Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 23

[Day 42 – The Fish Trap]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened January 30, 2023.]

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

Player Characters

Marativy – female ratfolk 9th level Ninja

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

Roscuro – male ratfolk 9th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 9th level Wizard

Winston – male ratfolk 9th level Gunslinger

Via Roll20

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

NPCs

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

Hrefna – female changeling 7th level Omdura

Ariphi – female tiefling 7th level Rogue

Autumn

Day 42 continued

Having returned to the Thassilonian Workshop deep under Kaer Maga, the Ratpack was ready to explore further.  In the room they now knew to be a centrifuge, they prepped some spells and opened the third door, in the south east area of the circular room.  [The first door was the entrance from the main corridor and the second door led to a zig-zag corridor that Marativy discovered, which connected to the workshop room with the fire wasps.]

Beyond this unlocked door was a circular room with a lowered floor and a door on its eastern side.  The floor was down two feet and filled with clear water.  In the center of the room was a cage holding a fish creature with wires coming out of the fish and descending into the water.  There was a ring of runes on the walls of the room, just above the water level.

Zitch identified the fish creature as a “grodaire”, a kind of fae with the ability to raise and lower water levels at will.  The group immediately suspected the room of being a trap where the grodaire was forced to flood the room on command.

With no other viable paths forward, the group decided to get past the fish.  Templeton flew into the room and over to the eastern door, staying close to the north wall.  Nothing happened and the fish did not react.  Templeton spoke at the fish in several languages but got no response.  Templeton then flew back to the open door and Marativy climbed onto his back.

Templeton and Marativy then flew back to the eastern door so Marativy could examine it.  The door had no additional traps on it [other than the fae fish creature in the room] but was locked.  Marativy picked the lock.  She then attempted to open the door, which apparently triggered the fish trap.

Steel plates slammed down across both doors, isolating Templeton and Marativy inside the room.  Then the water level shot all the way up to the room.  THEN the ring of runes around the walls discharged lightning, shocking everyone in the now-flooded room [Reflex save for half damage].

Templeton started fighting the grodaire while Marativy worked to disable the lightning runes, both holding their breath.  Hrefna and Winston worked together and were able to break down the steel door between the centrifuge room and the fish trap room, with the water spilling out and then immediately started rising.  Due to the much larger volume, the water level rose slowly now instead of shooting to the ceiling.  This allowed the shorter members of the group [Gridik, Swamprover, and Zitch] to climb up onto the ziggurat and keep their heads above water.  For a little while.

Roscuro had a sudden inspiration and opened the door to the corridor that led to the fire wasp room.  He ran down that corridor to the back door of the workshop room and waited until the water was three feet high.  He opened the door, which flooded into the workshop room, submerging the human body.  Staying submerged and immune to the angry swarm of fire wasps, Roscuro moved in and placed the body into a body bag of holding, water and all.

In the meantime, Winston, now able to see the grodaire, started shooting the wires plugged into the fish fae.  He had taken out three of the four wires by the time Marativy finished disabling the lightning runes.  She immediately moved to the fish and removed the fourth wire, which “woke up” the grodaire.  She explained the situation to the fish and asked it to lower the water level again.  It did so, lowing all the water so that only its room contained any.

This included the workshop room with the fire wasps, leaving Roscuro suddenly exposed to the swarm!  Roscuro [beating the swarm on initiative] bolted out of the room, dragging the body bag of holding through the back door to the workshop room and then slamming that door shut.  He could clearly hear the very angry buzzing from the other side of the now closed door.

The Ratpack regrouped in the centrifuge room where Hrefna activated her healing aura [many had taken damage from the lightning runes when the water spilled into the other rooms].  The grodaire gave its name, but the Ratpack referred to it as Fish or Fishie [mostly because no one seems to have written its name down].  The fae was friendly if not too bright and agreed to travel with the group.  It was able to bring its own “tank” of water, magically keeping a column of water two feet deep and about five feet in diameter around itself at all times.  The Ratpack made certain to pair it up with taller members of the group to avoid any accidental drownings [Swamprover is under 2 feet tall and Gridik about two and a half feet tall].  Once the group was healed up, they re-entered the fish trap room and opened the exit door.

They faced a naga ready for a fight.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[Winston’s player was recovered and had a negative Covid test, so he was back with us again.  He contracted it just after our game on the January 16th and was already recovering on the 23.  I would have insisted he stay remote (and he would have agreed) without the test results.]

Ratpack

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

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

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

Last Session: Session 22

Next Session: Session 24

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 22

[Day 42 – Dwarf located and spin-dried]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened January 23, 2023.]

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

Player Characters

Marativy – female ratfolk 9th level Ninja

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

Roscuro – male ratfolk 9th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 9th level Wizard

Via Roll20

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

Winston – male ratfolk 9th level Gunslinger

NPCs

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

Hrefna – female changeling 7th level Omdura

Ariphi – female tiefling 7th level Rogue

Autumn

Day 42

After spending a day on the surface in Kaer Maga to recover from the first expedition to the Thassilonian Workshop, the Ratpack was ready to return.  They took the long sloping passage under the Therassic Spire all the way down to the Workshop.

At the first room Zitch stated he wanted to cast Detect Secret Doors to verify the Ratpack had not missed anything in the rooms cleared so far.  As the previous Thassilonian dungeons the group had explored contained numerous secret doors, this was very reasonable.  The question room, the chain room, the ex-couatl prison, and the orrery were checked in quick order and no secret doors were located.

When the group went to check the round room with the ziggurat, they found it now had an occupant.  Sitting on top of the ziggurat going through his backpack was a corpulent gnome, recognizable as Luonin the Vast, a bloat mage and the third member of the missing adventuring party.  In conversation gnome was singularly uninterested in where his traveling companions were.  He seemed to be unaware of how long he had been down in the workshop.  He was convinced this room was the only important one, being the center of the universe.  He offered to show the Ratpack how it worked.

Suspicious [as usual], Roscuro agreed to a demonstration.  He and Marativy entered the circular room, but Roscuro gestured for the rest of the Ratpack to stay in the corridor.  As Roscuro and Marativy approached the central ziggurat, Luonin pulled the lever on top of the ziggurat.  This started the room spinning!

