Carrion Crown: Return to Ascanor Lodge and Enter the Watchers.

So its been awhile since I've done a gaming update for any of the Pathfinder AP's I'm involved in. My life has been interesting of late to say the least. So let's first start getting caught up with the Carrion Crown adventure as more has happened there. (Engage condensed recap button!)

The Players Jess  -  Nisha  (female tiefling fighter(weapon master kit) 10 / combat monster)
Charles - Zuri (male aasimar wizard 10 / varisian wanderer/ harrow reader)
Charles - Dragos ( Zuri's raven familiar / smart ass / maybe scared of Nisha)
Me - Julian Du Marc ( male human cleric of Pharasma 10 / NPC/PC / stoic)
Me again - DM (DM / rules dude / story mover-along-er)
NPC - Thredorik Trapspringer (male dwarven rogue 10)


When we left off the party finished its assault on Feldgrau and spent a few days assisting Julian tending to the dead and giving the souls of Feldgrau a proper rest they deserved. Afterwards it was decided to head back to Ascanor Lodge to deal with Estovian and his association with The Whispering Way cultists. Cut ahead a few days as the party arrives at the lodge to be greeted by their favorite porter who lets them inside and asks them to wait as he will fetch the new owner of the lodge. Cilas Graydon apparently decided to take matters in his own hands and organized a coup at the lodge, imprisoning Estovian and taking control of the grounds. Then he called in his fellow disposed allies and they purchased the lodge and turned Estovian over to the local government on grounds of treason. All this happened in the 2 weeks that the players were gone.


After resting up for a few more days the party headed off towards Thrushmoor, situated south east along the shores of Lake Encarthan. Over a week of travel and a few encounters on the road the party arrives in the town of Thrushmoor and begins searching of the Whispering Way's black rider that came down through here. From some good gather information checks they determine that the local stable master may know something. When approached the stable master turns out to be a cultist as well and attacks. Combat ensues. Zuri dies! Julian revives him with the Breath of Life spell. Nisha goes on a rampage and annihilates all adversaries in the stables. Thredorik's thorough search of the stables turns up evidence that the rider headed east to the small fishing town of Illmarsh. The party then decide it was easier to just torch the stables then to explain to the local authorities what happened here. First they released the other horses and then set the stable ablaze and quietly snuck back to the inn they were staying at amongst the commotion. The next day they headed for Illmarsh.


A few miles outside the town they come across a strange fishing boat that looks to be in trouble aiming straight for a reef. The boats only crew was one old man named Horace Croon. Zuri used Dimension Door to transport the party onto the ship and they aided Horace and got the ship safely docked at the Lonely Quay where Horace had his shack. Horace thanked them for their help and mentioned that they weren't the only newcomers to this area as a rider in black came through here a 'few days ago'. Horace wasn't much more help as the eccentric old man apparently suffers from.......SQUIRREL......and loses his train of thought. The party moved on into Illmarsh.


The small town of Illmarsh doesn't welcome the party at all. Its not even the typical 'ignore the new folk', it was a glaring mistrust of the new visitors to the town as if they were criminals. This is what happens when a town is inhabited by insular hicks that distrust the outside world. The party did get the feeling something wrong is going on here too. Not by attitude but by how the people physically look......off. Room and board is procured at the only inn for a ridiculously high 'you're new here' fee and then they go off to ask around town. The townies are not friendly at all to the party and around mid day the local sheriff and his deputies come to take the party to meet the mayor and warn them to leave the people alone here.


Mayor Greedle welcomes them to the town and acts gracious in answering questions the party has. It becomes apparent that Greedle is omitting truths and after pressing the issue he gets upset about the conditions in town. Specifically at the local church of Gozreh. He feels there is something wrong there because people are going missing and asks the party to find out what is happening in exchange for a reward and more information later. Reluctantly they agree and head over to the local church in town. When the get inside of the structure they are asked to leave, quite rudely, by the clerics within. After trying to talk to them the clerics attack. Combat ensues. Clerics start to die. On round two of combat a bizarre aberrant creature appears to fight with the clerics, some sort of chuul hybrid. Combat rages on. The party emerges victorious but hurt. Band-aids applied liberally by Julian and then they search the premises. They come across a few disturbing revelations here: first the statue of Gozreh inside looks more alien and octopoid, second the clerics were sporting unholy symbols to the demon lord Dagon (thanks to some ridiculously high knowledge religion checks), third there was a hidden chapel within the church dedicated to Dagon, fourth there was a secret chamber with the bodies of some of the missing townies in it....each of them had their heads torn off, fifth there was a second chamber that held a young couple of townies who exclaimed they gave their infant girl to the clerics for 'fostering' but didn't know that it involved monsters. Yes...they found out the townies have been giving their daughters over to monsters underwater (Dagon worshipping skum dwelling in the bay) for breeding purposes as part of an ancient pact the founder of the town made generations ago. This fact, however, was gleaned over some investigation and clues given but I'm compressing this.


But before they leave the temple they are attacked by four fluke like worms that burrowed deep into Nisha and Zuri's flesh (Julian and Thredorik squished them thanks to a lucky reflex save). Julian went to work quickly casting remove disease on Zuri and then using his medical skills cut the worm out of Nisha in a gory fashion. Julian then began doling out magical healing to fix the intrusive surgeries. Julian then took the young couple out of the church and escorted them home. They all met at the mayors office to discuss their findings but the mayor was gone. The sheriff mentioned that Mayor Greedle mentioned the old Undiomede home north of town (the old ancestral home of the town's founder) and the party headed out to scout out the run down mansion before night fell.


For the sake of everything I'll end it here for now as it gets meatier from here out even in a condensed format. Next up will be the two days in hell at the old Undiomede House and the first time in a Pathfinder game I get to ask the players to "Make A San Check!". Lovecraftian horror comes to Golarion.

Carrion Crown: VS The Army of Darkness in Feldgrau

So the party has arrived in Feldgrau to confront The Whispering Way cult and see if they can put a stop to this madness and get justice for their fallen friend. Do they survive? Do they become chew toys to the Demon Wolves also hiding in town? Does the dwarf do dumb stuff again???

The Players

Matt - Thredorik Trapspringer (male dwarven rogue 9 / uncouth/ got swindled by Nisha)
Jess  -  Nisha  (female tiefling fighter(weapon master kit) 9 / combat monster....literally/ shrewd negotiator)
Charles - Zuri (male aasimar wizard 9 / varisian wanderer/ harrow reader / finally whipped out his fireball)
Charles - Dragos ( Zuri's raven familiar / smart ass / maybe scared of Nisha)
Me - Julian Du Marc ( male human cleric of Pharasma 9 / NPC/PC / stoic / festrog chow)
Me again - DM (DM / rules dude / story mover-along-er/ keeper of the plush tentacles)



So the Scooby Gang reach the ruined town of Feldgrau to see that the site of a large tragedy has become a manufacturing site for an undead army thanks to the cult of The Whispering Way. The Princes Wolves and the heroes create their battle plan while still at the farmhouse on the outskirts of town. The heroes will advance from the northwest while the Wolves will make strikes along the southeast border to provide a distraction for the heroes to slip into town.


After the Wolves head out to begin the ruckus Julian asks Zuri to assist him with something while the other two get the horses situated in the barn. In the farm house Julian has Zuri assist him in donning his formal clerical garments. When finished Julian was looking just like he did back at the funeral for their friend in Ravengrow. When asked why the change in clothes Julian says that Feldgrau is a graveyard and by his calling needs to be a formal representative of The Lady of the Graves, Pharasma. Also he wants to send a message to The Whispering Way that their behavior is not tolerated and the day of reckoning is at hand.


And now the heroes sneak into Feldgrau and a whole shit storm of trouble breaks out around them. From meeting packs of Menadoran Festrogs (undead beasties that run on all fours and try to eat your face....ask Julian about that), Whispering Way cultists and curates (higher level priests), a haunt trying to burn Thredorik alive in a ruined candle shop, meeting a suicidal ghost of a townie and talking him out of offing himself again....and getting his help for later (you'll find out soon), meeting the Demon Wolves in the grainery and dispatching them and their pack leader, meeting the trapped Prince's Wolves in town and joining forces with them, having a brief encounter with some wights (i.e. opened door, cleric made knowledge: religion roll and they closed door & had rogue break lock so it won't open again), watched Zuri finally bring his fireball online to assist the Prince's Wolves who were trying to buy us time to get into the tower in town where the Whispering Way honcho was (big honking explosion that wiped out 12+ skeletons and damn near roasted the Cultists controlling them), watching Zuri pummel some skeleton archers on top the tower with an Ice Storm and finally we bust into the tower and bring the fight right to Auren Vrood the Whispering Way leader (human necromancer) who we've been chasing ever since he murdered Professor Lorrimar back in Ravengrow!


