Can You Hold On?

Castille hurts it, but it is a scratch on the darkness. The fiend lashes out, but I already described its action for this round (#5) in my previous post.

Kaspar has chosen to end round 5 with a retreat action. Unless he spends the entire round making the withdraw action, he is subject to an attack of opportunity. So essentially you can fumble for the knob, and yes it is there and unlocked (and untrapped, the builders of this area figured the fiend as a sufficient trap), but you can't open the door this round (a move-equivalent action) or you are subject to the AoO as I said.

Although Castille has hurt it, the fiend is enjoying making Kaspar squirm. He starts to lunge for Kaspar, but then thinks about Castille, and then realizes that he has only one round yet.

"No," he says. "Nooo!!! I must kill you both or I will be..."

We now begin round 6. Describe Castille's action (Castille may be subject to an AoO if he casts now). Don't describe Kaspar's yet because the fiend is not sure what to do, and he may not be near Kaspar (or he may be on top of him biting him in half). Once you post our round 6 action, I will post the fiend's last action (as he is gone after 6 rounds), and Kaspar can get in a parting shot if he wants.

Oh, and make a Listen check for Kaspar at -5 due to the fight.

Retreat Kaspar

Whoops. I knew I'd forget something. Read on for Castille's concentration check. Oh, forget it. The suspense is killing me. He failed. 6 skill levels and he still failed.

Thrusting his hands forward, Castille's spell fizzles in a wonderful display of nothingness. In shock, Castille simply feels the pain of his injury. He then watches as Kaspar attempts an attack. His companion, too, fails. Thrust, thrust again, and neither he nor Kaspar can land a blow.

Mesmerized by their own utter failure, Castille raises his hands in the air, straight up, and then straight forward. This time the spell will follow.

On the spell resistance, he rolls a 10. Damage is 3.

Then, despite Castille's display, Kaspar falls under the dark wings of the fiend. Not out, but severely pained, Kaspar loses his mettle. Holding his rapier up to his face, Kaspar retreats to the northern door. He doesn't leave, but he's trying the doorknob.

Full defense until this thing disappears.

Were You Successful In Casting The Spell?

You just took 9 hit points of damage, and you are casting a 1st level spell. That means that you have to make a COncentration check DC 20. Then you have to beat Spell Resistance 8, which means that you need to roll a 6 on a d20. You do both of those, and then the magic missile will hit.

I already described the fiend's action, and it missed Kaspar. Yes, Kaspar would have gotten in sneak damage.

We have now completed round 4. We begin round 5 with Castille again. This time around a spell will only require beating spell resistance, not a concentration check. Or you could use the spear again.

Then the fiend will go...and I just rolled a 16, with its mods that's another hit. Kaspar will take 6 h.p. of damage.

Assuming Kaspar is still up and attem, he could then attack ending round 5. After round 6 the fiend will disappear.

I Cast Magic Missile at the Darkness!

In Castille's mind there is no longer time for tactics. He simply wants to inflict pain on the creature before it is banished back to the darkest depths of hell. As soon as the fiend turns his back to Castille, the half-elf forges the spear and instead churns the air around him into a magic missile. The fire in Castille's eyes was always there, but now he wields it like a sword. His hands shoot forward, and the energy follows.

That's 3 points of damage on the magic missile spell. As for Kaspar's upcoming action, you'll have to forgive me -- I'm visiting my folks and left my PHB at home. I'll just pose this as a question: Is Kaspar in flanking position? Sneak attack possible? Either way, the half-orc will attack.

No laughs from Kaspar as the fiend's teeth clench air just above his head. No taunts either, as Kaspar has come too close to death too often today. Without more than a grimace of exertion he brings his rapier to bear.

Rolled a 5. Add 4 for Kaspar's stats = 9. No luck today.

"There Is Still Hope"

No, by slid into the wall I mean like the doors on spaceships in Star trek. Sliding. You have an open doorway to the south, and a wooden door to the north, and a five-foot wide hole in the floor also to the north but on the west side of the room. (From which the smell of dried blood issues.)

Sweet roll of 20! Okay, this fiend was summoned by a 6th level caster. That means that after 6 rounds it is gone, vanished back to Hades. However on the bad news side, the caster also had the feat Augment Summoning, which gives the fiend a +4 to Str and Con, which is why it's so fricking tough. Yes, a sneak attack will work on it. You can also tell that this is the hellish version of some evil giant bat. It's alignment is NE if you care (altho that should probably be Knowledge Religion but I'm not picky when it makes no game-stat difference).

Finally you realize that the fiend can't leave this room.

Castille's spear skids off the thing's thick, rubbery skin (natural armor). The giant bat-thing giggles like a demented child as it lashes out again, and this time its fangs catch the half-elf with a wicked gash! (Castille takes 9 h.p. of damage) Kaspar misses, and the fiend booms forth mocking laughter. It spins with a sound like clattering bones, and sets itself up to attack the rogue.

While Castille actually goes, then the fiendish dire bat, then Kaspar, to speed things up I rolled the fiend's attack, and my roll sucked. It misses Kaspar on its 4th attack.

