Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 36

[Day 45 – Mopping Up]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened May 29, 2023.]

[SPOILERS!  If you are likely to adventure through the Shattered Star Adventure Path from Paizo, this campaign will be spoilers all the way down.]

Player Characters

Marativy – female ratfolk 9th level Ninja

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 9th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Roscuro – male ratfolk 9th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 9th level Wizard

Winston – male ratfolk 9th level Gunslinger

Via Roll20

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 9th level Summoner (Synthesist)

NPCs

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 7th level Wizard (Invoker)

Hrefna – female changeling 7th level Omdura

Ariphi – female tiefling 7th level Rogue

Fish – male grodaire, actual name is Hummlgau

Autumn

Day 45 continues

Marativy and Roscuro were both holding grudges against the Dark Rider and continued hitting it, even though it was inert.  They were encouraged in this by the obelisk continually trying to heal up the Dark Rider, even though he was dead-dead.  Roscuro picked up the Rider’s hand axe and used that to chop off parts to foil the regeneration.  Marativy claimed the bone flail.  Between hits, Swamprover started removing the Rider’s armor.

Winston and Zitch searched the room the fight took place in.  They each located a secret door, one on the north wall, the other on the south wall.  They both checked for traps, both announcing the secret door they were investigating was trapped.  Marativy swapped out with Hrefna on abusing the body of the Rider so Marativy could disable the traps.  Investigating the south secret door first, she determined the trap triggers a Dismissal spell, sending anyone triggering it back to their home plane [80% of the time, otherwise to a random plane].  Marativy then disabled the trap.  The north door was the same kind of trap and she disabled it as well.  She then returned to periodically slashing the Rider’s body.

With the doors cleared of traps, Templeton opened the south secret door.  Doing so filled the room with a humming sound.  The room was full of biomechanical machinery that seemed to be tied into the obelisk.  Zitch looked it over.  He announced he was not certain if breaking this equipment would break the anchoring effect of the obelisk on the pocket dimension or the regeneration effect the obelisk had on the Rider or both.

Starting to get bored with periodically attacking the body of the Rider, Roscuro kicked it down the stairs and into the next room, to see if the regeneration effect was limited to that room.  The regeneration effect continued, suggesting that as long as the body was in the pocket dimension, it would regenerate.  Swamprover resumed removing the Rider’s armor, now in the eating hall [where the PCs fought and killed the shadow mastiffs a couple sessions back].

Templeton next checked the north secret door and found more biomechanical machinery.  This machinery included the body of the naga Selasny.  The wizards of the Therassic Spire would still pay a bounty for the retrieval of her body.  The Ratpack discussed how much they might need to bring back to claim the bounty.  They decided that all of it was probably the correct answer.  Roscuro pulled out the remaining two body bags of holding.  Gridik and Ariphi were wrapped up and placed in one of the body bags and Selasny was placed into the other.  Swamprover finished stripping the armor off the Rider’s corpse and cast Detect Magic.  The Rider’s armor [plate +2], hand axe [+2] and spine flail [+2 with additional powers when wielded by a dulahand like the Rider] were all magical.  Zitch identified the specific magics and the armor was put in the loot bag.

There was a discussion about what might happen if they plugged the body of the Dark Rider into the machinery.  The Ratpack decided they did not have enough information or even the proper know-how to do it, so they didn’t.  Those members of the Ratpack not involved with doing things to the Rider’s corpse resumed searching the rooms.

Templeton suggested that maybe putting the Rider’s corpse into a bag of holding might stop the regeneration as the interior was its own pocket dimension.  Roscuro was concerned about what would happen if that did not work, not wanting to have to fight the Rider a second time and they could not see the results of placing the corpse in the bag until possibly too late.  Zitch offered a test: he would cast Mirror Hideaway and they could move the body into that and go in and check it, unlike a bag of holding.  This sounded good, so Roscuro told Zitch to do it.

Zitch pulled out a mirror [I believe he carries one specifically for this spell] and set it up.  He then cast the spell.  Marativy and Roscuro moved the body into the now enchanted mirror and observed that the regeneration had stopped.  They decided to leave the body there as the spell would last 9 hours, providing plenty of time to finish searching the keep for the shard and any other loot.

With the Rider’s body stored and no longer regenerating, the Ratpack searched the eating hall.  There was a viewing area with large windows in the southeast corner.  Instead of outside the keep, the windows showed a barren landscape with the ruins of an ancient city and a black sky, despite there being daylight.  The Ratpack theorized that the view was of Eox, where Malaghast the bonesage was from.  It matched the description of the world the bonesage’s were supposed to be from.  Roscuro investigated trying to exit the keep through the windows [thinking maybe the shard was on Eox], but he could not reach past the window frame.  There was the possibility it was just an image and not a passage to another world.  With two other doors to search in the eating hall, Roscuro let it go for later.

The Ratpack opened the door on the south wall.  The room beyond was a large bath set into the floor that took up almost the entire 20- by 30-foot room.  The water in the bath was black and opaque.  Zitch cast Detect Magic and noted there was something in the bath that radiated moderate conjuring magic.  No one wanted to step into water they could not see through, so Hrefna grabbed a chair from the eating room and dipped it into the water to test the depth.  The near end had steps under the water’s surface.  Hrefna went around to the side of the bath and kept testing the depth.  At the end of the steps the water was deeper that the chair was tall with Hrefna holding onto the very top of the chair.

That’s when the monsters attacked!

Four skeletal things with long, whip-like tongues rose out of the water, surprising the Ratpack, and attacked Hrefna.  One hit Hrefna with its tongue and paralyzed her.

