Playtest/Story – The Septadecima Adventures – Part 2: In the Temple of The Spider Queen
Maneuver Legend: AA – All Out Attack, ACA – Accurate Attack, DA – Defensive Attack, PA – Power Attack, RA – Routine Attack, SA – Standard Attack], TC - Toughness Check, WC – Will Check, FC – Fortitude Check
Intro: The adventure continues...
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After taking a few minutes to gather themselves the party entered the cave and began their descent into the
kobolds' lair.
Rain told them that after going down the narrow and steep stairway, there would be a large room that had a hidden doorway that led to a barracks and then down another level. That level had some other rooms and a hallway that led to a large temple where her original party was overwhelmed by a horde of kobolds,
spiders and the
“dark men”.
The group cautiously made their way down the dark, narrow, rough hewn stairs with
Xelennia on point, followed by
Arisema,
Dryzza,
Baruun,
Extherene, Rain,
Beaver and
Jobymme covering their rear. In order to keep the element of surprise, they didn’t produce any light sources since only half of the party couldn’t see in the dark. So they simply moved slowly and those with Darkvision occasionally whispered instructions when needed.
Perception checks. Xelennia gets a 16 against a DC10 to hear the kobolds in the room up ahead. So she easily does. She will try to sneak up will need to see if she can find the trap that they know is somewhere by that room. Skill Mastery on Stealth gets her a 21 against their perception of 12. Trap finding DC is C20. She finds it with a 24. She’ll try to disable it, 29 on her Tech check. Easy peasy. She’ll peek in the room as well and assess the situation.
After a few minutes, Xelennia halted the group and stealthily scouted ahead. She was able to get right outside the opening to the room. She spotted a trip wire just a couple of feet before the entrance, which she assumed was the trap that Dryzza had learned about from mind reading the kobold. It was a pretty basic design and it took her all of about 30 seconds to disable mechanism without setting it off.
After that she looked into the dark room to see about a half dozen kobold guards and another slightly larger kobold wearing dark robes. She worked her way back up to stairs to the groups and relayed the information to Arisema. Xelennia thinks the kobold in robes might be a spell caster but otherwise, with the trap disabled, it didn’t look like it should be much of an issue. Arisema had all the members of the group with Darkvision move to the front to be the first wave and then she would have Baruun light up the room for the rest of them if need be.
Xelennia told them she thought she could sneak in and take out one or two of them before they can react, as well. Once that was decided, she took off again, with Dryzza, Extherene and Jobymme following about 15 ft back. The rest of the normal sighted group lagged behind, slowly feeling their way down the stairs.
Surprise Round: There’s 6 kobolds in the room and one Kobold Dragon/Spider Priest. The room is big, 30x40. The Spider Priest is near the back of the room, the kobolds are closer to the middle. To make it just a wee bit challenging, no minion rule this time. The kobolds should have been able to hear the group coming down without too much trouble so I’m ruling that Xelennia will have to get a 2nd degree success to get a sneak attack, since she’ll have to basically get up close to the entrance then dash in. She does barely make the 2nd degree success, 27 to 20. Good thing I rolled instead of taking Skill Mastery.
She gets to the doorway, then moves in and she can pretty easily get to the kobolds. She goes PA1 with her twin shortswords on the one we’ll label Kobold 1. She rolls a 19 for a 24 total. Since he’s surprised, she gets her Backstab. That’s a crit and she gets +5 from Multiattack because it’s a 3rd degree success since the kobold is flat-footed. So the kobold, with his mighty +0 toughness has to make a DC30 TC. He ALMOST survived, but he only got a 14. 4thh degree failure and he’s out. In the previous battles, I forgot that you need to make DC15 Fort checks when you’re afflicted with the Dying condition to avoid keeping it, or even stabilizing. I am NOT going to roll every round if these NPCs fail the check the first time because you basically get up to 3 degrees of failure before you die. If they fail, they just remain Dying unless they get healed or something. The kobold fails the check with a 9 so he is Dying until otherwise noted.
The kobolds, except for the one in the robes all freak out! I’m going to check to see if they bolt, let’s go 30% chance. 11. They stick it out because of the Priest shouting threats of telling the dark men of their cowardice. I’m giving Xelennia an HP for awesomeness, even though she doesn’t need it since has 3 already.
While this is happening the others in the party are moving up to attack the next round. Great start to this encounter, which I figured would be pretty uneventful anyway.
Round 1: Initiative: Xellenia – 22, Extherene – 20, Dryzza – 18, Kobold Dragon/Spider Priest – 15, Jobymme – 15, Kobolds – 14. I’ll roll for the other 4 members of the party once they are able to get involved, which will be another two rounds. Xelennia will move over to where she can reach two kobolds with her Double extra on her twin short swords. She hits with a 24, so each one has to make a DC17 TC. The first one, Kobold 2, gets a 6 for a 3rd degree failure and the other, Kobold 3, gets a 12 for a 1st degree failure. Extherene moves into the room and fires Magic Missiles at the kobold in robes and another kobold next to him using Multiattack. She hits the Spider Priest with a 21 and missed the other with a 14. DC19 TC, the Spider Priest gets a 5, he’ll use his HP to reroll, natural 7 but with +10 for the HP and his +2 toughness, he makes the check. The other kobold, Kobold 4, gets a 12 for a 2nd degree failure.
Dryzza comes in and can get to another Kobold and rolls a natural 2. Now the Spider Priest attacks. Seeing Extherene as the main threat since she used magic on him, he fires back at her with a lightning bolt of his own. But he misses with an 8. Jobymme rounds the corner and won’t be able to make to any of the other kobolds in melee so he will put himself between the kobolds and Extherene and will Defend.
Now the kobolds. Kobold 1 is dying, Kobold 2 is staggered so he will use his action to Recover, removing his disabled condition. Kobold 3 attacks Xelennia but misses with a 14. Kobold 4 will use his action to move up on Jobymme. Kobold 5 is going to attack Dryzza, going AA2 and he misses with a 13. Kobold 6 will go after Jobymme as well with an SA and he misses badly.