As the room spun, the three equally spaced doorways moved out of sync with the doors, showing bare wall instead.  The speed of the spin rapidly increased and it became difficult for Roscuro and then Marativy to keep their footing with some force pushing them out from the center of the room.  Quickly the room reached a speed where they were forced out to the walls of the room and could stand on them, though they felt much heavier than normal.  Luonin hovered over the central ziggurat, ranting about how this room was clearly the center of the universe with the rest of the universe rotating around it.

[The room was spinning like the Barrel Roll ride at Astroworld, which dates me somewhat.  The force pushing them out was centripetal force from the rapid spin.]

Templeton, standing in the corridor and seeing the room was rotating, timed a jump to enter the room before it got up to full speed.  Luonin turned invisible and started attacking Roscuro, Marativy, and Templeton.  During the fight, Swamprover attempted to cast Magic Missile at Luonin – some missiles made it into the room on the first casting, but none from a second casting made it, splashing on the outside of the spinning walls.

Eventually the Ratpack knocked out Luonin and tied him up.  Roscuro pushed the lever back into its starting position and the room slowed back down and eventually stopped [leaving those in the room a little dizzy and slightly nauseous].  At Templeton’s suggestion, Luonin’s unconscious form was relieved of valuables.  This included a wand of Shield [5 charges left], a potion of Cure Moderate Wounds, a jar of fortifying leeches, Luonin’s notebook, and some reference books.  The reference books included Magical Properties of Fae Lineages, Properties of Evocation Magic, and some books containing synopses on various Outer Planes.

Looking through Luonin’s notebook, there seemed to a definite point where he started going mad.  Earlier entries were in a neat hand and cover things seen and done.  At a certain point the writing started getting looser and then wild verging on frenetic.  Those portions seemed more babbling and repetitious.

The Ratpack decided to take Luonin back to the surface now and get paid for returning him alive before he woke up and became belligerent again.  Back at the Spire Luonin was turned over unconscious but alive and the Ratpack was paid the 2000gp bounty for a living member of the previous group.  They then turned around and descended again.  [This part was a little rushed as we were wrapping up for the night.]

Back at the dungeon entrance, Zitch put his Ward on Marativy and cast Heroism on Marativy and Roscuro.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[Winston’s player contracted Covid at work and was sick, so he attended remotely through Roll20.  This caused some logistics issues at the game as his laptop and monitor were the access points used for the table.  He mirrors the play area on a separate monitor and we plug in an external microphone and speakers so Templeton’s player can hear the entire table clearly and be heard by the table.  The other reason we do this is to limit the number of laptops at the table, which limits distractions and keeps the players focused on the game.  I ended up booting up my laptop and a spare monitor to provide AV for this session.  Mine do the job, but Winston’s player’s monitor is much better than my spare and his laptop is newer by years, making it faster and better able to keep up with load.]

Ratpack

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

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

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

Last Session: Session 21 

Next Session: Session 23

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 21

[Day 40 and 41 – Wasps and recovery]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened January 16, 2023.]

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

Player Characters

Marativy – female ratfolk 9th level Ninja

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

Roscuro – male ratfolk 9th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 9th level Wizard

Winston – male ratfolk 9th level Gunslinger

Via Roll20

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

NPCs

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

Hrefna – female changeling 7th level Omdura

Ariphi – female tiefling 7th level Rogue

Autumn

Day 40 (continued)

Facing two swarms of fire-proof [or at least, very fire resistant] wasps, the Ratpack planned on withdrawing and locking the swarms inside the workshop room.  Winston stepped to the side of the door, ready to push it closed as soon as Marativy and Roscuro exited the workshop room.  Unfortunately, the swarms were quick and fiendishly alert.  The swarm by the door flowed into the orrery, stinging several members of the Ratpack.  Roscuro focused his ki, grabbed the tattered body of the halfling by the ankle and ran for it, dragging the body out of the workshop room and across the orrery, yelling for the rest of the Ratpack to retreat.  Rather than pursue Roscuro, the second swarm stayed where it was, attacking Marativy.  Templeton held his action while Swamprover stepped out of the swarm and cast Snowball at it to zero effect [the individual wasps are small enough that only area effect attacks do damage to the swarm].  Ariphi opened the door from the orrery to the corridor beyond and fled into the corridor.  Not having the movement to make it across the workshop and then across the orrery, Marativy instead made use of the second door in the workshop room, opening it, rolling through and kicking it shut in one fluid motion.  Zitch stepped adjacent to Swamprover and Templeton and cast Dimension Door, teleporting the three of them back to the questioning cube room at the entrance to the dungeon.  Gridik moved 10 feet north to the doorway out of the orrery and cast Lighting Bolt down the center of both the orrery and the workshop room, burning through both swarms.  The closer swarm say the attack coming and avoided most of it [made its Reflex saving throw] but the swarm in the workshop took the full brunt of the attack [it failed its saving throw].  Winston, waiting for this moment, slammed the door to the workshop closed, cutting off the second swarm from the Ratpack.

Winston then turned and bolted out of the orrery, into the corridor beyond.  The remaining wasp swarm moved directly to Gridik, the buzzing of the thousands of wings sounding menacing and angrier than earlier.  Gridik was stung multiple times, the poison sapping the mobility of his limbs [it did hit point damage AND Dexterity damage].  Roscuro fled the orrery, yelling at Gridik to get out.  Ariphi stepped out of the room and waited to close the door.  Marativy, now in a side passage, followed it, hoping to find a way to rejoin the rest of the group.  Gridik staggered out of the swarm and the orrery, turning in the corridor to force his fingers to move and cast another Lightning Bolt at the swarm, scoring a strong hit [32 points of damage on a roll of 7d6+3].  Ariphi, waiting for Gridik’s exit, closed the door to the orrery as Gridik slumped to the floor, his limbs stiff from the poison in his system.  Winston and Marativy each felt similar effects, having been poisoned from the wasp stings.

