The Machine in the Cemetery: Session 10

Garren and Birch finished burying the dead at Birch Manor. They discovered they were being spied on by two Fire Cultists. On the cultists they found a map of Birch Manor and a list of wanted items. The Map was an old blue-print from Exacting Machinations; they made some of the traps in Birch Manor. How did the cultists acquire the Map?

They cultists were after a Ring of Elemental Command - which Birch has in his holdings.

Garren and Birch headed to Duskhollow. On the way Garren asked where did Birch find the paintings covering Garrens past life? Birch said in an old temple on the far side of Faerun. He doesn't even remember the name. But he said he would look in his journals to see if he can rediscover it.

When they got Duskhollow, Birch and Ardwyn went off to talk about rebuilding Duskhollow. Deni told Garren she found some information on the two thieves that stole Barris's Sword and Shield in the burned remains of Kelt Drumm's bakery. She found a notebook in a protected hidden area of the ruined bakery. Written in thieve's cant are their real names:

Blue-eyed Jona is Janis Scento

Sly Cassandra is Rarssa Dassan

They were apparently hired by Marlandro Gaelkur, he is a Barber in Red Larch

As Deni and Garren discussed the new information, a disturbance occurred in the cemetery. Birch, Deni and Garren went up high on some buildings and saw some kind of machine had drilled up from the ground and stopped in the cemetery grounds.  They heard a door open and close a few times. As they neared the cemetery they could see smoke coming from the back of the stopped machine.

They were met with a small army of hostile black armor clad humanoids. The three hero's eliminated the first wave of strange soldiers, but they know there must be more; possibly inside the machine.....

Getting Help from Birch Field: Session 9

Garren and Deni were approached by Adwyn with the task of contacting Birch Field at Birch Manor, about 2 hours  outside of town. Ardwyn needs capital to help rebuild Duskhollow after the Fire Cultists torched the village. Darrin and Feelings took time to help cleanup and sort through the charred remains of the many buildings.

Garren and Deni were approached by Gilly Grund as they were leaving to talk to Birch Field. Gilly's father Salister Grund has fallen ill, and Gilly asked Garrnen if he could take a quick look at him. The Grund residence is a basic bakery making staple products, hard breads, flat breads etc. It is one of the few buildings untouched by the arson. When they walked in, the other town baker, Kelt Drumm, was tending to Salister. As soon as the Hero's walked in, he bid himself goodbye to run errands.

Garren and Deni discovered Salister had been fed poisoned water. The basin itself was poisoned. Suspicions fall on Kelt. Kelt's bakery was completely torched. The poison, Black Fly Gout, cannot be cured with the magic available in Duskhollow. Garren sent two of his retainers to the Druids to ask for help. Maybe they could acquire the cure? Deni decided to stay and watch over Salister in case Kelt came back.

Garren traveled to Field Manor. As he got close he smelled smoke, the wildlife near the manor was silent. As he approached the gate he saw it was barricaded, and smoke was coming from behind the Manor walls. Garren climbed the wall, as he neared the top he spotted a lone thug in the court yard, his back to Garren. The Thug was wallowing in his current state of affairs; apparently having been banished to the court yard while his colleagues were up to no good in the manor.

Garren reached the top of the wall and snuck to the closest guard tower. Here he found a dead guard. Burned to a crisp. Garren quietly made his way down the stairs, and into the court yard where he got behind the Thug. Calmly, but with authority he asked the Thug to turn around. The Thug did and dropped his sword as well as his jaw. The dude was no mood for a fight. He pleaded to be let to leave and he would never come back, so Garren let him go. The Thug left in a hurry.

Inside the Manor smoke was coming from deep with the halls. He followed voices and discovered two Fire Cultists attempting to bring down a particular painting in what was Bronson Hall. As Garren Bronson took in the numerous paintings he realized the paintings depicted part of his past life. The numerous paintings in Bronson Hall told the story of how the Necromancer Neilan the Undertaker took control of Garren's squad of soldiers. Garren's men and a few female fighters were captured and turned into undead abominations. His entire squad was obliterated. Garren was forced to kill those he lead. Garren sought revenge and hunted down Neilan. They fought numerous battles, but Garren could never capture or kill Neilan. Neilan always came prepared -- two steps ahead -- of Garren. As the problems of the world grew forcing Garren to deal with greater threats, Neilan slipped away into the shadows and was never found again.

Garren dispatched the two cultists and made his way into the bowels of Field Manor. The rest of the intruders were trying to burn Birch and his surviving retinue out from his Safe Room. Garren fought Cultists, a Beserker, an evil priest and a pack of Hell Hounds. Garren  almost saw life pass from him as he received a rather good thrashing. He lay hands on himself and drank a potion of superior health. He then felled all but two of the Elemental Evil followers. Those Two got away.

