Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 2, Session 46

[Day 67 Continues – Clearing the dungeon, Part 2, Versus the BBs!]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened December 6, 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

Roscuro – male ratfolk 7th level Monk

Hrefna – female changeling 6th level Omdura

Swamprover – female grippli 6th level Wizard

Marativy – female ratfolk 7th level Ninja

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 7th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 7th level Summoner (Synthesist)

NPCs

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 5th level Wizard (Invoker)

Ariphi – female tiefling 6th level Rogue

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)

Oriana – female human Captain of the Grey Maidens (temporary ally, remained at camp)

Autumn

Day 67 (Continued)

Having just tripped a trap, the Ratpack was being attacked by four red-scaled beings with pitchforks.  Two of the beings stepped out of the carved wall at the far end of the unfinished room past the vampiric mists and two stepped out of the back corners of the room, flanking part of the party and surprising most of the rest.  Zitch quickly identified them as babau, a kind of demon.

The first babau attacked Roscuro at range with a longspear, catching Roscuro by surprise [it did sneak attack damage].  Gridik, back in the corridor to this room stepped closer to cast Snow Ball at the demon attacking his boss, but walked into an attack of opportunity from one of the babaus just around the corner.  This caused Gridik to lose his Snow Ball spell [he failed to make his concentration check to cast the spell after taking damage].  Marativy focused her chi and turned invisible to attempt a surprise attack on the babau that attacked Roscuro, but it saw right through her invisibility and her attack missed.  Ariphi attacked the babau that hit Gridik and slashed it with her sword.  The second babau in the front attacked Marativy but missed.  The second babau in ambush advanced to flank Roscuro and bit Roscuro.  Roscuro stepped to the first babau and unleashed a flurry of blows, hitting it four times with the last hit causing a caustic liquid to squirt from the babau, doing acid damage to Roscuro.  Roscuro, having punched beings of fire before, considered this par for the course.  Swamprover cast Magic Missile at one of the babau, but the missiles fizzled out against its spell resistance.  Templeton cast Evolutionary Surge to gain acid immunity and advanced into the fight, taking an attack of opportunity in the process.  The babau that caught Gridik in an attack of opportunity pressed its attack against Gridik, hitting the kobold wizard again.  Zitch cast a Healing Hex on Gridik to keep him alive and started calling out the strengths [many] and weaknesses [none, really] of the babau.  Finally, Hrefna activated her healing aura [provides Fast Heal 3 and is a free action], stepped forward, and missed on an attack.

The first babau dropped its longspear as Roscuro was too close to use it and did a full round of attacks on the ratfolk monk, hitting three times and wounding Roscuro so much that he was staggered [down to zero hit points].  Gridik [healed for 3 and then] stepped away from the babau attacking him and cast Magic Missile at the one attacking his boss [Roscuro], penetrating the demon’s spell resistance and killing it!  Marativy [healed for 3 and then] stepped to the babau attacking her and attacked, but missed it.  Ariphi asked Templeton to join her attacking the babau after Gridik and attacked with both her weapons.  Only the adamantine dagger penetrated the hide and did damage.  The babau Marativy was fighting dropped its longspear and attacked with its natural weapons.  Roscuro bodyguarded Marativy and the babau only hit with one claw.  The next babau paused in its attacks on Roscuro, turned and stepped closer to Ariphi, and hit her twice with its longspear, nearly dropping her.  Roscuro [healed for 3 and then] pulled out his last vial of cure light wounds and quaffed it to minimal effect [gained only 2 hit points from it].  Swamprover asked Templeton to move out of her attack path and waited.  Templeton activated the power of the shard in his possession, granting Haste to all the adventurers.  He then moved per Swamprover’s request.  Swamprover immediately stepped into the space he had just vacated and cast Shout! At the babau attacking Ariphi [it saved for half damage].  The babau pursuing Gridik changed targets and attacked Ariphi.  Templeton attempted to bodyguard Ariphi but the babau hit anyway, knocking her down and out, and used its remaining attacks on Templeton to no avail.  [Templeton has the best AC of the party and is very hard to hit, specially once Haste is active.]  Zitch cast a Healing Hex on Roscuro, who was looking bad, and greatly improved his health [gained 21 hit points].  Hrefna moved to attack the babau that dropped Ariphi and hit, but did no appreciable damage [did not surpass its DR] and was splashed with acid as a result.

