Pathfinder Game 47 - 08/29/2025 - Fair Competition
Written by Daniel Ruth
Credence tumbled through Oakwood’s square making him flat-footed and hit him for 35. Plus, bleed damage but he already had double bleed damage from the crit last round so this one didn’t count. Oakwood then crit missed him, made the caster his Hunted Prey and raised his shield in hopes he could survive another hit. And took 7 bleed damage. TerStegan ran back down the stairs and attacked Credence on top of the cage. And missed. The GM had Brisco draw his wand of healing and heal Oakwood for 20. Xeelie cast fast healing on Oakwood and critically failed his recall knowledge on Credence. Evidently, as a unique creature, his target was rolling a 20. Without that recall, her damage is much reduced so she pulled out a scroll instead of attacking. Clarisa was still outside but not fleeing. She spotted a guard squadron, preparing to help? The GM was jokingly vague about what they were and confused Dan to no end. She moved into the room and cast Arc of Lightning on both accountants but rolled crap damage. We then heard Longsaddle ordering guards to guard the entrances.
Cryde cast Darkness but it had the manipulate action so TerStegan got a free swing. And missed with a 4. She got some cover from the bars but it didn’t matter. That spell easily overcame Xeelie’s lantern light and knocked it out. Evidently TerStegan’s darkvision can see through it with a flat check. Her dragon had darkvision as well but missed its flat check. A goon squad appeared upstairs but couldn’t see anything. They tried a group Seek and failed. Credence didn’t have darkvision so he jumped off the cage blindly. And then blindly ran out of darkness with ease. And crit Clarisa for 46 points. 14d6+12. And double bleed. Two more goon squads moved. The one by the door attacked Credence. They critically missed their reflex attack and did nothing. Oakwood made his flat check and then missed his attack on Cryde. He used a hero point and rolled a 4 which became a 14 which hit. A two-action fire blast plus his fire weakness and the hunted prey damage and the dread marshal. TerStegan hit Cryde for some after casting Bless. Longsaddle charged into the room.
And then Dave showed up and everything came to a halt while we tried to get him up to speed. The situation was complicated. After much deliberation, he chose to avoid the uncertainty of the darkness, shot Credence and missed with a 2. And then climbed down into a lit square. Xeelie turned on her lantern as a free action and thankfully canceled the darkness. She cast Benediction. (10 foot aura for +1 AC for her and her allies, sustained) And then jumped down. The downstairs goons moved into the room and attacked Cryde. And she saved for half. Clarisa tried to unloaded a full barrage of magic missiles on Credence but it had a manipulate trait so he dropped her instead with a reaction. Another crit, of course. Cryde took the fire damage but healed 5 from something else. She took a step back and cast Enthrall. TerStegan used his Counter Performance reaction. He rolled a 2, used a hero point and rolled a 14. So that gave everyone a 29 save, making us save against its effects. And since it was save or die, it did nothing. (A turning point, to be sure.) Her dragon spit ink on TerStegan and Xeelie, covering them in ink. TerStegan was blinded for missing the save but Xeelie was simply annoyed. Credence flew over and strategized on Oakwood. He did 30 from a “mere” hit without the sneak attack dice. And then he hit Xeelie for 18. And now she was bleeding too.
The upstairs goons shot at Credence but it was AOE volley that included Brisco. But he crit saved for none. The bolts bounced off Credence. The outside goons targeted Credence and did enough to squeak some damage in. Oakwood hit Cryde with a reach fire spear and dropped her. He then raised his shield, took more bleed damage and finally saved against it. Blind TerStegan missed his flat check against Credence. He rolled a 1 on a survival for spatial awareness and lost two actions bumping into furniture. Longsaddle had to maneuver around the traffic and the counter and got one attack on him. And hit for 20 and he took 15. Brisco cast a ranged heightened heal on down Clarisa and did 39. And then used doctor’s visitation to move and do BFM on Oakwood for 26. Xeelie did her knowledge thing and missed but that’s as good as success for her. She hit for 8 and did a 5-foot step away from Credence. The downstairs goons moved to reach range and attacked. He critically saved and took nothing.
Prone but conscious Clarisa stood up and cast Daze on him. He failed his save and took 8. He took some fire damage and took a 5-foot step. And flew out the upstairs window, leaving us in the dust. The two goon squads did nothing much. Oakwood moved twice to get outside and tried to spot him. He rolled another 1 and used a hero point for a decent 21. He did not see him but was thinking he must have done something tricky. Invisible, on the roof, doubled back. With two moves to get out of the building, he had to be close. TerStegan ran upstairs and didn’t see him near the window he exited. Longsaddle ran out the back door. Brisco used his Root Reading cantrip to Seek him? He rolled a good perception and got the trees telling him he’s on the building. Probably better than he should have expected. Meanwhile Xeelie unlocked the cell door with the intent of relocking it once she got inside. The faking Cryde cast Time Jump as a prepared reaction that gave her two extra actions. So, she flew through Xeelie and was gone as well. So sad.
Everyone was disappointed with that conclusion. After all that planning, having them on the ropes, etc. The GM wasn’t that happy either so he threw us a bone and started a skill challenge. Can we “catch them” in a skill-based chase? Clarisa used her Revealing Light spell and made an Arcana roll. Oakwood used his Burning Jet to get on the roof. He surprised them with a 20 on the die for two successes. TerStegan climbed up as well and used Intimidation. He rolled a 33 and succeeded. Brisco couldn’t come up with a plausible way to get up there so he went with Xeelie. Xeelie used her Otari Lore to go where she thought they would be based on her knowledge of the town. And Clarisa went with them. Xeelie rolled poorly and used a hero point and rolled a 20. So, we kicked ass on the skill challenge. 6 successes with no failures and one hero point used. We decided that TerStegan’s taunting caused them to come back around to finish us off. Or perhaps they were momentarily regrouping on the roof, figuring they had a round or two.
We re-rolled initiative. Ironically, the two characters that actually got on the roof, went last. But more importantly, some of us went before them. Xeelie tried to do her recall thing and crit failed again. Her target was 36. They discussed and Brian let him get his bonus damage without gaining any actual knowledge at a lower DC. Xeelie missed by one, use a hero point and hit by four. And did 12 to Cryde. That took her out again. And then cast Shield. Brisco used his Tempest Surge and took out Credence. Our luck certainly turned from all those early misses. We stripped them down to their under clothes, tied them up and kept them tethered until their fly ended. A search got Brisco a crap Medicine check. Another heroic skill point was used and got us the realization that Cryde was a “recent” “day walker” vampire. Which explained how she recovered in the cell. We turned them over to Longsaddle. I think the vampire was staked but we’re not sure what happens to the other. Not our problem any more, I guess. Yea! We were given the fancy sword cane as our reward. +1 striking and wounding. The wounding is a 10th level effect so we can’t transfer it but could use it. It’s an agile and finesse weapon but the two martials liked what they currently had better. So, we sold it for 50 gold each when the miscellaneous loot was included. We stopped there. After a week off it’ll be back to the dungeon to pick our poison. Seems like we’ve got several “unbeatable foes” to choose from. Good thing we’re 6th now.
Pathfinder Game 46 - 08/22/2025 - Guarding Democracy
Written by David Green
We leveled up to 6th. On to the game. The town elders show up with some guards. They wanted to assess our power level to decide if the town guards would be able to help in the upcoming confrontation with the agents of the Kartos Consortium. They had 6 guards and TerStegan said he could take them all on by himself. He took them out in two rounds with multiple crits and they never touched him with multiple critical failures. So, they will stay out of the way. Then Carmine stepped into the ring and they fought to a critical laden draw. We had 2-3 days of downtime. TerStegan tried to get work at the upscale Crow’s Cache to earn some extra Income. He missed his roll so they had nothing available. He bought his full plate and transferred his current +1 rune for which he borrowed money from Clarisa. The Rowdy Rockfish was eager to have him since we saved their son. He rolled great and got 5 silvers plus 5 more the next day. And then he went back to Crow’s Cache the last day and earned 2 gold. Oakwood picked up his +1 hand wraps from Amecia. He planted some more trees in the surrounding area and searched for hidden armies. And then guarded the ballot place on election day. Clarisa translated some of the spells that we’ve gathered into her spell book. Xeelie built a booby-trapped ballot box. Oakwood failed to Aid her but she rolled a 20. She then built magic items for herself and TerStegan. She worked with Amecia and told her about them being half-sisters. They buried the hatchet and bonded over blaming their parents for not telling them. Last was Briscoe. He searched the guard barracks, looking for breeches already in place. He intimated the guards about being tree lovers or he’d sick TerStegan on them while he was at it.
So, then we transitioned into planning for the night. Xeelie would hide under the counter. Her familiar would be up on the counter. Brisco wanted to use his “turn into a shrubbery” power to guard the front door. TerStegan would patrol around outside. Oakwood would hide upstairs overlooking the lower level and the windows. Clarisa would hide in a cabinet on the lower level. At the end of the day, Xeelie switched the ballot box as planned. She noticed the hinges were not quite right once they were besides each other. (I.e. she missed that first hidden roll.) And tossed her flour in the holding cell. TerStegan was randomly at the south side of the building on his rounds when things started happening. A tiny gold dragon-like familiar(?) flew in a window, past an alert Oakwood and landed on the railing above the holding cell. Xeelie didn’t notice anything but she didn’t have any line of sight up that high. Briscoe noticed a pane of glass hovering (invisible person) by the same window and some sort of gold creature climbing in. He chose to raise the alarm. He figured breaking and entering was a sufficient crime.
