AvB - Little Green

[Monodominant]

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Yea, I guess alcove hits... not urn though... urn contains the dust... I am talking about the full bones. Generally when a body is interred after 2 or 3 years when... well... the flesh is gone the bones are taken and placed in such... 'devices' and kept there.

In Greek thats called 'osteofilakio' which is the combination of the word 'osta' i.e. bones and 'filakio' which means guarded area/bunker etc... hence where the bones are kept/guarded.

In any case, this works... so those places were bricked up alcoves which LG knows is what they do after bodies/bones have been interred.

The language of the tome is the same archaic common tongue the wight spoke. Overall it takes you time to puzzle out the meanings in many places but by reading whole passages you get the sense of what he was writting.

Large parts of the book have also been destroyed by time but you get the following information from the book.

- The writer of this journal was the last High Priest of the Temple who went by the name Wongas Ambrosius.

- He chronicles and mentions how the Temple and the effort to restore Tharizdun kept failing due to various accidents and curses that seemed to be inflicted on the personel.

- In further entries its mentioned that the Temple came under attack numerous times from various monstrous humanoid tribes and along with a rebellion of the Norker workforce they almost completely annihilated the cult leadership and the loyalists. Eventually though they were driven back and cleansed but the upper temple had to be abandonded as it presented a very easy target.

- It is after the above that its mentioned a further Temple was constructed using Miracles from the older high priests to create a small pocket dimension near the Plane of Shadow. The new Temple was even greater and efforts were made to make the old temple a trap and decoy. Unfortunately the ill luck, attributed to the influence of the gods that had trapped Tharidzun in the first place continued to affect many of the acolytes resulting in the work going very slowly.

- Eventually it is mentioned that a sickness somehow relating to nightmares laid waste among the ranks and subsequently an attack from something called an 'Annis' pretty much dessimated the efforts that had been going on for decades.

- Wongas laments the fact that to protect the deeper and more important levels of the Temple the High Priests used a guardian demon. Upon the death of the last summoner the demon stopped accepting orders from the successors despite the clearly 'written' contracts. As such when Wongas sensed his time of death approached he had his own burial chamber built in another room.

- The last act of Wongas was to ensure that the Temple would not be discovered... and if it would be it then would prove a death trap for intruders. He reasoned that only those wanting to continue the work would risk their lives and souls and they continue... As such he had every single person in the Temple executed and turned into shades or other types of undead... but even then... the plague of bad luck and something working against them continued...

[planswalker]

"Well, Jana, you were right. There was a cult trying to raise a mad god down here. Luckily, the gods seemed to not sit on their hands for once and they never got far. However, it seems that all the residents were turned into undead, there's a rogue demon on the loose, and a coven of hags have set up shop. We have to at least find the hags and stop them or you will die. Beyond that, I recommend we make it so that no one can ever use this place to restart the rituals. For all we know, theyre cumulative and 998 years of ritual are almost come to fruition."

[Monodominant]

The Sister raises an eyebrow at all this.

"Do you think we should seek the help you mentioned then or continue on our own? I fully support any choice you make... especially considering we dont really know how to get back home right now anyway!" she says.

Jana grabs your hand with all the might her little age and stature can afford.

"Yes! We must stop all them bad thingies you mentioned. Not only for my life Little Green but more importantly so noone else suffers any such fate! Plus I have a feeling that rituals that slowly erode the 'prison bars' of this mad god might indeed be cumulative!" she says with her old determination returning.

[planswalker]

"Well, we must find and kill the night hag that's assaulted Jana and destroy its heartstone. Without that, she will sicken and die. We must continue long enough to find and destroy that creature. After that, I think it best if we assess whether or not we will be capable of cleaning this dungeon out on our own or if we need to seek reinforcements. Assuming we can find our way back."

[Monodominant]

"Very well. Lets proceed then." says the sister and Jana nods to this idea.

[planswalker]

On a hunch, LG will go invisible before leading them down the left-hand passage.

[Monodominant]

You walk on a corridor similar to the one before but at 60 feet mark this one splits into two heading slightly left and slightly right...

