Part 4
Calderion’s Journeys Part 4:
The Tower in the Slithering Deeps
(A Solo Pathfinder game project)
Scene 25
In my last entry Calderion and his
companions had defeated the necromancer and his zombie horde. They were now
going to spend a brief time recovering as best they can and do a quick
examination of the hall before moving upstairs to search for the imprisoned Lyrakien they were sent to rescue. I went back to the GM Emulator and ended the
previous scene, then advanced it to the next. I got a “Scene Altered” alert for a positive scene change. When I hit the
“Detail” button it came up with “A
Mystery involving Immensity”. So how to interpret this? It’s a positive
scene change, thus something beneficial. I think more details are needed. I’ll
put some more questions to the Emulator. Q: “Does this involve an object?“ A: “Yes”. Q: “Will it involve
any of the NPCs?” A: “No. Exceptionally.” Hmm. So it is useable only by wizards? Or
only wanted by Calderion? A wand perhaps? Q: “Is it a wand? “ A: “No.”
Okay so not a wand.
And up pops a “Negative Event” alert specifically targeting Calderion, with the
details describing it as “Negligence of
the Outside”. This is going to
require some thought.
…
Okay I’m back. Did some laundry, read some
of the old posts, and pondered this for a bit. This is what I came up with. In
Part 1 of this project (it was never posted online- I started with Part 2) one
of the 1st things Cal did when he arrived in Bottle Bay was to go
shopping for a Bag
of Holding. He did indeed find one- but at that
time it was WAY outside his price range and he was forced to look for work to
get the money he needed. That was one of the catalysts for his joining this
adventure. So the “Mystery involving
Immensity” object could be a bag of holding, since it’s larger on the
inside than its size indicates -thus the “Immensity”. Okay so far, but why would the others in the
group not want it? This is where I bring in the “Negligence of the Outside” penalty. If I interpret that to mean the
bag is TORN, it becomes useless.
Or ALMOST useless. Calderion has
the
Craft Wondrous Item creation feat, meaning it
might be possible for him to repair it. This gives him the item he was after at
a fraction of the cost (assuming he manages to make his spellcraft check). A definite benefit, but one that only Cal can take
advantage of, and even then it offers no immediate help. Cal still has to get
back to town to do the repairs. To anyone else on the team, the thing is
nothing more than a rag, which explains their lack of interest.
I believe that ties up
everything from the Emulator so far. It’s time to rejoin our heroes & put
all that into play.
Blackness reclaims
the Great Hall after Fannen’s lightning blast finishes the necromancer’s
demise. For a brief minute the only light is the red glow from the burnt &
destroyed zombies piled before them. Then Calderion’s voice is heard speaking a
simple word of arcane power. A spark of his magic ignites into a glowing light
atop his staff. It reveals the gruesome results of their last battle, with a
score or more of dead bodies spread out on the stone floor. A sudden sound of
metal scraping across the floor has the group turning nervously in its
direction, but it is only Ralvor retrieving his dropped sword. He grins
sheepishly. “Sorry about that.” he says as he slips the blade into its
scabbard. He quickly walks over to
Myrlia and pulls her into a tight embrace. “You scared me, sweetheart!” His
voice is muffled by her hair as she clenches him back. “When I saw those
zombies clawing and ripping into you I thought they had taken you from me for
sure.”
“I’m fine, Ral.”
She replies as she pulls back to look into his eyes. “Arshea’s power has restored
me. A few nights of rest will have me completely healed.”
“Perhaps even
sooner. Don’t forget we have those healing mixtures we gained from the ogre.
One of those ought to get you back to normal.” Cal reminds her as he steps away
from the couple so as to not intrude. Cal is
referring to the Cure Light
Wounds potions they found.
“Oh! Of course! I nearly forgot
those!” Myrlia exclaims as she quickly produces one of the small single-dose
vials they had divided up earlier amongst themselves. A deft twist of the
stopper and a single swallow later had instant results. Myrlia’s scratches and
cuts vanished, leaving her as uninjured as before she had ever entered the
Slithering Deeps. The potion cures 1D8+5 points of
damage. The minimum it will do is 6. Myrlia was only down 4. I didn’t bother to
roll since she’ll be back to full health no matter what the total is.