The side passage Marativy was in led back to the second round room with the short ziggurat in it.  From there she was able to rejoin the rest of the group in the corridor.  Winston applied his healing knowledge to assist Gridik in resisting the poison, but the poison was pernicious [he gave Gridik a bonus to his next save, which Gridik made, but the poison required two consecutive saves to end early and Gridik failed to make a second save].  Zitch used the wand of Lesser Restoration multiple times while Hrefna cast Lesser Restoration on Gridik to help the small kobold ride out the effects of the poison.  [Gridik didn’t start with a high Dexterity and was down to a Dexterity of 3, twice, as the poison burned through his system.]

Once the poison was done, Zitch used the wand of Lesser Restoration a couple more times to mostly unlock Gridik’s muscles from the knots the poison tied them into.  The kobold wizard would be sore for quite a while.  During this time Roscuro identified the dead halfling as Perotus, on of the four adventurers the Ratpack had been asked to retrieve.  He and Marativy conferred about the human body and were fairly certain that it was the body of Hassari, the female human monk, another of the missing adventurers.  They decided that body wouldn’t likely get any dead-er, so they would retrieve it later, when the Ratpack was ready to deal with the wasp swarms.

The Ratpack decided they had had enough for this expedition and it was time to return to the surface.  Roscuro brought up the point that the crying from the room opposite of the chain fiends might be another missing adventurer and they should probably at least take a peek inside that room.  The rest agreed.

For safety, most of the Ratpack retreated to the sloped passage back to the surface.  Roscuro stood at the door to the “crying room” while Marativy unlocked the door.  Roscuro opened the door to look inside and found a large feathered serpent bound inside a seven-pointed magic circle inscribed on the floor.  The feathered serpent was the source of the crying and was babbling about a master making a promise.  Roscuro called back to the rest of the Ratpack what he and Marativy could see.  He asked Zitch and Gridik to come have a look and identify what was going on.

Zitch and Gridik went and took a look in the room, they identified it as a couatl, which are very lawful and good aligned and known to be interested in helping young civilizations.  It being in a Runelord dungeon was very unusual and suggested it was probably trapped here since Earthfall.  It might be mad.

Not certain what to do with this, the Ratpack considered leaving it until the next day.  Roscuro asked Templeton if he could summon something that might be able to talk with the couatl.  Gridik cast Detect Magic and peeked into the couatl room.  The circle on the floor was a very strong binding spell with some mind altering spells included.  The mind-altering spells would explain the babbling.  While Gridik was looking, the couatl espied him and started addressing Gridik as Master and begging to be freed.  This confused everyone.

Swamprover walked into the room to see what she could see, which angered the couatl.  It cast a Scorching Ray at Swamprover and she quickly retreated.  Eventually the group worked out that the grey cloak of resistance that Gridik was wearing, picked up from the chain fiend room, was the thing that caused the couatl to identify him as “Master”.  Templeton outside of his eidolon while wearing the other cloak and maybe Roscuro in the grey monk robes might also trigger the same effect.

Gridik went into the room to study the binding circle more.  Looking at it in detail and with some prompting from the couatl, Gridik decided that using one of the shards would disrupt the binding and free the couatl.  He discussed this with Roscuro, asking to borrow the Shard of Lust.  Roscuro had concerns about freeing a mad couatl, but Gridik convinced him the madness was caused by the spells on the couatl, not an inherent mental instability.  Roscuro handed over the shard.

Gridik went back into the room with the shard and touched it to the seven sin runes spaced around the binding circle.  Nothing happened.  The couatl “reminded Master” he needed to say the words as well and told Gridik what the words were.  Gridik retouched the runes and said the words, which immediately dropped all the spells on the couatl!

After a quick stretch [it had been bound inside a slightly too small space for 7000 years], the couatl introduced itself to Gridik as Tsikinahl.  Tsikinahl thanked Gridik for freeing him and stated he owed Gridik a great debt.  Tsikinahl then gave Gridik four of his own feathers before departing.  [If used when casting the spell Planar Ally, the spell summons Tsikinahl specifically.]

Very pleased with himself, Gridik handed the Shard of Lust back to Roscuro and secured the four feathers in his writing kit.

One Hour Later

The Ratpack returned to the Restricted Library under the Therassic Spire and were met by Elaneiros.  Roscuro turned over the body of Perotus and the Ratpack was paid the 1000 gp bounty.  The group left the Spire and returned to the Grange in Downmarket to rest and recover.

Day 41

Using a side room at the Grange, The Ratpack retrieved Hrefna’s body from the body bag of holding it was stored in and laid it out on the floor.  Zitch cast Blood Money to meet the requirements for casting Reincarnation on Hrefna’s body.  Over the next hour a new body formed next to Hrefna’s original, nearly identical in form [the GM put together a custom reincarnation table for non-human subjects and Hrefna’s player rolled a 01 – same race].  When the spell completed, the new body suddenly inhaled and animated.  Zitch cast Restoration on Hrefna’s new body, using Blood Money to pay for the missing diamond dust.  Hrefna was able to cast Restoration on herself after that in order to remove the last of the negative effects of the Reincarnation spell [causes recipient to receive two permanent negative levels].

With Hrefna alive again, Zitch cast Restoration on Marativy to remove the poison effects she still suffered from the wasp stings.  He then cast Lesser Restoration on Gridik to remove the last of the poison’s effects from the kobold.  With the others restored, Zitch and Hrefna then cast a series of Lesser Restorations on Zitch to heal all the [Strength] damage he had done to himself using Blood Money to cover missing spell reagents [mostly diamond dust].

Winston was interested in a belt of incredible dexterity [+2] and had money stored.  He paid Gridik cost + 500gp to craft it for him, which took the rest of the day to do.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[The wasp swarms had a template on them, making them much more dangerous than normal and intelligent.  As a group, we hate swarm monsters as they are some of the hardest creatures to damage in Pathfinder.  We suspected that the human body still in the workshop room is also infested with a wasp swarm, meaning we would have to face at least two swarms to retrieve the body, possibly all three.  Events in Session 23 gave us a better opportunity, but you will need to wait until I get there in my posting.]