Gridik stepped away from swirl of melee and cast Magic Missile at the babau previously attacking Ariphi [but not the one that dropped her] and surpassed its spell resistance for near maximum damage.  Marativy turned invisible again and attacked the babau fighting her, hitting but doing no damage.  Ariphi healed 3 from the healing aura and stabilized [she stopped bleeding, but was still at -7 hit points].  The babau Gridik just tagged with Magic Missile decided that Zitch’s healing was a problem and moved to attack him.  Templeton, Marativy, and Roscuro were all able to bodyguard Zitch, making him to hard a target for the babau to hit [that round].  Roscuro stepped into the same space at Marativy [allowed due to Ratfolk racial trait of Swarming] and attacked the Babau she was fighting, critically hitting the babau, exposing the babau to an attack of opportunity from Marativy [due to both having the Outflank feat], which Marativy landed, also hitting the babau in a critical spot!  [Both did 21 points of damage, Roscuro’s bypassing the DR as his fists count as cold iron weapons.]  Templeton stepped to the babau that dropped Ariphi and did a full attack routine, only hitting for minimal damage but causing it to start bleeding.  Swamprover cast Shout! again, hitting the babau attacking Zitch squarely [for near maximum damage].  The bleeding babau stepped over Ariphi’s body and fully attacked Templeton to little effect.  [I think it missed, but there is a gap in my notes.]  Zitch placed a Healing Hex on Ariphi, bringing her back to consciousness and some semblance of health.  [She went from -7 to positive 11 hit points.]  Hrefna activated her Touch of Corruption and tagged the babau standing atop the now awake Ariphi.

[The healing aura is still active and healing the adventurers 3 points each round, but I’m going to stop specifically mentioning it at this point.  Just be aware it is happening and saving our butts.]

Gridik fished out his pearl of power and used it to restore a casting of Magic Missile to his mind.  Marativy did a full routine of attacks on the babau she and Roscuro were fighting, hitting it three times [with sneak attack].  Ariphi acrobatically flipped herself out from under the babau and over to the pillar holding up the ceiling.  The babau Marativy and Roscuro were fighting attacked Roscuro [who was clearly the more wounded of the two] and despite Marativy bodyguarding Roscuro, the babau hit twice, once with a bite and once with a claw.  The babau attacking Zitch missed due to Templeton bodyguarding the witch and dropped its longspear [rolled a 1 on its to hit].  Roscuro focused his chi for an extra attack and did a flurry of blows that killed the babau he and Marativy were fighting.  Templeton did an all-out attack on the babau after Zitch and hit multiple times, but failed to inflict any damage.  Swamprover, forgetting Zitch’s listing of the babau immunities, stepped to the far end of the room and cast Lightning Bolt to no effect.  [Babau are immune to lightning attacks.]  The bleeding babau, deciding a wizard with that level of power might actually become a threat, rushed to Swamprover to attack the grippli.  Hrefna, Ariphi, and Templeton all made attacks as it moved past them, but only Ariphi’s critical hit did damage to it.  The Babau bit Swamprover, taking a big bite out of the small grippli.  Zitch stepped away from the babau attacking him and put Protective Luck on Swamprover and then cackled to maintain it.  Hrefna stepped over to the babau attacking Zitch and hit it with Touch of Corruption.