Status – Xelennia (fine, 4 hp), Extherene (fine, 10 spells, 1 hp), Dryzza (fine, 9 psionics, 2 hp), Kobold Spider Priest (fine, 0 hp), Jobymme (fine, 10 prayers, 2 hp), Kobold 1 (-1 toughness, incapacitated, dying, 0 hp), Kobold 2 (-1 toughness, staggered, 0 hp), Kobold 3 (-1 toughness, 0 hp), Kobold 4 (-1 toughness, dazed, 0 hp), Kobold 5 (fine, 0 hp), Kobold 6 (fine, 0 hp)
Round 2: Initiative - Xellenia, Extherene, Dryzza, Kobold Dragon/Spider Priest, Jobymme, Kobolds. Xelennia will switch her focus to Kobold 5 on Dryzza so she can get her Backstab with her shortswords. She’ll go AA2 and hit with a 24. The 17 roll gets her a crit, the second degree success gets her +2 on Multiattack so the kobold has to make a DC26 TC. He gets a 5 so he is completely run through. He fails the Fort check as well so he’s still Dying. Extherene will move up a bit and get within 15 ft of the Spider Priest and use her Bitter Lash. She misses with a 13, HP to reroll gets her a 20 to hit. But the Spider Priest makes his DC16 will check with an 18.
Dryzza will have to use her Move Action to get her longsword, which doesn’t leave her enough movement left, even with her Move-by Action, to get in an attack this round. The Dragon Priest shoots another lightning bolt at Extherene going AA2 but he misses again. Jobymme will swing his Warhammer, AA2 at Kobold 6 and hit with a 21. DC21 TC and the kobold gets a 15 for a 2nd degree failure.
The kobolds are hurting already. Kobold 2 will move back by the Spider Priest. Kobold 3 chases Xelennia and goes AA1 to with his shortspear but misses. Kobold 4 attacks Jobymme, AA1 and hits. Jobymme gets a 12 on the DC15 TC for a 1st degree failure. Kobold 6 attacks Jobymme as well, AA2 and he hits. Jobymme passes the TC with an 18.
While they are coming down the last few stairs, Arisema lights a torch. I didn’t really use them in the first adventure but as I look at my original configuration for them in Equipment, I think a full 30 ft radius of Environment (Light) is a bit much for a torch. So I’m changing it to say that the torch illuminates a 15 ft radius fully and 15 ft partially. I’m apparently going to have to have some folks get some Sunrods and/or give some folks some Environment (Light) cantrips moving forward….
Status – Xelennia (fine, 4 hp), Extherene (fine, 9 spells, 1 hp), Dryzza (fine, 9 psionics, 2 hp), Kobold Spider Priest (fine, 8 prayers, 0 hp), Jobymme (-1 toughness, 10 prayers, 2 hp), Kobold 1 (-1 toughness, incapacitated, dying, 0 hp), Kobold 2 (-1 toughness, staggered, 0 hp), Kobold 3 (-1 toughness, 0 hp), Kobold 4 (-1 toughness, 0 hp), Kobold 5 (-1 toughness, incapacitated, dying, 0 hp), Kobold 6 (-1 toughness, dazed, 0 hp)
Round 3: This round the rest of the party can engage. Initiative rolls for them: Arisema - 22, Baruun - 5, Rain - 26, Beaver - 5. So that puts the overall Initiative at Rain, Arisema, Xellenia, Extherene, Dryzza, Kobold Dragon/Spider Priest, Jobymme, Kobolds, Beaver, Baruun. Rain will hold for Arisema, who comes in with the torch, moves toward the center of the room and drops it to illuminate most of the room. She has her sword drawn and she goes PA1 against Kobold 4 and she hits with a 22. He gets a natural 1 on the TC and he fails the FC as well so he’s done. Rain takes are action now and she can fire an arrow at Kobold 3, SA, and hits with an 18. Kobold 3 gets an 8 on the DC18 TC for a 2nd degree failure. Xelennia decides to go for the Priest now that the rest of the group have arrived. She can’t get a backstab, but she’ll go AA1 with her short swords and she gets a crit with a nat 20. DC24 for the Priest, he gets a 16 for a 2nd degree failure. Extherene steps back 5 ft and fires another Magic Missile at the Priest, PA1. She hits with a 21. Since he went AA2 on his last attack, his Dodge is at 14 so that gets +2 from Multiattack so he has to make a DC20 TC. He gets a 20 for a 1st degree failure.
Dryzza will go after Kobold 3 with an SA. She hits with a 19. DC20 TC and the Kobold gets a 10 for a 2nd degree failure. The Spider Priest is not liking the odds now so he’s going to make a break for it. There’s a “secret” door at the back of the room and he slips through it. Jobymme will continue his engagement with Kobold 6 and goes PA1 with his Warhammer. Natural 1. His Warhammer flies from his hand.
The kobolds are all going to bail as well, each of the remaining 3 bolt for the door, although Kobold 2 lags behind because he’s staggered. Arisema has the party hold briefly.
Round 4: Jobymme takes the round to recover, Arisema picks up the torch while Rain lights another. No one else took a hit so we’ll end this encounter here and move on to the next.
Final Status – Rain (fine, 10 spells, 1 hp), Arisema (fine, 10 spells, 2 hp), Xelennia (fine, 4 hp), Extherene (fine, 9 spells, 1 hp), Dryzza (fine, 9 psionics, 2 hp), Kobold Spider Priest (-2 toughness, dazed, fled, 8 prayers, 0 hp), Jobymme (fine, toughness, 10 prayers, 2 hp), Kobold 1 (-1 toughness, incapacitated, dying, 0 hp), Kobold 2 (-1 toughness, staggered, fled, 0 hp), Kobold 3 (-3 toughness, dazed, fled, 0 hp), Kobold 4 (-2 toughness, incapacitated, dying, 0 hp), Kobold 5 (-1 toughness, incapacitated, dying, 0 hp), Kobold 6 (-1 toughness, fled, 0 hp), Beaver (fine, 10 songs, 2 hp), Baruun (-1 toughness, 8 prayers, 1 hp)
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Comments: Next encounter...
