Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 37

[Day 45 – Conclusions]

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

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)

Marativy – female ratfolk 9th level Ninja

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 45 concludes

“Oh!  Hello my friends,” Malaghast greeted the Ratpack from behind the statue of the Dark Rider in the final room of the Black Keep.  Many in the Ratpack were not really motivated to attack Malaghast.  He’d been polite and had helped the group, within the bounds of his compulsions.  Roscuro started asking questions of Malaghast, trying to find a non-combat way around getting the shard.

Malaghast did not have the shard on him, but he allowed that he was standing in front of its hiding place.  Unfortunately, he was bound by magical contract to defend both the shard and the obelisk.  After a fruitless discussion about loopholes and possible work-arounds, the final option seemed to be to break the contract.  Unfortunately, Malaghast did not have a copy of the contract, which made it very difficult for him to work out how to circumvent it.

Roscuro did not believe for a second that the Runelord of Greed nor the Dark Rider did not keep a copy somewhere nearby, so the group asked about places Malaghast was prohibited from going, thinking that would be a likely place to keep a copy of the contract.  The only place Malaghast was prohibited from entering was the vault with the obelisk.  Zitch, Swamprover, and Marativy went to investigate the obelisk more closely now that time was not critical.  They found that the obelisk was covered in Infernal runes, which none of them could read.  They returned and reported this.  Templeton stated he could cast Comprehend Languages to translate it, so he went and did so.  The resulting text was a cypher with no immediate meaning.  Swamprover, Winston, and Hrefna worked together to solve the cypher.  

An Hour Later 

Swamprover, Winston, and Hrefna announced that they had solved the cypher and the runes were, in fact, the contract.  Further, additional scrutiny showed that the contract was magically distinct from the obelisk’s function of anchoring the pocket dimension, so the contract could be physically or magically broken without causing the pocket dimension to collapse.

With this knowledge, Roscuro returned to Malaghast to confirm that they actually had a deal – the Ratpack would nullify the contract and in return Malaghast would turn over the shard.  Malaghast asked how they were going to nullify the contract and Roscuro explained they would chisel off the runes from the obelisk until the contract was unstable and broke.  This clearly concerned Malaghast as he suggested using a magical method of nullifying the magic instead of a physical one that might also break the obelisk and wipe out the pocket dimension.  Roscuro stated he was open to suggestions on how to do so.  Malaghast said he had stored away an item that would help, but it was with other valuable items he was not willing to lose.  Roscuro recognized that Malaghast had some magic items stashed in a hidden spot and did not want to get robbed by telling the Ratpack where they were but one of the items would definitely do the job without accidentally breaking things.

The Ratpack discussed this.  Hrefna did some quick alignment checks on Malaghast, working out the bonesage was both Evil and Lawful.  Roscuro [Lawful Neutral] and Malaghast worked out the specific terms of a deal where Roscuro would go fetch the item [a scroll] with Swamprover [to find the correct scroll] without taking anything else in the hidden bookshelf.  Both agreed to the final terms and Malaghast told them where a scroll of Mage’s Disruption [a 9th level spell that would dispel any magic it targeted] was hidden away along with some other scrolls.

Roscuro and Swamprover went and retrieved the scroll, leaving the rest of the scrolls and some other magic items in the hidden set of bookshelves.  Swamprover took the scroll to the vault and cast Mage’s Disruption from the scroll successfully, nullifying the magical contract.

Back in the statue room, Malaghast opened a secret compartment in the statue and withdrew a tuning fork.  He then stepped away from the statue, stating that there was a second compartment with the shard in it.  He knew the Ratpack had secured several of the shards already and wished to observe their methodology.

Zitch started looking for traps around the statue, finding one, and then on the statue, finding the second compartment, which was also trapped.  Marativy disabled the traps and opened the compartment.  Inside was a small, locked, jewelry box.  Marativy disabled a trap inside the compartment and then told Roscuro it was safe to pick up.  Roscuro examined the box’s opening mechanism for traps and found none, so he opened it.  Inside was the Shard of Gluttony.  

Roscuro pulled out the Ioun Stone the Pathfinder’s had given the group to disable the curse on the shard and inserted it into the open slot on the shard.  Once the stone had merged with the shard, Roscuro picked up the shard, avoiding a gas trap hidden under the shard, and concentrated on the shard to find the location for the next one.

Roscuro received a vision of a coastline with a large, white lighthouse.  The light emanating from the lighthouse was rainbow hued.  There were buildings around the lighthouse, some destroyed, some repaired and in good condition.  Roscuro said nothing about what he saw.

Roscuro stashed the shard and the jewelry box and a belt pouch and announced he was satisfied that Malaghast had met the terms of their deal.  Malaghast went back to his study and started packing up the things he wished to leave with.  The Ratpack identified the Skin Harp hanging on the wall in the statue room and put it into the loot sack for resale later.  They then went over to the library next to Malaghast’s study and started packing it away for resale in Kaer Maga.  While doing so, they located a Manual of Bodily Health [+1] hidden away on one of the shelves.

Once both groups were packed, Roscuro asked if there was an item in the Keep that would allow the group to steer where the menhir would take them.  Malaghast said there was not, only the Caulborn could control the menhirs.  He did allow that the tuning fork he had taken was keyed to the Prime Material Plane and he was willing to transport the Ratpack there, but they would be limited to just their carried possessions.  The 650 pounds of adamantine they had carved off the roof of the vault was too heavy to be moved by the spell.

After some extensive discussion [the adventurers did NOT want to leave behind the adamantium], the Ratpack accepted his offer.  Guaranteed transport to their home plane was better than a roll of the dice with the menhir.  Zitch went and reclaimed his mirror, which dumped the body of the Dark Rider onto the floor as the Mirror Hideaway spell was broken.  He observed that the body was clearly healing again.

Malaghast cast his spell and everyone appeared in a grassy plain.  The sudden sunlight after two days in the Dark Forest’s perpetual twilight was blinding at first, but their eyes quickly adjusted.  Templeton flew Winston up into the air to look around and try to get an idea where they were.  The grassy plain was between two rivers, with a road to the south and a town southeast of their position.  Far to the south was a forest.

