Little Green II

[Monodominant]

This time your flame harms the creature but it manages to move out of the way of some of the fire.

It continues to attack the sister ignoring the girl that unfortunately misses again.

It manages to touch her just below the neck just as the woman also tries to follow Janas example and use positive energy as a means to harm the Shadow.

[roll0]

[Monodominant]

For some reason the roll didnt work...

[roll0]



The result means that the sister is weakened and goes pale but she still holds on to dear life clenching her teeth.

You sense that the shadow is close to being completely destroyed. Already parts of its form are fading but there is still partial unlife in it and unlike the other undead you have faced it does not make any effort to flee.

[planswalker]

If you wouldn't mind, remove the AVB tag from the title. That game is done and LG and the others still going aren't really part of that game anymore. Not a big deal, but you'll notice that your new thread isn't titled "AVB" either.

still, my first character to get a second thread! Woot!

of course, if they hadn't kept on dying, I'd be on my 3rd of 4th thread now... apparently, all it took to survive was a ton of hp and ungodly high diplomacy scores.

LG burns it again for [roll0] [roll1]

Jana attacks again for [roll2] [roll3]

[Monodominant]

Your final bout of flame along with Jana managing to finally touch the shadow with her positive energy charge destroy it.

It almost stops moving before its entirely destroyed and seems to stare at all of you... if you did not know better you would have thought it almost enjoys or savours the moment of its true death and subsequent release...

[planswalker]

Figuring that with the pain of being a shadow gone, it probably is grateful. Which just makes it all the more damned annoying to have to fight it to begin with.

If you wanted to die, death by adventurer isn't the most reliable way to go. He thinks at the shadow.

"Sister, are you safe to continue?"

[Monodominant]

The sister takes a few dizzy steps and nods.

"I feel severely weakened and I cannot restore myself as I have expended most such magic but I can still swing the mace and still walk upright..." she replies.

[planswalker]

"Okay, then stay back when we get in your next scuffle."

LG resumes looting the crypt.

[Monodominant]

It takes a while longer to open each one now that she has become weakened and her blows are not as strong but time is something you have at this point.

Her banging actually springs a trap twice. The first time dozens of sharp needles fly and hit all of you... (1hp damage, DR applies) but the poison on the is inert due to the ages that have passed and you are not otherwise harmed!

The second trap was something similar to when you are attacked by the shadow... noxious gas fills the room but... once again despite breathing it in you only end up coughing some dust but the poison fails to affect any of you.

From these graves you end up collecting an additional [roll0] gold coins and [roll1] silver. There are no more items of value that have not been ruined by time BUT Jana manages to spot some glittering demi-precious stones at the corner of one of the halls. There are [roll2] marbles made from amethyst in what appears to be a childs grave...

[planswalker]

[36] gold coins
[28] silver
[6] marbles made from amethyst
(9d5)[27] gold coins and (10d12)[67] silver coins

(3d6)[14] platinum coins
(9d8)[32] gold coins
(14d10)[60] silver coins
and (5d4)[14] electron coins

as well as (2d12)[9] trinkets

high priest's diary
negative energy channeling mace

[16] gold and (5d20)[37] silver
couple of silver holy symbols depicting the purple pyramid

LG collects up all the rest of the loot and says, "Well, there we go. These are some crypts that won't be anchoring souls to this place any longer."

They head back up to the passage and take the right-hand path.

to be clear, the way I understand things:

1)from the central chamber with the trapdoor and statue thingy, I've taken the left door.

2)From there, I reached a branch in the passage and took the left of two branches.

3)This lead to the catacombs and I've now raided both rooms.

so I'm going back up 2) and taking the right-hand passage.

[Monodominant]

Will make a map shortly and update this post.

Okay so here it goes.

The first one is the map of the rooms above (where the statue was). You didnt really explore those and only went down the trapdoor...

http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss126/monodominant/room1.png

The second one is the place you are now. You have just finished exploring the two burial rooms, the servant one and the senior acolyte one. So basically you havent gone to the other part of the first intersection and also the last corridor off the emerald room.

http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss126/monodominant/underground2.png

[planswalker]

LG will lead them to explore the third branch off the hall that lead them to the burial grounds.

[Monodominant]

Once again the passage you follow splits into two.

The passage to the right feels somehow darker and colder...

[planswalker]

LG starts with the passage to the left.

[Monodominant]

You walk ahead leading the rest of the group and you have but a moment to stop Jana from following in your tracks and seeing what you see in the next room.

Implements of torture of conventional but also more exotic design line the walls. From simple stretch tables and spike racks to what appears to be a completely rusted iron maiden but also others that on first look you cant tell what they do exactly.

A few bones and... paper like flesh remains can be seen on some of the horrific implements. Lastly rusted and rotting instruments of torture litter the floor and stand in crumbling heaps in open metal boxes as if discarded.

A small half open rusted metal door leads away from this room.

[planswalker]

Neither a big fan nor a big hater of torture, LG decides it best to not expose Jana to the... nasty side of things like this just yet.

"Just a moment. Room's full of some nasty items. I'm gonna slag them before they can hurt us." He calls back. [roll0]

LG then proceeds to blast the room with fire repeatedly until the torture devices are no longer recognizable. With all the undead lurking around, he wouldn't be surprised if they were haunted anyways.

[Monodominant]

It doesnt take you that long but the room does grow quite hot by the time you are done.

Nothing remains of the gruesome purpose the room had as the already rusty 'implements' crumble from your onslaught. Nor the bones or other remain rise to strike you when you attack them and no ghosts or other such creatures come forth.

[planswalker]

Satisfied that he won't be pushing his young charge too far too soon, LG says, "Okay, should be safe to pass through now." LG leads the way to the next room.

[Monodominant]

You find yourselves in short corridor leading to a pretty much barren room.

This one is a bit bigger and with a higher ceiling. What is the most peculiar is that the 'floor' of this room is actually barren earth. The ground is from some kind of particularly dark and hard and perhaps even... dead earth with nothing growing out of it. There are two shovel heads and a pickaxe head full of rust thrown carelesly about... their wooden handles long gone.

Judging by the dug our dirt in corners and also the 2 open holes in the ground, this seems to be where they were dumping or hastily burying the bodies of their victims and sacrifices... those not even worth to place in the crypts you found earlier.

[planswalker]

LG proposes that go invisible and climb into one of the holes, picking the one on the left. He recommends that the two of them wait here just in case something goes wrong. Assuming Jana agrees, LG will go invisible, take on the form of one of those extinct goblin things, and climb in.

[Monodominant]

Both women agree with your idea.

You start descending the rough surface of the holes. Your darkvision shows you that it must be deeper than 60 feet since you cant see the bottom from the starts.

At least whatever stench might have once come from here is long gone through the ages...



Climb check, balance check and a will save please.

[planswalker]

taking 10 on climb for a 16, should be good enough, what with the modifiers for being in a "chimney" situation.

[roll0]

[roll1]

I can see why the climb and balance. What's the will save for?

LG keeps his breath at the ready as he descends...

[Monodominant]

Wouldnt you want to know... mwahahahaha



You do not find it difficult to climb down as the narrow hole indeed makes it easy to prop yourself against one edge and climb.

Unfortunately as you are descending you realise something horrific. What you are seeing isnt actually there... the vision of the hole around you, which given your special types of vision you use to guide you in this pitch black shaft is not actually correct and you realise it when your hand passes through a rock outcropping and you find yourself hanging into emptyness.

As you interract with it the illusion fades quickly and you can now see that you are falling down a much deeper, much bigger shaft. The hole that had started as less than 5-6 feet wide is now around 15 feet wide making it impossible for you to use the walls to climb down easily.

'Thank Tharidzun' you think as you hit the ground a mere 20 feet down only suffering [roll0] points of damage and smashing in a rather large pile of bones.

[planswalker]

Gotta give them credit, that's one clever pit trap. Don't hide the hole, make it look like a smaller hole. Cute. LG thinks to himself as he takes minimal damage.

Standing up, he calls out. "The hole is an illusion. It's really a larger pit trap. Feel around the edge to figure out what's really there." He calls out.

Once satisfied that they're now forewarned, LG looks around with his keen senses, getting a feel for the place.

especially noting darkvision and blindsense.

[Monodominant]

Glad to see you are feeling better by the way :D



The sound of bones crumbling under your feet is the only sound in this large cavern. Dozens, if not hundreds, of skeletons and bones are all around this place. In between the bones, skulls and other debri you notice almost completely ruined pieces of what might have once been a thick carpet... though why would someone carpet a dumping hole is beyond you.

What creeps you out is what you -see- with your darkvision. You are used to being able to see in complete darkness with no problem and while your blindsense seems to be working fine your darkvision is... well... acting up.

Shadows at the periphery of your vision seem to move and twist. As if the usual range where your eyes can penetrate the darkness is a fluid and liquid thing rather than something finite... the sensation is how you would imagine seeing in darkness but underwater.

You are fairly sure that this is NOT caused by actual undead Shadows but some kind of... well trick of the light seems the wrong word given the complete absence of it.

[planswalker]

LG will methodically destroy each individual skeleton, no matter how long it tskes.

[Monodominant]

None of the skeletons rise up to defend themselves or this area as you wade through them with fire.

Your flames though create even more confusion to you... Every time you use fire the amount of light that comes from your hot breath is... minimal. Diminissed or subdued is the term that comes to mind. It burns just as hot but it is definetly not the usual effect you have from it in a dark room.

Meanwhile you realise something more. No sound or positive response has come from above since you called up to them...

[planswalker]

Dammit, I bet all sensory input into or out of here is blocked. Probably also diminished in here. Fun. I hope I'll be able to climb out without too much problem.

LG pokes around to see if there's anything in here worth noting besides the destroyed remains, feeling around methodically all over.

taking 20 for a 30 total.

oh, and thanks for the well-wishes. Just have to take antibiotics until Thursday.

[Monodominant]

Overall you find some valuable trinkets... a gold tooth here and there and a small pendant or necklase about the bones scattered here.

The shadows continue to play around at the periphery of your vision and they seem oppresive and sometimes... even more... daring... as if the darkness is a living thing considering how best to approach you to avoid the tough look you give through your darkvision.

Whats re-assuring you and saving you from going crazy is your blind-sense that really lets you know that there is nothing there, ethereal or otherwise.

You have spend quite some time burning and searching when you find, on the far right wall of this cavern a small niche. Next to it there are carved steps leading upwards but more importantly inside the niche you see a small square box made from obsidian. There is no lock but rather some kind of device where one would have to place his... finger to open.

[planswalker]

Deciding to follow along for now, LG puts his finger in the box.

[Monodominant]

You know if this was real old school you would just lose a finger from the finger trap :D



You feel two tiny pricks in your finger. From the first blood drips quickly inside the box while from the second you feel a substance enter your finger.

Pulling your finger out would cause huge damage as the hole is designed with spikes going inwardly. This means that going in is easy but pulling out very painful if not done with care.