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After taking a few seconds to collect themselves again and light another torch for more light, the party formed ranks again with Jobymme on point as they moved towards the formerly concealed door that the kobolds fled through. Eschewing the stealth approach since they knew their foes knew they were coming, he opened the door and burst into the room, ready to unleash a cone of fire.
Jobymme’s perception check, 18.
However, he burst into an empty room. It appeared to be makeshift guard station, with some crude tables and chairs and a few bedrolls on the floor. On the opposite side of the room was another open door that he could see leading to another stairway leading down. Xelennia took the lead again and scouted a bit ahead of the party as they fell back into their previous order.
The stairway continued down about 20 ft, at a southerly direction, then it twisted more of a northern bent down another 20 ft or so before Xelennia could see faint light coming from an opening up ahead.
She’ll just use her Skill Mastery for her Stealth for a 21. Perception check is only 10 for traps.
Xelennia held the party up briefly and scouted ahead. Moving stealthily, she checked for trip wires and mechanisms along the way but found none. Getting as close to the entrance as she dared, she saw what appeared to be a large octagonal room with a couple of torches along the wall that were nearly burnt out.
She snuck back and relayed this to the party and Jobymme took point again and led the party into the room. It was indeed empty and they could see doors on the southwest and northwest walls. Rain couldn’t remember which door they went through the last time but she saw a trail of blood leading towards the northwest door so they went that direction.
The door opened inward so Baruun pulled it open as Arisema and Rain covered the door with their bows. They could see a hallway about 10 feet wide fading into darkness after a few feet. Xelennia crept into the hallway and with her Darkvision she could see that the hallway went about 40 ft then there was another wooden door. She could see a door on the right (northeast) side of the hall about halfway down. With the width of the hallway they could walk two astride so she and Arisema took point, followed Jobymme and Baruun, then Rain and Dryzza, with Beaver and Extherene in the rear.
They decided to check the door on the right side of the hallway first. Rain moved to one side, Arisema took the other and Baruun moved up and opened the door quickly. There was another empty room that looked similar to the barracks on the upper level.
Perception checks for Xelennia and Arisema to check the room, 20 and 10. Perception checks to spot the trap outside the next room, 17 and 20. Arisema spots it. DC15 for Xelennia to disarm. She gets a 21. I’ll also use that Perception check to let them hear sound coming from the room at the end of the hall.
Xelennia and Arisema gave it a quick once over and found nothing of value so they moved on down the hall. About 5 ft from the door, Arisema spotted a trip wire and halted the group. She Xelennia examine it further and she was able to locate and disarm a mechanism that operated a pit trap right outside the door. While the rogue was doing that, the party members near the front could the familiar sound of kobold yipping speech.
The door is barred shut. Baruun and Jobymme will do a combined strength check to open the door. With Jobymme’s Teamwork advantage, that gives them a +8. They get a 26.
Once Xelennia had finished with the trap, she let Baruun and Jobymme move to the front. Baruun tried to push open the door but it appeared to be barred from the inside. The paladin nodded to his close friend Jobymme, counted to 3 and the two of them rammed the door with their shoulders, sending it flying off the hinges into the room. The two of them quickly drew their weapons but found themselves staring into a large kitchen/dining area with probably 20-25 kobolds, mostly women and children. Four males including two of the wounded ones from their earlier battle, stood in front of the rest. All of them were shaking but held their ground.
The rest of the party filed in, evoking more frightened yips and cries from the young kobolds. Jobymme and Arisema had them lower their weapons. Arisema smiled and moved slowly towards the males with her hands up.
Arisema gets a 20 on her Persuasion check. That moves them to favorable.
She began speaking to them in Draconic, which seemed to put them at ease. She told them she and her allies did not want to hurt them, they were only here to find their friends and keep the spiders from hurting anyone else. One of the males began to engage in conversation with her and after a minute or so, the other kobold males lowered their weapons. She noticed that pretty much all of the kobolds had their eyes trained on Jobymme, most of them looking at him in reverence.
The kobold males told her that their clan, like all kobolds, had worshiped dragons for generations. But a few months ago, the dark lady Spider Priestess and her dark men came with their giant spiders and began to convert them to spider worshippers. Any of them that resisted were killed and so they were all forced into her servitude. But most of them wished for the old ways and seeing the “dragon man” made them even more certain that they wanted to return to dragon worship.
Arisema and Jobymme apologized for the loss of their clan that fell in battle and that they would help them rid their lair of the dark people, if they could provide them with as much information as they could about the lair and their oppressors. As they talked, some of the young kobolds came up to stare at Jobymme, much to the delight of Beaver and Xelennia.
The self-appointed leader of the kobold guards, named Gunyip, described the layout of this level of their lair. He told her it was a temple for dragon worship that had been converted into one of spider worship. He told them that if they kept moving forward, they would eventually make it to the main temple where the spider priestess and the dark men stayed. Gunyip said in the center of the temple was the Portal of Sacrifice where the people they captured were surrendered to the great spider queen Ishkanah. He told them that the other spiders would bite the victims and their poison would make them unable to move. Then they would wrap them in their spider silk. Then they would stash them for days, alive but paralyzed, until they were “ripe” for eating and at that point they would throw them down to
Ishkanah and her brood. Arisema asked about the adventurers that were captured 3-4 days ago and he said that was about the time a victim was “ripe” and that they would probably be sacrificed tonight, if they weren’t already.
At that point, Rain insisted that they go. Arisema agreed and they started to head out the other door, but the kobold darted in front of them and said he would go with them to show them the way and make sure that no more of their clan were hurt. Despite Rain and Extherene’s protests, the rest of the group supported it and Arisema allowed it. And, of course, Gunyip did insist on walking with the “dragon man”, with prompted Beaver to joke about Jobymme having a new son.