Gnashing its teeth the creature of darkness keeps trying to kill the half-orc, but Kaspar is used to the thing's speed now, and dodges underneath its snapping jaws.

Have Castille act, then Kaspar. That should end round 4. Then have Castille act again, starting the 5th round. If you both are very, very lucky you might bring it down before it vamooses. If you kill it, full x.p. If you hold it off until it's summoning spell winks out, that's still half-xp or more, since the object is to bypass the creature in any way.

The Dice Are Weak With Me

First, the door slid into the wall? Does that mean my only exit is the door on the northern wall -- and not the southern wall where they originally entered? But, yes, Kaspar took a 5-foot step before drinking the potion. The step was north in preparation to flank (his goal from the get-go).

Finally, Castille gets a 20 on his knowledge arcana check. Depending on what knowledge he gains, the following may need modification (to something more like "Run away!" for example).

The fiend's voice is a source of pain in Castille's ears. His spear did not reach deep enough to silence its taunts. Watching Kaspar stagger backwards and drink a potion of healing conjures feelings of both worry and relief. Even so, Castille takes a step back and then drives his weapon forward again. "Miss again, demon, and I'll send you back to the depths of oblivion."

Using yet another action point -- don't worry I'm keeping track -- Castille still only manages a 11. Damage would be 6.

After the fiend finishes, Kaspar shakes off the haze of injury and attempts to reinforce his friend's waning attacks.

Taking another 5-foot step eastward into flanking position, Kaspar readies his rapier and drives it from the floor upward.

Rolled a 4 on his attack. Forget it.

A Stab, A Slash, & Duck

Castille hurts it, and the thing snarls. "How DARE you!" It goes after Castille in the initiative count, so it slashes at him using its once-a-day smite good ability. And I rolled...a 3, with the mods that isn't enough, and its smite attack is wasted. Castille ducks, the rippling evil flying to one side. (I'm tired, I can't get more poetic than that really.)

I'm assuming that Kaspar is taking a 5-foot step either sideways or northwards. (5-foot steps never draw an Attack of Opportunity.) Because if he isn't, i.e. if he is still standing next to it, drinking a potion (a full-round action, but yes you can get a five-foot step with a full-round action) draws an AoO, and you want to give this thing as few shots at you as possible. So I am assuming that you step, drink, and are ready to roll.

However...

Yes, the door you came in is still open, or to be precise, there is no door there any more, it slid back into the stone.

So do you 5-foot step to the side (east), preparing to get some distance and bolt?

Or do you take that 5-foot step to the north, which next round puts you into a position for a 5-foot step to the west, which makes you flank the creature, which gives you sneak attack bonus damage if you hit.

And what is Castille doing? He begins the third round since the creature was summoned. (Make a Knowledge Arcana check.) Castille goes, then this beast, then Kaspar.

Not Enough

Castille peers briefly at Kaspar, down and out once again. He then quickly refocuses on the beast in front of him. "I have no breath to waste on you."

Castille steadies his shortspear, and lunges a direct attack to the torso of the fiend. If magic won't work, the perhaps metal will.

With any luck, Castille's attack will distract the fiend long enough for the barely conscience Kaspar to uncork the potion of cure light wounds. Raising it to his lips, he hopes for a miracle. In his mind, Kaspar knows that the fiend may be the end of him. "Down the hatch."

Castille's attack is a 15 all together, including one action point. If that's a hit, it's worth a mere 2 hp of damage. Kaspar's potion gives him 7 hp back. He's now at 7 hp total. Castille is still at full health -- but I imagine not for long.

Out of curiosity, is the door the team entered through still open?

Aint No "Hmm" About It

The flare of brilliant light arches and pulses, crackling right where the thing's head is forming. It blasts against the top of the form, little rivulets of unrelenting light - that pulsate in frustration as the fiend attempts to resist them!

(The fiend has spell resistance 8, that would mean rolling a d20 and adding your level to get an 8 or better if you want this to work. Except that the fiend also has blindsight, so it doesn't matter.)

The creature is moving even before it fully forms. It is of a bat-shape, but one with a wingspan of seven and a-half feet. A breath of sulphur and decay emanates from it sharp teeth, and its reddish hellfire eyes wince at your spell. But its wide, obsidian ears swivel directly at you, and you can tell that it does not need its eyes to find you, not in a room this small in any event.

"You knew, mortal flesh," it grates in a voice that sounds like a thousand dirty knives skittering down a slate of chalk. "You knew that this was not your place, and yet you came."

A wing swings out, catching Kaspar in the chest with a sickening crunch. Flimsy it looks, but it is not. Kaspar takes...(oh my) 10 hit points of damage. The alchemist's fire that he had been preparing is dashed into a corner, where it merrily burns against the wall, making mocking shadows. (How's that for explaing your natural 1?)

"You are food," the creature laughs. Its skin ripples, and you feel its evil rising, like a dying man preparing to choke on his own vomit. "Foolish, foolish food." Its forked tongue licks out, tasting the air that is ripe with your sweat.