Winston worked out that the town was likely Ravenmoor and the forest  the Churlwood, placing them nearly 300 miles west of Kaer Maga, but only a hundred or so miles east of Riddleport.  Roscuro thanked Malaghast for transporting the group back and the bonesage teleported away.

Once certain Malaghast was gone, Roscuro told the Ratpack what he had seen for the location of the next shard.  Several of the adventurers immediately recognized the lighthouse as Windsong Abbey, 150 to 200 miles southwest of their current location.

The Ratpack discussed their options.  They wanted to get back to Kaer Maga to report back to the wizards of the Therassic Spire [and get paid for retrieving the body of the naga, Selasny].  They also wanted to have Gridik and Ariphi raised as soon as possible.  The direct route to Kaer Maga would take them through the Sanos Forest, full of fae, and the Ashwood, full of ghosts and werewolves.  Not inviting.

The group instead decided to walk to Riddleport, get their companions raised, and then see what travel options they had there.  They would also need to decide if they wanted to get the next shard at Windsong Abbey first and then go to Kaer Maga or vice versa, but that discussion could wait.

The Ratpack headed towards the road to their south as it led to Riddleport.  

Late Afternoon

Having arrived at the road, the tired adventurers located a good place to camp.  Zitch cast Secure Shelter so they could safely sleep.  [Also so the group could level up.]

End of Session

End of Book 3

Rat Whispers

[Surprise!  The Other GM and Marativy were able to attend remotely and we wrapped up Book 3 of the adventure path.  We rushed a little so we could wrap things up in a single session and not draw it out.  This frustrated some of the players, particularly Swamprover’s player who wanted to interact with Malaghast more, but we were on a schedule.]

[Now that Book 3 is complete, we are putting that campaign on hold for a while to allow the new parents time to adjust to having a newborn.  Clone GM 1 will run a single adventure for D&D 5E for somewhere between 2 and 4 sessions.  We had a character-building session on June 5, but didn’t have enough of the books so we were continually passing what books we had back and forth, making the process much longer.  That has now been fixed.  All players are supposed to have complete characters by next Monday (June 19) so we can do character background links and start play.  That will be the first session I document for that adventure.]

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 36

Book Complete

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 36

[Day 45 – Mopping Up]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened May 29, 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 45 continues

Marativy and Roscuro were both holding grudges against the Dark Rider and continued hitting it, even though it was inert.  They were encouraged in this by the obelisk continually trying to heal up the Dark Rider, even though he was dead-dead.  Roscuro picked up the Rider’s hand axe and used that to chop off parts to foil the regeneration.  Marativy claimed the bone flail.  Between hits, Swamprover started removing the Rider’s armor.

Winston and Zitch searched the room the fight took place in.  They each located a secret door, one on the north wall, the other on the south wall.  They both checked for traps, both announcing the secret door they were investigating was trapped.  Marativy swapped out with Hrefna on abusing the body of the Rider so Marativy could disable the traps.  Investigating the south secret door first, she determined the trap triggers a Dismissal spell, sending anyone triggering it back to their home plane [80% of the time, otherwise to a random plane].  Marativy then disabled the trap.  The north door was the same kind of trap and she disabled it as well.  She then returned to periodically slashing the Rider’s body.

With the doors cleared of traps, Templeton opened the south secret door.  Doing so filled the room with a humming sound.  The room was full of biomechanical machinery that seemed to be tied into the obelisk.  Zitch looked it over.  He announced he was not certain if breaking this equipment would break the anchoring effect of the obelisk on the pocket dimension or the regeneration effect the obelisk had on the Rider or both.

Starting to get bored with periodically attacking the body of the Rider, Roscuro kicked it down the stairs and into the next room, to see if the regeneration effect was limited to that room.  The regeneration effect continued, suggesting that as long as the body was in the pocket dimension, it would regenerate.  Swamprover resumed removing the Rider’s armor, now in the eating hall [where the PCs fought and killed the shadow mastiffs a couple sessions back].

Templeton next checked the north secret door and found more biomechanical machinery.  This machinery included the body of the naga Selasny.  The wizards of the Therassic Spire would still pay a bounty for the retrieval of her body.  The Ratpack discussed how much they might need to bring back to claim the bounty.  They decided that all of it was probably the correct answer.  Roscuro pulled out the remaining two body bags of holding.  Gridik and Ariphi were wrapped up and placed in one of the body bags and Selasny was placed into the other.  Swamprover finished stripping the armor off the Rider’s corpse and cast Detect Magic.  The Rider’s armor [plate +2], hand axe [+2] and spine flail [+2 with additional powers when wielded by a dulahand like the Rider] were all magical.  Zitch identified the specific magics and the armor was put in the loot bag.

There was a discussion about what might happen if they plugged the body of the Dark Rider into the machinery.  The Ratpack decided they did not have enough information or even the proper know-how to do it, so they didn’t.  Those members of the Ratpack not involved with doing things to the Rider’s corpse resumed searching the rooms.

Templeton suggested that maybe putting the Rider’s corpse into a bag of holding might stop the regeneration as the interior was its own pocket dimension.  Roscuro was concerned about what would happen if that did not work, not wanting to have to fight the Rider a second time and they could not see the results of placing the corpse in the bag until possibly too late.  Zitch offered a test: he would cast Mirror Hideaway and they could move the body into that and go in and check it, unlike a bag of holding.  This sounded good, so Roscuro told Zitch to do it.

Zitch pulled out a mirror [I believe he carries one specifically for this spell] and set it up.  He then cast the spell.  Marativy and Roscuro moved the body into the now enchanted mirror and observed that the regeneration had stopped.  They decided to leave the body there as the spell would last 9 hours, providing plenty of time to finish searching the keep for the shard and any other loot.

