I Fell, a Lot

 So, I had trouble walking for a while.  Three weeks ago, I fell getting into the tub.  I got up and out. Next day went to chiropractor and got xrays of neck. Looked "ok".  Made appointment for MRI scans of same to verify no hairline fractures and scheduled PT.

A week later, before the MRI, I fell again.  This time I couldn't get back up of the bathroom floor.  We called 911 and EMTs hauled me up onto a chair and I got to standing on my own from there.

5 days later I fell again and hit the back of my head on the shower tile.  Called 911 and they took me go the ER.  They did a CAT Scan on my skull and sent me home with a walker.

5:30 am the next morning I fell while using my walker. We called 911 and they hauled me up and put me in bed.

3 hours later, I had to urinate but could not stand, even with walker.  While rocking back and forth to remove underwear so I could pee into a trashcan, I fell off the bed to the floor.  A 911 call later and EMTs lifted me back to bed.

6 hours later, while friends were over to board game some and help us rearrange some furniture, I felt OK. I got up on my feet, put fresh clothes on, and used the walker to get into the bathroom. There, I fell again.

This time the EMTs said, "You've fallen 4 times in 24 hours. We cannot keep coming out to lift you. You need to go to a hospital."  I didn't want to, but I agreed.  At the hospital I had an mri of my lower back, which seemed to be the culprit. Talked with a neurosurgeon and scheduled surgery for two days later. He also wanted an mri of my neck to verify nothing strange there.  After he left, I remembered I'd just had one and asked my wife to bring the DVD with the copied images. She said it was already there so, long story short, we gave the neurosurgeon the DVD.

He came back a couple hours later and said the lower back surgery was off the table as my neck was in much worse shape.  I suffer from OPLL (look it up) where a ligament turns to bone over time and presses on my spinal cord.  It was doing so in multiple places.  April 14, 2 weeks and a day after the first fall, I had surgery on my neck including c-3, c4, c5, c6, and c7.

This past week I've been in the hospital, for post-op and sort things out.  Turns out a thing with my left leg was not because of OPLL but something else and hid amongst the symptoms. 

Tomorrow is a consultation with Orthopedics to sort that out and treatment. Once that is over, I will go to a rehab facility for intensive PT so I can get up from bed or a chair and so I can walk again. 

My insurance covers most of this (after the $5K deductible), but I don't have enough vacation time for all of it.  I will be on Short Term Disability for a couple weeks and that means only 60% of my salary during that time, which is not enough.  If anyone has ideas for donations and how to do that, I'd appreciate the help tremendously. 

Tim's Outlanders: Session 3, May/June, 17 IC

Player Characters

Tim, a Wizard - male human from the Free City of Freegate, student at Outlands University
Dangar Stonekleaver - male dwarf from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom
Mikal Torvaldsson - human male, of the Uplander Clans
Darian Kyle - human male, formerly of the Imperial 7th Legion [deserter]

Begins

The adventurers left the Terminus the following morning.  One night on the Route, they camped with a human merchant and his guards traveling east from the SDK to the Empire via Freegate.  They were shipping metalwork items for sale throughout the entire Empire.  The adventurers swapped stories and rumors with the merchant.

The party learned of strange goings-on on the HNTR—there were reports of attacks on caravans and Clan strongholds by forces unknown.  Further, strange lights have been seen at night, being described as "glowing dark purple clouds".  The merchant had not seen the lights himself, but knew people he trusted who had.  The adventurers also learned that the 7th Legion, Darian's old unit, was making a big push to the south on the rebel Kingdom of Silverloc this campaign season.

The adventurers warned the merchant of bandits operating on the road to Freegate.  Dangar bought a "pony keg" of Orpheon Gold [very high quality beer brewed in Orpheon] from the merchant the next morning before the groups went their separate ways.

A few weeks later, the adventurers arrived at the Citadel of the Fourth Legion, a major way station on the HNTR.  There they paid to stable their horses for two weeks and rented llamas.  They then continued north on the HNTR, further into the Worldspine Mountains, until they reached a point that was closest to the part of the Upper Reaches [the highest area of the already tall Worldspine Mountains] they wanted to search.

At this point, it had been 29 days since the adventurers left Freegate, making it June 8.

The adventurers hiked up into the mountains, heading for the MacAuley clan’s stronghold, which, according to Mikal, should be nearby.  After most of a day, they arrived at the MacAuley stronghold and found it recently attacked.  The party investigated and determined the attackers came in two waves, the first being elemental earth creatures of some sort that breached the walls and killed many clansmen, the second being ogres that finished off the defenders.  While searching the blacksmith’s workshop, Mikal discovered a hidden trap door that lead to an escape route out of the stronghold.  Following the tunnel under it with Dangar, the two of them found the remaining MacAuleys sheltering in a cave.

The surviving MacAuleys told a story about an evil force attacking in the night.  The shock troops were golems that battered down the walls of the clan's stronghold.  An overpowering, evil smell made fighting the golems even more difficult.  Ogres followed up after the golems once most of the clans’ warriors had been killed.  The clan’s elder was killed by some sort of evil magic.

After holding a brief strategy session, the adventurers set off with Maclyn MacAuley, a 16 year old guide, to hunt down the ogres while the rest of the MacAuley clan headed west to the MacTaggert clan stronghold for safety.  The party left their llamas at the MacAuley stronghold and spent a day tracking the ogres back to their camp, finding it shortly after sundown.  The ogre camp was on the next mountain east, on the far side of the ridge.  Maclyn attempted to sneak closer to find out how many ogres there were, but was seen.  A Dwarven spell caster with the ogres cast a flash spell to light up the area and blind Maclyn.  As the ogres closed in to kill Maclyn, the adventurers attacked.  Mikal and Dangar slid down the slope, standing on their shields like sleds, and quickly started killing the ogres.  Tim started a spell casting duel with the Dwarven spell caster and came out on top.  During the fight, Darian Kyle killed an ogre that tried to kill Tim, using only two blows.