Upon rescuing Birch and conveying the message from  Duskhollow, Birch took in all of Garren with his eyes, in disbelief. Here was Garren Bronson, the legendary Paladin from Days long ago.

Birch agreed to travel to Duskhollow, but he asked for three days and help burying his dead employees. Garren agreed.

As night fell in Duskhollow, Deni survived an attempt on her life, but Gilly did not. She knew the assassin was close, maybe in the cellar or hiding somewhere close in the darkness. She called for help doing her best to shield Salister. Feelings and several towns folk showed up. They never found the assassin. But Feelings laid down a ward to prevent anyone from coming up from the cellar. At that moment, an owl sent by the druids dropped off a package of herbs and moss with instructions on how to prepare an antidote for the Balck Fly Gout. Deni recalled her Grandmother could make this remedy from the given instructions. She grabbed a horse and rode hard. Up ahead she saw another rider driving hard for her Grandmothers home. Deni, through either luck or divine intervention was able to apply the spell in her ring of jumping to the soul of her horse. The horse hurdled in great leaps and closed the gap with the rider ahead. The assassin dove into the woods, so Deni pressed on. She reached her Grandmother and sensed the assassin was just outside the window behind her Grandmother. Deni threw her Thunderstone and it landed perfectly just outside the window catching the assassin. While blinded and deaf, the assassin tried to get away. Deni slit Kelt's throat.

Salister was saved.

When we return to Duskhollow, the heroes will have to decide how to get to the Dessarian Valley.

Journey to the Tomb of Chaos: Session 8

It happened on Garren's watch  ...

A fog rolled in through the swamp, it barley touched the high ground the Hero's claimed for camp. Two creatures of unknown make fought for dominance just south of camp. The Hero's could barley make out the silhouettes as the beasts fought. They were huge. A man could fit in a foot print lying down.

While the hero's watched the fight, a party of four dwarves crawled into the camp hoping to find safety in numbers from the battle royal just a couple 100 yards away. They said there were two Orc clans on the higher high ground on the other side of the bog. Each clan was cheering on a different beast.

Eventually one of the beasts gave in and walked away from the fight. The Winner soaked in the glory; the victorious clan threw gifts and prizes down to the beast. Both beasts eventually left the bog through different portals.

One dwarf said they were giants. While another said they were demons. And a third dwarf said they were giant demons. The fourth dwarf stayed silent and stroked her beard. In truth no one but the orcs know what the beasts really are. The fourth dwarf did say the orcs follow Orcus. The dwarves left early in the morning.

The next night the Hero's found the path to the Tomb of Chaos as their map suggested. They watched three squads of Gnolls march away in different directions in the flat land just below the path. As the Hero's approached the path, the saw at least two gnolls on watch. Deni and Darrin snuck up within mere feet to only spring a trap as they walked into the space of a Putrid Haunt lying in wait. The pair fought hard and almost killed Darrin. Garren came to the rescue. He healed Darrin and went to work on the Haunts with the Xanthos blade. Eventually the Gnolls and the haunts were dispatched, but one runner got away.

The Hero's approached the Tomb at night. They met little resistance. The statues outside the tomb all had gems for eyes.

When the heroes entered the tomb they were ambushed by Gnolls using a weapon built by the Exacting Machinations Incorporated over 2000 years ago. The weapon saturated the area with 100s of arrows. The party was skewered. They fought and won. They pulled the arrows from their flesh and destroyed the additional magazines of arrows for the unbreakable weapon. It was to big to carry.

Chanting started in the next room. When the PCs entered they set off a sigil which gave them disadvantage on Wisdom saving throws and held them in a hold person spell. Deni, saved. The rest did not. Fang slit Louissa's throat opening a portal to the Elder Elemental Eye. A Quaist came over and snatched the Elemental Spell Book, Journal and drawings held in the Amulet of Binding. The items were tossed into the portal. Garren broke free and attacked Fang. But Fang had a talismen. When Garren drew blood with his sword, he lost experience instead of damaging Fang. Eventually Fang was slain. The Quaist fled through the portal with Fang's body.

They rescued the Dwarves of Ballentine Creek.

The hero's returned to Duskhollow to find it burning.