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They left through a door on the southwest side of the room. That led them to another 40 foot hallway with a door halfway down and an open door at the end. Gunyip told them to stay back a bit and he opened the door in the hall and went into the room. They could hear him talking a couple more kobolds for a few minutes. One of them, obviously another shaman, stuck his head of out the room, looked at the party wide-eyed, then quickly ducked back in. Shortly thereafter, Gunyip came back into the hall and closed the door. He told them there were two more of their shamans in there and they supported them but would not openly defy the [url=
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=269&p=15161#p15161]Spider Priestess/url]. They would simply stay in their room until things were resolved, one way or the other.
Gunyip led them to the next room at the end of the hall. It was another large octagonal room. It was filed with many implements of spider worship and several mirrors. Gunyip called it the Chamber of Reflection. Otherwise, the room was empty. On the western wall was an opening that Gunyip said led down to the spider caves, although he had never been down there because only the chosen were allowed. Rain initially wanted to go down now, but Gunyip said that they dark men and dark lady were just a couple of rooms away and Baruun and Jobymme convinced her that they needed to deal with them first. Gunyip led them through a door on the southeast wall that led to another 40 ft hallway with a door about halfway down on the right. The door was locked and Gunyip said he’d never been in it.
Xelennia will check for traps and gets a 21. No traps. Now she will try to pick the lock. DC15. She gets a 21.
Xelennia pulled out her lock picks and in a few seconds she had the lock and door open. Arisema covered her with her bow as she pushed the door open. It was a room about 20x20 that was filled with rations and many other items. As the party combed through the room, they found around 25 bottles full of liquid that Gunyip said the dark men used to heal themselves if they had been bitten by the spiders. Several members of the party put multiple bottles in their backpacks. There were also several weapons, suits of armor and other items that Rain quickly identified as her allies’ gear. She looked forlornly at her sister’s staff for a few moments before setting it back down and leaving the room with a determined look on her face.
As they approached the door at the end of the hall, they could hear what sounded like a kobold screaming. Everyone readied their weapons and before they could stop him, Gunyip ran for the door and flung it open. He revealed a large, heptagonal room approximately 30x40, dimly lit by a couple of small torches. In the room were a half dozen kobolds kneeling behind another kobold in dark robes. In front of him was a tall, slender, black-skinned man with pointed ears mercilessly beating a kobold warrior. Another bloody kobold lay at his feet.
The dark man whipped his head around once he realized the party was entering. He smiled and dropped the limp kobold to the floor. He drew his longsword and pointed it at them, as the kobolds rose and drew their weapons. “Ah, yes. Our unwelcome guests,” he said in the common tongue. “Those who have stolen some of our brethren from us. Those who defile this holy place with their non-belief in your loving goddess. And look,” he said pointing at Gunyip. “They have led one of our brethren astray…”
Arisema motioned for the party to hold once they had all entered. “A loving goddess?” she replied. “A loving goddess that would have you beat her followers? That demands the sacrifice of innocents? I think not. We have come to free your captives and these creatures. We will give you one chance to surrender them before we take them by force.”
The dark elf laughed. “Arrogant AND blasphemous!” he replied. “Truly you are beyond salvation. Send them to meet their own foul gods, you unworthy retches!”
Gunyip spoke to the other kobolds in Draconic. “These beings are here to drive away the dark men and dark lady so that we can return to the old ways when we worshipped our ancestors, the dragons! Join us and you shall be spared!”
“We cannot,” the kobold priest replied. “We must obey the will of our spider goddess…”
Gunyip will try to persuade his clansman to go against the dark men. Natural 20. I’m not even rolling for them. They are making the switch!.
Gunyip jumped back in. “No! I will no longer follow the dark men and their spiders! They have brought us nothing but suffering! And look, behold the dragon man!” He pointed at Jobymme. “The dragon man has been sent here as a sign! He fights for us! He wants us to worship the dragons again!”
“Actually, I worship Thjor,” Jobymme said matter-of-factly. “And the way of the Thunder God is…”
“Uh, not the time, big guy,” Beaver interrupted. “Let’s ride this ‘chosen one’ thing out for a bit longer, shall we?”
“Did you not hear me?!?!?!” The dark elf shouted at the kobolds. “Fight for your goddess! Did you see what I did two these two who failed me?...I mean, her?! Fight!”
The priest looked at the dark elf, then Jobymme and Gunyip and then back to the dark elf. “No,” he said in common. “Gunyip is right. You have driven us away from our true gods. You have brought suffering on my people. No more.” Then he and the other kobolds moved towards the party, facing off with the elf.
“Now who’s in need of salvation?” Arisema asked with a sly smile.
“Oh, you will PAY for this treachery,” The dark elf said as he began to back towards the open doorway on the north wall of the room. “You think you have seen suffering?!?!? You’ve seen
nothing. And you…” he continued, pointing at Arisema. “You think you can take the sacrifices that we have prepared for our goddess and not suffer as well?!?!? Fools! All of you!”
And with that, he motioned and most of the room went completely, and unnaturally dark. Then as quickly as it came, the darkness retreated and the elf was gone. The priest and kobolds began to bow to Jobymme, despite his protests. Arisema thanked them and asked where that door led. The priest told them that it led to the Chamber of Sacrifice where the rest of the dark men and the dark lady priestess were. He said that a few of their clan would be there and they were the most loyal to spider priestess so there would be no talking to them. He knew that there were going to be a lot of sacrifices tonight and that if there were going to stop them, time would be of the essence. He thanked them for what they were doing, but they would not help them as they feared the dark lady too much and they did not want to fight their clansmen. Arisema said she understood and told them to go protect their clan in the kitchen as they would need them should they fail.