Calderion stoops to
examine the destroyed creatures piled on the floor. A swiftly spoken spell
calls his mage sight up, and he scans the remains again, noting the now-visible
purple aura of necromantic magic bleeding away from them. He rises and brushes
off the grime from his knees and turns to rejoin the others. Suddenly a spark
from a different type of magic- this one showing as a silver-grey color-
catches his attention. Calderion’s eyes narrow with interest. He knows that
aura. It’s the same color as his own speciality: Conjuration magic! He tries to use his staff to roll one of the
burnt zombies over to get a better look. “Find something? “ Ralvor asks from
behind him. Cal starts bit. He hadn’t heard the rogue come up. His “mage sight” is his Detect
Magic spell.
“I think so. Under
all the necromancy there is a bit of conjuration power here. I was trying to
get under here for a better look.” He continues to prod at the corpse, and then
notices a swath of cloth tied to it. “Aha! I think I found it! It looks like an
empty sack…”
“Careful, wizard!
It could be a trap!” Ralvor says as Calderion bends down to pull it free of the
body. “I’m sure you’re just being paranoid.” Cal says with all the confidence
of his youth. He grabs the bag and strains to get it loose. Just as he’s about
to give up and ask for help it comes out with a sudden lurch and the sound of
cloth tearing. “Gods blast it! I think I ruined it!”
I checked with
the GM Emulator to see if Cal could identify the item. According to the
Pathfinder rules he must beat a target number of 15+the caster level of the
item. In this case the CL is 9 so the Difficulty
Class (or DC) would be 24. With his bonus added
Cal rolled a 34, so succeeds easily. BUT since I had the Emulator open anyway,
I decided to expand this scene a bit to make it more interesting. I asked “Is the zombie corpse that had the Bag of
Holding bobby trapped?” and got a “Yes.”
answer. When I hit the details button it responded with “Something that Informs You about Hilarity, Calderion (wiz 3)”. So
the trap, whatever it is, will target Cal, and will most likely be
non-injurious but something silly. I also got a pop-up alert telling me a
random event occurs. The details say it’s “Ambiguous
Significance: the Recruitment of Tension“. So something happens that ratchets up the
tension. I think I’ll jack up the Emulator’s Chaos Level a point to simulate
this. Chaos Level will now be set at 9. I’ll deal with the random event in a
moment. First though is the trap, so back we go to the game and Calderion. I
have an idea for this…
Cal holds up what appears to be a
cloth sack covered in dried dirt, and now sporting a large tear. He pokes his
hand through the hole, wiggles his fingers and gets a frustrated angry
expression. “I really wanted one of these. I tried buying one back in Bottle
Bay, but the deal fell through. Now to come so close….ARGH!”
“What did it used
to be?” Ralvor asks mockingly, amused at the wizard’s expense. “A magic dish
rag?”
“That’s pretty much
all its good for now.” Cal replies glumly. “But it was one of those
bigger-inside-than-outside magic bags you often hear about in the stories. It
would have made traveling SO much more comfortable. Think of all the stuff I
could have packed in it! Or even better: if I could have studied it maybe I
might’ve even been able to learn how it was made!”
“Yeah…too bad.” Ral
turns to walk away. “We could have sold it for a lot of gold. Be more careful
next time.” he tosses back at Cal over his shoulder.
“Maybe if I get
time to study this ruined one I can do something…” Calderion mumbles as he
stuffs the rag into his carry-all. Then in a last gesture of anger he kicks the
dead lizardfolk it had been under.
That was a mistake. The body had rotted and formed a volatile gas in the
body. The trap design details are: Trap: Exploding corpse. Challenge
Rating (CR): 4. Type: Mechanical. Perception DC:20 Disable Device DC: 20. Trigger: Touch (any hard blow or sharp poke). Reset:
None. Effect: Poison Gas (inhaled; save Fort DC 15; frequency
1/round for 4 rounds; initial effect nauseated for 1 round; secondary effect Sickened for 1d4 rounds; cure 1 save); never miss. Cal
failed his 1st saving throw with a roll of 6, but made the 2nd
one with a roll of 19, which beats the Fort save of 15. The bloated corpse exploded in a geyser of
rotted entrails and gore, spraying the disgusting mess in a wide 5 ft. arc. Cal
was instantly covered in the noxious stuff, and left gagging from the stench.