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Basically forming a V or rather as you are going like this ---------- it splits into two like this <

[planswalker]

"Since we're already in the left, let's take the left. Explore outside in." LG says, still invisible as he takes the left-hand passage.

[Monodominant]

You follow the left path which ends up in a T shaped crossroads as well.

On the two sides of the T there are two large rooms (you can see from the cross section inside both rooms via your darkvision).

The one to the left appears to be a burial place. There are many square openings in the walls. Each such niche is some 2’ square. They honeycomb the surfaces from floor level to the ceiling of the place nearly 20‘ above. Most are sealed with ebon-hued bricks, but a few are torn open with bricks, some splintered bones, and bits of wrapping cloth scattered and strewn about. Whether this was the work of grave robbers or ghouls or just time can’t be told from the first look. There seems to be nothing else in the
chamber.

The one to the right is a long, rather narrow room shows walls with black-bricked niches where burials have taken place. There are no empty places. Although the floor is relatively clear of dust and dirt, it is unlikely that anyone has been here in many decades.

[planswalker]

"Left again." LG says, headin there.

He has the three of them thoroughly search the room, paying special attention to the 2' niches.

[Monodominant]

Fortunately this time nothing comes at you as you enter the room and as you search it. It seems this a simple burial room and judging by the few remains of clothing and the imagery these people were senior acolytes.

You do find a total of (9d5)[27] gold coins and (10d12)[67] silver coins (that are black with time and erosion) in the already broken niches hence destroying the theory that this was done by ancient grave robbers...

There is off course potential for more in the un-opened ones...

[planswalker]

Suspicious that something might still be inside the others, LG will collect up the coins, telling the sister "We'll split it three ways after this venture."

Once the safe loot is secured, LG will have the sister open one of the others and ready to burn with fire anything that comes out.

[Monodominant]

The sister is uncertain about this.

"If nothing is coming from them then I do not think that tomb robbing should be the appropriate course of action. If you are worried some kind of creature is insider I can try and check it without breaking them open..."

[planswalker]

"And you think leaving the priests remains here is a good idea? For all we know, their remains staying in unhallowed tombs is part of the ritual." bluff - (d20+21)[22]

[Monodominant]

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As its rare you get such a -low- result I will roll this here :d

Sense motive
(1d20+8)[18]

Despite the fact that even you yourself dont think your lie is a convincing one bluffing your way through life has become second, if not first, nature. As such your tone and attitude as you tell your what you 'think' are so natural that she buys it.

"You are right... perhaps their souls are still trapped here somehow never to receive rest until the Mad God consumes them" she says completing your work for you by filling in the details.

And with that she smashes the first of many such niches.

There is no smell of death and no creature jumps out as this happens. You do see the glint of something valuable from inside though...

[planswalker]

"I thank you for your trust and understanding. Of course, the three-way split will give the coffers of your order a great boon. I also know better than to think that people so holy as your order would be swayed by worldly bribes. Still, one must live in the world, and money helps make things easier, provided that it does not lead one to distraction." diplomacy - (d20+23)[27]

LG will retrieve the shiny and start a small pile in one corner, repeating this process and looting all of the niches, provided no nasty surprises pop out and howl for our blood.

[Monodominant]

This area of the dungeon proves free from danger. None of the closed graves prove dangerous, with the exception of a couple that release noxious gases when opened but nothing that harms you.

The trinkets you find are coins and a jewelery or a few symbols they carried with them to their final resting place. You end up with

(3d6)[14] platinum coins
(9d8)[32] gold coins
(14d10)[60] silver coins
and (5d4)[14] electron coins

as well as (2d12)[9] trinkets that are made of precious metals or carry gems. These will require appraise before their value is determined.

[planswalker]

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(9d5)[27] gold coins and (10d12)[67] silver coins

(3d6)[14] platinum coins
(9d8)[32] gold coins
(14d10)[60] silver coins
and (5d4)[14] electron coins

as well as (2d12)[9] trinkets

high priest's diary
negative energy channeling mace

keeping a floating list of loot as m-w imploded on me.

LG gathers the loot before saying "We're doing excellent work. If we clear out everything from this place, we'll leave any future cultists with nothing to use in their plans. Shall we proceed to the next room?"