He saw a black figure drop down from the same area. They hit the ground and ran into the bushes across the street. Oakwood stepped over the railing, onto the cage and grabbed the familiar with a 30. And then turned on his powers. TerStegan came around the corner but couldn’t see anything. Brisco ran across the street, after the figure. Unfortunately, that put him off the map which complicated things. When he got close to it, it looked more blobish than man. A roll identified it as an illusion. He yelled that at TerStegan. He looked around for the caster but didn’t see anyone. Xeelie heard someone on the cell (Oakwood). A hidden perception rolled revealed nothing. Or nothing had happened. Clarisa heard the yelling as well but inside the cabinet, her line of sight was limited to a sliver. She could see Oakwood acting but chose to stay hidden. Next, the GM did stuff that we were unable to perceive. Briscoe’s illusion disappeared, likely no longer being sustained. Xeelie and Oakwood took an Arc of Lightning, failing saves of DC 26. But it was only 7 points. It came from somewhere on the top level but we still couldn’t see them. But the window was now open. The dragon broke free but with only one action, it didn’t go anywhere.
Oakwood failed on a Seek action and then used his Flying Flame since AOEs don’t need to be targeted. Something was hit for some fire damage but not illuminated since that’s too useful to get for free. TerStegan ran up and opened the front door. He couldn’t see the foe but didn’t have any actions left anyway once he turned on his stance. Briscoe ran up to the building, rolled a 1 and didn’t climb it. Xeelie stood up, cast fast healing on herself and did a Seek on the lower level but found nothing. Clarisa stood up, jumped on the counter and did a Seek of the south balcony. We had to roll a great perception and guess right so our odds were poor bordering on hopeless. “Thankfully”, Cryde became visible and cast a Fear. Oakwood succeeded, Xeelie failed and Clarisa and TerStegan critically failed. TerStegan used a hero point to avoid the fleeing condition and got a critical success. Credence became visible, Devised a Stratagem and attacked Oakwood. He crit for 32 plus 2d6 bleed. Oakwood turned on the Thermal Nimbus and did Battlefield medicine on himself. And then took 6 more bleed damage.
TerStegan wanted to superleap across the room and up to the balcony but he couldn’t do it with Jump or Leap. After much discussion. So, he used his helm to get an extra Stride, went through the door and most of the way up the stairs. Briscoe managed to climb up through the window and up to the balcony level. Xeelie crit failed her Lore roll, gave up on her attack and moved towards the stairs. Clarisa had to flee out the door. Cryde cast Dimension Door and ended up down below in the cell. She did reenter Oakwood’s fire aura so took more damage. She examined the box and identified the defect. We stopped there at Credence’s turn. Most players had spent their rounds moving and seeking so we’ve barely touched them. However, only Oakwood has taken any serious damage. So, after 2 rounds, it’s pretty much a draw. The turning point will be if we can counter whatever spells they have left when they decide to flee again. As we’ve seen, we can’t do much against Fly, Dimension Door and Invisibility.
Pathfinder Game 45 - 08/15/2025 - Um, Not that Way.
Written by David Green
It was a night of dead ends and unbeatable foes. Xeelie snapped into existence and was forced to make a save from the Shrinking Trap we had passed through last time. She critically failed and she became tiny. There was still no guidance as to what that meant, rule-wise, however we thought her reach became 0 which was more of an issue for a melee character. She switched to her less effective star knife. And then the teleporter activated and a bunch of battered creatures appeared. A redheaded woman with a great axe and a plague doctor each carrying two halves of a body. Plus, a crawling hand and one of those Bounders and a bat demon. They had the symbol for “winner” floating on their forehand in a language that only Xeelie knew. That body looked like one of those adventures we met on level one so long ago. TerStegan did a Warfare roll and didn’t get much of anything. Xeelie rolled on the bat thing and identified it as the result of a necromancy ritual. Giant ghoul bat. And that it would be an even match for one of us. So maybe as a whole, they’d be a tough fight for us but we agreed we wanted to defer that fight as long as possible. They moved into the dorm area we hadn’t explored yet. So, we avoided that.
Soon after, another group came through. The losers. The rest of that adventuring party. They had gotten transported down here by the Grinning Man to fight and could not get past the barrier to get back out. We told them we had recently removed the barrier. And then asked them about the winners in case we had to fight them. Giant axe is obvious. Bat is a ghoul. Tough and probably undead. It had a bone chilling screech. The Plague Doctor was a healer and probably a necromancer. The hand just did damage and we had seen a Bounder. Evidently surrender is an option however the victors get a boon. In this case, the body of their friend. Which will probably be turned into another ghoul? They would be losers for 24 hours. We told them there was a path to the exit. They wanted to leave but were afraid the Grinning Man would not allow it. They were going to take a rest and then try it. They headed to the dorm area we had already explored.
TerStegan started talking about sending Xeelie into the saw trap room. But then Zara and her riding dog came up the stairs. She was pleased to see more competitors and asked if we were going to fight. We begged off for now, due to the fact that we were still shrunk. She was a spectator and not a fighter. She went into the mural room and closed the secret door. Evidently that’s where she slept. We had already learned we couldn’t defeat her. So that was another unbeatable dead end. The last door led to stairs down. The other stairs down lead to double doors and presumably to the arena. We didn’t want to go there so we chose the door. That door also went down. Is down the next level? That ended in a big room. There was a large creature chomping on the crystal shards. And big dangerous worm thing with a wand that seemed to be ordering it around. We rolled initiative and fled in order. The beast was large and the stairs, small. But the GM insisted we play it out. It had a sonic attack that sickened on a save and stunned and deafened if you failed. Xeelie failed and used her one remaining action to identify it. Then Clarisa grabbed her and we all fled. Not that way! We guessed that was the 6th level and wanted to face it as 6th level characters.
We recovered and headed to the shrinking room since everywhere else was death. Xeelie thought the shrinking would not be cumulative but would likely extend the duration. But we tried to limit our time in the room regardless. One of the doors was locked. TerStegan bashed the door and it was another teleportation circle chamber. On the normal network. He and Xeelie tried to activate it with a 10-minute ritual. Neither succeeded on their roll. And evidently were Stupefied 1 for 24 hours. That’s minus 1 on Int plus a flat roll to cast a spell. But they were mostly melee guys. They tried again and failed again. The Stupefy didn’t stack but did make their rolls one harder. One more try. Failed again. Use hero points and succeeded. It would be working for d6 days. That gobbled up some time for them and us. The next door was spiked closed. The GM said it would take minutes to remove them. At least Oakwood had the right tool with his climbing kit. He assumed Xeelie was right and stayed in the room. The trap didn’t go off again. Xeelie, seeing that it was safe, searched. However, the shrinking duration ran out while we worked on the spikes. We got big and then we got shrunk again. Eventually Xeelie realized it was triggered by weight. I.e. M but not S or T. It was needlessly complicated and time consuming since it didn’t really impact anything.
After all that, it was a single room. It had more runes on the floor and walls. Ruined furniture and a mummy. “Who are you?”, in a language only Xeelie spoke (DR-I think this was Necril. Clarissa speaks it too but by the time I looked it up it didn't matter any more). Chaffekim. Xeelie thought the runes were “boosting” its power? It switched to common. “What’s going on? Was Belcora still in charge?” We told him she’d been dead 500 years but power was rising and we were trying to stop it. He called her a fool. Evidently, he was providing an army for her back in the day. We asked what he would do, now that we freed him. Return to Oserum where he’s from. But if we were to perform a service for him, he’d reward us. He wanted Jafarkey or the imp Zuk, killed and proof brought. He described them and the main one sounded like the same species as the thing we fled from not long ago. Evidently there are a bunch of them on the next level.
For our reward, he’d provide the password for the blade trap which he built and a map of this level. But the foes were on level 6 so a map wouldn’t do us much good then. TerStegan said that we’d get to level 6 faster if he gave us a map of level 5 first. He tore a page out of a book and sketched a map on it. The page had a Freedom of Movement (level 4) from a spell book on it. We asked about the Grinning Man and the arena and he knew nothing about it. We could have spent all night questioning him but he said he had things to prepare and closed the door on us. Our best guess, he went afoul of Belcora, was imprisoned and used his spell knowledge to turn himself into a mummy in order to survive. I.e. unbeatable again. I doubt we want to release a mummy to walk the land but I’m not sure we can do much about it.
Somewhere in here, the adventure party showed up, asking about the exit. We hadn’t had a chance to discuss as a group, whether we wanted to reveal to them about the teleportation circles. They said,”what’s in that room?” Brisco said, “what room?” Xeelie said, “you mean the one with the teleportation circle we just fixed? Help yourself.” So, they left. Whether they actually got out, I guess we’ll find out. Back past the mold room, we found a kitchen. The map pointed us to a secret door. That corridor had bones similar to the saw room. That trap is big and had 3 entrances into it, according to the map. Even with a map, this place was very maze-like mainly because there were crisscrossing levels within the same level.
We went down a hallway to a bridge across a grand north/south hallway. That hallway lead to the arena? That hallway had a star mosaic on the ceiling. A skill roll indicated the stars were from the perspective of a different planet. Impressive but not very useful. Far to the south, we could see statues of various fleshwarp creatures. Most of them were broken and melted. Mouthers and abominations. TerStegan tried to get more information but it was too far away. We could see the Grinning Man, sitting on his throne. TerStegan was still headed for the guard room mentioned in the letter since it said something about an exit. Oakwood and Clarisa, being in the back, noticed the Grinning Man noticing us. Another unbeatable foe. We went across another bridge that ended at a portcullis. And double doors behind it. Some of the bars were melted and twisted such that a small person could slip through it. And as luck would have it, we were all currently small or tiny. It was still a DC 18 acrobatics roll which isn’t trivial, especially if you didn’t happen to have that skill. Tiny Xeelie slip past with ease examined the locks on the doors. We could see arrow slits but no one was shooting. Oakwood made it through on two tries. Since there was only room for two between the bars and the doors, they opened the door so that we could move more through. That revealed a room with more doors.