[It was really a close thing with Gridik.  If we had not purchased a wand of lesser restoration early in our adventures, he would have died from the poison as I could not roll two consecutive Fortitude saves at all.]

[Hrefna rolling the only roll that returned her in her original form was very unexpected and we were all just a little disappointed we didn’t get to see what else was on the new table.]

[Blood Money should have been named something else.  Really.]

Ratpack

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

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

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

Last Session: Session 20

Next Session: Session 22

Southern Reaches Archive

This is an archive page for my Southern Reaches Campaign.  The weekly campaign ran from April 2010 to July of 2011 for a total of 50 sessions using the Pathfinder 1.0 rules shortly after they had been published.

These are some of my earliest blog posts, when I was still very new to blogging, so navigation is non-existent and expect the writing style to evolve.

Session Notes

Campaign Switch: Bugbears for the Southern Reaches - Includes:

• Session 1: Following the Journal
• Session 2: Going Under Drop-Off Tower

Return to Under Drop-Off Tower - Session 3

Terrace of the Fallen Horses – First Expedition - Session 4

Return to Under Drop-Off Tower, Second Trip - I think you get the idea.

Return to Under Drop-Off Tower, Third Trip

Under Drop-Off Tower, Fourth Trip; Old Stones; and Fishing for Experience

First Trip to the Cave

Terrace of Fallen Horses

Discoveries at the Terrace of Broken Horses - 10th session

A Road to Drop-Off Tower

On the Road to Santa Fe

Building of the Grass Road

Entering Eastern Edgewood

A Near TPK, the Temple of Chac, and the Underfortress

Building the Terrace Road

Dire Lions are Dire

Metal Home Improvements

Exploring the Edgewood

Crouching Tiger, Hoisted Ballista

SR21: Thunder, Clay, Coins - Finally!  I started numbering the sessions.

SR22: Snow Falls, Morlocks Die

Deeper into the Morlock Hall (But Deep Enough?) - ...and I stopped numbering for a bit.

Tower Upgrades and the Forbidden God

SR25: Betrayal and Insanity

Discovery of the Lake of Fire

A Hot (and Cold) Time in Old Stones

The Shadowed Obelisk – Part 1

SR29: The Shadowed Obelisk – Part 2 - The numbering returns, for good this time.

SR30: The Shadowed Obelisk – Part 3

SR31: The Death of Su Bel

SR32: Adventurers Make Archeologists Cry

SR33: Adventurers Make Schliemann Look Circumspect

SR34: Return to the Lake of Fire

SR35: Ghost Tower Conclusion

SR36: Searching for a Mine of Their Own

SR37: Dragonslay…er, No. Not Really.

SR38: Cheap Crypt ("He's tight!")

SR39: Cave Fishing with Alys

SR40: Ghosts, Terra Cotta Warriors, and a Lightning Elemental

SR41: The Crooked Tower

SR42: Diversionary Fires and Leucrotta

SR43: Showdown at the River

SR44: Hunting Giants

SR45: Through the Rope Trick

     From the Diary of Alys Kaah (SR45)

SR46: Last Tombs on the Terrace

SR47: Alys, the Jagirdar Kaah, Goes to Town

SR48: The Cleansing of the Banshee Copper Mine

SR49: Penultimate Session – Looting the Copper Mine

SR50: Final Session – Fall of the Dragon - final session

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 20

[Day 40 –  Lurkers and Wasps]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened January 9, 2023.]

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

Player Characters

Marativy – female ratfolk 9th level Ninja

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

Roscuro – male ratfolk 9th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 9th level Wizard

Winston – male ratfolk 9th level Gunslinger

Via Roll20

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

NPCs

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 6th level Wizard (Invoker)

Hrefna – female changeling 7th level Omdura

Ariphi – female tiefling 7th level Rogue

Autumn

Day 40 (continued)

Having released an unknown number of Lurkers in the Light from the latest room opened, many of the Ratpack were caught by surprise.  Zitch advised the Lurkers were fae that needed to sacrifice a victim in order to return to the Faewilde.  He then cast Baneful Polymorph, getting past a Lurker’s spell resistance, turning it into a newt.  Marativy saw this and raced back down the corridor to kill it, suffering several attacks of opportunity along the way.  [This also identified the total number of Lurkers at six, minus the one she killed.]

Winston rapid fired, killing one of the Lurkers and injuring another.  Zitch took a 5 foot step away from the Lurker in his space [Lurkers are Tiny and must enter a square to attack] and cast Adhesive Spittle on himself [something he’s wanted to do for a while].  He spat and just tagged the Lurker, sticking it in place [for 6 rounds].  One of the remaining lurkers flew down the corridor, attempting to flee while calling out something in Aklo, a language none of the Ratpack spoke.  Hrefna raised an aura [reduce enemies AC, I think] and then cast See Invisible.  Swamprover cast Magic Missile at the lurkers, hitting with all 5 missiles [not guaranteed due to their Spell Resistance].  Marativy focused her ki to move faster and chased down the fleeing Lurker, slashing at it and discovering Lurkers also have Damage Resistance.  Gridik announced he had a terrible plan but was blind and needed help targeting.  Roscuro moved to the kobold and steered him with one hand on each shoulder.  Gridik then cast Dragon Breath [cone of fire] at the trailing group of Lurkers.  This blast unfortunately included Templeton and Hrefna as well.  Templeton evaded the blast but Hrefna took the full brunt of it, bloodying the changeling.  The trailing group of Lurkers, still airborne, advanced, attacking Gridik, Hrefna, and Templeton [with a critical hit].  Templeton attacked back with all of his claws and a bite.

Winston rapid fired at the Lurker attacking Gridik, killing it.  Zitch put Protective Luck on Hrefna and cackled to prolong it.  The fleeing Lurker attempted to cast Teleport, but Zitch recognized the spell and got off Conjuration Foil, shunting it into a wall, killing it.  Hrefna, severely injured, changed her aura to a healing aura [Fast Healing 3] and attempted to defensively cast Cure Moderate Wounds on herself.  Unfortunately, the Lurker attacking her in her space spoiled the casting and it failed.  Swamprover then unwisely cast Shout, attempting to kill the remaining two Lurkers.  Instead the Grippli killed Hrefna, injured and deafened Gridik and Roscuro, and only injured the remaining Lurkers.  Marativy and Ariphi closed with the remaining Lurkers but could not get in attacks.  The last two Lurkers cast Teleport and teleported away…somewhere.

