I've had to enable comment moderation due to a spammer.
Blogger has no way to Blacklist the source (at least no way I can find), so I have to do this.
Le sigh...
Friday, May 28, 2021
Tuesday, May 25, 2021
Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 2, Session 15
[Day 37 continues. A hag and her fuathan.]
[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened April 19, 2021.]
[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
Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 5th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar
Roscuro – male ratfolk 5th level Monk
Swamprover – female grippli 4th level Wizard
Via Roll20
Marativy – female ratfolk 5th level Ninja
Winston – male ratfolk 5th level Gunslinger
Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 5th level Summoner (Synthesist)
NPCs
Auto – a clockwork servant fixated on Winston
Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 3rd level Wizard (Invoker)
Mel Sharples – male halfling Cook (Expert of unknown level)
Alice Hyatt – female halfling Bodyguard (Warrior of unknown level)
Flo’ Castleberry – female gnome Bodyguard (Warrior of unknown level)
Autumn
Day 37, Expedition Day 7
Noon(-ish)
Templeton cast Restore Eidolon on his eidolon after the fights with the ghoul-bats [last session]. This is the only way his eidolon recovers health and it is still down 50% from full health [the main reason he retreated when fighting the ghoul-bats on his own]. While Winston skilled the dead giant eel [also killed last session], the rest of the group looked around the beach some [having nothing else to do]. The group found footprints in the sand that they had not made, suggesting others had been here. The footprints clustered near where the boats landed and did not lead into the two tunnels from the beach. Odd.
Templeton was game to make another try at flying down the other passage from the main cavern. This time he made it all the way to the end, where the passage opened to another lake area. He found two docks and another waterfall down to deeper depths of caves. One of the docks had three boats tied up to it, but he saw no people. He returned to the rest of the Ratpack and explained what he found, sketching the locations in the sand. Marativy copied the information to the map she was drawing in her art book.
The Ratpack discussed which way to go next. There were two tunnels at the beach and getting past the compulsion field to the other passage would be difficult and time consuming. There was also the possibility that the tunnels eventually connected with the other lake area. This was convincing enough that the group decided to check the tunnels first.
However, before that, Marativy and Zitch performed a careful search of the beach area, specifically checking for secret doors. Marativy found one, disturbingly close to where the boats were and where the compulsion field pushed people. She carefully inspected the secret door and determined it was trapped with an Alarm spell and a Mass Hold Person spell. This led to more conversation and the group concluded that the spells were too high in capability for anyone to avoid the effects, plus Marativy had no method of disarming the spells.
While this conversation was happening, Winston spied a gremlin-type creature hiding in the southern tunnel from the beach. He alerted the group and the creature retreated, but not before Zitch saw it [he has a very high Perception bonus]. Zitch identified the creature as a Fuath, a water-based fae. He explained they were susceptible to cold iron, resistant to mind effects [so his hexes would not work on the thing], malignant, and could cast Sleep. Not wanting a creature like that lurking behind them, the Ratpack decided to pursue the creature.
The tunnel went south and then turned westerly. As the ratfolk advanced, they discovered the tunnel opened on another pool with an island at the center. On the island was a sea hag torturing a human woman tied to a stake. The sea hag was not aware of the group yet. Zitch quietly warned the group that hags have witch-like powers, being the source of those powers.
Not liking what the sea hag was doing, Marativy and Roscuro quietly advanced to a closer range and shot the hag, Marativy with her short bow, Roscuro with his crossbow. Zitch put Protective Luck on Winston, who advanced [noisily] and fired his musket at the hag. Gridik cast Bull’s Strength on Roscuro. Swamprover cast Acid Arrow at the hag. The hag used her Evil Eye on Marativy and six fuathan [plural of fuath] emerged from the water of the pool.
During the fight, Roscuro used his High Jump special ability to leap across the pool to the island, landing next to the hag. This [and Roscuro's failed attempts at attacking her] distracted the hag long enough for Winston to shoot her dead. The rest of the group concentrated on killing the fuathan, which happened rapidly. [I didn’t take enough notes here to give a round-by-round retelling and really, it turned out to be a short but intense fight.]