And a Greater Shadow emerged and attacked. It had a +20 Stealth and went first. It hit Oakwood for 17. Then stole his shadow and gave Enfeebled 2. (STR drain.) That created a new shadow called Oakwood’s Shadow. It then hid in Xeelie’s tiny shadow. It was now Concealed which meant a flat check of 5 to hit it. But Xeelie’s lantern made it a 4. Clarissa cast Revealing Light in the area. It succeeded as did Oakwood but Xeelie failed. That meant Dazzled for 2 rounds or 1 minute but canceled concealments. So, it was not concealed but everything was concealed to them. Brisco missed with Ray of Frost and then missed with his trident. TerStegan faced a Acro 18 or an Ath 30 roll. He used his helmet for a +2. Only got a 23. He used a hero and failed again. And then he used Acrobatics and made it. GM let him move into the room since the thing was hiding and not resisting. Xeelie moved to get flanking and then rolled her knowledge thing and rolled a 20. It was resistant 10 to everything except force, ghost touch or vitality. And then she missed. And missed again. Oakwood crit but remembered he was Dazzled, rolled a 2 on that check and lost it. And tried to attack Oakwood’s shadow and missed.
It went again. It hit TerStegan, stole his shadow and created another shadow spawn. And missed Oakwood for its last action. But it was Dazzled, so retroactively it missed that flat check and none of that happened. Clarisa did a Full Force Barrage and finally hurt it. Brisco did Vitality Lash and it saved for half damage. He wanted to throw his trident again but it was pointed out that he could not go through the portcullis. So, he cast Guidance on Oakwood instead. Oakwood’s shadow walked through the portcullis and attacked Clarisa in the back rank since she was the one doing damage. And it missed twice. TerStegan pulled out his Ghost Touched hatchet and attacked. (It was debatable whether he’d do more with his great axe, taking the minus -10 to damage but if you got it, might as well use it.) He hit for 9, but it took it all. Xeelie attacked and made the flat check. But then she missed and then missed again. And again. Oakwood made his flat check and missed and made it and missed. It went and did something. Clarisa felt “marked for death” whatever that meant. And then it fled through the north door. However, TerStegan got a Reactive Strike and crit for 18. And that dropped it. GM assumed its spawn died too.
The north door was to another room. A guard room but no guards. Nothing worth anything on the empty weapon racks. Another door, another empty room. Arrow slits here and there. The south door did the same. The mummy’s map indicated a secret door down there. Brisco looked but didn’t find it. TerStegan tried and found it. It’s helpful to have a map. Meanwhile Xeelie attempted a crafting roll to hold the portcullis open. And failed due to the still present Stupefy. That secret door led to double doors which led to a long hallway. 100 feet down the tunnel was collapsed. The GM said it would take hours to clear. Although the tiny might be able to get by. Since the letter indicated there might be an exit/entrance, we dug. It led to the smuggler’s den. That’s 10 minutes from our house. How the elevations work out, we’re not sure. And the fact that this circumvented the whole gather items to remove the barrier thing, we’ll ignore. We stopped there. We’re fine on hit points and not down too many spells since we can’t seem to find much we can fight. But the conditions are adding up. Although some had expired. We might try to finish off the level before sunset or just head home. The re-election is 3 days away. From the map, there are 4 rooms yet to have visited. Plus, the arena? Brian declared us 6th via email so hopefully that’ll help.
Pathfinder Game 44 - 08/01/2025 - Dinner For Two
Written by David Green
We awoke in our beds at the clubhouse after a long rest. At breakfast, we started the same debate we had the previous morning. To hang around town and prepare for the (re)election while Xeelie built magic items or go back to the Gauntlight. But that was cut short by a knock on the door. It was the town elders including mayoral candidates Osef and Carmine. They wanted to consult with us about the election. Evidently Carmine had agreed to withdraw from the contest. He had never intended these sorts of tactics. He was just taking advice (and money) but didn’t fully realize what was happening. Despite the lack of hard evidence, they were now convinced the accountants aiding him were under the employ of the Kartos Consortium and they meant harm to the town. They were looking for ideas on how to catch them so that they can arrest them? I’m not sure what happens to them if caught. It’s not like Otari has a prison. Execute them? Send them packing? Away, we were pulled back into this mess.
Some ideas were bandied about. None of them were very hopeful. Mostly TerStegan came up with a plan of sorts. Carmine can act as a double agent to try to get them to tell him their new plans. It was pointed out that they didn’t include him in the old plans but perhaps if he said something along the lines of “I didn’t realize you guys were prepared to use such tactics. I’m all in. What’s next?” It seemed obvious to us that if we took no new measures, they’d be suspicious and were not likely to try again for the ballot box. However, Osef said that it would take a unanimous vote from the council to deviate from town tradition and that’s not likely to happen. Along those lines, Carmine will tell them our plan was to count the votes the day of the election but that he could stop that vote and put them back in the guard house overnight. With extra guards. (I.e. some of us.) If they tell him they have a new plan, we counter that. If they go for the box again, we’ll put a paint bomb in it and they’ll be marked. Caught red handed. Of course, if we catch these two, that still doesn’t tie them back to Kartos but I guess first things first. While they pulled it together, we were told (by the GM) to go back to work on the Gauntlight. Xeelie did get Carmine to agree to have his daughter work on our magic item transfers. It doesn’t actually save anything, having Xeelie doing them so it doesn’t cost us anything to have Amica do them. That way, we can push that forward without leaving Xeelie in Otari.
Brian wanted to know where we would be entering the current level. That prompted a discussion on fixing the portals. It turns out, reactivating dead portals takes no money. Just an hour of time and some skill rolls. So, we turned on the one on level one, near the swamp dragon lair. (The one on level zero was broken and would require money and acquiring a more difficult ritual.) Xeelie made an Arcana roll and TerStegan made an Occult roll. That turned it on for 1-6 days. Next, we went to level 3 in the library area. That ghoul we didn’t kill was busy repairing books and shelves and such. Along with some of the other left alone creatures. Oakwood asked if he needed anything since he was kind enough not to give us any trouble. He needed paper, ink and such. He had piles of books ready. Each 1 Bulk was worth 5 gold pieces. And now that we had extra portable holes, we could haul some away. (So much for helping him.) We repaired that portal and since one of them rolled a critical success, it would be activated indefinitely. We then proceeded to level 4, next to the dining room.
It was here that Brian sprung his trap. (We should have been suspicious when he cared which way we were coming.) We saw an undead thing in the form of Volluk Azrinae. We had already faced a version of Volluk in this room and almost died so we were not thrilled to have to face him again. But this was a different form. First of all, its stats were jacked up as usual to face a whole party. Each round, it got a reaction to cast a Deathly Gaze which Drained. 1 on a stiff Fort save and 2 on a failed. That gives -1 to Con stuff including a level’s worth of hit points off the top. TerStegan and Xeelie were soon afflicted. Once “gazed” it had another attack that did damage and put the Doom condition on them. That meant you were one or more steps closer to death. And to add insult, it was against that depleted Fort save. Plus, a fist attack, high AC and saves etc. Xeelie’s attempts to identify it kept bouncing. It didn’t do a ton of damage so the real worry was the threat of character death. Once again, Brisco showed up in time to start healing people. Oakwood hit above average and Clarisa used a full load of Magic Missiles. On its 3rd round, Clarisa actually saved against that gaze. Thankfully Oakwood, who’s primary stat is Con, did not get targeted. So as often is the case, we were afraid for our lives in rounds 1 and 2 and it was dead by round 4.
Evidently it was a remnant of the original monster. According to the rules, Drained and Doom take a long rest per level to recover and they were down 3 and 4. However Brian said that this “depends on the monster”. So, we spent a couple hours mending the teleportation circle. One of them rolled a critical success so it was up permanently. Evidently, they recovered a level per hour (or was it two). We healed up and decided to press on since this was the first fight of the day. (I’m not sure why we didn’t wait some more hours for them to fully recover.) We hadn’t found the circle on the current 5th level but we hadn’t seen much of it yet. We went down to that level and down a hallway and came to a door. Xeelie was prepared to pick it but Oakwood used the copper key we got last time. It was a storeroom full of organs in jars and limbs wrapped in paper. There were some medical instruments but they weren’t worth anything. What there was was two weapon racks with a “gnarled stick” on each. One was identified as a Wand of Summon Animal, level 2. There was much discussion on what kind of animal a level 1 animal was. Answer, not much and certainly not worth a 3-action cast and an action to sustain. Brisco took it but I think it will be sold. The identify on the other wand failed so it was stowed for another try later.
The next room had two pits in the center plus three more in alcoves on the far wall. There was a stone throne with two levers. And two creatures. They were abomination sort of things with frog legs and multiple tongues. Their stats were comparable to ours which was good but it was their special attacks that were the issue. One went first. It leapt onto Xeelie, tossed her 5 feet on a stiff Reflex save and threw her down the pit. She got a Grab an Edge Reflex save which she made. It then hit her with a trip attack which dislodged her but then failed to toss her into its mouth. Good news, she fell 55 feet down, taking 22 points. When the second one went, it did the same to TerStegan except he missed the Edge and just fell. And before anyone could go, the party was split. That’s never a good thing however most of the healing was up and most of the damage dealing was below. So that became two fights as Brian switched from map to map.
