[Adventure] KOGANÙSAN (DM: Sanzuo, Judge: TwoHeadsBarking)

[Adventure] KOGANÙSAN (DM: Sanzuo, Judge: TwoHeadsBarking)

KOGANÙSAN

An adventure for heroic PCs.

Migrants
Cast:

Brenwar Holyshield, Level 4 Human Paladin
Shrakk, Level 3 Githzerai Avenger
Halleck, Level 3 Half-Elf Warlord/Bard who has been here the whole time.
Karma Palminetti, Level 2 Human Cleric/Psion
Kavac Darkhands, Level 2 Goliath Barbarian
Shale, Level 2 Shardmind Psion

Guy Manley, partly responsible for all the party's suffering.

Casualties:
Firete, Level 4 Half-elf Bard (Defeated by RL)
6x Mandrills
1x Alpha Mandrill. (Fled into the forest. At large...)
1x Demon Snake

[sblock=The Leaflet]
The honourable Mr. Guy Manley, Amazing Artificer of Reknowne is seeking a troupe of heartey explorerators to undertake a myssion of greate importance for fun and profit. Those interested in applying should do so in persone at Mr. Manley's Laboratorey in Daunton at the address(es) provided belowe.

Disclaimer: Explorerators chosene to undertake this myssion do so at thyne own peryl. Guy Manley and the City of Daunton assume no riske or liabilitey for any injurey, psychological or propertey damage or deathe caused during the aforementioned myssion(s). If the Explorerator does not survyve to accept paymente for services renderede, arrangements can be mayde to have paymente delyvered to nexte of kine, or other successor(s).

This message brought to you by Daunton Civil Scribe and Messenging Services, LLC.[/sblock]

[sblock=Crib Sheet]Things that the players should know.
[sblock=Beginning Combat]

1. When combat begins, for the sake of speed I will roll everyone's initiatives.
2. The only purpose of rolling initiative is to determine who (if anyone) acts before the enemy.
3. Once that has been determined those acting before the enemy may act in any order.
4. The enemies will act all together after the players' first round.
5. After the enemies' first round, the enemies' base statistics will be made known to the players and the players may proceed with their turns in any order.
6. Combat will continue in this manner until it ends. (Durr)

[/sblock][sblock=Combat Turns]Every turn, a player character gets the following actions:

• Standard Action (May be used as a move or minor action instead)
• Move Action (May be used as a minor action instead)
• Minor Action

So using this, every turn a player gets one of the following combination of actions:

• Standard, Move, Minor
  or
• Standard, Minor, Minor
  or
• Move, Move, Minor
  or
• Move, Minor, Minor
  or
• Minor, Minor, Minor

[/sblock] [sblock=Status Effects]The following statuses may be affecting you or another creature. Here is a list of what they are and what they do:

• Blinded: You grant combat advantage to the enemy, you can't see any target (your targets have total concealment), you take a -10 penalty to Perception checks, you can't flank an enemy.
• Deafened: You can't hear anything, you take a -10 penalty to Perception checks.
• Dominated: You can’t take actions. Instead, the dominator chooses a single action for you to take on your turn: a standard, a move, a minor, or a free action. The only powers and other game features that the dominator can make you use are ones that can be used at will, such as at-will powers. For example, anything that is limited to being used only once per encounter or once per day does not qualify. You grant combat advantage. You can't flank.
  
  In spite of this condition, the creature’s allies remain its allies, and its enemies remain its enemies. (Thus, if the dominator makes the creature attack one of its allies, it does not attack an ally of the dominator.) If the dominator tries to force the creature to throw itself into a pit or move into some other form of hindering terrain, the creature gets a saving throw to avoid entering the terrain.
• Dying: You're unconscious, you're at 0 or negative hit points, you make a death saving throw every round.
• Grabbed: Being grabbed means a creature is immobilized. Unless otherwise noted, a grab lasts until the end of the grabber’s next turn, and the grabber can sustain the grab as a minor action and end it as a free action.
  
