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Post by Rabbit on Jun 1, 2010 12:06:34 GMT -5
[This is a handout I will also have at the table tonight, but wanted to give you a chance to look it over ahead of time. Feel free to discuss (in or out of character) in this thread. This info is from some of the documents you were able to salvage from Mid-Gate's library.]
From the unpublished works of Professor Skoko, Scholar of Mid-Gate.
Ash Mountain is a cornerstone of one of Salas’ many fairy tales. In the native goblin tongue the volcano is named “the Mouth of Erythnul.” According to natives the eruptions are no less than their god’s vicous laughter. It is my belief that the hag, Black Agnes has made her home here, within “the Mouth of Erythnul.” Should she be able to survive (and even rule over) this hazardous province she would be well fortified and all the more respected/ feared by the natives of Salas.
The mouth is said to be guarded by Erythnul himself or more specifically, parts of him.
The Tongue of Erythnul:
Erythnul’s tongue rests within the entrance’s gate. It is said to devour any who anger Erythnul. The tongue is always described in the plural and the sundering of one tongue is said to bring about more. “Frozen Frost upon a severed tongue, then no more shall come.” Another popular phrase says, “Only when The Horde acts together may they overcome the Tongue of Erythnul.” This suggests a theme of unity and team work which is rare for the followers of Erythnul.
The Breath of Erythnul:
“Hoisted upon the hot breath of Erythnul rides The Slayer.” I am not sure if this information suggests another guardian or merely religious rhetoric. Apparently, Erythnul’s breath alone is enough to kill.
The Voice of Erythnul:
The voice of Erythnul is the voice of “the many,” “The Horde,” and the insane masses. That reoccurring theme is clear enough. The voice of Erythnul is believed to come from deeper within, the ‘throat’ if you wish to stay with the oral analogy. To even hear his voice is to succumb to madness and be devoured.
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Post by reefwood on Jun 1, 2010 14:18:05 GMT -5
[OOC: This reminds me of the "tests" at the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
I wonder what the tongues could be? Sounds like cold is the way to beat them, which makes sense for something inside a volcano, but Jholmyr doesn't have anything that does cold damage.
The breath could be volcanic gas. Either something toxic or painfully hot to breath or both?
The voice might just be super loud volcano sounds? Or maybe some kind of magic roar?
EDIT: Can anyone cast silence? I don't know how long it lasts, and it wouldn't be the best idea to always be shrouded in silence, but it could be handy for this if we can figure out the location of the roar. Or as a worse resort, a thunderstone can deafen us...for an hour? Not that Jholmyr has one, but maybe someone else?
Bumping up our saving throws might help with the last two things. Jholmyr has a cloak of resistance +1 and a pretty good Fort & Ref but not so hot Will.]
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Post by Rabbit on Jun 2, 2010 12:34:38 GMT -5
Good job everyone. Level up to 9th! Please post your character's or links to them including gold and equipment.
Here are the items taken from Ash Mountain. You can use this thread to discuss distribution and questions about items you might be thinking about shopping for.
“trophy room”
Long Sword magic +1
Short Composit Bow (+1 str) magic +1
Sythe** magic +2
Light Woods Shield magic +1
Heavy Steel Shield of Fortification (magic) This is the one Johlmry has been using.
Heavy Steel Shield magic +1
Buckler of Fire Resistance (magic)
Full suit of Elven Chain
“Black Agnes’ laboratory”
Scrolls:
-Chill Touch
-Remove Curse
-Ray of Enfeeblement
-Animate Dead* (x3)
80 unworked gems (Black Onyx) {worth 25 gp each/ total 8,000 gp}
Alchemist’s Fire (x5)
Acid Vials (x3)
Flask of Carrion Crawler Brain Juice [x1 dose] (poison, DMG 297)
“golem’s grave robbing”
100 Black Onyx Gems from dead bugbears {worth 25 gp each/ 2,500 gp}
“inside the footlocker”
Helmet of Wisdom (+4 wisdom, works as a ‘periphat of wisdom’ except includes armor proficency requirements [must be proficient in medium armor])
Portrait of Young ‘Noble’ in outdated style of dress.