Above, when they could finally go, they used movement to back away from the pits and get into the hallway. Thankfully, they didn’t have reactive strikes. The monsters were still hitting and tripping but 5 feet or 10 feet on a crit wasn’t going to get them down the holes. Thankfully those attacks suffered from MAP. Neither side did a lot of damage. Certainly not the TerStegan’s 30-50. Once they got Injured, they backed away too and started using a ranged acid spit attack. Those hurt more and did persistent acid damage which are always trouble. Oakwood got good use out of his Aeon stone again and his shield, acting as the hit point buffer. They finished them off right about the time the other half got back up. Meanwhile TerStegan and Xeelie landed in an underground lake. They actually landed on two slumbering Hydras. TerStegan got to the shore as did Xeelie. She cast Fast Healing on him. We could see the curve of the Gauntlight Tower but the stone was transparent. As if this was an observation area. Probably so that they could watch people tossed down the pits be torn apart by hydras. Thankful, the first Hydra rolled a 1 on its perception and didn’t notice them. It snapped at the second, assuming it woke it up. The second spotted the fleeing teens but snapped at the first. All that gave our heroes a couple round head start and they made it to an exit around the corner. From there, it was up the spiral stairs and back to the rest of the party.
We stopped there. Brian chose not to do any healing or refocusing or repairing. So, we’ll start there next time. A new dungeon level but the same constant fight for our lives. It’s not easy, saving the world.
Pathfinder Game 43 - 07/25/2025 - Watch That Last Step
Written by David Green
We were still in the circular staircase room at the start of level 5 and chose the door to the east. In there was a big room full of chains, similar to the torture room we found the level above. There was a rusty looking grate over a pit in the center of the first area. And another chain fiend standing there. There was discussion about trying to fight her from the hallway and avoid the room of chains (i.e. at range) but TerStegan would have none of that. We moved in. Xeelie came in saying “Hello” and TerStegan came in saying “We killed your sister, prepare to die.” Sort of mixed messages. We rolled initiative and she started attacking us with the various chains in the room. She could pretty much attack anything she could see in there. She had the usual Fear effect, forcing everyone to make a Will save or be Frightened 1 or 2. She also got an opportunity attack on anything that moved (but only once a round). And 3 actions with a high attack value but at least she suffered from MAP. TerStegan charged in and she fell back into the corner. Xeelie moved up and did her evaluation thing. It was resistant to most everything but vulnerable to silver and holy. (Holy, not vitality.)
When Clarisa moved in, she plotted her path across the grate. BTO squawked in surprise and was accused of meta gaming. So, Clarisa went ahead and fell 40 down to the next level, taking 20. Oakwood threw her a rope on his turn but it took all 3 actions to fish it out and toss it. She then spent 3 actions climbing and he spent 3 actions pulling her up the rest of the way. The net effect was that it was TerStegan and Xeelie alone for the first 2 rounds. They got battered. On the second round, TerStegan was crit with a chain and took lots of damage plus 2d6 persistent bleed damage. And he was grappled (no movement actions and flat-footed) and impaled (can’t recover from the persistent damage). That was one action for her. She beat on Xeelie with the rest. So, when Brisco showed up, TerStegan was almost out and Xeeile is badly injured. Once he did his usual “I’m running away”, he charged forward and did his battle medicine. But that and Xeelie’s fast healing wasn’t enough to keep him up.
From there, it was a scramble. We tried to keep him alive and he tried to fight from the ground. Xeelie used a healing scroll and Brisco used both of his day’s battle medicine on him. The other two joined the effort. Oakwood’s new Aeon stone bounced the persistent damage on him. Clarisa tried her vitality lash, discovering that holy was not the same as vitality. By the way, the fiend also had fast healing 10, However, any round that Xeeile hit it with her silver starknife, it didn’t get it. After a few more rounds, our numbers won out but we were beat pretty good. Oakwood started handing out Fresh Produce and Brisco did his Treat Wounds. We searched and found nothing. Clarisa said that the pit led to another hallway with more doors so we figured we’d get to it when we got to the next level.
There were double doors to the north that lead to 3 cells. Each had a pile of garbage and filth but nothing was moving. We started to search and someone spotted the gleam of copper under the center pile. Oakwood used his Mage Hand to pull it free and awakened 3 undead blob things. He turned on his fire damage and took a shot at one. Xeelie said these were resistant to slashing and piercing and vulnerable to vitality. Did they have a fear effect? I can’t recall. They did a flesh slap or a bone shard range attack. They had no trouble passing through the bars. They also had an engulf power but Brian was unable to land it. After a couple rounds, we finished them off. We searched and found nothing but the copper key. Our only treasure of the night. We ate more fruit and went to the double doors to the south.
This seemed to be an examination room or maybe a morgue. There were 3 tables and various scary equipment hanging from the ceiling. There was one body on the furthest table. Brian sort of forced the action, having Clarisa check under the sheet. It was a carved up Morlock body from which a Specter emerged. This was similar to the monster we fought in the Otari crypt and pretty mad about being chopped up in its past life. It had a fear zone and was resistant to everything but vitality and ghost touch. Thankful, our bright lights made it Clumsy 2. TerStegan started swinging while the rest of us moved up. He took advantage of Clarisa standing there to get flanking. Xeelie attacked and then Oakwood got flanking from her. However, then BTO logged off and Oakwood’s flanking ceased to exist. And then Clarisa fled, stopping TerStegan’s flanking. But then he moved around and finished it off with a 58 point crit. Again, no treasure or anything of interest. This level, at least so far, has been much emptier. It was late so we stopped there. There was a debate about returning home for a long rest or pressing on. The casters won out and we went home. That’ll reset the battle medicine and TerStegan’s Bless as well. Xeelie is eager to make magic items for people and people are eager to get them so we may stay in town a few days. That’ll allow us to protect the next election although I think it is still 5-6 days away.
Pathfinder Game 42 - 07/18/2025 - A Not So Peaceful Rest
Written by David Green
Oakwood was indeed able to “borrow” the Menhemes holy symbol without issue. The crypt was in the original dungeon under the town. There were several options for access but we elected to use the first one, under the Fish Market. There was no issue sneaking past Zug, the snoring orc cook and getting through the locked door into the basement. We pushed aside the barricade and were back in the caves. It was like high schoolers returning to daycare. Thankfully the crypt was only a couple bends away. The room still radiated evil. When we entered, the skeleton guards re-reanimated. However, now that we were 5th level, they were dispatched quickly. Oakwood suggested that maybe we should bury the bones elsewhere so we wouldn’t have to fight them a third time. The GM mentioned something about disturbing the bones of the ancestors and that once the evil was dealt with, they’d be fine. As a half measure, we removed their swords and short bows at least. We surrounded the sarcophagus and Oakwood placed the Menhemes holy symbol on the recess. Lines of power appeared on the lid which then flew off, revealing a terrifying undead creature in the twisted form of his long dead relative. And she was in no mood for talking.
To add insult to injury, the skeleton bones reanimated as Oakwood feared but as Flaming Skulls so removing their weapons did no good. As is the case for a lot of these Bad Baddies, it emitted a Fear aura. TerStegan missed his save but only took Fear 1 due to his Fighter bravery. He attacked the undead. When she went, she tried to control TerStegan’s mind with another Will save, but he saved. (This fight could have gone south fast if he missed it.) Everybody went on their turn, saving against the Fear as best they could. The Skulls started flying around, causing chaos including persistent fire damage. On her second round, she crit Clarisa with a mental attack and she was dropped. Around then, Brisco showed up and did a 3-action heal which damaged them, helped us and brought Clarisa back. However, she was still prone so the Skulls attacked her and knocked her out again. Xeelie was also getting battered and used a scroll to do another 3-action heal and brought her up again. This heal took out two Skulls which exploded in fire. But thankfully the damage was modest and by then Oakwood had his 5 points of fire resistance zone up for those near him. Meanwhile, TerStegan pretty much took out the undead by himself. When she fell, they all fell.
Her cloak was a Cloak of the Hunter which Oakwood Menhemes took. It gives +2 to stealth rolls and a couple Ranger powers. Hunt Prey which for an action, gets you +2 to Seek and Track that prey. Plus, no penalty for the second range increment. And then Hunter’s Edge: Precise which gives +1d8 damage on your first attack on that prey. Attack, not strike which means it works with Impulses? There was no other treasure. Brian assumed we healed up. We debated about the bones. The evil was still present but much less. We decided it was the evil of Belcora’s ritual and once we lifted it (and defeated her?) it would be clear. We choose to leave Otari’s bones in the crypt with her bones so that they’d be together when this was all over. We Mended the lid as best we could. We then debated our next course. We could head to the Gauntlight immediately (once Oakwood returned the holy symbol) or we could hang around town for a week in case there was trouble prior to the election redo and watch Xeelie build magic items. No one wanted to deal with the election anymore and everyone wanted to head towards 6th level ASAP. So, for better or worse, we left town. Truthfully, we’d most likely be returning battered and beaten before lunch anyway. To the dungeon.
Brian allowed us to show up at the room we needed to be at for the ritual. (Someday we need to fix those teleportation circles.) Once again, we had to make a Will save against Fear for just being there. As we approached, a bunch of Flicker Wisps emerged from the stone in the center of the room. Same as last time. They are a pain because they are immune to magic. TerStegan started swinging. Oakwood put a Timber Sentinel next to him. They mostly attacked him because they could get flanking. Their attacks weren’t too high but they hit enough to use up the tree’s 30 hit points before the end of the round. But with TerStegan’s sweeps, Xeelie’s attacks and some trident throws from Briscoe, it was over pretty quick. We distributed the items, Xeelie cast the ritual and the barrier was cleared. Before going down to the next level, Oakwood suggested we check in with the spirit of Otari. We had promised to keep him posted. He was still there. He was pleased to see we had the items and were able to remove the barrier. He was sad to hear that we had to fight to get the cloak. He said he felt something and thought maybe he could move on. But he didn’t seem to be in any hurry. Hopefully he can be reunited with his lady love under the town that bears his name when he’s ready.