Gridik cast Magic Missile at the babau attacking Swamprover [wizards have to stick together] but failed to penetrate the demons spell resistance this time.  Marativy stepped over to the babau attacking Zitch and waited for Roscuro to join her.  Ariphi attacked the same babau with her adamantine dagger twice and critically hit it [with a sneak attack], killing the demon.  Roscuro re-directed to the babau attacking Swamprover and swung and missed it.  Templeton flew and pounced on that babau, hitting several times but to no effect.  Swamprover stepped back into the corner and cast Magic Missile at the bleeding babau [the one pursuing her], penetrating its spell resistance.  The bleeding babau stepped close to Swamprover and raked her with two claw attacks, nearly dropping the grippli [total of 29 points of damage].  Zitch cast Air Geyser to no noticeable effect [at least none that made it into my notes - sorry, Tony] and cackled to maintain the Protective Luck on Swamprover.  Hrefna attempted to land Inflict Moderate Wounds on the babau but failed to hit.

Gridik used his Arcane Focus to cast Magic Missile one last time, but failed to penetrate the last babau's spell resistance, again.  Marativy stepped to the last babau and held her action.  Ariphi passed the adamantine dagger over to Hrefna.  Roscuro stepped over to Marativy and the two of them attack with everything they have – they hit it multiple times each, killing it.

The Ratpack spent some time catching their collective breath and letting Hrefna’s healing aura heal everyone back to full health.  [This required an additional use of the aura after the first one expired.]  Marativy was finally able to investigate and open the hidden compartment in the bas-relief carvings on the back wall of the room.  Inside was a single scroll.

The writing on the scroll used the Thassilonian alphabet but was not in clear Thassilonian.  Gridik and Swamprover spent some time attempting to decipher it, but were only able to work out a few random words, not even enough to get a sense of what the scroll was about.  Gridik knew of some reference works back in Magnimar he could access that would help, so the scroll was put away for later.

Marativy harvested a hand from one of the babau to add to her increasingly disturbing collection of trophy hands.

After that was done, the group discussed whether they were done or wanted to investigate the door at the end of the Hall of Bedrooms.  They decided they had time in the day to investigate the door and whatever might be behind it, so they started heading back up to the upper dungeon level.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[Long combat rounds, but most of the session was the fight against the babau, or as I called them, the BBs, so this write-up would have been exceedingly short if I had not written them out.  This fight was the toughest one we have faced.  One NPC dropped, one PC went to 0 hit points, and two others were down to single-digit hit points each.  If Hrefna and Zitch had not ladled out the healing early and often, this could have been a TPK, especially if the babau pursued fleeing characters out of the room.  We were very satisfied when we finally won.]

[Yes, calling the babau “BBs” was a Kim Possible reference.  Several of us are big fans of the show.]

Ratpack

Book 1:

Session 01 – Start

…

Session 32 – Conclusion

Book 2:

Session 1

…

Session 10

…

Session 20

…

Session 30

…

Session 40

Session 41

Session 42

Session 43

Session 44

Session 45

Session 47

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 2, Session 45

[Day 67 Starts – Clearing the dungeon, Part 1]

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

Roscuro – male ratfolk 7th level Monk

Hrefna – female changeling 6th level Omdura

Swamprover – female grippli 6th level Wizard

Marativy – female ratfolk 7th level Ninja

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 7th level Summoner (Synthesist)

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 7th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

NPCs

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 5th level Wizard (Invoker)

Ariphi – female tiefling 6th level Rogue

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)

Oriana – female human Captain of the Grey Maidens (temporary ally)

Autumn

Day 67

Morning

Over an excellent breakfast cooked by Mel, the Ratpack discussed their adventuring options.  The merchant ship that was their ride back to Magnimar was not due until the next day, so they had a full day left to finish any final explorations of the area.  After mulling over their options, the group finally decided to re-investigate the vampiric mist room and to see what if anything was beyond it.  They spent the rest of the morning packing away their loot and other non-essentials so they would not have to the next morning.

Noon

The adventuring party left camp, leaving Oriana at the camp as she never wanted to enter the dungeon ever again [and really, the players were not ready to hand her a weapon again].  They entered troglodyte caves and made their way through the undercaves to the dungeon entrance.  There they made their way through the now empty upper dungeon level to the foot-kiss teleporter to access the lower dungeon level, then through the whole of the lower dungeon to the base of the stairs to the interior of the Lady’s Light.  