After the fight, the adventurers went through the effects in the camp.  Most of the dwarf's possessions were burned due to fireballs cast at him.  The exceptions were a mysterious metal scroll tube and his religious symbol.  The symbol identified him as a member of Those Who Watch.  The Adventurers decided to backtrack the ogres some more, to find out where they came from.  They spent a day and a half retrieving their llamas from the stronghold and then pressed on.

After tracking for two days, the party arrived at the sight of a much bigger ogre camp. The camp had been used about a week previous.  Unfortunately, at this point the tracks became too faint for Maclyn to track any further. The party decided to return back to their original goal.  It took two more days of hard hiking to achieve the area known as the Upper Reaches.  Once there, it took the party a further day to find the arrangement of mountain peaks described on the tablets.

The location turned out to be a perfectly circular frozen lake on a high plateau.  In the exact center of the lake was an island.  The party carefully crossed the frozen lake and searched the island for clues.  On the island they found a perfectly circular cave with a set of double doors at the back of it.  The doors had a sigil that crossed both of them (see Figure below).  The party spent a couple of hours partially clearing the ice out from in front of the doors and then attempted to open them.  

Figure: Symbol Across the Doors to the Vault

After several abortive attempts at opening the doors, the party finally figured out that a dwarf had to put his hand on the sigil on the doors, say “open” in Old Dwarvish, and push.  The doors swung partially out until the ice stopped them.  Behind the doors was a 10’ diameter room that was noticeably warmer than the outside air.  The party entered and took stock of the situation.  It was June 17, 17 IC.

Game Session Ends.

[Prepped this last week, expecting the days I work to be busy plus wedding anniversary weekend.  Seemed prudent.]

Tim's Outlanders Landing Page

Session 2

Session 4 [Not Yet Posted]

Tim's Outlanders: Session 2, May, 17 IC

Player Characters

Tim, a Wizard - male human from the Free City of Freegate, student at Outlands University
Dangar Stonekleaver - male dwarf from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom
Mikal Torvaldsson - human male, of the Uplander Clans
Darian Kyle - human male, formerly of the Imperial 7th Legion [deserter]

Begin

The adventurers went to the Dwarven Quarter in Freegate, attempting to get more answers.  There they eventually found their way to the Dwarven temple, situated on a side street.

At the temple, they were silently directed to a priest who would actually talk to them.  The priest told them he knew which Dwarven priestly order the pendant belonged to.  It belonged to The Order of Those Who Watch.  He was tight-lipped about the whole thing but, after hearing their story and seeing the rubbings Tim made of the original tablets, he apparently decided to trust them somewhat.  He hired the group to follow the instructions to the hidden place in the Upper Reaches and retrieve whatever they find there.  He pointed out that whatever was there was important enough that someone was willing to kill a Dwarven priest to keep the secret, so they should be very careful.  He also said that he would speak to the single member of Those Who Watch living in the city and ask about any junior priests who might have recently become dead.  The adventurers returned to the  Screaming Shrieker.

While waiting for information and payment to be sent to them at the Screaming Shrieker, two toughs wielding enchanted swords attacked the adventurers.  Facing incredible bad luck, the toughs went down almost immediately.  The adventurers [minus Mikal who stayed to meet the dwarves] reported this attack to the City Watch.  They were able to find out the name of the person the toughs worked for.  The adventurers next went to the Gymnasium and attempted to talk to this individual.  The individual they wanted to talk to died by rapid aging while the adventurers talked to his bodyguards.  The adventurers were still there when the Watch arrived and the bodyguards reported that the adventurers had killed their boss (which is how it appeared to them).  The adventurers were taken back to the Watch House to be questioned.  The Sergeant gave the adventurers [minus Mikal] until nightfall to get out of the city and stay out for a month.  Slightly banished, the adventurers [with Mikal] left Freegate and headed west to the High North Trade Route.

On the road to Route Terminus East (RTE), eight bandits attacked the adventurers.  During negotiations the adventurers made a surprise attack and first crushed the morale of the bandits, then the bandits themselves.  The bandits’ bodies were left displayed on the road as a warning to other bandits.

After a week of travel, the adventurers arrived at the RTE.  There they paid the taxes assayed against them and received their travel token, authorizing them to travel the High North Trade Route (HNTR), an Imperial trade route that ran the length of the Worldspine Mountains.  As it was late in the day, they decided to stay at the RTE's inn for the night.  The adventurers got rooms, bathed, and ate.  Darian Kyle got into a drinking contest with members of the Imperial Legion stationed there and won.  The adventurers went to sleep for the night and left the RTE the next morning, heading west into the mountains.

Game session ends.

[I'm covering two positions at the DayJob while they look for a replacement for the guy they fired.  On top of this, my knees are giving me grief, which led to me falling in the shower while getting in.  Luckily I hit the far rim with my back/shoulder and not my neck.  Even so, I feel rickety this week and probably for another week or two as I heal and then start some PT.  All of this is a long way of saying that I'm posting what I have available and will resume the Ratpack when time allows.]

Tim's Outlanders Landing Page

Session 1

Session 3 [Not Yet Posted]

Tim's Outlanders: Session 1, April 17 IC

Player Characters

Tim, a Wizard - male human from the Free City of Freegate, student at Outlands University
Dangar Stonekleaver - male dwarf from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom
Mikal Torvaldsson - human male, of the Uplander Clans
Darian Kyle - human male, formerly of the Imperial 7th Legion [deserter]

Begin

The sage Montiflurio needed a small group of adventurers to go secure an item from a deserted town north of Freegate.  Using his contacts at Outlands University, he was put into contact with an undergraduate wizard from the High Energy Thaumatics College by the name of Tim.  Tim and his associates agree to take the job.  They would secure the diary Montiflurio wanted and in return they would get a small sum of money and may keep anything else of value they find, providing Montiflurio gets to look it over first.