After the fight, Templeton flew Zitch and Winston over to the island so they could perform healing on the human woman. Winston determined she was near death, so Zitch used his Wand of Cure Light Wounds to remove her from death’s door. She was still unconscious, but we could safely move her now.
There were two adjoining caves to this one and Templeton flew into them to see what was there. The cave to the west was the hag’s lair. Templeton searched it, including casting Detect Magic. In the hags bedding, along with severed humanoid arms showing signs of gnawing, were a magic wand and a pair of magic gloves. Templeton retrieved those and took them back to the rest of the group for later identification.
The eastern cave was the lair of the fuathan and mostly water. Floating in the water were the bloated corpses of three human women. This cave had a tunnel out that quickly led back to the beach through the eastern tunnel there. Templeton found no magic in the fuathan’s lair and returned to report his findings. In the meantime, Zitch checked the hag’s equipment for magic and both the longspear and the bone necklace it wore were magical.
After Templeton’s report, the group suspected all the women were one-time members of the Queen’s Guard, who they knew were exploring the caves as well. The unconscious woman was untied from the stake and taken back to the beach. The three dead bodies were pulled from the water in the fuathan lair and buried in the sand on the beach.
While that was happening, Zitch identified the magic items.
• The longspear was a +1 keen longspear that infects those hit with Filth Fever.
• The bone necklace was a Death Balm Talisman.
• The wand was a Wand of Dimension Door with 4 charges left.
• The gloves allowed the wearer to disable magical traps [created by the Other GM].
With the bodies buried, the group decided it was time to return to camp. The total time for the trip was three hours, but the human woman woke up an hour into the trip.
End of Session
Rat Whispers
[We met face-to-face again. The Other GM received a negative result on his Covid test so it was safe to do so. Marativy's player had a work meeting and so was late to show. She decided to go home and call in from there.]
[I missed indicating Gridik has leveled twice prior to this session. Leveling happens a lot faster for lower level characters adventuring with higher level characters. The amount of experience a 5th level character needs to get to 6th level (8,000 on the Medium track) is enough to get a 1st level character most of the way to 4th level. Gridik is close enough to 4th level he can just about taste it.]
Ratpack
Book 1:
…
Book 2:
…
Saturday, May 22, 2021
Adventures in the Green, Draft C
This page provides links to Draft C of Adventures in the Green, my clone of the OD&D rules.
Draft C is being play-tested during 2021 and incorporates things discovered during last year's playtesting plus a solid editing of the text, improving consistency. This draft also includes some noticeable changes to spells and the spellcasting classes.Clerics
Reading through the Cleric spell list, it was obvious the power levels of the spells were uneven and the selection thin until 7th level spells. I've adjusted spell levels to smooth out things and increase the number of spells available at most levels. Where needed, I added spells that appear in AD&D that fit.
The level names for Clerics were position titles inside the Christian faiths, which causes two problems. First, as played, few Clerics are of the Christian faith, so having a Vicar of Thor makes no sense. Second, if interacting with clergy who are of the Christian faith and had the title but not the character level was unnecessarily confusing (the bishop is a vicar kind of thing). To fix this, I picked level names that were descriptive without being tied to a specific faith.
Magic-Users
Magic-Users, after 4th level, were the cheapest to level except for Thieves and Thieves overtake them at 13th level. Deconstructing the costs to level for each class let me identify the pattern all but the Magic-User followed and correct the Magic-User experience table to follow that pattern.
Level names for Magic-Users were types of magic, which could lead to a high level wizard being a necromancer without any necromancy spells in their spell book. I was not able to completely de-couple level with magic types, but I did indicate a growing power level. Also, "Name Level" is now Archmage instead of Wizard.
Evil
The various spells dealing with "Evil" [Protection from Evil, Detect Evil, and Dispel Evil] had issues as this edition of rules has no Evil alignment, only Law, Neutral, and Chaos. After wrestling with the spells and what they actually do, I renamed them [Protection from Supernatural, detect Supernatural, and Dispel Malevolence, respectively] and better defined what they did. Dispel Malevolence is still a little vague, but I feel it was designed to deal with a grab bag of effects targeted at the player characters, like vampiric mind control, so left it that way for flexibility.