Before you have time to react even, and as the foreign substance is introduced to your blood stream your vision goes blurry. In your mind the name Tharidzun comes unbidden into your thoughts and you feel as if swimming in between purple shadows in an endless abyss.

[planswalker]

yeah, I know. Fortunately, LG can afford to do without a finger.

LG doesn't take his hand out, hoping he didn't just unwittingly turn himself in the latest cultist for this mad god.

[Monodominant]

Should have said thumb then :D



You feel peaceful as the images swim around in your imagination.

A certainty of purpose and an assurance of success focuses you and your eyes snap open. Your hand is by your side, dripping blood slowly from the two puncture wounds you have sustained.

The little box is open and 7 small white metal rods, no bigger than a pencil, are inside. The air mists around them as if they are frozen. They give off a faint dim light coming from inside them with a slight purple hue. Under this light the shadows of this room fade and your darkvision is restored to its usual range and effectiveness.

[planswalker]

LG will poke a rod with his unblooded hand. Assuming nothing happens, he'll grab the box and stow it away.

If nothing happens when he grabs it, he'll climb the stairs he found.

edit: after reaching the second step, he remembers that Jana and the priestess haven't heard him yet and he calls up, "The hole is illusion-covered, check the edge. Also, some weird bloodbox and sensory-dampening effects."

[Monodominant]

The rods feel cold to the touch but not incredibly so. Nothing happens and you stow it away.

The 'stairs' are more like small notches on the wall that allow you to climb. They had obviously been made for human sized people and as such you have some difficulty climbing but its manageable with care and time.

As you climb above and reach the strange darkness part where the illusion started you indeed realise that no sound passes above and in this 'cloud' of shadows a silence effect has been placed.



Climb check for the last part of the climbing.

[planswalker]

take 10 for a 16?

If that doesn't work: [roll0]

not bad for a guy with -2 str.

LG will study the effect as he climbs, to see if he can deduce its exact nature.

[roll1]

[planswalker]

If that fails and doesn't drop him on his ass, he'll try again: [roll0]

[planswalker]

And again, assuming he hasn't fallen: [roll0]

[Monodominant]

There being some 'stairs' you actually manage to use them to your advantage and climb further up.

The 'ward' is actually a series of effects combining arcane and divine magic. It includes a permanent illusion making the pit seem darker, deeper and longer than it actually is and also causing the walls to appear closer to each other. The divine part seems to have effects similar to a mind fog spell but the ages have eroded the part where this would actually be a potent effect... lastly a deeper darkness and a silence spell is interwoven.

You realise now that this is probably not where they were dumping dead prisoners but most likely alive but 'useless' ones.

Finally with a bit of heaving and hard breathing you appear over the threshold to see Jana with red eyes crying in the corner of this room and the sister comforting her with kind words about you having lived a good life and perished in an effort to provide goodness and salvation to the world.

[planswalker]

LG goes invisible and silent, deciding to listen in for a bit.

[Monodominant]

Basically it seems that your lack of contact and the fact that they lowered a torch with a rope but it didnt seem to illuminate anything is making them think you... well... perished in that hole.

Jana is crying for this and the sister is trying to comfort her.

[planswalker]

aw... I was hoping for a tearful soliloquy I walked in on the middle of and could add a snappy one-liner to. :smallsigh:

LG creeps over to them and says, "Hello from the other side!.", doing his best impersonation of a ghost.

[Monodominant]

Jana looks up her tears drying and a suprised look on her face. She doesnt seem worried or scared for a moment.

The Sister though is much more careful. She takes a protective step in front of the girl brandishing her mace and preparing for a quick turning attempt.

"Little Green! Poor soul what happened to you?" she asks.

[planswalker]

"I fell down a hole. It was dark. There were a lot of skeletons. My finger got bitten by a box and...

[roll0]

I climbed out." he says, dropping the invisbility.

"Also, I was going more for invisible, not pale.

That hole blocks all sensory input into or out of it, is much wider than it looks, and has a cloak of darkness inside it. Fortunately, it does NOT account for the keen senses of a dragon."

[Monodominant]

Ah missed the invisible part. So the comment Jana makes is made now :D



"That... that" starts the sister as you bluff her succesfully but then you appear and she calms down.

Jana looks at you and is about to jump on you but instead she says

"You... you look so pale..."

[planswalker]

"Probably a side-effect of having my finger bitten by a box. Do I seem to be acting like a new initiate into the cult? If so, I probably need to leve and find a way to break the curse."

[Monodominant]

"No... you just look pale! But I am still so glad you are back and alive!" exclaims Jana.

"Perhaps I should examine you.. if its some kind of disease, the earlier we get it the better..."

[planswalker]

"Go right ahead. I am pretty sure that the box that bit me is, at the very least, supposed to indoctrinate me, if not actually infect my soul. Still, I had no other way to get back out. If we can remove the effect sooner rather than later, I'll be happy about that."

[Monodominant]

Well you could have just taken the box... or just ignored it... you could go up the stairs without interacting with it :D



The sister first examines the two wounds and then you. She spends a few minutes checking you but she then shakes her head.

"There are no physical signs of infection or otherwise except for your discoloration. When we rest I will pray for restoration and remove disease blessings and perform them on you... I can heal those little puncture wounds but I cannot see anything else..."

[planswalker]

Sh... he just lied to them to make it sound like he hadn't just been recklessly curious. [roll0]

"Don't bother to heal that. It's nothing." LG says, leading them onward.

[Monodominant]

"Should we investigate the second hole?" asks the priestess and you have a clear sign of the fact that by we, she means you...

You also have not yet gone to the area of... strange coldness that was off the other side of this offshoot path.

[planswalker]

derp!

"... yes."

LG climbs down the ext hole, this time checking to make sure the edges are real first.

[Monodominant]

Give me a will save for disbelief purposes.



You look and since you are now expecting that something might be not as it seems you can almost tell that there is a certain fuzziness to the view you have of the hole.

The first 15 feet seem okay but after that it seems very difficult to perceive through the darkness...

[planswalker]

[roll0]

LG refuses to enter the hole until he's 100% sure he's found the real edges.

[Monodominant]

Your intellect and force of personality pierce the intricate illusions once more.

This time you see something quite worrysome... you feel fairly lucky that you selected the other hole first as at the bottom of this hole, that is also similarly warded as before, is a rather large and quivering ooze.

The monster is placed in a very confined space that would make it almost impossible to NOT fall in it after descending 10-15 feet from the mouth of the hole.

As it senses your presence it quivers in anticipation...

[planswalker]

LG will burn it to death with his line of fire until it is dead. Then he'll char the ooze to make sure.

[Monodominant]

Trapped and unable to act or offer any challenge the ooze perishes. It makes an attempt to use its mass and climb but it fails to do so...

The steam created from its destruction is fairly noxious as it drifts up slowly and the two girls move away from the mouth of the hall.

Nothing remains after you are done. Whatever creatures it might have once been used to consume have left behind no treasure or bones...

[planswalker]

Satisfied that the immediate and obvious threat is gone, LG climbs down the hole along the REAL edge and pokes around at the bottom.

[Monodominant]

He really finds nothing else in this forshaken hole.

It seems it was either a very gruesome 'waste bin' or carefully concealead trap.

[planswalker]

After taking 20 for a 30 total on his search to scour the place just in case. Assuming nothing shows itself, he climbs back out.

"Well, killing that slime was worth the effort by itself." LG says, leading them to the spot of strange coldness.

[Monodominant]

I need to tally your xp by the way...



Indeed you find nothing more in that slimy hole.

You return to the passage and once again feel the threat of cold as you approach.

The sister seems uneasy as you approach and you see her shaking her head or shuddering a few times as you approach.

"Perhaps we should rest before venturing further? I am not depleted yet but I am fairly... low as it is and you are suffering not from wounds but from many conditions..." she explains.

[planswalker]

"Jana? It's up to you, leader."

[Monodominant]

"Sleeping means more nightmares... unless we have a really really good reason not to go on, I want to proceed..." she says with a concerned tone.

[planswalker]

"Excellent point, leader. Every time you sleep, you'll grow weaker. One night, you won't wake up, unless we find and defeat the night hag first."

btw, REALLY hoping I can level up before we face the night hag. Otherwise, if memory serves, they're very resistant to both fire and cold damage... and I'll be doomed.

[Monodominant]

I think you will level for sure...



The decision taken what do you do?

Do you advance in the cold and forbidding path... or...?

[planswalker]

Yes, LG will lead them into the cold, forbidding path.

[Monodominant]

You advance for another 60 feet before the next chamber becomes visible. There is no door stopping you and as such you enter the area with no problem.

This area appears to be a long abandoned chapel or small temple, but without marks of whose honor it was made in. The whole is 40' wide and about 60' long, with the far (north) wall concave, the curve being smooth and shallow. Small, fluted columns of deep black stone line a 20' aisle, leaving a 10' wide space beyond on both east and west walls. Within the front 40' of the place, all stone is black. Beyond, whereastone rail rises 3'from the floor, and a curving step or dais rises 1' and meets the back wall, floors and walls are of deepest purple, although the ceiling remains black. (16)

Parts of the chapel in detail:

AISLE (17): The 10' wide area seems to have been well-used, for the floor is worn down, and the walls are likewise slightly dished by the touch of many bodies. The walls in particular seem to be pulsing with their own internal luminescense.


ALTAR RAIL (18) : The square fore portion of the chapel is divided from the sacred portion by a railing of puce-hued stone. This railing is 3' high and intricately carved and pierced. This work is disgusting and disturbing in nature, being of vines and tendrils, tentacles and serpentine bodies intertwined with human forms and skeletons and other things unknowable. There is a 3' wide gateway in the exact center of the rail.

RAISED SECTION (20): This step or dais appears to be the place where an altar service might have been conducted. There is a low table of black mineral which has bits of shiny purple within its polished surface.

To either side are rotted and crumbling chairs of some sort. There are piles of rusted metal near the doors on the north wall. What devices or purposes these items once served is impossible to tell. On the wall behind the altar stone there is an anomoly. The violet color of the stone seems to bear the indistinct shadow of a large, vaguely-human shape. But it is so obscure, and so uncertain in form, that it may be a trick of light playing upon the curving surface of stone.



Trying to upload a map to show you how this looks. Bare with me...

Here we go

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/x377a.png

[planswalker]

of course it is. And it's always a sensor glitch or radar echo, not something dangerous...

Hoping for a scenario where LG can deploy his most dangerous asset, he calls out, "Hail, there! Might I know who you are?" He puts enough confidence in his voice to make it seem like he knows exactly who/what and where he's talking to.

[roll0]

[Monodominant]

That was probably just the cat making noise in the basement...



The shadow seems to startle and momentarily disappears.

A few moments later two heads appear from behind the actual altar stone and look towards you with worry and fear. You are suprised to see two young halflings there!

[planswalker]

"Hey there. We're a trio of adventurers looking to strip this place bare of anything that might be useful in trying to end the world, destroying any undead who might still lurk, and generally just survive this place long enough to get back. How about you?" [roll0]

They are TOTALLY monsters in disguise. I give it less than a minute before we are in combat against them. LG thinks.