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Post by reefwood on Jun 2, 2010 14:12:24 GMT -5
Good job everyone. Level up to 9th! Please post your character's or links to them including gold and equipment You mean 10th level, right?
Decided to figure out the price and weight of each item from the trophy room. +1 Long Sword (magic +1) (4 lb; 2,315 gp) +1 Short Composite Bow (+1 str) (magic +1) (3 lb; 2,450 gp) +2 Scythe (magic +2) (10 lb; 2,318 8,318 gp) +1 Light Woods Shield (magic +1) (5 lb; 1,153 gp) Heavy Steel Shield of Fortification (magic) (15 lb; 1,170 gp) +1 Heavy Steel Shield (magic +1) (15 lb; 1,170 gp) Buckler of Fire Resistance (magic) (5 lb; 18,165 gp) Full suit of Elven Chain (20 lb; 4,150 gp) Usually a magic armor/shield or weapon needs to have a +1 magic enhancement bonus before receiving a special ability, but are we going with the often used house rule that this doesn't have to be the case? The reason I ask is because a Heavy Steel Shield of Fortification and Buckler of Fire Resistance usually have to be a +1 Heavy Steel Shield and +1 Buckler before receiving Fortification or Fire Resistance The prices above do not include a +1 magic enhancement bonus, but if they are supposed to have this, the heavy shield goes up +3,000 gp, and the buckler goes up by +1,000 gp. Also, Fortification has three different levels - light, moderate, heavy - each of which does a better job of resisting critical hits and sneak attacks. Is this light? I assumed so for the price listed above. Moderate would increase the price by +8,000 gp. Heavy would increase the price by +24,000 gp. And a noteworthy thing I realize now is that mithral reduces the armor check penalty based on the stats of a mundane item. For some reason I thought that when the "armor check penalties are lessened by 3 (to a minimum of 0)" it came off the stats of a masterwork item. Mundane chainmail has an armor check penalty of -5. Masterwork chainmail has an armor check penalty of -4. I used to think that mithral chainmail (elven chain) had an armor check penalty of -1 (3 less than the -4 of masterwork), but now I see that it has an armor check penalty of -2 (which is obviously 3 less than the -5 of mundane). This is particularly important because Jholmyr has mithral breastplate which it turns out actually has an armor check penatly of -1 and not the -0 that it currently lists. Not a huge difference, but important, and luckily, he still would have tumbled away safely from the troll hag last night.
Are these scrolls arcane or divine? This might matter in terms of prohibited schools.
So that's 10,500 4,500 gp in onyx. I would normally ask how many we should keep, but I know it is used to animate dead, so... Eldrick probably wouldn't want them? Can he roll Know(arcana) or Spellcraft to see if they are used for other types of magic? And are gems treated just like coins in this campaign? As in, you trade them in for full value? As long as you can find someone willing to accept gems. My paladin dwarf used to carry cheap gems instead of coins cos he liked the shiny like that, but that was more for flavor and the gems came out of his starting wealth, not stuff found along the way. A standard Periapt of Wisdom +4 costs 16,000 gp, but this one might be cheaper because it has a restriction? Or more expensive? I don't know if there is any way for us to know this right now but thought it was worth mentioning.
