The Lost Vault of Tsathzar Rho

[UserClone]

Advancing into the cave, Sophie moves in to attack, but her greatsword's blade gets momentarily caught up in Jat's chain. They both recover almost immediately, but not before having spoiled her attack.

Logbrag, noticing there is someone behind him, swings his greatclub as he spins to face the new foe, catching Jacob across the temple for a whopping 13 damage, causing him to stagger, momentarily blind, before he collects himself, the righteous wrath in his eyes evident.

Aortal, what do you do?

[UserClone]

Aortal pings the Giant with his magic missile spell for (1d4+1)[2] damage. He then moves into an out-of-the-way position, so as not to get himself caught in the Ogre's field of vision.

Jacob, You are 10 feet from Logbrag. If you don't get at least five points of healing, you will go unconscious at the end of your turn. What do you you?

[Vicerious]

((Respectful correction: Jacob currently has 4 HP and will take 5 damage at the end of his turn. Damage goes into the damage pool first, sort of like DR. He needs at least 2 points of healing to stay conscious.))

Jacob
Jacob clenches his teeth with a snarl. Hadn't expected him to turn around that fast. Can't give him a chance to hit me like that again! Readjusting his grip on his spiked chain, Jacob whirls it as he lines up a shot. Roaring with feroicity, he throws his weight forward ((5-foot step)) and pins everything on this strike.

Spoiler

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Crusader Strike
Attack bonuses: +1 Ferocious Counterstrike, +2 Flanking (Jat's stance only works on adjacent enemies, hence the step)
Attack Roll: (1d20+6)[9]
Damage bonus: +1 Ferocious Counterstrike
Damage Roll: (2d4+4)[10]
On a successful hit, Jacob will receive (1d6+1)[3] healing

[UserClone]

((Whoops. No, I understood how the pool works, just some hastily poor math on my part. However:))

Jacob, still reeling from the blow to his head, misses with the chain as his vision blanks again, only this time, he finally succumbs and slips into unconsciousness at Logbrag's feet.

Salyr, what do you do?

[UserClone]

Salyr takes out his shortbow and proceeds to nock an arrow and fire at Logbrag, but his concentration is broken by a roar from the monstrous thug.
(1d20-2)[2]
Damage - (1d6-1)[5]

Jat, an arrow goes whizzing past Logbrag and over your head, zipping off into the darkness down the hall. What do you do.

[lostsole31]

Never having adventured before, Jat curses himself for his inexperience. All of his prepared maneuvers are set for being a bouncer in a bar, not adventuring; and his one possibly useful prepared maneuver doesn't really help since the ogre is already blind. So, Jat simply stays the course, continues to help the party and himself via Island of Blades stance, and strikes out and says, "Sophie, to the Jacob!"

Then, Jat sidesteps 5' perhaps to continue to confuse the beleagured ogre ...

Spoiler

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Attack = (1d20+6)[11]
Damage = (1d6+3)[4]
Current AC (vs. Logbrag for giant-killin') = 21, 18 touch, 14 flat-footed

Question, does it help me at all in confusing Logbrag if I use my silence ability? Does he really appear blind? Does blindness receive further penalties if they can't hear something as well?

[UserClone]

QuestionS, does it help me at all in confusing Logbrag if I use my silence ability? Does he really appear blind? Does blindness receive further penalties if they can't hear something as well?[/spoiler]

1. You don't know.
2. Looks like his eyes are completely one shade of glowing green, with no pupils. He doesn't ever seem to look straight at anything, so best guess is: blind.
3. You don't know.

[UserClone]

Sophie, whose eyes go wide with distress at Jacob's having dropped in battle, moves to stand just beyond Jacob's prostrate form, close to the cave entrance. She attempts to cast defensively...(1d20+1)[19] and heals Jacob of (1d8+1)[4] HP.

[UserClone]

Logbrag, who has up until now only dealt with the man who struck him from behind, is now infuriated with the being that smacked him with the magic missile. He stomps over to Aortal, incurring AoOs from both Jat and Sophie (Jat - (1d20+6)[7] (1d6+3)[9] Sophie - (1d20+5)[7] (2d6+3)[10]), and takes a swing at the puny mage, shocked when his mighty club skids off of the wizard's mage armor.

[UserClone]

Aortal, there is a mountain of black, cracked, pustule-pocked Ogrish flesh and sinew standing before you. What do you do?

[UserClone]

*sigh* Aortal performs a retreat, backing away, screaming "Get it away from me!"