[Monodominant]

"We were trapped here some time ago and have been trying to get out ever since... but this place is full of monsters and undead as you say... can you help us out of here?" they say but maintain their distance.

[planswalker]

"I do believe that among the stated goals I declared was "getting out of here alive". How did you manage to survive down here this long?"

[planswalker]

"I do believe that among the stated goals I declared was "getting out of here alive". How did you manage to survive down here this long?"

[planswalker]

"I do believe that among the stated goals I declared was "getting out of here alive". How did you manage to survive down here this long?"

[Monodominant]

Mother of all glitches!



The two halflings look at each other guiltily.

"We..." the first starts and pauses.

"We... prayed for food and it came to us... and... well... there is another room where there is very nourishing water. So... we managed to make it!"

[planswalker]

"Congratulations, boys, you prayed to a dead god that seeks to kill us all, and he fed you! You've likely helped contribute to keeping the cult's dreams of omnicide alive! I hope the food was very tasty."

[roll0] The goal here is to get them upset. I assume that the same skill used to manipulate people into liking you can cut the other direction. I'm trying to set up a "good cop, bad cop" by having Jana/the priestess take up the other side, but don't trust either one to act.

[Monodominant]

"They are just kids! Dont talk to them like that!" pipes in Jana as the two halflings burst into tears by your barbed words.

The priestess remains silent... the presence of the kids here worries her more than her nature may cause her to feel bad for them.

"We... we ... we did not mean it! We did not want to do anything! It ... it was this or die... and ... " the first one starts sobbing.

"if... we died... we would become monsters!" the other one adds amidst tears.

[planswalker]

LG bows his head in acceptance of Jana's words. "Very well, leader, it shall be as you say. What should we do with them, then?"

[Monodominant]

"Give them food and take them with us off course!" she says.

The sister looks at you seriously.

"Perhaps that might not be wise... at least not before we can ensure they are not... well... corrupted."

[planswalker]

"We might also want to make sure that they are not in fact true believers trying to trick us into letting them out so they can recruit more members."

[Monodominant]

"That had not actually crossed my mind..." responds the Sister with a renewed suspicion obvious in her demeanor.

"But they are just halfling kids... who could they harm?" asks Jana with an imploring tone.

She takes a step forward and then another to approach the two halflings that have stopped crying but still seem scared and worried. She also rummages her backpack and draws a ration pack.

[planswalker]

"You yourself are a child by your race's standards, yet there are many monsters out there which knew you as a threat before we killed them. I had already slain my first monster by the time I was their age."

[roll0] that's the Disney version of what REALLY went down. the "monsters" he slew were fellow kids who bullied him... but the exact truth doesn't serve at the moment.

[Monodominant]

Jana considers your words carefully and frowns a bit.

"I think the Princess and the Green dragon would be kinder to people in need. Sure there might be danger... I am not silly, I realise that if they have been trapped here for years they might not be... exactly nice kids but is that their fault?" she reasons.

"Plus I have adults with me who can ensure our safety!" she says pointing at the two of you and smirking.

[planswalker]

"Very well, leader. We shall do as you say."

"The boss has said that you may come with us if you wish, so come if you wish. We plan on escaping this place."

[Monodominant]

The two little halfling emerge uncertainly from their hiding place and approach carefully.

They jump over the rail taking great care into not touching it or landing on the strange images depicting on it and walk up to you. Indeed they are very thin and seem starved.

Jana offers them her flask and two rations and they start eating with great appetite.

"Thank you so much!" they chorus.

[planswalker]

"Are there any artifacts from those who lived here before that are still around? Part of our goal is to systematically remove, identify, and destroy anything connected to the cult that once lived here." [roll0]

[Monodominant]

"We dont really touch many things and we can only go to certain places... there are..." the first halfling starts only to be hushed by the other.

"There... are dark things here. Things that dont like us walking out and about..."

[planswalker]

"If you will lead us to these dark places, we'll destroy them for you."

[Monodominant]

"Okay!" replies the younger of the two.

"By the way, I am Erik and this is Toby" says the one identifying himself as Erik.

"So, there is a big baddy in the room with the coffin in the middle of it. He is a pretty nasty guy and he has chased us many times... for some reason though he cant cross the rail so we hide here often!"

[planswalker]

"Thirty gold says vampire. Any takers?" LG says.

Despite his states confidence, LG will wrack his brains to think of any other undead who might fit that profile.

[roll0]

If none other do, he consults his draconic reservoirs of knowledge about vampires. [roll1]

[Monodominant]

You actually recall that just a while ago you fought a relatively powerful wight in the room the two halfling indicate...



They were referring to that room for now.

[planswalker]

LG then ponders what would have warded that rail from the wight.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]
[roll10]
[roll11]

the usual knowledge spam

[Monodominant]

Given the nature of this underground temple you have seen quite a few effects that are not directly attributable to the 'usual' wards or spells of protection.

Actually checking the rail might help give you additional information but from your position (still in the entrance of this chapel) you can only consider one of the numerous wards vs the undead. On second thought perhaps it was not even against the undead but against the previous nature of the wight that might have something to do with it.

You recall for example that even the guardian demon of this place would not let him enter the further chambers of the underground temple and that is why he had his own tomb constructed where you found it.

[planswalker]

"Lead on boys, show us this baddie. It'll be dead shortly." LG says.

[Monodominant]

The two halflings, that now that you see them up closer and for longer you can tell seem pretty damn pale, lead on.

They seem very very careful but also experienced with this area. They hide in all the spots that shadows can give beneficial advantage and good line of sight and move slowly and carefully.

Assuming you follow they take you back to the Emerald room and indicate towards the chamber where you fought and destroyed the wight and found his journal.

At the last part of the short journey they are even more quiet and seem fairly worried.

"sshhhh" Erik tells to the other halfling when it makes a soft worried noise.

[planswalker]

"OH, YOU MEAN THAT WIGHT WE OFFED A FEW HOURS AGO?" He says excessively loudly.

[Monodominant]

The two halfling jump at the sound of your voice and turn to look at you panicked before realising what you just said.

A certain mirth shows up in their faces and they grin stupidly, a weight lifted from them.

[planswalker]

"See? You've found yourself in the company of people more dangerous than the monsters. Anything else threatening you could help us find?" [roll0]

[Monodominant]

"Well we havent ventured far from this side that often but down this other path..." says Erik pointing towards the direction you have yet to explore "... there is a pretty nasty doggy... it floats about the place and growls every time we approached..."

"Yes thats true!" exclaims Toby. "We have also noticed, and this is for sure of use to you, that he wont come this far out... I mean... er... once we actually tried to sneak past that room and he saw us and started chasing us but as soon as we had gone out of his room and in here he turned back..."



And thats what high diplo gets you :D info on enemy behavior :D

[planswalker]

"Interesting.

Jana, I propose that you send me on ahead down that tunnel to see if I can use this to overcome that creature with minimal damage to the more vulnerable members of our growing party, leaving yourself here to protect the rest in case of trouble. I have experience using just these sorts of tactics on my opponents, but I will have a difficult time doing so if there are others present.

As leader, of course, it is your prerogative to take this advice, alter it, or ignore it as you see fit." [roll0]

[Monodominant]

Your honeyd words are not only expertly delivered but also quite true as such you have little trouble convincing all others and Jana as well.

"Very well... but be careful. We will set up here and wait for your return! Do not hesitate to come back for us if things are tough!!!" she says with real care in her voice.

The last remaining passage of the Emerald room beckons...

[planswalker]

"Oh, don't worry, I plan on living a very long and powerful life. One of the first tricks I learned in my draconic studies is how to disappear." With those words, LG goes invisible and sneaks off down to the Doggy Den.

[Monodominant]

This corridor is the longest you have yet to tread at this part of the temple. You realise you are nearing its end almost 200 feet later as a faint smell enters your nostrils.

Your vision and other senses show you that a larger room exists before you around the same time you notice the smell...

The room itself is 20 by 60 and has the entrance you come from and one at the far side of it.

The faint charnel reek which still lingers here proves that the place was used to bury the remains of people - probably servants of the Temple. Sealed niches along the four walls of this parallelogram show where the interments were made.

No space is devoid of a sealing wall of black bricks. Six great sarcophagi are lined up in the center of the chamber, three per row. They are all of black stone. Some glitter with gold, others platinum. Jewels wink and glisten from sculpted visages atop each, gem "eyes" of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet. You can also see at least a dozen rather shapeless statues lining the walls of the place- humansized, man-like forms of black stone, but without clearly defined limbs and with featureless heads.

A statue twice as large stands at the head of each of the great burial vaults.

[planswalker]

LG assumes the form of those extinct goblins he found buried here (still invisible).

Before proceeding, LG will double-check with Tiamat that he isn't about to head off on a suicide mission.

He drinks his potion of omen of peril. Inquiring how dangerous it will be if he proceeds for the next hour along his chosen plan: to explore this path by himself, doing his best to slay the dog-beast, and looting this place bare before rejoining the group and continuing the methodical exploration.


Based on an assessment of your immediate surroundings and chosen path of travel, you receive one of three visions that refl ect the next hour’s journey: safety, peril, or great danger. The base chance for receiving an accurate reply is 70% +1% per caster level, to a maximum of 90%; the DM makes the roll secretly. If the omen of peril is successful, you get one of three visions, which lasts just a second or two.

• Safety: You aren’t in any immediate danger. If you continue on your present course (or remain where you are if you have been stationary for some time before casting the spell), you will face no signifi cant monsters, traps, or other challenges for the next hour or so.
• Peril: You will face challenges typical of an adventure: challenging but not overwhelming monsters, dangerous traps, and other hazards for the next hour or so.
• Great Danger: Your very life is at grave risk. You will likely face powerful NPCs or deadly traps in the next hour.

If the roll fails, you get one of the two incorrect results, determined randomly by the DM, and you don’t necessarily know that you failed because the DM rolls secretly.

Choosing which vision is “correct” takes some educated guesswork on the part of the DM, who should assess the characters’ likely courses of action and what dangers they’re likely to face.

The exact form that an omen of peril takes depends on whether you worship
a specifi c deity, venerate nature as a druid, or simply uphold abstract principles.

[Monodominant]

The Lady of Dragons gives you a vision of victory on one hand but serious peril on the other hand given that you plan to venture forth alone...



Sorry for the delay... was trying to figure out how to place the "danger" level given that CRs expect 4-member party usually...

[planswalker]

technically speaking, you've given me too much information, as you're supposed to give a vague vision symbolic to the Faith.

but I'm not whining.

Honestly, it boils down to: do you think LG can solo it according to his apparent plan? If it'll be a cakewalk, it's safe. If it's something he'll be challenged by, it's dangerous. If it's at or above the threshold of "likely to kill him", it's option 3.

LG offers a quick prayer of thanks to Tiamat for her helpful interpretation of the offering and will advance forward, doing his best to not be detected. He'd love to get the drop on the floating dog.

taking 10 on MS for a 28

[Monodominant]

You have taken your first few steps inside the room when a small face resembling a bulldog seems to float out from the nearest statue to you which is 30 feet away.