“Oh YECH!” Ral
swears as he scrambles back from the smell. He looks back at Calderion dripping
with rotted and putrid offal. “I told you it might be trapped!” Cal tries to
answer but instead gets more of the slime in his mouth and ends up dry heaving
on his knees.
Several minutes
later the wizard recovers enough to be able to wipe his mouth with his sleeve.
In an unsteady voice he utters a simple spell from his arsenal. A quick flash
of magic renders his head and shoulders completely clean of the putrescence. A
few more uses of the cantrip and he is free of the stuff. He quickly escapes from the pile of dead
things, careful to avoid touching any others, and rejoins the rest of his
companions, with a greenish tinge to his cast. Cal
uses his Prestidigitation 0-level spell to clean himself off.
“That was
DISGUSTING!” Myrlia comments, while looking a little pale herself. “Are you all
right?”
“I don’t think I’ll
be interested in food for a bit,” Cal answers shakily, “but yes, I believe so.”
“Well if Mister Lizardguts
is all finished having his fun, maybe we should check out some of these doors
to see if any of them have our missing messenger.” Ralvor interrupts.
Now for the random event. I thought, since it’s described
as being ambiguous, I would make it something the group hears that puts them on
edge or makes them feel pressured. I was going to have them hear the Lyrakien crying
for help. But if Argren had an evil servant or something, maybe that was what the
group hears instead. Perhaps to lure them into the trap on the stairs? Back to the GM Emulator: Q: “Does the Necromancer have any more henchmen or allies? A: “Yes.” Q:
“Is this ally a native to the Slithering Deeps?” A: “Yes.”
If it’s a native I can roll for a random monster encounter
from the swamp terrain. For that I’ll visit donjon’s Pathfinder Random Encounter
Generator. It’s a website with some really useful applications available for
generating role-playing aids. It can provide encounters, dungeons, treasures,
traps, and more. Another site I use that provides similar aids is The Thieves’ Guild, although that one is a bit
more generic.
Anyway, back to the matter at hand. I roll
for an encounter in a swamp and I get…werewolves? EIGHT werewolves?! Umm…this rather extreme.
How did I get that result…oh. The character level was set to 5 on the random
generator. I should have set it to 3.
Hm.
They don’t look so tough. Maybe I should go for it…they’re worth a lot of
experience points if I can do it.
I think I’ll take the chance.
“Of course. I’m
sorry I delayed us. By all means let us move on.” Cal answers in a superior
tone, ignoring Ralvor’s eye roll and Myrlia’s covered grin. The grin fades
abruptly when an eerie howl suddenly echoes from above them.
“I’m thinking we
are not yet finished here.” Cal quietly remarks. He motions towards the corner
stairway going up, and pulls out his equipment to prepare for yet another
fight. “Shall we?”
A rough voice
calls down to them from above. “You killed the boss before he could pay us! We
got no reason to not to kill your little fairy freak now, you maggots! But if
you put up a good fight, maybe after you’re dead we’ll kill it fast instead of
plucking the wings off first!”
“Touch the Holy
Messenger and I’ll send you to Pharasma personally
so you can collect your reward from your master in Hell!” Kushear yells back.
“Ha! Come up and
stop us if you can!” another voice answers. “I think you spent all your power
on Argren and his dead lizards! You got nothing left!”
“I am a Paladin
of Iomedae! My power is
Hers! You’ll learn that fast enough!” He strides up to the door and tried to
pull it open, only to find it locked. “Cowards!” he yells to the voices above
them.
“Yeah, yeah.