Roscuro quickly placed Hrefna’s body into one of the body bags of holding [a bag of holding with Quiet Repose on anything inside it] given to the group to retrieve the bodies of the previous group of explorers.  The Ratpack then pulled back to the orrery room to lick their wounds.

Templeton came out of synthesis with his eidolon so he could summon another Azata Bralani to heal the group.  She nearly completely healed Zitch [still down 2 hit points] and healed Roscuro in full.  Zitch cast Cure Light Wounds on himself to finish his healing.  Templeton then merged with his eidolon again before casting Cure Light Wounds on Marativy, healing her in full.  [Templeton is physically very weak and sickly when not merged with his eidolon (STR, CON, and DEX are all below 9), so he stays merged as much as possible, which grants him access to the eidolon’s superior stats.  We refer to it as his "super suit".]

With the group healed up they decided to investigate the door on the southern side of the orrery.  This door opened to a small workshop of some sort.  The eastern wall was covered with a “papery honeycomb”.  There were two dead bodies against the far wall, a halfling and a human that matched the descriptions of two of the adventurers the Ratpack were to rescue.  A second door could just be seen on the far end of the eastern wall, just past the papery honeycomb.

The Ratpack expected the papery honeycomb was a giant wasp nest and decided to act as such until proven otherwise.  The rest of the group stayed in the orrery while Marativy and Roscuro snuck into the workshop, each with a body bag of holding at the ready.  Once at the bodies, Marativy started to bag the halfling body when lumps appeared under its flesh and a wasp swarm erupted from it!  Winston immediately fired upon the swarm, the noise of his musket discharging awakening a second swarm from the papery honeycomb, filling Marativy and Roscuro’s exit.  Both swarms had a reddish tint, suggesting they were something more than normal wasps.  Swamprover cast Burning Hands on the closer swarm to no effect!  Gridik cast his last Dragon Breath spell for the day, choosing a cone of cold.  The blast filled the room, fully damaging both swarms but not killing either.  Marativy was able to dodge half of the blast and Roscuro completely evaded it [Ninja’s don’t get Evasion as a feat until they are much higher in level].

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[Swamprover’s player got a lot of flack for casting Shout after the player running Hrefna stated Hrefna was very wounded.  She’s developed a mild reputation for catching party members in area of effect attacks, particularly Templeton.  This will come to a head a couple more sessions down the line.  I believe that after this session Swamprover’s player started being a little more careful about spell placement, but she does love casting all the big attack spells.]

[For my own part, I tend to play characters who have Evasion and good saves or pick up DR versus the party’s favored attacks (usually fire), so I’m a little more blasé about getting caught in friendly fire like this, especially if the friendly fire successfully takes out enemies.  The spell wouldn’t have been an issue if Hrefna had made the save for half damage or Swamprover had killed the last two Lurkers, especially as the reason Hrefna was down so many hit points was because of Gridik doing exactly the same thing the round before.]

[I should also point out that Swamprover’s player is my wife, so I may have some bias here.]

Ratpack

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

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

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

Last Session: Session 19 

Next Session: Session 21

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 19

[Day 40 – Hounds, Kytons, and Lurkers in the Light!]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened January 2, 2023.]

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

Player Characters

Marativy – female ratfolk 9th level Ninja

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

Roscuro – male ratfolk 9th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 9th level Wizard

Winston – male ratfolk 9th level Gunslinger

Via Roll20

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

NPCs

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

Hrefna – female changeling 7th level Omdura

Ariphi – female tiefling 7th level Rogue

Autumn

Day 40

[We apparently defeated the Hounds of Tindalos at the end of the previous session, but I took poor notes and I forgot.  Key point I remember was Gridik casting Named Bullet on his pistol, specifying “Hounds of Tindalos”, and they were both dead before he could shoot the following round.  At the same time, the creatures in the room with all the chains started trying to break out through the door Marativy had locked.]

With the Hounds of Tindalos down, Winston and Marativy moved to the door to the room of chains.  Marativy tied a rope from that doorknob to the doorknob on the door opposite it, providing extra resistance.  The rest of the Ratpack moved back to this door and held a quick discussion about whether or not to fight the chain fiends [kytons] now or later.  The chain fiends started attacking the door itself, so the group decided to fight them now rather than later.

Zitch put Protective Luck on Roscuro and cackled to extend its duration and maintain the Protective Luck on Marativy.  The chain fiends broke through the door, with Winston and Hrefna both taking attacks from animated hooked chains.  Roscuro and Marativy bodyguarded Hrefna, blocking one of the attacks.  Swamprover cast an attack spell at the chain fiends [I forget which one] and discovered they had spell resistance

Winston fired his musket at the first of the chain fiends, hitting the first chain fiend twice but taking two attacks of opportunity for firing while within melee range [they had reach].  Marativy waited until after Roscuro.  Roscuro stepped 5 feet to be adjacent to the lead chain fiend and unleashed a flurry of blows on it, hitting twice and dropping it.  Marativy turned invisible and stepped into Roscuro’s space, attacking the second chain fiend from surprise for big damage [28 of a single hit].  The remaining two chain fiends split their attacks between Marativy and Roscuro, who bodyguarded each other, causing the attacks to miss [that and the Protective Luck].

In the final round of combat, the Ratpack advanced into the room.  The chain fiends animated the hooked chains suspended from the ceiling to attack, but the Ratpack concentrated attacks and dropped both chain fiends.  Winston was seriously injured during the fight, so Templeton summoned a Bralani Azata [an elf-like chaotic good Celestial] to heal him.  While Winston was being healed, the rest of the group searched the room.  Three cloaks hanging from pegs on the wall turned out to be two Cloaks of Resistance and a set of Monk Robes.  The cloaks were portioned out to Gridik and Templeton [who had the worst saves in the party] and the robes to Roscuro.