Winston immediately rapid-fired his musket, destroying the thing that paralyzed Hrefna.  Roscuro grabbed Hrefna and hauled her out of the bath and back into the eating room with the rest of the Ratpack, moving past Marativy in the doorway.  The creatures waded out of the bath and attacked Marativy, damaging and paralyzing her.  Templeton moved to get a line of sight into the room and cast Black Tentacles, filling the bath with rubbery black tentacles that the creatures avoided with ease [Templeton rolled very low on his grapple check].  Swamprover moved up onto one of the eating tables so she could see over Templeton and lobbed a Fireball into the bath, damaging the three remaining creatures.  Marativy was paralyzed and could do nothing.  Zitch cast Cure Moderate Wounds on Marativy to at least heal the damage the creatures had done to her.  Fish finally showed up and raised the water level in the room to drown the undead things.  It was not at all effective and the Ratpack yelled at him to stop.

Winston rapid-fired again, hitting one of the creatures twice before his musket misfired.  Roscuro grabbed Marativy and pulled her away from the doorway, but she suffered an opportunistic attack from one of the things before he got her to safety.  The creatures then advanced and attacked Roscuro, damaging and paralyzing him.  Templeton advanced and pulled Roscuro out of the way.  Swamprover cast Create Pit, catching one of the creatures in the pit; one jumped forward to escape, the last jumped back into the bath.  Zitch put Protective Luck on Templeton and then cackled to maintain it.  Fish used his waterspout to push the one creature in the room with the Ratpack back into the pit.  Hrefna regained her ability to move, immediately activating her healing aura and casting Barbed Chains on the remaining mobile creature.

Winston rapid-fired on the remaining mobile creature and killed it.  Roscuro was paralyzed but benefitted from the healing aura [Fast Heal 3].  The creatures in the pit climbed out and advanced.  Templeton poured all his attacks into the lagging creature, hitting multiple times.  Swamprover cast Magic Missile at the leading creature and hit.  Zitch placed his ward on Templeton, backed away 5 feet, and cackled.  Fish missed entirely and backed away.  Hrefna attempted an attack and flubbed it.

Winston stepped back 5 feet and shot at the leading creature, critically hitting before misfiring.  Roscuro was still paralyzed but benefitted from the healing aura again.  The lead creature advanced on Winston and slammed him but did not paralyze him.  The lagging creature did the same to Templeton but succeeded in paralyzing the summoner.  Templeton was paralyzed, but made use of the healing aura.  Swamprover defensively cast Arc Lightning on the two creatures who were neatly lined up for her, destroying the lead creature.  Marativy regained her ability to move and poured all of her attacks into the remaining creature, killing it.

After the fight, Zitch was able to identify the creatures as mohrgs, a type of undead that still had their viscera and a long tongue.

Fish was asked to lower the water in the bath while the group waited for those paralyzed to recover.  Zitch located a club down at the bottom of the stairs and to one side.  Roscuro, now mobile again, stepped down and retrieved it.  Hrefna and Winston aided Zitch in identifying the club as a club +1 undead bane of disruption.  Roscuro stepped into the mirror and tested it on the Dark Rider’s corpse.  It messed up the corpse satisfactorily.

There was one final door in the eating hall on the north wall.  The Ratpack assembled in front of the door while Marativy verified there were no traps.  Marativy opened the door.  The room beyond was similar in size to the bath, but contained three things: a statue of the Dark Rider in the center of the room, a harp made from the corpse of a small humanoid hanging on a side wall, and Malaghast, who was standing near the statue.

“Oh!  Hello my friends,” Malaghast greeted the Ratpack.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[As mentioned in my recent status update, this game is now on hold due to the Other GM and Marativy's player being new parents.  There will likely be a Session 37 to finally finish Book 3, but we have no idea when it will happen.  The Other GM is optimistic and thinks he can run it soon, but the rest of us think a month or two might be more realistic based on how much time a newborn requires from their parents.  We’ll see how it plays out.]

[As a result, we’ve started building characters for the 5E one-shot being run by Winton’s player, now designated Clone GM 1 (an inside joke).  Clone GM 1 is running a published 5E adventure from a compilation of adventures and has had trouble answering what the adventure is about as all the published blurbs apparently include spoilers.  Another case of we’ll see how it goes.  The next blog entries will be next week and include a character summary for the 5E game followed by session notes for Session 1.]

Ratpack

Book 1: Shards of Sin Landing Page – Links to all Book 1 sessions 

Book 2: Curse of the Lady’s Light Landing Page – Links to all Book 2 sessions 

Book 3: The Asylum Stone Landing Page – Links to all Book 3 sessions 

Last Session: Session 35

Next Session: Session 37 [TBD]

Status Update - Newest Gamer Arrives on Game Day!

This past Saturday, The Other GM and Marativy's player became parents!  Marativy's player delivered their son just before 6:00 PM Houston time.  Mother and son are both healthy by all reports, so Congratulations to them!

The child was not expected for another week, so this is throwing askew campaign plans.  Saturday was supposed to be the next Adventures in the Green session, but we switched to board games.  We were supposed to play the final session for Shattered Star Book 3 tonight (Monday) before transitioning to a 5E one-shot (meaning one adventure that we expect to take 4-5 sessions to play), followed my me starting a new campaign for a while.  This was to let the new parents acclimate to having a child and those demands on their time and life while the rest of us did something different until they can return.  This whole process has now been moved up, so we are working to adapt.

I have one more session to type up for Shattered Star Book 3 (Session 36) and that will appear later this week.  I have no idea when session 37 might happen or if we will hand wave it, but I expect it will be a month or two before that gets resolved.

Tonight, we are doing character creation for the new campaign.  What I know at this point:

• Our characters will be 6th level
• We are using D&D 5E
• It will be an urban environment

I expect to learn more at tonight's session.

This also starts a countdown timer for me to have a new campaign in place.  I've chosen to revive an old campaign world after shaking things up a bit.  I'll be using HERO System, Fifth Edition, and the Fantasy Hero subset of rules.  I ran a campaign in a home-brewed world for over 12 years that has lain fallow for, um, 14 years or so?  I've always wanted to return to that world but never had a "campaign idea" to start a campaign there.  I recently decided I don't actually need a full campaign idea to start as that's not how I did it originally.  I started the world by borrowing it from a friend.  