Needless to say he was waiting for us and was ready to cause some pain to us. Vrood also had the aid of two giant crawling hands that were more of a nuisance than anything. Nisha and Thredorik beat those things down while Zuri kept slinging spells and Julian healed. Eventually the fight was right in Vrood's face and after tasting Nisha's great axe a few times he decided to fly away (with a fly spell cast on him before the party reached him). And for a while it looked like he was going to fly away.....until Jess played a plot twist card which had an ally appear suddenly to give aid. Well the biggest ally they had was the leader of the Prince's Wolves.....who as Vrood was flying up through the hole in the ceiling to the second floor of the tower came running from the second floor (he climbed up the tower in hybrid werewolf form) and he leaped at Vrood! One successful Combat Maneuver roll and he grappled Vrood. And when 500+ pounds of werewolf grapples you in the air it breaks your concentration and causes you to drop out of the air like a stone.


This gave the heroes the opening they needed to put an end to Vrood once and for all! While pinned they hacked into him (the Prince's Wolves leader told them to take him out and don't mind his safety....he'll heal).
Nisha separated Vrood's hips and legs from his torso and Vrood died in enormous pain. And then a curious thing happened....as Julian was going to cast 'Speak with Dead' and question Vrood's spirit Vrood's lower jaw began to foam and fizz and dissolved off his face! Julian was aghast and so were the others. Well it was time them to hack off Vrood's head and take it to the no longer suicidal ghost.


You're thinking 'What the HELL.....WHY?!?!' Simple. The ghost told the heroes that it could rip Vroods memories right from his mind in case regular interrogations fail. The ghost then began to remove the memories of Vrood and the heroes saw them as if they were looking through Vrood's own eyes. We saw Vrood writing correspondence to his superior, who is orchestrating all these events, detailing how he is building an undead army in Feldgrau. Another vision showing cultists scurrying around Feldgrau raising the deceased townsfolk. Another vision showing Vrood placing some objects in a box (an iron & glass vial containing a swirling grey mist, a large section of a bloody heart in a glass jar, and a fragile looking skull composed of hundreds of bone fragments). Into a second box was placed strange statuette of murky green stone depicting a horrid tentacled creature. Another vision showed each chest being given to a rider on horseback. Vrood tells the one rider to 'Ride to Thrushmoor. You will exchange the effigy for the relic we need!' and all the visions end.


After that the spirit finally was put to rest. The Prince's Wolves wanted to head back to The Shudderwood ASAP but when Julian began working to properly bury the people of Feldgrau (and consecrate the land on top of it) the Wolves offered to help out digging proper graves instead of the large mass grave they were all thrown into. Aw hell....who am I kidding, one of the players made a great diplomacy roll and convinced them to stay. Even with their help it took over three days for all the work to be finished. During this time Nisha brought up to Thredorik the promise he made to her to do 'anything she wanted' when he was getting mauled by the Demon Wolves in the grainery. She wants her weapon and armor enchanted for free. Thredorik looked.....out played. Zuri was impressed. Julian was indifferent as he was preforming burial rites for 16 hours a day.


We also agreed that we will head to Thrushmoor after we return to Ascanor Lodge with the Wolves to check on our friend and bring Estovian to justice for all the hinky deals he made with the other wolf packs. But that will happen next session.


All in all it was a hell of a fun night and a good conclusion to book three of this AP. I was quite proud of all the players on how focused they were with the combats, I was proud that even with minimal role playing due to a combat HEAVY section they still never broke character and I was proud of myself for keeping it together and keeping it fun (minor hiccups aside).


Great job gang!
***Also sorry for giving you the short short version. If I detailed every combat encounter in earnest I could easily write three or four posts on it! The party worked their butts off that night. ***

Carrion Crown: The Battle for the Stairs of the Moon

"I'm heading to the werewolf at the penis door!"

This is what my wife declared during the battle for The Stairs of the Moon. Generally I can handle most absurd comments made by players but this one almost broke me. But how did this comment arrive and what else happens there? And did the players break the module and possibly the entire AP? Let's recap the Scooby Gang and find out.


The Players

Matt - Thredorik Trapspringer (male dwarven rogue 8 / uncouth / pet dwarf)
Jess  -  Nisha  (female tiefling fighter(weapon master kit) 8 / combat monster....literally / made statement about penis door)
Charles - Zuri (male aasimar wizard 8 / varisian wanderer/ harrow reader / contacted Desna)
Charles - Dragos ( Zuri's raven familiar / smart ass / maybe scared of Nisha)
Me - Julian Du Marc ( male human cleric of Pharasma 8 / NPC/PC / stoic / critical hit machine)
Me again - DM (DM / rules dude / story mover-along-er)



So the night of 'somethin'-somethin' ended and in the morning the party met up in Zuri's room to discuss where to go now. We know Estovian is involved with the Whispering Way and the Silverhide werewolves. We know they are all heading to The Stairs of the Moon and we know its location. Finally we also know they met with Madame Ivanja before they left. Debating began. Thredorik suggested pumping Madame Ivanja for information. Zuri was leaning towards meeting with her to talk as well. Nisha seemed less antsy at the potential of meeting the 'varisian whore' again after last nights 'somethin'. Then they asked Julian his thoughts as he was totally quiet up to this point.


He suggested packing up and heading out to the Stairs and avoiding all the other investigations. Julian pointed out we know who is the problem in the lodge, we already know where they are meeting and why, if our further investigations cause more suspicions, do we want to possibly endanger the other guests at the lodge. Besides Zuri and Nisha found the threatening note to 'leave while you can' in their room so lets use that to get out. Estovian probably left it and if we leave he will let his guard down and we will keep the others safe here. The others, after consideration, agreed. We will have breakfast, have the porter get our horses quietly and leave the lodge on 'other business'. At breakfast we also met with Cilas Graydon and Julian, in orcish, told him our plan as well as the location of Estovian's incriminating evidence. Silas thanked us all and told us to stay safe and he will do the same.


The party quietly was in the process of leaving the lodge when Estovian stopped by to wish us well on our journey and that we were welcome back anytime. We thanked him for his gracious hospitality then rode off to the main road. Once past the walls of the lodge, we plotted the course to the Stairs of the Moon. It was a fairly uneventful ride except for the weather changing suddenly to dark and stormy. Eventually we arrived at the Stairs and tied up our horses a way out and went in on foot. Naturally we spotted two werewolves prowling around the base of the temple. **Note: these are natural werewolves who can shape change at will. **  Combat ensues, Nisha charges off after one of them with Thredorik in tow, the other lycanthrope charges Julian and Zuri. That werewolf, thinking he was being smart, moved past Julian so he could be between Zuri and Julian to attack both. This did give Julian an AOO. I rolled....natural 20. I roll to confirm....natural 20. I draw a card from the critical hit deck and it comes up with a 'fort save vs. DC 10 + damage dealt or die'. I attacked with Julian's mithral knife, rolled damage and total DC was 16. I roll for the werewolf. Natural 2 + fort save = dead werewolf. Nisha and Thredorik dispatch the other quickly and without being exposed to lycanthropy.


Moving cautiously into the temple we enter an area filled with tribal fetishes, bones and gore. While investigating this area a cold swirling mist begins to take shape into what looks like a ghostly werewolf. The vilkacis appears and looks pretty pissed off at us. Combat ensues. The vilkacis attempts to possess Thredorik but to no avail. Nisha, Zuri and Julian then pile on the assault with magic great axe, magic missile and channeled holy energy. The vilkacis dissipates and then we explore the area.


Now about the 'penis door' comment. I drew out the lower level on the battle mat for reference and the hallway inside the lower level, where the vilkacis appears, is rather phallic shaped. In fact it looks like a drawing out of an anatomy book detailing a cross section of what penile insertion into a vagina looks like. Good job Paizo! The werewolf Nisha charged was on the side of the temple that had this section in it. And the words will now live in infamy.