Jholmyr could make good use of the weapons and shields, especially to diversify his fighting style, but we're probably better off selling most of them. His main weapon and focus is the spiked chain which is good for reach and fighting lots of baddies. He has a +1 spiked chain and cold iron spiked chain. He got a +1 greatsword in the the random magic item starting cache that would be good against a single big baddie, especially one without reach, or if it has reach, then with Jholmyr enlarged to also have reach. His weak point, like Darven, is AC. Only 19. Dodge gives him +1 against 1 enemy, and Combat Expertise can give him up +5 more against everyone but at the cost of an equivalent penalty to attack. A shield would help boost AC when needed, and he has a couple mundane one-handed weapons to use with the shield. Keeping all this in mind, the +1 Heavy Steel Shield is his #1 pick for an item. That is a +3 shield bonus to AC that he can use with a one-handed weapon. And his next step (which I don't know when it will be possible) would be to turn it into an Animated shield, so he could use it with the chain or greatsword too. This has a +2 price bonus, so it will cost +8,000 gp (turning a +1 price bonus item into a +3 price bonus item), and going with the standard rules, it requires a 12th level caster and 8 days to upgrade. Right now he doesn't have the gold, but he would be fine with not having the shield for 8 days. Once Jholmyr has the gold for this, maybe our sorcerer buddy at Stone Crow can hook us up with a crafter, and perhaps the archon can drop it off and return it? The #2 item would be the +1 longsword to use with the shield until it is animated. More for the fact it is magic (to overcome possible damage reduction) than the +1 attack/damage bonus. but if someone else wants it, or the group prefers to sell it, that's cool with me. A buckler would be good to have when Jholmyr is using the bow, but the fire resistance one is very pricey. Should we keep it just to have in case? I'm fine with whoever takes it or selling it, but if we want to hang onto it, I'd be happy to carry it. Oh, and could Golem use any of these items?
And finally... if the archon can go back to town to buy stuff, Jholmyr might be interested in more potions of enlarge person and a darkwood buckler. Other items will depend on how much we wind up selling. If we sold all the trophy room items at half price, I believe it would earn us a total of 16,445 19,445 gp and 5 sp. But, I would at least like the +1 heavy steel shield, which would make the rest go for 15,860 18,860 gp and 5 sp instead. |
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Post by michael on Jun 2, 2010 17:42:14 GMT -5
This should be 2000 gp, not 8000.
When I was buying magic equipment with Ziff, the items did require a +1 enhancement before they could be enchanted further. (That's not to say we can't start using a house rule now, of course.)
A +2 scythe should be 8318.
The only item in the bunch I'd be interested in is the Helm of Wisdom.
When did the item identification occur? Specifically, were we still near the volcano when we learned that the onyx gems were a component of Animate Dead? If so, I'd want to go to the village and see what happens when I remove an onyx necklace from one of the bugbears. My assumption now is that these are all undead slaves, and Ragnar would want to give them some rest. Hopefully, they won't resist when I try to remove the necklace, and hopefully, they'll drop as soon as it's off. If that is the case, I'm going to go through the entire village before we leave.
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Post by reefwood on Jun 2, 2010 18:36:16 GMT -5
This should be 2000 gp, not 8000. When I was buying magic equipment with Ziff, the items did require a +1 enhancement before they could be enchanted further. (That's not to say we can't start using a house rule now, of course.) A +2 scythe should be 8318. The only item in the bunch I'd be interested in is the Helm of Wisdom. When did the item identification occur? Specifically, were we still near the volcano when we learned that the onyx gems were a component of Animate Dead? If so, I'd want to go to the village and see what happens when I remove an onyx necklace from one of the bugbears. My assumption now is that these are all undead slaves, and Ragnar would want to give them some rest. Hopefully, they won't resist when I try to remove the necklace, and hopefully, they'll drop as soon as it's off. If that is the case, I'm going to go through the entire village before we leave. Good catch with the scythe and onyx math. I made corrections to my previous post. Now here's a question about where or how character/player knowledge may overlap, or not... detect evil works much like detect magic, but one difference is that instead of spell or caster level, it measures aura strength based on HD... but the