Down the stairs we came into a large circular chamber. There was a spiral staircase winding down out of sight with an ancient iron handrail. However, it was mostly empty air in the middle with the stairs clinging to the edge. On this level were 3 doors at each compass point. Oh, and a Gibbering Mouther. It hadn’t noticed us yet and we briefly considered slipping past it. But we’d have to fight it eventually so let’s get to work. Once initiative was rolled, we faced its Will based Confusion aura. Clarisa went first, got confused and randomly attacked Xeelie. At least that only lasts a round. TerStegan went next and charged it. On his way, two snail-like aberrations emerged from the corners. He ignored them and hammered the Mouther. After a couple rounds with TerStegan, it decided to run through him and get at the rest of the heroes. However, TerStegan saved against the movement and then crit it with the Reactive Strike as it went by. (I think that was its engulf power which caused us so much trouble before.) It didn’t last too much longer after that. The other two monsters were dispatched soon after. Basically, we used hero points to save against their worst effects and it wasn’t too hard. We stopped there for the night. Brian assumed we’d take 10-20 minutes to heal up. And then we’re back to opening doors.
Pathfinder Game 41 - 07/11/2025 - Mission Impossible-The Election Was Stolen!
Written by David Green
We got another late start as we waited to get up to 3 out of 4. BTO was unavailable. We were still stuck on the same evening we came into town. DG wanted to let the day go and take on the crypt in the morning. Paul wanted to do a few more things on the accountant/election track. Dan expressed no opinions. The GM sort of became the tie breaker. After Oakwood convinced TerStegan to end the day, Amica showed up at our doorstep. She was worried about her father. These accountants were giving him lots of advice and money for this election and she feared he was in over his head. TerStegan told her our suspicions but unfortunately, she had no hard evidence either. She agreed to keep her ears open and let us know if she hears anything. So, it was back to that track. It occurred to Oakwood that the Menhemes mill was just as critical to the town as the log flume so we went over there to talk to TerStegan’s adopted father. His advice was to attack the accountants and spread their blood as a warning to other troublemakers. Oh, if it were only that easy. He agreed to keep an extra watch on the mill. Captain Longsaddle had already increased the patrols on the log flume itself.
We next went to talk to the mayor. TerStegan wanted him to know what we suspected even if we had no proof. He, at least, listened but could not act without proof. The only resources he had were Longsaddle and the guards and they were already engaged. One bit of information we got was that the Kartos Consortium was a big logging company from outside of Otari. We finally had their motive. To bankrupt the town and take over. Osef was more worried about his upcoming speech. TerStegan gave him some tips, making a good Performance check. When asked if he had any thoughts on other key spots at risk of sabotage, his first thought was the holy symbol. Since it was the sign of his authority, he decided to always keep it with him until the election. So much for unlocking the crypt with it. We were committed to the election, at least for now. He did suggest the DawnFlower library might be a target as well since it held all the town’s old records. I think the day finally ended.
The next day was the last day before the election. We all got one skill roll to have some sort of impact. TerStegan wanted to use Performance to write another jingle that would stick in people’s heads. The GM wanted to know if it was to be pro-Osef or anti-Carmine. He went with anti-Carmine and at the GM’s suggestion, it was about him being clumsy and therefore not fit. (I think that was more Brian’s idea than Paul’s.) He rolled modestly and then used a hero point and rolled great. Oakwood used Crafting to make signs and such. (Acrobatics wasn’t going to cut it.) He rolled middle of the road and had little impact but at least didn’t do any harm. Dan had no interest in any of it. Oakwood then suggested TerStegan do something about Carmine being under undue influence from outsiders. We can’t prove anything but we can start a rumor. Although he had already had his roll, the GM gave him another. He rolled a 1, and it backfired. So much for roleplaying in a d20 game. Other than that, we patrolled around town, on the lookout for trouble. Brisco showed up around then. I think he turned into a tree to guard something through the night. But there were no more attacks. We successfully grinded past another day.
Election day. TerStegan and Oakwood voted early so that they could patrol for the rest of the day. The accountants stopped by to see the “quaint” voting customs of a small town. Oakwood noted that the Tengu seemed to be “casing the joint” looking at entry points. But then they left. Oakwood talked to the chief guard. Evidently, they were just going to leave the ballot box in the guard barracks entryway and count the votes in the morning. When Oakwood suggested perhaps he should post guards on it, given the fact that they lost that sword not 3 days earlier. He was told (after blowing a Society roll) to leave it to the adults and this is the way that’s been working for decades. Brisco came up with a good idea but I’m not sure how much of it was in advance, in retrospect or what. Basically, he took the Sigil cantrip for the day. When he cast his vote, he marked his ballot with a magic sign in witness of some guards. There was no sabotage and the polls closed at sunset. Amica said her father met with the accountants but she couldn’t hear what they said. They looked smugly confident however.
We decided to guard the barracks through the night. We didn’t want to go in because we didn’t want to be accused of tampering ourselves. And Longsaddle probably wouldn’t have allowed it anyway. TerStegan guarded the front and Brisco, the back. Oakwood hung out by some crates with sight of the front and the north side. Disinterested Clarisa decided to join him there. Around midnight, the mute dwarf came walking up, surprised to see TerStegan. They had a standoff of sorts but since she couldn’t talk, there wasn’t much of a conversation. They watched each other while the rest of us watched the barracks. Brian seemed to be trying to goad us into attacking and there was a lot of nothing happening. She cast a subtle spell that TerStegan managed to spot but again, nothing happened. He threatened to cleave her if she did it again. Brisco went back to the back door and sat up against it. Soon after, someone tried to open it but stopped when it was resisted. DS misunderstood, thinking someone had come out. So, he started swinging at empty air, assuming an invisible foe. He called out for a guard but got no answer, proving, to him at least, that it wasn’t a guard.
Brisco raised the alarm and the guards woke up. The dwarf left at a leisurely pace and TerStegan followed her. Brisco told Longsaddle there was someone in the barracks, probably invisible, that was messing with the ballot box. Clarisa came around the back to support him and Oakwood went to the front door. Longsaddle showed Brisco the undisturbed ballot box in a condescending manner but ordered a search to humor him. At this point, it seemed like a wasted night, where all our efforts were for naught. But then some of the guards spotted someone in the kitchen. A mysterious figure in black clothes ran out and it became a skill challenge chase. The DC was up around 24 which is tough. Worse than a 50/50 for most. Brisco and Oakwood made one roll but had to use a hero point to do so. (Another “heroic” skill roll.) Clarisa made one but the guards missed theirs and he got away. TerStegan followed the dwarf back to their hotel but the Tengu never showed up. Brisco explained his Sigil plan to Longsaddle and asked for the box to be opened and checked. Longsaddle called for the mayor and town elders. Oakwood suggested adding the other candidates as well.
While we waited, we questioned the guards. Oakwood figured it would be hard not to spot a Tengu, even in a heavy cloak. However, since Tengu have bird feat, it was not hard to confirm those tracks. Brisco and TerStegan demanded the accountant be arrested but evidently there were several Tengu in town. That gave him plausible deniability. The mayor was committed to the rule of law in his town. They opened the box and Brisco’s ballot was no longer there. Oakwood suggested that it called for a revote so that is what they are going to do. To keep things tidy, in one week. The next day, when they counted the votes, Rajani had the win. That doesn’t look good on him. The dwarf was brought in for questioning but the Tengu hasn’t shown up yet. That took the pressure off for a bit and Brian said we shouldn’t have any trouble “borrowing” the key/holy symbol/town office seal to get into the crypt. So, we stopped there, poised to use it to open the crypt next time. Seems familiar somehow.
Pathfinder Game 40 - 06/27/2025 -Dark Rituals of DOOM
Written by David Green
We were assumed to have picked up that cargo and started on the road back to Otari. However, Brian pointed out to Dan that the book we got last time was full of arcane spells. With Clarissa’s feat, she had a pseudo spell book so she might want to transcribe interesting spells before we returned it. Or broke it. That got him looking at his character sheet and he realized, despite her new bag of holding, Clarissa was currently encumbered. (Not a surprise, given her -1 STR.) That launched an hour discussion on encumbrance rules, pouch of holding functionality, inventory maintenance, etc. Basically, that new Staff of Fire was heavy and he hadn’t loaded his pouch and backpack correctly. She also had some stuff she’d never use like a pile of sling bullets which she could dump. He also tossed a potion and a wand into the party sheet. Brisco took the potion. The wand was a 1st level Harm spell which at 5th level, wasn’t that useful. Brisco decided to “pay” 30 gold into the stash, take the wand and destroy it. We did acquire it in an evil temple. In and amongst all that, Paul looked at the email traffic and realized Xeelie wouldn’t exist for another month so all the money he spent on throwing axes and various parts was going to have to wait. Eventually, finally we got rolling again.