In Search of the Tomb of Chaos: Session 7

The unlikely hero's are coming together, but what they have in common can also rip them apart ... (as observed by) The late? Bertrand Prenav 1491

The hero's emerged fresh and anew from the Hall of Reckoning. They were met by an unusual army lead by a Dark Omen riding a Black Dragon called The Dark Rider or Slayer. It asked for the weapon Garren acquired - Xanthos Ex Democritium - to only become angry and scream betrayal upon discovering the weapons true design. Slayer  is powerful, it called down a meteor storm on the party by taking the lives of his army to power the spell in the protected area and then fled the aura of the sword.

The party healed up and went back to Duskhollow to acquire a sextant to make a map to find the Tomb of Chaos. Salodan Hamir had a sextant for sale in his shop. The party paid a hefty price for it. But it is an antique. It was made by Exacting Machinations Incorporated in 503 DR. Almost 1000 years ago - the current year is 1491 DR. And it looks brand new.

The PCs spent several nights working on the map using the arcane, the stars, cartography and luck following the cryptic instructions. They were successful. To celebrate they ventured back to the Greenside Tavern. Kaitsyl Stonefoot waved them in where they took a seat at a table in the back. The party dined on braised boar, flatbreads, boiled spiced roots, and seasonal greens followed up with sweet cakes. During the course of the evening the PCs noticed the patrons and musicians would suddenly stop talking and carousing and stare at them. The whole place would go quite. It happened several times.

Barris brought out pipes and a blend of Old Grey leaf to smoke and discuss matters. Darren and Garren made amends to Barris. Barris then told the tale of how he lost his Family Shield and Sword in a con game. He was swindled, taken advantage of.

The con was run by two hafling female thieves:

- Sly Cassandra

- Blue-eyed Jona

Melusine Villeta and a few others in town have all said they believe the two con artists hailed from Red Larch or the Dessarian Valley - the epicenter of the awakening Elemental Evil. Barris would be very grateful if the PCs could recover his Family heir-looms.

As the evening and conversation wore on, Garren noticed a tall hooded and cloaked humanoid emerge from a dark corner in the Greenside Tavern and scuttle away outside. The PCs followed and sprung the hag's trap. Four assassins targeted the party; two hitting Garren with magical experience draining arrows. At the same time a portal in the sky above Duskhollow opened.

Garren's experience points streamed out of him through the arrows into each of the assassins and up into the portal where one of the Hags collected it. Garren resisted several times which only enraged the hag. Determined to acquire Garren's experience, she sacrificed an elf infant and gained more power to infuse into her spell. While Feelings provided cover with  offensive Eldrich spells, Deni and Darrin secured a cart and pulled/pushed it to block the energy steam. The Hag tried one last time to acquire what she needed from Garren. She drove her staff - which became 500' long - through the portal into he ground around the Heros to pull more experiecne from Garren, but he resisted. She eventually quit; closing the portal in the sky. But the party wonders ... did she get what she wanted? A coven will use obscure magic to forge a powerful scrying artifact known as The Eye.

The assassins were also killed in the process, they were used as "lightening rods" to  channel Garren's experience to the portal. [This might not go over well with what ever group supplied the assassins]

The PCs made preparations to journey through the bog to uncover the Tomb of Chaos. They procured supplies. Darrin asked out loud for a composite bow and a vendor suddenly appeared with a bow. It was evil and dominated Darrin, saying it wanted him to Kill Garren. Garren detected the evil in the artifact and surmised it had conquered Darrin. He used his new blade Xanthos to destroy the bow. The vendor promptly vanished in a puff of smoke. [What was that all about?]

The Hero's regrouped and made way through the bog following the strongest arm of the river. They battled Ghouls, discovered a freshly killed hill giant with acid burns and huge slashes caused by talons. {Possibly a black dragon???] The rotting corpse was a vile and nauseous site. The party made haste when they sensed a horde of insects on the way to consume the corpse.

We last saw the party make camp a night or two away from what could be the path to their destination. As the night traversed they met an entity called memory moss. It stole Darrin's memories. The moss flung spells at the party and then did nothing more while a swarm of poisonous frogs joined in on the chaos. The party burned the swarm.

The Unresolved:

What is in the Tomb of Chaos?

Why has Louissa Prenav sought out the Tomb of Chaos?

What happened to the Dwarves of Ballentine Creek?

What is the Tombs relationship to Elemental Evil?

What is going on with the strange patron behavior in the Greenside Tavern?

Help Balen befriend Duskhollow

Have the hags completed construction of The Eye?

Who's elven child did the hag use as a sacrifice?

Who heard Darrin ask for a composite bow?

Is Bertrand Prenav dead?

What's underneath the Sacred Woods Watchtower?

What's in Red Larch and how does it connect to the awakening of Elemental Evil?