Tim's companions consisted of Dangar Stonekleaver of the NDK, Mikal Torvaldsson of the Uplander Clans, and Darian Kyle, formerly of the Imperial 7th Legion.  They used the advance from Montiflurio to purchase a cart to carry their supplies and headed north toward the Great Nef.

A Week Later

A week or so later, they left the domains of Freegate and entered the lands of the Horse Lords.  After traveling another two days, they found the abandoned town Montiflurio has sent them to and realized it was actually the ruins of an entire city!  Approaching the city, they heard the sounds of fighting.  Cautiously moving into the ruins, they discovered a number of the Horse Lord people fighting a pack of three odd feline creatures, each with two tentacles protruding from their backs.  The creatures seemed to magically shift position, blinking out of the way of attacks.

Seeing an opportunity to get into the good graces of the Horse Lords, Tim and his companions attacked the creatures and helped drive them away.  The leader of this tribe of Horse Lords, Lugalbanda, introduces himself and thanked the strangers for their aid.  He offered the hospitality of his camp and the additional security it would provide against the creatures who would likely attack again during the night.  The adventurers accepted his offer and helped set up defenses and shared food.

The adventurers learned from Lugalbanda that the strange creatures only recently appeared after a major windstorm blew over some of the buildings in the ruins.  Lugalbanda's people did not build the city, which his people call El Djem, but take shelter inside its walls during the cold months.  They never enter the buildings because they believe the interiors are haunted by hungry ghosts who cannot leave the buildings.  The adventurers explained why they were here and Lugalbanda offered to show them the way to the building they were looking for, but his people would not go in.  The adventurers accepted his offer.

During the night, the creatures attacked again.  Several people were wounded in the fighting before one of the creatures was killed and the other two driven off.  The adventurers were very helpful during the fighting and shared some of their healing potions afterwards.

The next morning, Lugalbanda showed the adventurers to the location described by Montiflurio.  The upper floors of the building had collapsed and fallen onto one of the adjacent buildings.  Dangar found a set of stairs leading down into the basement and the adventurers cautiously entered, following Montiflurio's written instructions.  In the basement they found stacks of oddly shaped boxes with markings on them, just as Montiflurio said there would be.  Upon further investigation, the markings appeared to be numbers and the boxes were locked.  Mikal found a cabinet that contained short strips of metal that were also numbered.  He determined they were some strange sort of key.  The adventurers set to opening the boxes.

While opening the boxes, the adventurers discovered three things.  First, the boxes were magical and keep whatever is put in them in some sort of stasis.  Second, the items kept in the boxes were thousands of years old and extremely valuable, which made the adventurers quite happy.  Third, the strange creatures made their lair in an adjacent building connected by a tunnel and had just found lunch in the form of the adventurers.  Intense fighting commenced immediately.

During the fighting, Dangar took a massive head wound as one of the creatures [which he dubbed "squid-kitties"] bit through his helmet.  This will not be the last time Dangar is injured this way.

Eventually, the "squid-kitties" were killed.  Tim, realizing they may be valuable back in Freegate, rearranged the contents of some of the stasis boxes and puts one of the carcasses in a box to be preserved until they got back to Freegate.  The adventurers then finished going through the boxes (finding the book Montiflurio wanted) and started moving the boxes out of the basement and into their cart.  They gave several (empty) boxes to Lugalbanda as thanks (and to make sure they could leave the Horse Lords without being robbed) and headed back to Freegate.

On the trip back to Freegate they cataloged their gains and discussed what to do with it all.  Tim advocated selling/donating most of it to the University in exchange for money and useful items.  The rest of the group eventually agreed that this will be the easiest way to unload the stuff, most of which is historically important, but not particularly valuable to anyone else.

A Week Later

When they returned to Freegate, they headed directly to the University and sent messengers to Montiflurio, the Dean of the HET, the Dean of the History College, and to the Director of Antiquities, explaining what the adventurers had found.  They also hid away some of the non-magical, monetary treasure for themselves.

The adventurers handed over the diary to Montiflurio when he arrived and allowed him to look over everything else they found, including the squid-kitty carcass.  Montiflurio claimed the epic poem from the treasure pile and agreed to pay a small sum for it.  Satisfied the adventurers had lived up to their part of the bargain, Montiflurio payed the group the remainder of their fee and told them he will have a job for them in “a month or so”.  It might be the location he is searching for, but probably will be some intermediate point to verify locations referenced in the diary.  He then arranged with the Director of Antiquities access to several of the other items and left.

The two Deans and the Director looked over the artifacts that the adventuring group returned with and haggled over the payment.  The amount to be paid was not in question, only how it would be paid.  The final arrangements were:

• Tim sold the original Freegate copy of the Treaty of Buried Memories directly to the Deans.  They would claim credit for the find, but Tim will graduate at the end of the current semester, no questions asked.
• The adventurers took two rubbings of the clay tablets that no one can read, but the University will hold onto the originals for them.
• The University got half of the stasis boxes.
• The adventurers get paid a small fortune in coins, trade bars, and some magic items:
• 300g in coins
• 200g in Freegate trade bars
• A Healing Stone (8d6 Healing 3x a day, loses 1d6 each time the third charge is used) [I, as the GM, would come to regret this item]
• A Ring of Free Action in Armor (cancels encumbrance penalties from armor, had the Seal of University Guard on it)
• Spectacles of Reading (Provides nightvision if there is any source of light, translates most languages, goes black if used to attempt translation of writings of The Enemy.)