We came onto the map of the Otari area, just before the road went under the log plume. We tripped an Alarm spell and came upon an ambush/sabotage site. There were a wide array of goblins, hobgoblins and bugbears who seemed to be guarding a priest in a dog mask performing some sort of ritual. There was a glowing pentagram under the plume with an innocent farmer acting as a sacrifice. (That “farmer” had an initiative of 38 by the way.) There were also goblins unloading barrels and placing them at support beams. We sprang into action however we were over 100 feet away. TerStegan moved up to some logs to get some cover from the guys with crossbows. Some of them moved up to meet him. Clarissa was eager to wipe them out with a Fireball however it was pointed out that this would likely take out the plume. An arcana roll indicated that the ritual was conjuring a big fiery explosion with the addition of making fiery explosions in the area bigger. She decided not to do their job for them. She instead took a shot at one of them. The mounted pixie was still with us as she had business at the Dawnflower Library. Brisco stayed with the wagon and moved it forward. Oakwood turned on his powers and used a manifested wooden long bow to hit the priest now that the wagon was within 100 feet. Brian rolled a “concentration” roll and he kept control of his ritual. The minions weren’t too tough but there were a lot of them. And those crits still hurt. They all had different abilities so it was slow going while Brian navigated through the big list.
TerStegan continued to swing and crit and cleave bad guys. The next time the wagon moved, Oakwood no longer had a shot at the priest. Since no one else could reach him, he got off and shot him again. This time, he missed his roll and the ritual started to get away from him. Would it get worse or better? A random die would tell, evidently. That made Oakwood a prime target and he was hit with 3 bolts in rapid succession. The ritual got “better” and shrank a little. The pixie ran across the map on her raptor, cast a Gust of Wind on the ritual and pushed it away from the plume a bit. And then ran back to give TerStegan flanking. With his axe mastery and Bless spell, he could hardly miss. Brisco got off the wagon and did BFMed on TerStegan and himself. Even though we weren’t yet close to the caster, he decided it was time to go. He grabbed the “innocent victim” and flew away with a fly spell. At this point, Brian pulled us out of combat. 2 rounds. The ritual went off but the plume was saved. The villains got away as was preordained by plot requirements. The pixie tried to follow them but flying over a forest as opposed to running through it proved to be too big an advantage.
We finished off the minions and since Brian was in control, took no prisoners. The pentagram was broken. Fire enhancing runes were found on the barrels of oil. (GM plot runes not player useful runes.) We put them back on their cart with hopes of selling them. (TerStegan has needs and every nickel counts. It occurs to me we didn’t search and gather their loot.) We did note that the priest and the “victim” were communicating in sign language, just like those two accountants that were causing trouble in town. We were pretty sure it was them but we had no hard evidence. We rolled into town, the evening before the day before the election. We delivered our goods and returned the wagon. We reported to Longsaddle. There was no reward for the previous bandits, by the way. We told him about the sabotage. We figured we could rest up at the clubhouse and take on the crypt in the morning but TerStegan and Brisco wanted to continue investigating the accountants. So, we spent the rest of the night on that.
It was pointed out that that much oil was not trivial to get. We talked to Tamily and she agreed to buy it once Brian figures out what it is worth. She suggested it must have come via the port so we talked to the harbormaster. He gave us a surprisingly big list of townsfolk who had recently purchased a lot of oil. A dead end or at least a multiple end. (We need to get into the oil business.) They then went to talk to Wren about the runes again. She didn’t share anything new there but it turns out she sold the oil. Evidently some very nice goblins came into town and wanted to buy a lot of oil. She had to special order it for them. She didn’t know where they went and knew of no connection between them and the accountants. She did say they looked over her books and found ways she could increase her profits. Brisco decided to stake out the accountant’s room for a couple hours. At some point, a young lad showed up with a package and then left. Brisco turned into a pest and snuck in to get a peek. He even used a hero point on his blind stealth roll. They unwrapped their DoorDash dinner, put out an extra setting and invited him to join them. (Remember that perception-based initiative roll of 38?) Brisco ran off. And they finally concluded this was, in fact, a dead end.
Next time, we are going to the Menhemes crypt to retrieve the cloak. It occurred to Oakwood that if the election goes against his father and the holy symbol transfers to Carmine, it becomes much harder to get. So, we want to do this before the election. Brian said it shouldn’t be a problem for Oakwood to get it. No game on July 4th so we’ll try again on the 11th. By the way, Brian says that the next level of the dungeon is the 5th so we shouldn’t expect to level up again until after that level is done.
Brian tried to kickstart the game in advance via email. The bridge was assumed repaired. The wagon assumed to be unstuck and loaded with the stuff we managed to save from the collapsed keep. The goods were assumed detected and identified. We were assumed healed. There were discussions via email about who would want what and what we would sell. However, we still spent a bunch of time hashing through it all. Periwinkle was given a share of the cash and since Brisco was taking her father’s Druid Crown, he decided to pay that out of his share. (The pixie was a sorceress/champion and the crown was of no use to her or her dead father.) The Staff of Fire was given to our Sorcerer. The two +1 Ogre hooks were saved with their magic to be used for backup weapons for Oakwood and TerStegan. Although at 4 bulk each, they were a bit of a pain to carry around. There was much discussion about the Sapling Shield but ultimately the action economy of a tower shield was just too high so it went on the sell list. However, we were still 2 days out of Absolom so all the selling and buying plans were a bit premature. Finally, after several false starts, we got moving.
We had no issues the first day and camped near a sheep farm just off the road. During the middle watch, TerStegan turned into WereStegan. Evidently, he had been infected with Lycanthropy during the fight with the evil Druid, 3 months ago. There was much consternation from the players about actions taken or assumed to be taken or evidence or whatever but given the glee in Brian’s voice while springing this on us, he wasn’t going to be talked out of it. His trump card was that there wasn’t anyone high enough level in Otari that could cure it anyway. Unfortunately, TerStegan is a big threat and a were-afide one even more so. Plus, the fact that none of the casters had gotten their spells back since this was technically the same day. Oakwood was on watch with him. He took a shot, figuring we were in big trouble, and woke Clarisa. WereStegan took a piece out of him with his Retribution Axe. Thankfully, he got distracted by the easier prey horses and attacked one of them. They managed to run off as everyone else started waking up. Periwinkle was assigned to chase them down since she and her riding raptor were the only ones that could catch them.
It looked like this would take the rest of the night but Brian sort of storyboarded it. For one, Paul was left out. WereStegan pushed past Oakwood and went after one of the sheep. We gave chase but then he ran off into the night. The horses were retrieved and the sheep ranchers showed up. They would alert the watch. Around breakfast, TerStegan came walking in with vague images of the event. Some Recall Knowledge rolls were made. It would take a 4th level spell to cure him. But we were still a day (and night) out of Absolom. Whether the moon would still be full enough to cause a repeat was unknown. A recent Lycanthrope is a bit random, evidently. We traveled, camped and tied him up that night. Whether that would have worked was debatable but thankfully he did not change. We rolled into town. Our first priority was getting him cured. The fairy said her temple could do it. However, people were too eager to sell and buy so we had to do that first.
We sold the stuff and passed out the money. ~250? It was quite a haul. Brian would allow common magic items to be bought without issue but anything uncommon would require a roll with the DC dictated by the level. Oakwood bought an Aeon Stone, thanks to Xeelie’s roll. TerStegan bought a cold iron rare longer range throwing axe with a roll. He spent an extra 50% to get it the next day since we had to get back to Otari ASAP. He and Xeelie bought some formulas so that she could magic it up when we had the time. He also bought a magic helmet BTO found in the books for him. Xeelie bought all kinds of stuff. She spent so much, I don’t think she got that magic armor she needed. Brisco and Clarisa were uninterested in the whole process. Of course, they just got new items for “free” from the treasure. They both bought portable holes at the end. We also got TerStegan cured. It cost 40 gold which everyone kicked in on. We did not pick up whatever we were supposed to get for the use of the wagon yet. We figured we’d do that last since we didn’t know how getting that book was going to go. To the library.
Getting into the library was no problem. The letter got us to the person in charge and then got us into the restricted section. The book was full of scribblings that got more chaotic as the author got older and crazier. The cover was made out of stone and the whole thing could be used as a shield. The only suggestion on the table was Oakwood’s of creating a copy and swapping them the next day. However, the amount of security measures we saw were giving us pause. This is the biggest library in the biggest city on the continent. This wasn’t going to go well. Xeelie and TerStegan suggested we try to convince them of our need. Not a surprise since they were loaded with Charisma skills. That would be a skill challenge and everyone had to participate. We decided to give it a go since we were at the end of the night. We had extra hero points (metagaming), BTO wouldn’t be here the next two game (sort of metagaming) and if it failed, we’d have another week to come up with a new plan. Thankfully, Brian was “generous” with the skills to use and everyone was able to justify using one of their best. The DC was still a stiff 26 and we needed 5 successes with no failures.
TerStegan started with Performance, laying down the foundation of the heroic Roseguard and evil Belcora rising again. That fact that Otari’s ghost told us that we needed that book particularly resonated with the library directory. He had a +15 and succeeded. Next was Brisco using Survival. He told a tale of the impact a relit Gauntlight would have on the land. And that it would impact Absolom soon enough. And the fact that Belcora seemed to have it in for them. I’m not sure Survival was the right skill for that but he made his roll. Oakwood had the worst skill at +10 Medicine. He concentrated on the undead rising from the graveyard, terrorizing the innocent folk. And the more undead found in the Gauntlight in technically gruesome detail. Again, probably not the right skill. He barely missed the first roll, used a hero point and rolled a 17 (+10). Clarisa went next, using Intimidation. Basically, a repeat of the dire consequences described by the previous two. She missed her roll, used a hero point and made it. Bringing it home was Xeelie and her high Diplomacy. She succeeded as well. Our case was made and we were allowed to borrow the book. (The fact that it was on loan from Otari in the first place should have helped us.) Once the invisible security measures were disabled, it was tucked into Clarisa’s bag of holding and we walked out winners.