Where are Barris Stonefoots'  family Sword and Shield?

Who and where are:

- Sly Cassandra?

- Blue-eyed Jona?

What or who is Slayer?

Roll20 Preview

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced me to look at virtual table top environments to continue gaming. I took a look at Roll20 and created this post to inform my gaming group of what it might offer us. 

Roll20 has platforms for Windows, iPad and Android.

I setup a test area with a map and made up several 5E characters. I then took screen shots of characters on the map to illustrate the dynamic lighting.

In the image above the Gnome has darkvision. From the Gnome's pov, looking South, the Tiefling and Ranger are less visible.

This is the GM view where everything is visible.

The Warlock's character sheet. It has three pages, Core, Bio and Spells.

If anyone in my gaming group is interested in trying Roll20 send me an email and I will send you a link so you can look around the test area.

For communication we can give the Roll20 built in audio a go, but you will need a microphone headset. I say headset because it will help block out the noise in the room. If the Roll20 audio capability is laggy we can switch to Discord or Google Hangouts. A last case resort is to just use the chat box in Roll20.

Take a look ...

~All my best. Be well, stay safe.

~Eddy

Roll20 Technical Support Documentation
Audio Video Trouble Shooting

A Bag of Teeth: A 1d6 Table

The party finds a bag tied with string containing a random collection of the following teeth:

A 1d6 Table

 Die roll and result

1: Black dragon teeth 3d20
2: Male human teeth 2d10
3. Mixed gender Elf teeth 3d20
4. Male Kobold teeth 4d12
5. Wolf teeth 5d10
6. Owlbear teeth 6d12

The Chess Room

The Chess Room

A CC3+/DD3 drawing for my PFRG campaign.

I made the following room as part of a larger map ... a tomb... for my PFRPG campaign. I wanted to share it with you in case you feel like adding it to your campaign.

Chess Room

The room is actually a puzzle. I grabbed it from the Chapter 3 (page 17) Lich Combat Strategies -  Lich Lairs - Puzzle Traps - "The Chess Chamber of Lich Lord Fortinbras" in The Complete Guide to Liches, Goodman Games, 2005 by Michael Ferguson. Available from RPGNow.


Download Map

Caves of Little Chaos

The PCs are approached by the townsfolk of a new town they have entered. The story is 3 men have been kidnapped from the town by priests and a number of undead. The townsfolk followed the kidnappers and determined they are holed up in a cave system on the outskirts of the township. The towns folk want the PCs to intervene and rescue the kidnapped men. In reality, the kidnappers are followers of ORCUS and they kidnapped the men to begin a ritual to raise from the dead a number of powerful ORCUS clerics. The PCs have little time to rescue the kidnapped victims. In fact they have but three days to accomplish the task before the ritual will be complete and the undead champions raised.

Map of the Caves of Little Chaos

Download the entire encounter

Bonesnapper Encounter

Here is something my PCs will encounter in an upcoming session. They will encounter three of these creatures. The PCs will actually become lost first and stumble upon their warren. I like to use the old school rules for getting lost in the wilderness. It is bound to happen at some point in the game as my PCs are exploring an area looking for a dungeon entrance. They have maps based on word-of-mouth so the party has to really explore the area.


This creature resembles a man-sized upright dinosaur with gray-green flesh mottled with gray spots. Its eyes are scarlet and its teeth are yellow.
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Bonesnapper      CR 3
XP 800
Bonesnapper
N Medium magical beast
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +8
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Defense
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AC 15, touch 12, flat-footed 13 (+2 Dex, +3 natural)
hp 30 (4d10+8)
Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +2
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee bite +7 (1d8+2), tail slap +6 (1d8+2)
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Statistics
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Str 14, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 10
Base Atk +4; CMB +6 (+10 grapple); CMD 18
Feats Multiattack[B], Weapon Focus (bite)
Skills Perception +8, Stealth +7 (+11 in warm forests); Racial Modifiers +4 Stealth in warm forests, racial skill modifier
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Ecology
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Environment warm forests
Organization solitary or pack (2–4)
Treasure standard
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Special Abilities
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Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Grab (Medium) (Ex) You can start a grapple as a free action if you hit with the designated weapon.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Racial Skill Bonus (+2 Perception) You have the listed racial skill modifier.

Hero Lab and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free download at http://www.wolflair.com
Pathfinder® and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Publishing, LLC®, and are used under license.

Bugbear Ambusher

A Bugbear Ambusher has been tracking -- hunting-- the PCs in my game. Here are the stats for him.