In that room, they clustered around the secret door on the southwest wall that led to the vampiric mists' chamber.  Hrefna cast Summon Monster 3 and summoned three fire beetles to trigger the vampiric mists.  Zitch and Gridik cast Mage Armor on themselves and then Zitch put his Ward and Protective Luck on Roscuro while Gridik added Cat’s Grace to Roscuro.  Roscuro then opened the secret door.

Hrefna herded the three fire beetles into the unfinished hall and then raised her Armor Buff aura.  The fire beetles triggered three of the vampire mists into emerging from the flowing blood on the walls.  Swamprover immediately cast Fire Ball, catching all three vampiric mists and one of the fire beetles.  The adventurers learned that fire beetles were not fire resistant at all.

The vampiric mists were fast and three more joined the first three during the fight.  Hrefna switched her aura to healing to counteract the bleed damage the vampiric mists did.  Due to a combination of area effect spells and some critical hits, the adventurers put down all six of the vampiric mists, one after the other.

Once the vampiric mists were gone, the adventurers caught their breath while Hrefna’s healing aura repaired their wounds.  As they finished healing, the adventurers started searching the unfinished hall.  In some collapsed scaffolding, Gridik found a single pot containing magical dust.  Zitch identified the contents as Marvelous Pigments, able to create whatever non-living thing was painted using them.  They were quite valuable, so the pot was carefully stashed away as loot.

With the unfinished hall mostly bare, searching it took little time.  The adventuring group formed up and started to cautiously make their way down the corridor at the far end of the chamber.  Hrefna cast Detect Evil to warn of any threats.

The short corridor led to another unfinished room that detected as evil entirely.  Gridik cast Detect Magic to try and localize the threat and discovered that the decorated far wall was magical.  After concentrating on it a bit, he determined it had a strong conjuration aura.  A fat pillar in the center of the room made it difficult to see the carvings on the far wall.

After a quick consultation, Hrefna raised her protective aura [+2 to saves] and Roscuro and Marativy advanced into the room.  They paused at the pillar to get a clear look at the bas-relief carvings on the far wall.  The carvings showed a distinctive pyramid with caves and rooms underneath it.  Blood flowed down through channels to a chamber at the deepest level.  In that chamber was a large (relative to the size of the chamber) reclining woman with her back arced and the blood flowing into her mouth.  Neither Roscuro nor Marativy recognized the pyramid, but Marativy felt it was familiar looking [we both rolled low on Knowledge: Local].

Roscuro called back for Zitch to use the wand of detect secret doors to look for any secret doors or hidden compartments as there were no other obvious exits to the room.  Zitch did so and reported that there was a compartment concealed in the carved wall.  Marativy advanced to the wall to start looking for traps on the compartment when the entire wall started glowing.  Two red-scaled beings with pitchforks stepped out of the bloody areas of the carving.  Two more stepped out of the corners nearest the lone entrance and moved to attack!

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[So I’m never certain if I should include the round-by-round descriptions of the combats or not.  I’d like to hear from you, the reader, as to how you feel about it in the comments.  Are they useful diagrams of combat or is a quick summation better?]

Ratpack

Book 1:

Session 01 – Start

…

Session 32 – Conclusion

Book 2:

Session 1

…

Session 10

…

Session 20

…

Session 30

…

Session 40

Session 41

Session 42

Session 43

Session 44

Session 46

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 2, Session 44

[Day 66 Continues – Payout, Payback, and the Fall of (the) Hydra!]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened November 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

Via Roll20

Roscuro – male ratfolk 7th level Monk

Hrefna – female changeling 6th level Omdura

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 7th level Summoner (Synthesist)

Marativy – female ratfolk 7th level Ninja

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 7th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Not Attending this Session

Swamprover – female grippli 6th level Wizard

NPCs

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 5th level Wizard (Invoker)

Ariphi – female tiefling 6th level Rogue

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)

Oriana – female human Captain of the Grey Maidens (temporary ally)

Autumn

Day 66

Early Afternoon

Having defeated the alu-demon posing as Sorshen, Runelord of Lust, the Ratpack had to wait out the effects of the Confusion spells she had cast upon them.  This involved judicious use of Roscuro’s Stunning Fist attack and keeping those under the spell’s effect away from each other.  Oriana was relieved of her sword again, this time permanently.  Roscuro apologized to Marativy for doubting her.