I hankered to run a fantasy campaign and some friends and I were hanging out and bored one day and asked me to run something, so I said sure.  I needed some place to start and had a map a friend drew for a short campaign he ran to fill some time [I wasn't in the campaign but others I know were].  I took his continent map and general back ground and stole a city idea from another friend's campaign [which he "borrowed" from a fantasy novel] as a place to base three foot-loose adventurers.  I came up with a loose premise and we started.  The adventures for the next decade were the results of things the players did in game mixing with a back story I created as the campaign progressed.  The campaign ended after I ran out of ideas on what to do next.  The longest running PCs had doubled their point values by then [HERO System is a point-buy system for characters, not a level-based system] so were truly formidable.  Formidable enough that I was having trouble coming up with things to throw at them that wouldn't also level a city block.  We still tell fond stories about things that happened in that campaign, so I've always wanted to go back and I've finally found a way.

I'm advancing the timeline 30 to 40 years, dropping in an inland sea that didn't used to be there [whose source is a campaign mystery], and placing the new campaign on the shores of the Sudden Sea, hundreds of miles away from the city-state the original campaign centered on.  The Sudden Sea is at most 10 years old [I might make it younger - still working on this]  and covers lands that used to be the heart of an alliance that broke away from Imperial rule during the Horde Wars [still working on a better name for that] when the Emperor left them to fend for themselves while he protected his personal lands.  The Sea is unexpectedly deep and everyone is nervous about whether or not it will start expanding again, but in the meantime, new naval trade routes are needed and there are refugees everywhere and tensions about other powers looking to annex new territory while the Alliance is busy dealing with this crisis.

That's it for now.  More later!

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 35

[Day 45 – Three Deaths]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened May 22, 2023.]

[SPOILERS!  If you are likely to adventure through the Shattered Star Adventure Path from Paizo, this campaign will be spoilers all the way down.]

Player Characters

Marativy – female ratfolk 9th level Ninja

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 9th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Roscuro – male ratfolk 9th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 9th level Wizard

Winston – male ratfolk 9th level Gunslinger

Via Roll20

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 9th level Summoner (Synthesist)

NPCs

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 7th level Wizard (Invoker)

Hrefna – female changeling 7th level Omdura

Ariphi – female tiefling 7th level Rogue

Fish – male grodaire, actual name is Hummlgau

Autumn

Day 45 continues

[This is the session we realized that the CON Drain the wraiths did back on the roof should have had FORT Saves associated with them.  The Other GM was looking at the wraith stat block, which did not mention saves, and not the creature description, which specifically mentioned them.  Interestingly, attacks with poison list their save DC but other attack types, like Drain, do not in the Pathfinder SRD, so he did not believe there was a save until we asked.  Once he found the listing of the saves and their DC, he allowed us to retroactively make the saves.  Everyone but Winston made the saves, adjusted their maximum hit points back to full, and play started.]

Having shot off the apex of the domed ceiling to the back room of the Black Keep, the Ratpack entered the back room.  It was clearly a vault as it was lined with a layer of adamantium, but the only thing it contained was a biomechanical obelisk that appeared to anchor the Dark Forest pocket dimension.

Marativy and Zitch examined the vault door for traps so the Ratpack could exit the vault and face the Dark Rider.  It is well they checked the door as it was trapped.  Marativy disabled the trap and announced the door was ready to be opened.

The Ratpack prepared for the fight by casting several spells.  Zitch cast Remove Fear on himself, Hrefna, and Marativy [those with the lowest WILL saves].  Templeton cast Protection from Evil on Swamprover and Roscuro.  Zitch then took the time to place Protective Luck on the entire group, one at a time, while cackling to maintain them all.  During this time Marativy activated five shadow clones and Winston cast Named Bullet.  Winston then prepared to immediately shoot the Black Rider once the door was open [but not with the Named Bullet].  Hrefna activated her aura [+2 to saves for allies].

Marativy then opened the door.

Several things happened at once.  Winston rapid fired at the Dark Rider, who was across the room from the vault door, hitting several times but not as effectively as he had hoped [the Dark Rider had DR that Winston’s attacks did not bypass].  At the same time, the Dark Rider’s fear aura flowed over the front two ranks of adventurers with fear taking hold in the hearts of Ariphi and Winston [the two who failed their saves].  Finally, the Dark Rider threw a decapitated head [its prepared action], which exploded in the center of the Ratpack, heavily injuring many, notably Ariphi and Gridik.

Winston rapid-fired his musket [a phrase that still feels wrong to type], hitting the Dark Rider twice, before falling back from fear.  Marativy advanced to the Dark Rider’s horse per the plan and hit, but did no damage [the horse had its own DR].  The Dark Rider threw all of its attacks from a whip made of a spinal column at Marativy, missing once and eliminating two of her shadow clones.  Then the horse did a stomp, eliminating another shadow clone.  Roscuro advanced and attempted a Stunning Fist on the horse, which it [just] resisted.  Zitch cackled to maintain Protective Luck on everyone and then cast Remove Fear on Winston and Ariphi, suppressing the fear they were suffering.  Swamprover advanced to a better line of sight and cast Lightning Bolt at the Dark Rider, piercing his spell resistance and hitting him, although he avoided the full brunt of the attack [made his Reflex save].  Hrefna cast Cure Moderate Wounds on Ariphi, who was heavily injured from the explosion.  Ariphi then advanced into the side of room with the Dark Rider and drank her last potion of Cure Moderate Wounds.  Templeton cast Haste on most of the Ratpack [Winston was out of range] and then advanced on the Dark Rider.  Fish attempted to advance on the Dark Rider, entered the fear aura, thought better of it, and retreating to the far back of the vault.  Gridik cast Dragon Breath at the Dark Rider, spewing a line of acid that fizzled against the Riders spell resistance.  Gridik then shuffled into a protected corner as he was near unconsciousness from the previous explosion [down to 4 hit points].  Suddenly the biomechanical pillar in the vault activated, the three devas screaming horrifically and mostly healed the wounds on the Dark Rider.