Any who, we do some thorough searching and find a recently dead Whispering Way member in one of the chambers off the penis shaped hallway. He had notes on him talking about heading to Feldgrau in the Furrows of Ardeal after the business at the Stairs concluded. We also find a secret 'lab', an ancient one at that, with notes describing the tale of a cleric of Desna who's son got infected with lycanthropy and how he tried (and failed) to cure him. Also talks about the son's spirit eventually became the vilkacis. Julian surmises that Estovian mentioned coming here when he was younger and was accepted by the Mordrinacht tribe by some reason....and that reason is he can call forth the vilkacis....and the wolves look at it as an ancestor spirit. Now we feel relieved we left the lodge so our investigation didn't eventually lead to bloodshed but now we decide to return to dispatch Estovian and bring him to justice and in doing so put the vilkacis to rest. Finally we also locate an ancient scroll with written directions on how to use the Dusk Moth artifact on the top floor to commune with Desna and we decide this is worth holding onto. We move along and head up the stairs.


And we are greeted with arrows being shot at us by a pair of werewolf archers leaning over the railing of the second floor. Matt decides to play a plot twist card in which he states he would like the railing to give way and the archers fall to their deaths. As GM that sounded plausible considering the age of the ruins and so the railing gives way and the wolves plummet onto the stairs head first, breaking their necks and ending the hail of arrows. Creeping up the stairs they notice two more on the far side of the second floor landing. Combat ensues. Werewolves die again. More stairs to climb and eventually we reach another landing which sits under the last floor in the temple....and three more werewolves wait for us and unleash a flurry of attacks to thwart us. More combat ensues....more dead werewolves pile up. And there is one more stairway to lead us to the top. Thredorik creeps up slowly and without a sound (very high stealth check roll to thank for that) and sees there are two more waiting up at the top. Both look significantly different than the others we fought. They looked older, wiser and meaner. We decide that we won't be able to talk to them since the others offered no chance to talk but we won't be going up the stairs. Using the 'wand of spider climbing' we all scale the side of the structure to the top floor. This open aired Stonehenge-esque area is the final part of this journey. We try to quietly get over the side and sneak up on them but we are heard. Combat ensues. Nisha goes after the larger one with the great sword while Thredorik engages the female one. The female one steps back and summons a 'burning sphere' into being where Thredorik is...and he has no problems avoiding it. In fact he has no real problems with dealing with her as his roguish training made him difficult to hit with spell or staff.


Nisha and the big guy just get into an all out slug-fest of who will be the last one standing. Mr.Werewolf didn't have the backup she did with the healing bursts from Julian and spell assistance from Zuri in the form of 'haste'. Eventually both wolves go down and the party can catch their breaths. After some healing and looting of bodies like good adventurers the consensus is to try to activate the Dusk Moth so we can ask for some assistance on the problem at hand. Julian, being the cleric, goes to work cleaning the temple with Zuri's help. Julian then blesses the temple grounds infusing them with holy energies again. At night Zuri attempts to preform the ritual. In game terms a 'use magic device' check is needed with a high difficulty to get the artifact to work. Charles plays one of his plot twist cards giving him a +20 bonus on his next skill check which puts his check roll way over what was needed. The ritual is a success and the party falls into a partial haze/dreamlike state. And we see her. Desna. A goddess in the world of Golarion appears to us and thanks us for restoring her temple back to a sacred site after hundreds of years of neglect. In payment she also gives us a glimpse of our future showing various major battles that we will encounter. ** She grants the players a vision of the future end battles to each of the remaining books in the AP including this one....they are shown in order. Also as an additional boon each of us gain a permanent +1 sacred bonus to either our Wisdom or Charisma scores. Finally to show that we were blessed by the goddess herself our irises have changed to a silvery color from the regular colors they had.**

We awaken the next morning refreshed and reinvigorated and ready to move on. Next stop Feldgrau. Just a few miles out from the Stairs we come across a slaughtered party of humans and we decided to check it out. While examining everything we are called out to from the tree line and a group of what looks like Varisian Szarni (mafia/criminals) slowly approaches. Their leader comes up first, being polite and with palms up, he tells us that his name is Rhakis Szadro and he is the leader of the 'Prince's Wolves', a group of werewolves dedicated to the eradication of the cult of the Whispering Way. Rhakis states he knew of our exploits in the area as word amongst the packs travels fast. He also says they watched our battles at the Stairs of the Moon. He was taken back by how casually we said we didn't have any problems there and was more shocked (and impressed) that we felled both the Mordrinacht and Dorzhanev pack leaders on top of the Stairs too! Truthfully we didn't know who they were and didn't care as it was a kill or be killed scenario there. He then offers a alliance: he will share info on the Whispering Way and lend assistance in stopping them at Feldgrau for us turning over the packlords heart to him so he can assume leadership of the wolves of the Shudderwood to bring some peace to that area. We agree.


He then fills us in that the Whispering Way was followed by the leader of the Demon Wolves, a devil worshipping group in the Shudderwood, and allowing him to assume power would be disastrous. He also talks about the strength of the Way's forces and offers to travel with us. For the next three days we travel to The Furrows in Ardeal. We do stop at a town midway to resupply. On the final day we approached a lone farmhouse just outside Feldgrau where some of us see the images of werewolves hanging from a great tree out front. The Prince's Wolves just see humans. Turns out some of us got hooked by the hallucinogenic spores of a hangman tree. Combat ensues. The evil tree gets turned to splinters. And we stop for the night.


Now remember how I mentioned that the players may have broken the module last posting for this game? Well it happened. According to the normal events of the encounters at the lodge Cilas Graydon, their disposed military ally in the lodge was supposed to die in event six that occurs as Estovian fearing the party is getting too close to his history summons the vilkacis to attack them. Instead the creature inhabits the body of Corvin Tergsvor (the snooty fop) who then rips Cilas to shreds as he was the first victim the vilkacis found. Estovian eventually flees to the Stairs where the party was to have a final encounter with him. Also Duristan was supposed to follow the party to the Stairs and become infected by lycanthropy and was supposed to become an enemy in the final part in Feldgrau. That didn't happen either. I rolled so poorly for Duristan and his two henchies that he never saw the party leave or where they went to.

Here is the break for the AP. While this chapter does have a plan if the party makes leaps of logic and high rolls to move along and keep Cilas alive it really doesn't take into consideration that they saved the life of a man, a military man with supporters and allies through out Ustalav. Cilas took a liking to them for a reason and will now help out however he can. And if the party manages to contact him later for aid then all bets are off. If they explain the situation to him he could get very powerful and influential folk on their (the party's side) quickly. He is like the 'universal key' that can open all sorts of doors for aid later. This can break a game. And I'm not going to punish the players for uncovering this. They have been gaining allies this whole time. They just now have one with quite a bit of pull through out Ustalav. Good job Scooby Gang!

Carrion Crown: Through the Shudderwood to Ascanor Lodge Part 3

So....werewolves DO live in the Shudderwood. And apparently they are embroiled in a conflict as to which pack will lead the rest. Of course the 'Scooby Gang' are caught up in this mess. And yes, the dwarf is Velma. We finally get into the lodge too and more hi jinks ensue. Also this is where the players may have broken the module and altered the course of the AP for the future books. Where you ask? Well that is a secret....like Julian's.



The Players

Matt - Thredorik Trapspringer (male dwarven rogue 7 / uncouth / peeping tom)
Jess  -  Nisha  (female tiefling fighter(weapon master kit) 7 / combat monster....literally / professed her serious 'like' to Zuri)
Charles - Zuri (male aasimar wizard 7 / varisian wanderer/ harrow reader / admitted his 'like' to Nisha and that she scares him)
Charles - Dragos ( Zuri's raven familiar / smart ass / found out about gold leaf pastries in Caliphas/ LOVES pastries and shinies)
Me - Julian Du Marc ( male human cleric of Pharasma 7 / NPC/PC / stoic / has a secret)
Me again - DM (DM / rules dude / story mover-along-er / still bribed by pie or hot cocoa/ bribes of hot cocoa and cookies were offered by Jess and Charles........not Matt......not forgetting that snub)


Duristan waves us through the gates to Asconor Lodge and his help take all of our horses to be stabled for the evening. Duristan bids us a goodnight and hurries off to his room. All the normies who survived from the werewolf attack are visibly shaken. Belik the porter of the lodge is also looking shaken as he greets us at the door with hot cups of coffee and a very meek and humble apology for his earlier behavior. He tells us that we do have rooms and he acted in error on behalf of the lodge without the prior knowledge of the arrangement between Count Caromarc and the proprietor of the lodge. Speaking of which Belik asks if we would be willing to meet with Estovian Lozarov the head keeper of the lodge. The party accept the offer, finish their warm drinks and follow Belik to the reference library in the lodge.