Bugbear Ambusher CR 11
XP 12,800
Bugbear ranger (trapper) 8 (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 38, Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic 65)
CE Medium humanoid (goblinoid)
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., scent; Perception +11
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Defense
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AC 26, touch 15, flat-footed 22 (+5 armor, +1 deflection, +3 Dex, +1 dodge, +5 natural, +1 shield)
hp 101 (11 HD; 3d8+8d10+36)
Fort +11, Ref +14, Will +7
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee +1 longsword +16/+11/+6 (1d8+6/19-20) or
+1 shortsword +16/+11 (1d6+6/19-20) or
mwk dagger +18/+13/+8 (1d4+5/19-20) or
mwk dagger +18/+13/+8 (1d4+5/19-20)
Special Attacks combat style (two-weapon combat), favored enemies (elves +4, gnomes +2)
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Tactics
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Before Combat An ambusher sets traps along a trail or at a watering hole, and then jumps anyone who gets ensnared.
During Combat An ambusher focuses on targets that have not been incapacitated by his traps first. Once they are taken care of, he has time to slowly torment the remaining victims.
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Statistics
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Str 20, Dex 17, Con 16, Int 11, Wis 16, Cha 6
Base Atk +11; CMB +17; CMD 31
Feats Dodge, Double Slice, Endurance, Improved Initiative, Improved Natural Armor, Improved Two-weapon Fighting, Quick Draw, Two-weapon Defense, Two-weapon Fighting, Two-weapon Rend
Skills Climb +11, Disable Device +19, Intimidate +15, Perception +11, Stealth +19, Survival +11; Racial Modifiers +4 Intimidate, +4 Stealth
Languages Common, Goblin
SQ favored terrains (swamp +4, underground +2), hunter's bond (companions), swift tracker, track +4, trap, trapfinding +4, wild empathy +6, woodland stride
Combat Gear potion of cure light wounds (2), potion of cure moderate wounds (2), potion of invisibility; Other Gear +1 chain shirt, +1 longsword, +1 shortsword, mwk dagger, mwk dagger, amulet of natural armor +1, cloak of resistance +1, ring of protection +1, 271 gp
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Special Abilities
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Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Endurance +4 to a variety of fort saves, skill and ability checks. Sleep in L/M armor with no fatigue.
Exploding Trap (modification) (Ex) (Su) Effect A ranger can only add this to a fire trap. The trap explodes in fire, filling all squares adjacent to the trap and dealing a number of points of fire damage equal to 1d6 + 1/2 the ranger's level (Reflex negates). If it is an extraordina
Favored Enemy (Elves +4) (Ex) +4 to rolls vs. Favored Enemy (Elves) foes.
Favored Enemy (Gnomes +2) (Ex) +2 to rolls vs. Favored Enemy (Gnomes) foes.
Favored Terrain (Swamp +4) (Ex) +4 to rolls when in Favored Terrain (Swamp).
Favored Terrain (Underground +2) (Ex) +2 to rolls when in Favored Terrain (Underground).
Freezing Trap (Su) Effect The trap creates a burst of ice that damages and encases the triggering creature. The creature takes 1d3 points of cold damage + 1/4 the ranger's level and is entangled and stuck to the ground, similar to the effect of a tanglefoot bag.
Hunting Companions (3 rounds) (Ex) Grant half favored enemy bonus to allies in 30' as move action.
Quick Draw Draw weapon as a free action (or move if hidden weapon). Throw at full rate of attacks.
Scent (Ex) Detect opponents within 15+ feet by sense of smell.
Snare Trap Effect The trap constricts around a limb or other part of the triggering creature's body (Reflex avoids). The creature cannot move from the location of the trap, unless the ranger included a "leash" when setting the trap, in which case the cre
Swift Tracker (Ex) Tracking penalties when moving at normal speed or faster are reduced.
Track +4 Add the listed bonus to survival checks made to track.
Trap (7/day, DC 17) At 5th level, a trapper learns how to create a snare trap and one other ranger trap of her choice. At 7th level and every two levels thereafter, she learns another trap. The trapper can use these traps a total number of times per day equal to 1/2 her
Trapfinding +4 Gain a bonus to find or disable traps, including magical ones.
Two-Weapon Defense +1 to AC while wielding 2 weapons. +2 when doing so defensively.
Two-Weapon Rend Deal extra 1d10+7 if you hit a foe with both main and off hand weapons.
Wild Empathy +6 (Ex) Improve the attitude of an animal, as if using Diplomacy.
Woodland Stride (Ex) Move through undergrowth at normal speed.

Hero Lab and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free download at http://www.wolflair.com
Pathfinder® and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Publishing, LLC®, and are used under license.