Still feeling the door opposite to the chain fiends was a trap of some sort, the Ratpack resumed exploring the corridor.  The next door past the orrery was the singular door on the north wall.  Marativy examined the door for traps and locks and found neither.  When she attempted to open the door, she felt a great deal of resistance.  She pushed until stopped by heavy plant growth, which also blocked sight into the room beyond.  With no easy way to bypass the heavy plant growth, the Ratpack decided to move on, Marativy pulling the door closed.

The next door was on the south wall, right at the corner where the passage turned north.  At the corner, the Ratpack could see the corridor stopped after 20 feet  past the corner with a door on the east wall at the end of the corridor.  The door at the corner was made of stone, whereas all the others had been of wood.  Marativy easily picked the lock on it and opened the door.

The room beyond was circular, like the orrery, with two other doors out, each set deep into the wall so that all three doors were evenly spaced from each other.  Unlike the orrery, the walls, floor, and ceiling were of thick metal.  In the center of the room was a five-foot tall ziggurat with a lever on top.  With no monster nor obvious treasure, the Ratpack decided to close this door and check the last one in the corridor before following this path.

The last door was wooden with a very strong lock on it.  Marativy broke a set of lockpicks on it on her first try.  Ariphi offered to assist, but Marativy was determined to defeat this lock and did so on her second try, making it look easy [she rolled a natural 20 on the second skill check].  The room beyond was octagonal and brilliantly lit, each wall being a panel of light.  It was so bright that the group nearly missed several Lurkers in Light escape the room.  Zitch, all the way at the back of the line of adventurers saw them and recognized them for what they were.  He cast Glitterdust so the other adventurers could see them as well, unfortunately blinding Gridik with the dust [failed save versus the spell's blinding effect].

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[Sorry for my missing notes on the Hounds fight, I forgot how quick that part of the fight was and my notes failed to mention anything other than three rounds had gone by.  This is one of the hazards of being two months behind when typing up the session notes.]

[Oops!  While entering this session into Blogger, I noticed last session had the wrong session number.  My bad!  I fixed it.]

Ratpack

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

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

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

Last Session: Session 18

Next Session: Session 20

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 18

[Day 34 to 40 – Hrefna hears things; the Delve begins]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened December 26, 2022.]

[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 8th level Ninja

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 8th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Roscuro – male ratfolk 8th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 8th level Wizard

Winston – male ratfolk 8th level Gunslinger

Via Roll20

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 8th level Summoner (Synthesist)

NPCs

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 6th level Wizard (Invoker)

Hrefna – female changeling 7th level Omdura

Ariphi – female tiefling 7th level Rogue

Autumn

Day 34

Still waiting on Zitch to finish enchanting Marativy’s belt, the rest of the Ratpack went about their business in Kaer Maga.  Gridik used up the last of the scribing supplies he and Swamprover brought from Magnimar scribing scrolls of Spontaneous Immolation and Nondetection for Swamprover.  Swamprover fed them to her familiar, adding to the spells Snek contained [as a Familiar Adept Swamprover stores her spells in Snek].

While walking around town, Hrefna heard a hauntingly beautiful melody coming from nowhere.  Quickly casting See Invisible, Hrefna was able to catch glimpses of another fox-like humanoid.  Being the only fox-like humanoid she knew of, Hrefna gave chase to the other but lost them in the Hospice district.

Day 35

Gridik starts learning gunsmithing from Winston during the day and Ignan from Koif’a [the half-orc wizard who is a member of the Spire].  Gridik was only able to do this due to the ring of sustenance he wears, which reduces his need to sleep to two hours.

Day 38

While walking around in Downmarket, Hrefna again hears the hauntingly beautiful melody from nowhere.  Not wanting to tip off the other fox-person, Hrefna used her Silent Spell feat to cast See Invisible and then Bluff to look around without seeming to be looking around.  She has some success.  She sees others on the street can hear the music but not see the source based on their confused expressions and their looking around for the source.  Hrefna located the source, the fox-like humanoid hanging from a piece of architecture and playing a golden flute.

Hrefna acrobatically bounced up the side of the building to get even with the other fox-like being, but this drew attention and the person dexterously flipped to achieve the roof and ran off.  Hrefna pursued and caught up to the fox-like being when they stopped to wait for Hrefna.  They talked a little, but the fox-like being gave no direct answers and then took off again.  Hrefna lost them on the rooftops.

Day 39

Zitch completed his work on Marativy’s Belt of Incredible Dexterity [+6].

Day 40

The Ratpack left the Grange in Downmarket and made their way to the Therassic Spire in Cavalcade, avoiding Bis district and any of the construct sentries scattered in the other districts.

At the Spire, Marativy set to picking the lock on the front door and succeeded on her first attempt.  [Much better roll this time.]  Entering the foyer, the Ratpack found Elaneiros waiting for them.  He led them up the stairs to the left and onto the lift.

The group took the lift down, below the first floor, passing one basement level before stopping at a second basement level.  The entrance here had an adamantine gate with a very fancy lock that Elaneiros unlocked.  Once the entire group had stepped through the gate to the Restricted Library, Elaneiros re-locked the gate behind them.

The room contained many books and some locked cases.  There were two doors on the left and right walls and Elaneiros led the Ratpack to one of the doors on the left wall.  This was the secure device storage and had shelves with a small number of items on display.  Elaneiros stepped over to a blank wall and said a magic word, causing part of the wall to slide aside, revealing a sloped passage leading down.  Elaneiros explained that the passage led down to the Thassilonian Workshop with no side passages.  When the grouped returned and opened this door, Elaneiros and the others wizards of the Spire would be alerted and meet them at the gate.

The Ratpack descended the sloped passage for some time, descending quite a ways.  The passage suddenly ended, but Zitch spotted a secret door at the dead end.  Marativy checked the secret door for traps and then opened it.

The room beyond was twenty feet square with a door on the far [east] wall.  The only two things in the room were a wooden chair on the center of the west wall, just south of the secret door, and a purple blob that floated in the center of the room, pulsing slightly.