With the Rider’s body stored and no longer regenerating, the Ratpack searched the eating hall.  There was a viewing area with large windows in the southeast corner.  Instead of outside the keep, the windows showed a barren landscape with the ruins of an ancient city and a black sky, despite there being daylight.  The Ratpack theorized that the view was of Eox, where Malaghast the bonesage was from.  It matched the description of the world the bonesage’s were supposed to be from.  Roscuro investigated trying to exit the keep through the windows [thinking maybe the shard was on Eox], but he could not reach past the window frame.  There was the possibility it was just an image and not a passage to another world.  With two other doors to search in the eating hall, Roscuro let it go for later.

The Ratpack opened the door on the south wall.  The room beyond was a large bath set into the floor that took up almost the entire 20- by 30-foot room.  The water in the bath was black and opaque.  Zitch cast Detect Magic and noted there was something in the bath that radiated moderate conjuring magic.  No one wanted to step into water they could not see through, so Hrefna grabbed a chair from the eating room and dipped it into the water to test the depth.  The near end had steps under the water’s surface.  Hrefna went around to the side of the bath and kept testing the depth.  At the end of the steps the water was deeper that the chair was tall with Hrefna holding onto the very top of the chair.

That’s when the monsters attacked!

Four skeletal things with long, whip-like tongues rose out of the water, surprising the Ratpack, and attacked Hrefna.  One hit Hrefna with its tongue and paralyzed her.

Winston immediately rapid-fired his musket, destroying the thing that paralyzed Hrefna.  Roscuro grabbed Hrefna and hauled her out of the bath and back into the eating room with the rest of the Ratpack, moving past Marativy in the doorway.  The creatures waded out of the bath and attacked Marativy, damaging and paralyzing her.  Templeton moved to get a line of sight into the room and cast Black Tentacles, filling the bath with rubbery black tentacles that the creatures avoided with ease [Templeton rolled very low on his grapple check].  Swamprover moved up onto one of the eating tables so she could see over Templeton and lobbed a Fireball into the bath, damaging the three remaining creatures.  Marativy was paralyzed and could do nothing.  Zitch cast Cure Moderate Wounds on Marativy to at least heal the damage the creatures had done to her.  Fish finally showed up and raised the water level in the room to drown the undead things.  It was not at all effective and the Ratpack yelled at him to stop.

Winston rapid-fired again, hitting one of the creatures twice before his musket misfired.  Roscuro grabbed Marativy and pulled her away from the doorway, but she suffered an opportunistic attack from one of the things before he got her to safety.  The creatures then advanced and attacked Roscuro, damaging and paralyzing him.  Templeton advanced and pulled Roscuro out of the way.  Swamprover cast Create Pit, catching one of the creatures in the pit; one jumped forward to escape, the last jumped back into the bath.  Zitch put Protective Luck on Templeton and then cackled to maintain it.  Fish used his waterspout to push the one creature in the room with the Ratpack back into the pit.  Hrefna regained her ability to move, immediately activating her healing aura and casting Barbed Chains on the remaining mobile creature.

Winston rapid-fired on the remaining mobile creature and killed it.  Roscuro was paralyzed but benefitted from the healing aura [Fast Heal 3].  The creatures in the pit climbed out and advanced.  Templeton poured all his attacks into the lagging creature, hitting multiple times.  Swamprover cast Magic Missile at the leading creature and hit.  Zitch placed his ward on Templeton, backed away 5 feet, and cackled.  Fish missed entirely and backed away.  Hrefna attempted an attack and flubbed it.

Winston stepped back 5 feet and shot at the leading creature, critically hitting before misfiring.  Roscuro was still paralyzed but benefitted from the healing aura again.  The lead creature advanced on Winston and slammed him but did not paralyze him.  The lagging creature did the same to Templeton but succeeded in paralyzing the summoner.  Templeton was paralyzed, but made use of the healing aura.  Swamprover defensively cast Arc Lightning on the two creatures who were neatly lined up for her, destroying the lead creature.  Marativy regained her ability to move and poured all of her attacks into the remaining creature, killing it.

After the fight, Zitch was able to identify the creatures as mohrgs, a type of undead that still had their viscera and a long tongue.

Fish was asked to lower the water in the bath while the group waited for those paralyzed to recover.  Zitch located a club down at the bottom of the stairs and to one side.  Roscuro, now mobile again, stepped down and retrieved it.  Hrefna and Winston aided Zitch in identifying the club as a club +1 undead bane of disruption.  Roscuro stepped into the mirror and tested it on the Dark Rider’s corpse.  It messed up the corpse satisfactorily.

There was one final door in the eating hall on the north wall.  The Ratpack assembled in front of the door while Marativy verified there were no traps.  Marativy opened the door.  The room beyond was similar in size to the bath, but contained three things: a statue of the Dark Rider in the center of the room, a harp made from the corpse of a small humanoid hanging on a side wall, and Malaghast, who was standing near the statue.

“Oh!  Hello my friends,” Malaghast greeted the Ratpack.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[As mentioned in my recent status update, this game is now on hold due to the Other GM and Marativy's player being new parents.  There will likely be a Session 37 to finally finish Book 3, but we have no idea when it will happen.  The Other GM is optimistic and thinks he can run it soon, but the rest of us think a month or two might be more realistic based on how much time a newborn requires from their parents.  We’ll see how it plays out.]

[As a result, we’ve started building characters for the 5E one-shot being run by Winton’s player, now designated Clone GM 1 (an inside joke).  Clone GM 1 is running a published 5E adventure from a compilation of adventures and has had trouble answering what the adventure is about as all the published blurbs apparently include spoilers.  Another case of we’ll see how it goes.  The next blog entries will be next week and include a character summary for the 5E game followed by session notes for Session 1.]

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 35

Next Session: Session 37

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 35

[Day 45 – Three Deaths]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened May 22, 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 45 continues

[This is the session we realized that the CON Drain the wraiths did back on the roof should have had FORT Saves associated with them.  The Other GM was looking at the wraith stat block, which did not mention saves, and not the creature description, which specifically mentioned them.  Interestingly, attacks with poison list their save DC but other attack types, like Drain, do not in the Pathfinder SRD, so he did not believe there was a save until we asked.  Once he found the listing of the saves and their DC, he allowed us to retroactively make the saves.  Everyone but Winston made the saves, adjusted their maximum hit points back to full, and play started.]