The Rest
There are some other changes made to various parts of the rules [like combining Dryad and Naiad under Nymph as different types of nymphs], so read through carefully and don't make assumptions.
As usual, please let me know if/when you find a gap or something that doesn't work and I'll do my best to fix it or explain how it is supposed to work. Thank you ahead of time!
Later!
Thursday, May 20, 2021
Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 2, Session 14
[Day 36 concludes and Day 37 begins. Eels and Ghoul-bats.]
[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened April 12, 2021.]
[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
Via Roll20
Marativy – female ratfolk 5th level Ninja
Winston – male ratfolk 5th level Gunslinger
Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 5th level Summoner (Synthesist)
Roscuro – male ratfolk 5th level Monk
Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 5th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar
Swamprover – female grippli 4th level Wizard
NPCs
Auto – a clockwork servant fixated on Winston
Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 2nd level Wizard (Invoker)
Mel Sharples – male halfling Cook (Expert of unknown level)
Alice Hyatt – female halfling Bodyguard (Warrior of unknown level)
Flo’ Castleberry – female gnome Bodyguard (Warrior of unknown level)
Autumn
Day 36, Expedition Day 6
Evening
Zitch healed up Winston and Templeton to make full use of his healing magic for the day. The night was quiet and there were no encounters nor any sightings during the three watches.
Day 37, Expedition Day 7
Morning
Mel prepared a fine breakfast, of fruit and cheese and prepared packed lunches for the adventurers to take with them into the dungeon.
After breakfast, the adventuring party picked up their gear and packs and walked over to the troglodyte caves. Roscuro nearly lost his breakfast from the stench but eventually his nose deadened to the smell. Winston ministrated to Azoresh, Sulgesh’s mate, curing her of the Filth Fever she had contracted while prisoner of the boggards. She is now cured of the disease. The group left and took the narrow tunnels back under the lagoon to the dungeon under the Lady’s Light.
2 Hours Later
After traversing the tunnels and the entry shaft to the dungeon then walking the right-hand path of the hall, they took the pole boats “down river” to the next chamber and entered the Porn Hall. The goal was to test Roscuro’s theory that the phrase that lit up on the Red metal Door, “Ayandanahla is bound to the Light for all ages”, is the password to get by Gnaeus, the dhampir. In the passage past Porn Hall, Roscuro borrowed the Whisper Coin from Marativy and asked it, “Will I get past Gnaeus if I give the password 'Ayandanahla is bound to the Light for all ages'?” He then flipped the coin and caught it. The coin came up tails and the faint whispering that continually emanated from the coin became slightly louder, resolving into the word “No”. Roscuro was disappointed as he thought for certain that would be the password. He handed the coin back to Marativy.
With the password guess wrong, the group discussed what to do next. They did not particularly want to fight Gnaeus as he seemed somewhat stuck as well. The only other path forward was the water down to deeper depths that Templeton had scouted two days earlier. [Looking at my notes, I don’t mention this but I know it happened. I think it was right after the initial conversation with Gnaeus. Templeton flew down the waterfall to see if it was worth exploring and found an even larger cavern below.]
The group pulled out a rope and tied one end to a boat and the other end to Templeton. Swamprover climbed aboard and then Templeton flew her and the boat down the waterfall. There was plenty of clearance down the passage and they arrived safely. Templeton set the boat down and Swamprover untied the rope from the boat. She held the boat in position while Templeton flew back up.
On the next pass, Templeton carried Marativy and Winston down to the boat in the lower chamber. Once they were settled, he flew back up to get the next boat. [The boats only hold 3 people each.] While Templeton was in the upper cavern waiting for the second boat to be tied, the group in the lower cavern noticed a giant eel bearing down on them in the water. [Sadly, it was not shrieking.] Swamprover cast Magic Missile at the eel, hitting it with two missiles. Marativy missed with her hurried bow shot, but Winston shot it with his musket. The eel then rammed into the boat.