Once the payment method was agreed upon, the collection of artifacts was moved to the Secure Room in the Antiquities section of the History building and designated the El Djem Collection.

Tim arranged to sell the items the adventurers held back through a fellow undergraduate student, Stefan the Red.  Stefan had connections with the Rare Art Brotherhood, a thieves' guild specializing in works of art and high‑end jewelry.  This money was combined with the money from the Deans and Montiflurio.

The adventurers each took part of their cut of the money and then Tim and Dangar placed the rest of the money (~650gp in various denominations) in a safe deposit box at Prasutagus Private Bank in Brass Town [the banking and pawn shop section of Freegate].  They split their half of the wooden key and give half to Mikal and half to Tim.  While Darian took his share and went to find wine and women, the rest decided to try and get the tablets translated.

Several Days Later

Tim, Dangar, and Mikal spent the next couple of days trying to get the clay tablets translated.  Eventually they wound up at the Temple of Toth, God of Knowledge.  After making a rather large donation, the High Priest agreed to perform a Ritual of Translation.

During the ritual, there was a massive power surge in the magic which blew part of the roof off of the temple.  The stunned (and slightly crispy) High Priest presented the set of rubbings back to the adventurers.  One set of rubbings was changed and now had the same text, but in phonetics.  The other set had not changed.  When asked about this, the High Priest said Toth would not allow the other rubbings to be translated, they contain an evil spell that needs never be rediscovered.  Toth also directed the High Priest to give a warning to the adventurers - "Beware where this tablet will take you and what it will uncover."

The next day, Tim, Dangar, and Mikal headed to the Dwarven Quarter to find a dwarven linguist to translate the tablet rubbings for them.  They ended up at the shop of a dwarven translator by the name of Krankk Fireworker.  He recognized the script but needed time to translate it as it was an obscure variant. Tim, Dangar, and Mikal agreed to leave the rubbings of the tablets with him and return the next day for them and the translation.

The next morning, after fishing Darian out of the City Watch's drunk tank (they found him drunk, unconscious, and missing everything of value in an alley), the adventurers returned to Krankk's shop.  Or rather where it had been – the entire structure had burned down during the night, but only barely scorched the adjacent buildings.  The building was now a smoking pile, roped off by the Watch.  The adventurers asked the Watchman guarding the site from looters what happened.

After accepting a donation to the Watchman's Benevolence Fund, the Watchman told them that late last night the building went up in flames.  The fire resisted being put out, but never spread.  Once the fire was out and the rubble had cooled enough, the Watch investigated and found the proprietor dead in the basement, apparently tortured.  He appeared to have bled to death.  The adventurers thanked him for the information and headed to the Screaming Shrieker, a tavern in the Adventurer's Quarter, to discuss their next action.

On a side street on the way to the tavern, they were accosted by a group of dwarves.  The leader of the dwarves, heavily cloaked to hide his face, demanded that the adventurers hand over all copies of the tablets or die.  The adventurers looked at each other and then reached for their weapons.  As the adventurers started to win the fight, the dwarf leader fled.  Mikal was able to pursue after a brief delay.  When he caught up to the dwarf leader in an alley, the dwarf was dead, a crossbow bolt sticking out of his left eye.

Mikal took cover waited for the rest of the adventurers to catch up.  When they did, Mikal searched the body.  The only identifying item on the dwarf was a pendant.  Dangar recognized it as a dwarven priestly pendant, but he was not certain which Order it belonged to.  He recommended they go to the Dwarven Temple in the Dwarven Quarter and ask there for more information.

Game Session Ends

Tim's Outlanders Landing Page

Session 2

[The Dayjob and Real Life are running me ragged this week, so I'm posting this, which I think I originally typed up, um, 22 years ago?  The session itself happened well before that, but never properly typed it up.  Some time in 2003 I started organizing my campaign notes using skills sharpened and improved while working as a Tech Writer.  The file name suggests I last touched this file August 23, 2003.  The vagueness is due to the Great Hard Drive Crash of 2014.  I recovered most of my Word files, PDFs, and graphics, but they were stripped of file names and metadata, so I had to open them up, figure out what they were, and resave with a filename that I hoped matched the original.  Luckily, the template I was using included the file name in the footer, so for many files, this was easy.  I still have hundreds of files to sort through.]

Tim's Outlanders Landing Page

I recently found my notes on the first proper campaign I ran after college.  Note, this is not the first campaign I ran after college, but the first proper one.  It is in fact the third one I tried.  The first was an attempt to recreate a campaign from college that the other players did not take even remotely seriously, so I killed it.  The second was Doctor Zimbabwe's Traveling Sideshow and Freak, which was a spur of the moment thing when a couple of us were bored and I wanted to run Fantasy Hero.  It didn't last very long due to scheduling issues, but did establish the world that I returned to for the Crendia Campaign, which is how we referred to this campaign.  The Crendia Campaign started in sometime before 1997 with Bryan, Robert, Warren, and Carl, picking up additional players as time went on, and ran until sometime in 2008.  I have the in-game dates but not the real-world dates the sessions happened in my computer notes.  These were copied over from my hand-written notes in 2003.  

All of this happened well before I started this blog.

