[Day 5 and Morning Day 6 – Ambushes]
[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E role-playing game. Game sessions happen once a week. These sessions happened April 15 and April 22, 2024, respectively.]
[SPOILERS! If you are likely to adventure through the Shattered Star Adventure Path from Paizo, this campaign will be spoilers all the way down.]
Player Characters
Marativy – female ratfolk 10th level Ninja
Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 10th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar
Roscuro – male ratfolk 10th level Monk
Swamprover – female grippli 10th level Wizard
Winston – male ratfolk 10th level Gunslinger
Via Roll20
Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 10th level Summoner (Synthesist)
NPCs
Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 8th level Wizard (Invoker)
Hrefna – female bugbear 8th level Omdura
Ariphi – female tiefling 8th level Rogue
Day 6, Continued
[Get comfortable, Day 6 lasts until Session 10]
Shortly After Noon
With Hrefna now back amongst the living as a bugbear [somewhat ironically, considering the name of this blog], the Ratpack returned to the dangerous game of ambushing patrols of giants. For this ambush they set up east of the Abbey and the ruins of its’ village. The patrol being ambushed consisted of 3 hill giants and 4 ettins.
As the patrols walked into the ambush area, Marativy waited [note: Shadow Clones was already active]. Winston activated Mage Bullet and fired at the first giant three times, killing the giant. Roscuro advanced to a point adjacent to the first ettin and the second giant, easily avoiding three attacks of opportunity against him, and struck the first ettin. This set up the ettin for Marativy [due to both having Swarm and Outflank feats], who advanced and sneak attacked the ettin twice as hard at Roscuro and causing it to bleed. Hrefna cast Stunning Barrier on herself, advanced on the first ettin, and targeted the second ettin with Divine Might. Ariphi moved north to get closer to the patrol and flung a dagger at the first ettin, killing the ettin. The rearmost ettin advanced on Roscuro to attack, missing the ratfolk monk. Zitch advanced 20 feet, close enough to place Protective Luck on Roscuro. Gridik moved to the right to get a better angle and cast Lightning Bolt, hitting the remaining three ettins. Swamprover cast Lightning Arc on the back two ettins, catching the second ettin in the arc, damaging all three. The second ettin walked around the last ettin to attack Hrefna, hitting but getting stunned by Hrefna’s Stunning Barrier [the ettin failed its save]. The hindmost giant threw a boulder at Gridik, critically hitting the poor kobold wizard, and then advanced into the melee. The third ettin threw a javelin at Roscuro, who caught it and threw it back at the ettin, hitting the ettin. The middle giant attacked Marativy, hitting her once and taking out a shadow clone.
Winston split his fire, shooting and killing the third ettin and then killing the rearmost ettin. Roscuro performed a flurry of blows against the second giant, hitting the giant four times. Marativy followed up Roscuro’s attack on the giant, hitting the giant three times and killing it. Hrefna waited for Ariphi to go. Ariphi threw a dagger at the second ettin, killing it, and then another dagger at the hindmost giant, critically hitting it. With the second ettin out of the way, Hrefna now advanced on the hindmost giant and struck it. Zitch placed Protective Luck on Hrefna and cackled. Gridik cast Magic Missile at the hindmost [and only remaining] giant, hitting with five missiles. Swamprover cast Acid Arrow at the giant [my notes do not indicate whether or not she hit]. The hindmost giant attacked Hrefna, hitting with a solid blow.
Winston concentrated three shots into the giant. Roscuro 5-foot stepped to the giant and released a rather sloppy flurry of attacks, only hitting twice. Marativy followed Roscuro and hit twice, ending the last giant.
With the fight now over, Hrefna activated her Healing invocation, providing Rapid Healing for the Ratpack for one minute [10 rounds]. After that, only Gridik and Hrefna needed more healing. Zitch cast Cure Light Wounds on each of them to bring both back to full health.
The group looted the bodies of the patrol, discovering that this patrol had been looting as well. The group found a variety of art objects, gems, and jewelry that Gridik estimated as worth 3500gp in total. There was also a sack containing a variety of 10 masterwork weapons.
The Ratpack then piled up the bodies and set them on fire [again, suspecting the enemy had a necromancer amongst them]. They then left the area, circling to the north and doing their best to hide their tracks.
After an hour or so, the Ratpack stumbled across the remains of the attacked caravan spotted by Templeton the previous day. The Ratpack took the time to search the caravan for hidden compartments as the caravan was otherwise thoroughly looted. [Perhaps by the patrol recently ambushed?] There were no hidden compartments, but there was sign that the raiding giants had camped adjacent to the attack site. Winston scouted around and found signs that the campsite was abandoned rapidly with the giants heading to the east, away from the abbey. Scouting out a little farther, Winston also found the tracks of some non-giant humanoids, also heading off to the east.
After a quick discussion, the Ratpack followed the tracks east to a nearby forest. The tracks went into the forest and the Ratpack continued following them. Just inside the trees they found a dead ettin, slashed by bladed weapons. A little further on Winston found where the smaller tracks diverged, apparently losing the giant pursuers who continued deeper into the forest. The Ratpack followed the smaller tracks, which gradually curved back towards the plains surrounding the abbey.
Back in the rolling hills the Ratpack found a low hill with a concealed entrance on the side away from the abbey. Marativy stealthed up to it and checked to see if it was trapped – it was. Gridik cast Detect Magic and found there was both an Alarm spell on the door and a Glitterdust trap. Marativy took some time to disable both traps and signaled the All Clear.
Roscuro walked up and called out at the door, “Knock, knock!”
