do. Xeelie moved to the other side of the small room and opened the exit to give us more options. Clarisa hit the skull with a Telekinetic Object but at this point, it was only a thing and not a monster so it did nothing. TerStegan ran in and tried to stand on the large glaive but didn’t roll high enough on his Athletics check. Oakwood readied an attack. When it did form, giant-sized, he missed with both flurry attacks. TerStegan got into his Stance after two tries but we quickly found that it was too mindless to be affected by fear. (As are most undead.) It did a lot of damage with its sweeping glaive. We did a lot of missing. TerStegan did the lion’s share of damage and after a few rounds, it was over. Oakwood did some Treat Wounds for 2d8 while the others searched. Xeelie’s Detect Magic detected magic but again, that spell is not specific about the location. So, we had to play 20 questions as she moved about the dungeon, trying to zero in on what new thing was magical. Eventually, Brian gave him an Investigation roll and said that it seemed to be background magic and nothing specific. She determined the glaive had no value and that moving the bones would not be necessary. Moving along.
The next “room” was a large corridor with more doors than TerStegan could count. After some debate, we decided to defer the door that was glowing greenish and open the double doors to the north since they were closest. That was another hallway with little dioramas in alcoves along the way. Each depicted a great city being destroyed by some catastrophe. Closer examination revealed that each had a tiny Gauntlight in the scene. Xeelie was quickly convinced it was Absolom, the biggest city on the island, but they weren’t really detailed enough to confirm that. She and Brisco tried to triangulate the position of the Gauntlight with their knowledge of Absolom using their various skills. But were told, repeatedly, that it was not to scale, only representative, move along. At the end were another set of double doors. It was a large dining room or meeting room filled with webs. In there was a Web Lurker. It was commanding us in a language none of us understood. A good Society roll from Oakwood thought it was some sort of Underdark language. TerStegan planned to research that language in his downtime. We faced the usual murder-hobo dilemma. We knew it was evil but couldn’t attack it until it did something evil. TerStegan decided to Demoralize it with a growl. That succeeded and it cowered in a corner.
However, that worked. Its two Dream Spiders and two Giant Spiders attacked from the shadows. They moved up, attacked with immobilizing webs and poison stings and then moved back out of range. Oakwood and TerStegan, at the bottom of the initiative again, just stood there and took it. Although they both got 1 reaction attack at least. They were both immobilized and poisoned but thankfully, the poison was Stupefy (i.e. mental) so it didn’t bother them much. The rest fired into the room and Xeelie tried to do her Recall Knowledge to get her extra 1d6. Oakwood managed to rip free and choose to step into the room to lessen their hit and run tactics. It was a fight and we took some damage. About the time we had them on the ropes, both the frontline guys got caught in web traps. But the spiders were finished off soon afterwards and they were assumed cut down.
What followed was over an hour of downtime. Oakwood Treated the barely wounded while Brisco Treated the badly wounded. Meanwhile Xeelie and the rest searched. They found a web pouch full of shiny bits and bobbles. However, in there was a necklace with 3 Fireballs (1 use) that went to Clarisa. Some glowing sling bullets that would continue to glow if they hit their target. Again, one use. Brisco took those since he didn’t have any enhanced sight. Lastly was an opal that when placed on clothing, it would bump up a Deception roll one level. We were going to sell it, not thinking of a reason we’d ever use such a thing, but the eventual Bard ended up taking it. One Treat Wounds was not enough to get TerStegan back to battle ready so we waited an hour for that clock to reset. During that time, everyone was topped off and we were good to go.