Marativy switched to her wakizashi and readied for the eel to rush the boat again. Winston too waited for the eel to attack again. When the eel did so, Marativy missed slashing it and Winston only hit with one of his two shots at it. The boat had cracked slightly from the eel’s hit and was oozing in water. Swamprover cast Magic Missile again, hitting both times.
When the eel came around for a third attack, Marativy had the feel for attacking it. She slashed at it, removing its head before it struck the small boat. As the trio was catching their breaths, Templeton arrived with the second boat.
While untying the second boat from Templeton, all four felt some unease. [The Other GM made them make a WILL save but did not explain why. They all made it.] Marativy transferred over to the second boat and Templeton flew back to the upper cavern, returning with Zitch. Swamprover, Marativy, and Winston felt the unease again and a desire to exit the cavern by its easternmost side.
Templeton flew back up and returned with Roscuro and Gridik, the last of the expedition. With the boats full, Templeton remained flying. Looking around, there appeared to be two ways out of the cavern, a wide passage in the southeastern corner and similar passage in the southwestern corner. The group decided to start poling the boats towards the passage in the southeast corner. Once again the group felt the unease and compulsion to go to the southeast, but this time it took hold of Zitch and Templeton. Zitch nearly stepped out of the boat to move faster to the southeast, but Roscuro noticed and grappled him. Templeton just flew off into the darkness without a word. The boats pursued.
The wide passage opened into another cavern, smaller than the previous one and with a beach of coarse sand. Templeton was on the beach looking confused about why he was there. Zitch managed to regain his control…but Gridik was overtaken by the compulsion and leapt overboard, into the water. A second eel arrived just as Gridik entered the water, biting and grabbing the kobold. The rest of the group quickly attacked and killed the eel before it could make off with its meal. Gridik avoided death only because Zitch was able to apply some healing to the kobold before the eel constricted him to near death. [Gridik went down to one hit point after the healing and then the constriction.]
The new cavern was outside the compulsion field and so the group beached the boats. Gridik was pulled from the water before another eel arrived and then healed up by Zitch. There were two passages at the back of the beach for the group to explore, but Roscuro wanted to know what was down the other exit from the main cavern that so much magic was expended to keep the curious away. He asked Templeton if he was willing to fly solo back out into the primary cavern and down the other passage to see what was there. Templeton was both willing and curious himself.
Templeton flew back into the main cavern and down into the other wide passage. The compulsion grabbed him again, but he was able to throw it back off quickly. The other passage narrowed slowly as he flew down it. Two large bat-like creatures flew out of some alcoves in this passage and attacked Templeton. Templeton fought with them a little, but they started to overwhelm him, so he flew back to the rest of the group, the ghoul-bats in pursuit.
Back at the beach, the party hear the very loud screeching of bats in the direction Templeton had flown off. Then they could then hear the flapping of large wings getting closer and got ready to fight. Templeton rounded the corner with the large ghoul-bats immediately behind him. Swamprover cast Web to even the odds, but just managed to get Templeton in the area of effect. [Unavoidable to anchor the spell correctly but he was a little hot over it.]
While Templeton fought with the single ghoul-bat stuck in the webbing with him [and killed it], the other ghoul-bat flew to attack the adventurers. This was a mistake as the adventurers were ready with a mass volley of ranged attacks. In quick order both ghoul-bats were destroyed [not dead as they turned out to be some form of undead].
In the aftermath of the fighting, Marativy asked Winston to pull a tooth from one of the ghoul-bats so she could have a trophy. While doing so, Winston recognized that the bats’ mouths were diseased and likely to infect anyone bit by them with Ghoul Fever. He re-checked Templeton’s wounds and treated Templeton for Ghoul Fever. [Templeton had contracted the disease but would not have noticed until the next day otherwise.] Winston also pointed out the partially rotted bodies of the bats to the adventurers, which is when they realized the bats were some form of undead.