Suddenly, there is a reaction from Aortal's backpack, now on the ground behind Logbrag. A skeleton, creaking and snapping, unfolds and with a *crack* stands fully up, taking a swipe at the giant with a scimitar it carries!

(1d20+1)[12] (1d6+3)[9]

The skeleton's swing misses, its arm slightly askew. It fixes this with its opposing hand, the bones *snapping* into place.

Jacob, you're up!

[Vicerious]

Jacob

Gasping as his consciousness recoils from the abyss, Jacob's eyes fly open and look frantically about as he gets his bearings. Recalling where he is and what's going on through and despite the terrible ache in his head, the young man gets to his feet with a grunt.

Shaking the clouds from his eyes and gritting his teeth, Jacob takes quick stock of the situation. With chain in hand, he steels himself and tries to land another strike.

((If he's within striking range, or can get within striking range with a 5-foot step, see the spoiler for the attack specifics. Otherwise, Jacob advances to withing striking range but does not attack. Either way, he's in Iron Guard's Glare stance once more.))

Spoiler

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Stone Bones strike
Attack: (1d20+3)[11]
Damage (2d4+3)[7]
On a successful hit, Jacob gains DR 5/adamantine for one round

[UserClone]

Jacob advances to face the giant's flank, but his head is pounding, and his swing goes wide, the chain whirling around in a great arc above Logbrag's head.

Salyr casts a magic missile at the beast, pegging him for (1d4+1)[4]damage before making a mad dash away from the behemoth.

Jat, what do you do?

[lostsole31]

Jat continues to stay the course, providing flanking bonuses for himself and others and trusting in his training and his small size.

Spoiler

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Attack = (1d20+6)[12]
Damage = (1d6+3)[9]

[UserClone]

Jat continues to stay the course, providing flanking bonuses for himself and others and trusting in his training and his small size. Unfortunately, his size is what works against him as he slightly misjudges the distances involved in his attack and fails to reach quite far enough, and the ogre is able to sidestep the swing by mere inches.

Sophie, realizing that this creature may be out of their league, decides to help even the odds. She runs to Jacob's side, casting another spell on him. This time, Jacob's height nearly doubles, and his weapon and all his items change to match his new gargantuan size. Jacob now rival's Logbrag for sheer weight and girth, and his shoulders are nearly as broad as well. Sophie smiles at him with a wink and says "Go get 'em, tiger."

Logbrag is incensed by all this and turns to face the nearest creature to him, which luckily for everyone else, means in this case the skeletal minion. His swing is, bizarrely, deflected by the skeleton's own! As the two weapons clash in mid-swing, the skeleton is forced back five feet, but is otherwise unharmed.

Aortal turns to his skeletal minion and yelps, "Well?! Kill him!" The skeleton clatters its way over to the beleaguered ogre and makes a chop with its scimitar

Spoiler

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(1d20+1)[21](1d6+3)[7]

, dealing a total of 15 points of damage, slicing across the beast's belly, spilling his entrails onto the dusty path. Logbrag stares ahead with his blank eyes, but doesn't get much time to ponder his end as he falls unconscious, his vital fluids staining the ground crimson and black. Aortal nervously shouts "Get back in the bag! Go! Now!" The minion dutifully responds, crawling back into the backpack and rolling itself once more into a tight ball of bones.

((We are effectively out of combat now.))

[lostsole31]

Having left his pocket version (which means it's really small) of the Monster Manual back at the Lucky Dog, Jat is totally blown away by how bad-a** skeletons are ... and scary. Very scary.

Logbrag takes a wide berth to not get to close to the skeleton.

Or Aortal for that matter.

Jat wants to cheer, and congratulate someone. Seeing the kill taken by a creature that will know little more than killing, however, and has no sense of gratitude or pride ... the victory somehow seems hollow. It doesn't even dawn on Jat to encourage Aortal. No, Jat has a totally different set of feelings now for someone who would use the remains of the dead as a bone puppet, powered by demonic energies.

"Sophie, if you could cut that head off. We will need it to prove Logbrag's death. Let's search the body."

Jat will search the body. He doesn't mind helping someone do that ... whoever is the best (probably, unfortunately, the analytical wizard), he'll aid or lead, but here is his roll ...

Spoiler

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Search (1d20)[5]

EDIT: With that roll ... Jat has a good idea, but he is too shaken by Aortal's powers to focus on the task at hand properly.