The story arcs are:

1. Clouds Gather - initial Monteflurio job and follow-up [arc name attached later]
2. Against the Horde - war time and war crimes
3. Mansion of Illusions - another Monteflurio job
4. Road to Thuringia - hired as observers, the Outlanders get involved in local politics
5. Orb Commission - Flight of the Yardbird - the first appearance of the gnomes and airships and probably the longest arc
6. Cultist, Cultists, Cultists - it involved death cultists
7. Tomb Raiders - what's under Freegate and should it have been left alone? [The GM starts experiencing burnout]

Clouds Gather

Session 1 - April of Year 17 of the Imperial Calendar (IC) [Sudden Sea Campaign is in 56 IC]
Session 2 - May 10, 17 IC

Session 3 - May/June 17 IC

Session 4 - June 17, 17 IC

Session 5 - July/August 17 IC

Against the Horde

[To be posted]

Mansion of Illusions

[To be posted]

Road to Thuringia

[To be posted]

Orb Commission

[To be posted]

Cultist, Cultists, Cultists

[To be posted]

Tomb Raiders

[To be posted]

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 4, Sessions 10-1 and 10-2

UPDATE: This blog entry covers Sessions 10 and 10 and the next blog entry will cover Sessions 10 and 11!  I numbered three sessions in a row "Session 10" and only now realized it.  I'm modifying this blog entry to Session 10-1 and Session 10-2 and next one to be Session 10-3 and Session 11.  Sorry for the confusion!

[Day 6 – Raiding the Giants]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E role-playing game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  These sessions happened April 29 and May 6, 2024, respectively.]

[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 10th level Ninja

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 10th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Roscuro – male ratfolk 10th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 10th level Wizard

Winston – male ratfolk 10th level Gunslinger

Via Roll20

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 10th level Summoner (Synthesist)

NPCs

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 8th level Wizard (Invoker)

Hrefna – female bugbear 8th level Omdura

Ariphi – female tiefling 8th level Rogue

Kaervek – male human Fighter? of unknown level

Day 6, Continued

Late Afternoon

After defeating the redcap scouting party, the Ratpack was ready to ambush another giant/ettin patrol.  Unfortunately, there were no giant patrols out, they all seemed to be keeping to the ruins of the abbey’s village.

After some discussion, the Ratpack decided to raid the village ruins directly, specifically targeting the hill giants as their thrown boulders seriously threatened the group’s spellcasters.

Later

As the Ratpack plus Kaervek approached the southern end of the ruined village and prepared to attack, Hrefna [a bugbear] scented something invisible nearby.  In response to this she activated her Protection invocation [provides an AC bonus to friendlies].  The invisible attackers attacked, exposing themselves as three more redcaps.  The first one attacked and hit Hrefna while the next two both attacked Ariphi but missed.  Other enemy combatants includes 4 hill giants and 4 ettins.

Winston added Flaming to his weapon and targeted the first giant, successfully shooting the giant but failing to set it on fire.  The third redcap attacked Ariphi but only hit once due to Roscuro and Marativy bodyguarding her [use of Bodyguard feat, providing +2 AC each].  Templeton cast Haste on himself, Roscuro, Marativy, Ariphi, Hrefna, and Kaervek and then advanced.  Marativy waited for Roscuro.  Hrefna attacked the first redcap, hitting twice, once critically.  Roscuro unleashed a flurry of blows, hitting the third redcap 4 times, once critically, triggering an attack from Marativy, and hitting the second redcap once.  Marativy hit and killed the third redcap and slashed the second.  The second redcap attacked Marativy back, hitting twice despite Roscuro and Templeton bodyguarding her, causing her to bleed.  Ariphi acrobatically moved behind the second redcap in order to flank it and then struck it, but not quite killing it.  Zitch placed Protective Luck on Roscuro and cackled to maintain it.  The first ettin [remember those guys?] moved and threw a javelin at Zitch, hitting the witch.  The first hill giant threw a boulder at Winston as counter-fire, hitting Winston solidly.  Swamprover cast Volcanic Storm on the second ettin and second hill giant, damaging both and blocking line of sight for the stone throwing giants further north.  The second ettin advanced out of the volcanic storm to stop burning.  A third ettin advanced, attacking Templeton but missing due to Roscuro and Marativy bodyguarding Templeton.  The second hill giant advanced out of the volcanic storm, picking up a boulder to throw later.  The fourth ettin advanced for a better line of sight and threw a javelin at Winston, hitting the gunslinger.  Gridik moved left, spotted a new redcap, warned Winston, and cast Lightning Bolt, hitting the fourth ettin and the first hill giant.  The fourth hill giant threw a boulder, hitting Marativy with it.

Winston shot again at the first hill giant, killing the monster.  Templeton pounced on the first ettin and killed it in a fury of claws and bites.  [The Pounce feat allows a full attack at the end of a charge.]  Hrefna took a five-foot step to the second redcap, hitting it once and killing it.  Roscuro advanced on the third ettin and attacked it with a Sickening Fist attack, minorly damaging the giant, which shrugged of the sickened effect [it made its FORT save, easily].  Marativy focused her ki to form shadow clones and moved behind Roscuro.  Ariphi moved left and attacked the fourth ettin, hitting it mightily but not killing it.  Kaervek also moved to the left to join Ariphi in attacking the fourth ettin, electrifying his sword and striking the ettin down.  Zitch placed Protective Luck on Marativy and cackled to maintain the two castings.  Swamprover cast Lightning Arc, catching the third ettin and the second and fourth hill giants in it.  The second ettin moved to attack Templeton and hit.  The third ettin attacked Roscuro and hit despite Marativy bodyguarding the ratfolk monk.  The second hill giant threw his boulder at Roscuro and Marativy, missing both due to Zitch’s Protective Luck on them.  Gridik yelled out “another redcap here!” and cast Magic Missile at it, highlighting it successfully.  The fourth hill giant threw his boulder at Swamprover, hitting the grippli wizard.  A fourth redcap attacked Kaervek, hitting and suddenly becoming visible.  A fifth redcap attacked Hrefna, hitting and suddenly becoming visible.

End of Session 10-1

Day 6, Continued

[Resumes with the next round of the attack on the village ruins by the Ratpack.]

