GREYHAWK CY 576: GREAT LEGENDS RETOLD -- CAMPAIGN THREAD

[Tellerian Hawke]

Nimbar motions for the party to wait. He apparently has a plan. And from the looks of it, a bold one...

Nimbar moves up to the corner and peers around it. Then he turns to the party and smiles, raising his index finger to his lips in a "shhhhhh" gesture.

Nimbar turns the corner, and begins to creep up on the creature; apparently (your best guess), the Hobgoblin isn't looking in this direction, and Nimbar intends to capitalize on it.

Nimbar gets about 15 feet into the room, and it is seeming as if the plan will work...

At that point, the Hobgoblin turns, sees him, snarls, and rushes to attack!

Spoiler: The Bad Series of Rolls That Led to the Current Situation

Nimbar Hide: 7; Nimbar Move Silent: 16 vs. Hobgoblin Spot: 17; Hobgoblin Listen: 19

Nimbar Initiative: 7 vs. Hobgoblin Initiative: 20

The snarl isn't loud enough to carry, and neither is the grunt that the creature makes as he swings his weapon, a nicely-made, well-maintained longsword!

GM: Nimbar's normal AC with spells: 22; Flat-footed: 20. Hobgoblin charge attack: (22) = Hit; Damage: 1d8+1 = 5 pts. Nimbar has taken 5 pts. of damage. Nimbar is slightly injured.

Nimbar is truly unprepared for how fast the Hobgoblin turned out to be, and how fierce. Were it not for his protective spells, the creature would have skewered him; thankfully, the brunt of the blow is absorbed, resulting in little more than a scratch!

Nimbar takes a single step backwards (one square) and casts Color Spray at his opponent!

GM: DC For Spell: 15 Hobgoblin Save: (19) = Saved!

The Hobgoblin snarls again, turning his head away instinctively; he appears to have resisted the spell! Nimbar is beside himself with amazement!

Spoiler: Battle Map

Nimbar's "Surprise Round" is over! Everyone roll initiative!

 

[Tellerian Hawke]

GM: INITIATIVE COUNT: Sphynx 20a Hobgoblin 20b Hawke 16 Ordred 15 Quixt 14 Nimbar 7

SPHYNX: It's your turn! What do you do?

 

[MacConnell]

Being out of position at the back of the group, Sphynx, quickly, makes assessment of the situation based on the sounds that he is hearing. Nimbar is obviously in trouble. He suddenly moves through the party from the position of rear guard to a step or so behind Nimbar, pulling a pinch of powdery substance from one of his many pockets as he moves.

Sliding to a halt, he curls out his left hand in front of him and blows the powder at the now seen enemy, the Hobgoblin. The powder is not sand. During the down time, he knew he could bolster the concept of of the magic he had copied from Nimbar. The powder is bone dust, simple bone dust from no special creature.

OOC: Cast Stun Target, 2nd lvl spell, max HD = 8 My character should have the movement to land 1 square behind Nimbar.

 

[Tellerian Hawke]

GM: Stun Target (an improved version of Sleep) DC: 18 Hobgoblin Save: (10) = Failed! Caster Level: 6th; Duration = 2 rounds / CL = 12 rounds.

Unlike Nimbar's spell, Sphynx's spell is quite successful. In fact, the Hobgoblin collapses almost instantaneously, wearing a look of confusion at the appearance of a new foe, then knowing nothing more, as the dark void of unconsciousness overtakes him.

Hawke reacts next, moving in beside Nimbar and Sphynx, and lands a single, massive blow upon the downed foe; his goal is to grant this creature a swift, and merciful death.

GM: Hawke moved more than 5 feet, therefore, he cannot make a Coup De Grace attempt. Hawke will sheathe his off-hand weapon as part of his movement action. Hobgoblin AC (Base): 15 = [Base 10] + Dex [1] + Armor [3] + Shield [1] Helpless AC: 8 = [Base 10] + Dex of 0 [-5] + Armor [3] Hawke has a +4 bonus to hit as well, since part of the Helpless condition is being prone. Hawke will therefore call 4 points of Power Attack. Hawke's attack roll: (19) = Hits Damage: (Base: 1d8+5) + 4 pts. PA. (Doubled to 8 pts. from 2-H wield) = 1d8+13 = 15 pts. Hobgoblin: 13 Hit Pts; Hobgoblin suffers 15 pts. damage from Hawke's blow. Hobgoblin is now at -2 hit pts. Hobgoblin is bleeding out / dying.

The stunned Hobgoblin has no chance; the massive blow from Hawke's warhammer cracks his skull with a sickening crunch.

COMBAT HAS ENDED.

The rest of the room is empty; it is littered with trash, probably as a result of the Goblins' departure. This Hobgoblin was likely stationed here, alone in the former Goblin lair, to check the progress of the slime, and warn his comrades should it manage to get this far.