The glowing room turned out to be a wash room with glowing green slime within. That slime moved and spelled out the following message, one letter at a time. “I am Otari. Save me, below.” Or some such. And then proceeded to move across the floor. We followed it and it led us back to the mold infested stairway down at which point, it disappeared. This reopened the mold debate, with our Druid. TerStegan asked if Brisco could use his Ray of Frost cantrip to clear away the mold. (Sneak peek at the answer: It was no. He could not.) This sparked a bunch of questions from Dave. Why do you think that’ll work? Why do we have to go this way? Why are we here at all? Why should we attack innocent mold? The bottom line was that Plant Druid Brisco would not attack a plant without cause. By sticking to his character concept at the expense of the group and all of our time, he earned a hero point. But again, we came back to the same conclusion. We’d like to finish this level before going down. So, we went back to the washroom.
That’s a problem with these modules. They are full of details but they are also full of “useless fluff” that don’t advance the main plot. But we, as players, don’t know what room is pointless and what room has an important clue, a valuable item, a secret door, etc. So, we have to grind through each room, one at a time. What’s in here? What’s it for? Is it important? Is it dangerous? Is it trapped? Everyone wants to use their skills. Each room takes time. I guess each is its own encounter to be overcome. So, the next room had a small demon who, we think, was conjured to do the cleaning down here. He “seemed” evil but wasn’t doing anything evil. He talked but had nothing useful to say. The fact that it had been a hundred years since anyone was down here didn’t seem to faze him. Eventually, we just left him behind. The next room had two large constructs and seemed to be in storage. Is this area a storage warehouse or living quarters for minions or what? I went to bed at this point, unable to face another pointless room. I assume nothing happened. Hopefully they grinded through some more and dare I hope, stopped at something significant? Not much learned, not much gained, no character advancement, no closer to any campaign goal. Until next time…
Pathfinder Game 19 - 08/03/2024 - In The Hall Of The Master
Written by Daniel Ruth
Oakwood had Covid. However the rest of us soldered on.
Briscoe healed enough to be conscious. Briscoe and Terstegan moved back to the previous room while Clarissa and Xeeli explored the room where the Brownie mysteriously got slaughtered. Used detect magic wack a mole. Xeeli placed the brownie corpse into her magic sleeve. She said it was to provide an honorable burial later… but the rest of us had some doubts.
Clarissa Read Aura and Arcana on the gem and found it was the constructs power source. Then Briscoe, Xeeli and Clarissa went outside to explore the docks. Briscoe went first and the pier collapsed exposing a Flckerwisp that attacked us. It was immune to magic so the GM interpreted this to mean it was immune to stones thrown by magic and magic weapons. It beat on Briscoe but on the second round it retreated. Terstehgan ran up after the fight was done, stumbling through the uneven surface and broken glass of the room.
After treating our wounds we headed downstairs. We found a chamber for making constructs where Worbough's (the bird construct) body was floating in a large glass decanter. We also found a journal. Apparently this goblins master was a construct master and the goblin volunteered to have his soul place in a construct. We found a doll construct with no limbs and were about to place the soul (from the gem) into the doll to question it when Briscoe found a secret door (look, a butterfly!) naturally we dropped our plans to rush to the secret door. It led down stairs to a four way intersection. A door to the east, a corridor to the west and stair going back up to the south.
Xeeli snuck ahead but didn't tell anyone that he was scouting ahead so we had a discussion on whether we knew if he was scouting. We decided to wait since it seemed she was scouting. In one direction of the corridor he found a library complete with librarians wearing blue robes actively placing books on the shelves. We were not sure if they were constructs it being late we decided to look down the other end of the corridor to see the lay of the land without starting a combat.
The room at the other end was filled with thick mist, we were unable to determine any details inside. Going up the stairs we found a "T" intersection. South was what seemed to be an exit to the swamp, a muddy/moldy beach but it got so cold Briscoe and Terseghn took cold damage. Now were didn't think it lead outside and the mold grew as it absorbed the boy's body heat. We backed out. Once again the girls escaped harm.
The room to the north led to a room full of bones that started to pull together into a giant skeleton about three meters with a bull's head with a large sword. Rather than immediately closing the door Xeeli tried to determine what this was first. We determined it’s a skeleton with a bull's head.