Winston fired his Named Bullet as a Dead Shot, hitting the Dark Rider.  Marativy put all of her attacks into the Rider’s horse, hitting twice and bloodying the horse [with Roscuro there she could Backstab due to the Swarming trait Ratfolk have, so she did much more damage].  The Dark Rider did not like this at all, drew a hand axe and attacked Marativy six times [!], taking out her last shadow clone and hitting her once each with the axe [20 hit points] and the whip [19 hit points].  The Rider’s horse then stomped her [14 hit points].  Roscuro attacked the horse with a flurry of blows, hitting it 5 times, once critically, which triggered an additional attack from Marativy that also hit.  Zitch attempted Baleful Polymorph on the Dark Rider, but the Rider resisted the effort [made his save].  Swamprover cast Magic Missile at the Dark Rider and hit with all five.  Hrefna healed Marativy [restored 20 hit points] and invoked Divine Might on the Dark Rider [which provided bonuses to her attacking the Dark Rider].  Ariphi advanced on the Dark Rider and attempted a feint that failed.  Templeton attacked the horse with all of his attacks and killed it.  In response the horse exploded doing varying amounts of damage to all in the room.  Back in the vault, Gridik moved over to Zitch and requested some healing [this turned out to be a mistake].  The obelisk howled again and healed some of the Rider’s wounds.

Winston waited.  Marativy took advantage of the pause in attacks and re-invoked her shadow clones, getting six of them this time.  The Dark Rider stood from his fallen horse, reached into his bag, pulled out the head of Selasny the Naga, and flung it into the center of the adventurers where it exploded.  The explosion damaged Hrefna and Templeton, knocked out Marativy and Ariphi, and killed Gridik [who would have been safe if he had stayed in the corner].  Winston fired a startling shot at the Dark Rider, making the Rider flat-footed.  Roscuro stepped to the Rider and unleashed a flurry of angry blows on the Rider, hitting four times.  Zitch stepped to see the Rider and attempted Baleful Polymorph again but failed.  Swamprover moved back to the doorway for cover and cast Magic Missile at the Dark Rider, hitting again with all 5 missiles.  Hrefna cast Cure Moderate Wounds on Marativy, reviving her and then switched her aura to healing [Fast Heal 3 to all allies].  Ariphi healed but remained unconscious.  Templeton stepped over to Roscuro to swarm and attacked the Dark Rider with all his attacks, hitting four times and rending with two of his claws.  Fish continued to cower and the obelisk healed the Rider again.

Awake again, Marativy kipped up, stepped adjacent to Dark Rider where she could swarm with Templeton [he was Large, so two people could swarm with him] and attacked the Dark Rider mightily [a total of 90 points of damage over three hits].  In response, the Dark Rider stepped over to the unconscious Ariphi and cut her head off with his axe before attacking Marativy with the rest of his attacks.  One of his attacks hit the real Marativy and knocked her unconscious again.  Meanwhile Ariphi’s head disappeared and the Rider’s bag suddenly had another head in it.  Winston rapidly fired at the Rider, hitting all three times.  Roscuro threw another flurry of blows, hitting three times, once critically.  Zitch then advanced and cast Lightning Bolt at the Dark Rider, killing the fiend!  Hrefna then cast Cure Moderate Wounds on Marativy, reviving her.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[We skipped a week as a storm blew through earlier in the day on the 15th and blew down some trees, knocking out power to our neighborhood for four hours.  Oddly enough, there was rain again on the day this session happened that made the power blink a couple times during the afternoon, but it never went out for more than a couple seconds, so we played.  May is Monsoon Month for Houston.  June 1 is the beginning of Hurricane Season.  Joy.]

[So the three deaths were Gridik, Ariphi, and the Dark Rider (maybe).  We stopped as soon as the Dark Rider dropped as we were running late and folks had to work the next day.  On one hand I feel the death of Ariphi was gratuitous on the Other GM’s part.  He could easily have decided that the Dark Rider had another head in the bag and not killed Ariphi.  On the other hand, the Rider was Lawful Evil and the Other GM had set the number of heads available before the battle and stuck with that.  It was entirely in character for the Rider to do what he did, but that doesn’t make us hate the Rider any less.  Jerk-face.]

[Marativy’s shadow clones were easily the MVP of this session.  Without them Marativy would have died in the fight, even with the Protective Luck from Zitch.  If she had dropped, either Roscuro or Templeton would have been the focus of the Rider’s attacks and that person likely would have dropped as well before the others took the Rider down.  We still would have won, but more of us would have been dead.]

Ratpack

Book 1: Shards of Sin Landing Page – Links to all Book 1 sessions 

Book 2: Curse of the Lady’s Light Landing Page – Links to all Book 2 sessions 

Book 3: The Asylum Stone Landing Page – Links to all Book 3 sessions 

Last Session: Session 34 

Next Session: Session 36

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 34

[Days 45 – Loudest Heist Ever]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened May 8, 2023.]

[SPOILERS!  If you are likely to adventure through the Shattered Star Adventure Path from Paizo, this campaign will be spoilers all the way down.]

Player Characters

Marativy – female ratfolk 9th level Ninja

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 9th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Roscuro – male ratfolk 9th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 9th level Wizard

Winston – male ratfolk 9th level Gunslinger

Via Roll20

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 9th level Summoner (Synthesist)

NPCs

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 7th level Wizard (Invoker)

Hrefna – female changeling 7th level Omdura

Ariphi – female tiefling 7th level Rogue

Fish – male grodaire, actual name is Hummlgau

Autumn

Day 45 continues

[Once the players had assembled but before we started play, a storm blowing through the area knocked out the power in the neighborhood.  We put out some battery-powered lights on the table and discussed our strategy for fighting the Dark Rider while waiting for the power to come back on.  The power returned about 30 minutes later and so we started regular play.]