Having shot off the apex of the domed ceiling to the back room of the Black Keep, the Ratpack entered the back room.  It was clearly a vault as it was lined with a layer of adamantium, but the only thing it contained was a biomechanical obelisk that appeared to anchor the Dark Forest pocket dimension.

Marativy and Zitch examined the vault door for traps so the Ratpack could exit the vault and face the Dark Rider.  It is well they checked the door as it was trapped.  Marativy disabled the trap and announced the door was ready to be opened.

The Ratpack prepared for the fight by casting several spells.  Zitch cast Remove Fear on himself, Hrefna, and Marativy [those with the lowest WILL saves].  Templeton cast Protection from Evil on Swamprover and Roscuro.  Zitch then took the time to place Protective Luck on the entire group, one at a time, while cackling to maintain them all.  During this time Marativy activated five shadow clones and Winston cast Named Bullet.  Winston then prepared to immediately shoot the Black Rider once the door was open [but not with the Named Bullet].  Hrefna activated her aura [+2 to saves for allies].

Marativy then opened the door.

Several things happened at once.  Winston rapid fired at the Dark Rider, who was across the room from the vault door, hitting several times but not as effectively as he had hoped [the Dark Rider had DR that Winston’s attacks did not bypass].  At the same time, the Dark Rider’s fear aura flowed over the front two ranks of adventurers with fear taking hold in the hearts of Ariphi and Winston [the two who failed their saves].  Finally, the Dark Rider threw a decapitated head [its prepared action], which exploded in the center of the Ratpack, heavily injuring many, notably Ariphi and Gridik.

Winston rapid-fired his musket [a phrase that still feels wrong to type], hitting the Dark Rider twice, before falling back from fear.  Marativy advanced to the Dark Rider’s horse per the plan and hit, but did no damage [the horse had its own DR].  The Dark Rider threw all of its attacks from a whip made of a spinal column at Marativy, missing once and eliminating two of her shadow clones.  Then the horse did a stomp, eliminating another shadow clone.  Roscuro advanced and attempted a Stunning Fist on the horse, which it [just] resisted.  Zitch cackled to maintain Protective Luck on everyone and then cast Remove Fear on Winston and Ariphi, suppressing the fear they were suffering.  Swamprover advanced to a better line of sight and cast Lightning Bolt at the Dark Rider, piercing his spell resistance and hitting him, although he avoided the full brunt of the attack [made his Reflex save].  Hrefna cast Cure Moderate Wounds on Ariphi, who was heavily injured from the explosion.  Ariphi then advanced into the side of room with the Dark Rider and drank her last potion of Cure Moderate Wounds.  Templeton cast Haste on most of the Ratpack [Winston was out of range] and then advanced on the Dark Rider.  Fish attempted to advance on the Dark Rider, entered the fear aura, thought better of it, and retreating to the far back of the vault.  Gridik cast Dragon Breath at the Dark Rider, spewing a line of acid that fizzled against the Riders spell resistance.  Gridik then shuffled into a protected corner as he was near unconsciousness from the previous explosion [down to 4 hit points].  Suddenly the biomechanical pillar in the vault activated, the three devas screaming horrifically and mostly healed the wounds on the Dark Rider.

Winston fired his Named Bullet as a Dead Shot, hitting the Dark Rider.  Marativy put all of her attacks into the Rider’s horse, hitting twice and bloodying the horse [with Roscuro there she could Backstab due to the Swarming trait Ratfolk have, so she did much more damage].  The Dark Rider did not like this at all, drew a hand axe and attacked Marativy six times [!], taking out her last shadow clone and hitting her once each with the axe [20 hit points] and the whip [19 hit points].  The Rider’s horse then stomped her [14 hit points].  Roscuro attacked the horse with a flurry of blows, hitting it 5 times, once critically, which triggered an additional attack from Marativy that also hit.  Zitch attempted Baleful Polymorph on the Dark Rider, but the Rider resisted the effort [made his save].  Swamprover cast Magic Missile at the Dark Rider and hit with all five.  Hrefna healed Marativy [restored 20 hit points] and invoked Divine Might on the Dark Rider [which provided bonuses to her attacking the Dark Rider].  Ariphi advanced on the Dark Rider and attempted a feint that failed.  Templeton attacked the horse with all of his attacks and killed it.  In response the horse exploded doing varying amounts of damage to all in the room.  Back in the vault, Gridik moved over to Zitch and requested some healing [this turned out to be a mistake].  The obelisk howled again and healed some of the Rider’s wounds.

Winston waited.  Marativy took advantage of the pause in attacks and re-invoked her shadow clones, getting six of them this time.  The Dark Rider stood from his fallen horse, reached into his bag, pulled out the head of Selasny the Naga, and flung it into the center of the adventurers where it exploded.  The explosion damaged Hrefna and Templeton, knocked out Marativy and Ariphi, and killed Gridik [who would have been safe if he had stayed in the corner].  Winston fired a startling shot at the Dark Rider, making the Rider flat-footed.  Roscuro stepped to the Rider and unleashed a flurry of angry blows on the Rider, hitting four times.  Zitch stepped to see the Rider and attempted Baleful Polymorph again but failed.  Swamprover moved back to the doorway for cover and cast Magic Missile at the Dark Rider, hitting again with all 5 missiles.  Hrefna cast Cure Moderate Wounds on Marativy, reviving her and then switched her aura to healing [Fast Heal 3 to all allies].  Ariphi healed but remained unconscious.  Templeton stepped over to Roscuro to swarm and attacked the Dark Rider with all his attacks, hitting four times and rending with two of his claws.  Fish continued to cower and the obelisk healed the Rider again.