Whatever.” a 3rd voice replies. “Let us know when that goddess of
yours unlocks the door for you.” he says tauntingly, accompanied with a group
of laughter. Kushear’s face darkens at this near-blasphemy, and he opens his
mouth to berate his tormenters when Ralvor steps up to him.
Putting his hand
on the paladin’s shoulder, Ral says “Calm down. I got this.” He kneels before
the door’s key hole and slips several small metal tools from his jacket
sleeves, while carefully studying the door and its lock. Ralvor’s Disable Device roll & Perception check
both have a +8
bonus. I need to beat 25 to open the lock, and next 15 to first find, then
disable the
trap. With the bonus,
I get a 26, 16 & 19. Ralvor succeeded in all 3 rolls. After a
moment, he slips them into the keyhole, and with a few deft twists is rewarded
with a definite “CLICK!” as the lock releases. Ralvor swings the door open to
reveal the rusted iron stairway cork-screwing up to the floor above.
“Excellent!” Kushear says and steps towards the open door, only to be
blocked by Ralvor’s arm across the doorway.
“Don’t be so hasty.” Ral says. He then takes one of his arrows out of
his quiver and pokes at the stone at the foot of the stair. The stone sinks down a few inches, revealing
a bed of spikes waiting to stab at the unwary.
Kushear looks at what could have been his painful 1st step
and swallows. Ralvor meanwhile examines the rest of the foyer, and with a
satisfied grunt presses upon what appears to be just another stone in the wall.
The trapped stepping stone raises back into position, the spikes once more
hidden from sight. The rogue kneels down and does something to the trap, his
back blocking the others from seeing his actions. He then stands and motions
the paladin forward. “It’s disabled. You can head up.”
Kushear draws his sword, shifts his shield and moves into the stairwell.
With no hesitation he strides up the stairs. Myrlia touches Ralvor’s hand
briefly before following her cousin. Fannen murmurs a call to the wild powers
of nature, causing a bark-like protective covering to grow over him. Thus
bolstered, he too heads up. Fannen uses his Barkskin spell to add to his Armor
Class. Calderion also pauses. He pulls one of his spell scrolls from his
bandoleer, and reads the magic writ upon it. A flash of magic surrounds him in
a shielding aura before it fades from sight, protecting the youngster
invisibly. He tucks the spent spell scroll back in its place, and he and Ralvor
trail after the others. Cal used the last Mage
Armor spell on that
scroll. He
still has another scroll with 3 more of those spells on it.
At the top of the stairs they find
themselves upon the 10 foot wide, stone-floored mezzanine that circled above
the central chamber below. A carved bannister runs along the outer edge while several
doors lead off the balcony further into the old keep. Thirty feet ahead of the
team lay the corpse of the dead wizard, sprawled out where Fannen’s lightning
strike dropped him. He was not alone. 4 men dressed in armor, swords drawn,
were waiting for them. They had an unkempt, almost feral look to them. The
largest of the band, presumably the leader, steps forward and gestures towards
Argren’s remains.
“He promised us a 1000 gold worth of magic each to work for him. We’ve
only been given a third of that. You’ve cost us a fortune by popping him off. I
figure you owe us 750 each to not kill you where you stand.” the mercenary
snarls at them.
“You think the four of you are able to take us?” Kushear replies
contemptuously. “You look like you hardly know which end of the sword is the
sharp one!”
“What makes you think there are only four of us?” the ruffian throws
back. He tilts his head back and issues another of the wild undulating howls
they had heard downstairs. One of the side doors further down slams open, and
four more of the swords-for-hire emerge, teeth flashing in evil grins.
“Feh. All you’ve done is made this an almost fair fight. At least now I
won’t feel any regret at your deaths.” Kushear says dismissively. “Still, in
the interest of justice, I can offer you a chance to surrender now, I suppose.”
“A fair fight? What makes you think we want to fight fair?” With his
words the entire group suddenly undergoes a hideous transformation. Their faces
elongate into muzzles filled with sharp, salivating teeth. Their height
stretches upward another foot or so. Dark fur bursts forth across their skin.
In seconds they reveal themselves as they really are- WEREWOLVES!