Once the confusion effects wore off and Hrefna’s healing aura healed those injured, the Ratpack set to the serious task of looting.  The alu-demon’s boots and a ring detected as magical when Zitch checked.  They were quickly removed and stuffed into the loot sack for later identification.  The pieces of armor strewn about the room matched the description Gnaeus gave of his personal armor, so the group gathered it up and packed it away to return to Gnaeus later, if they ever saw him again.

As the shard the Ratpack was not in this room [its magical signature being too bright to hide from Detect Magic], the Ratpack investigated the southern snake sigil.  Marativy and Roscuro stepped onto the snake pattern on the floor and were teleported to another chamber.

This chamber was creepy.  It had a lower ceiling than any other room they had encountered and the walls were a pinkish substance like wet, pink clay.  There was the continual sound of exhalation by some immense beast.  Many items were on shelves, but Roscuro searched for just one, the Shard of Lust.  He found it sitting alone on a shelf.  Roscuro pulled out the ioun stone given to the Ratpack by Sheila Heidmarch, Guild-Captain of the Magnimar branch of the Pathfinder Society.  He carefully inserted the stone into the notch in the shard until the two merged with a click.  Now [relatively] safe to handle, Roscuro picked up the shard and stuffed it into a pouch.  [Incidentally, the shard grants +2 Charisma (from the ioun stone), the ability to cast Suggestion at 25th level 1/day, +2 to saves versus Enchantment, and +4 to Initiative.]

By this point the rest of the Ratpack had arrived in the low room.  Zitch cast Detect Magic again and anything that detected as magic was efficiently stored away in various loot sacks for later identification.  In addition to the magic items, the group also packed away 12 tourmalines, 6 black pearls, 2 large sapphires, a variety of knick-knacks from across thousands of years, a pile of spell books, and some normal books on a variety of topics.

Once all the loot was packed away, the group started to make their way out of the dungeon.

An Hour Later

Having hiked down and up stairs, teleported, and rowed across two subterranean lakes, the Ratpack returned to the big Red Metal Door at the first landing beach.  Not wanting to return to this dungeon ever again, they took the time to collect rubbings of those panels on the door they had yet collect.

While this was going on, Roscuro and Templeton went to the sarcophagus at the entrance to the dungeon to verify the clone was still there.  Templeton had some concerns that maybe the alu-demon actually was Sorshen and killing her had sent her soul to the clone and Roscuro wanted to take the lid to sell.  With some trepidation, they removed the lid from the sarcophagus.  Inside was Sorshen’s clone, still unconscious, still in stasis, and still trapped with a massive Phantasmal Killer spell.

Suddenly, Roscuro had an idea.

In the hag’s caves on the lower dungeon level, Marativy had claimed a magic set of gloves that allowed her to remove magical traps and this was a doozy of a magical trap.  A trap that had nearly killed Roscuro twice.  Revenge was at hand!  With a feral grin, Roscuro quickly went down the hall where Marativy was wrapping up the rubbings effort.  He asked her if she was up to removing a the magical trap from the sarcophagus and gaining access to the loot inside.  After a very short pause while she remembered all the valuable jewelry the clone was wearing, Marativy agreed to give it a try.  Oriana was surprised to learn of the clone’s existence and very concerned at some of the implications therein.  The Ratpack, having worried over those same implications a month ago were somewhat blasé at this point.

The group moved down the hall to the sarcophagus.  After a moment of mental preparation, Marativy went to work on the trap, eventually safely disarming it.  Marativy and Roscuro quickly and efficiently removed the jewelry from the unconscious clone [a necklace, a set of earrings, 7 rings, and an anklet].  Then a long discussion of what to do with the clone ensued.