While catching their breath after fighting the wraiths, Marativy had an idea on fighting the Dark Rider.  The Rider received a great deal of mobility from being on horseback and seemed to generate a great deal of damage, so she proposed that she, Templeton, and Roscuro concentrate their attacks on the horse to eliminate the Rider’s advantage while everyone else attacked the rider directly.  This was a good idea.  After discussing the situation a little, Marativy, Templeton, and Roscuro decided they would concentrate their initial attacks on the horse [for the first three rounds].  If the horse seemed immune to their attacks, they would switch back to attacking the Dark Rider, otherwise they would do their best to kill the horse before switching to the Rider.

With a new appreciation of the need to be quiet while traversing the roof of the keep, the group advanced to the next section.  Roscuro, slightly distracted, put his foot through a weak spot in the roof but caught himself before falling all the way through [rolled a 1 on Stealth check].  Marativy started marking the weak spots in chalk while scouting ahead.

While using the knotted rope to climb up the wall to the next level of the roof, Gridik slipped and fell.  [Yes, Gridik failed a DC 0 Climb check.  He rolled 1.]  Luckily Hrefna was waiting at the bottom of the rope for this and caught the falling kobold.  On her own turn to climb the wall, Hrefna also slipped and fell [also rolled a 1] but was caught by Zitch.

The Ratpack reached the roof of the final chamber in keep, a pointed dome covering a 20x30 foot area.  Roscuro consulted with Winston, the team’s engineer, where to break through: the wall around the top of the chamber or through the domed roof.  Winston looked it over and felt that the tiles roof would be the better option.  The group would remove the ceramic roof tiles and then use the wand of acid arrow and adamantine dagger to cut through, just like they had done in Kaer Maga.

Marativy climbed onto Templeton’s back.  He then flew them to the pinnacle of the roof where they tied a rope to assist climbing onto the domed roof.  Winston and Ariphi climbed up and started prying up the first ceramic time when all the tiles flash heated hot enough to burn them through their armor!  They immediately hopped back down to the previous roof.

Marativy dangled under Templeton and checked the roof, belatedly verifying it was trapped.  She then spent some time disabling the area around where Winston and Ariphi needed to work.  Once that area was cleared of trap triggers, Winston and Ariphi climbed back up onto the domed roof.

After safely removing a number of tiles, They used the wand to start eating away through the substrate.  This is when Winston discovered another problem – under the layer holding the tiles in place was a layer of adamantium!  Spot checking in a couple places confirmed the layer of adamantium covered the entire roof and appeared to include the walls of the chamber underneath as well.

A room lined with adamantium!

The Ratpack discussed options.  Zitch only had one casting of Dimension Door available, so he could teleport himself and 3 others into the chamber below, but then they would be trapped.  Winston then volunteered a terrible idea, but the only one that would work.  His plan was to use his remaining adamantium bullet and his bag of abundant ammunition to shoot a perforated line through the adamantium layer, cutting off part of the peak of the dome to provide access.  He could use his oil of silence to quiet his gun, but not the bullet hitting the adamantium layer.  This would be noisy and all surprise would be lost but it would work and allow the Ratpack to attack on their terms.

With no other viable options, the Ratpack agreed to this.

Winston oiled up his gun and activated the first charge of the bag.  He then started shooting through the roof, each shot ringing the adamantium like a bell.  When the first charge from the bag expired, Winston paused to evaluate his efforts.  Checking how far he had cut, he estimated he would be half way done by the time his bag ran out of charges.

The Ratpack could also hear the sound of an alarm going off down in the keep.

Gridik suggested he could access Abundant Ammunition through his bonded ring, Fulmination, and his casting would last 7 minutes whereas Winton’s charges only lasted a minute.  [Gridik normally keeps the use of his spell focus to pull a spell out of his spellbook as a last minute resort.]  They all agreed that it was necessary and so Gridik accessed and cast Abundant Ammunition on Winston.

Seven Noisy Minutes Later

Winston finally finished perforating the pinnacle of the dome roof.  The Ratpack attempted to move the resulting cone of adamantium but found it was too heavy for them to move [650 pounds of adamantium and another 100 pounds of roofing on top].  Templeton used an evolutionary surge to become large again, which granted him enough strength to lift the cone while a rope was attached and then haul on the rope to air lift the cone off the roof and set it down on the ground adjacent to the keep.

The rest of the Ratpack peered in through the opening.  The chamber below was clearly lined with adamantium.  Instead of treasure or the Dark Rider, the only thing in the room was some form of biomechanical obelisk 30 feet tall.  There was a glowing green gem at the top connected to metal conduits of some sort that spiraled down around the obelisk to the eye sockets of three devas, chained to the base of the obelisk, their faces a mask of agony.  Zitch estimated that this device was responsible for maintaining the pocket dimension they were in.

Roscuro wanted to immediately destroy the thing.  Zitch pointed out that if it stopped functioning, they would have at best minutes to get back to the menhir and activate it before the pocket dimension and everything in it would blink out of existence.  This gave Roscuro pause.

It also suggested that this might be a way to destroy one or more of the shard of the Shattered Star.  This would end their quest but would also mean no one would be able to reassemble the Star, something the Ratpack was already iffy on.

[The players had a short debate here about whether or not they wanted to end the campaign this way.  Several players wanted to keep playing their characters and were not ready to end the campaign based on that.  The Other DM allowed that he had a way to keep the campaign going without stating what that way was.  Ultimately, the group decided to not use this option and keep the campaign going.]

The Ratpack decided that breaking the pocket dimension was too risky for now and they should defeat the Dark Rider and secure the shard instead.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[I had expected to have the conversation about what to do with the shards once we had them eventually, but not until we had all the shards.  So I was thinking the end of Book 5.  The Ratpack has been pursuing the shards for two reasons.  First, locations with the shards tend to also have Thassilonian relics that the group can sell for a significant profit.  Second, we really don’t trust anyone else to do the job nor with all the shards.  The Pathfinder Society put forth the idea that having the Star would be some form of defense against the rising Runelords but that sounds like Boromir arguing that the Ring of Power is a gift to use against Sauron.  I’ve discussed with Templeton’s player maybe we should find a way to permanently hide the shards, like putting them in a lead box and dropping the box into the deepest part of the ocean, preferable far away from any marine civilizations.]