Awake again, Marativy kipped up, stepped adjacent to Dark Rider where she could swarm with Templeton [he was Large, so two people could swarm with him] and attacked the Dark Rider mightily [a total of 90 points of damage over three hits].  In response, the Dark Rider stepped over to the unconscious Ariphi and cut her head off with his axe before attacking Marativy with the rest of his attacks.  One of his attacks hit the real Marativy and knocked her unconscious again.  Meanwhile Ariphi’s head disappeared and the Rider’s bag suddenly had another head in it.  Winston rapidly fired at the Rider, hitting all three times.  Roscuro threw another flurry of blows, hitting three times, once critically.  Zitch then advanced and cast Lightning Bolt at the Dark Rider, killing the fiend!  Hrefna then cast Cure Moderate Wounds on Marativy, reviving her.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[We skipped a week as a storm blew through earlier in the day on the 15th and blew down some trees, knocking out power to our neighborhood for four hours.  Oddly enough, there was rain again on the day this session happened that made the power blink a couple times during the afternoon, but it never went out for more than a couple seconds, so we played.  May is Monsoon Month for Houston.  June 1 is the beginning of Hurricane Season.  Joy.]

[So the three deaths were Gridik, Ariphi, and the Dark Rider (maybe).  We stopped as soon as the Dark Rider dropped as we were running late and folks had to work the next day.  On one hand I feel the death of Ariphi was gratuitous on the Other GM’s part.  He could easily have decided that the Dark Rider had another head in the bag and not killed Ariphi.  On the other hand, the Rider was Lawful Evil and the Other GM had set the number of heads available before the battle and stuck with that.  It was entirely in character for the Rider to do what he did, but that doesn’t make us hate the Rider any less.  Jerk-face.]

[Marativy’s shadow clones were easily the MVP of this session.  Without them Marativy would have died in the fight, even with the Protective Luck from Zitch.  If she had dropped, either Roscuro or Templeton would have been the focus of the Rider’s attacks and that person likely would have dropped as well before the others took the Rider down.  We still would have won, but more of us would have been dead.]

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 34 

Next Session: Session 36

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 34

[Days 45 – Loudest Heist Ever]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened May 8, 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 45 continues

[Once the players had assembled but before we started play, a storm blowing through the area knocked out the power in the neighborhood.  We put out some battery-powered lights on the table and discussed our strategy for fighting the Dark Rider while waiting for the power to come back on.  The power returned about 30 minutes later and so we started regular play.]

While catching their breath after fighting the wraiths, Marativy had an idea on fighting the Dark Rider.  The Rider received a great deal of mobility from being on horseback and seemed to generate a great deal of damage, so she proposed that she, Templeton, and Roscuro concentrate their attacks on the horse to eliminate the Rider’s advantage while everyone else attacked the rider directly.  This was a good idea.  After discussing the situation a little, Marativy, Templeton, and Roscuro decided they would concentrate their initial attacks on the horse [for the first three rounds].  If the horse seemed immune to their attacks, they would switch back to attacking the Dark Rider, otherwise they would do their best to kill the horse before switching to the Rider.

With a new appreciation of the need to be quiet while traversing the roof of the keep, the group advanced to the next section.  Roscuro, slightly distracted, put his foot through a weak spot in the roof but caught himself before falling all the way through [rolled a 1 on Stealth check].  Marativy started marking the weak spots in chalk while scouting ahead.

While using the knotted rope to climb up the wall to the next level of the roof, Gridik slipped and fell.  [Yes, Gridik failed a DC 0 Climb check.  He rolled 1.]  Luckily Hrefna was waiting at the bottom of the rope for this and caught the falling kobold.  On her own turn to climb the wall, Hrefna also slipped and fell [also rolled a 1] but was caught by Zitch.

The Ratpack reached the roof of the final chamber in keep, a pointed dome covering a 20x30 foot area.  Roscuro consulted with Winston, the team’s engineer, where to break through: the wall around the top of the chamber or through the domed roof.  Winston looked it over and felt that the tiles roof would be the better option.  The group would remove the ceramic roof tiles and then use the wand of acid arrow and adamantine dagger to cut through, just like they had done in Kaer Maga.

Marativy climbed onto Templeton’s back.  He then flew them to the pinnacle of the roof where they tied a rope to assist climbing onto the domed roof.  Winston and Ariphi climbed up and started prying up the first ceramic time when all the tiles flash heated hot enough to burn them through their armor!  They immediately hopped back down to the previous roof.

Marativy dangled under Templeton and checked the roof, belatedly verifying it was trapped.  She then spent some time disabling the area around where Winston and Ariphi needed to work.  Once that area was cleared of trap triggers, Winston and Ariphi climbed back up onto the domed roof.

After safely removing a number of tiles, They used the wand to start eating away through the substrate.  This is when Winston discovered another problem – under the layer holding the tiles in place was a layer of adamantium!  Spot checking in a couple places confirmed the layer of adamantium covered the entire roof and appeared to include the walls of the chamber underneath as well.

A room lined with adamantium!

The Ratpack discussed options.  Zitch only had one casting of Dimension Door available, so he could teleport himself and 3 others into the chamber below, but then they would be trapped.  Winston then volunteered a terrible idea, but the only one that would work.  His plan was to use his remaining adamantium bullet and his bag of abundant ammunition to shoot a perforated line through the adamantium layer, cutting off part of the peak of the dome to provide access.  He could use his oil of silence to quiet his gun, but not the bullet hitting the adamantium layer.  This would be noisy and all surprise would be lost but it would work and allow the Ratpack to attack on their terms.

With no other viable options, the Ratpack agreed to this.

Winston oiled up his gun and activated the first charge of the bag.  He then started shooting through the roof, each shot ringing the adamantium like a bell.  When the first charge from the bag expired, Winston paused to evaluate his efforts.  Checking how far he had cut, he estimated he would be half way done by the time his bag ran out of charges.

The Ratpack could also hear the sound of an alarm going off down in the keep.

Gridik suggested he could access Abundant Ammunition through his bonded ring, Fulmination, and his casting would last 7 minutes whereas Winton’s charges only lasted a minute.  [Gridik normally keeps the use of his spell focus to pull a spell out of his spellbook as a last minute resort.]  They all agreed that it was necessary and so Gridik accessed and cast Abundant Ammunition on Winston.