We stopped there. We need to pick up TerStegan’s axe and whatever cargo we were supposed to get. The goal is to speed back to Otari, arriving the morning of the election. No one is particularly interested in that (are we even old enough to vote?) Or probably more accurately, no one thinks we can have an impact. However, it seems to be an anchor point event based on how often Brian has mentioned the date. So, something will probably happen. We still need that cloak from the crypt and to research that barrier spell.
Pathfinder Game 38 - 06/13/2025 - The Hag and her Prisoner
Written by David Green
We started the game like most games, trying to figure out what to do. Brian had provided “hints” in the form of a secret message from the captured fairy to TerStegan. But even hints are subject to interpretations. We got it mostly right. With regard to the ritual, some arcana rolls lead us to believe that this was a Control Weather ritual enhanced by a blood sacrifice. The Hag’s goal was to freeze the land. But it should take a day to cast so we should have some hours. There was also a warning that if it was disrupted, it might destroy the keep in a backlash. So, we decided to “loot” the area before risking any confrontations. That turned out to be much harder than we thought. The Ogre’s loot sacks were immense and full of useless stuff. A tree stump, a keg of booze, drums, etc. They were too heavy to carry but we didn’t want to spend the time detecting and identifying. So, we took our best guess and Oakwood started moving stuff out of the keep over to the road, hoping it would be safe there. Since his was the lowest perception, he’d let the rest search and identify which they did.
There were two valuable potions. One was a fast healing that TerStegan took and one was an electric damage field that Xeelie took. We also took their arms and armor, especially the short bows. We also found a chest full of coins and shiny rocks in the goblin’s room. Unfortunately, it weighed 50 bulk so we couldn’t move it without some major work. Xeelie had her familiar toss rocks out while we continued to explore and fight. All this took enough time for another round of Fresh Produce to top off everyone’s hit points. The next room was the filthy Ogre room but there was nothing in there of value. Prepared, we went to the west door. We expected/hoped to be able to access the cells where Periwinkle’s friend Bell was imprisoned. The hint implied to us that we could get past the ritual room to the cells (wrong) but we were hoping we didn’t have to try. The next two rooms were the Hag’s and in much better shape. The first had a large body and a hatchet. Brisco chopped off its head to be sure. There was also a cauldron of acid, likely for acid bombs. But no bombs. We searched for secret doors to the north and found none.
The next room was her bed chamber. Xeelie pocketed some stuff from her dresser. TerStegan and Oakwood examined the full plate standing in the corners. They ended up taking them to our staging area as they were worth some coin. Brisco searched for secret doors and found none. Xeeile then examined the chest. It turned out to be a Mimic as did the table that held another cauldron of acid. That fight wasn’t too hard but a bit annoying. Firstly, the obvious strategy was to knock the acid off the Mimic, preferably on it, before it could throw it. However, TerStegan could not do it within the constraints of the rule system. Since his weapon did not have a Disarm trait, he needed a free hand to attempt it. And he didn’t want to let go of his 2-handed axe. He could attempt to cleave the pot itself but being made out of steel, it would have a high hardness and hit points. Ultimately, he chose to just hack at the Mimic although he did have the foresight to take a step north so that no one else got hit with the acid he knew was coming. The other thing was that any weapon that hit one, got stuck with a tough Athletics check to get it free. Xeelie was trained but not strong and soon enough, both her weapons were stuck. As was she. So, the meleers were impeded and losing actions. But the casters peppered them with cantrips and it was over soon enough. The chest Mimic was actually full of coins and we spent some time gathering them.
Next was the ritual room. There was talk of using various potions but we weren’t sure what awaited us so no one decided to do so. We opened the door. There were two columns of bones near the door and since they were labeled “unharmed” we looked at them with suspicion. On the other side was the Hag, casting her ritual. Next to her was the floating undead Head of a dead Hag and a fairy in a cage. That formed the coven of three needed. We could see the entrance into a room to the west where we assumed Bell was being held. Any hopes of being ignored while we rescued that potential ally were quickly dashed. Let’s start with the bones. Each round they manifested a skeleton of some fallen foe however they were very weak. TerStegan took out the first one with one blow. And each subsequent round, they got recreated a bit tougher than the last. However, between Oakwood’s damage field and AOE cantrips like Arc of Lightning, the skeletons and the columns were taken out without much issue. They were more of a distraction.
Xeelie bravely ran through the room to get to the imprisoned Bell which turned out to be a riding raptor familiar to the fairy Periwinkle. So much for freeing a powerful ally. Unfortunately, the Head followed her in there. Between using actions to open the cage and being pummeled by the Head, Xeelie was quickly on the ropes. As a final irony, right before she could finally pick the lock, the raptor freed itself. Oakwood ran over to engage the Head and Xeelie managed to run out of the room before she was knocked out. But the main event was the Hag. At first, she spent one action a round to maintain her ritual. On her first round, she hit Brisco with a Baleful Polymorph (6th level?). He missed a stiff fort save and was turned into a bunny. However, the next round, he spent all 3 actions to get a will save to shake it off. And did. TerStegan went after the Hag. She was another supervillain, double our level. They went at it and TerStegan even managed to free the fairy on a sweeping crit. She flew into the room with Oakwood and the Head and reunited with her dinosaur. Somewhere in here, Xeelie and her handful of hit points came back in and did her Recall Knowledge on the Hag. And rolled well. We learned, among other things, that she was vulnerable to fire which was helpful to know. Oakwood left the Head and got near the Hag to put her in his fire damage field.
At this point, she started to panic. She abandoned her ritual to cast a 3 action Cone of Cold. (The room started to fill with ice as the aborted ritual started to backfire.) She managed to hit everyone but Oakwood who was standing too close. It was 49 points. TerStegan used a hero point to avoid a crit failure and was barely up. Brisco tried the same but still took the double damage. He thought that was instant death, going down to -75 or something but it had to be double his full hit points in one blow so he simply went out. Xeelie had no chance either way and went out as well. Clarisa saved and was merely badly injured. The fairy ran in and did a modest healing AOE on those she could get without healing the hag. TerStegan engaged the Hag again but missed. Oakwood got him flanking and hit once but the Hag was still going. The other two gathered their weapons and stood up. Clarisa fired some Magic Missiles from the hallway. (She never had to come into the room.) The Hag then tried to cast another spell but TerStegan got an opportunity attack and crit (thanks to the flanking) which interrupted it. And when he went right after her, he crit again and took her out. The Head was finished off in the next round.
The chronicler went to bed at this point. I do not know how much further they went but regardless if it happened on this night or first thing next time, we’ll gather the loot from her, if any, and run for the door before the whole place turns to ice. Hopefully we can grab some coins and Xeelie’s familiar along the way. Then it’ll be repairing the bridge, filling the wagon with loot and continuing on our way to Absolum. We’ve got a lot to sell. We should do that first before becoming wanted criminals for stealing the magic book we need to save the world. A hero’s work is never done.
Pathfinder Game 37 - 06/06/2025 - Ogres At the Gate
Written by David Green
Dan:
Combat started and we re-rolled initiative. Brisc went first and stabbed a dagger into the bone door/gate so it couldn't close. "Him" moved forward just behind the gate. The hobgoblin archer shot at Clarissa and "She" moved next to the "Him" and threw a hatchet at TerStegan. Xeeli jammed the other door so we were no longer in danger of being locked out. Clarissa cast Grease on "Him" and "She", however they both made their saves. Then TerStegan killed the Cockatrice with a crit.
Dave:
Our heroes continued their assault on the Hag’s Keep. TerStegan had moved just inside and was facing the two Ogres. The archers behind the arrow slits were further isolated by the open doors which made them tough to get at. Clarisa had laid a line of Grease under the Ogres. One slipped and lost a couple actions but they just stepped back and continued to use their reach. But the heroes had to navigate around it for the rest of the fight. Mostly it was whittled down the chickens and goblins and try to keep the front-line guys up from the Ogre onslaught. But we weren’t doing much against them. The archers were no joke but the Ogres were the real threat. They had the usual high defenses and attacks. So high, that when they hit, they almost always crit. And an Ogre crit was 40+. Plus, they got extra effects on their attacks like shove and trip. Lastly, they had reach and opportunity attacks so with their size, they covered a lot of territory. They were “on par” with the single foes we’ve been fighting but there were two of them plus supporting minions. A tough fight, to be sure especially after expending resources on the bridge battle last time with no rest between.
After a couple of rounds, things were not looking good for our heroes. The Ogres were mostly untouched and we were reeling. The casters were mostly out of spells and Brisco had used his Battlefield Medicine on everyone. Paul was rolling poorly and that wasn’t helping. Oakwood showed up, did a bit of healing, turned on his damage field and moved up to get as many foes in it as possible. At least he had a fresh pool of hit points. Xeelie got crit and was forced to back out. However, around here, Clarisa used a charge of her Necklace of Fireballs and did a bunch of damage. The Him Ogre was finally at least injured. We concentrated fire on Him and he finally fell with a hero point driven crit from TerStegan. The goblins and chickens had been taken out along the way so there was only Her and one Hobgoblin left. However, she was barely injured. She racked up Oakwood. She hit and moved him into the Grease. When he stood up from being prone, she crit him with an opportunity attack and he was almost out. Xeelie was out and Briscoe poured a healing potion down her. But BTO was having tech issues and had to drop right afterwards. But luckily, she started missing after that crit on Oakwood. She missed 6 straight swings while everyone concentrated her. She finally dropped and we survived.