So we start another combat. After
determining initiative numbers, the werewolves go first with a 20, then Myrlia
with 18. Cal & Kushear tied with 16, but since Cal had the greater bonus
(+4 versus Kushear’s +2) Cal will go before him. Ralvor is next with a 12 then
Fannen last at 9. Now I’ll end the last scene in the GM Emulator to
transition to the combat.
And BANG! The Emulator just hit me with a Random
Event alert, which says “Event: Progress
on 'The Tower in The Slithering Deeps’: the Assistance of an Ambush”. So…to
“progress” on the adventure I must defeat these werewolves, who have more or
less ambushed the team. That means something helps the heroes (“assistance”) in
the fight. It could mean that they get help from another source- anything from
another creature to a wall collapsing. Or it could be something as small as the
heroes catching a break and the monsters not making a saving throw.
Checking with the Emulator, I enter this: Q: “Is this ‘assistance’ just a lucky break
that favors the heroes?” A: “Yes.” Alright then. As a follow up question, I
punch in: “Does this ‘assistance’ favor
all the heroes?” and get an “EXCEPTIONAL
Yes” as an answer.
I’ll go with the failed saving throw idea.
Calderion was going to cast his Web spell upon his turn. I’ll
simply have everyone caught in the spell’s area fail their initial save. They
can still try to break free later of course, but that at least fulfills the
random event criteria.
(As a side note, just for fun I rolled to
see how many of the werewolves would have managed to save against the spell
without that random event. All 6 in the spell’s area of effect would have
failed their save anyway. D’oh!)
…And I’m nailed with yet another random
event. This is a negative event that is targeted at Myrlia, with the details
saying it involves a “Change of Messages”.
That’s too obscure. I got nothing. But when
I check the thesaurus for the word “message” one of its synonyms is
“information”. So maybe the new fact that she’s facing werewolves instead of
run-of-the-mill thugs scares her? I’ll go back to the Emulator to try to get
more details. Q: “Does the negative event
relate to the immediate situation?” A: “Yes.”
Okay, so the negative event will apply to this upcoming combat in some way.
Damn. Let’s see if I can narrow it down some more. Q: “Is the negative event the fact that she is suddenly faced with
werewolves, not mercenaries?” A: “EXCEPTIONAL
Yes.”
Well there it is. I decided the closest
effect I can see per the rules is as if the werewolves “Intimidate” her. That applies the “Shaken” condition to her, putting a -2
penalty on her attack rolls. I added that penalty to her Hero Lab profile.
With
that out of the way, I can begin the next scene. I’ve pretty much adopted the
idea that every time it turns into a fight I should start the combat as its own
scene to separate it out from the rest of the narrative. Doing it that way just
makes it seem clearer to me, as a natural divide. I’ll set up the situation on
the Combat Pad for ease
of tracking, and jump into it.
Scene 26
(round 1)
Myrlia shakes at the sight of the gruesome transformation as the
creatures literally shred their humanity. With the werewolves true nature
revealed, the heroes know there is now no option left but to fight. The cousins
quickly take up a position to bottle-neck the corridor, limiting the werewolves
to facing them 2 at a time, and hampering the advantage their numbers would
give. They have time for nothing else, however, as the 2 lead pack members
launch into their attacks. Despite their monstrous nature, they do not
sacrifice the advantage that weapons provide. Swinging their swords like
children with sticks, they show that Kushear’s opinion of their skill was a
shrewd assessment. But the bestial strength behind their attacks makes their
lack of finesse irrelevant. The biggest of the two uses its new height to reach
past Kushear’s shield, slicing into the holy warrior’s shoulder. The second
beast swings at the half-elven priestess beside him, landing a deep cut of his
own, while the rest form up behind their leaders, snarling at their inability
to pass the defenders and get at the others. The lead werewolves both hit, delivering 8 points of
damage to Kushear, & 5 points to Myrlia. That drops Kushear down to 35 and
Myrlia down to 32 respectively.