Gunyip said he would stay with the party as he wanted to be there to see the dark men fall, despite Arisema’s and Jobymme’s recommendation that he go with his people. After getting themselves back in order, they moved quickly down the hallway to the north. The hallway was about 30 ft long and led to an open doorway with a room that was pitch black. Once Arisema and Xelennia were about 10 ft away, the group could hear a woman laughing. Shortly thereafter, she spoke. “Come, my children. Come to the Chamber of Sacrifice where you, too, will be given the honor to being sacrificed to our goddess. Come to your death in the name of Ishkanah!”
One of the dark elf warriors fires an arrow at Arisema. He hits with a 15. She has to make a DC19 TC against the arrow and another DC14 fortitude check against the sleep poison on the arrow. She gets a 10 on the TC for a 2nd degree failure, but a 23 on the FC so she fights off the poison.
Before they could respond, an arrow came whizzing out of the darkness and struck Arisema in the shoulder knocking into Baruun’s arms. Xelennia, knowing of the ways of the Drow, quickly reached over and pulled it out, eliciting a cry of pain from their leader but saving her from the effects of the arrow’s poisonous tip. The rest of the group tried to flatten themselves up against the walls.
“OK,” Arisema muttered. “That’s how they want to play this…” She gathered herself quickly and began barking orders. “Baruun take point. Get in there, light that room up and draw their fire. Rain, Extherene, cover him. Once we’re in, you two help Baruun, Dryzza and Xelennia deal with the dark men and the kobolds. Jobe, Gunyip and I are going for the Priestess. GO!”
Round 1: Initiative: Rain – 23, Spider Priestess Halisstra – 23, Xellenia – 22, Dark Men (Drow Elite) (3) – 21, Extherene – 20, Beaver – 20, Kobold (Squad) – 18, Winged Kobolds (3) – 16, Arisema – 14, Gunyip – 14, Jobymme – 13, Dryzza – 10, Baruun – 4. This should be a tough test for the PCs, and I actually may have overdone it with the antagonists this time. I guess we’ll see…
The room is pretty large, 40x40, with a 5x5 pit in the middle. Rain uses her action to move up to doorway and Aim at one of the Drow. The Spider Priestess holds her action. As does Xelennia. One of the Drow warriors fires another arrow but I’ll give the group cover. Baruun was moving to the front so I’ll say the arrow goes at him. The Drow still hits with a 19. Baruun makes the DC19 TC with a 25 and he’s immune to poison so no save needed there. The other Drow fire as well, missing with a 11 and 10. Extherene moves up and fires a Magic Missile at one of the Drow she can see in the dim light. I’m giving her -2. She barely misses with a 17. Beaver holds. I’m using Mass Combat for the Kobold squad and they hold, as do the winged kobolds. Arisema, Gunyip, Jobymme and Dryzza all hold. Baruun now does his thing. He moves in and immediately casts his Light of the Lord, which has a 60 ft radius, to completely illuminate the room. The Spider Priestess covers her eyes but continues to hold. Xelennia bolts in and will use Athletics to double her speed to get to one of the Drow. She does with a 19. She’ll quick draw her short swords and go PA2 with them. She misses with a 7. She’ll us an HP to reroll, this time she gets a 21. Drow 1 will have to make a D21 TC. He gets an 18 for a 1st degree failure.
Beaver moves into the room and uses his Lullaby to try and drop the 3 winged kobolds, the kobold squad and one of the drow that he can catch in his range. The Drow are immune so no need to do anything for him. The Kobold Squad makes the Dodge check. Winged Kobold 1 makes the dodge check as well, Winged Kobolds 2 and 3 do not. Now for the Will checks. The Squad fails the DC13 with an 8 to become fatigued. Winged Kobold 1 fails by 4 to be Fatigued as well. Winged Kobold 2 fails by 9 to become Exhausted. Winged Kobold 3 makes the check. The kobold squad moves in on Baruun and they hit with a 17. DC19 TC, Baruun rolls a 1 for an 8 for a 2nd degree failure. Winged Kobold 1 goes after Beaver, dropping a rock on him and misses with a 10. Winged Kobold 2 is barely flying but he does the same and missed with a 6. Winged Kobold 3 sees Rain in the doorway and whips a rock at her and also missed.
Arisema draws her bow and runs into the room, firing at the Priestess and gets a 19 but that’s not good enough. Gunyip runs with her but he has no ranged attack. Jobymme runs in as well and he fires a Ray of Faith at her, going AA1 but he misses as well. Dryzza moves in and will use a Mental Blast on the Drow that Xelennia hit and she hits with a 22. He gets a 17 on his DC20 Will check to take another 1st degree failure. And that ends the round.
Status – Rain (fine, 10 abilities, 1 hp), Spider Priestess Halisstra (fine, 12 prayers, 1 hp), Drow 1 (-2 toughness, 1 hp), Drow 2 (fine, 1 hp), Drow 3 (fine, 1 hp), Extherene (fine, 10 spells, 2 hp) , Baruun (7 prayers, 1 hp), Xelennia (fine, 3 hp), Beaver (fine, 9 songs, 2 hp) , Kobold Squad (fine, dazed, 0 hp), Winged Kobold 1 (fine, fatigued, 0 hp), Winged Kobold 2 (exhausted, 0 hp), Winged Kobold 3 (fine, 0 hp), Arisema (fine, 10 spells, 2 hp), Gunyip (fine, 0 hp), Jobymme(fine, 9 prayers, 2 hp), Dryzza (fine, 8 psionics, 2 hp)
Round 2: With all the holding the last round, the Initiative is now as follows: Rain, Spider Priestess Halisstra, Dark Men (Drow Elite) (3), Extherene, Baruun, Xellenia, Beaver, Kobold (Squad), Winged Kobolds (3), Arisema, Gunyip, Jobymme, Dryzza. Rain will use her Move Action to cast Hunter’s Mark on Drow 2 that she was aiming at. She’ll go PA2 which makes her +10 to hit and she rolls a 17. With her Hunter’s Mark that gets a crit. So the Drow has to make a DC25 TC. He does pretty well all things considered and gets a 17 for a 2nd degree failure. She’ll use EE for another attack and hits again with a 21. DC20 and the Drow gets a 6. He’ll use his HP to reroll and gets an adjusted 17 for a 1st degree failure. Rain is fatigued.