Winston shot the fifth redcap, hitting but not killing it.  Templeton took a five-foot step to the second ettin and attacked it with all his claws and teeth, hitting four times plus getting in a rend.  Hrefna full attacked the fifth redcap, hitting twice but doing minimal damage [Redcaps have DR10/cold iron.  Roscuro’s fists count as cold iron due to his ki but everyone else has to do large amounts of damage to hurt them.]  Roscuro unleashed a flurry of blows on the third ettin, hitting only twice but setting it up for Marativy, who attacked it three times [with Sneak Attack due to Ratfolk Swarming trait], killing it.  Ariphi moved to flank the fourth redcap with Kaervek and struck it.  Kaervek struck the fourth redcap as well.  Zitch cast Phantasmal Killer on the second giant, which cowered from the horrible vision but did not die [failed the WILL save but made the FORT save], and then climbed into the lucky barrel on Templeton’s back.  Swamprover cast Fireball, hitting the second and fourth hill giants.  The second hill giant ripped a stoney chunk off an adjacent ruined building and threw it at Swamprover, heavily wounding her.  Gridik cast Magic Missile at the fifth recap, killing it.  The fourth hill giant threw a boulder at Templeton, missing Templeton but clipping Zitch in the lucky barrel.  The fourth redcap moved to avoid being flanked and attacked Ariphi while a sixth redcap moved in to flank and attack Ariphi – between the two Ariphi was hit three times.  [My noted don’t indicate who hit her how many times, so I was probably away from the table for a moment.]  Four more ettins approached from the northern end of the ruined village.  Three boulders, thrown by distant giants, came crashing in, one hitting Marativy and Roscuro, one missing Templeton and Zitch, and one hitting Hrefna squarely.

Winston used a Named Bullet on the eighth ettin, killing it.  Templeton moved west to get cover behind a mostly intact building and cast Minor Evolution to increase his Fly speed.  Hrefna moved west and cast Barbed Chains on the fourth and sixth redcaps, hitting both and making the fourth redcap Shaken.  Roscuro focused his ki on defense, moved to the fourth hill giant, and struck it for little damage [low damage roll].  Marativy used her ki to turn [greater] invisible, moved to the fourth hill giant, and sneak attacked it.  The seventh ettin advanced to the fight.  Ariphi, no longer threatened by the fourth and sixth redcaps, retreated south.  Kaervek attacked and killed the fourth redcap.  Swamprover cast Fireball, hitting the seventh ettin and the second and fourth hill giants, killing the fourth hill giant.  Zitch spit Adhesive Spittal at the sixth redcap and cackled.  Three more boulders came crashing into the fight, missing Roscuro, hitting Kaervek, and hitting Gridik.  The sixth ettin advanced on the fight.  The fifth ettin advanced on the fight.  The second hill giant threw a boulder at Swamprover and hit her.  Gridik cast Lightning Bolt on the sixth and seventh ettins and then fled towards Swamprover.  The sixth redcap kipped up and attacked Roscuro, missing with all three attacks.

Winston double-fired on the second hill giant, killing it.  Templeton cast Greater Invisibility on himself.  Hrefna switched to her Healing invocation, moved to Swamprover, and cast Cure Moderate Wounds on the very injured [and much complaining] grippli.  Roscuro launched a flurry of blows on the sixth redcap, hitting five times but failing to kill it.  Marativy stepped to the seventh ettin and struck it with two sneak attacks, killing it.  Ariphi continued to retreat, leaving the battle.  Kaervek moved to Roscuro.  Swamprover waited for Gridik.  Zitch put the Evil Eye on the fifth ettin, cackled, and sat back within the lucky barrel, making him invisible as well.  Three more giant-thrown boulders crashed into the fight, one missing Roscuro, one hitting Kaervek, and one missing Swamprover and Hrefna.  The fifth ettin advanced, unknowingly walking past the building Templeton was hiding behind, allowing Templeton to make multiple attacks of opportunity [four exactly] that heavily damaged it but didn’t kill it.  It staggered forward and swung at Roscuro, missing completely.  The sixth ettin, mistakenly believing Roscuro hurt the other ettin, advanced on the monk and attacked, also missing Roscuro completely.  Gridik cast Spontaneous Immolation on the fifth ettin, killing it.  Swamprover cast Dimension Door, moving herself, Gridik, and Hrefna away from the battle field and towards a previously agreed upon rally point.  The sixth [and last standing] redcap attacked Roscuro, hitting once.

Winston rapid fired at the last redcap, hitting with the first two shots but the third shot misfired and went at Roscuro, who deflected it, giving Winston "a look" across the battlefield.  Templeton stepped over to the sixth ettin and attacked it, killing the monster.  Roscuro attacked the fifth ettin with a Sickening Fist attack, killing it instead.  Marativy moved to Kaervek and announced her presence [being invisible and all].  Kaervek cast Dimension Door, moving himself, Marativy, and Roscuro away from the battle field.  Zitch cast his Healing Hex upon himself.  Three more giant-thrown boulders blindly crashed into the battlefield.

Winston retreated south on foot.  Templeton, still invisible, flew up and away from the fight, ending the combat [although I imagine the hill giants kept throwing boulders “just to be sure” until told to stop].

The various groupings of adventurers made their way to the previously set rally point.  Once there Zitch and Hrefna healed everyone back to full health.  With everyone healed, the Ratpack plus Kaervek returned to their regular camping spot.  Zitch cast Secure Shelter and then Mirror Hideaway.  He then carried the mirror with the hideaway into the secure shelter.  Gridik cast Alarm around the shelter and went inside to rest, followed by the rest of the Ratpack plus Kaervek.  [The Mirror Hideaway was due to Secure shelter having a limit of 8 occupants and there being 10 adventurers.  Two or three entered the hideaway inside the shelter but my notes don’t indicate who – probably Gridik, Hrefna, and Ariphi.]

Once secure, Kaervek said he needed to come clean to the Ratpack.  He dropped an illusion that was on himself, revealing him to actually be Gnaeus, the dhampir the Ratpack had rescued from under the Lady’s Light!  [See Shattered Star Book 2 for details.]