The eyes of this "dog" peer sadly (but gleaming red) at you and stay there watching you.

[planswalker]

Unsurprised but disappointed that it can see through invisibility, LG will continue forward.

[Monodominant]

Scent and tremor-sense will do that to you :D



The transformation and suddeness of the attack catches you by suprise.

One second the bulldog like head is floating in the air and looking at you and the next, just as you finish taking your second step, the creature starts transforming and charging towards you.

The creature that attacks you stands at about 4'9 and is more long than tall. It does remind of a canine albeit with mangy fur, gaunt form and teeth that are dripping a black thick liquid that reminds you of the obsidian stone common in this whole temple.

As it lopes towards you in great leaps its eyes roll madly in its head and a low moaning howl begins to seep from its mouth.



It plays first...

Bite [roll0] - crit confirm [roll1]
damage [roll2] - crit damage [roll3]

Claw 1 [roll4] - crit confirm [roll5]
damage [roll6] - crit damage [roll7]

Claw [roll8] - crit confirm [roll9]
damage [roll10] - crit damage [roll11]

Any critical hit also does [roll12] negative energy damage (will save DC 16 for half)

[planswalker]

I was aware of it and knew it would likely attack at any moment. Normally, that mean I'm not flat-footed.

if I'm not ff than then ac is 25

[roll0] What sort of undead puppy is this?

LG blast it with fire if He doesn't recall any critical details like it being fire resistant.

[roll1]

If he does recall it being fire resistant, he'll instead use a weakening breath, will dc 21 for a -6 penalty to strength (undead are not immune to ability penalties). Lasts 4 rounds, 2 on a successful save. If he uses the weakening breath, he'll also run back down the tunnel the way he came, taking the AoO that provokes.

[Monodominant]

Nop you are not flatfooted. It doesnt attack in general... it attacks the moment that after you have seen it, you choose to go on further.



You realise with your extensive knowledge that this is something unique that you have not seen before, nor recall anyone having seen such a thing before.

Indeed it is undead but the undeath seems to be a seperate condition that has befallen this creature and relates with whatever mystical necromantic energies plague this place... hence the fact that it pretty much drips obsidian 'blood'.

The dog itself though reminds you vaguely of blink dogs... albeit a more corrupt and powerful version of such a creature. You have read stories about something called Gloom Dogs, creatures that lost their ability for extradimensional travel and were forced to cope with the locations they were trapped in... usually those locations where not... beneficial to them. Their inability to use their blink ability, which was like flying for an eagle, drives them mad and ferocious...

In this case you can maybe guess that the priests of the temple either captured and corrupted the creature or somehow bound it here and along with whatever they did, the place itself twisted it and corrupted it further. You are not aware of them being particularly resistant to fire.

You breath is aimed appropriately and you would have delivered a good blow, had the creature not jumped out of the way on the last moment...



I.e you can tell it has evasion.

Also you still have a move equivalent if you want to take it before I do his actions.

[planswalker]

no move-equivalents come to mind which are worth an AoO.

[Monodominant]

Okay! So basically since your AC is 25 only 1 attack hit before for 9 HP. Your DR counts so you can reduce it by it.



Emboldened by the fact that you do not flee the creature continues its attack. This time it does not have the momentum and it only focuses on its bite trying to also pull you down if he manages to bite...

Before that though his eyes glisten black and he lets out a terrible agony filled howl. This is not the usual howl of a blink hound or even gloom hound but seems to come from deep within its soul, a memory of the agony, suffering and excrusiating pain that it felt when the Temple claimed it.



Move Equivalent: Dying Scream, DC 16 Will save or be shaken for [roll0] rounds.

And attack

[roll1] - crit confirm [roll2]
Damage [roll3] - crit damage [roll4]
In case of crit also [roll5] negative energy damage (DC 16 will save for 1/2)

And in case bite attack hits, free trip attack
[roll6]
Strength check [roll7] (it has +4 for being 1 size larger than you)

Whats your touch ac?

[planswalker]

touch ac is 14.

The puppy hits and knocks LG to the ground.

LG is prone.

LG will blast it with fire.

[roll0]

[Monodominant]

You forgot your will save for the howling (unless if he is immune to being shaken?)

Also, since it knocks you prone it gets a free attack which he goes for with his claw

[roll0] - crit confirm [roll1]
damage [roll2] - crit confirm [roll3]
crit extra damage [roll4] negative energy damage (DC 16 will for half)



As it manages to pull you down with its weight and powerful jaws, it also attempts to claw at you but you move out of the way easily.

Your fire breath catches it squarely on the face this time and it howls in pain flying into a RAGE.



Roll your will from before and will add his action for this round.

[planswalker]

[roll0]

sorry about that.

[Monodominant]

The ugly howl is nothing more to you, just a howl and you could even stare down dragons with no fear, let alone this creature.

Still as it stands above you, its features somewhat charred from your blast, slobbering you do have a certain fear at the back of your mind.

As its anger grows it barks loudly and rages and attacks you with renewed ferocity in your prone position!



Full attack but with rage now and you are prone which I believe gives -4 to AC right?

Bite [roll0] - crit confirm [roll1] (almost... nat attacks only on a 20)
damage [roll2] - crit damage [roll3]

Claw 1 [roll4] - crit confirm [roll5]
damage [roll6] - crit damage [roll7]

Claw 2 [roll8] - crit confirm [roll9]
damage [roll10] - crit damage [roll11]


And if any crits [roll12] negative energy damage (DC 16 will save for 1/2)

[planswalker]

LG will use his weakening breath to take the edge off future attacks. Will save DC 21 for -6 str for 4 rounds, 2 rounds on a successful save.

[Monodominant]

It saves only on a 20...

[roll0]



Your breath hits it and it indeed feels the effects. It growls and hisses and attacks you again with all its diminished might.



Bite [roll1] - crit confirm [roll2]
damage [roll3] - crit damage [roll4]

Claw 1 [roll5] - crit confirm [roll6]
damage [roll7] - crit damage [roll8]

Claw 2 [roll9] - crit confirm [roll10]
damage [roll11] - crit damage [roll12]

And in case of crit [roll13] (will save DC 16 for half).

[planswalker]

LG will try to stand up and is willing to take the AoO in the process.

He'll the burn it with fire, whether or not the AoO hits.

[roll0]

[Monodominant]

AOO bite

Bite [roll0] - crit confirm [roll1]
damage [roll2] - crit damage [roll3]

And in case of crit [roll4] (will save DC 16 for half).




The creature indeed attempts to bite you as you try to get up.

It once again fails to avoid your breath and frost covers its previously burned features. It is no more resistant to cold than it is on fire but you become slightly worried when you notice that some of the burned tissue seems to be regenerating... you also, from the corner of your eye, notice that as this regeneration happens, the statue from which it came is pulsing with an internal dark light.

You have little time to figure it out though as the creature attacks again... it is too enraged to try and trip you but it still does its full attack.



Bite [roll5] - crit confirm [roll6]
damage [roll7] - crit damage [roll8]

Claw 1 [roll9] - crit confirm [roll10]
damage [roll11] - crit damage [roll12]

Claw 2 [roll13] - crit confirm [roll14]
damage [roll15] - crit damage [roll16]

And in case of crit [roll17] (will save DC 16 for half).

[planswalker]

LG takes some more minor wounds and blasts it with fire again.

[roll0]

[Monodominant]

Bump cause I got error message

[Monodominant]

This time, and somewhat expecting it, the creature lowers his body almost to the ground and avoids getting burned.

It lunges forward again and tries to put you back on the ground as well.


Ignore this, accidental copy paste.

[planswalker]

um... what???

Didn't we just do that turn?

[Monodominant]

This time, and somewhat expecting it, the creature lowers his body almost to the ground and avoids getting burned.

It lunges forward again and tries to put you back on the ground as well.

Unfortunately for it, your tough exterior and quick reflexes mean that it manages to miss with all its attacks...



Bite [roll0] - crit confirm [roll1]
damage [roll2] - crit damage [roll3]

Claw 1 [roll4] - crit confirm [roll5]
damage [roll6] - crit damage [roll7]

Claw 2 [roll8] - crit confirm [roll9]
damage [roll10] - crit damage [roll11]

And in case of crit [roll12] (will save DC 16 for half).

And trip attack if bite hits

[roll13]
Str check [roll14]

[planswalker]

okay, this makes more sense now...

btw, Ish is updated.

"Puppy, you die now."

LG blasts it again [roll0]

[Monodominant]

Your blast brings it close to death...

You have a feeling that currently you are fighting more the 'essence' of the temple than the gloom dog, whose flesh is all but consumed from the barrage of ice and flame. That and its rage is what is keeping it alive.

It seems that the same thing that regenerates it, also gives it more... vitality and yet you almost destroyed it completely.

It renews its attack as ferocious as before and you feel that its strength is returning...



Last round that it has the -6 strength.

Bite [roll0] - crit confirm [roll1]
damage [roll2] - crit damage [roll3]

Claw 1 [roll4] - crit confirm [roll5]
damage [roll6] - crit damage [roll7]

Claw 2 [roll8] - crit confirm [roll9]
damage [roll10] - crit damage [roll11]

If crit add [roll12] (DC 16 Will for half) negative energy damage

And if bite hits free trip
[roll13]
Strength check [roll14]

[planswalker]

[roll0]

Whether he's fallen or not, LG will blast it with fire again.

Gotta take out the doggy so I can deal with the source.

[Monodominant]

Little Green indeed falls as the creature pushes him down yet again. Not only that but it also attempts to bury its snout on his neck as a follow-up.



The free attack for the tripping...

[roll0] - crit confirm [roll1]
damage [roll2] - crit damage [roll3]

and in case of crit [roll4] negative energy damage (dc 16 will save for half).

PS> you did not roll your breath attack.

Also... whats your current HP?

[planswalker]

[roll0][roll0]

63/107 hp

with that, I believe it's the dog's turn.

[Monodominant]

Maybe because of the attack on your throat you do not blast it with your full potential. The creature is hit but not severely wounded and the fact that it is regenerating even from the fire breaths means that it does even less overall damage.

The creature seems somewhat frustrated with the fact that you wont die and you wont flee and continues attacking, this time its strength has returned and it attacks your prone form.



No more -6 strength

[roll0] - crit confirm [roll1]
[roll2] - crit damage [roll3]

[roll4] - crit confirm [roll5]
[roll6] - crit damage [roll7]

[roll8] - crit confirm [roll9]
[roll10] - crit damage [roll11]

In case of crit [roll12] (will save DC 16 for half)

[planswalker]

ow. That one hurt.

LG blasts it again for [roll0]

[Monodominant]

Indeed as you lay there bloodied and severely wounded you realise the destructive potential of this creature.



When I am not constantly missing with 2 of 3 attacks...