Seven Noisy Minutes Later

Winston finally finished perforating the pinnacle of the dome roof.  The Ratpack attempted to move the resulting cone of adamantium but found it was too heavy for them to move [650 pounds of adamantium and another 100 pounds of roofing on top].  Templeton used an evolutionary surge to become large again, which granted him enough strength to lift the cone while a rope was attached and then haul on the rope to air lift the cone off the roof and set it down on the ground adjacent to the keep.

The rest of the Ratpack peered in through the opening.  The chamber below was clearly lined with adamantium.  Instead of treasure or the Dark Rider, the only thing in the room was some form of biomechanical obelisk 30 feet tall.  There was a glowing green gem at the top connected to metal conduits of some sort that spiraled down around the obelisk to the eye sockets of three devas, chained to the base of the obelisk, their faces a mask of agony.  Zitch estimated that this device was responsible for maintaining the pocket dimension they were in.

Roscuro wanted to immediately destroy the thing.  Zitch pointed out that if it stopped functioning, they would have at best minutes to get back to the menhir and activate it before the pocket dimension and everything in it would blink out of existence.  This gave Roscuro pause.

It also suggested that this might be a way to destroy one or more of the shard of the Shattered Star.  This would end their quest but would also mean no one would be able to reassemble the Star, something the Ratpack was already iffy on.

[The players had a short debate here about whether or not they wanted to end the campaign this way.  Several players wanted to keep playing their characters and were not ready to end the campaign based on that.  The Other DM allowed that he had a way to keep the campaign going without stating what that way was.  Ultimately, the group decided to not use this option and keep the campaign going.]

The Ratpack decided that breaking the pocket dimension was too risky for now and they should defeat the Dark Rider and secure the shard instead.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[I had expected to have the conversation about what to do with the shards once we had them eventually, but not until we had all the shards.  So I was thinking the end of Book 5.  The Ratpack has been pursuing the shards for two reasons.  First, locations with the shards tend to also have Thassilonian relics that the group can sell for a significant profit.  Second, we really don’t trust anyone else to do the job nor with all the shards.  The Pathfinder Society put forth the idea that having the Star would be some form of defense against the rising Runelords but that sounds like Boromir arguing that the Ring of Power is a gift to use against Sauron.  I’ve discussed with Templeton’s player maybe we should find a way to permanently hide the shards, like putting them in a lead box and dropping the box into the deepest part of the ocean, preferable far away from any marine civilizations.]

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 33

Next Session: Session 35

 

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 33

[Days 45 – Discussions and Roof Wraiths]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened May 1, 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 45 continues

Having just barely failed to remove the Wall of Iron blocking their forward progress, Roscuro continued talking with the bonesage, starting with proper introductions.  The bonesage’s name was Malaghast.  Roscuro tried to get the parameters of Malaghast’s orders, hoping to find a loophole.  Malaghast told Roscuro and Swamprover that he is not allowed to let the Ratpack any further into the keep.  Roscuro asked if Malaghast could retrieve the shard the group was looking for instead.  Malaghast stated he was not allowed to do that either.

Malaghast made some statements that Roscuro did not understand.  Zitch activated his earring of telepathy to converse with Roscuro privately and informed Roscuro that Malaghast had stated that he was a simulacrum with conditional programming.  Roscuro asked a series of questions to determine if the original Malaghast had consented to having a simulacrum made and this Malaghast stated he had – or at least that’s what he had been told.

Having reached a dead end in the conversation there, Roscuro stated that he and the lord of this keep had business to settle between them and Roscuro wanted to do so immediately.  Malaghast mentally contacted the Dark Rider to inquire about this as no had asked that before.  After a pause, he relayed that the Dark Rider offered to call off the whole affair with no grudges if the Ratpack left the keep now.  Roscuro asked permission to step outside the room and consult with his traveling companions.  Malaghast assented and Roscuro stepped out of the doorway and back to the previous room.  Swamprover stayed in Malaghast’s study and discussed other topics.

During the time Roscuro and Swamprover were talking with Malaghast, Marativy snuck into an adjacent room to see what was there.  It was a library with a small fae dusting the shelves.  She closed the door and described the being to Zitch, who identified it as a pukwudgie.  He also identified the centaur-like being Marativy had previously discovered as a nucklevee, another kind of fae but much more dangerous, being immune to disease and poison, able to see in the dark, but vulnerable to cold iron like all fae.

Roscuro, joining the rest of the Ratpack, talked the offer over with them and none of them were willing to accept the deal.  They all agreed they were going to have to fight to get past Malaghast.  Winston requested that Gridik cast Named Bullet on one of Winston’s remaining adamantine bullets, keyed specifically to Malaghast.  Gridik saw the value of doing so and cast the spell.

Roscuro returned to Malaghast’s study and announced the group was regretfully declining the Dark Rider’s offer.  Malaghast suggested that if they were not leaving and could go no further forward, perhaps they should visit the observation tower, which had a fine view of the roof and surrounding lands.  Roscuro recognized that Malaghast might be suggesting a different path forward, one he was not responsible for.  Roscuro and Swamprover thanked Malaghast for his time and stated they would take his advice.  They left before any violence started.

The door to the tower was the last door in the ballroom the Ratpack had not explored.  The door was both locked and trapped, which Marativy and Roscuro discovered when they went to open the door and a gout of flame erupted from the door.  Roscuro avoided the flames but Marativy caught the edge of the gout [both made their saves, but only Roscuro has Improved Evasion and was able to avoid all the damage].  Marativy disarmed the trap and picked the lock after receiving some healing.

Beyond the door was a dusty, circular room, the lowest chamber of the tower.  At the far side of the room [south] was a circular stairway rising to the upper floors.  The Ratpack climbed the stairs, finding the second floor much the same.  The third floor was missing its roof and was the roost of the wyverns, containing two large nests [and quite the stench].  A quick search using Detect Magic located a corpse with three magic items on it [identified by Zitch]: a set of shadow leather +1, a wand of mount [caster level 3], and a Phylactery of Channeling.  The shadow leather +1 was removed and cleaned with a prestidigitation spell and then given to Marativy [whose Stealth skill bonus was now truly ridiculous].  The set of leather +1 she had been wearing went to Ariphi, who only had plain leather armor.  [Magic armor resizes itself to fit the wearer, which is how leather +1 went from a size Small ratfolk to a size medium tiefling.]  The wand and phylactery went into the loot bag for later sale.