The Spider Priestess will use her Drow ability to drop 30 of darkness around her. It will be a Power Check against Baruun’s light. Never having done this before, I hope I’m doing it right. Her Concealment is 4 ranks and his Environment is 2 ranks, so she’s +4 and he’s +2, I guess. She gets a 19, Baruun rolls a nat 20. The Light of Pelor holds strong! The Drow are at -2 on their attacks because of the bright light. Drow 1 draws his sword (a very nice looking sword by the way) and attacks Xelennia, but misses with a 13. Drow 2 fires his bow at Rain and he misses with an 8. Drow 3 will try to drop some darkness around him as well, and he beats Baruun’s power with a natural 20 to Baruun’s 8. But there’s still an area of light outside of the Drow’s darkness so many of the characters will not be affected.
Extherene has Darkvision so she doesn’t care. She will fire Magic Missile, PA1 at Drow 3. And she hits with a 24. That’s a 2nd degree success so she gets +2 from her Multiattack. That’s a DC22 TC for the Drow. He gets a 17 for a 1st degree failure. Baruun sustains his Light again and attacks the Kobold Squad. AA1 and he gets a 5. Geez, he’s sucking in combat. Xelennia does a SA against Drow 1 with her dual short swords and hits with the 19 she needed. DC19 TC, he gets a 3, HP to re-roll is another natural 1 that becomes an 11+2=13 for 2nd degree failure. Beaver will try to Lullaby the Kobolds again. None of them make the Dodge check so they all have to make a DC15 check. The Squad gets a 2 on their Will so they’re asleep. Winged Kobold 1 makes the check, Winged Kobold 2 fails and gets fatigued on top of exhausted and Winged Kobold 3 makes the check. The Squad is out so it goes to the Winged Kobolds. WK 1 drops a rock on Beaver and hits with a 20. The Bard makes the TC with a 22. But he makes his check against the fatigue to get back to normal. WK 2 is going drop a rock on Rain and he misses with a 15. WK 3 tries to drop a rock on Extherene and misses with a 10. Arisema is still in the light so she quick draws her sword, moves up and tries to take a swing at the Priestess with an SA. Natural 1. HP to reroll, that gets her an adjusted 19 to hit. DC19 TC, the Priestess gets an 18 for a 1st degree failure. Gunyip runs up as well and stabs at the Priestess with his shortspear, and he misses with a 9. Jobymme will use an Aid action and he easily gets the DC10 with a 21. He should have attacked. Arisema will get +5 on her next attack against the Priestess. Dryzza will go after Drow 2, PA2 with her longsword and she hits with a 20. He gets a 3 and he’s out! I’m giving her an HP an awesome move, going PA2 against these guys was a risk but it paid off. He gets a 9 on his Fort check so he remains Dying.
Status – Rain (fine, 9 abilities, fatigued, 1 hp), Spider Priestess Halisstra (fine, 12 prayers, 1 hp), Drow 1 (-3 toughness, 0 hp), Drow 2 (-3 toughness, incapacitated, dying, 0 hp), Drow 3 (-1 toughness, 1 hp), Extherene (fine, 10 spells, 2 hp) , Baruun (fine, 7 prayers, 1 hp), Xelennia (fine, 3 hp), Beaver (fine, 8 songs, 2 hp) , Kobold Squad (fine, dazed, asleep, 0 hp), Winged Kobold 1 (fine, 0 hp), Winged Kobold 2 (fatigued, exhausted, 0 hp), Winged Kobold 3 (fine, 0 hp), Arisema (fine, 10 spells, 1 hp), Gunyip (fine, 0 hp), Jobymme (fine, 9 prayers, 2 hp), Dryzza (fine, 8 psionics, 2 hp)
Round 3: Initiative: Rain, Spider Priestess Halisstra, Dark Men (Drow Elite) (2), Extherene, Baruun, Xellenia, Beaver, Kobold (Squad), Winged Kobolds (3), Arisema, Gunyip, Jobymme, Dryzza. Rain will again use her Hunter’s Mark on Drow 1 and fires her bow, PA2. She misses with an 18. The Priestess will try to turn the tide. She will cast her Web spell on Arisema. She hits with an 18. Arisema has to make a DC17 Dodge check and she only gets a 11 for a 2nd degree failure. She’s Immobilized and Defenseless. She will use EE for another attack and she will do the same to Jobymme. She hits with a 15 on her attack but Jobymme makes the Dodge check with the 17 he needed. Halisstra is fatigued. Drow 1 will Recover this round to remove a toughness penalty. Drow 3 will go AA1 with his bow at Rain and he hits with a 17. DC19 TC, she gets a 7, HP to reroll gets her a 21 to make the check. But she gets a 5 on the DC14 check against the Poison, 2nd degree failure so she’s Exhausted. Checking the RAW, it doesn’t seem like the Exhaustion on top of the Fatigue makes her Incapacitated unless she uses Extra Effort, so I guess it just stacks for now.
Extherene will use her Multiattack to try to deal with the flying kobolds, going AA1. She hits WK1 and 2 but misses WK3. WK1 rolls at a natural 1 so he’s out. He fails the Fort check and remains in Dying condition. WK2 makes the DC19 TC. Baruun will cast his Light of the Lord again to do a power check against Drow 3’s darkness. And he wins the check 17 to 5 so the room is completely illuminated again. Xellenia attacks Drow 1 and hits with a 23. Drow 1 gets a 17 on his DC19 TC for another 1st degree failure. Beaver will attempt to Taunt Drow 1. He does with a 28 vs. 8. Drow 1 is at -5 to checks until the end of his next turn. WK2 flings a rock at Beaver and hits with a 22, but Beaver makes the DC17 TC. WK 3 flings a rock at Baruun but misses with an 11.