Ratpack

Book 1: Shards of Sin Landing Page – Links to all Book 1 sessions 

Book 2: Curse of the Lady’s Light Landing Page – Links to all Book 2 sessions 

Book 3: The Asylum Stone Landing Page – Links to all Book 3 sessions 

Last Session: Session 33

Next Session: Session 35

 

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 33

[Days 45 – Discussions and Roof Wraiths]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened May 1, 2023.]

[SPOILERS!  If you are likely to adventure through the Shattered Star Adventure Path from Paizo, this campaign will be spoilers all the way down.]

Player Characters

Marativy – female ratfolk 9th level Ninja

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 9th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Roscuro – male ratfolk 9th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 9th level Wizard

Winston – male ratfolk 9th level Gunslinger

Via Roll20

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 9th level Summoner (Synthesist)

NPCs

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 7th level Wizard (Invoker)

Hrefna – female changeling 7th level Omdura

Ariphi – female tiefling 7th level Rogue

Fish – male grodaire, actual name is Hummlgau

Autumn

Day 45 continues

Having just barely failed to remove the Wall of Iron blocking their forward progress, Roscuro continued talking with the bonesage, starting with proper introductions.  The bonesage’s name was Malaghast.  Roscuro tried to get the parameters of Malaghast’s orders, hoping to find a loophole.  Malaghast told Roscuro and Swamprover that he is not allowed to let the Ratpack any further into the keep.  Roscuro asked if Malaghast could retrieve the shard the group was looking for instead.  Malaghast stated he was not allowed to do that either.

Malaghast made some statements that Roscuro did not understand.  Zitch activated his earring of telepathy to converse with Roscuro privately and informed Roscuro that Malaghast had stated that he was a simulacrum with conditional programming.  Roscuro asked a series of questions to determine if the original Malaghast had consented to having a simulacrum made and this Malaghast stated he had – or at least that’s what he had been told.

Having reached a dead end in the conversation there, Roscuro stated that he and the lord of this keep had business to settle between them and Roscuro wanted to do so immediately.  Malaghast mentally contacted the Dark Rider to inquire about this as no had asked that before.  After a pause, he relayed that the Dark Rider offered to call off the whole affair with no grudges if the Ratpack left the keep now.  Roscuro asked permission to step outside the room and consult with his traveling companions.  Malaghast assented and Roscuro stepped out of the doorway and back to the previous room.  Swamprover stayed in Malaghast’s study and discussed other topics.

During the time Roscuro and Swamprover were talking with Malaghast, Marativy snuck into an adjacent room to see what was there.  It was a library with a small fae dusting the shelves.  She closed the door and described the being to Zitch, who identified it as a pukwudgie.  He also identified the centaur-like being Marativy had previously discovered as a nucklevee, another kind of fae but much more dangerous, being immune to disease and poison, able to see in the dark, but vulnerable to cold iron like all fae.

Roscuro, joining the rest of the Ratpack, talked the offer over with them and none of them were willing to accept the deal.  They all agreed they were going to have to fight to get past Malaghast.  Winston requested that Gridik cast Named Bullet on one of Winston’s remaining adamantine bullets, keyed specifically to Malaghast.  Gridik saw the value of doing so and cast the spell.

Roscuro returned to Malaghast’s study and announced the group was regretfully declining the Dark Rider’s offer.  Malaghast suggested that if they were not leaving and could go no further forward, perhaps they should visit the observation tower, which had a fine view of the roof and surrounding lands.  Roscuro recognized that Malaghast might be suggesting a different path forward, one he was not responsible for.  Roscuro and Swamprover thanked Malaghast for his time and stated they would take his advice.  They left before any violence started.

The door to the tower was the last door in the ballroom the Ratpack had not explored.  The door was both locked and trapped, which Marativy and Roscuro discovered when they went to open the door and a gout of flame erupted from the door.  Roscuro avoided the flames but Marativy caught the edge of the gout [both made their saves, but only Roscuro has Improved Evasion and was able to avoid all the damage].  Marativy disarmed the trap and picked the lock after receiving some healing.

Beyond the door was a dusty, circular room, the lowest chamber of the tower.  At the far side of the room [south] was a circular stairway rising to the upper floors.  The Ratpack climbed the stairs, finding the second floor much the same.  The third floor was missing its roof and was the roost of the wyverns, containing two large nests [and quite the stench].  A quick search using Detect Magic located a corpse with three magic items on it [identified by Zitch]: a set of shadow leather +1, a wand of mount [caster level 3], and a Phylactery of Channeling.  The shadow leather +1 was removed and cleaned with a prestidigitation spell and then given to Marativy [whose Stealth skill bonus was now truly ridiculous].  The set of leather +1 she had been wearing went to Ariphi, who only had plain leather armor.  [Magic armor resizes itself to fit the wearer, which is how leather +1 went from a size Small ratfolk to a size medium tiefling.]  The wand and phylactery went into the loot bag for later sale.

The view from the wyvern roost was dark and dreary as benefitted the Dark Forest pocket dimension.  The roof of the keep was 10 feet down and rose in giant steps as it went east to the conical dome over the far end.  The Ratpack tied off a rope and knotted it for easy climbing down from the tower to the roof, notably for Gridik who was terrible at climbing [Climb bonus of -1].

Once on the roof, the Ratpack walked across the roof over the ballroom to the next height change.  Marativy nimbly climbed up to the next roof level and tied off another rope.  Roscuro simply jumped the distance while Swamprover made use of her native climb speed.  Gridik started climbing the rope.

At this point, four wraiths seeped up through the ceiling to investigate the noise, catching the Ratpack by surprise.  Winston, Roscuro, Templeton, and Zitch all took some level of Constitution Drain.