It also brings them into range of Myrlia’s
spiked mace. She rolls
a 19, with a +3 bonus to hit, giving her a 22. That would get past the thing’s Armor
Class of 19, even with
the -2 penalty she gets for being intimidated. She swings the morningstar
up towards the creature’s head, the weapon’s spikes leaving a trail of sparks
as it scrapes across wolf-man’s studded armor. It smashes into his jaw,
cracking several of its fangs in addition to leaving a bloody furrow along its
exposed neck. But even as Myrlia starts to rejoice at her success, to her
horror the wounds begin to visibly heal. In seconds no evidence of the wounds
remain. The werewolf
takes 7 points of damage. Unfortunately for the heroes, werewolves have a Damage
Reduction of 10 versus
any weapon not made of silver. This doesn’t apply to magic, but it will make
things very difficult.
Calderion briefly studies the slavering pack held back by the paladin
and the priestess, and his eyes narrow as he takes in the layout of the
corridor. His hand dives into his wizard’s pouch at his side, and a quick flick
of his fingers tosses a few gossamer strands of cobweb into the air. Before the
stuff can float to the ground, he swiftly utters a few words of arcane power.
The magic focuses through the webbing and expands out. Directed by Calderion’s
gestures, cords of sticky cables crisscross the corridor and entraps the
werewolf pack in a mass of magical netting.
As mentioned
earlier, Calderion’s Web spell
is assumed to entrap all 6 of the werewolves behind the 2 in the lead. The
spell lasts for 10 minutes per level, meaning it’ll outlast this combat. In
addition it inflicts the Grappled condition upon all of the
targets within it. I added the effects to the werewolves’ Hero Lab file. (It’s
a simple matter of checking the “Grappled” condition under the appropriate tab.
I really appreciate how friggin EASY that program makes things!)
Ralvor gives the young wizard a
surprised look as his magic swiftly changes the fight’s dynamic. “That’s
impressive! But why didn’t you do that to the zombies downstairs?”
“The hall was too wide. I had no place to anchor the webs.” Cal answers
with a grin. “This is actually the 1st time I’ve ever used the spell
outside of practice.”
“Huh.” Ralvor looks back at the cocooned
werewolves. “Not bad for a 1st try.”
“Still think we are powerless, beast-man?”
Kushear asks his opponent, his words dripping in irony. He doesn’t wait for a
reply, but instead silently calls upon Iomedae’s power to help him smite
the evil he faces. With the bonuses his Smite
Evil ability gives
him, Kushear easily rolls a 24 to beat the werewolf’s Armor Class number of 19,
and lands a massive 13 points of damage, (1d8+6, with a roll of 7+6=13). But
again the Damage Reduction robs his attack of most of its damage. Factoring
that into it, he delivers a mere 3 points. He lands a deadly over-hand
blow, narrowly missing cleaving the pack leader’s head in two. Instead he
slices off its ear and buries the sword deep into its shoulder. Kushear pulls
his weapon back to the ready, leaving it cruelly wounded. Then the wound closes
up and the flesh regrows, leaving only a small slice in the beast’s ear to
prove that Kushear hit it at all.
As Kushear briefly gapes in shock, the
leader snarls “I’m not very impressed yet, Crusader. I’m gonna enjoy ripping
your throat out and drinking your blood!”
From behind the two cousins Ralvor nocks an
arrow and aims it at the wolf-man attacking Myrlia. The arrow flies true to its
target and punches into the creatures left thigh, causing it to give a sharp,
weirdly puppy-like “YIP!” of pain. The arrow is then pushed out of the wound as
the flesh regrows. Ralvor
rolls a 20 (13+7) to beat the 19 target number, and delivers 4 points of
damage. That’s not enough to have any effect.
Fannen
begins to once again call upon the nature spirits he venerates, drawing power
from the eternal life source. With a sudden “pop!” a Burst
of Nettles explodes in the midst of the entangled
pack, peppering them in stinging acidic darts, leaving the whole group
punctured and bleeding. The spell delivers 17 points damage to each trapped werewolf. All of
them failed to beat the 16 target number they needed to reduce the damage by
half. In addition the nettles do an additional 1d6 damage next round as they
continue to inject acid into the wounds. That drops the whole pack down to 11
points left. Fannen has this spell slotted twice, so I think he’ll use it again
the next round as well. Since it’s a spell, the werewolves’ Damage Resistance
doesn’t apply.