End of Session
Rat Whispers
[Still on Roll20 for this session as the Other GM waited out his quarantine from having Covid. After this game he received his negative test, so we met face-to-face for session 15.]
[We still don’t know what those ghoul-bats are actually called, but we were not sad to see them go. I didn’t take round-by-round notes of that fight, so I skimmed over it in the write-up. I used Roscuro’s High Jump to jump to the last ghoul-bat as it tried to flee us and heavily wounded it. Marativy followed up with her similar Ninja power and killed it but failed to stick the landing and went into the water.]
[Ninja and Monk ratfolk work well together, especially with the ratfolk special ability Swarming. As long as we share a space and attack the same target we both get flanking, which gives the ninja sneak attack damage. This greatly enhances Marativy’s damage and now that we both have the Bodyguard feat, we can give each other +2 AC as needed.]
Ratpack
Book 1:
…
Book 2:
…
Monday, May 17, 2021
Post delayed this week
I ran another playtest session of Adventures in the Green this past weekend. A great time was had by all, but a mix of deferred chores and recovery from an all-day game aye up my writing time for this weekend. Therefore, this week's post will arrive later in the week. My apologies for the delay, but a lot of fun was had. :)
Later!
Tuesday, May 11, 2021
Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 2, Session 13
[Day 36. The Ratpack takes a day off.]
[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened April 5, 2021.]
[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
Via Roll20
Marativy – female ratfolk 5th level Ninja
Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 5th level Summoner (Synthesist)
Roscuro – male ratfolk 5th level Monk
Swamprover – female grippli 4th level Wizard
Winston – male ratfolk 5th level Gunslinger
Not Appearing
Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 5th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar
NPCs
Auto – a clockwork servant fixated on Winston
Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 3rd level Wizard (Invoker)
Mel Sharples – male halfling Cook (Expert of unknown level)
Alice Hyatt – female halfling Bodyguard (Warrior of unknown level)
Flo’ Castleberry – female gnome Bodyguard (Warrior of unknown level)
Autumn
Day 36, Expedition Day 6
Morning
The group had several options as to what to do next. Winston was low enough on alchemical shot for his musket [which allow him to double-fire it] that he needed to make more or he would run out on the next trip into the dungeon. Swamprover needed reagents and ink to scribe a scroll as part of a spell exchange with Gridik. Winston, the group’s main damage dealer, running out of ammunition would at the least stop the expedition early and at the worst [if it happened mid-combat] could end up with someone dead. The group decided it was worth taking a day at camp so Winston could prepare more ammunition for the last day of this expedition.
Winston, Swamprover, and Marativy [probably] left to go talk with the troglodytes to see if they knew the location of anything that Winston could harvest and use as reagents. Just after they were out of earshot [Roscuro thought], Roscuro asked Templeton if he was still interested in a midnight raid against the boggards. [Templeton’s player and I had discussed this between games and it was reasonable that the characters had similar conversations in-game, just away from those who might find the conversations morally challenging.] While Roscuro and Templeton were discussing their options, Marativy suddenly popped up next to them [startling Roscuro, who swore she had left with Winston and Swamprover] asking if she could join in.
The trio decided that some scouting would be in order to get a feel for how many boggards there might be. Roscuro wrote a note for Winston and Swamprover explaining they were going scouting and gave it to Gridik to hold onto at the campsite. Roscuro and Marativy climbed onto Templeton’s back and he flew the trio west, towards the boggard village.
Meanwhile, Winston and Swamprover spoke with the troglodytes about reagents and inks. The troglodytes recognized the reagent Winston was asking for and knew a source, but it was near a small lake that few returned from, so the troglodytes avoided the area. As to inks, they knew two sources. A certain kind of bug when ground up would produce a “brownish purple” ink [we worked out the Other DM was trying to describe mauve without using the word]. Another source was swamp hag blood and swamp hags could be found in the Mushfens east of the peninsula. The swamp hags sounded like much more of a fight, so Swamprover asked about the insects. She was given a description of the insects and a location where they were common nearby.