Hmm... I think they'll fight

Kaspar scores a 12 on his initiative; Castille a natural 20 + 6 = 26.

Castille steps into the room with the sunrod just as Kaspar's face is once again succumbing to the terror of what is manifesting in front on him. But thinking quickly, Castille moves in front of his companion, determined to prove his worth -- and to take responsibility for his optimism.

"Be gone. You are conjured from the beyond, and I will send you back!" Castille shouts and then quickly casts a Flare spell.

After the fiend unleashes its misery, though, Kaspar steps to the right of Castille. "You owe me nothing friend. Besides if you die here today, I'm merely next in line."

Sidenote: I have no clue what a fiend actually is. It's been a while since I perused the monster manual. Is it even a solid being, or should I really be panicking?

Hoping that Castille's spell was enough to draw the fiend's attention, Kaspar will run around to the back of the creature -- attempting some sort of flank. Once there, or rather if he completes the dash, he will remove a flask of alchemist's fire and hurl it at his foe.

Kaspar targets the fiend directly, and rolls a... oh, this is bad... natural 1 + modifiers that I'm guessing won't matter = a craptastic result on his throwing check. Missed by 5 feet, short and right. I'd appreciate it if you came up with some other explanation as to why Kaspar botched the throw then a simple but tremendous "whiff." Perhaps the fiend interfered?

There Doesn't Seem To Be...Oh, There Is

Kaspar fiddles and faddles, pokes and squints. Nothing. No tripwires, no weighted edges, no poison-smeared blades, no pressure plates, nada.

As he stands up to pronounce it clean, Castille chants. Detect Magic it is.

Signs and portents, symbols and formulae, all flash through Castille's mind. He concentrates. One round passes. Then two. He sees the place flicker with lights. Hooded figures walking backwards. The sun sets backwards. Time...time flows, bends back...shows him. (Whoa, I rolled a 19 on the Spellcraft check for you.)

In his mind's eye, Castille sees a man - a human, striped to the waist. Very little of his skin shows unmarked, he is covered with scars, many of them self-inflicted, and bizarre tattoos depicting the symbol of the cult of the dragon below, fire, death, and divine magic. There are also formulae marking etched into this man's skin with a tattoo that glows only at midnight. There are things there that speak of other realms, and only a trained check in Knowledge the Planes could tell you what they mean. Castille sees this man, this dark servant, years ago, before the Last War even, cackling in his madness, placing a bit of his own life-force here to guard this portal. This portal, this door, was drawn forth as one piece from the elemental plane of earth. castille sees the door grow, form, and fit. Then he sees the tattoos on the man's skin rise up - hovering in the air. A divination. A hole that is not completely filled in. A sensor.

Castille gasps, letting the spell go. He returns to the here and now, the smelly sewer, the half-orc companion. His mouth tastes far to dry.

"A detect evil spell above the door," he gasps. "If someone not evil walks through, a fiend from another realm is summoned to fight them!" What sort of fiend, you don't know. (No ranks in Knowledge the Planes.)

You don't have enough ranks in Disable Device to undo this spell trap, even with the masterwork thief tools. (Taking 20 on the Disable Device would only give you a 27 with the tools, and the DC is just above that.)You're going to have to grit your teeth and bear it. You said that Kaspar will scan the area and go in, and then Castille. I'm sending you a map in paitnbrush of the area. It's a 20x20 room with an open hole in the far left corner (from which a smell of drying blood issues) and a regular door in the far right corner.

As Kaspar steps across the threshold he feels a shiver come down his spine, and a voice whispers madness and promises pain.

The darkness is banished as Castille comes in the room, but it does not leave. Droplets of it flee, strike the walls, and run down like melting wax. The droplets then run together in the center of the floor, and a thing rises out of them...

Everyone roll intiative.

UPDATE: Its initiative is 15.

Pause and Proceed

Hmm... a broad hint from the GM. I better do something.

Kaspar will check the door for traps with a result of 14. Not great, but there it is.

Castille, though will also cast Detect Magic towards the door and whatever is beyond.

With their safety at least somewhat in order, the team will push the door completly open. Castille will stand back a ways with the sunrod. At first, Kaspar will use his darkvision to scan the area before proceeding in. After a brief moment, Castille will follow with the sunrod to better illuminate the danger to come.

A Breath Of Foul Air

The pitons holding the door in place recede with a prominent click, and little hisses of air escape the door. Apparently it was pressurized. The air smells rank and metallic, like drying blood.

Something makes Kaspar's neck hairs stand up. Something foul is beyond that door. Castille feels it too, as some unknown racial memory stirs within him.

Anything else you want to do before pushing the door open?

Just Give Me a Second

I don't have a lot of time to write a post tonight, but I figure something is better than nothing.

First, as for Kaspar's Fortitude check, he scores a 15 -- still enough to overcome the penalty I presume.