strength of HD also depends on the type of creature. Anyway, here's my point... If Ragnar focuses his detect evil on the bugbears outside for 3 rounds, he will know the strength of every evil aura in range. A typical evil living bugbear without class levels would have 3 HD, which is a faint aura, but a zombie bugbear would have 6 undead HD, which is a moderate aura. Therefore, the aura strength can potentially tell us something more than just strength. Of course, it is more useful for narrowing possibilities than finding the exact answer. A moderate evil aura can't belong to a classless living bugbear, but in addition to possibly being a bugbear zombie, it could also be a living evil bugbear with 7 8 levels in Commoner (a total 10 11 HD evil creature), or a living evil bugbear with a couple levels in Cleric (evil Clr2 = evil moderate aura), or a 2 HD evil outsider in disguise, or a living bugbear with an evil 3rd-level spell cast on it. Anyway, would Ragnar be able to figure out that some of these possibilities exist? At least if he also knew that bugbears have 3 HD and zombies have double racial HD? This is going under the assumption that they do have a moderate aura, but if Ragnar knows bugbear and zombie HD, would he be able to figure out in-character that these aren't normal bugbears...that they're either high level, undead, or clerics... can there be an in-character understanding of these things or would that be meta-gaming? And if they have a faint evil aura, that could tell him other things...like, they don't have more than 1 level in Cleric, and they probably can't be undead because undead usually have at least as many HD as the living version, so it would be at least 3 HD - which has a moderate aura for undead creatures. I would think that he at least knows the detect evil mechanics even as a character, but it would make sense that we have to roll Knowledge (or already have a reason to know) what the base HD of a creature may be. But if we figure out that something is a zombie, and it has a moderate evil aura, is it safe to say that Ragnar knows it has 3-8 HD? ...since this is info you can discern with the spell. |
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Post by icnivad on Jun 3, 2010 16:35:28 GMT -5
Eldrick would take the remove curse scroll, and start immediately to learn it, but that's about all that I can get use out of. Is it arcane or divine? The other scrolls are all necromancy, and even if they are clerical and not prohibited, he would not be interested in learning the dark art. And none of the weapons or armor interest Golem.
I'd be down for sending the Lantern Archon back to town to sell anything that weighs 50 lbs or less and splitting up the profits. I could use some more cash to buy scrolls and pearls, and Golem will have to have his fist and armor enchanted at some point.
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Post by Rabbit on Jun 4, 2010 15:11:19 GMT -5
Here are some edits, answers to questions, and comments. Level up to 10th Level. “trophy room” +1 Long Sword (magic +1) (4 lb; 2,315 gp) +1 Short Composite Bow (+1 str) (magic +1) (3 lb; 2,450 gp) +2 Scythe (magic +2) (10 lb; 8,318 gp) +1 Light Woods Shield (magic +1) (5 lb; 1,153 gp) Heavy Steel Shield of [Light] Fortification (magic) (15 lb; 4,170 gp) +1 Heavy Steel Shield (magic +1) (15 lb; 1,170 gp) Buckler of Fire Resistance (magic) (5 lb; 19,165 gp) Full suite of Elven Chain (20 lb; 4,150 gp) “Black Agnes’ laboratory”Scrolls (all scribbed at minimum level): -Chill Touch (arcane) -Remove Curse (arcane) -Ray of Enfeeblement (arcane) -Animate Dead* (x3) (arcane) 80 unworked gems (Black Onyx) {worth 25 gp each/ total 2,000 gp} Alchemist’s Fire (x5) Acid Vials (x3) Flask of Carrion Crawler Brain Juice [x1 dose] (poison, DMG 297) “golem’s grave robbing”100 Black Onyx Gems from dead bugbears {worth 25 gp each/ 2,500 gp} “inside the footlocker”Helmet of Wisdom (+4 Wis) (13,000 gp) (Works as a ‘periphat of wisdom’ except includes armor proficiency requirements [must be proficient in medium armor]) Portrait of Young ‘Noble’ in outdated style of dress. I am going to enforce this because I have had players use it in the past. With that in mind I believe the prices above are accurate. Like other gems these trade for straight value in gold coins. An inn keeper might prefer standard coin as opposed to some rare gem, but going through some exchange is nothing we’ll play out. Other than animate dead Eldrich (nor anyone else) can think of spells they are used for. We can say that the realization that the onyx is for animate dead occurred while still inside the volcano. I imagine Eldrich reviewing scrolls while Ragnar searches the area with Johlmry’s (who would try to help despite his ever weakening condition.) I am going to post an in-character thread to allow Ragnar’s intentions to play out. Depending on how it unfolds it may be where we