Winston and Swamprover returned to the camp to report what they had learned. They were surprised to find Gridik the only adventurer still in camp. Gridik gave Winston the note from Roscuro. Winston read it and shrugged. He and Swamprover then convinced Gridik to come with them looking for reagents. Gridik wasn’t keen on it, but agreed to go with them.
Boggard Scouting Trip
Templeton flew Roscuro and Marativy low over the peninsula, landing at a spot east of the boggard village. The trio agreed this location would be their rally point if things went akilter and they had to flee the boggard village. They then quietly walked to positions near the boggard village. Marativy’s superior stealth allowed her to take up a position in some trees close in on the west side of the boggard village. Roscuro and Templeton played it safer and took a vantage point on the crest of a low hill across a small lake from the boggard village. The small lake had a primitive wharf [parallel to the shore, on piles] built near the village, opposite from where Roscuro and Templeton were and partially obscured from the village by a low hummock. There also seemed to be something large in the lake as ripples frequently ruffled the surface of the lake.
After a slow two and a half hours with minimal activity in the village, something finally happened. Two boggards dragged a captive troglodyte out of a hut and away from the village, towards the wharf. It quickly became obvious that the captive troglodyte was going to be thrown into the lake as food for whatever was swimming there. None of the ratfolk were good with this, the troglodytes being allies. Independently, Marativy and Templeton started creeping closer to the wharf and Roscuro loaded his light crossbow. Marativy readied her short bow and both she and Roscuro aimed at the boggards.
The unaware boggards dragged the troglodyte onto the wharf, one grabbing the feet, the other the arms. As they started swinging the body back and forth to get it some distance into the lake, Marativy and Roscuro fired their weapons. Each struck a different boggard [luckily] in the throat, Marativy killing the hers with one shot. [Both of us confirmed a crit, but Marativy also had sneak attack damage, so she did much more damage.] Templeton rushed forward and pounced on the still living boggard, shredding it before it could cry out.
Templeton carefully picked up the unconscious troglodyte and flew them back to where Roscuro was located. Marativy snuck forward and quietly lowered the dead boggards into the water where whatever was in the lake started eating the corpses. She then silently returned to her earlier observation point.
Templeton and Roscuro quietly talked. They agreed Templeton should fly the trog captive back to the troglodyte cave for healing and then return to pick up Marativy and Roscuro at the rally point. Templeton flew off with the troglodyte and Roscuro and Marativy settled in to see if the boggards noticed anything was amiss. It took some time, but eventually an alarm was raised and the boggards started searching for the missing inside the village. Marativy and Roscuro took a quick head count of the boggards and then left the area as the search started expanding outside the village. Nearly two hours later, Templeton returned to the rally point and picked up Marativy and Roscuro.
Reagents and Ink
Winston, Swamprover, and Gridik walked to the sites the troglodytes recommended. First they collected the insects for the ink. Swamprover and Gridik collected a pouch worth of the insects over an hour while Winston kept watch. The trio then walked over to the location the troglodytes said was a source for the reagent Winston needed.
This was near a small pond and Winston started collecting the material he needed. [We were a little hand-wavy about the exact material Winston was looking for, so I can't describe it.] While Winston was collecting the reagents, they noticed a cloud of spores slowly floating along towards them, against the breeze. This seemed very suspicious, so the trio left the area quickly before the spore cloud could catch up to them.
Back at Camp
Winston, Swamprover, and Gridik were the first to return to camp. Winston started using the group’s portable alchemy lab to process the reagents so he could create the alchemical shots he wanted for his musket. Swamprover and Gridik started processing the insects into the unusually colored ink, both taking careful notes about the process.
When Templeton returned with Roscuro and Marativy, both groups shared information over lunch. Winston walked over to the troglodyte cave to treat the rescued troglodyte. There he learned that the rescued troglodyte was Sulgesh’s mate! In addition to her injuries, she was also showing signs of Filth Fever, so Winston treated her for that.