When the beast goes down, Kaspar is still swinging at the tentacles and stomping his feet, yelling. When the beast begins to slither down into the muck in agony, Kaspar leans out over that catwalk a continues his rage. Only when the last tentacle splashes disappointedly into the sewage does Kaspar give one final "Yah" and come to rest on his knees. He then looks in Castille's direction.

"Are you alright?"

Castille, at the same time, "Are you alright, Kaspar?"

They stare at each other. Neither one quite grasps the reality of the other's situation. But eventually, Castille shoulders his crossbow and points over the other. "There's a door here. It's locked. I was hoping you could get us the hell out of here."

Breathing hard, Kaspar's chest is visibly moving in and out. "Yeah. Sure." Then, raising a finger in the air and finally rolling off of his knees in exhaustion, Kaspar continues, "Just give me a moment."

Eventually, Kaspar rises, moves in front of Castille, and begins work on the door.

An Open Lock check with Kaspar's masterwork set of tools, results in a 26. Yeesh.

Looks Like The GM Needs A Sparkly Die

I liked the color for Castille. :-) There actually was a Dragon magazine article about encouraging PCs to do stuff like that some issues back. It makes the game more interesting.

Anyway, ichorish jets of putrid blood stain the already foul sewer waters as the aberration takes a nasty hit from the crossbow bolt. At this point the GM rolls a morale check...and succeeds. The sewer-thing is in a fight to the finish!

Kaspar's antics continue to work. Two tentacles come slashing towards him! And...miss. And...miss. (I rolled a 2 and a 4. Time for me to break out the sparkly die.)

Kaspar strikes! Yes that's a hit! Enough to kill another tentacle. And given that thing thing had only 3 points left, the loss of the second tentacle overwhelms it with pain, shock, and blood (ichor?) loss. It spasms and dies, and its corpse is swept away by the flow. (It had no treasure.)

Hooray! You win. Except that in a minute or so you have to make another Fort DC 12 save. The creature's poison does a d4 Charisma damage. (You recover damaged ability points at the rate of one per day of rest, or through lesser restoration magic.) So if you fail the save, your sense of character is sapped, you can roll the d4. It doesn't matter so much at this point. Had you gotten down to Cha 0, you would have dropped catatonic, i.e. helpless according to the ability damage rules of the DMG. (And then this thing would have swam over to you and used it's ridges of teeth on a helpless opponent for a coup de grace attack. Yuck.) The actual physical stats of the creature made it somewhere between a CR 1 and a CR 2, especially with such a poor armor class. But with 3 attacks per round, and facing one opponent whose Charisma was pretty low to start, I figured it should be a CR 2. So it's a CR 2. Congratulations, that's 300 x.p. for each of you. (Insert theme song to The Jefferson's - We're a movin' on up!) I'm not that worried about Kaspar's Charisma ability damage at this point, but make the rolls and keep track of it if necessary.

Now, Castille has found a hidden door that Kaspar hasn't looked over yet. (And if I recall, the door was locked as well.) What's next?

To Help Each Other

Kaspar comes out with a 17 on his Fortitude check (because I changed to the sparkly die I'm sure).

Castille exercises steely resolve as he reloads his light crossbow. He ignores Kaspar's yelps -- or rather he hears them but chooses to attack rather than exhibit any sympathy. While Kaspar is angry with Castille for dragging him into endless danger, Castille was not unaffected by the sight of his friend's body limp under the hands of Fast Eddie.

Raising the crossbow to his shoulder once again, Castille seems to pray. In reality he recites an elvish poem interwoven with magical incantations in order to calm his nerves and steady his hand. "To protect..." he mutters and pulls the trigger, slowly, smoothly.

Some of the above is obviously just color. Regardless, Castille scores a 19 (Rolled a 15 +1 for masterwork bolt +3 =19). Damage is 5.

Kaspar, meahwhile, is indeed yelping. At the top of his lungs. The anger in his chest is not enough to quell his desire to draw the monster's attention away from Castille. Dodging two tentacles, lopping off the thrid, Kaspar will not stop. He again brings his blade to bear against the aberration. Yelling, shouting, stomping his feet.

Behold the power of the sparkly die. Kaspar gets a 21. Damage is a 10. I think I just used up all of my good D&D karma.

Parry! Joust! Riposte! Strike! Broccoli Sandwhich! (What?)

So you noticed...

...with your spot check that the tentacles are excreting a gritty slime - an injury poison to be precise.

Confused about initiative

I'm a bit confused, I had thought it was Castilel at 21 in the initiative count, the sewer aberration at 13, and Kaspar at 8? This would mean that the aberration comes swimming in, but Kaspar made the spot check, so no surprise. Initiative gets rolled, Castille goes first, decides to look about since he isn't threatened at the moment, and finds the hidden door. The aberration then completes a mvoe action, and lashes out with one tentacle. It missed. Kaspar then slashed with his rapier, rolling a 4 and missing, and as a move-equiv action he threw a stone to the side, which didn't fool the creature, but did establish that the thing has tremorsense.

Now we start the next combat round. You posted Kaspar's action then Castille's. Shouldn't it be Castille, aberration, then Kaspar? I might have missed something or not made something clear, or maybe just for the sake of economy you're telling me what you would do.