start the next session. This ability is an inherit power gained by a paladin so I would imagine that he has a pretty good sense of how it works. Reefwood gave several examples where a paladin might gleam information about the evil things he detects, and I think they are all valid. The character can make determinations similar to the ones a player can. As Eldrick looks over the scroll of remove curse he is able to determine that it could lift the curse placed upon Johlmry. There are two catches: first, if Eldrich takes the time to learn the scroll (8 hours?) he is also going to have to prepare it (8 hours.) So in game terms I believe that is effectivly two day. Johlmry is going to make another Fortitude Save to avoid further Charisma and Constitution damage in that time frame. I am not going to tell you the exact numbers but he is within one fail of potential death. Also, casting remove curse is not a sure thing. There is a Caster Level check against a decent DC (see Johlmry's Health section for more details.) Nobody mentioned trying to do this but I am going to assume it was an oversight, or being saved for the table. But since some things being discussed effect this as well I am going to roll some Health Checks to see if you can determine what is wrong with Johlmry... Success! Through careful examination it is determined that Johlmry has contracted "Mummy Rot." You know this (and only this, so don't go reading the Monster Manuel), Mummy Rot is a supernatural disease... a powerful curse. Attempting to cast any conjuration (healing) spell on the afflicted must succeed a high caster level check, or the spell has no effect. To eliminate mummy rot, the curse must first be broken with break enchantment or remove curse (requiring high caster level check for either spell), after which a caster level check is no longer necessary to cast healing spells on the victim, and the mummy rot can be magically cured as any normal disease. {and I don't know why reefwood's characters always seem to be the ones getting cursed in this game. sorry aboutthat man  } |
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Post by reefwood on Jun 11, 2010 18:43:39 GMT -5
Heavy Steel Shield of [Light] Fortification (magic) (15 lb; 4,170 gp) So this should be a +1 Heavy Steel Shield of [Light] Fortification, right? And these are the 2 items Jholmyr would like to keep: +1 Long Sword (magic +1) (4 lb; 2,315 gp) +1 Heavy Steel Shield (magic +1) (15 lb; 1,170 gp)
I was wondering about all this. First off, this is where Jholmyr is at... I believe he took 6 pts on Con damage and 6 pts of Cha damage. Would they be the same, or is that just random that it was the same amount? You don't actually have to tell me, but the reason I ask is because my character sheet shows the Cha damage, but the Con damage is missing. I'm pretty sure the Con damage is missing because Ragnar cured 5 pts of damage and Jholmyr will recover 1 pt more from resting, so that removes the 6 pts of Con damage. However, I'm pretty sure the spell used by Ragnar requires a caster level check, and if someone tends to Jholmyr for longterm care (Heal DC 15) while he rests, he will actually recover 2 pts of ability damage from resting. Anyway, Jholmyr is at Con 6 right now, and another 6 pts of damage will kill him. He might be up to Con 11 if Ragnar succeeds on the check. Either way, he will recover 1 pt with rest, or 2 with longterm care...assuming he can heal naturally while suffering from mummy rot? So, he might be between Con 7 and Con 12 (his max) depending on how the rolls go. What time of day is it? Is it early enough that Eldrick can study, or is it the middle of the day already? Either way, it seems like Jholmyr will have to make another save before the scroll can be transfered to the spellbook. If Ragnar fails his check, this means Jholmyr is most likely dead, so I'd rather use the scroll right away, and if fails, see if I can scrounge up enough gold from his portion of the loot to buy another one. If Jholmyr has Con 13 when the save needs to be made, I'm fine with letting a day pass because once Eldrick has it in his book, he can prepare it a few times, right? So then there's be multiple chances to break the curse. EDIT: If Ragnar fails his caster level check today, he could try casting the spell again tomorrow morning before Jholmyr has to make the save. |
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Post by michael on Jun 11, 2010 20:57:17 GMT -5
Just to get the time line straight: I used 2 castings of Lesser Restoration to recover your ability scores. However, I did not have those spells prepared on the day we fought the mummy; they were prepared the next morning. If I fail the caster level check on both spells, I don't think I could try again before the mummy rot affects you. If only one of them succeeds, though, you should still have enough constitution to ensure you survive.