PS> Attacking it (and wounding it) with natural attacks or weapons also causes the negative energy damage as the corrupted blood sprays the attacker... so you were truly lucky with the fact that your breath weapon is neither :D



Still, once again... you triumph! Your final blast hits the creature and destroys it. You are showered with its dirty, unclean, black blood but as it is dead it does not affect you.

Just as the creature dies, one of the statues cracks and the internal black light goes out.

[planswalker]

LG the 2'10" badass does it again!

btw, can I get a check on how much XP the adventure has accrued so far? I need 4,755 xp to level up, and I suspect I'll need the level to face the end bosses.

LG takes a moment to celebrate and breathe before standing up. That was one of the nastier fights he's been in for a while. That omen was dead right.

During the fight, there had been some sort of statue. He goes closer to investigate.

[Monodominant]

Will do tomorrow morning cause I need to check what monsters you have slain, including some from the past thread.



There are more than one statue present.

There are 12 human sized statues without any distringuising features, around the room.

There are also 6 much larger (twice as large as a human) statues with a bit more chiselled detail, one in front of each sarcophagus.

It is one of them that was glowing with an internal black light and the same one that broke and fragmented when the dog died.

[planswalker]

Dear gods, please don't let the others come alive. I hate retreating.

If nothing else starts trying to kill him, LG will go back and retrieve the party to help him loot this place bare.

[Monodominant]

5 more such dogs appear.

Give me a spellcraft check and knowledge arcana.



Currently no other danger seems to exist in the room. You return with the rest of the team, that seems very suprised at your condition and start searching the place.

To cut a long story short, given enough time you can take all precious metal and stones from this wealthy room.

The two haflings regard you as some kind of mythical creature for having slain the dog.

The question though is... do you open the sarcophagi?



I will need an appraise check to tell you the value of all these gems and precious metal decorations... feel free to also roll for Jana.

[planswalker]

[roll0]

They do indeed strip the place bare. LG will hold off opening the sarcophagus for now.

He and Jana both examine the items they've looted. [roll1], [roll2]

[Monodominant]

You can tell that you have a small fortune here... both you and Jana estimate the amount of gems and gold and platinum could net you around 15000 gold, assuming you found someone willing to buy them in such bulk quantity.

As you are moving around the room and continue to observe it, you start considering what you saw. Your knowledge of the arcane leads you to believe that if that -undead- dog was somehow bound in this room, the presence of these bigger statues may indicate that more such creatures exist or maybe given time the dog will eventually return until all pillars are destroyed.



Now as for XP...

Remind me something... in AvB we always said that we would give 1/2 xp from fighting in order to avoid people just going on killing sprees... since basically we are just... you and me. Should we lift this rule? Neither of us has the serial killer type character (well Ishmael kinda is a serial killer but not a butcher type) so it could be worth it... considering mostly we face CR equivalent challenges but soloing them...

In this case I can give you the break down.

The wight was CR 8. That means at you level 1800 XP. But you had the support of the Priestess (Jana doesnt count as she is your cohort) hence making it 900... if I half that again its 450... which seems too little.

On the other hand this dog was CR 9 (CR 5 creature and CR 4 template) and you fought it alone hence 2700 XP and divided by 1/2 would mean 1350...

So to cut a long story short, overall since I last gave you XP you have 4950 (or 2475 if we half it as usual). This represents the wight, the dog, the greater shadow and the ooze (though at reduced CR given it was more like a trap than actual monster).

So, what do you think?

[Monodominant]

I think it glitched... so bump for appearance.

[planswalker]

I'd say we lift the half xp thing.

Now time to rest and level up.

LG will suggest to Jana that the priestess heals him as best she can and they stop in this room to rest, with the two boys and LG taking turns watching out for dangers, LG taking the last shift.

[planswalker]

rolling hp:

[roll0] taking 1st non-1

edit: btw, any chance I can switch out my weakening breath effect for another of equivalent level? It's getting progressively less useful.

[Monodominant]

You can make a change. I mean theoretically there is always Psychic Reformantion but its okay with me to make 1 change to get rid of something you dont want anymore...

I would point out though that in the fight you just had the -3 to hit/damage that you gave him really DID make a difference. Much less damage and many less hits, especially when you were prone meaning low AC. You essentially cancelled his Rage AND 2 from his original strength.

In any case, as you wish :D , just let me know what you changed.



The Sister expends all her remaining prayers and blessings to heal you. Many of your wounds are gone but given how depleted she is, you still have some.



You are healed for:

[roll0] (3 x cure lights)
[roll1] (cure moderate)

[planswalker]

gonna swap out weakening breath for slow breath. Fort save in a cone to slow them for 2 rounds, 1 on a save.

Reducing my opponent to a single move or standard action a round means that I face NO full attacks in a round. May be half the duration and them saving means I spend a turn to gimp theirs, but I think it's worth it. Especially once my cohort gets into the sublime chord prc. It's also more generally useful, as things that don't use STR mods don't care about the weakening breath. If I'm facing something that doesn't like full-round actions, odds are the correct course is just to blast it dead.

That taken care of, LG will rest, taking the third shift in the night watch to let the casters get a full nights' sleep.

[Monodominant]

You wake up for your shift to find the two halfling children looking at you intently.

They do not do anything, nor do they say anything but they are awake like you...

[planswalker]

Feeling stronger than ever, he'll say, "What's up you two? I'm slowly turning into a thrall of that mad god?" [roll0]

[Monodominant]

The two halflings look at each other for a moment as if an unheard discussion goes on between them.

"Well..." starts Erik.

"We are... ghosts. We kinda died here so we generally haunt the place..."

[planswalker]

"So, was the whole "we eat" thing a sham or should I pretend to be surprised when you say you've been devouring something?"

[Monodominant]

"Well..." starts Erik again.

"We try to maintain some sense of our old lives... we try to eat and try to drink... it keeps us sane. We wont harm you or anything... I mean we could have if we wanted to but I guess we enjoy your company!"

[planswalker]

"Fair enough. Just keep in mind that you two would be the only two undead so far in this place that DON'T want us dead. Forgive me if I harbor paranoia. I didn't survive as a little green freak in a big world by trusting foolishly. However, I will extend friendship, if not trust." [roll0]

"Oh, and most ghosts I know of have a specific reason why they are tied to this coil instead of passing on. Is there something keeping you here?"

After their answer, LG will pass the time in companionable silence until Jana and the priestess wake up. He then will proceed to use his shiny new sonic breath to shatter the remaining statues one at a time.

He THEN will open the first sarcophagus to see what's in there.

[Monodominant]

"We dont know... we actually were the kids of one of the builders of this place... maybe the Archpriests cursed us to stay trapped here after he left promising to bring back help when he realised what the temple was for..." Eric says.

"We havent seen anyone for as long as can remember though... the upper parts had been raided many times by various creatures but few ever found the passage in the under-temple... I believe there is a further level even more down but we never got past the dog so we cant tell you much about it!" adds Toby.

"Ah and there is off course a lady Annis somewhere around here... she also got trapped somehow! She is even scarier than the old priest and the dog!"

After your discussion, 'morning' comes quickly. Jana and the priestess wake up and once again you can see from Jana's haunted look that her sleep was not restful. Dark circles have started forming around her eyes...

You manage to destroy all the pillars and for a few moments the place somehow feels more hospitable and warm... as time passes though it returns to its previous state.

Opening the first sarcophagus requires... a Reflex save.

[planswalker]

raise your hand if you're surprised at the trap...

[roll0]

[Monodominant]

I raise my hand!



What happens next is not so much a mechanical trap as a suprise.

The sarcophagus is filled with a gooey, gruesome and thick liquid from which a series of worms lunge at you along with a cloud full of spores.

The smell and sight is very disturbing and you thank Tiamat that you manage to pull away from this horrid infestation before the worm-like creatures with the razorsharp claws get at you.

[planswalker]

LG will begin to burn them while signaling for the rest to stay back.

[roll0]

[Monodominant]

It doesnt take long to destroy the nest. Inside the sarcophagus, after you have cleaned out these parasites, you can find the completely eaten bones of a human body and a series of items like a death mask and other such jewelery but are completely ruined due to their contact with the slimy creatures.

There is one thing not destroyed and that is a small flask made from a weird iron like material. There is liquid in the flask.

[planswalker]

LG will store the flask away for now. Time enough to experiment with what it could be when they're back on the surface.

LG will open the lids on the other two by pushing them with his arm decoration known as his quarterstaff. He ensures that he burns them all to a crisp before looting it and proceeding to the next one.

[Monodominant]

None of the other sarcophagi have anything living, or unliving, in them. Bones and jewelery that has been ruined by time is mostly what is in them. It seems that indeed these were the last High Priests of this temple given what you know. For some reason it seems the dog you fought kept the last High Priest from being buried here.

Overall still surviving there are 2 golden masks with jeweled eyes, a few platinum bracers and a scepter that radiates magic. Other than that, all sarcophagi have a similar flask to the one you found already. Two of them though have completely dried out, leaving the total number of the ones that still contain some kind of liquid to 4.

[planswalker]

LG will loot it all for now to be sorted through back on the surface.

With Jana's consent, he will lead them onwards.

[Monodominant]

You advance past this room, the final resting place of the Priesthood of Tharidzun, to a small corridor.

Unlike most areas you have crossed so far this corridor is tight and low ceilinged. You, Jana and the halflings have little problem to pass through given your height but the Sister does face some problems.

After around 5 minutes of walking you arrive at what appears to be yet another shrine.

The passageway divides to pass east and west of a huge ovoid pillar spanning from floor to ceiling. This column is more than 10‘ thick and slightly longer than 20’. In the exact center of its (east and west) face is a recess. In this alcove is a black statue of a shrouded, man-like figure.

Water seeps down the face of the figure, running drop by drop as if they were tears, coursing along the chest to a trough made by the arms, and then into a bowl. The water has left a slight deposit of reddish mineral over the years. The basin is filled, and a steady drip from it falls on the statue’s feet, seeping away to who knows where.

At the feet of the figure is another small statue, a spherical shape with many ray-like projections from it. This statue has a hollow place atop it which resembles a small bowl or dish. There are green and black objects in the dish and small holes around the dish.

There is no obvious exit from this room.

[planswalker]

"Anyone have a thought on what to do here that's more sophisticted than me destroying one of the alcoves to find out what'll happen?"

[Monodominant]

Jana approaches the whole edifice carefully.

"Well... this whole scene reminds of a fountain I read about once. You made offerings and the Gods would see to it that you would return there afterwards... supposedly it was a nice place where you wanted to actually return to!" she explains.

She does not touch the statues but she proceeds to search the room.

The Sister eyes the obviously religious statue with mistrust and casts a couple of spells before turning to you.

"A mix of magic and evil is present in the aura all about this shrine. It might have once been truly powerful and though I still feel the traces as a bad taste in my mouth but much has subsided... the... tears especially seem to have some power..."

[planswalker]

"Well, Jana, unless you think you can figure out how the fountain operates and safely overcome it, I think I'd prefer to turn this thing to rubble. Worst case scenario, we have to manually find the hidden door and I get to exercise my breath creating an entrance."