Estovian apologized for the earlier events of the day, noting that the porter wasn't aware that he owed Count Caromarc a favor and this was the repayment. After apologizing again, he says that the lodges resources are at their disposal including the reference library. Estovian excuses himself and darts up the staircase in the back of the library up to his private office.
They head out where Belik was waiting for them where he escorts the to their rooms. Nisha and Zuri in one, Thredorik and Julian in the other. They turn in for the night.


The next day at breakfast the party meet some of the other lodge guests. Cilas Graydon the Margrave of Sturnidae a disposed former general of a evil regent. He couldn't follow orders to commit atrocities and rebelled. Corvin Tergsvor a nobleman in hiding and total ass hat. The Markiza Welgory and her much younger "boy toy" who is doing work on behalf of her ailing husband. And finally Madame Ivanja the varisian harrow reader and Madam of the not so secret brothel in the north tower at the lodge. Ivanja took a liking to Zuri and Nisha started to plot murder....by crushing her breakfast roll into a tiny, inedible ball. We then decided who is doing what today. Zuri is researching In the library, Thredorik is checking out the lodge grounds and investigating the out buildings and Julian and Nisha will look into the bloodied lodge invite they found in the web weavers lair.


Zuri's all day researching didn't yield any new information but he does note that this library does have records about the Whispering Way cult and that is impressive. He will return tomorrow. Julian and Nisha find out that the invitation was for a Echtmoor Dravin the guest, and good friend, of Silas Graydon. Later on the day Silas does find out about this and approaches the party. We explain everything and give Silas his friends personal possessions and he thanks and rewards us. Thredorik checks out the grounds, searches through the porter's home and finally makes his way to the north tower where he discovers its 'secret'. He meets Madame Ivanja who offers to make him an 'appointment' later in the evening but doesn't know any other info about the goings on in the area.


We all meet up for dinner and discuss the days findings and plan for the next day. After a good nights sleep and a hearty breakfast Zuri, Thredorik and Julian head to the research library to continue searching about. Nisha decides to wait outside the library as research isn't her thing. We also ask Estovian if he can point us in the direction of any reference books about the local werewolf tribes. He shows us a stack of adventurer journals and said they may be some help. He then excused himself and went about his business within the lodge. Thredorik noticed something amiss with one of the journals and upon a more thorough inspection found a few dog eared pages as well as a hand written note about researching something called the 'Halo of Dreams' in the upstairs library. He placed the note back in where he needed it to be so it looked undisturbed and Zuri, Julian and Thredorik surmised that perhapse more info will be found in Estovians private office upstairs in the back of the library. We alert Nisha to our plan of snooping about while he is away and have Dragos help keep an eye out for Estovian if he is returning.


Thredorik handily unlocks the office door and we do notice that this is a records room with a small library collection as well. A very high 'perception' check from Thredorik and 10 minutes of searching later and we find all we need. We first see Estovian likes the old ways of having a ruling monarchy and all his propaganda letters show this. We also find an old journal that belonged to a priest of Desna called the 'Halo of Dreams' that talks about a holy artifact of Desna known as 'The Dusk Moth' and how it was built into a temple called The Stairs of the Moon. And finally we find Estovian's journal that details his dealings with the Mordrinacht werewolves but also The Whispering Way cult and how he arranged a meeting for them within the past few days. Also inculded in this is the rough location of 'The Stairs' and notes this is where the werewolf tribes host their moots. It also mentions how the cultists visited Madame Ivanja as well before departing. Zuri and Julian agree we can't let Estovian know we discovered what is going on and have Thredorik put everything back the way it was found. ** DM note: for this I gave Thredorik a 'slight of hand' skill check and he rolled a ridiculously high number. This became my DC for Estovian to notice if anything was amiss in his office.**


We left the office, Thredorik relocked the door and wiped off the knob to remove fingerprints (by using Zuri's shirt) and we gathered Nisha and Dragos and went back to our rooms to plan. We agreed we need to visit Madame Ivanja to question her and Thredorik kept pushing Zuri to do it. Nisha didn't look too happy about that. We also agree we need to get to 'The Stairs of the Moon' as well as this pack moot will be taking place and we might catch The Whispering Way cultists who killed Professor Lorimar there. Estovian's journal gave a vague description of the area the temple is in but we don't know who in the lodge has seen it (and we don't want to alert Estovian to our findings). So we start to do some more Scooby investigating around the lodge. Starting with the lodge's master hunter Delgros.


Delgros was in the midst of sharing stories to the lodge patrons and after they dispursed he wanted to know what we wanted. After a quick question if he knew about the 'Stairs' he said he never seen them before and recommened we ask some of the other lodge staff before departing. We tried to speak with Madame Ivanja as well but she was 'busy with appointments' and to come back tomorrow by her well armed guards outside her tower. So we decided to speak with Silas Graydon as he was willing to offer any help to us in light of assisting him with his missing friend. After dinner we approached Silas in the great hall and asked to speak to him. He asked if we needed to speak in private and we followed him back to his chambers. When we got into the room he was talking about general pleasantries loudly while rolling up a heavy blanket and placing it at the crack at the base of the door. The he partially closed the flue in the fireplace because, as Thredorik noticed on our first day there, all the chimneys are connected and you can hear people speaking by the fireplaces from anywhere in the lodge. We ask him about the area and he noted his military experience and retrieved some topographical maps of the area and using the description helped to determine it is to the south west of the lodge approximately 8 miles away. We thanked him and he told us to keep him abreast of the situations here and he will keep an ear out for any rumblings around the lodge.

We returned to our rooms and apparently Zuri and Nisha began to have a 'discussion' of some kind about how much she dislikes that 'varisian whore' aka Madame Ivanja. Apparently the dwarf is blessed with Superman level hearing and trys to spy on this but is busted by Zuri. Thredorik goes downstairs into the lodge to get a snack and plan on how he can peep on this disagreement. However this fight ends as Nisha, who is failing to find the words, plants a long kiss on Zuri then tries to leave. Obviously he stops her and they talk it out. Both like each other but never knew how to breach it. Things have changed. Speaking of changing, while the discussion was on, Julian got dressed nicely and quietly left his room by around 10pm. Unfortunately Thredorik spotted him leaving the lodge proper and followed behind to see Julian going into Madame Ivanja's tower. Now Thredorik decides to be a letch and spy on this going on by using his grappling hook in the rear of the tower to climb up to a window. When he reaches the window he seeing Julian going into one of the rooms and the door closes behind. Thredorik then jimmys open the window and climbs in and listens at the door to hear a woman speaking in a foreign language. So Thredorik goes one floor down to the lounge area and waits for Julian who finally makes an appearance at around 2am. Julian is suprised by the appearance of El Sleazo waiting for him and he leaves the tower. Thredorik realizes if he goes out the front door the guard will get him so he goes back out the window and heads back to the lodge where Julian was waiting for him at the doors. 'Not a word.' is the only thing Julian says to the dwarf before heading inside. And this is where we broke for the night.


Now this was kind of a pain in the ass for me to run. I chose to go the AP route because all the information and flow of the story is laid out in a neat package that doesn't require the DM to write out copious notes about NPC's and such. This section of book three is also called 'a railroad' in the book by the author but is in no way laid out as such. All the NPC's are front loaded into the beginning of the lodge entry instead of being placed at appropriate spots during the 'events' at the lodge that triggers their meets. I guess it was going for a more organic feel but when railroading its not going to be organic. It moves at a specific pace. This book does a bad job of placing out info to the DM. And that was my failing: I assumed that I didn't have to do more work to run this AP than needed. For the first two books it wasn't a problem but the author of book three has made my life hell. I ran an AP to get away from campaign notes and adventure design, I didn't subscribe to Paizo's AP's so I could keep doing it. But that is my failing. I didn't prepare more. I didn't have a firmer grasp of the info and I had to wing it at a few points only to have their locations (the information I missed) pointed out by a player a few minutes later. I'm owning this. This is my fault. Apparently I need to do more work again. No 'fun' was lost so I still feel I did ok. I will try to correct this for our next game on Feb. 4th.

Now back to the player pointing out information to me I missed. I know this was done as a help only and wasn't meant as anything but.....but after the game ended and I started thinking about it I was bothered by the fact a player had access to the module I was running while they were playing it. I don't like that at all. And I'm going on record saying that I won't allow this in the future either. So to any of my players out there be it Carrion Crown, Runelords or any future players I may have that read this....don't bring any copies of modules to the game (physical or electronic). If you want to help out and show were I missed something wait until the end of the session. Same goes for rules disputes wait until the end of the game and we will go over it. I just don't want players to have access to the story and stats I'm using while I'm running it for you. That is not fair to me, not fair to the other players either and could be concidered cheating. I know it wasn't in this situation however but it bothered me none the less.