Whatever, I'll just assume that Castille goes first, then the aberration, then Kaspar, and you posted Kaspar to speed things along. If I made a mistake we'll just rewind and play again, it isn't something that we can't work around.

Anyway...

So you didn't get the Knowledge Dungeoneering check. Oh well.

Results of Castille's Action

So Castille isn't moving, just loading and firing the crossbow? Smart. The body of the thing is AC 13 (+1 natural, +1 dex, +1 size). 7 points of damage hurts it badly.

The Aberration's Action

It smarts, but it can take a licking and keep on ticking. For a little longer anyway. It lashes all three tentacles at Kaspar. (With the multiattack feat, that's a +1, +1, -2.) The first one...misses. The second one...hits. You take 2 h.p. bludgeoning damage and you have to make a Fortitude Save DC 12. (And another one in a few minutes.) The third one...misses.

Kaspar's Action

"Kaspar continues to run away from Castille."

Okay, that draws an attack of opportunity then. The tentacle...misses. Then a Sense Motive against your action (no need for you to roll a bluff check, I'm counting the sensory data of Kaspar running as a base DC of 15, made to 13 because of his low Cha.) And I rolled...a 1! (So much for online dice rollers, most of my rolls are single digits. Time to go back to the 'lucky d20.) Well, this thing has near-animal intelligence anyway.

An attack roll of 14. Well, if it's body is size small and that's 13, then the tentacles which are one size lower will have an AC of 14. So you hit. Damage 9 is reduced to 5, but the tentacle gets lopped off and splashes into the water. The thing burbles angrily. (Hey, let's say that you got the tentacle that hit you!) The aberration cannot make 3 attacks per round anymore.

Next Round

Now figure out Castille's action and roll. I'm making a morale check anyway for this creature, so if Castille does it even more damage I'll up the morale check DC.

If I screwed up on the initative thing, pop me an email and we'll sort this out.

"Don't Worry Castille, I Got It!"

Checks

Neither Castille or Kaspar have any knowledge ranks in dungeoneering. As for the requested rolls: Kaspar's bluff check is a 0 (rolled a 2); his spot check, though, is a 17.

Actions

Perhaps the monster flinched at Kaspar's rock, but it surely didn't take the bait. Now accepting his fate, Kaspar continues his run away from Castille. With no worry as to the amount of noise he's making, the half-orc tries to draw the tentacles away from his companion. Then, using his rapier, he slices at the nearest tentacle screaming, "This is not the day to come after me you filthy sewer hag. Ahhhh!"

And it's Kaspar's yell that prompts Castille. Turning away from his investigative work, Castille's eyes open wide -- they look as two moons on a dark night. He readies his crossbow, a masterwork bolt already cocked, and takes careful aim at the creature's body. Concentrating, he lets loose his weapon and then prepares himself for retaliation.

Meanwhile, as Kaspar is busy swinging wildly at any tentacle that comes near him. Castille can see him on the other end of the catwalk. The half-orc seems to be taking on the creature single-handedly. He shouts to Castille, "Keep quiet. Don't make any loud moves. It can feel your footsteps." Finally, with a two rapid swings at the nearest tentacle, he adds, "You better come up with some brilliant plan wonder-boy. It's been a rough night, you know."

Kaspar scores an 8 on his attack roll. Using an action point, the total rises to 14 (the d6 likes me). In case that's a hit, damage is 9 (but reduced, I know, because it's only a tentacle). Castille gets a 17 on his crossbow shot, with a damage of 7 to the creature's body.

Well Then!

Castille

(I really don't know what Castille's bonus is on Search except for his +1 racial and his circumstantial bonus for looking in the right place. They're enough between them.)

Trusting his burly companion to deal with the thing in the muck, Castille focuses, gently touching the crusted wall...and finds a straight line, and another, and then one atop. "A hidden door!" he whispers. He is not a dwarf and has no relevant craft checks or ranks in knowledge architecture and engineering, but he can quickly see two things. One, this is old. Two, it isn't dwarf-make or else he wouldn't have found it without taking twenty.

Castille finds the 'doorknob' as well, a recessed square that's about two and a-half feet off the ground. (That's oddly low for a six-foot high door.) Unfortunately the it seems to be series of pins. To get it open without a key will require either an Open Lock check DC 12 or an Intelligence check DC 18. Castille is unable to find anything else distinguishable about the lock.

He does find that funky symbol down low on one corner of the door that you found in earlier posts. the symbol of the Dragon Below cult.

The Aberration

It already moved this turn, so it can't attack with all three tentacles. The foremost tentacle goes whistling through the air...and Kaspar ducks. (I rolled a 2, I have got to get another die.) Next round it will be able to attack with all 3 tentacles.

For this combat the aberattion's initiative is 13.

Kaspar

Actually, throwing that rock was not such a bad idea. You see one tentacle follow it, and (I made the Wisdom check for you, the DC was 10 and you made it) you intuivtively realize that this thing has tremorsense. You slash at the tentacles with your rapier...and you said you rolled a 4? Forget it.