  Certain circumstances end a grab: if the grabber is affected by a condition that prevents it from taking opportunity actions, if either the grabber or the creature it’s grabbing moves far enough away that
  the grabbed creature is no longer in the grabber’s reach, or if the grabbed creature escapes. See also “Escape” and “Grab”
• Helpless: You grant combat advantage. You can be the target of a coup de grace. Note: Usually you’re helpless because you’re unconscious.
• Hidden: When a creature is hidden from an enemy, the creature is silent and invisible to that enemy. A creature normally uses the Stealth skill to become hidden.
• Immobilized: You can’t move from your space, although you can teleport and can be forced to move by a pull, a push, or a slide.
• Petrified: You are unconscious. You gain resist 20 to all damage. You don’t age.
• Prone: You grant combat advantage to enemies making melee attacks against you. You can’t move from your space, although you can teleport, crawl, or be forced to move by a pull, a push, or a slide. You get a +2 bonus to all defenses against ranged attacks from nonadjacent enemies. You are lying down. However, if you are climbing or flying, you fall. You take a -2 penalty to attack rolls.
• Removed from play: Some effects can temporarily remove you from play. While you are removed from play, your turns start and end as normal, but you can’t take actions, unless specified otherwise. In addition, you have neither line of sight nor line of effect to anything, and nothing has line of sight or line of effect to you.
  Restrained: You can’t move, unless you teleport. You can’t even be pulled, pushed, or slid. You take a -2 penalty to attack rolls. You grant combat advantage.
• Slowed: Your speed becomes 2. This speed applies to all your movement modes, but it does not apply to teleportation or to a pull, a push, or a slide. You can’t increase your speed above 2, and your speed doesn’t increase if it was lower than 2. If you’re slowed while moving, stop if you have already moved 2 or more squares. You cannot benefit from bonuses to speed, although you can use powers and take actions, such as the run action, that allow you to move farther than your speed.
• Stunned: You grant combat advantage. You can’t take actions. You can’t flank an enemy. You fall if you are flying, unless you can hover.
• Surprised: You grant combat advantage. You can’t take actions. You can’t flank an enemy.
• Unconcious: You’re helpless. You take a -5 penalty to all defenses. You can’t take actions. You fall prone, if possible. You can’t flank an enemy. You are unaware of your surroundings.
• Weakened: Your attacks deal half damage. However, two kinds of damage that you deal are not affected: ongoing damage and damage that isn’t generated by an attack roll.

[/sblock][/sblock]

Part 1: The Lab of Guy Manley

In the gloom of the overcast weather, you set out into the streets of Daunton searching for the address listed on the leaflet. It takes you most of the hour, but eventually your group finds itself in front of a cellar door beneath a shady barber-surgeon. You knock on the door and wait for a while, wondering if anyone is home. A few moments later, the door opens and a small man appears in the doorway. He is scrawny to say the least, and his robes seem baggy and several sizes too large for him. His head is balding and his hair is styled in a terrible combover. He is not old; rather young actually, late 20s at most. Apparently he is one of those unfortunates who started to lose their hair late in their teens. He nudges his half-inch-thick spectacles back up his nose and speaks in a nasally, meek voice.

The heavily armored paladin of Palladys seems taken back by this assumption, "No, no of course not. We are here because of this," Brenwar holds up the notice. He glances over the man in front of him, "We are in the right place I hope..?"

Karma examines the man thoughtfully.

[sblock=ooc]
How are you doing Die Roles, are you rolling for us using our modifiers. I am attempting an active insight check to try and tell if the man is rationally scared, maybe he has been robbed or is expecting to be robbed. Or is he just not used to adventurers turning up on the door.
[/sblock]

[sblock=Game Mechanics]Sorry! I forgot to talk about game mechanics. For your rolls I'd like you to use Invisible Castle. In case you haven't used it before, it's quick and easy to make an account. You enter what you want to roll and it rolls it for you online.

Here is an example: Athletics Roll: 13

Post what you're rolling and a link to your roll. Be sure to include your character and adventure name (Koganusan) so I know you're not a filthy cheater and roll over and over. If you don't want to use Invisible Castle just tell me what you want to do and I'll roll for you behind-the-scenes.

ANOTHER option that my roommate just suggested is to allow take-10s. Basically for any roll I ask for, I'll typically post a DC. If your skill is good enough where a roll of a 10 would allow you to succeed, you automatically succeed. So basically every skill has a "passive" score.

If a post a sblock with a skill and DC, go ahead a roll a check. Or see if your skill is good enough before you look. If you make it open the sblock and take a look. For example:

[sblock=Nature DC 20]These flowers are POISON AHHHH!!![/sblock]

So in this case you would not open the sblock unless you pass the check by either rolling or automatically passing because your nature skill is 10 or better.

Your passive Insight and Perception will also be used often.[/sblock]

[sblock=Karma]With Karma's passive Insight, he would realize that this man is simply a weenie. The presence of six, heavily-armed adventurers is likely quite unsettling.[/sblock]


The small man takes the party inside. The doorway opens onto a small landing which overlooks a sprawling workshop. It is a surprisingly large, 2-level space that takes up the entirety of the sub-level of the building. You see every vertical space is mounted with shelves, all covered with an assortment of mechanical, arcane and alchemical components. The workshop floor is a maze of workbenches cluttered with half-finished artifices, slumped over golem-like constructs, and magical buzzing doodads.