At this point, it was after midnight so we talked about stopping there. But we debated a bit. Wade offered to pull us out of combat and start with the looting and healing but Paul wanted to get his last two rounds of his Bless spell. He was for charging forward. In addition, we could hear the Hag doing some sort of ritual so realistically, we couldn’t afford a 10-minute rest anyway. We ended up taking one round to do some quick healing. Briscoe did a battle-med on Oakwood and Oakwood passed out some Fresh Produce. TerStegan ate his but Oakwood and Briscoe will have to use an action next round. Clarisa gave Oakwood some temp hit points. Xeelie was left out since she wasn’t on the map but at least she had that potion in her. She’ll probably need some battle-med from Oakwood first thing next time. Hit point wise, we’re in pretty good shape. I think this is a “solve the bandit problem” side quest so the rewards should be good. But can we defeat a Hag (and minions) with no spells and very little healing left? We’ll find out next time.
Brian/GM:
I have put Xeeli’s HP at -14 from max, a value comparative to the rest of the group to reduce immediate distractions. If there is some creative way to give Xeeli more HP in the couple rounds the group has been preparing, I am open, however I think most characters were busy healing the PCs that were still around.
The last plan was to do “something” immediately about the ritual taking place in the chamber to the north. Unsure if the context / story above makes this more or less likely to happen that way...
Pathfinder Game 36 - 05/30/2025 - Goblin Cockfight
Written by Daniel Ruth
Brian got a bunch of book binding supplies. Oakwood/Dave was out for the night but the rest of the party bravely fought on!
After arguing how to get to Absalom by various spells or cantrips we finally decided that it was only economic feasible to go to Absalom by horse and carriage. This was the only way to get back in time for the election. We arranged taking a package for delivery in order to get the carriage for free and earning a gold for the delivery.
Dave rolled survival and kept us in style on the way to the city and back. We took shifts on watch on top of the carriage. A few hours out at bridge, it collapsed with the carriage halfway over, making it thouroughly stuck. It was an ambush! A group of hobgoblins tried to get us to hand over our valuables. Naturally we attacked. Briscoe threatened them with the power of plants and vermin. They claimed they had already killed a druid so this triggered Briscoe to attack. For once he actually went first and cast a Stinking Cloud. They were up on a ridge so the melee actually had to get up to them before we could attack them. They did some very impressive damage but after a fireball and cantrips we started to whittle down.
Once we defeated them we followed the couple of hobgoblin survivors back to an elaborate encampment. Basically a gigantic beast skull imbedded into the mountain and the encampment inside its mouth. Before the encampment was a grave, we read several tombstones. They were very endearing. I think. Past this were series of bridges that led to a village surrounded by a log barricade. Outside was a small island full of statues. It was very ominous. Inside were two flocks of chickens. After Xeeli stole the key and opened the gate, TerSteegan ran through the swarm of chickens. There was a goblin War Chanter, Comando and Warrior but at first it was just the chickens. Chickens everywhere. The carnage. Briscoe used a spell to calm one of the chicken flocks but the other saved.
We had mostly taken care of the goblins when the inner door opened and we faced about a dozen goblins. Surprise! What was even more surprising was when Xeeli found out that inside each flock was a cockatrice. Briscoe killed the Cockatrice and many of the goblins were burned in a fireball from Clarissa. We ended the night with one cocktrice up and several unknown goblins coming out of the building.
More...
Pathfinder Game 35 - 05/23/2025 - Wild Voidgluttons In Bed
Written by David Green
Back to the dining room. We found a wine storage room. There were 3 expensive bottles which we took. One other bottle had another note from Zacchaeus Quagmire III. Some hints about this level which we already knew and the next level which we won’t get to for a while. Somehow there were 7 potions in there as well to be extracted and IDed later. Next was another teleportation room and then a bath room. Lastly was a garbage room with a chute down and a ghost. Xeelie was shoved by flying rocks into the chute but she successfully Grabbed an Edge and didn’t fall down it. Brisco attacked it. It then turned invisible, moved and then did an AOE fear attack that got everyone. Oakwood crit failed so Frightened 2 and fleeing. Xeelie failed for Frightened 2 but not fleeing. TerStegan, Frightened 1 but not fleeing. Brisco saved and was immune. And then it threw rocks at Xeelie and hit because she was Frightened 2. She successfully climbed out, failed to Recall Knowledge and fled the room. TerStegan charged in, was missed by its damage field and crit it for 30. Oakwood fled but had to open the door to the stairs so ended still in the dining room. Brisco cast Guidance on Oakwood and TerStegan and then hit it for 6.
It went invisible, moved and did an AOE TK Storm, flinging debris at everyone. It hit Xeele and Brisco for 2d12. Xeelie used the Seek action to try to find it. (A secret perception roll in a 30 area.) She failed, moved back into the garbage room and closed the door. TerStegan missed a Seek, stepped, and attacked the square he hoped it was in. He missed the flat check and was done. Oakwood fled again. Dan showed up and rolled a middle initiative. Brisco chose not to use an action to open the door and did a Seek in the dining room. Brian let him Seek the bottom half of the room but he failed to find anything. He then moved and did Seek in the top half of the room. And didn’t find anything but was fairly confident there was nothing in there. It became visible in the original room and did the Frighten thing again on Xeelie and TerStegan. TerStegan saved and was immune for 10 minutes but Xeelie was Frightened 2 again but not fleeing. And then it hit Xeelie twice. Xeelie cast Life Boost on herself, identified it as a Poltergeist and then hit it for 6. (It had resistances but no weaknesses.) Clarisa moved, opened the door and raised her shield since she didn’t have two actions left to cast a spell. TerStegan used a hero point to finish it off with a crit for 38. Oakwood healed the party with lots of Fresh Produce impulses while Brisco missed two Treat Wounds on Xeelie.
We then spent a bunch of time messing with the hatch which led to a drain that emptied at the dead Ottyugh we found before. We found nothing but missed and made a lot of rolls. Some prestidigitation clean up and we were off again. We checked out the lounge and the torture room but we had already searched the area. There were no doors found. The blue aura was gone but when Brisco climbed onto the table, he still took a bunch of damage. Xeelie examined the table again to see if she could disable it. But this room is part of the central core of the Gauntlight and therefore indestructible. We went around to the lake room. And to the cave in the northwest corner. That led to natural caverns that went on a long way. Since the Werewolf was fleeing that way, we assume it gets to the surface eventually. But we went back to the door at the landing. That led to corridors and doors. We went up, figuring it would lead back to the previous level. First, we went past the door we saw in the Despair room. In the corridor, Brisco found an invisible door. I.e. concealed with an illusion.
That led to a sitting room. We saw Belcora and Voluk having a meeting in a nice clean room. But they quickly disappeared and the room aged. A vision of the past. Another door led to a lounge with two divans. On one, was Belcora reading a tome. A perception check from TerStegan saw that it was The Whispering Reeds. That was the book the big scary guy we avoided in the library took off a shelf. And then she disappeared. Next was a dining room. And then a bedroom with a portal archway. Plus, a horrible monster. A Voidglutton. Brisco went first and missed with a focus spell since its Reflex was +18. Clarisa did a Vitality Lash and it crit failed its save. But it took no damage from it. Oakwood turned on his Thermal Nimbus and missed its 30 AC with a fire EB. It went next, critting Xeelie with a web attack and then rolled a 1 on another attack. When it stepped forward, it entered the fire aura. But took no damage. Immune to fire or magic or resistance? TerStegan cast Bless and then missed with a 28. Xeelie crit on her Recall Knowledge. It is immune to all spells except a short list of light-based ones. Pretty much Force Barrage and Battle Axe for us.
Xeelie made a DC 26 acrobatics to get unstuck and threw her star knife. And missed. Brisco cast Splash on TerStegan to try to keep him up. He then missed with his Trident. Clarisa cast a full load of Force Barrage on it. 35 points and it was injured. Oakwood cast his Timber Sentinel and backed up. It cast Darkness in the middle of us but Xeelie’s lantern (level 3) overpowered some of it. That was a free action. It attacked TerStagen and crit, of course. 48 points of damage but the tree took 30 of it. But that came with a free Fear attack. That was a crit fail but only a Frighten 1 on a brave fighter. Its next action, it hit again for 23. It then did a concentration power but Xeelie interrupted it with a natural 20. And did 25 points plus bleeding damage. TerStegan turned on his stance, failed in a Feint and missed. Xeelie cast Life Boost on TerStegan and then moved around to flank it. And hit for 17. Unfortunately, she moved her light, leaving Clarisa and Oakwood in the dark. Brisco did Battle Medicine on TerStegan and gave him 25. He then missed, used a hero point and missed again. Clarisa stepped forward to get into the light and then used a 1st level Barrage. It did 10 and took it out.
There was one last door that led to a chamber in the center. There were 3 creatures webbed to the wall. TerStegan went in and cut them down. As they fell, they swiftly decayed. There was an unusual composite longbow, prayer beads and an elixir. It was once a trophy room(?), long since emptied and abandoned. Probably as they dug down. Xeelie identified the potions. 4 bottled sunlight, 1 mist form elixir and a stone body mutagen. The longbow was +1 striking composite longbow. If we had an archer, he’d be very happy. Although he’d probably would have already built one. We’ll sell it for parts. The Prayer Beads required a divine caster but Clarisa’s Oracle archetype was good enough. +1 hit point for her when she casts a divine spell. And the ability to cast Heal and Bless, once a day. Mist form is 20% miss chance for 3 rounds. TerStegan took that. The stone one gets you 5 points of damage resistance but you lose 10 feet of movement and take -2 on Reflex saves. Sell it. We spread out the sunlight as they are undead bombs. This level was pretty much done. We will start at our house next time. Either going to Absolom, breaking into the crypt to get the cloak or tackling various side tasks.
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.