Arisema is bound so she has to try to escape, DC17 strength check and she gets close but fails with a 16. Gunyip attacks the priestess again and misses with a 12. Jobymme use his fire breath on the Priestess. She makes the Dodge check with a 30 so she makes a check against DC13. But she only gets an 8 for a first-degree failure. Dryzza moves over to go after WK3. She goes PA2 again but misses with a 5. She’ll use the HP she just got to reroll and hits with an adjusted 18. He gets an 18 on the DC20 TC for another 1stdegree damage.
Status – Rain (fine, 8 abilities, fatigued, 1 hp), Spider Priestess Halisstra (-1 toughness, fatigued, 10 prayers, 1 hp), Drow 1 (-2 toughness, 0 hp), Drow 2 (-3 toughness, incapacitated, dying, 0 hp), Drow 3 (-2 toughness, 1 hp), Extherene (fine, 10 spells, 2 hp) , Baruun (fine, 6 prayers, 1 hp), Xelennia (fine, 3 hp), Beaver (fine, 8 songs, 2 hp) , Kobold Squad (fine, dazed, asleep, 0 hp), Winged Kobold 1 (-1 toughness, incapacitated, dying, 0 hp), Winged Kobold 2 (fatigued, exhausted, 0 hp), Winged Kobold 3 (fine, 0 hp), Arisema (fine, 10 spells, 1 hp), Gunyip (fine, 0 hp), Jobymme (fine, 9 prayers, 2 hp), Dryzza (fine, 8 psionics, 2 hp)
Round 4: Initiative: Rain, Spider Priestess Halisstra, Dark Men (Drow Elite) (2), Extherene, Baruun, Xellenia, Beaver, Kobold (Squad), Winged Kobolds (3), Arisema, Gunyip, Jobymme, Dryzza. Rain Hunter’s Marks Drow 3 again even while exhausted and rolls at natural 20 for a crit. That’s a DC23 TC and the Drow gets a 16 for 2nd degree failure. Rain gets an 18 on check against the affliction to overcome the exhaustion. The Priestess will attempt to Web Jobymme again but she misses with a 9. Drow 1 sees the Priestess in trouble so he moves over by her, putting himself between her and Jobymme and takes a swing at Jobymme with his sword as he goes by, hitting with a 22. DC20 TC, Jobymme gets a 9, HP to reroll gets him an 18 for a 1st degree failure. Drow 3 fires another poison arrow at Rain, PA1 and hits with an 18. She gets a 15 on the TC for a 1stdegree failure and a 9 on the Fort check for a 2nd degree failure so she’s exhausted again. Extherene continues to try and take out the kobolds, firing Magic Missiles at both of them, PA1. She misses WK 2 but hits WK 3. WK 3 fails the DC20 TC by 7 for a 2nd degree failure. She moves up then uses EE for another attack and she uses her Burning Hands effect and she can catch WK 3 and Drow 3 in the cone and avoid any allies. Dodge checks for the kobold and the Drow, they both fail. WK 3 gets a 1 on his TC against DC20 so he’s done. He fails the Fort check with a 12 and remains Dying. Drow 3 gets a 6, he’ll use his HP to reroll and gets an adjusted 18 to take another 1st degree failure. Extherene is fatigued.
Baruun sustains his Light and then goes AA2 against Drow 3 and he hits with an 18. Drow 3 gets a 12 against the DC23 TC for a 3rd degree failure. Xellenia chases Drow 1 towards the Priestess and goes PA1 and misses with a 10. She’ll use another HP to reroll and gets an adjusted 25. Another question I have now. You add 10 to 10 you roll when using an HP for the reroll which makes a 10, so I assume that does count as a crit. But I can certainly see someone arguing for that. Anyway, DC20 TC for the Drow, he gets an 18 for a 1st degree failure. Beaver puts his lute away and pulls out his crossbow, going PA1. He fires at WK2 and hits with a 24. WK 2 fails the DC19 TC with a 13 for a 2nd degree failure. WK 2 sees that things have gotten pretty bad, and he flees at half speed, flying over his foes’ heads. Arisema will try to break out of the web again. Natural 2, so nope.
Gunyip will do an Aid action for Jobymme and he gets a 17. Jobymme will attack the Priestess again with Warhammer, going AA2 and getting +2 with Gunyip’s Aid for +4. And he hits with a natural 20! However, Drow 1 will use Interpose which I am granting him as a good old fashioned GM Fiat to take the hit for the Priestess. Jobymme gets an HP. DC26 TC for the Drow and he gets an 18 for a 2nd degree failure. Dryzza will move up and use her Mental Blast on Drow 1. She misses, HP to reroll gets her a 25 to hit. DC20 Will check for the Drow and he makes it with a 24.
Status – Rain (-1 toughness, 7 abilities, exhausted, 0 hp), Spider Priestess Halisstra (-1 toughness, fatigued, 9 prayers, 1 hp), Drow 1 (-3 toughness, 0 hp), Drow 2 (-3 toughness, incapacitated, 0 hp), Drow 3 (-3 toughness, staggered, disabled, 0 hp), Extherene (fine, fatigued, 9 spells, 1 hp) , Baruun (fine, 6 prayers, 1 hp), Xelennia (fine, 2 hp), Beaver (fine, 8 songs, 2 hp) , Kobold Squad (fine, dazed, asleep, 0 hp), Winged Kobold 1 (-1 toughness, incapacitated, dying, 0 hp), Winged Kobold 2 (-1 toughness, dazed, fatigued, exhausted, fled, 0 hp), Winged Kobold 3 (-2 toughness, dazed, incapacitated, dying, 0 hp), Arisema (fine, 10 spells, 1 hp), Gunyip (fine, 0 hp), Jobymme (-1 toughness, 9 prayers, 2 hp), Dryzza (fine, 6 psionics, 1 hp)
Round 5: Initiative: Rain, Spider Priestess Halisstra, Dark Men (Drow Elite) (2), Extherene, Baruun, Xellenia, Beaver, Kobold (Squad), Winged Kobolds (3), Arisema, Gunyip, Jobymme, Dryzza. Rain will move slowly into the room her 15 ft then use her standard action to recover her fatigue. She gets a natural 20 on her check against the exhaustion and that’s gone now, too.