After recovering from the surprise, Winston shot the heck out of the wraith that attacked him, the last shot a misfire.  Roscuro parceled out his flurry of blows, taking out the wraith Winston had shot and landing two more blows on a second wraith.  Zitch stepped to Winston and put Protective Luck on Templeton.  Swamprover identified the wraiths as wraths and warned they were immune to non-magical damage.  The three remaining wraiths attacked again, landing another blow on Templeton [draining more Constitution, but see Rat Whispers below].  Hrefna activated a defensive aura [+2 AC for all allies] and saved her action.  Templeton used an evolutionary surge to gain Shadow Form and then stepped to Roscuro.  Marativy [already scouting the next level of roof up] made an acrobatic dive to Roscuro’s position and attacked the wraith number 2 [gaining the bonus to hit of her Outflank feat].  Gridik finished climbing the rope and cast Magic Missile at wraith number 4.  Hrefna used her saved action to immediately follow Gridik up the rope.  Fish water-jetted a wraith to absolutely no effect.

Winston cleared his weapon and immediately misfired again.  Roscuro parceled out another flurry of blows, taking out wraith 2 and hitting wraith 3 three times.  Zitch put Protective Luck on Winston and cackled to maintain the two effects in play.  Swamprover cast Magic Missile at wraith 4 and hit all 5 times.  That wraith moved to attack Swamprover in return and hit [Draining 5 CON in a single hit].  Wraith 3 attacked Roscuro, but thanks to bodyguard actions from Templeton and Marativy, it missed.  Templeton did a full attack on wraith 3, hitting twice with his claws and rending it.  Marativy stepped to Roscuro and also did a full attack [making two critical hits], killing it.  Gridik cast Magic Missile at the remaining wraith and hit it four times.  Hrefna moved to the remaining wraith and attacked it with her magic sword, killing it.

[At this point, most of the characters had lost Constitution from the drains, which equated to lost hit points as their Constitution bonuses were lower.  We attempted to heal it with multiple castings of Lesser Restoration before realizing that Lesser Restoration only heals Stat Damage, not Stat Drain.  That requires Restoration or Greater Restoration.  Remember to see Rat Whispers below.]

Marativy spotted tracks indicating that the naga had traveled this way.  Zitch cast See Invisible looking for foes but instead located a scrying sensor point.  He cast Glitter Dust on it, hoping to blind the viewer [not likely] and outlining the point so everyone knew where it was.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[Two sessions later, Session 35, there was a ret-con on the CON Drain attacks.  It turns out the Drain gets a Fortitude save, but the save is not mentioned in the stat block for the wraith, only in the power description for the monster and the Other GM was only looking at the Stat Block.  When this was pointed out at the beginning of the session, we retro-actively did the saves.  Most made the saves but not Winston.  Poor Winston.]

Ratpack

Book 1: Shards of Sin Landing Page – Links to all Book 1 sessions 

Book 2: Curse of the Lady’s Light Landing Page – Links to all Book 2 sessions 

Book 3: The Asylum Stone Landing Page – Links to all Book 3 sessions 

Last Session: Session 32 

Next Session: Session 34

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 32

[Days 44 and 45 – Some interrupted rest, back to the Black Keep, and alien undead!?]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened April 24, 2023.]

[SPOILERS!  If you are likely to adventure through the Shattered Star Adventure Path from Paizo, this campaign will be spoilers all the way down.]

Player Characters

Marativy – female ratfolk 9th level Ninja

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 9th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Roscuro – male ratfolk 9th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 9th level Wizard

Winston – male ratfolk 9th level Gunslinger

Via Roll20

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 9th level Summoner (Synthesist)

NPCs

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 7th level Wizard (Invoker)

Hrefna – female changeling 7th level Omdura

Ariphi – female tiefling 7th level Rogue

Fish – male grodaire, actual name is Hummlgau

Autumn

Day 44 concludes

The Ratpack was holed up in a small cave at the rim of the Dark Forest pocket dimension.  Before people started going to sleep, Hrefna cast Commune and got the following answers:

1. Is the Dark Rider in the Keep?  Yes
2. Is the Dark Rider searching tonight?  Not exactly.
3. Is the shard the Ratpack seeks in the Black Keep?  Yes
4. Is the Dark Rider able to leave the Keep?  Yes
5. Does the menhir connect to 10 or more locations?  Yes
6. Has the Dark Rider marked Roscuro?  Yes
7. Will the Dark Rider hunt Roscuro tonight?  No

Assured that at least the Dark Rider would not pursue them while they slept, most of the Ratpack curled up and did their best to sleep inside the comfortable area of the Tiny Hut spell Gridik had cast.  As a final bit of security, Gridik cast Alarm across the cave entrance, set to make audible noise if something not part of the Ratpack attempted to enter the cave.

An Hour and 20 minutes later

Ariphi and Winston were on watch, sitting at the cave entrance, when some form of floating undead started to approach the cave.  Its skin was flayed from the front, exposing its ribcage, which contained a ghostly light.  Winston took a shot at it but failed to damage it at all [it had DR].  In response, the thing summoned four skeletons, two of which appeared within the area of Gridik’s Alarm spell, triggering it.  The noise of the Alarm spell woke everyone but Hrefna, who slept through the resulting fight.

Swamprover identified the thing as a Devourer, an undead with high spell resistance, a vampiric touch, spell deflection, and a Devour Soul power.  Warned, the Ratpack worked hard to take the thing down.  The fight was relatively short but costly – Hrefna was diminished [lost a level] when the thing touched her and drained away part of her soul.  Luckily, she was the only one it hit.

Investigating its surprisingly physical remains, the Ratpack found a Rod of Thunderous Force lodged in the thing’s ribcage.  The rod was stashed away in Marativy’s Box of Holding for later use or sale.

The Ratpack settled back into the cave to resume resting.

About 40 minutes after that

Templeton, Gridik, Swamprover, and Zitch finish resting [they all have Rings of Sustenance].  They immediately started doing the things they need to regain their spells: Gridik studied his spellbooks, Swamprover and Zitch conversed with their familiars, and Templeton ate breakfast [summoners are spontaneous casters and just need the rest].  This took an hour.