End of Session 10-2

Rat Whispers

[Sorry for the walls of text but that’s what a round of combat looks like with 23 individual combatants doing their things.]

[Timing of posts will continue to vary due to things happening at the Day Job.  A coworker was let go and I'm covering until they have a replacement, so I'm extra busy for a couple or three weeks.  My plan is to aim for Wednesdays at the latest, as time permits.]

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 

Book 4: Beyond the Doomsday Door – Links to all Book 4 sessions 

Last Sessions: Book 4, Sessions 8-9

Next Sessions: [Sessions 10-3 and 11 – to be typed]

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 4, Sessions 8 and 9

[Day 5 and Morning Day 6 – Ambushes]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E role-playing game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  These sessions happened April 15 and April 22, 2024, respectively.]

[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 10th level Ninja

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 10th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Roscuro – male ratfolk 10th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 10th level Wizard

Winston – male ratfolk 10th level Gunslinger

Via Roll20

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 10th level Summoner (Synthesist)

NPCs

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 8th level Wizard (Invoker)

Hrefna – female bugbear 8th level Omdura

Ariphi – female tiefling 8th level Rogue

Day 6, Continued

[Get comfortable, Day 6 lasts until Session 10]

Shortly After Noon

With Hrefna now back amongst the living as a bugbear [somewhat ironically, considering the name of this blog], the Ratpack returned to the dangerous game of ambushing patrols of giants.  For this ambush they set up east of the Abbey and the ruins of its’ village.  The patrol being ambushed consisted of 3 hill giants and 4 ettins.

As the patrols walked into the ambush area, Marativy waited [note: Shadow Clones was already active].  Winston activated Mage Bullet and fired at the first giant three times, killing the giant.  Roscuro advanced to a point adjacent to the first ettin and the second giant, easily avoiding three attacks of opportunity against him, and struck the first ettin.  This set up the ettin for Marativy [due to both having Swarm and Outflank feats], who advanced and sneak attacked the ettin twice as hard at Roscuro and causing it to bleed.  Hrefna cast Stunning Barrier on herself, advanced on the first ettin, and targeted the second ettin with Divine Might.  Ariphi moved north to get closer to the patrol and flung a dagger at the first ettin, killing the ettin.  The rearmost ettin advanced on Roscuro to attack, missing the ratfolk monk.  Zitch advanced 20 feet, close enough to place Protective Luck on Roscuro.  Gridik moved to the right to get a better angle and cast Lightning Bolt, hitting the remaining three ettins.  Swamprover cast Lightning Arc on the back two ettins, catching the second ettin in the arc, damaging all three.  The second ettin walked around the last ettin to attack Hrefna, hitting but getting stunned by Hrefna’s Stunning Barrier [the ettin failed its save].  The hindmost giant threw a boulder at Gridik, critically hitting the poor kobold wizard, and then advanced into the melee.  The third ettin threw a javelin at Roscuro, who caught it and threw it back at the ettin, hitting the ettin.  The middle giant attacked Marativy, hitting her once and taking out a shadow clone.

Winston split his fire, shooting and killing the third ettin and then killing the rearmost ettin.  Roscuro performed a flurry of blows against the second giant, hitting the giant four times.  Marativy followed up Roscuro’s attack on the giant, hitting the giant three times and killing it.  Hrefna waited for Ariphi to go.  Ariphi threw a dagger at the second ettin, killing it, and then another dagger at the hindmost giant, critically hitting it.  With the second ettin out of the way, Hrefna now advanced on the hindmost giant and struck it.  Zitch placed Protective Luck on Hrefna and cackled.  Gridik cast Magic Missile at the hindmost [and only remaining] giant, hitting with five missiles.  Swamprover cast Acid Arrow at the giant [my notes do not indicate whether or not she hit].  The hindmost giant attacked Hrefna, hitting with a solid blow.

Winston concentrated three shots into the giant.  Roscuro 5-foot stepped to the giant and released a rather sloppy flurry of attacks, only hitting twice.  Marativy followed Roscuro and hit twice, ending the last giant.

With the fight now over, Hrefna activated her Healing invocation, providing Rapid Healing for the Ratpack for one minute [10 rounds].  After that, only Gridik and Hrefna needed more healing.  Zitch cast Cure Light Wounds on each of them to bring both back to full health.

The group looted the bodies of the patrol, discovering that this patrol had been looting as well.  The group found a variety of art objects, gems, and jewelry that Gridik estimated as worth 3500gp in total.  There was also a sack containing a variety of 10 masterwork weapons.

The Ratpack then piled up the bodies and set them on fire [again, suspecting the enemy had a necromancer amongst them].  They then left the area, circling to the north and doing their best to hide their tracks.

After an hour or so, the Ratpack stumbled across the remains of the attacked caravan spotted by Templeton the previous day.  The Ratpack took the time to search the caravan for hidden compartments as the caravan was otherwise thoroughly looted.  [Perhaps by the patrol recently ambushed?]  There were no hidden compartments, but there was sign that the raiding giants had camped adjacent to the attack site.  Winston scouted around and found signs that the campsite was abandoned rapidly with the giants heading to the east, away from the abbey.  Scouting out a little farther, Winston also found the tracks of some non-giant humanoids, also heading off to the east.

After a quick discussion, the Ratpack followed the tracks east to a nearby forest.  The tracks went into the forest and the Ratpack continued following them.  Just inside the trees they found a dead ettin, slashed by bladed weapons.  A little further on Winston found where the smaller tracks diverged, apparently losing the giant pursuers who continued deeper into the forest.  The Ratpack followed the smaller tracks, which gradually curved back towards the plains surrounding the abbey.