[Monodominant]

Jana approaches the statue and looks at it carefully. A few moments later she seems a bit dissapointed.

"I cant figure anything out unless I touch and I really dont wanna touch it... still I can try something else..." she says and takes out her coin pouch.

She selects a few silver coins and tosses them in the little dish next to the other greenish objects.

For a few seconds nothing happens and then a slow rumbling is heard from the statue and the walls around you. After the rumbling stops, nothing has changed.

"Hmmm... I guess the whole... sacrifice coins, cause I guess thats what those green black things are, is part of it but it needs an additional element. That might be drinking the tears or placing something in those funny looking holes..."

[planswalker]

"Let's avoid imbibing evil water if we don't have to. Try one of those flasks we picked up from the crypts."

[Monodominant]

Intelligence check.



Jana takes out one of the four flasks you mention.


never mind this spoiler
[roll0]
never mind this spoiler


"Ok... what do I do with it?" asks Jana.

"The contents of the flask are obviously magical by the way... and powerful magic too..." says the Sister that is still using her augmented sight.

[planswalker]

[roll0]

"For now, just set the flask unopened in the thing."

[Monodominant]

Jana places the flask as directed.

You wait for a few moments but nothing happens.



Hehe its not a matter of intelligence... merely a matter of not having 100% visual of what our characters see and experience.



As you become impatient and have time to analyse the details, you realise that the little holes around the basin correspond to something you have seen. They appear exactly like the little cold rods you found in the underground bone room.

[planswalker]

LG will try inserting one of the rods he picked up from the hole.

[Monodominant]

The rod fits perfectly and it clicks in place. The cold effect seems to leave the rod and makes the water in the little basin mist as it becomes colder very fast.

There are 5 more rods in the box and there are 5 more holes around the statue.

[planswalker]

Catching on, LG has Jana put the flask away and puts his rods in the holes.

[Monodominant]

Jana lifts the flask from the now misty water and goes to place it at her backpack. In doing so she touches the liquid...

For a second time freezes as her features contort into a mask of horror and a black shadow passes through her eyes. At the same time you notice a few cuts and scrapes as well as blisters and marks dissappear from her skin as if completely healed.

She opens her mouth as if to say something but the only thing that comes out is a whisper.

"Tharidzun..."

[planswalker]

"Dammit, not now. Not to her." LG says, absolutely frustrated. "Priestess, see if you can keep her from hurting herself or others while I take care of this thing." LG hurries to place all the rest of the rods.

[Monodominant]

The Sister of Salvation, and suprisingly the two ghost halflings, all rush to Jana's side. You are certain its concern you see in all their faces.

The older woman takes Jana by the hand and whispers a few encouraging words before putting her hand on the top of the girls forhead.

Jana seems as if in a trance, slowly whispering the name of the Mad God and with a feint smile on her face. Eventually the Sister places her other hand over the heart of the girl and channels a blessing upon her. Jana jumps back and her eyesight clears.

She looks around her and blinks.

"Wow!" she says as she looks at all of you.

Meanwhile as you are placing its rod in its place the water grows colder from their effect. When the final rod is placed the water freezes deeply and completely and it seems the temperature drop is so severe that even the trickling water and the tears freeze in place.

All you need now is to give an offering to the small cup in front of you...

[planswalker]

Knowing just the sort of offering that mad cults always wants, LG will cut his hand and drip his blood as the offering.

[Monodominant]

The drops of blood freeze before they even hit the now frozen water surface.

For mere seconds they seem to float in the air as if even gravity has frozen. They then resume their normal 'activity' and they splash on the cup making a surreal bloody ice picture.

The rumbling you had heard before starts again and you find yourself thinking the name Tharidzun. It comes uncalled for and unbidden at the top of your mind but if you choose to, you can suppress it before saying anything.

As the rumbling fades the obsidian wall to the left and right of the room you are in is raised. You can see how difficult it would have been to actually break it down even with your sonic breath given the thickness and type of material.

Never the less you are now granted 2 more possible way to advance.

The one to the left is a narrowing corridor, like the one that lead to this room, with a downward slope. At the end of your vision you see an arch made from entwinning statues of two naked, robust women. Past the arch there is a staircase leading further down.

The one to the right is a rather large room with what you immidiatetly recognise as a teleportation circle along with numerous wards and protections carved around it. You now see how the high priesthood, and those chosen by them, could leave this place given that no actual exit to the outside world now exists.

[planswalker]

LG chooses NOT to sound like a deranged cultist.

He motions for the party to proceed down the passage with the statues.

[Monodominant]

Dont say I didnt give you a way out now that you have so much loot!



The group follows you down the narrow passage. Not as narrow as before so you can walk side by side but still much less spacious than the rest of the temple.

You have reached the arch and can see that the staircase after it is made from black and white tiles. The black ones seem to be basalt while the white ones seem to be blocks of ice.

Indeed the temperature here is noticably colder, approaching the temperature of those rods. It is not bothersome yet but you can imagine that if it gets much colder you will need a source of heat or warmth given that none of you actually has winter clothing.

[planswalker]

Indeed, but even though he won't admit it yet, LG's willing to risk his life for jana.

LG, with his cold resistance from his items, will press on. "If any of you need to turn back from the cold at some point, go ahead and do so."

[Monodominant]

You have just crossed the threshold of the arch when the trap manifests itself.

The two statues animate into beautifull flowing, stone women wielding bastardswords two-handedly. One of them turns to face you and the other turns to face the combined team that was behind you. The statues are back to back and look down on all of you with single minded determination.

In your case the first swing passes just above your head and you thank Tharidz... Tiamat for her mercy in your being a halfling. You can see that the sword is obviously magical from the gleaming blade.

In the case of the others the Priestess gets a bastard sword wound almost on the chest.



Initiative. They are going at 7 so give actions if you act first.

Knowledge check (whatever is relevant for Constructs)

[planswalker]

arcana for constructs, among other things.

[roll0]

[roll1]

if he goes first:

LG will step to the side and use his sonic breath on the statues, angling it to catch the statues on the edge of the effect so as to avoid hurting his allies.

[roll2]

Jana will activate her mage armor effect.

[Monodominant]

You can tell that the creatures before you are Caryatid Columns. Constructs created as guardians. You have heard that they are an archaic construct, very rarely found in the world today. They take the form of beautiful, alabaster women that spend the ages as inanimate statues only to become conscious when the area the protect, or the orders they have, are broken.

They fight till the end and are formidable opponents should one be using traditional weapons as their stony skin and abilities can break every weapon that strikes them. Even magical weapons are in danger of these special sundering. Other than that, they have the hardness of an object and usual construct traits.



By the way... I guess your breath is an effect that also works on objects right? Otherwise it says that if it needs to take fortitude, they are immune to it (unless if that effect would affect objects).

Also, does sonic damage bypass hardness?

After you answer I will resolve actions.

[planswalker]

yes, my breath weapons also effect objects, so they're not immune to them.

Sonic damage in general ignores hardness, yes.

[Monodominant]

Ok! There was a big discussion in the past about hardness on objects and hardness on creatures and how that worked but I dont care to go too far into such RAWering so lets go with that.



Your sonic attack causes some parts of both statues to crumble to stone as the harmonics of your breath destroy their cohesion.

Jana takes a step back and casts Mage Armor succesfully.

Meanwhile the Sister unsure of what these creatures are, casts a protective spell on herself and takes a step back.

Unfortunately for her the ability of the Caryatid with the blade is quite high and she cleaves at the woman delivering a tougher blow once again.

Your own enemy takes a step forward in order to push you back and to stop you from being able to catch both of them in your breathing cone and not harm your allies at the same time. Given the fact that behind you is a staircase leading down that would be the case unless if you give advantage and high ground to her.

She then attempts to cleave you in half but once again you dodge out of the way with ease.



Attack 1
[roll0] - crit [roll1]
damage [roll2] - crit confirm [roll3]

Attack 2
[roll4] - crit [roll5]
damage [roll6] - crit confirm [roll7]

[planswalker]

LG will take that step to the side.

He will take a step back and go invisible.

[Monodominant]

At the other side of the corridor the two ghost halflings join in the fight. They glare ugly glares at the statue that is completely unaffected.



Ghosts basically cant do much to something immune to ability damage ...



It seems that this though attracts its attention long enough and the Caryatid swings her massive bastard sword in two quick cuts towards Erik. The first one passes right through him and there is a smile on his lips, but the second swing seems to actually meet the spiritual part of him and he wails in pain.

The priestess takes another step back, and summons a Warhammer made out of pure glowing white energy. The weapon flies towards the Caryatid and strikes her but only manages to do a small nick on her bust.

Jana on the other hand draws her special chimes and plays a few loud notes. This seems to cause a bit more damage on the Caryatid.

Things though look more grim for them as the second Lady Statue, the one that had been facing you, turns and attacks them as well now that you have disappeared. She manages a blow on the priestess who is starting to look fairly wounded.

[planswalker]

LG will re-position himself so that he can hit both again without hitting his allies, and blasts them with another sonic breath for [roll0]

As the invisibility fades, he says to Jana "Look, if we can't beat these statues and it comes down to just you, run to the other passage and get out of here. Tell [Mr Grafty] about what we've found and get him to put an expedition together."

[Monodominant]

Your second sonic attack, along with the hit from Jana and the nick from the Priestess's weapon actually completely destroys the second statue. The pieces crash on the floor with a thud.

The two hafling children take quick steps back seeing as they cant harm the constructs and the Priestess along with her spiritual weapon, both attack the remaining Caryatid.

Faced with these attacks and you positioned behind it seems the construct is uncertain whom to attack. In the end it turns once again towards you and charges but uses the momentum for a blow designed to cause more damage.



Power attack for 4

[roll0] - crit confirm [roll1]
damage [roll2] - crit confirm [roll3]



Unfortunately the blow is far too wide and far too high but you have the sense that had it hit it would have been devastating.

[planswalker]

devastating is clearly a... relative term.

LG will blast it with fire for [roll0]

[Monodominant]

Well at 17 to 20 it crits (improved crit on bastard sword) and 44 points of damage would be pretty devastating :D



The fire doesnt cause as much damage as it would at another creature but combined with the damage it has received already it destroys it completely.

[planswalker]

"I HATE fair fights..."

[Monodominant]

The Sister gives you a weary smile and uses her own spells to cure some of her wounds.

Jana though has noticed something more.

"His blade passed through you! I saw it! And you didnt die!" she says pointing an accusing finger on Eric.

The young halfling turns to you with a pleading look.

[planswalker]

"Indeed so. We're lucky that happened. Did you want him to die?" [roll0] [roll1]

He does his best to be direct and honest while passing it off as some strange coincidence to be looked at after they've exited the temple.

[roll2]

LG tries to pass a secret message to Jana through subtext, body language, and glances.

Indeed so [you're smart. You can figure out why]. We're lucky that happened [since he's our friend]. Did you want him to die? [hint, hint: he's already dead, please don't alert the priestess]

[Monodominant]

Jana is about to complain and retort when she stops herself and simply frowns.