Provided they agree, LG leads them on to the right-hand room and gives it a closer inspection.

[Monodominant]

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No worries, I also cant access it right now.

Everyone is in agreement and although she is not greedy you do so a glint in the sisters eye as she considers the good she can do with the share of the Sisters...

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Hehe the way its going by the end of this adventure if you give them their fair share she may be able to make the Sisters a powerful organisation :D

Much like the previous room this one holds similar 'resting places' for personel of the temple. None of the ones here have been opened though like the ones in the previous room.

All in all you judge that there are around 30 'graves' but also judging from the various signs and imagery on them these were even lower acolytes or maybe trusted servants.

[planswalker]

"If we're gonna remove the higher-ups, we might as well be thorough."

Assuming they don't disagree and LG doesn't have to use more diplomancy and bluffomancy, they proceed to loot these as well.

[Monodominant]

You have gone through the first half of the openings and have found a similar image of the one before but slightly less riches.

Overall so far you have collected (5d10)[16] gold and (5d20)[37] silver along with a couple of silver holy symbols depicting the purple pyramid though the colour is all but gone now...

And then as the sister breaks through the first of the bricks at leftmost side of the wall a particularly vile concentration of gases empties into the room causing a coughing fit to all of you.

Luckily for you, you also notice the mishappen shape of a rather large Shadow that seems to be made up from more than one shadow-shapes , slither outside.

[planswalker]

LG will blast at it with a line of fire!

dc 21 - (6d6)[20]

[Monodominant]

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Since its incorporeal that has a 50% miss chance right?

[planswalker]

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well, a strict reading says that:

only magic weapons, spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural attacks can hit them.

spells and magical weapons provide a 50% miss chance unless special conditions are met.

it doesn't actually say that su or sp abilities suffer that penalty. Anecdotal and secondary evidence supports this assumption, but it's not RAW.

I of course would favor a pure RAW interpretation, but I'm presenting you all the facts and will let you pick.

[Monodominant]

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Well I see that the whole point of 'incorporeal' is that the person is there and not there... hence a normal sword cant at all touch them while a magic sword or spell have a chance that they affect them 'the moment they materialise'... your flame is NOT magical but to say you dont get the 50% at least would be saying you cant affect the foe at all... as such I think you get the 50% chance to strike.

As such rolling the 50% chance for your attack

(1d100)[90] 51+ is a hit.

Also roll for initiative afterwards.

[Monodominant]

The shadow buckles under your flames and as it was preparing to strike it is driven back, the flames actually wounding it despite its mostly incorporeal nature.

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It plays at initiative 15, if you go first also post actions.

[planswalker]

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I think you missed part of the point:

only magic weapons, spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural attacks can hit them.

my breath weapon is a supernatural effect...

therefore it explicity CAN effect incorporeal creatures. The issue is whether or not the 50% miss chance applies. Logically, it should but by RAW it doesn't.

there is no issue of whether or not I can effect incorporeals with my breath...

initiative - (d20+3)[22]

On LG's turn, he will blast it with fire for dc 21 - (6d6)[19] miss % - (d%)[1]

Jana will cast cure light wounds and use that to attack the shadow.

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no miss chance for positive energy effects.

cure light wounds - (d20+4)[11]
damage - (d8+5)[7]

[Monodominant]

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Ah might have missed that! Well in any case I think its appropriate to go with the 50% due to the whole nature of incorporealness...

This second attempt at flaming passes through without affecting the shadow but Jana's positive energy charged hands wound it.

The Sisters steps forth in an attempt to protect the little girl as the Shadow prepares to strike her down but the only thing she manages is to have a close brush with death as the Shadow engulfs her draining (1d8)[5] points of Strength from her and leaving her gasping for air.

[planswalker]

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oh, I agree and that's how I always dm, but I'd have favored a ruling the other way. Thus, I thought I'd let you decide and not intentionally gimp myself. Hope you don't fault me for trying

mind if I hold off on responding for now? I think I have a potion that might help, but I can't look them up until MW comes back.

[Monodominant]

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I think its back up now... or at least mine is...