Seeing things going south, the Priestess moves to the center of the room where the pit is and jumps down shouting “Goddess, protect me!” It’s a 20 ft drop but I’m going to let her make the drop unharmed without a check. I’ll give someone an HP for the complication if needed. Drow 1 moves over to the pit to cover her escape, taking another slash at Jobymme as he passes with a standard attack and he hits with a 19. Jobymme makes the DC20 TC with a 20 on the nose. Drow 3 is barely hanging on, but he also moves toward the pit and this time fires a poison arrow at Extherene, PA1, but misses with an 11. Extherene shoots a Magic Missile at Drow 3, going AA2 and hits with a 21. DC19 TC and the Drow gets an 8 for a second 3rd degree failure and he’s out. 1-10 he falls into the pit…3...he falls 20 ft, taking another 1st degree failure. He rolls a 1 on his Fort check against death so he dies.
Baruun sustains the Light and attempts to get the last Drow to surrender, using Persuasion. He gets a 15, not good enough. The Drow curses at him in Undercommon. Xelennia will try to help free Arisema by cutting the Web. To make it simple, I’ll just give Arisema +2 on her Strength check and she nails it with a 20. She’s loose. Beaver moves up to Aid against the Drow and he gets a 20. So Arisema will get +5 on her attack and she will go AA2 to ensure a hit and she gets a 20. DC19 TC for the Drow and somehow he makes it! Gunyip will Aid Jobymme again and get an 18 so Jobymme gets +2 to his attack. The cleric goes PA2 making his bonus +6 but misses with a 12. Dryzza has to last shot to drop him this round, she goes AA2 and hits with a 25. DC20 TC and he gets another 19 for a 1st degree failure. He’s hanging tough!
Round 6: Initiative: Rain, Spider Priestess Halisstra, Dark Men (Drow Elite) (2), Extherene, Baruun, Xellenia, Beaver, Kobold (Squad), Winged Kobolds (3), Arisema, Gunyip, Jobymme, Dryzza. Rain wants to follow the Priestess into the pit since she knows that where her sister and the allies are if they are still alive. She leaps down the pit, using Acrobatics to avoid damage and she does with a 17. We’ll deal with her next round in the next chapter…
The Priestess uses the round to Recover to shake off the fatigue and then…well, again, we’re saving that. Drow 1 is going down fighting. He goes AA2 with his longsword against Jobymme, hitting easily with a 24. Jobymme has to make a DC21 TC and he gets a 13 for a 2nd degree failure. Extherene uses an HP to shake off her fatigue then power stunts a Flight spell to follow Rain down the pit. She’s fatigued again. Baruun asks him Jobymme needs aid, the dragonborn shakes him off and he goes AA2 against Drow 1 with his Greatsword and he hits with a 22. DC23 TC and the Drow rolls another 19 for a 1st degree failure. Geez, he might as well have Last Stand! Xellenia is going after Rain, too, Acrobatics check. Oops. 8. She has to make a DC17 TC. And she gets a 15 for a 1st degree failure. Could have been a lot worse, I guess. Beaver is going to follow suit, he gets a DC13 on the Acrobatics, which sets the DC16 at 16 and he makes the TC to avoid damage.
Arisema goes AA2 and hits with a 19. DC19 TC and Drow 1 gets a 6 for a 3rd degree failure. She tells Gunyip and Jobymme to go with the others. Jobymme grabs the kobold and using his Almost Vestigial Wings Leaping to jump down into the pit. Dryzza goes AA1 and misses.
Round 7: Initiative: Drow 1, Arisema, Dryzza. The rest of the party is down in the pit and I’ll start that off as a new Round 1 with Initiative in the final chapter. Drow 1 goes PA2 against Dryzza and he hits with a 15 since she went AA1 last round. She gets a natural 20 against the DC22 TC to make the check. Arisema goes AA2 with her sword and hits with a 19, DC19 TC and he gets an 8 for another 3rd degree failure and he’s out. He makes his Fort check to just be Incapacitated. He does not fall in the pit.
Quick Perception check for Arisema and Dryzza, Arisema wins. She notices that the Drow’s sword is REALLY nice and picks it up. Dryzza uses her Telekinesis to lower Arisema into the pit then uses her Shadow Jaunt to Teleport down. That ends the encounter.
Final Status – Rain (-1 toughness, 7 abilities, 0 hp), Spider Priestess Halisstra (-1 toughness, 9 prayers, 1 hp), Drow 1 (-7 toughness, staggered, disabled, incapacitated, 0 hp), Drow 2 (-3 toughness, incapacitated, dying, 0 hp), Drow 3 (-5 toughness, staggered, disabled, incapacitated, dead, 0 hp), Extherene (fine, fatigued, 9 spells, 1 hp), Baruun (fine, 6 prayers, 1 hp), Xelennia (-1 toughness, 2 hp), Beaver (fine, 8 songs, 2 hp) , Kobold Squad (fine, dazed, asleep, 0 hp), Winged Kobold 1 (-1 toughness, incapacitated, dying, 0 hp), Winged Kobold 2 (-1 toughness, dazed, fatigued, exhausted, fled, 0 hp), Winged Kobold 3 (-2 toughness, dazed, incapacitated, dying, 0 hp), Arisema (fine, 10 spells, 1 hp), Gunyip (fine, 0 hp), Jobymme (-2 toughness, 9 prayers, 2 hp), Dryzza (fine, 5 psionics, 1 hp)
Comments: That was a pretty good encounter. If I had thrown in some spiders or another Drow, they might have suffered some losses. They still might in the final battle, depending on the dice. They’ll each get 3 PP at the end of everything for the success of the encounter. Onto the final battle.
Me fail English? That's unpossible. - Ralph Wiggum