"I guess you have some magic tricks up your sleeves as well then!" she says as she softens up.

The Sister looks at the scene curiously but given that she was being cut multiple times during the attack on the ghost she didnt really see what happened and remains silent.

[planswalker]

"Anyways, through sheer process of elimination, the thing that's plaguing Jana sleep should be just up ahead. Let's finish this madhouse and get out of here."

LG will lead off down the passage.

[Monodominant]

The temperature continues to drop as you keep going down the staircase.

At first you think that just around the corner you will reach the bottom but it proves to be just a small plateau and then the staircase continues.

And continues...

And continues...

You are starting to actually feeling tired of descending and your breaths are misting in the frozen air. Your companions. the non-ghost ones at least, are now really feeling the cold and the priestess is forced to use one of her blessings to keep them from freezing.

And the staircase continues...

And continues...

You are at the point where your knees are starting to hurt from the steady pounding of your feet on hard stone when finally you INDEED see the bottom. On their own accord the light-sources the others need go out. You are plunged into darkness though you can see and feel the surrounding space and the last few steps that lead to the floor.

[planswalker]

"If you cannot see in the dark or the cold can bother you, probably best if you wait here until we stop the source of this blackout. Ghost boys, I'm all for keeping your secret, but I desperately need your help. Things have been getting progressively nastier down her. Jana, hold out your belt of healing for me to grab. I may need it down there. I know that I just laid a HUGE load of revelation on everyone, but please just follow along with me for now and I promise we can explain everything when we're out of the dark and cold. Sister, please stay with Jana and protect her." [roll0]

LG does his best to use tone of voice to convince everyone to follow along as requested while he takes charge.

[Monodominant]

The Sister raises to the moment and simply nods. She does try though to shed some light in the situation (10 xp to myself for this pun) by creating a continual light blessing.

Light is indeed cast from this spell but it is by far not what it is supposed to be. It feels very soft and as if any moment it will gutter it. It feels as if the very presence of it, offends the darkness all around you.

Jana prepares the belt and tries to put up a brave face while the 2 ghosts do the same. Despite them being dead they kind of feel that this place carries much nastier things than them.



Since I have it ready, this is this area:

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/o4u1d.png

You are currently at the beginning of 1.



There is a low passage leading south, so there isn’t much trouble deciding where to go.

[planswalker]

LG will take the belt. "I promise, we will hash out the whole mess once we're on the surface. Explanations will be given."

He leads the two ghosts to the intersection (2) and give a cursory glance down each direction.

[Monodominant]

On a side note, this place is bigger than on the map... 1st edition gave maps to give you an idea, not for tactical ala 3.5/4rth representation.



You have come but 40’ south down the passage. The 10’ wide walls of rough, black volcanic stone widen here where four passages meet. The ceiling, only about 12’ high in the passage, is domed here to a height of about 20’. As you enter this area, there is a strange iron gonging, and then all is silent again, but you all feel something strange.

Before you the walls seem to waver and turn purple. A voice of incredible basso-sort speaks out of nowhere:

“LOOK ABOVE YOU TO KNOW YOUR FATE.”

You cannot resist an upward glance. The ceiling is of transparent, seemingly infinite purple. Swimming through this universe of violet hue are glowing black runes. You start feeling a burning sensation in your fingers despite the cold, you can tell this feeling originates at the area where you got the puncture wound from the box carrying the little rods.

In a moment you can actually understand them (the runes):

“Those whom I find unfit I place on my left,” say the first
set.

The next set states:

“Those who succeed I place on my right.”

Lastly:

“The chosen may come before ME!”

The ceiling quickly fades to black, and all is normal - if there is such a thing in this place - once again.

[planswalker]

LG will worry about Lady Tiamat's lease on his soul being violated later. He'll take advantage of the runes now.

"Ghost boys, one of you go left and scout out the room. Another of you go right and do the same. We regroup here in five minutes. If someone doesn't make it back, the other two will go after him together. I'll take the central path."

True to his word, LG will go invisible and sneak forward down the central path.

taking 10 on move silently for a 29

[Monodominant]

The halflings proceed to do as commanded.

You walk towards the central room.

This place is over 40‘ across and about as high. The rough igneous rock from which the chamber was hewn is featureless except for inlaid stone symbols on each wall surface save the north where the passage enters.

The symbols are the familiar two step pyramid, reversed.

[planswalker]

LG pokes around looking to see if there is anything to be found.

[Monodominant]

The room is completely empty and devoid of any furniture or anything else for that matter. Its not time that has perhaps ruined and rotted what could have once been here but rather you feel that it was designed to be empty.

The one thing that does happen is that when you pass in front of the symbols they light up with a dark purple color. When you move away they become dimmed again.

[planswalker]

LG will touch one of the runes on a hunch.

[Monodominant]

Touching one the symbols causes a 10‘ radius circle in the exact center of the chamber floor to turn a translucent, faintly glowing purple color.

You sense a tinkling of magic in the atmosphere as if something further is needed.

[planswalker]

LG will ponder for a moment to see if he can identify what sort of effect he's triggering and what sort of lore surrounds such an effect.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]

[Monodominant]

Through your past knowledge and experience you dont come up with an answer of how to figure out this room.

You consider that so far you have found a series of items that are sacred to the Forgotten God and progressively these have helped you advance closer to the location you are now.

You can imagine that at the time that the temple still functioned series of priests, acolytes and high priests went about in a ritualistic life dedicated to Tharidzun. As such ritual and items of importance would play a pivotal role in how to advance even further.

This along with the fact that the other 2 rooms might prove to have some clue or something useful comes to your mind.

[planswalker]

LG will keep this information in mind as he returns to the intersection to wait on the ghost boys.

[Monodominant]

A couple of minutes later the halfling that went to the right side returns.

The one that went left doesnt come back in the next few minutes...

[planswalker]

"Okay, buddy, briefly describe what you found and then we're going down the other tunnel to find out what happened to the other guy."

LG was privately glad to see that his plan worked and SOMEONE ELSE got to be the first to face danger.

After getting a description of the place from ghost 1, he leads him to retrieve ghost 2.

[Monodominant]

The ghost describes a room that has a set of strange rock like trees of different colors. All 'trees' seem to grow straight from the igneous rock and share the same color at the roots but as it was becoming higher each has a particular color becoming brighter. Some kind of fruits are also on the trees but he did not try them.

You approach the next room from where the other halfling ghost did not return under the protestations of the ghost with you. It is at one hand afraid but also worried about his brother.

The poor light allows you to determine little of this place despite your darkvision, but you can see gleaming metal to the east. There appear to be suits of armor there, some fallen, others still on their stands.

Likewise there are shields of archaic type hung on the walls. Perhaps those are shelves too, with books and other items lined up on them. The light is too poor to tell for sure at any distance...

[planswalker]

btw, what sort of effect are you pulling on me that it's dimming darkvision which works in absolute darkness without taking it completely offline?

"Wait here. If I don't come out in 2 minutes, go tell Jana that we need to scram."

LG will enter the room an approach the nearest shelf.

[Monodominant]

Its called... PLOT and is part of being in a pocket demi-plane close to the demi-plane of Shadow.

Basically the shadows in this place have their own life and in particular areas ALL vision (except for blindsense for example) is obscured. If for example you brought the brightest and most super magical torch in the world in this room the effect would be it casting even MORE darker shadows.



You reach the first set of shelves and find that they are filled with dusty crumbling tomes. Series of other small items that seem without any significant value are also scattered on the various shelves.

On the ground a thick coating of rust, dust and dirt makes your footsteps very obvious. No other footsteps exist though and the other ghost is nowhere to be seen.

[planswalker]

Reminder to self: next time, find disposable minions that leave footprints.

LG will continue searching the place, hoping he will half-blindly manage to wander straight into whatever effect disappeared the ghost and prove to be superior to it. Or at least the ritual item he needs to advance.

He pushes back the dark thought that if he keeps up this ritual too much longer, he's going to be facing the mad god itself as he'll have unwittingly brought it back to life.

[Monodominant]

Your continues search lets you understand that this is some form of dumping ground.

Armor, weapons, books and everything here is ruined or destroyed. The armor is rusty and beyond use, the weapons dull and broken. Opening one of the tomes on the shelves causes it to crumble but even from the cover you can tell it is a boring old book about food preparation and nothing significant.

A set of glittering stones proves to be nothing more than glass and fake pearls as are a few other pieces of jewelery.

It is at this point that you notice, inside one of the glass-like gems the contorted face of the halfling screaming in silent agony...

[planswalker]

LG will immediately smash the gem, figuring that will either release the spirit or sent it on to its final rest, either one a better fate than being trapped in the gem. He may be a selfish (literal) bastard, but even he has standards.

[Monodominant]

The little glass gem breaks easy and a relieved face slowly fades from the surface.

Before you have time to do anything else though you are plunged in deep darkness.

A disembodied voice speaks from all around you and yet you do not sense anyone in the room with your blindsense.

"Ah that was not so nice. You know, I owned that little snipet of a soul and you went and set it free... there is a price to pay for that..."

[planswalker]

"I do not fear the impotent wrath of a dead god. Bring it. My goddess Tiamat shall protect me!" Might as well play the fanatic for another, give ghostboys a good show.

[Monodominant]

"Foolish, delluded fool! You and all your Gods and their idiotic will" responds the voice.

You continue feeling noone in the room and then suddenly, right in front of you, you feel something materialise.

Its as if a set of claws has been made directly from the shadows in which you currently are.

The clawed hands pounce and strike you twice and then the creature pushes you back and rakes you with its leg claws as well. You feel your blood curdle were you are wounded and bile and ichor well up in your wounds as they immidiatetly fester.

Your tough skin is no protection nor against the damage nor against the strike and the same applies for your shield and armor.



You suffer -4- attacks. They all hit. They ignore shield AC, armor AC and Nat Armor. You also get no DR.

They cause [roll0] + [roll1] + [roll2] + [roll3] VILE damage.

And then roll initiative. It plays at 21.

[planswalker]

"Ghostboys, HELP!"

[roll0]

[Monodominant]

You call out and hope the second halfling ghost has heard you but meantime you have other things to worry about.

The creature materialises again just next to you and strikes at your chest. As you have not moved it takes the opportunity to strike at you twice more but it fails to strike with the second attack which subsequently means it fails to perform a rake.

[roll0] vile damage.

As it continues to strike at you, you can feel how preternaturly agile it is and how it disappears and re-appers. It seems to be aware that you can sense it during those moments and still it chooses to remain within the bubble effect of the deeper darkness.

[planswalker]

"Okay, now I've let you have your fair share of hits. My turn."

LG unleashes a cone of sonic damage on the kitty [roll0]

as in, his evasion does him no good!

[Monodominant]

The -definitely not a- kitty is indeed blasted by your attack though it makes no sound of pain.

You also sense just at the door the presence of the materialised ghost halfling entering the room and looking around trying to spot anything in the darkness.