[UserClone]

It's just as well, for there is nothing to search. Logbrag wears only a simple suit of crudely patchworked hide armor, and there are no pockets where he might have any hidden treasures.

[lostsole31]

"We should probably search around for any hidden treasures. Logbrag was reputed to be a successful marauder."

[UserClone]

Sophie balks for a moment at the idea of cutting off the head of a slain enemy. It just doesn't seem sporting to her, but in the end she figures that there's nothing for it, and she complies.
"Well, we at least need to find some other bag to put this in; I'm NOT carrying it in my backpack," she states matter-of-factly with hands on hips.

[lostsole31]

"You could have Aortal's bloody devil carry the ruddy head?" Jat muses.

[Vicerious]

Jacob

Watching the brute go down at last, Jacob relaxes his stance and takes a moment to coil his chain before putting it away. He takes several deep breaths to let the adrenaline drain out of his system, then walks back to the mouth of the cave. There, he retrieves his lit lantern and brings it back to where the group is gathered around their defeated foe.

Avoiding making eye contact with the necromancer, Jacob flashes a smile at his comrades. At the same time, he pulls a small ivory cube from a belt pouch.

"Look, there's only one really fair way to decide who carries the head: and that is, of course, to roll the bones for it. This one goes from one to six, whoever gets the lowest drags the head. Sound good?

Without waiting for a reply, he rolls the die from his hand onto a nearby flat rock (1d6)[3].

"Besides, we don't know what other nasty beasties might be lurking in this cave. We should be gone as soon as possible."

[lostsole31]

"No, not okay. I couldn't drag that thing, let alone lift it."

[UserClone]

"But I don't WANT to carry that thing...and anyhow, I only said I wouldn't put it in my bag; if we find another in the smelly oaf's cave, I could be persuaded to carry it in that."


"On the contrary, thank you for volunteering yourself, my dear human shield," says Aortal with a mirthless laugh at Jacob. He has collected himself by now, and, seeing that it seems no one intends to kill him outright, he offers, "After all, since no one else seems to be willing to play your silly game, you have rolled the lowest. Therefore, by your own rules, you shall have to carry the stinking head."

With that Aortal wanders into the mouth of the cave.

[lostsole31]

Jat creeps into the cave behind Aortal, apparently his brave meat shield.

[UserClone]

Jat slinks off into the darkness of the cave.

Jat:

Spoiler

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After a moment, Jat's eyes become accustomed to the general lack of light, widenening themselves impossibly. ((I am AFB here, so bear with me.)) You see Aortal fiddling with the string of a very large sack. The moment he gets it open, he is sick and vomits onto the floor. "Oh, that's disgusting! It is evident that mad ogres are very fond of their rancid meat and hard, moldy cheese." Aortal takes a swig from his waterskin and, swishing his mout out with it, spits it out in a hurry.

Looking around the cave itself, you find another bag, this one with a pleasant jingle to it, and nothing immediately malodorous about it strikes you. Upon opening it, you discover that it is in fact bulging with coins! ((Amount to be entered later, but it is a significant quantity.))

As you search about, one more wonder is discovered: A large wooden shield, certainly at least masterwork, only it is found under a pile of furs that the enormous creature has been using as a bed. In order for him not to have snapped it in half with his weight, you suspect it must be magical.

[lostsole31]

I will quietly mention my find to the others, and my suspicions about the shield. I'm not sure if by "large wooden shield" you actually meant a game-categorically "Large wooden shield" or what. Doesn't matter to me, though. Unfortunately, Sophie uses a greatsword, Jacob uses a two-hand weapon like myself, I'm too small, and the other two guys probably don't know a shield from a serving platter ... so other than the actual weight, in this case size really doesn't matter.

[UserClone]

((The shield is indeed a (Medium) large wooden shield. It is exceptionally well-crafted and sturdy, if a bit smelly after having been used as a sleeping mat.))
The contents of the bags are as follows:

1. 272 gp, 250 sp, and 300 cp.
2. Yuck.

Please note that you also noticed a tunnel leading further into the cavern, where the ogre's Kobold cronies undoubtedly lie in wait, possibly having heard the struggle, though this is less likely since you took the fight outside.

[UserClone]

Aortal comes screaming back out of the cave, with something on the back of his neck that he tries to shake off.

"HAAAAAAAAAALP!"

[lostsole31]

Jat's Spot check for Aortal's neck-rider: (1d20+4)[22].

[UserClone]

It looks like a hideously large mosquito with extra wings and red, bumpy skin.