And this concludes all of the happenings of the last Carrion Crown game. Sorry it took so long but one gets burned out writing about varisian whores and peeping dwarfs after awhile.

Carrion Crown: Through the Shudderwood to Ascanor Lodge Part 2

So the heroes reached the Ascanor Lodge after a five day travel through the Shudderwood. They were greeted by some very friendly and well armed guards...not really. The intrepid adventurers were told to 'piss off you dirty serfs'. After some more haggling and presenting the letter from Count Caromarc the guards relented and summoned the lodge's porter. What happened then you ask?


The Players

Matt - Thredorik Trapspringer (male dwarven rogue 7 / uncouth / peeping tom)
Jess  -  Nisha  (female tiefling fighter(weapon master kit) 7 / combat monster....literally / professed her serious 'like' to Zuri)
Charles - Zuri (male aasimar wizard 7 / varisian wanderer/ harrow reader / admitted his 'like' to Nisha and that she scares him)
Charles - Dragos ( Zuri's raven familiar / smart ass / found out about gold leaf pastries in Caliphas/ LOVES pastries and shinies)
Me - Julian Du Marc ( male human cleric of Pharasma 7 / NPC/PC / stoic / has a secret)
Me again - DM (DM / rules dude / story mover-along-er / still bribed by pie or hot cocoa/ bribes of hot cocoa and cookies were offered by Jess and Charles........not Matt......not forgetting that snub)



The lodge's porter, while in front of the party, proceeds to examine the Count's letter with extreme scrutiny. Checking the seal, examining the paper, making sure the ink is dry and any/everything in his little halfling powers as porter to prove this was a forgery. Naturally he failed. So in response he does the mature thing....he tells us that we do not have a reservation at the lodge and will not gain admittance and we should leave now. And porter Belik of Courtlaud turns on his heels and walks off. The party tries to reason with him and then the fireworks begin! Belik turns on his heels and begins to insult their state and appearance, belittling Nisha for being less than a woman as well. I believe he called her a 'thing'. Zuri becomes visibly angry and begins to argue back and defend Nisha's honor as a crowd of patrons at the lodge begin to gather at the gate to watch the show. Thredorik tries to work up to the gate and unlock it to get to Belik but is met by the six armed guards all of which have their hands on their blades.


During all of this commotion a gruff, almost feral looking hunter pushed through the crowd of nobles and leaves the gates while being followed by a younger nobleman and his hired help. This hunter, Delgros Kroitzcer, is the lodges master hunter and leads nobles on expiditions for 'big game'. This time his 'client', Duristan Silvio Ariesir, is very impatient and over excited about this hunt. Duristan notices the group of heroes and calls to them to 'fall in line for a hunt'. After he is met with apathy and Julian telling him to 'get bent', he realizes that these are not normal hirelings but full fledged adventurers and Duristan immediately apologizes and formally introduces himself and politely asks if they would be of assistance in a hunt he has organized. The prize: werewolves. Duristan goes on about the need for seasoned adventurers on this and upon seeing their dismissal at the gates on the lodge, makes an offer of inviting them as his personal guests and paying for their lodging for as long as they stay. All the while Duristan was verbally bashing Belik the porter the entire time.


After a quick discussion, and realization they are getting nowhere with the porter, they accept Duristan's offer and join him on his werewolf hunt. While riding out they get caught up on the events that during one of Delgros's hunts early this morning for a great stag in the area that group was beset upon by large, furry, fanged beasts that drove off the other nobles and broke up the hunt. Which prevented Delgros from claiming the stag's carcass. During this ride out to the encounter site Duristan was flirting Nisha up and down a blue streak. Being that he was greatly 'impressed' with a warrior woman is an understatement. Zuri, Thredorik and Julian decided to stay out of this flatter fest and have a conversation in a different language so to not be understood. Julian stated his concerns that Duristan seemed brash and his plans seemed hasty. This bothered him as he felt his rash behavior will get people killed. Also it was noted Julian felt that Duristan's boasting of killing three werewolves was out of luck alone and not skill.


When they arrived at the sight Delgros exclaimed that the stag's carcass is gone and the huntsman, the noble, the lackeys and the heroes start looking around for it. Nisha makes an impressive 'survival' check and finds a trail of blood and matted down foliage which leads them to the carcass and the three dire boars who were feeding on it. Combat ensues, three large slabs of wild bacon created, more investigation continues. Julian does a 'heal' check on the wounds the carcass has and notes the arrow marks, the tusk marks from the boars and another set of very sharp teeth that he can't identify. There are also other footprints around that do not resemble the boars by the carcass. This excites Duristan and he insists they set up camp here and wait for the werewolves. Delgros dislikes that idea greatly exclaiming there are no werewolves out here and that intelligent people will return to the lodge with him. Duristan reminds the party of their arrangement and they stay with him at the camp. Drinking mead by campfire ensues. Duristan asks to hear all about our adventures. Henchmen on patrol around the campsite.


Late into the night when the booze was out and the dwarf was totally tanked we hear a muffled cry from the woods and then another scream. We then notice only two of the six henchmen have made it back to camp. Gathering up our weapons, and drunken dwarf, we head off towards the sound. Nisha leads the way with great axe at the ready and we come across a horrible scene. A twisted and mangled bloodied body of a henchman and another grasped within the jaws of a large, feral werewolf. The beast dropped the body and demanded to know why we are within the woods! Zuri, being the diplomatic one, tried to give an explanation but the monster cut his explanation short and accused us of aligning ourselves with a Mathus Mordrinacht and the Silverhide tribe. We were threatened that no Silverhide will sit on the Highthrone and continued support of such will have the other tribes waging a bloody war on the lodge and all within. At this point another werewolf appears from the wood next to its companion and we are told to run back to the lodge like good little sheep.


We hold our ground for a moment and try to speak but we are cut off by snarling and one of the werewolves howl into the darkness. Then we start to hear all the others replay back and soon the stillness of the wood is eclipsed by numerous werewolves howling a warning....you are NOT alone here! We head back to camp, collect Duristan and his two remaining men and make haste back to Ascanor Lodge where Duristan gets us through the gates.


And now this is where I feel I started to falter with my DMing and some bits of the story get muddled and I have to retrofit a few tidbits. But that will be covered in part three. Damn the party sure did a hell of alot of stuff this past game!

Carrion Crown: Through the Shudderwood to Ascanor Lodge Part 1

My Carrion Crown PFRPG AP resumed from its holiday hiatus to kick off book three, 'Broken Moon', and so far the party did quite well with the mystery at hand. So much so they could have even broken the module and changed the course of the story itself. Fear not, its not a 'divide by zero' level error where the entire cosmos implodes and Michael Bay wins a 'Best Director' Oscar. But it *can* cause a ripple effect through the remaining books. In a good way for the players as well. I bet they are surprised as hell to read that! Wether or not that module breaking even occurs is dependant on their actions next game on Feburary 4th.


The Players

Matt - Thredorik Trapspringer (male dwarven rogue 7 / uncouth / peeping tom)
Jess  -  Nisha  (female tiefling fighter(weapon master kit) 7 / combat monster....literally / professed her serious 'like' to Zuri)
Charles - Zuri (male aasimar wizard 7 / varisian wanderer/ harrow reader / admitted his 'like' to Nisha and that she scares him)
Charles - Dragos ( Zuri's raven familiar / smart ass / found out about gold leaf pastries in Caliphas/ LOVES pastries and shinies)
Me - Julian Du Marc ( male human cleric of Pharasma 7 / NPC/PC / stoic / has a secret)
Me again - DM (DM / rules dude / story mover-along-er / still bribed by pie or hot cocoa/ bribes of hot cocoa and cookies were offered by Jess and Charles........not Matt......I'll remember that)

We left off with our adventurers reaching the forgotten hunting trail through the Shudderwood that Count Caromarc suggested they travel on to catch up to the agents of the Whispering Way cult. The Shudderwood is a region of dense, tall pine trees that allow little sunlight through. Dead pine needles cover the ground and not much grows here. Its also a home to a few werewolf packs that are embroiled in a power struggle for leadership in the wood. But we'll touch on that later.