The view from the wyvern roost was dark and dreary as benefitted the Dark Forest pocket dimension.  The roof of the keep was 10 feet down and rose in giant steps as it went east to the conical dome over the far end.  The Ratpack tied off a rope and knotted it for easy climbing down from the tower to the roof, notably for Gridik who was terrible at climbing [Climb bonus of -1].

Once on the roof, the Ratpack walked across the roof over the ballroom to the next height change.  Marativy nimbly climbed up to the next roof level and tied off another rope.  Roscuro simply jumped the distance while Swamprover made use of her native climb speed.  Gridik started climbing the rope.

At this point, four wraiths seeped up through the ceiling to investigate the noise, catching the Ratpack by surprise.  Winston, Roscuro, Templeton, and Zitch all took some level of Constitution Drain.

After recovering from the surprise, Winston shot the heck out of the wraith that attacked him, the last shot a misfire.  Roscuro parceled out his flurry of blows, taking out the wraith Winston had shot and landing two more blows on a second wraith.  Zitch stepped to Winston and put Protective Luck on Templeton.  Swamprover identified the wraiths as wraths and warned they were immune to non-magical damage.  The three remaining wraiths attacked again, landing another blow on Templeton [draining more Constitution, but see Rat Whispers below].  Hrefna activated a defensive aura [+2 AC for all allies] and saved her action.  Templeton used an evolutionary surge to gain Shadow Form and then stepped to Roscuro.  Marativy [already scouting the next level of roof up] made an acrobatic dive to Roscuro’s position and attacked the wraith number 2 [gaining the bonus to hit of her Outflank feat].  Gridik finished climbing the rope and cast Magic Missile at wraith number 4.  Hrefna used her saved action to immediately follow Gridik up the rope.  Fish water-jetted a wraith to absolutely no effect.

Winston cleared his weapon and immediately misfired again.  Roscuro parceled out another flurry of blows, taking out wraith 2 and hitting wraith 3 three times.  Zitch put Protective Luck on Winston and cackled to maintain the two effects in play.  Swamprover cast Magic Missile at wraith 4 and hit all 5 times.  That wraith moved to attack Swamprover in return and hit [Draining 5 CON in a single hit].  Wraith 3 attacked Roscuro, but thanks to bodyguard actions from Templeton and Marativy, it missed.  Templeton did a full attack on wraith 3, hitting twice with his claws and rending it.  Marativy stepped to Roscuro and also did a full attack [making two critical hits], killing it.  Gridik cast Magic Missile at the remaining wraith and hit it four times.  Hrefna moved to the remaining wraith and attacked it with her magic sword, killing it.

[At this point, most of the characters had lost Constitution from the drains, which equated to lost hit points as their Constitution bonuses were lower.  We attempted to heal it with multiple castings of Lesser Restoration before realizing that Lesser Restoration only heals Stat Damage, not Stat Drain.  That requires Restoration or Greater Restoration.  Remember to see Rat Whispers below.]

Marativy spotted tracks indicating that the naga had traveled this way.  Zitch cast See Invisible looking for foes but instead located a scrying sensor point.  He cast Glitter Dust on it, hoping to blind the viewer [not likely] and outlining the point so everyone knew where it was.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[Two sessions later, Session 35, there was a ret-con on the CON Drain attacks.  It turns out the Drain gets a Fortitude save, but the save is not mentioned in the stat block for the wraith, only in the power description for the monster and the Other GM was only looking at the Stat Block.  When this was pointed out at the beginning of the session, we retro-actively did the saves.  Most made the saves but not Winston.  Poor Winston.]

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 32 

Next Session: Session 34

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 32

[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:

1. Is the Dark Rider in the Keep?  Yes
2. Is the Dark Rider searching tonight?  Not exactly.
3. Is the shard the Ratpack seeks in the Black Keep?  Yes
4. Is the Dark Rider able to leave the Keep?  Yes
5. Does the menhir connect to 10 or more locations?  Yes
6. Has the Dark Rider marked Roscuro?  Yes
7. 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.]

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 31

[Day 44 – Fear takes its toll and the Ratpack holes up]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened April 17, 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 continues

[Resuming mid-fight but catching the first action of the round from last session.]

Marativy attacked the now perfectly outlined shadow mastiff in the doorway, hitting it twice and killing it.  The shadow mastiffs repositioned themselves.  Two mastiffs advanced but were caught up in the Black Tentacles, one reached Marativy but failed to hit due to her being bodyguarded by Templeton and Roscuro, and the last mastiff climbed out of the tentacles and onto one of the tables, howling.  This was too much for Marativy, who panicked [failed her Will save while the others made theirs].  Roscuro released a flurry of blows on the one that attacked Marativy [hitting 5 time], killing it.  Winston moved up to Templeton, leaping onto the foo dog’s back, and then his musket misfired!  Templeton held his action, waiting for any shadow mastiff’s to get within range so he could shred it.  Hrefna used Barbed Chains on the howling mastiff.  Zitch, recognizing Marativy was ready to bolt out of the keep and not wanting her to flee alone, used Strangling Hair to try and grab her with his beard.  He failed to grapple her, so he repositioned himself in her way by the door back to the stables.

