[Days 44 and 45 – Some interrupted rest, back to the Black Keep, and alien undead!?]
[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened April 24, 2023.]
[SPOILERS! If you are likely to adventure through the Shattered Star Adventure Path from Paizo, this campaign will be spoilers all the way down.]
Player Characters
Marativy – female ratfolk 9th level Ninja
Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 9th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar
Roscuro – male ratfolk 9th level Monk
Swamprover – female grippli 9th level Wizard
Winston – male ratfolk 9th level Gunslinger
Via Roll20
Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 9th level Summoner (Synthesist)
NPCs
Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 7th level Wizard (Invoker)
Hrefna – female changeling 7th level Omdura
Ariphi – female tiefling 7th level Rogue
Fish – male grodaire, actual name is Hummlgau
Autumn
Day 44 concludes
The Ratpack was holed up in a small cave at the rim of the Dark Forest pocket dimension. Before people started going to sleep, Hrefna cast Commune and got the following answers:
- Is the Dark Rider in the Keep? Yes
- Is the Dark Rider searching tonight? Not exactly.
- Is the shard the Ratpack seeks in the Black Keep? Yes
- Is the Dark Rider able to leave the Keep? Yes
- Does the menhir connect to 10 or more locations? Yes
- Has the Dark Rider marked Roscuro? Yes
- Will the Dark Rider hunt Roscuro tonight? No
Assured that at least the Dark Rider would not pursue them while they slept, most of the Ratpack curled up and did their best to sleep inside the comfortable area of the Tiny Hut spell Gridik had cast. As a final bit of security, Gridik cast Alarm across the cave entrance, set to make audible noise if something not part of the Ratpack attempted to enter the cave.
An Hour and 20 minutes later
Ariphi and Winston were on watch, sitting at the cave entrance, when some form of floating undead started to approach the cave. Its skin was flayed from the front, exposing its ribcage, which contained a ghostly light. Winston took a shot at it but failed to damage it at all [it had DR]. In response, the thing summoned four skeletons, two of which appeared within the area of Gridik’s Alarm spell, triggering it. The noise of the Alarm spell woke everyone but Hrefna, who slept through the resulting fight.
Swamprover identified the thing as a Devourer, an undead with high spell resistance, a vampiric touch, spell deflection, and a Devour Soul power. Warned, the Ratpack worked hard to take the thing down. The fight was relatively short but costly – Hrefna was diminished [lost a level] when the thing touched her and drained away part of her soul. Luckily, she was the only one it hit.
Investigating its surprisingly physical remains, the Ratpack found a Rod of Thunderous Force lodged in the thing’s ribcage. The rod was stashed away in Marativy’s Box of Holding for later use or sale.
The Ratpack settled back into the cave to resume resting.
About 40 minutes after that
Templeton, Gridik, Swamprover, and Zitch finish resting [they all have Rings of Sustenance]. They immediately started doing the things they need to regain their spells: Gridik studied his spellbooks, Swamprover and Zitch conversed with their familiars, and Templeton ate breakfast [summoners are spontaneous casters and just need the rest]. This took an hour.
[The Other GM cut us a break here. Strict rules as written, the fight with the Devourer interrupted everyone’s rest (except Hrefna's) and the casters should have needed to sleep another two hours before relearning their spells and everyone else another 8 hours.]
Once the casters were ready, Winston and Ariphi went to sleep with Templeton, Gridik, Swamprover, and Zitch on watch.
5 hours later
Roscuro and Marativy woke up and went on watch after a small breakfast. Roscuro missed Mel’s excellent hot breakfasts.
3 hours later [Day 45 for all intents and purposes]
Ariphi and Winston finished their rest and ate some breakfast. With the entire team rested and mostly recharged, the Ratpack discussed tactics while walking back to the Black Keep.
An hour later
When they reached to edge of the clearing around the Black Keep, Zitch put his Ward on Marativy and Hrefna cast Keen Edge on her wakizashi. Zitch had multiple castings of Remove Fear ready and Pearls of Power to restore them if additional castings were necessary. Zitch cast Heroism on Marativy, Roscuro, and Winston while Hrefna placed Bless on the rest of the group [Heroism and Bless both provide Morale Bonuses, which do not stack].
Ready as they would ever be, the Ratpack quickly moved across the clearing to the north side of the Keep, entering through the stables. Roscuro and Marativy stepped to the door to the ballroom and peered in.
The floor was covered with a low layer of black mist. Leaning against a doorway on the far side of the raised area was a unique being. Roscuro whispered a description and Zitch recalled reading about the Bonesages of Eox – undead wizards from another world a world they destroyed achieving their form of immortality. They were so rare that was all he knew.
Roscuro whispered to Zitch to cast Remove Fear on the Ratpack. Once the group was [mostly covered], Roscuro lead the group out into the ballroom, making a line towards the double doors at the back of the raised area at the end of the ballroom. The bonesage closed a book it was reading and greeted the group, asking that they follow him into his study to converse. Roscuro politely declined, stating they had business with the lord of the keep. The bonesage stated he was not allowed to let the group proceed…and cast Wall of Iron across the stairs leading up to the double doors. He then turned and went into his study, pointedly leaving the door open.
Somewhat nonplussed, Roscuro walked over to the doorway and started talking with the bonesage, trying to buy some time while the others worked on getting past the Wall of Iron. Swamprover, fascinated by the bonesage, walked into its study to participate in the conversation.
Marativy checked a side room and discovered it was occupied by a nuckelavee, a monster that appeared to be a skinned horse with a skinned, female rider sprouting from its back. She quietly closed the door before it noticed. Gridik approached the Wall of Iron and cast Dispel Magic at the wall and put all his might into it. The wall seemed to quaver a bit before becoming fixed again. [Gridik rolled very well on his dispel check, missing his target number by 1. Working the math, this meant that the bonesage was a 15th level caster and not to be trifled with.]
End of Session
Rat Whispers
[Short session notes-wise. The fight against the Devourer only went a couple rounds but it took time to get through and then we talked strategy for a while. We had a plan on facing the Dark Rider again and to win this time, a plan that was derailed by the bonesage and his Wall of Iron. Sigh.]
[So important thing to know about Bonesages of Eox – they are tall, have enlarged craniums, and no lips. To me they look like undead Martians from Mars Attacks. The Other GM says they look like an undead Mastermind from the movie of the same name. I prefer the Martian analogy and refer to him as Mr. Ak-Ak-Ak (the sound the Martians made in the movie). Your mileage may vary.]
Ratpack
Book 1: Shards of Sin Landing Page – Links to all Book 1 sessions
Book 2: Curse of the Lady’s Light Landing Page – Links to all Book 2 sessions
Book 3: The Asylum Stone Landing Page – Links to all Book 3 sessions
Last Session: Session 31
Next Session: Session 33
[Updated to correct source of Gridik's Dispel Magic, he had it memorized and did not need to pull it out of his ring.]
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