The first day of travel through the wood was uneventful except that by 5pm it was pitch black and soundless. We set up camp and took watch. Julian volunteered for first watch. Around midnight Julian noticed something moving up in the trees above the campsite. I rolled really REALLY high on his perception check and the beasties rolled really REALLY poorly on stealth. Julian lightly woke up Thredorik, Nisha and Zuri to let them know of this. With their dark vision and a decent roll by Thredorik on a knowledge check they knew they were dealing with four ettercaps. The ettercaps leaped down from the trees and surrounded the ready adventurers. Combat ensued. Ettercaps died left and right with one actually escaping into the woods.


Quickly we chased it down and a 'magic missile' and 'acid splash' later and the monster went down....in front of a partially collapsed tower in a clearing in the woods. Suspecting that this was its lair we kept our guard up. Zuri and Thredorik started to hear a soft song being sung within the tower and wanted to investigate. They made a perception check to hear the song and failed the will save to not be compelled to follow the music. And off into the tower they go! Julian and Nisha following close by and looking worried. As soon as Zuri stepped through the collapsed wall into the tower the music stopped and he and Thredorik both snapped out of the haze. Zuri noticed the webbing through out the interior and the six large cocoons hanging from the ceiling. Thredorik noticed they were covered in thin strands of webbing and the large hole in the ground about twenty feet up. And then the ground shook and a large monstrous human female/spider/maggot hybrid erupted out of the hole with a keening screech and began to assault the party.

Combat ensues. Thredorik makes a 'knowledge: dungeoneering' check and realizes its a Web Weaver. An abomination that is revered by ettercaps as almost a goddess. And boy was she pissed off and hungry looking too! She spits a sticky web stream at Zuri snagging him and dragging him towards her. Nisha charges in to engage and instead receives an AOO that ends up paralyzing her via the fluids on the beasts claws. Thredorik tumbles in to assist by flanking, Julian hangs back to healing burst as needed. Zuri on his turn casts 'burning hands' and the flames burn the beast while burning away the webbing he is stuck to. Nisha comes around and starts hacking into the beast with Thredorik's help. The Weaver then grabs Zuri and drops him into her nest in the ground where he lands in a wet and gooey mass. Its probably poo.


Eventually the party gets the upper hand from the physical assault on the surface and the 'lightling bolt' Zuri cast from underneath. They search the lair, find some loot and a corpse of a noble with a blood stained letter with wax seal on it. We decided to not open it as it looks similar to the writ we received from Count Caromarc for entrance into the only habitable area of the Shudderwood, the Ascanor Lodge. A large hunting lodge for the wealthy of Ustalav. Julian insists to give the nobleman a proper burial before turning to sleep at camp.


The next three days go by with out incident. On the fourth day of travel we come across a gristly sight in the wood. A human man strung up in a tree by his wrists, his feet tied down to stakes in the ground. He also has some kind of purple flowers stuffed into his mouth and a solid silver hunting knife driven into his chest. Thredorik goes to investigate and before he gets to the body he notices a trip wire hidden in the pine needles. This trap he found will release a barrage of crossbow bolts from crossbows mounted in the trees directly in front of the body. He easily disables the trap and can reset it without problems. We check out the body and nothing seems wrong with him except that he's dead with a silver hunting knife plunged into his heart. We also can't identify the flowers in his mouth. Julian takes a few petals to get identified later. We decided that this display was a warning of some kind and decided to leave it be. Before we go Zuri, while checking out the crossbow bolts, sees some kind of alchemical salve spread on the tips but the effect has expired so he can't identify what it is. We move on and after a few more hours we set camp for the night.

The next day we travel for about an hour before the trail reaches a main road that leads us to the gates of the lodge. The lodge was only minutes from where we reached the main road. The woods were so dense that we couldn't see the lodge from where we were camping the night before. We ride up to the main gates, the only entrance to the grounds as a ten foot wall surrounds the grounds and its numerous buildings within. Ascanor Lodge is the size of many mansions combined together and has numerous out buildings all of which are done in a rustic log cabin look. A very expensive log cabin for very wealthy nobles and former royals. At the gates six guards stop us and tell us to leave as we don't look like we belong here (read: poor and dirty commoners). We produce Count Caromarc's writ for access and they take it to the lodge's porter to verify. This is where things get interesting.


But we'll get to that in part two. The lodge is a large scale mystery with numerous named NPC's and alot of writing needs to be done to do it justice. I also need more space to add some anecdotes about how I was screwing up while running this part and player reactions to events that unfolded.

Carrion Crown: The Final Push Into Schloss Caromarc

Saturday our intrepid adventurers travelled into the final areas of the Scholss Caromarc to search for The Count Caromarc, creator of The Beast of Lepidstad. Lets recap the party and go into the meat and potatoes of the session.

The Players

Matt - Thredorik Trapspringer (male dwarven rogue 7 / uncouth / becoming the master of the DFA)
Jess  -  Nisha  (female tiefling fighter(weapon master kit) 7 / combat monster....literally / not a fan of leech swarms)
Charles - Zuri (male aasimar wizard 7 / varisian wanderer/ harrow reader / coldest finger in Lepistadt)
Charles - Dragos ( Zuri's raven familiar / smart ass / smarter than the dwarf)
Me - Julian Du Marc ( male human cleric of Pharasma 7 / NPC/PC / stoic / makes 'short' jokes at dwarf)
Me again - DM (DM / rules dude / story mover-along-er / still bribed by pie or hot cocoa/ still no bribes of pie or hot cocoa presented...again)


We picked up after getting beat on while crossing the rickety wooden suspension bridge from last session. Getting into the third building of the Schloss wasn't a problem for Thredorik. And this building was a store room for all sorts of parts to various monsters that...well....we were not sure what the hell they are for. Examination? Experimentation? For creating more flesh golems?? Until we run into the Count we'll not know for sure.


So we began searching around the main floor of this building and in one room Thredorik noticed a out of place section of wall which behind that was a secret staircase going up onto the next floor. We go upstairs into this new storage room which contained more creepy things in bell jars suspended in some kind of liquid. There was also a ladder than went to a trap door in the ceiling. Thredorik went to check it out.


One failed perception check later he opened the trap door and unleashed a magic trap on the area. The room began to fill with an acid fog trap. While this burned our lungs and started to eat away our attire we hastily retreated down the secret stairs to safety. And then we heard a loud crash coming from the main foyer. Nisha peeked in to spot a large, eyeless, flesh golem being led on leashes my a few homunculi (like seeing eye homunculi). Combat ensued, people were injured, Zuri struck with ray of frost to slow it,golem was defeated, band-aids applied liberally by Julian.


Exploration continued. We followed where the golem came from and entered into an antiquities room. Within contained two sarcophagi from Osirion, assorted other historical things and a pile of heavy chains in the center of the room. Thredorik, again, started to investigate the areas for traps starting with the sarcophagus closest to us. "Looks safe to me guys!" he said as the front of the sarcophagus twisted into a gaping maw of teeth and tried to eat his face. A mimic and a hungry one at that. Combat begins.


Now we are keeping the mimic at bay when the other sarcophagus opens up and a mummy rises from within its depths. Great....and we were all in range of its fear aura. Luckily we all saved from fear and on his turn Julian proceeded to channel positive energy into the undead menace (successfully I might add). Nisha and Thredorik resumed combat tactics of norm (get flanking asap) and ended its monstering career.


However.....Thredorik was exposed to mummy rot over the course of the battle (failed his fortitude save by 1) and was now contagious. He looked a Julian for help and my cleric said 'Tomorrow. I can't remove the curse until I pray for assistance.'  Thredorik looked worried. And then the crotch-rot jokes began for the rest of the night. For example, even after he was cured the following day, Thredorik would say 'Hey <insert party member name>' and we'd reply with 'Yes Crotch-Rot?'.

Good times.


Well we checked out the rest of this building and located the passage along the cliff to the final buildings up high. One was the tower with the lightning rods on it. In the meantime it was getting late in the day so we returned to the main house where we slept before and after checking on our horses slept. The next day Julian cast 'Remove Curse' and with a successful caster check got rid of the magical side of the mummy rot affliction while Thredorik chugged a 'Remove Disease' potion to end the physical affliction. Julian also readied another 'Remove Curse' spell just in case another mummy was encountered in this insane menagerie.


Off adventuring we go! Up the sheer cliff side passage to a building comprised of four large silos. The door was rusted shut and after a mighty effort (and a few charges from a Ring of the Ram we pilfered off the ex-mummy) we pulled it open to be overwhelmed by a torrent of water. Apparently the inside of this building flooded out and the water pressure was hampering our effort to open it. Now the passages were partially flooded and we get to go through them (about three feet of water).