Combat note: This thing has reach, so if you are attacking it from 2 squares away, you can only hit the tentacles. That means that you are coping with the dex and natural armor bonus, which isn't much, but the size bonus, which is considerably more. The tentacles alone are considered tiny. The creatures body, from what you can see of it, is halfling-sized. That means you have a better chance by 1 to hit the body. Also, each tentacles ahs a maximum amount of hp damage that it can take before being severed, whereas you can give full damage to the body.

2 More rolls for Kaspar:

Make a bluff check for throwing the stone. (I allowed it along with your rapier strike because it is a move-equiv action.) Essentially you are bluffing the creature as if you are feinting in combat. If the creature falls for the feint (rolling its BAB + any ranks in Sense Motive) then one tentacle will attack the rock that you threw.

Make a Spot check at -2 when the tentacle zips past Kaspar, he might ntoice something about it.

Final note

Do either of you have ranks in Knowledge Dungeoneering? It helps with figuring out stuff about aberrations, but not untrained.

More Slime

Checks

Castille will ignore the swamp beast for now and take 10 on his search check. On initiative, though, he comes up with a 21. Kaspar, an 8.

Actions

Castille uses his action to complete his search of the mysterious corner. Kaspar, however, is not so lucky.

Shaking his head, Kaspar looks on in silent horror as the slimy tentacles emerge from the water. At first, the half-orc tries to stay calm. "If I don't move, he won't see me. Maybe the thing is just moving through." But as the tentacles near his body, hope turns to action and he raises his rapier.

Before taking a swing though, Kaspar attempts to buy even a couple seconds of time. He picks up whatever piece of rock he can find and throws it over the water to the other catwalk. If the beast doesn't react, though, Kaspar will slice at the nearest tentacle and begin to run down the catwalk, east and away from Castille.

I know I'll need some sort of roll here, depending on the monster's reaction. The die comes up a 4. Great.

Spot No Evil, Listen For No Evil, Search For (etc.)

Your Knowledge Arcana check, your Spot checks, and your Listen checks, all go nowhere.

You do need Balance checks, but fairly low DCs, and you can take 10 when you are not being threatened or distracted. (Hee hee hee)

The water is cold along your ankles, and it feels dirty. It may be mostly rainwater, but it's still slimy with dirt. It's dark, too. It's muddiness could easily hide something.

You step out to the other side and move towards the low-hanging pipes and stuff that obscures that corner. Castille easily spots a human-foot-sized depression in the dirt on the catwalk. But there seems to only be a blank wall...

(Castille needs to make a Search check, he gets a +4 circumstantial bonus on it.)

It is very wise of Kaspar to keep an eye behind him, especially since your Move Silently checks weren't so hot. (I rolled them for you.) A dark blob comes swimming over from one end of the pipe. (The grates will stop people your size but not necessarily something long and wriggly or jellyfish-like.)

His darkvision easly picks up the movement, and then he sees three long tentacles snaking out of the water and reaching for him...

Roll for initiative.

More Stellar Rolling

Checks

Castille's knowledge arcana roll comes up 5+2=7. Meanwhile, I'm guessing there will be some sort of balance checks coming up. To save time, here's a couple of dice rolls taken in order, Castille then Kaspar: 3/5. Plug the numbers into whatever checks you see fit. I'm hoping they're listen checks because otherwise I'll take 10.

Action

Both characters will indeed traverse the submerged steps and climb onto the far catwalk.

I have this aching suspicion that these action will turn horribly wrong. But just in case...

Once on the northern catwalk, Castille will take the lead and the team will head westward. After reaching the "obstruction," Castille will hold up the sunrod to illuminate it as best he can. Meanwhile, Kaspar has his back to Castille and is busy keeping a lookout for some evil trailing behind.

Watch Your Step

You don't have the track skill, but a brief roll on "The-GM-doesn't-want-to-bother-looking-up-an-untrained-survival-check-rule" table assures you that there was one kobold who came back and forth a few times to continue looting the body that was once here. (One of the first worker's corpses that you found.) Other than that - nothing. No sign of Fast Eddie. How odd. (Make a Knowledge Arcana check DC 20)

"Once into the main east/west pipe, Kaspar will take a quick scan of the area and then of the catwalk across the way. " (It looks like you weren't Searching in the N/S feeder pipe, just taking 10 on Spot and Survival, so nothing else shows up in the N/S tunnel. It also looks like you are taking 20 on your Search check in the E/W tunnel, something that you did not do in this part of the tunnel last time. If I am misreading this let me know and roll up some checks, Listen, Spot, Search, etc.)

Incidentally the data on the area can be found at some old posts here and here.

Your are currently near the east end of the east-west pipe. The pipe has a five-foot wide catwalk on its north side and its south side. You have been here before, on the catwalk you are on now, the catwalk on the south side. (The kobold had rigged a trap on it that you disabled.) There is a set of angled feeder pipes in the ceiling to the west that begin this pipe's "water" flow from west to east, and a thick grate at the east end of this pipe that allows the water to flow eastward out of the story into the swamps outside the city.