(Round 2)
The back two
werewolves in the area of Cal’s Web spell both manage to break free of the
tangle. However, that ends their actions for this round. The other 4 are still
trapped, having failed the Combat
Maneuver roll to
escape. Meanwhile the pack leaders are left to face Kushear & Myrlia. All
the ones who were hit by Fannen’s spell last round take another 5 points of
damage, dropping them all down to a mere 6 points remaining.
The
werewolf leaders strike out at the half-elf cousins, 1 attacking each of them. Yet
their mal-formed and clawed hands are only able to awkwardly grip the
longswords they wield. Despite the creatures’ power, the blows they deliver
lack the force to get past the armour of their two opponents. But while the
leaders push the attack, the others struggle to work free of the silvery cables
that bind them. The two at the very back edge of the tangle tug and pull themselves
out of the cords that hold them, but at the cost of any immediate actions
against the Questors. The
two leaders failed to roll high enough to get past the Armor Class of Kushear
or Myrlia. The one facing the paladin rolled and 18, but needed 23. The other
one rolled only an 8, nowhere near the 17 it needed to hit the priestess.
Myrlia
points the winged figure of her goddess at the werewolf facing her and prays
aloud the words “May Arshea’s might strike the evil before me!” From her outstretched hand a golden blast of
light lances out to slam into her attacker. Casting her Spear
of Purity spell,
Myrlia casts defensively and succeeds in rolling a 20
(12+ her bonus of 8) on her concentration
check. This beats
(barely!) the 19 Difficulty Class she was up against to not lose the spell and
still avoid an attack of opportunity by the werewolf. The spell delivers 15
points of damage (2d8, with a roll of 7+8) and the werewolf fails to beat the
16 it needed to save for half damage, so it takes the full amount. That drops
its health from 28 points to 13. The monster reacts in pain and shock as
the priestess’ prayer sends waves of golden light sweeping over him, burning
away its fur and flesh, leaving horrid weeping wounds behind. Wounds that,
unlike those before, do not heal.
Calderion pulls forth a scroll from his bandoleer and
unfurls it one handed. He quickly but precisely invokes the magic stored upon
its paper, summoning up a Snow Ball of unnaturally intense cold. A side-armed throw sends it hurling at
Kushear’s attacker. It hits it in the
chest, and a wave of otherworldly frigid power rips across the werewolf,
stripping fur away in an arctic blast. It howls in pain as the magic inflicts
deep frostbitten rends in its hide. As with Myrlia’s attack on its partner,
this damage also does not recover. The monster staggers back, unable to cope
with so much agony at once. Calderion uses the Snow Ball spell
scroll he has that contains 2 of these spells written upon it. He now has only
1 remaining. He is far enough from any of the werewolves so that he needs not
worry about an Attack
of Opportunity
interrupting him. The spell hits as a ranged Touch
Attack and therefore
Calderion only needs to beat the monsters touch Armor Class of 12 to hit. He
rolled an 11, and adds his +6 bonus for ranged combat, so totals a 17. That
hits easily, delivering 18 points damage from a 4d6 roll. That almost kills it,
dropping it from 25 points to 7. BANG! As an extra twist of the knife, it
failed to make a save versus the spells DC of 16, resulting in it being staggered next round (it only rolled a
12).
Kushear swings again at the now severely
wounded werewolf. The blow strikes true, slicing open a gaping gnash in its
throat- a fatal blow. But no! Even as he watches, the blood stops flowing and
the wound heals. However, it doesn’t completely disappear this time. A stark
slash still remains- not fatal in itself, but with the other injuries it
suffered from Calderion’s magic the thing is decidedly closer to death. Much closer.
It seems its invulnerability can be overcome if sufficient damage can be
brought to bear. Kushear
hit with a roll of 24, and delivers 14 points of damage. Ten points are negated
by the werewolf’s Damage Reduction, but 4 points do get through. It only had 7
after Cal got through with it, so that leaves only 3 remaining. At this point I
would normally have the critter try to escape. If it manages to survive this
round, I’m going to have it use its action next round to jump from the
mezzanine. If it gets away from Kushear and survives the fall, it will escape
out the main doors and into the swamp.