Spoiler: LOOT

The Hobgoblin has:
Medium-sized studded leather armor (decent condition)
Medium-sized light wooden shield (decent condition)
Medium-sized longsword (good condition)
24 gp.
13 sp.
2 days of dried rations. (putrid / non-edible by humans or demi-humans)

EVERYONE: Refer to the battle map in the previous post to see the layout of what is nearby. What do you do?

 

[Tellerian Hawke]

Hawke turns to Nimbar with a quizzical look, "What were you thinking, pulling a stunt like that?"

Nimbar shrugs, "I was hoping that I could get the drop on him, and that my spell would work as well as Sphynx's did; I guess I was wrong on both accounts."

It is evident to everyone that Nimbar's pride is wounded far more from his failure than his body was from the Hobgoblin's attack. Nimbar looks very non-plussed at the moment.

 

[Aust Thale]

Quixt:
Not altogether ignoring the loot in the room, Quixt is more curious about what could enter from the other side. He moves quickly but carefully toward the western (on the map) corridor, peeking first around the left alcove and, if nothing there of interest, on to the door, putting his ear to the door to listen for what’s on the other side.

 

[Tellerian Hawke]

Quixt, this room is littered with wooden debris; you surmise that whatever wooden furniture that the Goblins left behind was cannibalized to make the torches that now hang in this area. There are two torches on each wall of this large room.

Spoiler: Map

The alcove marked B is a small shrine, obviously dedicated to some evil deity; the shrine is actually a pile of polished Human skulls that have been lacquered together to form a kind of column, and the top-most skull has three holes drilled in the top of it, which hold one red candle each. The candles are lit, and it appears that they have been burning for some time, because there is a lot of wax oozing down the sides of each candle.

The hallway marked A appears to be new construction; you surmise that it was dug out for the purpose of having storage space, because there are two empty chests at the end of it, as well as two empty weapon racks. The mouth of the hallway shows evidence of being prepped for the addition of wooden beams, and in turn, probably a door. But it appears that for one reason or another, the Goblins never got that far.

As you approach the door (C) you note the lack of any more torches in the area. There is enough light coming in from the big room to see perfectly well in this hallway, but you surmise that past this point, the convenience of ensconced torchlight will be a thing of the past.

SIDE NOTE: As you are on your way to (C), you spare a glance northward; that hallway (D) has no apparent torches, either. Past the point that is drawn on the above map, you surmise that the shadows will deepen quickly.

GM: Quixt's Listen Check: 9

TO BE CONTINUED...

 

[Tellerian Hawke]

Quixt, there is absolutely nothing to be heard. Either the next room is empty, or the door is thick enough to drown out any sound.

EVERYONE: What do you want to do now?

 

[MacConnell]

Sphynx will also skirt the room edges searching for anything amiss or important, not that he thinks his new friend may be inadequate at the task but because it is instinctual for him to perform such.

Seeing the small shrine, Sphynx thinks to himself, ~This looks like necromancy. I hate necromancy.~

He will extinguish all of the candles, keeping one for himself, in case he may need the wax for something. As quietly as possible he will deface the shrine by attempting to remove the skulls, spitting on the floor in disgust.

Afterward, he will move to join Quixt and gesture, "Which way?"

OOC: random roll just in case, 12, 17

 

[Tellerian Hawke]

GM: Using your rolls... Search: 12 (+9) = 21 Knowledge (Religion): 17 (+7) = 24

Sphynx, although your search turns up nothing of interest, you are surprised to find that you cannot extinguish the candles! Snuffing them with your fingers (which does NOT cause damage, by the way) results in the candles re-lighting themselves instantaneously! You can remove the candles from the skull, but you cannot seem to permanently extinguish them through normal means.

Spoiler: Knowledge (Religion) Check (Sphynx's Eyes Only)

You have heard of this before; these candles aren't necessarily "evil," per se; they are simply normal candles (albeit, red-colored ones) that have been enchanted with a simple spell to keep them lit. You know that many religions, good and bad, use this spell for the purposes of keeping candles lit. Destroying the candle in some way will end the effect (e.g., throwing it to the ground and smashing the candle flat with your heel, or something similar which destroys the FORM of the candle); otherwise, the candle continues to burn.

DM COMMENT: You also know that sometimes, these candles have other magical functions as well, or perhaps even hold permanent enchantments; if you handle the candle for 10 rounds (1 full minute) you can make a Knowledge (Arcana) check, DC 25, to determine what (if any) the other powers are.

When you attempt to deface the skulls, you find that there is sufficient lacquer on them to prevent their separation; you would need a solvent of some kind to get them apart. Otherwise, you can easily damage and deface them with any strong, solid object; they are not magical in any way. They are simply "well-glued" for the purposes of keeping them in one place.

What next? (This is an open question for all party members.)