Thredorik led the search of the split corridor starting with the right branch. He located a pit trap in the floor and disarmed it and led us to a double door. This opened much easier and into a room that the center dropped twenty feet lower than the main corridor....all of this was flooded. Across the way was another double door which we would have to reach by swimming and thirty feet up in this silo was the remnants of a metal walkway (which now lie at the bottom of the pool of water) and two doors up there. Well we ain't swimming so we leave to check the other passage.


Naturally it isn't that easy. Julian hears the water splash lightly behind him in the silo. He turns around to be staring into the gaze of some kind of translucent slimy basilisk. Julian made his save to keep from becoming stone (thank Pharasma) and the rest of the party began to assault the beast. The fight lasted all of one round as all the party members went before the beast. Soon....dead beast. Continue with the exploration.


On the other side of the main corridor Thredorik missed another pit trap (Matt rolled a 2 and with his bonuses didn't come close to the target DC) and he sunk under the water out of sight. Within this pit was two leech swarms....hungry leech swarms...and they had dwarf on the menu. Thredorick swam as fast as his nubbies could propel him back to the hall and the leeches followed. The flowed onto him and Nisha and started to feed. Nisha screamed and begged Zuri to get them off her. Just because she is a combat monster doesn't mean she's not a girl and gets squeemish. Matt got squeemish too. No further comments needed here folks.


Anyways, Zuri magically altered 'Burning Hands' into electical damage and shocked the water. It damaged the swarms but didn't drive them away. It also injured all of us but we knew this before he let the spell loose. Julian released a burst of positive energy to heal the party some. Zuri then cast 'Lightning Bolt' into the water frying the leeches and making the rest of us look like Frankenstein's bride. Julian applied band-aids and we continued into the next silo. Where, naturally, more monsters awaited us. This time flying vampiric heads of three girillions. More combat. More ban-aids and then we managed to make our way to the upper floor of this chamber via the partially collapsed walkway. And now on the upper passage we managed to find our way out of this place and into the tower with the lighting rods.


When we breached the tower we were greeted by another flesh golem, one that looked like a girillion (multi armed large ape).  Big combat ensued. Lots of healing. And then we checked out the room. We find blueprints and instructions for two devices: The Storm Caller and The Bondslave Thrall. One calls lighting storms to collect electical energy to power the Thrall. The Bondslave Thrall controls The Beast. Oh my. Was the Count controlling The Beast to break into the college and steal the Seasage Effigy? Well we can only go up from here so hopefully we can find him and ask.



On the next floor we find the room choked with webbing and some chalk notes scribbled on the wall pertaining to using The Bondslave Thrall. We also attract the attention of this little homunculi (named Waxwood) who approaches us and begins to pantomime answers to questions we ask. Eventually Waxwood pantomimes writing and Zuri hands him parchment and charcoal. Waxwood, in a very small handwriting, lets us know his master (Count Caromarc) is trapped on the next floor in an cramped iron prison and hasn't eaten or drank in a few days. Also the bad men that did it let loose a terrible construct the Count created and its patrolling around there. Waxwood mentions The Thrall and we need to call The Beast to aid us. So we prepare for a rough fight. Zuri cast 'Haste' and 'Mage Armor' and Julian cast 'Bull's Strength' on Nisha. Thredorik drank two potions; 'Invisibility' and 'Spider Climb'. When we breached the next level and the creature was in sight Julian cast 'Prayer' to give us some aid in the fight.


And it was a really rough battle too. The creature, known as The Aberrant Promethian, was a flesh golem composed of chuul, choker, cloaker, ettercap and other nastiness. It hit HARD, had resistances, had two seperate vocal attacks, could grapple, had paralitic tentacles......its bad. Really bad. In game terms we were level six taking on a challenge rating eleven encounter. We *need* The Beast! Thredorik sprinted to the ladder leading to the ceiling where the Storm Caller and Thrall were kept while the rest of us had the priveledge of playing with the creature. Thredorik (with assistance from Dragos) got the Storm Caller going and got the Thrall activated. Touching a control orb the dwarf saw where The Beast was (nearby) and told him to come help. And of course The Beast was happy to come save his new friends even without the Thrall's commanding.


A side effect to the Thrall's use is that a PC can convey a class ability to The Beast while in control (like sneak attack for a rogue) however you can also see and experience The Beast's memories too. So being a good DM I started to describe the immense sorrow and pain The Beast has felt over its existance. Specifically targeting the moment where he carried his dead friend (the little girl from the trial Julian cast 'Speak with Dead' on) and how painful that was to him. And Thredorik's heart grew three sizes larger....so now its the size of a raisin.


Meanwhile on the lower level we were holding our own pretty well for a while. Zuri slowed the flesh golem with 'Ray of Frost' and Nisha kept hacking away with her great axe. Then the creature grabbed Nisha by the throat and carried her to the ceiling. It transferred her to its tentacles which started to crush her and paralized her too. Then it grabbed Julian by the throat stopping him from casting but he could silently channel positive energy to heal the party in range. This left Zuri all alone. And when Zuri cast another 'Ray of Frost' (crital hit too if I recall) the creature AOO'ed him into a wall bringing him to 1 hit point. The creature then dropped Julian (with the help of Thredorik doing a daring DFAonto the Promethian) and released the paralized Nisha and began to climb to the roof to assault the Caller and Thrall. Fortunately The Beast arrived to assist us then and the fight took to the rooftop admist a raging lightning storm and pounding rains.


I mean it was a cool as hell image of this fight going on with this background too. Eventually the party with The Beast's help took down the Promethian who fell over 350 feet to its demise on the rocks below. Healing ensued. And we released The Count from this iron grinning idol the Whispering Way agents stuffed him into. He tells us they used the Thrall to control 'Adam' (The Beast's name...my addition BTW) to steal break into the college for something. The stuffed him in there when he refused to help them. He also told us he overheard where they were going as well; The Shudderwood behind the Schloss. The Count offered to pay for an expedition to track them down and stop them from harming others. We agreed.

So we rested overnight at the main house of the Schloss, the Count more than happy to host us. He also clued us in on his experiments and what he was trying to do here. Also we promised Adam that when this was done we would stop to see him again. On our way back to Lepistadt to the bank (the Count gave us a writ for funding) we found where the angry mob stopped before returning. Apparently angry hillbilly idiots don't like getting rained on and gave up when the weather got really bad. We're happy they were on foot and not horseback like we were. At the bank in town we recieved a total of 300 platinum pieces that we used to by supplies and prep for our journey after the agents of the Whispering Way. Afterall, payment or not, we were tracking down those bastards for what they did to our friend Professor Lorrimar.


And when we got onto the trail past the Schloss I called it for the night as we finished book two of the Carrion Crown AP. The next book, Broken Moon, we'll begin in January as family obligations and other stuff interfere with gaming. All in all it was another good game and we all had fun. My players can correct me if I'm wrong.

Carrion Crown or The peanut butter is where?!?

On Saturday the Scooby Gang returned to continue their adventure deep into the Ustalav countryside with a trek up to Schloss Caromarc. How did it pan out? Read on!

The Players
Matt - Thredorik Trapspringer (male dwarven rogue 6 / uncouth / belly-flopped onto a troll)
Jess  -  Nisha  (female tiefling fighter(weapon master kit) 6 / combat monster....literally / gruff /DFA'ed a troll successfully)
Charles - Zuri (male aasimar wizard 6 / varisian wanderer/ harrow reader / arcane electricity savant)
Charles - Dragos ( Zuri's raven familiar / smart ass / almost became an ex-raven)
Me - Julian Du Marc ( male human cleric of Pharasma 6 / NPC/PC / stoic / diplomatic / was playing Captain Band-Aid this session as required)
Me again - DM (DM / rules dude / story mover-along-er / still bribed by pie or hot cocoa/ still no bribes of pie or hot cocoa presented)
The session started off with with show and tell of Charles's swag from NYC Comic Con recently. I will have to go next year. It looked and sounded like a lot of fun. Eventually we pried ourselves away from swag to roll some dice.

We continued on just after releasing The Beast to his freedom after successfully arguing his innocence at that wretched trial we became embroiled in. We returned to town and the rabble was assembling a mob to deliver some tea party justice. Fortunately it takes awhile for a large scale mob to get going and we had approximately a full day to prepare for it. We also had to meet with Justice Daramid to claim our reward for working for her on the side to ensure The Beast got a fair trial. 100 platinum pieces later (our reward) and we were encouraged by Justice Daramid to head to the home of The Beast's creator ( and disposed former ruler of the area) and speak with Alpon Caromarc about how to keep the creature under better control. Basically to see if The Beast can be watched so this won't happen in the future.