Realizing that his attempt to kill it
failed, Ralvor switches tactics. Instead of a normal arrow, he fires a Tangleshot in its place. The shot hit and bursts into a gooey mess of
sticky tar and resin, greatly impeding the werewolf’s movements, and the
adhesive pins it in place. The rogue hits his target easily, and the werewolf fails
the DC 10 Reflex roll to escape the effects. It is now stuck in place, and
suffers a penalty of -2 to any of its attack rolls because of the tacky goop
covering it.
Fannen again taps into the inherent
power of the natural world. The druid focuses this essence and repeats his
earlier magic. Again a burst of acidic nettles explodes in the midst of the
pack. This time the results are far more deadly. All the creatures pinned in
Calderion’s Web spell are killed outright in the attack, sagging against
the cables still holding them in place. Even the 2 that had managed to free
themselves were punctured by enough of the acidic quills to reduce them to
whimpering wrecks barely alive. Fannen’s Burst
of Nettles spell delivers 13 points damage.
Only the two that had broken free made the roll to reduce the damage by half,
but since they only had 11 points that still dropped them to 5 remaining. These
guys too are done. At the start of the next round they’re going to run away as
well.
(round 3)
The tide of battle had decidedly shifted in the favor of Calderion and his
friends. Recognizing their imminent doom, the werewolves that remain abandon
the fight and try to escape. The two that survived Fannen’s magic leap from the
balcony to the hall below. The incredible ability to absorb damage that they
had displayed allows them to simply ignore any injury a fall from such height
inflicts, and they waste no time heading for the entrance and out into swamp
beyond.
The leaders, badly
wounded and facing death at the hero’s hands, also make moves to escape.
Kushear’s opponent was the first to forgo its attack and run. Already staggered
by Calderion’s spell, it too moves to the balcony edge and jumps. Its cowardice
gave the paladin a brief window of opportunity to land a last hit before it
dove over the railing after its packmates. But the moment is too brief, and it
is gone before Kushear can finish his swing. The
werewolf executes a full move action to drop over the railing. This gives
Kushear an Attack
of Opportunity but he missed the roll to hit.
Myrlia’s foe, stuck by Ralvor’s Tangleshot, struggles to pull itself free and follow its master. In
spite of its bestial strength it fails and is left snarling in hatred as it is
abandoned by its “friends”. It needed a strength roll versus
a DC of 15 to break free, and despite its +4 bonus still only managed to get an
8.
Myrlia quickly moves back with Ralvor and the others to avoid the
werewolf’s thrashing efforts to escape. Distracted by its attempts to get
loose, it notices its prey getting away too late and a clumsy stab at her as
she falls back fails to hit. Her weapons have been ineffective, and she’s out of
attack spells, so she does a full move action to get out of the thing’s reach.
This also gives the werewolf an Attack
of Opportunity but it
too missed its chance, only rolling a 12. That doesn’t beat Myrlia’s 17 so it
fails.
Calderion invokes the last of the magic writ upon the scroll, summoning
another frozen orb to his hand. His throw lands it in the werewolf’s open and
fanged mouth. It inhales in surprise, causing it to take in the deadly cold of
the magic. In seconds its heart is as cold physically as it was emotionally. As the group watched it drops to the ground
and returns to the man-shape it held at the start of the fight, quite dead. Cal used his last Snow Ball spell
and hits with a roll of 21, doing 17 points damage. Since that was enough to
finish the beastie off, I didn’t bother to see if it would be staggered.
And that ends the fight. Since everything
from here is no longer a battle, I’m going to go back to the GM Emulator and end the scene and begin
another.
And since this part is my longest post yet,
I think I’ll break it here. I HAVE already started the next scene but I’ll use
that as the start of my next post.
I hope anyone reading out there is enjoying
this so far. I know I’m still having fun, so more posts will follow.
Later.
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