Zitch and Swamprover looked at the blob from the secret doorway, attempting to identify what it was.  Neither recognized it at all.

Zitch cast Heroism on Roscuro, Marativy, and Winston.  Roscuro then stepped into the room to see what would happen.  The blob spoke at Roscuro in a language he did not know.  Marativy identified it as Thassilonian and she translated its words to be “Please state your query”.  Roscuro shrugged and asked in Common where the shard was located.  The blob transformed into the Rune of Weakness and the effect of that rune filled the room.  Roscuro felt the magical power but was not swayed [he made his save, barely].

After a minute, the blob reset to a sphere.  Roscuro asked Marativy to swap places and ask the blob where the Chamber of the Black Menhir was located.  Once they switched, Marativy asked the question.  This time the blob changed into the Rune of Fear.  Marativy was not impressed [she made her save by a lot].

Realizing this was a waste of time, Roscuro decided they should just bypass this room.  He walked across the room and opened the door on the eastern wall.  Beyond was a corridor.  He waved the rest of the Ratpack to follow and he entered the corridor.

A short way down [we use Roll20 for the map and we are now on a different map, so I cannot get the exact distances – sorry] were two doors, facing each other.  Weeping could be heard from behind the northern door, the southern door was silent.  Marativy quietly checked both doors for traps and found both to be safe and unlocked.

After a quick set of hand gestures with Roscuro, Marativy opened the door on the south wall.  The rectangular room had three beings standing motionless at the far end, wrapped in chains.  Hanging from the ceiling was a lattice of hundreds of hooked chains.  Marativy quietly closed the door.

A quick huddle discussion and the group decided to leave these rooms alone for the moment and press on down the corridor.  Marativy locked both doors, just to be safe.  The corridor turned left but arched to the right until it became a parallel passage to the first stretch.  Ahead the Ratpack could see two doors on the southern wall at some distance from each other and a single door on the north wall.  At the far end of the corridor it made a left turn.

The first door was the closer of the two on the southern wall.  After verifying it was not trapped, Marativy opened it.  The room beyond was circular and 30-40 feet across with a large contraption in the center.  The corners where the walls met the floor and ceiling were smoothed over and rounded.  On the walls was a very realistic mural showing a view of Kaer Maga from a point somewhere above the city.  The contraption had a central pillar holding a a bright yellow orb.  Branching from the central pillar were eleven curved arms, at the end of which was an orb, each of a different color.  Adjacent to the contraption was a low pedestal and a lever.  There were two cracks in the wall, one on the eastern curve and one on the western curve.

After looking at it for a moment, Zitch recognized it as an orrery, a mechanical model of the worlds around Golarion.  The large central orb represented the sun and the other eleven orbs were the planets that orbited the sun.  Golarion was the third one out.  Zitch also realized that the orrery showed the current locations of all the planets.  Further, the “mural” was magical and seemed to show Kaer Maga as it was now.

Looking at the pedestal, it had a mechanism built into it that showed the current date in the Thassilonian calendar.  The Ratpack believed that by setting a date on the pedestal and pulling the lever, the device would change, showing the locations of the planets on that date and might even show what Kaer Maga looked like then.  [Yes, we have all watched Avatar: The Last Airbender.]  Curious to see something no one else living had, Roscuro picked a date 7000 years in the past: Earthfall.  He then pulled the lever.

The orrery started rotating in reverse, going slowly at first but gradually picking up more and more speed.  The mural on the walls showed the same viewpoint over Kaer Maga but moved backwards in time, new construction disappearing and older buildings reappearing.  The Ratpack watched with great interest…until the orrery started making groaning noises and shuddering.  Roscuro warned everyone not a monk to evacuate the room immediately.  All but Roscuro, Zitch and Winston left the room.  As the machine continued to spin out of control, eyes appeared at the cracks in the walls, bulging out, and growling could be heard.

Suddenly the contraption blew apart, sending shrapnel and globes flying out from the center of the room.  Roscuro safely evaded the flying debris [made his Reflex save and had Evasion], Winston avoided most of it [made his Reflex save for half damage], but Zitch caught the full brunt of the exploding orrery.

From out in the corridor, both ahead of the group and behind came the unearthly baying of hounds!

Zitch identified the creatures as Hounds of Tindalos, warning they were immune to mind effects, could teleport through corners, and were able to rip things apart with just a look.  Hrefna raised her healing aura and the Ratpack reorganized to face the hounds.  Templeton, able to see the earlier doors announced that the chain guys were attempting to force their way through the door and into the corridor.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[Learning Gunsmithing and Ignan was part of Gridik leveling up (spent skill points on Gunsmithing and Linguistics).]

[I’ve played Call of Cthulhu, so I knew what Hounds of Tindalos are and what kind of trouble they would cause us.  I also recognized the chain devils from their description as there were a favorite monster to put in the higher level modules in the Bandit Kingdoms for Living Greyhawk, which I played in and wrote some of the lower level modules for.  I do my best to not bring in knowledge my character would not have, but I was not looking forward to this fight.]

Ratpack

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

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

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

Last Session: Session 17 

Next Session: Session 19

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 17

[Day 27 to 33 – The Elf Job, Part 2: The Job is done and information is brokered]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened December 12, 2022.]

[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 8th level Ninja

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 8th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Roscuro – male ratfolk 8th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 8th level Wizard

Winston – male ratfolk 8th level Gunslinger

Via Roll20

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 8th level Summoner (Synthesist)

NPCs

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 6th level Wizard (Invoker)

Hrefna – female changeling 7th level Omdura

Ariphi – female tiefling 7th level Rogue

Autumn

Day 27 (concludes)

Late Afternoon

Marativy went out into the streets of Kaer Maga to return two of the three scrolls she stole from the Augur Temple [the scroll of Raise Dead and the scroll showing the Ritual of Controlling Devine Gifts] by slipping them into the haversacks of two trolls.  For an extra layer of protection, she was disguised as a male halfling [boosted by her Hat of Disguise].