After a bit, a human opened the door, sword at the ready. Roscuro explained that the Ratpack was here as a job for the Temple of Desna to liberate Windsong Abbey. Roscuro further explained that the group had followed the human’s tracks from where he ambushed the giant patrol and were big fans of his work. The somewhat non-plussed human invited the group in.
End of Session 08
Day 6, Continued
3:30 PM
Behind the door was a dug out area, about the size of a large root cellar. It held most of the Ratpack and their host.
Their host identified themselves as Kaervek. He explained he was traveling with Casamir Azmeren, the last priest of Desna in Windsong Abbey, and his daughter, Koriah. They heard that the abbey was under attack and made their way here with others. Their caravan was attacked by hill giants and ettins. Kaervek and Koriah were separated from Casamir during the attack. Casamir made it into the abbey and was now sealed up inside the lighthouse. Koriah later attempted to break into the abbey and was petrified by a medusa.
Roscuro interrupted the story to ask Zitch what he knew about medusas. Zitch related that they had no special defenses nor weaknesses. They can petrify foes with a visual attack: when you see their eyes you are petrified. Finally, their snake hair is venomous.
The Ratpack next learned that the person leading the attack on the Abbey was Ardathanatus, an elf who was once a priest of Pharasma at Windsong Abbey. He went mad 106 years ago and killed many clergy at the abbey before fleeing. [In hindsight, this may be when he discovered the Shard of Gluttony, it depends upon what the shard’s curse actually is.]
The Ratpack discussed options on how to approach the abbey and gain access to it. They learned that there was a large stained glass window part way up the cliffside behind the abbey.
[This is when the players learned that the land the abbey was on was tilted and the edge behind the abbey was nearly 100 feet above the surface of the water. This radically changed our understanding of the layout and was not really apparent from the small map provided with the adventure.]
Zitch cast Arcane Eye to attempt communication with Casamir. Zitch scouted the lighthouse [the tower in the abbey’s courtyard]. The top floor contained the light, had transparent walls, and Zitch located Casamir there. Zitch cast Message through the Arcane Eye and asked Casamir four question: Is he barricaded in or locked in? When we rescue, is he willing to go? What take with? If not ready to go, why not? [Message only lets you speak a maximum of 25 words.] His response was “Barricaded. Yes. My books. I’m ready to go.”
Having ambushed several giant patrols, Winston, Zitch, and Roscuro exited the root cellar and climbed a nearby hill to spy on the abbey village to see if anything had changed. The giants and ettins seemed agitated and one giant in metal armor was moving amongst them, apparently trying restore some order.
While discovering this, Winston, Zitch, and Roscuro were ambushed. Each was attacked and wounded once by invisible attackers that appeared after the attacks: three redcaps!
Winston stepped back 5 feet and shot the third redcap 3 times to little effect [redcaps have DR] and a misfire, which he cleared. That redcap attacked Roscuro, hitting him once. Roscuro focused his ki on defense, took a 5-foot step to a better position, and unleashed a flurry of blows on the redcap, hitting four times and bloodying the fae. [As long as Roscuro has ki in his ki pool, his fists count as magical, silver, and cold iron, the latter allowing Roscuro to bypass the redcap’s DR.] The first redcap attacked Zitch, hitting once. Zitch stepped 5 feet to Winston and cast a Major Curse on the first redcap [basically -4 to all rolls for that redcap]. The second redcap attacked Roscuro, missing twice. Back inside the root cellar, the rest of the party [except Hrefna] heard the sound of gunfire outside.
Winston took another 5-foot step, reloaded his musket with cold iron, and rapid fired at the third redcap, hitting three times and killing it. Marativy focused her ki on moving and bolted out of the root cellar, closing the distance to where the fight was happening. Roscuro continued maintaining his ki on defense and threw a flurry of blows at the second redcap to minimal effect. Swamprover stepped out of the root cellar and cast Magic Missile at the second redcap. The first redcap advanced on Winston and hit Winston with its scythe. Ariphi exited the root cellar and threw a dagger at the first redcap for limited damage. Zitch placed Protective Luck on Winston, stepped 5 feet away from the redcaps, and cackled to maintain the Protective Luck. The second redcap attacked Roscuro again, missing two times. Templeton flew out of the root cellar, landing next to Roscuro. Gridik stepped out of the root cellar and cast Magic Missile at the second redcap, killing it.
Winston stepped back 5 feet from the last redcap and rapid fired at it, hitting three times before reloading. Marativy moved to flank the last redcap and hit it with critically precise damage, killing it despite its resistance to normal weapons.
Eventually Hrefna arrived and Roscuro asked for her Healing invocation. Over the next minute, this healed Roscuro and Winston completely. Zitch placed his Ward on Roscuro, something he realized he should have done earlier.
End of Session 07
Rat Whispers
[I really wish I had written down the exact content of each patrol at the beginning of each combat. As it is, I have to read through the battle to get the total. I have the Other GM tell me the number attached to each monster in a group (for example, Giant1, Giant2, etc.) as they go in the initiative order. In most cases we can see all of our opponents, so no information is given away as a result and it allows everyone, including the Other GM to track and reference the monsters.]
Ratpack
Book 1: Shards of Sin Landing Page – Links to all Book 1 sessions
Book 2: Curse of the Lady’s Light Landing Page – Links to all Book 2 sessions
Book 3: The Asylum Stone Landing Page – Links to all Book 3 sessions
Book 4: Beyond the Doomsday Door – Links to all Book 4 sessions
Last Sessions: Book 4, Sessions 6-7
Next Sessions: [Sessions 10 and 11 – to be typed]