What taking 20 on your Search check allows you to find are some submerged steps, on this side and on the other side. This will enable you to avoid going hip-deep, as these steps are for maintenance. (Anyway the flow level has lessened since a morning rain so it is actually at a lower water level than when you where last here hours ago.)

A paintbrush map is on its way via email. If you think the description above isn't clear enough please feel free to post it.

We're Walking...

Castille, in fact, is using a sunrod that I forgot to list amongst the gear I purchased last post. So that would cost an additional 1.8gp. Or, if you're feeling strict, he'll use one of his torches.

Leaving the caltrops and other remains behind, the team will head north. If either can keep track of the kobold's footprints, then they'll simply attempt to keep and eye on them to make sure that one set doesn't turn into two.

Once into the main east/west pipe, Kaspar will take a quick scan of the area and then of the catwalk across the way. He will make an attempt to determine what the best path across is. Once determined, the two will indeed cross the sewer water to the catwalk.

I'm assuming they'll be some rolling going on here. But the plan is to then follow the catwalk to wherever it leads. Could you also please give another description of the catwalk itself. I'm a bit confused as to how far it extends and in what direction. Thanks Charles.

That's Odd

You drop down the manhole and head north. (I sent you a paintbrush map.) To the south is where you battled Fast Eddie, to the north should be the main east-west pipe that had the rigged catwalk and the first couple of bodies that you found.

(The caltrops are still to the south but scattered, you can waste time picking them up and trying to to get pricked by the poison if you want, I wouldn't bother.)

Now that Kaspar is conscious, he can see the distance from the manhole opening to the main east-west pipe quite easily with his darkvision (what's Castille using?). It is roughly 45 feet from where you drop down into the sewers to where this pipe empties out to the main east-west pipe.

Kaspar can easily see footprints...kobold footprints. Left in the muck from when he was looting the bodies. You don't have any ranks in Survival or Knowledge Dungeoneering, but you are reasonably confident that the prints are that of the kobold that you slew.

But...where are Fast Eddie's footprints?

He fled north, and he didn't go up the manhole to the street or else he would have been arrested...

This Time They'll Come Prepared

Shopping

With their 200gp, Castille and Kaspar will purchase 2 acid flasks, 2 alchemists' fire flasks, and 2 cure minor wounds potions for a total of 134gp. Although it may be unwise to ignore what could be a hint from the GM, they'll leave the rather pricey raft behind. Instead, Castille will pick up 5 masterwork crossbow bolts. In all, the crew spends 159gp. Hopefully Castille will find some additional loot enough to buy his spell components later. For now, his major concern is living through another go at spelunking.

Action

Castille eyes his new ammunition while Kaspar continues to ponder how he got out of the sewers alive. The half-orc is pensive. He looks up at the evening sky and then back to the shopkeeper counting the money stacked on the countertop.

"Is anyone else tired of cleaning up these godforsaken sewers?" Kaspar asks the still idealistic half-elf.

"Come on Kaspar. You're as fit as you ever were. And besides, there are wives still husband-less. I will not stand by and let them cry another tear unless I'm held up in a hospital bed.

"Don't look at me like that. Lets take a look down that manhole again. I'm curious to see what possible path Fast Eddie took on his way out."

"You're enthusiasm don't count for much with me anymore, Castille. But have it your way. I'll be right behind you -- this time you can lead the way and explore all those dark corners."

Descending the same manhole they recently climbed out of, the team will opt to further explore the pipe that Edward was in. With any luck it will be a quick search. If so, they'll venture off to the catwalk just north of the main east/west pipe.

A Shopping We Will Go

Well, you didn't diplomacy any free stuff, but you do have access to stores and whatnot. As a bonus, due to your fame you get 10% off the listed price in the PHB. Feel free to buy what you want from the prices listed there.

Potions of healing are not in the PHB. I'll give you these prices:

Cure Minor Wounds Pill (only does 1 hp of healing but that's enough to stabilize a dying person or treat caltrop wounds and the like), weight negligible, price 40 g.p.

Cure light wounds potion d8+3, weight 0.5 pounds, price 200 g.p. (normally it is 300)

Masterwork crossbow bolts will be made available to you for 5 g.p. apiece, see PHB for weight. (Normal price is just over 7 g.p. a piece.)

Inflatable raft, weight 5 pounds, cost 85 g.p. (You pull a tab and then blow into tubes. It carries three medium-sized creatures comfortably.)

DEBT: Your personal reputation will allow the two of you to be jointly in debt for 150 g.p. worth of purchases. After two days if you don't pay the interest kicks in, and you can't leave the city until the last of the principal is paid off.

NOTE: Scowlen has given you one Cure Light Woudns Potion and a one-time use chime of opening.

Nothing is left from Fast Eddie's shop that hasn't be seized for evidence or by an angry crowd.

It is now 3 PM, there's 3.5 hours of daylight left once you are done shopping. What do you want to do?