Marativy bolted, fleeing the fight.  She ran right past Zitch, who successfully tripped her [using his Attack of Opportunity].  One of the entangled mastiffs broke free of the tentacles and advanced on the Ratpack, triggering Templeton’s saved action.  Templeton hit the mastiff five times, killing it.  The last mobile mastiff retreated to the far end of the table it was on and stopped there, surrounded by tentacles but in the shadows again.  Roscuro stepped into the tentacles to reach the last held mastiff, taking damage from the flailing tentacles [10], but inflicting much more on the mastiff [30].  Winston cleared his musket and readied a Leg Shot on Marativy for when she next stood up, again, hoping to keep here with the group and not blindly fleeing through the Dark Forest.  Templeton flew over to the mastiff on the table to attack it, hitting twice and missing twice due to the shadowy nature of the mastiff, causing it to bleed.  Winston had to work to stay on Templeton’s back, but did so [made a Riding check].  Hrefna advanced to the doorway so the Daylight effect from her Halflite Charm covered all the mastiffs and then cast Cure Moderate Wounds on Roscuro, who was looking battered.  Zitch successfully used his Strangling Hair to hold Marativy.  The tentacles held Roscuro and the trapped mastiff, thrashing them and mostly undoing Hrefna’s healing spell.  The doors at the back of the room opened and a headless set of armor riding a black steed stood in the doorway.

Marativy thrashed in Zitch’s hold but was held fast [to her player’s relief].  The held mastiff clawed Roscuro heavily while the mastiff on the table failed to hit Templeton.  Roscuro unleashed a flurry of blows on the held mastiff and killed it.  The Dark Rider emitted an aura of fear, panicking Winston but not Templeton.  It then threw a head at Templeton, which exploded mightily [41 points of damage]!  Winston fled, making his way through the field of tentacles with his fear-borne urgency.  Templeton shredded the remaining mastiff and then dropped the Black Tentacles spell [at the Other GM’s prompting I might add].  Hrefna changed her aura from a healing aura to one that bolstered the group’s chutzpah [+2 to all saves] and then walked back to the door to the door to the stables.  Zitch continued to hold the panicked Marativy.

Marativy again failed to break free and flee.  Roscuro, unsure of how dangerous the dark rider might be and with only himself and Templeton still in the fight, called for the Ratpack to retreat.  He moved back to where the others were by the stable door and waited for the rider to attack.  The dark rider obliged, charging through Templeton and all the way into the ballroom, past the cluster of adventurers by the stable door.  The attack on Templeton was formidable [60+ points of damage] and caused Templeton to fear.  Roscuro was able to make several attacks on the rider as he rode by [one readied attack and 3 attacks of opportunity] but only landed one hit [bad rolls].  Hrefna also took a swing but missed.  Winston fled out of the keep to the stables.  Templeton boosted his flight capabilities with an Evolutionary Surge and made it all the way into the stables.  Hrefna attempted to identify what the dark rider was and drew a blank before leaving through the stables.  Zitch made a last ditch attack on the rider by casting Baleful Polymorph but the thing was too stout for that [made all its saves].  Zitch took the hint and left, releasing Marativy.

Marativy immediately fled.  Last member of the Ratpack in the ballroom, Roscuro saluted the rider and said, “Another time.”  He then stepped into the stables, pulling the door closed behind him.  Roscuro heard the dark rider state he would track Roscuro down, soon, using Roscuro’s name [this was an ability of the dark rider called Death’s Calling].  Winston, recognizing he could flee faster if riding Templeton, hopped onto the foo dog’s back.  Templeton blazed out of the keep.  Hrefna, Zitch, and (eventually) Roscuro followed, hustling to keep up with their fleeing friends.

Elsewhere

Swamprover, Fish, Gridik, and Ariphi were fleeing through the Dark Forest as a result of the fear caused by the shadow mastiff’s original howl.  After some time, the fear wore off and they were able to pause to catch their breath and gather their wits.  They decided to head to the menhir and wait for the others.  Ariphi stated she knew the way, but the others should be alert as there were things in the forest watching them.  Gridik used two Pearls of Power to recharge See Invisible and Magic Missile.  Swamprover used hers to recharge Web.  Then the group moved out and were almost immediately attacked by skeletons in the trees shooting bows.

Swamprover cast Web, tangling up the two on the left side and then advanced.  Gridik cast Magic Missile on the closest of the four on the right, damaging it heavily.  Ariphi finished it off with a thrown dagger and both advanced.  The skeletons shot their bows at Swamprover and Gridik, hitting each wizard once.  One of the skeletons in the Web broke free.  Fish used a waterjet to knock one of the skeletons out of the tree it was in, killing it.

Swamprover cast Magic Missile at the newly freed skeleton and continued moving.  Gridik just moved quickly [double moved].  Ariphi threw another dagger and then moved.  One of the remaining skeletons hit Fish, who water-jetted it out of the tree, killing it.

The adventurers moved on, quickly getting complete cover from the trees and outdistancing the skeletons.

An hour later they arrived at the menhir and started analyzing it to see if they could get it to take them home.

Back with the Trailing Group

Once Marativy stopped running in panic, along with Templeton and Winston, the group paused long enough to do some healing.  Zitch contacted Swamprover using his telepathic earring and learned that group was making its way to the menhir.

Once this group was mobile again, they ran into a group of 4 skeleton archers and a zombie troll, armed with a spear.  The undead troll complicated the fight, but luckily Hrefna identified it and had some holy water to stop it from regenerating once the Marativy and Roscuro took it down.  Winston shot the skeletons one after another, destroying them with one shot each.

Zitch looted the undead troll’s body and found 7 gems in a pouch at its waist.

The group continued on and eventually arrived at the menhir.  There the wizards announced they could activate the menhir but not control where it would take the group.  Some form of steering mechanism was needed that they did not have and there were probably tens of places they might end up, probably all Runelord ruins or hideaways.

The group discussed their options.  After much discussion, they decided it was marginally safer to find a place to hole up and rest here than making a blind jump through the menhir.  Searching the area they located a small cave along the edge of the forest.  Gridik cast Tiny Hut inside the cave to make it comfortable and all but Ariphi and Winston went to sleep.

[The plan was that those with Rings of Sustenance would go on guard after getting their needed two hours of sleep while those without rings would keep sleeping.  Not optimal, but the best we could do at the time.]

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[So the Dark Rider was the 5th encounter in a row once we started trying to enter the keep, and that was after two other encounters since arriving in the Dark Forest.  We were low on resources (spells and ki) and most of our characters were injured to some extent, so when the Dark Rider appeared, we felt we had pushed our luck as far as we could go.]

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 30

Next Session: Session 32