While the Ratpack could probably make some serious coin selling the clone to one of their patrons, all were uncomfortable with the idea that some of their patrons might actually try to revive the clone or use it to track down the runelord herself [or use it other, unsavory, ways].  The best path was to kill the clone and dispose of the body.  While the Ratpack had slain many foes, all of those deaths happened as a result of combat where the other party was actively trying to kill them.  None of the adventurers were comfortable with just knifing the unconscious and defenseless clone.  That said, the clone could not be allowed to continue to exist.

The group decided to take the clone with them and continue the discussion on the way back to camp.  For security, the clone was tied up and then tied to Templeton’s back for transport.

Roughly 5:00 PM

After two hours of travel through the deep caves under the lagoon, the adventurers arrived back at the troglodyte caves.  They passed through those caves, pausing to say hello to their allies.  Once back at camp, Templeton and Roscuro prepared to implement the method of disposing of the clone the group had settled on: feeding it to the crocodiles in the lagoon.

With Roscuro riding him and the clone still tied to his back, Templeton flew off in the direction the adventurers had seen the crocodiles on their first expedition to the Lady’s Light.  It took a little time to locate the bask of crocodiles.  Once located, Roscuro untied the clone from Templeton and they air-dropped the clone near the crocodiles.  After a bit the crocodiles investigated the body and started eating it, causing a minor feeding swarm.  Templeton and Roscuro flew away a bit so they could observe the swarm but not the details.  They stayed until the crocodiles were done eating and then left, satisfied that the clone was destroyed.  [And no longer hungry.]

Back at camp, Zitch, Swamprover, and Gridik started going through the magic items retrieved and identifying them.  Some of the items were apportioned out to those who could use or needed them [e.g., boots of haste to Roscuro, boots of springing and striding to Marativy, and so forth] and some were immediately consigned to be sold for coin [e.g., the goggles of night, which provide darkvision, something not necessary for a party that all has nightvision naturally].  The remaining items were discussed, and most were kept in common for later use, like the immovable rod.

Roscuro took a moment to concentrate on the shard of lust [which he ended up being the keeper of].  He received a vision of a great walled city, the walls in the shape of giant skeletons.  Part of the city wall had been destroyed in the past and rebuilt with a shanty town.  Roscuro had no idea what city it was, but after he described what he saw, Marativy identified it as Kaer Maga.

7:00 PM

After dinner [where Templeton and Roscuro ate lightly], the group discussed going to kill the hydra that night.  The spellcasters felt they had enough spells left to do the job, including healing magic.  In fact, due to the known immunities of the alu-demon, their most powerful attack spells had not been used.  With this information, the hunt was on.

8:00 PM

The group approached the hydra lair as directly as they could.  Marativy looked for signs of any hydra activity and was of the opinion that it had not yet returned to its lair for the night.  She and Hrefna advanced on the cave entrance so Hrefna could cast Alarm on it.  The rest of the group, significantly less stealthy, stayed back to wait and watch.

They did not have to wait long.

While Marativy and Hrefna were near the hydra lair, the hydra itself approached from behind the rest of the party.  Zitch spotted it sneaking up on the group and alerted the others.  Templeton and Roscuro moved to be between the hydra and the rest of the party and then the fight was on!

Templeton cast Minor Evolution to gain immunity to fire.  Zitch gave Protective Luck to Roscuro and cackled.  The hydra pounced at Templeton, attacking him with the range its long necks allowed many times but only biting him once.  Roscuro instructed Gridik to cast Lightning Bolt at the hydra first, then Cat’s Grace on him.  He then drew his crossbow and loaded it.  Marativy gave up on subtlety for a bit and ran to get closer to the fight.  Gridik cast Lightning Bolt, hitting the hydra but not as effectively as he hoped [it made its save and took only half damage].  Hrefna activated her Divine Weapon and then started the long trek back to where the fight was happening.