[The Other GM cut us a break here.  Strict rules as written, the fight with the Devourer interrupted everyone’s rest (except Hrefna's) and the casters should have needed to sleep another two hours before relearning their spells and everyone else another 8 hours.]

Once the casters were ready, Winston and Ariphi went to sleep with Templeton, Gridik, Swamprover, and Zitch on watch.

5 hours later

Roscuro and Marativy woke up and went on watch after a small breakfast.  Roscuro missed Mel’s excellent hot breakfasts.

3 hours later [Day 45 for all intents and purposes]

Ariphi and Winston finished their rest and ate some breakfast.  With the entire team rested and mostly recharged, the Ratpack discussed tactics while walking back to the Black Keep.

An hour later

When they reached to edge of the clearing around the Black Keep, Zitch put his Ward on Marativy and Hrefna cast Keen Edge on her wakizashi.  Zitch had multiple castings of Remove Fear ready and Pearls of Power to restore them if additional castings were necessary.  Zitch cast Heroism on Marativy, Roscuro, and Winston while Hrefna placed Bless on the rest of the group [Heroism and Bless both provide Morale Bonuses, which do not stack].

Ready as they would ever be, the Ratpack quickly moved across the clearing to the north side of the Keep, entering through the stables.  Roscuro and Marativy stepped to the door to the ballroom and peered in.

The floor was covered with a low layer of black mist.  Leaning against a doorway on the far side of the raised area was a unique being.  Roscuro whispered a description and Zitch recalled reading about the Bonesages of Eox – undead wizards from another world a world they destroyed achieving their form of immortality.  They were so rare that was all he knew.

Roscuro whispered to Zitch to cast Remove Fear on the Ratpack.  Once the group was [mostly covered], Roscuro lead the group out into the ballroom, making a line towards the double doors at the back of the raised area at the end of the ballroom.  The bonesage closed a book it was reading and greeted the group, asking that they follow him into his study to converse.  Roscuro politely declined, stating they had business with the lord of the keep.  The bonesage stated he was not allowed to let the group proceed…and cast Wall of Iron across the stairs leading up to the double doors.  He then turned and went into his study, pointedly leaving the door open.

Somewhat nonplussed, Roscuro walked over to the doorway and started talking with the bonesage, trying to buy some time while the others worked on getting past the Wall of Iron.  Swamprover, fascinated by the bonesage, walked into its study to participate in the conversation.

Marativy checked a side room and discovered it was occupied by a nuckelavee, a monster that appeared to be a skinned horse with a skinned, female rider sprouting from its back.  She quietly closed the door before it noticed.  Gridik approached the Wall of Iron and cast Dispel Magic at the wall and put all his might into it.  The wall seemed to quaver a bit before becoming fixed again.  [Gridik rolled very well on his dispel check, missing his target number by 1.  Working the math, this meant that the bonesage was a 15th level caster and not to be trifled with.]

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[Short session notes-wise.  The fight against the Devourer only went a couple rounds but it took time to get through and then we talked strategy for a while.  We had a plan on facing the Dark Rider again and to win this time, a plan that was derailed by the bonesage and his Wall of Iron.  Sigh.]

[So important thing to know about Bonesages of Eox – they are tall, have enlarged craniums, and no lips.  To me they look like undead Martians from Mars Attacks.  The Other GM says they look like an undead Mastermind from the movie of the same name.  I prefer the Martian analogy and refer to him as Mr. Ak-Ak-Ak (the sound the Martians made in the movie).  Your mileage may vary.]

Ratpack

Book 1: Shards of Sin Landing Page – Links to all Book 1 sessions 

Book 2: Curse of the Lady’s Light Landing Page – Links to all Book 2 sessions 

Book 3: The Asylum Stone Landing Page – Links to all Book 3 sessions 

Last Session: Session 31 

Next Session: Session 33

[Updated to correct source of Gridik's Dispel Magic, he had it memorized and did not need to pull it out of his ring.]

Post Delayed this week

 A very active thunderstorm blew through yesterday afternoon, just as I was getting ready to start typing up my notes for the next session of the Shattered Star campaign.  The storm knocked down some trees in the back half of the neighborhood, taking out electrical power to several neighborhoods.

All told, the power was out for about 4 hours before the downed trees were moved and the power lines restored.  My wife and I needed to relocate to someplace with power and functional A/C.  This required I put gas in my car and get the tires inflated back up to their required pressure.

That was due to the front that came through last week and triggered a service light on my dashboard.  I was waiting for a non-rainy day to get it taken care of so the service guys did not get rained on, but it's rainy season in Houston and the last week and a half has alternated between pouring rain or beautiful weather, changing daily if not within the same day.  [Today is is beautiful weather with puffy white clouds and temperatures in the mid-to-upper 80s (degF).]

Once my car was safe to drive and had fuel, it was dinner time.  We got a bite to eat and watched the online status of the power repairs.  Our neighbors called us around 6:30 when their power came back on and let us know.  We headed home but were exhausted by then.

Also, yesterday was our normal game day and we had to scrub that due to no power [we host the game].

Today has been catch up plus some Dayjob-related stuff catching up, meaning I haven't sat down to type up my notes yet.  I should have time tomorrow in the afternoon.

I'm might only post one session this week.  I need to re-write the adventure I'm running for my Adventures in the Green playtest monthly game.  We started it in this month's session, but it quickly became apparent that what read fine had issues when actually played.  Some of the information is poorly presented, meaning I need to read through a paragraph to find it every time I need it.  Some of it is just written poorly [a basilisk encounter where the only treasure is gear on petrified adventurers who are inclined to keep their stuff when de-petrified is the big example].

I only have two and a half weeks with several items on my social calendar intervening, so it will be tight to get a basic re-write to make info findable and maybe improve the encounters.  I want to make the next session more energetic as the last one dragged a bit due to me taking time to find info [or make it up, like the height of some cliffs that was given in time to climb without specifying if the time was climbing up or down and my PCs have a flying carpet].

That's it for now.  Later!