Back in the rolling hills the Ratpack found a low hill with a concealed entrance on the side away from the abbey.  Marativy stealthed up to it and checked to see if it was trapped – it was.  Gridik cast Detect Magic and found there was both an Alarm spell on the door and a Glitterdust trap.  Marativy took some time to disable both traps and signaled the All Clear.

Roscuro walked up and called out at the door, “Knock, knock!”

After a bit, a human opened the door, sword at the ready.  Roscuro explained that the Ratpack was here as a job for the Temple of Desna to liberate Windsong Abbey.  Roscuro further explained that the group had followed the human’s tracks from where he ambushed the giant patrol and were big fans of his work.  The somewhat non-plussed human invited the group in.

End of Session 08

Day 6, Continued

3:30 PM

Behind the door was a dug out area, about the size of a large root cellar.  It held most of the Ratpack and their host.

Their host identified themselves as Kaervek.  He explained he was traveling with Casamir Azmeren, the last priest of Desna in Windsong Abbey, and his daughter, Koriah.  They heard that the abbey was under attack and made their way here with others.  Their caravan was attacked by hill giants and ettins.  Kaervek and Koriah were separated from Casamir during the attack.  Casamir made it into the abbey and was now sealed up inside the lighthouse.  Koriah later attempted to break into the abbey and was petrified by a medusa.

Roscuro interrupted the story to ask Zitch what he knew about medusas.  Zitch related that they had no special defenses nor weaknesses.  They can petrify foes with a visual attack: when you see their eyes you are petrified.  Finally, their snake hair is venomous.

The Ratpack next learned that the person leading the attack on the Abbey was Ardathanatus, an elf who was once a priest of Pharasma at Windsong Abbey.  He went mad 106 years ago and killed many clergy at the abbey before fleeing.  [In hindsight, this may be when he discovered the Shard of Gluttony, it depends upon what the shard’s curse actually is.]

The Ratpack discussed options on how to approach the abbey and gain access to it.  They learned that there was a large stained glass window part way up the cliffside behind the abbey.

[This is when the players learned that the land the abbey was on was tilted and the edge behind the abbey was nearly 100 feet above the surface of the water.  This radically changed our understanding of the layout and was not really apparent from the small map provided with the adventure.]

Zitch cast Arcane Eye to attempt communication with Casamir.  Zitch scouted the lighthouse [the tower in the abbey’s courtyard].  The top floor contained the light, had transparent walls, and Zitch located Casamir there.  Zitch cast Message through the Arcane Eye and asked Casamir four question: Is he barricaded in or locked in?  When we rescue, is he willing to go?  What take with?  If not ready to go, why not?  [Message only lets you speak a maximum of 25 words.]  His response was “Barricaded.  Yes.  My books.  I’m ready to go.”

Having ambushed several giant patrols, Winston, Zitch, and Roscuro exited the root cellar and climbed a nearby hill to spy on the abbey village to see if anything had changed.  The giants and ettins seemed agitated and one giant in metal armor was moving amongst them, apparently trying restore some order.

While discovering this, Winston, Zitch, and Roscuro were ambushed.  Each was attacked and wounded once by invisible attackers that appeared after the attacks: three redcaps!

Winston stepped back 5 feet and shot the third redcap 3 times to little effect [redcaps have DR] and a misfire, which he cleared.  That redcap attacked Roscuro, hitting him once.  Roscuro focused his ki on defense, took a 5-foot step to a better position, and unleashed a flurry of blows on the redcap, hitting four times and bloodying the fae.  [As long as Roscuro has ki in his ki pool, his fists count as magical, silver, and cold iron, the latter allowing Roscuro to bypass the redcap’s DR.]  The first redcap attacked Zitch, hitting once.  Zitch stepped 5 feet to Winston and cast a Major Curse on the first redcap [basically -4 to all rolls for that redcap].  The second redcap attacked Roscuro, missing twice.  Back inside the root cellar, the rest of the party [except Hrefna] heard the sound of gunfire outside.

Winston took another 5-foot step, reloaded his musket with cold iron, and rapid fired at the third redcap, hitting three times and killing it.  Marativy focused her ki on moving and bolted out of the root cellar, closing the distance to where the fight was happening.  Roscuro continued maintaining his ki on defense and threw a flurry of blows at the second redcap to minimal effect.  Swamprover stepped out of the root cellar and cast Magic Missile at the second redcap.  The first redcap advanced on Winston and hit Winston with its scythe.  Ariphi exited the root cellar and threw a dagger at the first redcap for limited damage.  Zitch placed Protective Luck on Winston, stepped 5 feet away from the redcaps, and cackled to maintain the Protective Luck.  The second redcap attacked Roscuro again, missing two times.  Templeton flew out of the root cellar, landing next to Roscuro.  Gridik stepped out of the root cellar and cast Magic Missile at the second redcap, killing it.

Winston stepped back 5 feet from the last redcap and rapid fired at it, hitting three times before reloading.  Marativy moved to flank the last redcap and hit it with critically precise damage, killing it despite its resistance to normal weapons.

Eventually Hrefna arrived and Roscuro asked for her Healing invocation.  Over the next minute, this healed Roscuro and Winston completely.  Zitch placed his Ward on Roscuro, something he realized he should have done earlier.

End of Session 07

Rat Whispers

[I really wish I had written down the exact content of each patrol at the beginning of each combat.  As it is, I have to read through the battle to get the total.  I have the Other GM tell me the number attached to each monster in a group (for example, Giant1, Giant2, etc.) as they go in the initiative order.  In most cases we can see all of our opponents, so no information is given away as a result and it allows everyone, including the Other GM to track and reference the monsters.]

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 

Book 4: Beyond the Doomsday Door – Links to all Book 4 sessions 

Last Sessions: Book 4, Sessions 6-7 

Next Sessions: Sessions 10-1 and 10-2