Templeton closed the distance between him and the hydra and attacked multiple times, twice critically!  Zitch moved closer to the fight and continued to cackle [maintaining the Protective Luck on Roscuro].  Templeton’s wounds on the hydra bled, but its regeneration closed the wounds and stopped the bleeding.  Three of the hydra heads bit at Templeton while two breathed flame over him.  One of the bites landed and, thanks to the Minor Evolution spell, Templeton was immune to the flames.  Roscuro delayed doing anything until after Gridik cast Cat’s Grace on him.  Marativy slowed down once she was within attack range of the hydra and concealed her position so she could close the distance unobserved.  Gridik cast Cat’s Grace on Roscuro who then closed with the hydra and threw a punch, which missed.  [Roscuro initially planned to stand back and shoot the hydra, but he did not have the feat that allows him to shoot into melee combat and Templeton rushing forbade shooting.]  Hrefna ran forward some more and activated an aura that assisted the adventurers in combat [+2 to hit].

Templeton stepped a little to the side to let others flank the hydra and then attacked with all of his claws, hitting twice and causing the hydra to bleed some more.  Zitch, now close enough, put Protective Luck on Templeton and cackled to maintain the effect on both Templeton and Roscuro.  The hydra bled some before its regeneration closed the wounds.  Three of its heads bit at Templeton while two breathed fire at Roscuro.  All the bites missed and Roscuro evaded the flames [made his save and had the Evade feat, which reduces saved attacks to zero damage].  Marativy advanced to the rear of the hydra to flank it, stabbing it in a vital spot [sneak attack damage].  Gridik moved to get a better angle [one without fellow adventurers in it] and cast Lightning Bolt again, hitting it solidly.  Roscuro threw a flurry of blows and hit all three times [first time this happened in the campaign]!  Hrefna activated Divine Might and then charged the hydra.  The hydra got in a solid attack of opportunity on Hrefna before she exploded the hydra with divine power.  [She did 29d6 damage for 120 points in one hit.]

Roscuro stepped over to Gridik and politely asked Gridik to cast Prestidigitation to clean the exploded hydra viscera off of him.  [It never ends!]  Gridik kindly did so [not wanting his boss to smell like hydra carcass the rest of the night.]  After being magically cleaned, Roscuro asked Marativy and Ariphi to remove one of the hydra fangs from the corpse as a trophy.  Hrefna removed an entire head from the corpse as her trophy and Marativy claimed a claw as hers.  Zitch cut into the corpse and removed its flame sack, which he claimed would make a good reagent.  Marativy also harvested two units of hydra blood for the crafting of potions.

After all the claiming of trophies and harvesting parts was done, Gridik and Zitch cast Prestidigitation on everyone to get them clean.  The group then returned to camp and settled in for the night.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[We suspect the Alu-demon was Ashamintallu, the last name remaining on the list of those Sorshen consigned to the Lady’s Light (see Session 34).  This made her the guardian and power source for the light.  Hope killing her has no unexpected consequences.]

[Roscuro had been designing all sorts of Rube Goldberg devices in his head to eliminate Sorshen’s clone.  Partially because a living Runelord would be a terrible thing and partially because nearly being killed by the trap twice left him with a grudge and a sense of a job left unfinished.  I had nearly forgotten about it due to the months between when the characters first interacted with it and this play session, but Marativy’s player asked if we were still planning to take the sarcophagus lid to sell and that reminded me of the clone.]

[Killing the hydra was really just harvesting experience points.  Templeton’s player was concerned another group (like the cave giants) might kill it before we got to it and deprive us of the experience points.  At the rate that we are outleveling the Adventure Path, I don’t feel it was an issue, but who am I to deny another player their fun?]

Ratpack

Book 1:

Session 01 – Start

…

Session 32 – Conclusion

Book 2:

Session 1

…

Session 10

…

Session 20

…

Session 30

…

Session 40

Session 41

Session 42

Session 43

Session 45

This week's Session Notes pushed to next week

I'm not the spokesman for my wife's family, so I'll keep this brief.

My father-in-law chose to check out last Sunday evening.  It was unforeseen.  We are still emotionally processing this and right now everything takes extra effort and more time to do.

As a result, I'm not going to try and publish this week.  Thank you ahead of time for you understanding.