End of Session
Rat Whispers
[You might notice that we were all back on Roll20 this session. This was due to the Other GM contracting Covid19 from family members. We skipped playing the previous week as the Other GM was ill and played remotely again the week after this one, after which he received a negative test, indicating he no longer had the virus. I had the first Moderna vaccine shot during this period, but the conditions of our continued face-to-face games is that no one spreads the virus. We’ve had three members of our group contract it, but all from separate outside vectors and with zero spread within the group. We aim to keep it that way.]
[Incidentally, I recently had the second Moderna shot with only a slightly sore arm and draggy feeling the next day (mostly from poor sleep that night – I kept waking up when I rolled over onto that arm). I consider myself lucky as I know people who had cold-like symptoms or a particularly sore arm for several days after getting the shot. Go get the vaccine and wear your mask when outside your home!]
Ratpack
Book 1:
…
Book 2:
…
Tuesday, May 4, 2021
Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 2, Session 12
[Day 35 concludes. Continue fight with glass golem and find the porn hall.]
[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened March 22, 2021.]
[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
Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 5th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar
Roscuro – male ratfolk 5th level Monk
Swamprover – female grippli 4th level Wizard
Marativy – female ratfolk 5th level Ninja
Via Roll20
Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 5th level Summoner (Synthesist)
Winston – male ratfolk 5th level Gunslinger
NPCs
Auto – a clockwork servant fixated on Winston
Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 2nd level Wizard (Invoker)
Mel Sharples – male halfling Cook (Expert of unknown level)
Alice Hyatt – female halfling Bodyguard (Warrior of unknown level)
Flo’ Castleberry – female gnome Bodyguard (Warrior of unknown level)
Autumn
Day 35, Expedition Day 5
[Immediately after healing Swamprover at the end of last session]
Concerned that the glass golem would recover from the damage Winston inflicted on it if left alone, the Ratpack decided to eliminate the threat by taking it out now. Winston was to initiate the fight by shooting the glass golem, making it approach the readied group of adventurers. He misfired on his first shot. Zitch placed his ward on Roscuro and Gridik cast Mage Armor on Roscuro, doing their best to protect him from the golem’s attacks for the fight.
After quickly blowing out his musket [using a grit point, IIRC], Winston rapid fired and hit the golem both times, triggering the golem into attacking. Zitch put Protective Luck on Roscuro and then he and Gridik backed away from the edge of the beach. The golem charged across the water and attacked Winston. Its movements refracted the light from the glowing motes into a flashing radiance that blinded several of the ratfolk. Roscuro performed a flurry of blows [including spending a Ki point for an extra attack] but missed all three times. Marativy was able to score a hit on the golem but her wakizashi just slid across its surface [she failed to overcome its DR]. Templeton cast Haste on the adventurers.
Winston stepped back 5 feet and used a point of grit to rapid fire three times, hitting the golem all three times to great effect. Roscuro realized the golem was heavily injured [successful Perception roll] and called for the entire group to keep attacking. Zitch stepped over to Winston and used the wand of cure light wounds on him. Gridik, aware that the golem’s spell resistance would bounce any of his spells, did his best to stay out of its reach and not die. The golem advanced on Winston and attacked him, slashing him once. Roscuro used his final Ki point for a fourth attack, but only hit once for minimal damage. Marativy critically hit with her wakizashi, damaging the golem. Swamprover cast Bear’s Endurance on Winston, providing him a boost of health [and temporary hit points].
Winston stepped away from the golem again and misfired when he tried to shoot it. Zitch matched Winston’s step and used the wand to cast cure light wounds on him again. Gridik had heroic thoughts about casting a spell at the golem but seeing the amount of damage the thing was inflicting on Winston thought better of it. The golem changed targets to Roscuro, attacking him twice. Templeton and Marativy both bodyguarded Roscuro, so the golem only hit once, bloodying the monk with that single blow. [We estimate that Roscuro would have died if the second attack had landed.] Roscuro, bleeding heavily from the wound [rolled maximum on the bleed], flurried again, hitting once. Marativy attacked the cracked glass golem, hitting it where the cracks intersected [she rolled a crit] and shattered it [her damage killed it].
Zitch immediately stepped over to Roscuro and used six charges from the wand of cure light wounds on him, healing him most of the way up. Zitch then used the wand on Winston.