A Quick Prelude

Checks

The spot check is bad: a natural 1. Let's just say that Castille is more concerned with Kaspar's bleeding body then where Fast Eddie is off to for now.

Later, Castille also misses his diplomacy check with a result of 13 -- well short of the 20 he needed. Not a good day for rolls evidently. Both also fail the Diplomacy check with Sir Kaifell (rolling a 4 and then a 5). That's it, I'm using a different online dice roller from now on. Irony.com is out to get me.

Action

I'll keep this one short and out of character, Charles. I want to equip before heading off to the sewers again. If any of the shop keepers are still open, I'd like to try and buy at least another sunrod, another healing potion or two, and whatever I can come up with in the way of grenade-like weapons (preferably acid flasks, alchemist's fire, and the like). Let's not get ridiculous with the price, however. I don't want to break the bank, and Castille needs to save at least 100gp to buy magical components enough to cast a familiar when he's got a day to waste.

Any other interesting magic potions would definitely catch my interest as well. In fact, I'd like to see what Fast Eddie had laying around his shop. If he didn't clear it out before fleeing, then I'll take what I can.

Part 2

You shove Kaspar ahead of you, amid much consternation and yelling. The yelling turns to ecstatic screaming as Praime appears, waving, then Merrrick, and finally you. An adept rushes over and lays hands on Kaspar and then Castille. You both are restored to full hit points.

(I've already sent you via email the quest xp for the two live men you brought back.)

Officers of the watch surround you, and Scowlen comes running. Sgt Einian is not there, true to what Fast Eddie told you, Einian has been taken in by the Duke's personal retinue on charges of corruption. A man in late middle age but wearing breastplate armor interrogates you. He is Sir Kaifell, and he has been ordered to oversee a cleanup of the corruption in the city. He is gruff, stony, and yet appreciative.

The kobold's corpse is produced with the fingers and whatnot. The crowd becomes delirious with joy. True to the reward, Kaspar and Castille get 200 gp (that's 100 each) for stopping the fingerer. (I actually forgot to give you quest xp for that, you'll find that in the next email.) Sir Kaifell and Scowlen also listen to the details of your encounter with FE in the sewers. FE is indeed on the run. Sir K wants to dismiss a lot of what FE said as
self-serving poppycock, but Scowlen warns the elder knight that FE had no reason to lie.

Scowlen then tells you that arrests, sucicdes, and the burning of records are indeed taking place. There are only three electors left who have not either killed themselves, been killed by unknowns or angry mobs, or have not fled. Elector Snivlet, Elector Raschkama, and Elector Tamany all have empty file folders, ashes in the fireplaces, and are painting themselves as innocent dupes and others as ringleaders. One thing is for sure, one of them has great power in the city, and is some kind of secret kingpin.

Sir Kaifell hears your remarks about the possible Dragon Below cult, and tells you to kill any cult members that you find. He also reminds you that 7 men are still down there, including the shifter foreman. Despite the fact that the sun sinks to the western sky, he wants you to go back in. (And he is in no mood to argue.)

Scowlen gives you a potion of cure light wounds (d8+3) and a chime of opening with one charge in it. (He takes the flash-bang back since you didn't use it.) Is Castille makes a Diplomacy check DC 20, Scowlen will give him a special crossbow bolt. (Obviously Kaspar isn't making a Diplomacy check DC 20 anytime soon.)

If either Kaspar or Castille make a Diplomacy check DC 15 with Sir K, then he will offer you one of two men to accompany you for a few hours under the city. If both of you fail, then Sir K thinks that he needs his men and does not spare them.

(Note: The DM is not slipping in a ringer. You have the choice to tough it out, and split the xp and treasure 2 ways, or try for the third guy. One is a ranger, and the other is a druid, both NG and level 2.)

Make your rolls, post, let me know what's up.

"Another Day Then."

(Nitpick: There is no saving throw for magic missile.)

The dart of light flashes and slams into Edward Rendell. Smoke appears on the man's skin, and he turns and eyes the half-elf. "So that's your game!" he snarls. "And I foolosihly thought that you were regular infantry!"

Fast Eddie's action is to withdraw, moving quickly he disappears from view. (Note: Have Castille make a spot check DC 20. Should he make it, have him make a spellcraft check DC 15.)

Praime actually is the one with ranks in Heal. (That was the setup, by healing him you opened up the possibility for him healing you.) It takes him 2 rounds to get up there...Kaspar's at -7, he makes the Heal check...and fails, Kaspar is at -8, Praime makes the Heal check...and succeeds.
Fast Eddie is long gone. No the DM is not copping out, Fast Eddie is a Rog 3/Ftr 1/Expert 1 (currently). I had no intention of you facing him now (altho if you had managed to beat him, more power to you), this was just the DM setting up an old enemy storyline for the future. (And Fast Eddie doesn't know what else Castille can do, but he does not want to find out at the moment.)

Limping and squinting, you four men shuffle to the manhole, undo an obstruction that F.E. had put there, and step up into the light...

(More to come in the next post.)