The first attempt went smoothly, with Marativy inserting the scroll without being noticed.  Unfortunately, just as Marativy was inserting the second scroll into the haversack of another troll, the troll reached into the haversack for something and instead found Marativy’s arm!  Being surprised the troll dropped Marativy and turned to see what it had put its hand on.  Marativy immediately turned invisible and ran away.

Once back at the Grange with the rest of the Ratpack, Marativy simply reported returning the scrolls, leaving out the part about almost being caught.

Day 28

Hrefna started the morning by casting Commune and asking questions.

1. Is the Shard of Gluttony in the Abbey of the Glutton Moon?: No
2. Is the Doomsday door mentioned in the prophecy in Abbey of the Glutton Moon?: No
3. Is the Queen of Blue on this plane?: Yes
4. Is the Queen of Blue the former ruler of Thassilon?: No
5. Do we have the prophecy Elaneiros wants?: Yes
6. Should we give the prophecy to Elaneiros?: Unclear
7. Is the Shard of Gluttony in the old Thassilonian Workshop?: Not Exactly

The Ratpack found the answers interesting and encouraging enough that they decided to take the prophecy to Elaneiros.

9:00 AM

At the door to the Therassic Spire, Marativy had trouble picking the lock for the first time ever.  Taking her time on her second attempt, she noticed how much more complicated the lock was.  Apparently, the Spire wizards had upped their security significantly since the group's last visit.  Roscuro told Marativy to take her time.  On her third attempt, the lock opened of its own volition.  Marativy reported simply, “It’s open now,” and put away her tools.

In the ground floor vestibule, Zitch asked if anyone had looked for secret doors?  The group now knew that the Thassilonian Workshop was under the Spire and there was a way to access it from the Spire.  This suggested a hidden accessway somewhere on the ground floor.  The adventurers took some time to search the vestibule and the two attached study rooms.  They located a secret door behind a bookcase in one of the study rooms.  Not wanting to delay meeting with Elaneiros any further, the adventurers made note of the secret door and then climbed the stairs to the lift.

The Ratpack took the lift to the top floor of the Spire and entered the library there.  Zitch and Gridik both had See Invisible running and noticed two legion archons hovering and on guard.  Elaneiros was sitting with some of the other members of the Spire in the comfy seating area of the library, apparently waiting for the Ratpack to arrive.

Roscuro presented the scroll of prophecy to Elaneiros, who inspected it.  He found the seal still intact [thanks to Marativy's masterful reattachment] and agreed to share the information he had on the shard the Ratpack sought.

Elaneiros stated that the wizards of the Spire had recently been contacted by the Caulborn, non-humans who predated the Thassilonians, some of whom live in the Undercity and  act as information brokers.  The Caulborn offered information about the location of the Shard of Gluttony.  In the Thassilonian Workshop, which once belonged to Karzoug, was an entrance to another dimension.  The shard resides in that dimension.

The Spire sent a group of adventurers down to collect the shard but had not heard from them in some time.  Elaneiros was willing to send the Ratpack down to meet with the Caulborn so the Ratpack can retrieve the shard as part of their deal for the prophecy.  He also offered to pay for the return of the previous group, dead or alive, and any items of scholarly interest the Ratpack brought back to the surface.

Roscuro looked to the other members of the Ratpack to see if they were willing to proceed.  They all nodded assent.  Roscuro spoke for the group and agreed to the terms, but added they needed some time to finish preparing for the expedition [notably for Zitch to finish crafting a magic belt for Marativy].  Elaneiros agreed a week’s time would be acceptable.  He and Roscuro shook hands.

Elaneiros explained that the Caulborn had stated they would meet representatives of the Spire in the Chamber of the Black Menhir, beyond the River of Memory.  There the Caulborn would transport the group to the Dark Forest to retrieve the shard.  He also provided the names and descriptions of the other adventurers: Hassari, a human female monk; Perotus, a male halfling rogue; Luonim the Vast, a male gnome Bloat Mage; and Selasny, a female dark naga fighter.

Days 29 to 33

Elaneiros opened up [some of] the resources of the Spire to help prepare.  Gridik, Swamprover, and Zitch were allowed to copy many spells from the Spire’s library.  Zitch also took the time to finish working on Marativy’s Belt of Dexterity [+6].  Gridik had time to craft a Headband of Vast Intelligence [+2] for himself while the group was waiting on Zitch, Roscuro helping with the funding for supplies.  Roscuro acquired a Headband of Inspired Wisdom [+2] from the Spire for free.  Winston spent the time crafting special ammunition for himself and gave Gridik pointers on how to best use the pistol the kobold was carrying around [see Rat Whispers, below].

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[Gridik had enough experience to level at this point and reached 7th level.  He picked up Named Bullet and Dragon’s Breath in his spellbook as part of leveling, but also received Invisibility Sphere, Haste, Water Breathing, Magic Mouth, Shatter, Keen Edge, and Gaseous Form from the Spire library.  Copying over the spells took a little over 2 days to accomplish and it took him another 2 days to craft the Headband.  As a feat he took Exotic Weapon Proficiency and selected Gunpowder Weapons, reflected as the pointers that Winston offered and practice he did with his pistol.]

[The Other GM also decided to switch us over to a Milestone Method of awarding experience.  The Adventure Path made assumptions about what the party would get involved with and what level they should be entering the dungeon and when we exited it.  Rather than sweat the math and add a bunch of extra encounters to substitute for things we didn’t do (some of which were pretty dumb), he would just bump us in level where appropriate.  As a result, he leveled all the main characters to 9th level.]

[He also mandated that I needed to actually take Leadership and make Gridik a cohort or give up direct control of him as an NPC.  Making Gridik a cohort was always in the plan, so I did that.  Winston’s player also had to decide which character he was going to run as his character.  He chose Winston, but also took Leadership to make Hrefna his cohort.  This kept Hrefna as part of the party (something all the players wanted), even if it did stifle her leveling up.  Winston will need to do some things over the next while to up his Leadership score so he can legally have Hrefna as a cohort as his Charisma and reputation are low (due to being captured by Leroux).]

Ratpack

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

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

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

Last Session: Session 16

Next Session: Session 18 [Not yet typed up]

EDIT: Corrected date to when this actually session happened.