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Post by reefwood on Jun 11, 2010 22:13:13 GMT -5
Since this will affect my character, I decided to doublecheck the learning scroll-to-spellbook rules since there seems to be some uncertainty as to how long it takes. First the character has to decipher the writing with a Spellcraft check or by casting read magic. Though, we've already been told what the scrolls are, so I don't know if we need to back track this too? Then, it takes 1 day to study the scroll, and it is learned if a Spellcraft check is successful. So, it only takes 1 day, but failure means it can't be done until you gain another rank in Spellcraft (i.e. next level). What time did Jholmyr get hit by the mummy? What time is it now (after killing the hag / finding the scrolls)?
Just to get the time line straight: I used 2 castings of Lesser Restoration to recover your ability scores. However, I did not have those spells prepared on the day we fought the mummy; they were prepared the next morning. If I fail the caster level check on both spells, I don't think I could try again before the mummy rot affects you. If only one of them succeeds, though, you should still have enough constitution to ensure you survive. Do you remember if you rolled 1 and 4, or 2 and 3? Either way, it looks like things are taking a step back to see what happens with the onyx first. And if the first time Jholmyr took 6 pts of Con damage, I think the law of averages might say that he could take up to 12 pts next time. Also, it's okay if Jholmyr dies. To be honest, I want to see how things play out one at a time before deciding how to handle things. Jholmyr would definitely be more about the mission than to his own life, so if seems like there is little or no chance to save him, and time was an issue, he would takes his chances with the save and press on rather than waste time with it. |
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Post by michael on Jun 11, 2010 23:54:16 GMT -5
Saving Jholmyr shouldn't be a problem, I think it's just a matter of whether we want to take the time to have Eldrick scribe it into his spell book first.
So we made Heal checks, but could we make Knowledge checks to find out more about Mummy Rot?
I think I rolled a 4 and a 1, but I rolled both at the same time. If one succeeds the caster level check and one fails, we'd probably have to re-roll.
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Post by reefwood on Jun 16, 2010 13:26:36 GMT -5
After thinking about all this some more, I think it would be nice to resolve all this online before the next session because it would be a little pointless to show up if Jholmyr dies on his first roll of the night.
Oh, and one more plus to his chance of survival is that his Fort save increases by +1 now that he is at 10th level.
It seems like the first thing that needs to be done is taking the onyx off the hobgoblins because Rabbit made it sound like that would have an affect on some things.
In terms of Jholmyr, if someone wants to tend to him during the night, that would be a Heal check. Then, 2 caster level checks have to be made for Ragnar's lesser restoration spells. At that point, I'd have a better clue about Jholmyr's chances.
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Post by Rabbit on Jun 16, 2010 14:10:37 GMT -5
sorry for the silence. it has been a busy few days. I plan on trying to get stuff answered tommorrow and will alos give a chance to see what happens with the hobgoblins with onyx necklaces.
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Post by michael on Jun 16, 2010 14:16:09 GMT -5
Ok, so things we need to do:
Roll Knowledge Arcana on Mummy Rot. (I think Eldrick and his archon are the only ones with decent ranks in it.) If we don't learn anything knew, maybe the archon could teleport to Night Falls and find info there? If there's any chance that the Mummy Rot will kill him, we should definitely cast Remove Curse on Jholmyr before he takes CON damage again. Better to just buy a scroll and learn Remove Curse at a later time than have a character die.
We could also have the archon try to find a wand of Lesser Restoration. It's 90 gold per charge, so we'd want one with as few charges as possible, but then we'd have more than 2 tries to restore Jholmyr's abilities.
Also, how thoroughly did we check out that portrait? We should send it back to Night Falls with Eldrick's archon, and see if anyone there recognizes the guy in it. Then it can be brought to Stone Crow for storage/selling, along with anything else we don't need with us.
Lastly, Ragnar wants to find a fairly isolated bugbear and remove its onyx necklace.
I think all of that could be done the same day we defeated the hag. Then, depending on how all of those events go, we can see what happens the next morning.
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}