Your assailant though does not hesitate. It attacks you with ferocity and little care for self preservation. Given your size it attempts not only to strike you twice with his horrifying partially incorporeal claws but to also initiate a grapple.

If it succeeds it also rakes you as seemingly its fluid form doesnt stop it from using all its claws even in such a close maneuver... Should you try to break the grapple it releases you without any attempt to hold you.



Attack 1 [roll0] - confirm [roll1] (basically only missing on a 1 or criting on a 20)
Attack 2 [roll2] - confirm [roll3] (basically only missing on a 1 or criting on a 20)

If they both hit it initiates grapple check [roll4] and delivers 2 more attacks.

Attack 3 [roll5] - confirm [roll6] (basically only missing on a 1 or criting on a 20)

Attack 4 [roll7] - confirm [roll8] (basically only missing on a 1 or criting on a 20)

And damage

Attack 1 [roll9]
Attack 2 [roll10]
Attack 3 [roll11]
Attack 4 [roll12]

PS> You can roll knowledge religion so I can tell you more about this by the way... and intelligence check as well if you wish.

[planswalker]

well, congrats, looks like you're about to kill LG off...

Seeing as how LG is blind, defenseless, and helpless, he's clawed, caught, and very much screwed. He's torn at four times and each one hits, seeing as LG apparently has no defenses that mean a damn.

LG blasts it with his slow breath, fort dc 21 to be slowed 2 rounds, 1 on a successful save, not that this is really gonnna matter in the grapple much...

[planswalker]

knowledge religion [roll0]

int check [roll1]

[Monodominant]

The fact that you cant really see him but only get few 'sketches' of how he feels like via blindsense makes identifying your opponent difficult.

Still given the way it attacks, its agility but also the whole darkness effects you are sure, though with some margin of error, that you are facing some kind of shadow demon or devil.

What 'clicks' from this is that while fighting in complete darkness such creatures are more powerful than usual... that would explain why despite the fact that it might realise from your movements that darkness is not a problem, it still chose to use a more deep darkness effect.

[planswalker]

um... its turn, seeing as LG has gone.

[Monodominant]

Ah sorry, didnt see the other post. Only the knowledge and int check.

Also dont complain man...

Given the info I gave on my response to your checks you can change your actions if you wish.

Additionally you are not actually grappled. It grappled you in order to get all 4 attacks and then let you go.

By the way you are not blind... you have blindsense. You are just in the area of a deeper darkness spell. Moving OUT of the deeper darkness. And yea, against an opponent with touch attacks your nat armor, shield and armor dont mean much...

So in any case let me know if you want to change your action.

[planswalker]

if I had, I would have said so....

so, no, I don't. You've given me nothing I didn't already know which would change my mind.

I know you're hinting at "go leave the darkness". Does LG even know how far the darkness extends? How far he'd have to go to get out? Does he know that it'll be worth the AoO he incurs? (one which could likely become a grapple and keep him from moving.

[Monodominant]

Okay, not gonna second guess you -but- yes he knows where the darkness is. Given your spellcraft you know that deeper darkness has 60 feet radius range. Getting out of the room or even to the edges, should be enough to get you out.

How many HP do you have anyway? It only attacked you... well ... 5-6 times! You have like 100 hp no?

[planswalker]

he's taken out the majority of my 104 hp in two rounds... I've gone from 104 to 46.

also, it was not clear to me that he'd released me from the grapple, as I don't see where he had the opportunity to do so. He attacks, the improved grab on the second attack means he starts a grapple as a free action. He succeeds on his grapple check to establish a hold. He then continues his full attack after resolving the free action. A full attack that just got 2 more attacks. The way I understand the grapple rules, he'll have to wait until the start of his next turn before he can let go of the grapple, assuming he doesn't somehow magically lose a grapple check to me.

[Monodominant]

Maybe I read it wrong but I thought that since he initiated the grapple, he could also stop it at any part of his actions.

If not then yes, you are grappled.



The creature hishes as your blast indeed makes its movements slower and more difficult.

It is about to strike you when you feel a huge thrust and pull and both of you find yourselves thrust against the floor as an even greater power enters the grapple.

With your blindsense you can see the little halfling ghost in a moment of great concentration waving his arms and fingers as if trying to manipulate an unseen force.

"RUN!" it calls out as it manages to push the demon away from you and pin it to the ground.



Was trying to figure out what a ghost can do to a demon and then realised they have Telekinesis!

[planswalker]

LG high-tails it out of there and back to the lit area.

"Thank you, boys!"

[Monodominant]

The ghost also follows after you have cleared the room.

Seconds later and even the entrance to that side of the room goes dark as the demon extends his 'dominion' by using his innate abilities.

"We cant run for ever!"

You also realise that while you are granted a great fortitude due to your amazing draconic heritage, Jana and the Priestess do not share that and even a few seconds of being attacked by the creature could kill them.

[planswalker]

and, alas, I feel again that this encounter is gonna be his last. Unless that thing is a glass cannon, it has LG by his little scaly green balls.

LG will send a cone of sonic energy for [roll0] at the beast and continue his retreat.

since the thing is slowed and used (assumedly) a standard-action SL/SU ability, it hasn't moved. LG is currently exactly 30 feet from it with a 30' cone.

"All I can hope for right now is surviving the next ten seconds. I'll worry about not running when I can't anymore." He says as he retreats to the hallway across the way on a hunch.

[Monodominant]

You hear an anguished murmur from the location but you sense that the creature in the dark partially dodged your attack. Indeed his movements are slowed and it seems more weary.

As you back away and so does the ghost halfling though you see something pretty terrifying. The Shadow Demon stands up to its full height extends his fingers towards the ghost and...

The halfling ghost child disappears...

[planswalker]

remember, my sonic breath is a fort save, NOT a reflex.

"Now there, that was just rude."

LG will breath another slow breath at him and continue to back away.

[Monodominant]

Yep, he does have -some- fortitude and he doesnt have mettle but he gets his saves from time to time...



The creature gives a soft annoyed whistle and takes 5 feet forward. It extends its hands and once again the area around you is plunged into darkness...

This time though its not just the deep darkness he tried before. You feel a presence in the dark as if oppresive claws try to get at you.

You take [roll0] unholy damage but are otherwise unaffected.

The globes of darkness now extend up 30 feet from where Jana and the Priestess are standing. As it was dark before and is still dark for them they have probably not seen the change.

((In case its not clear I mean they are in plain old regular darkness, and using torches, and not in magical... the creature is extending the globes of magical darkness as it moves))

[planswalker]

that's fine, just wanted to make sure. You DID talk about dodging a fort save...

also, I wasn't leading it towards Jana and co. I was leading it down the passage opposite the one it started in. The one with the crystal trees or whatnot. The one the other ghost went down.

LG will breathe another sonic cone at it for [roll0] and continue his retreat.

[Monodominant]

Got it. But it matters little at this point...

You were right. This creature IS a glass cannon... 2 to 4 touch attacks with 1d6 base damage is what it does... in darkness though it gets +4 to everything... this includes saves and DAMAGE... so it ends up with +21 to hit and 1d6+4 damage which means it rarely misses...

On the other hand it has like 56 hp...

Its strongest ability is Magic Jar without need for the extra turn and a receptor though... it just that it cant do it every round...

It also cant leave the Undertemple so it fight to the death or until it kills everyone and trades enough souls to gain his freedom!



You once more blow towards the creature and are satisfied to hear a primal scream as your sonic blast destroys it.

The oppressive, damning darkness around you slowly lifts...

[planswalker]

His next priority is to go find the ghostboys' crystals and free them.

... wow, I was NOT expecting that.

Are you sure that the hp isn't a typo? Double-check to make sure that 56 is a reasonable number for the thing's hit dice and stats.

also remember that if it gained +4 to its constitution, that boosts its hp while the con boost lasts. Not good for its long-term survival, since the damage sticks even with lower hp afterwords, but useful for getting through the fight.

EDIT: don't get me wrong, I don't object to surviving in the least. I'm actually glad of it. I just want to make sure it's because I earned it.

[Monodominant]

nop, not a typo... it has 12 hit dice but no CON bonus... the darkness +4 is mostly to rolls, not stats... so it has normally +17 to hit but in darkness it has +21... etc...

it is actually 'only' CR 9 but in a very nice situational setup...

In bright light (daylight+ spell or actual light) it actually has -4 to everything!

The vile damage is a 'nice' trick also :D


As you pass by the place were the creature died you find a small box made out of corroded steel. It is otherwise unadorned but it is locked.

You also find a small gem of no value in the room where the creature attacked you and you do indeed see the anguished face of the second halfling child...

[planswalker]

ugh, yes. That means my CE little dragonboy's gonna have to get some consecrated area set up to heal him...

He's gonna head to the temple to Solaron!

Oh, btw, if Ish would like to go talk to the disciple of Minrhet, the temple to the twin gods Solaron and Minrhet are connected by a corridor with a tower in the center.

LG picks up the box and uses his sonic breath to smash this gem as well.

btw, does that mean both ghostboys are free or do I need to hunt down the other's gem?

[Monodominant]

You have now destroyed both gems. The spirit of the ghost escapes and disappears.



The ghost are effectively destroyed... for now. They will 'respawn' near their reliquarries in a few days/hours.

[planswalker]

Well, so much for the minions. It'll take them far too long to re-manifest for them to be useful to me here, but I'm sure Jana would like us to go back and collect them when they reappear. LG thinks to himself. He'll activate the healing belt three times to patch himself up before going back to shadow monster's room and poking around.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

[Monodominant]

Despite the festering wounds and vile essence rushing through you, magic IS enough to combat these effect and many of your wounds close.

After a long time spent searching you figure out that the room holds nothing of value. Everything that might have once been here has been destroyed by the ravages of time or by the Shadow Demon who was trapped here. The armors are rusted, the books are crumbling, the weapons are blunt, the gems are glass.

The only treasure this creature seemed to hold dear, or unable to destroy, was the one in the steel box.

[planswalker]

... what steel box?

LG grabs the steel box an heads over to the crystal fruit tree chamber and readies himself for whatever bloodcurdling monstrocity tries to kill him next.

[Monodominant]

[SPOILER]

As you pass by the place were the creature died you find a small box made out of corroded steel. It is otherwise unadorned but it is locked.

You also find a small gem of no value in the room where the creature attacked you and you do indeed see the anguished face of the second halfling child...

This place has five strange formations in it. Each appears similar to a small tree, its trunk of shiny black near the base but then becoming a shade of color as it grows upwards, until finally branches, twigs, and leaves are of brighter hue.

From left to right you see:


opalescent black tree
deep green tree
metallic crimson tree
indigo blue tree
smoky purple tree


Each tree has globular fruit-like growths hanging from its branches. Although the trees themselves vary in color as described, the fruit of each is the same lustrous black.

[planswalker]

Tempted to just raze the whole thing, LG will climb up the nearest tree and touch a fruit.

[Monodominant]

The fruit appears to be firm and ready to be plucked.



Be careful in this room...