[sblock=Thievery DC 12]Some of this stuff actually looks valuable. If you want to attempt a DC 17 Thievery check, you may be able to pocket something small that would be worth something on the black market.[/sblock]

Manley walks down a wooden stairway to your left and down onto the floor of the workshop, you follow him past rows of dangerous-looking objects towards the back of the room where there is a small sitting area. Manley offers you some horrible-smelling coffee and goes into his explanation.


He ambles over to a thick curtain and pulls it aside. You are shocked to see an ancient dwarf laying on a small bed with tubes and wires running into his body.

[sblock=Arcana DC 17]The tubes and wires are connected to some kind of artifice that is sustaining the dwarf's life.[/sblock]

[sblock=Heal DC 12]This dwarf is absolutely venerable. Possibly one of the oldest dwarves you've ever seen. He is quite frail and emaciated.

[sblock=Heal DC 17]Although old and unhealthy, you can see that - at one time - this dwarf was fit and healthy. His body is also covered with various scars of battle, years apart in age. This dwarf was once a mighty warrior.[/sblock][/sblock]

[sblock=Insight DC 17]His eyes are completely vacant. You don't suspect it is from Manley's potions or treatments, however. The dwarf is simply catatonic.[/sblock]

[sblock=Perception DC 12]The dwarf is ever so faintly muttering something just on the edge of a whisper. he is repeating the same thing over and over... “Koganusan.”[/sblock]

Shrakk looks at the dwarf with surprise.

"I've never seen a dwarf that old before. His eyes seem ... gone. What's your purpose in showing him to us?"

Firete looks around at the laboratory with some trepidation, she then sees someone at the other side of the room. Brenwar, it's nice to see a familiar face. She tries, and fails, to stop herself from shuddering at the sight of the aged dwarf.

Shale didn't find many answers in the tavern - nobody knew about his kind, and any way to travel to some far away place sounded as good as any other to continue searching.

He examines dissapasionatedly the extensive laboratory but his eyes flash when he sees the dwarf and recognizes the machinery as some kind of arcane contraption. Shale doesn't think highly on people that experiment on others.

"I can see you're trying to keep his organic frame alive" says Shale. "However I understand that your continued existence, as a disembodied soul or spirit, is not finished when your corporeal form is destroyed. I suggest you retire the artificial support to this dwarf's life, as he's clearly mindless, even that I suspect he's the advertised mission's reason - I fathom that you hope to find something that could fully revive this subject hidden in that lost city."

[sblock=ooc - Attack powers on non enemies]Something came to my mind a couple days ago. What's your stance on using combat powers on non-standard targets? To narrow it, I'm thinking on things like the Telekinetic Thrawl power, which can be used to Pull enemies. Being an attack power that deals Force damage, I don't expect subtetly or finesse if using it on a Ming vase, but could it be used on, say, a book case to topple it on enemies? Or on a door to violently close it? I'm relatively new to 4e, though I've had the books from a long time, and I don't know if this issue has been answered before.[/sblock]

[sblock=ooc2] my character got approved by a judge. Unless I'm mistaken the other approval needed may come from any other player, so if one of you is so kind to check it I can have it fully approved well before any XP is earned[/sblock]

Kavac pays little attention to the laboratory as he can tell it's safe for now at least. However talk of the Far Lands grabs his attention. Kavac jumps into the coversation apparently ignoring everyone but the small man. "How are we getting to the Far Lands and why does he keep saying Koganusan?" asks Kavac slightly too loudly while pointing at the Dwarf.

[sblock=Someone]

Someone said:

Something came to my mind a couple days ago. What's your stance on using combat powers on non-standard targets? To narrow it, I'm thinking on things like the Telekinetic Thrawl power, which can be used to Pull enemies. Being an attack power that deals Force damage, I don't expect subtetly or finesse if using it on a Ming vase, but could it be used on, say, a book case to topple it on enemies? Or on a door to violently close it? I'm relatively new to 4e, though I've had the books from a long time, and I don't know if this issue has been answered before.

Click to expand...

What you are describing sounds a lot like Stunts. And, yes, I completely endorse clever use of attack powers in non-combat and combat situations so long as they are reasonable and cool.[/sblock]


After letting you observe for a moment, Manley slides the curtain closed.