After catching their breath from the close fight [both Roscuro and Winston had been within one hit of dying], the Ratpack took a moment to investigate the two graves on the beach. The grave markers were shields bearing the heraldry of the Grey Maidens. This tracked with what Maroux had told the group.
The group then returned to the small boats and went to investigate the large pedestal the glass golem had been standing on. It was covered in Thassilonian writing. The writing explained that the pedestal was a teleportation waystation powered by the glass golem. By destroying the glass golem, the group had rendered the waystation inert. To say Roscuro was vexed about this revelation is to understate the matter. [The Other GM said the look on my face was priceless.] The writings further explained that displaying the symbol of the Runelord of Lust would allow use of the teleportation system. Sigh.
With that path forward closed off, the group returned to the beach and explored through the doorway at the back of the beach. The door led to a hall covered with murals. The murals depicted many different humanoid creatures having sex with a variety of extraplanar beings, mostly demons. The room was well lit with chandeliers and there was a passage exiting the room to the south. The murals appeared to continue along that passage. The room was immediately dubbed “Porn Hall” by the ratfolk.
Suspecting a secret door might be concealed by the artwork, the group investigated the murals. None were found, but Zitch realized that some of the figures in the mural were posed to form letters, providing the name of the artist: Amivadeus Yasrin. Zitch also had the distinct impression that the artist did not approve of the subject matter as the overall effect of the art suggested moral rot and decay, not a glorification of lust.
With no hidden doorways located, the group followed the passage to the south with Marativy scouting ahead with great stealth. The passage immediately turned to the right and the artwork rapidly tapered off, first to partially painted figures, then sketches, then blank wall. It appeared that the murals were intended to continue, but the artist was stopped from completing the work. Following the passage around another corner, the group paused when Marativy indicated she found something past the next corner. Roscuro advanced to see what she had found.
The passage joined a wider hall with a wrought iron fence across it where it opened into a chamber. In the chamber were several sarcophagi and a human-looking person with grey skin and long white hair. Marativy was feeling slightly surly as person on the other side of the fence had spotted her easily while she was sneaking. She told Roscuro the person was likely a dhampir, a human-vampire hybrid, but with a lifespan too short to be an original inhabitant of the dungeon.
The dhampir was surprisingly chatty as long as neither Marativy nor Roscuro attempted to open the gate in the fence or otherwise bypass the fence. His name was Gnaeus and he was charged with guarding this gate. He was only allowed to let pass those who knew the password. Roscuro introduced himself and Marativy and chatted with Gnaeus a bit, attempting to glean some useful information and what limits there were on Gnaeus’ politeness. After a couple of minutes of conversation Roscuro decided it was time for he and Marativy to leave, while the conversation was still polite. They said their goodbyes to Gnaeus and returned to the rest of the adventuring party.
Blocked forward until they could work out the password, the group decided it was time to return to the surface.
First Watch
During the first watch that night, Swamprover and Winston observed some humanoids to the south at some distance. The humanoids did not seem to be aware of the ratfolk camp, so Swamprover and Winston only observed them. Whatever the humanoids were doing, they were interrupted when a swamp giant wandered up and started to pursue them to the south, away from the camp. Swamprover and Winston shared this information with the next watch, but the rest of the night passed quietly.
End of Session
Rat Whispers
[Gridik leveled again with the experience from this session. The rules grant a wizard two free spells when they level and I chose Bull’s Strength and See Invisibility, thinking he could learn Fire Breath from Swamprover. Unfortunately, Swamprover is a Familiar Adept and does not have a standard spellbook but uses her familiar (a tiny viper named Snek) as her spellbook. This is incompatible with standard wizards when it comes to sharing known spells. On the plus side, Swamprover and Zitch can share spells as they both use their familiars as their spellbooks. The downside is that Gridik is missing his bonus second level evocation spell until we return to Magnimar and he can either find a standard wizard to share spells with or buys a scroll with the desired spell on it for 150 gp.]
Ratpack
Book 1:
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Book 2:
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