But first......shopping! We had cash to spend and it was burning a hole in our coin purses. Julian purchased a Handy Haversack and gave it to Thredorik. Well he didn't want Nodwick to get really bogged down after all. For thanks Thredorik gave Julian his masterwork backpack so he can haul some more healing stuffs. Which is always helpful....and tonight it was needed. But I'm getting ahead of my self here.

Also the teasing of Nisha continued and she kept threatening the dwarf for selling peeks of her exercising in her briefs to the townsfolk of Ravengrow. The words 'five gold' were uttered repeatedly over the course of the session.

And while I'm thinking about this I know a peanut butter joke was cracked at the table (hence the title of the post) and it was then used by the PC's for a chunk of the night but I can't remember for the life of me the context and what was said there after. Damn. It was funny though. We laughed alot that night.

So a couple of other shopping goodies purchased (rings of protection, cloak of resistance and a few other odds and ends) and we rested for the evening before racing out ahead of the mob on our horses. The mob was on foot but Schloss Caromarc (the home of Alpon Caromarc) was about 24 miles away. We got there in the late afternoon, well ahead of the mob, and were greeted by Alpon himself who gave us pie and cocoa and thanked us for warning him. He also gave us all the XP and we won.

And I'm lying.

We were actually greeted by trolls and their trollhounds at the gatehouse. Yes you read that right. Trollhounds. If a troll got busy with a dog this is what you get. Its a four legged, angry, nasty, regenerating menace. And there were two of them.

Plus there was a larger troll up on the peak of the gate house taking pot shots at us with a heavy crossbow. And he sent his two troll buddies out to help the hounds beat us up for encroaching into their raid. Remember I mentioned Julian being Captain Band-Aid......here's where it starts.

There was spells being thrown, trolls being hacked up, healing applied and this was all before we got inside. Also the trolls had three goblin captives who switched sides and helped us out when Thredorik offered to pay them, you guessed it, five gold to switch sides. Now this was before we got into the gate house too. The goblins told us about some kind of construct dog guarding the bridge past the gatehouse and keeping the trolls out. Then the fled.

Then we when into the gatehouse and Thredorik and Nisha went upstairs to the roof to dispatch the crossbow troll. This left Zuri and Julian alone downstairs where another troll burst in from the far door and charged. The wizard and cleric held their ground admirably and our luck changed as Nisha and Thredorik beat the one on the roof. Now Death From Above began. Starting with Nisha who dropped off the roof, greataxe first, into the troll. She landed on her butt after the strike.

Thredorik now tried to do the same thing. He belly flopped onto the troll and rolled to his feet. And the spell casters started talking about its raining dwarves and how that would be an awful song. In the middle of combat.
Moving ahead, they secured their horses in the gate house, challenged and beat a flesh golem hound guarding the way into the next building (and more healing needed). Thredorik disabled the trap on the door and they entered the next building in the Schloss. I want to point out that Caromarc's home is actually many buildings built along side a cliff over looking many waterfalls. In the new building, they were immediately set upon by some strange animated metal and flesh creature/guardian. Smackies were given out. Searching the building began (and the building looked like it has not been used in a few days. Searching thoroughly we don't find the Count but access into the next building. By this time its dark out and we take up the bedrooms upstairs to sleep. Nisha and Zuri share a room while Julian keeps one to himself. Thredorik takes the one that had blueprints detailing the repairs of the next building.

The next day we were awoken by a thunderstorm and heavy rains. And now into the next building. It was apparent it was a lab of some kind but due to a massive explosion is in ruins. As was the building and northern wall. And the bridge to the next building that was now replaced by a rickety wooden bridge. But first we were attacked by three rust monsters hiding in the rubble of the lab. Two were slain and the third ran away after sustaining injuries. Now onto the wooden suspension bridge. The bridge at the end of Temple of Doom was more stable than this bridge. Thredorik was checking out the bridge and missed an arcane trap set there (oopsie) and a Erinyes devil (former fallen angel) was summoned in the air above us and started on unload on us with her flaming longbow.

Can you say 'OWIE OWIE OWIE'? We did. And it kept getting worse. We hustled back into the ruined lab to brace for a fight and the devil engulfed us in an Unholy Blight that did the following.

1) ALOT of damage cause we all failed our saving throws. It almost killed Dragos outright.
2) It nauseated us for a round.
3) Knocked our guard down long enough for the devil to fly down into the building and engage us in melee with its longsword.

And Captain Band-Aid began to use his positive energy burst to heal us (and with selective channeling feat I made certain the devil didn't get healed either). Nisha and the erinyes were going toe to toe with Julian keeping Nisha alive. Zuri kept throwing magic, some was successful and others just fizzled out due to the devil's resistance to magic. Thredorik was trying to flank and assist Nisha. And it was all very painful.

When the combat was going on I noticed in the erinyes stat block that the Unholy Blight was an at will ability and she was caster level 12. That power does 1d8 per every two caster levels up to a max of 5d8. Well....she's at caster level 12 and unless my math was wrong she was throwing 5d8. I think that was a bit overpowered as an 'at will' power so as DM I chose to do it once as another casting would have likely causes a TPK and killed our fun. And contrary to some belief I'm not trying to kill the party (that's in the Runelords game only).

After we made it through that beating we called it for the night and will continue into the next building next time. All in all it was alot of fun for everyone. And we're looking forward to the next game coming up in just a few weeks. There is a possibility that we will finish this chapter in the Carrion Crown AP then. And what comes after Pathfinder's take on Frankenstein? Werewolves of course! I can't wait.

Power Outages, Puss in Boots and Pathfinder. Oy!

Well the past few days since the last post have been full of large quantities of bullshit. What bullshit you say?
How about an early nor'easter that dumped about 4-6 inches of VERY heavy and wet snow on the area that caused all sorts of power outages through out the north eastern United States for starters.

And my wife and I were right in the middle of it all. This storm started in the early afternoon and by 4pm we lost power. So it was a night by candlelight, drinking Red Stag and Coca-Cola, and talking. Only talking. I will go on record saying that I was not in trouble or being punished. The 'talk only' policy came about due to...well....you can figure it out.

By sunday it was warming up to about 50F and we could smell that our food in the fridge was going. And we threw out everything. Not fun. Sunday afternoon we paid a visit to my folks to shower and sunday night we stayed in a local hotel. I was surprised that this new Holiday Inn Express had a gym, spa, indoor pool and the rooms were really damn big! And it was reasonably priced plus we got our AAA discount. As Jess said it was a camping trip.

Monday we took clothes to the laundromat and stopped by the folks to use their internet to catch up on some stuff. And fortunately by 1pm we got a call saying the power was restored at our home. Elation ensued. Groceries purchased. And trick or treaters were given candy. All nine of them that showed up.

While we got lucky on the power front a large chunk of our friends are still without power and we wish them the best and will do what we can to help out.

Skipping back a bit I mentioned Pathfinder in the header too. We were supposed to assemble the Carrion Crown crew for the final leg of the second book; a journey into the Schloss Caromarc to visit the creator of The Beast. Snow fucked that up on saturday. No power or heat fucked that plan sunday. So we are aiming for this coming saturday to get this going. And I swear I will hunt down any errant weather deities and smite them if they throw any more bad weather at NEPA. Weather....you're on notice.

In other Pathfinder related news a book I ordered back in september arrived today and I'm happy.

Now I will start working on that Dark Souls homebrew conversion I mentioned in an earlier post. I've had some quality time with this 799 page beast and I'm happy with the purchase. I can see this getting alot of mileage at my table when I'm not running an adventure path. Hell I may just throw in a random encounter out of here just to keep them on their toes.

Lastly to keep our dwindling sanity this weekend (and to find something to do when we were out of power) the wifey and I went and saw a movie. And our friends Matt and Brian joined us as well.

Funny. Very funny movie. It made me almost totally forget about the Shrek franchise. And I'd like to (to be honest). It was full of really good action, it looked great in 2D (again.....no need for 3D unless the movie is designed and filmed only for that format), voice acting was superb with Banderas and Galafanakis as the standouts. From the opening monologue from Puss talking about all the names he is known by (Chewbacca-cabra is my favorite) to the one liner that his cat nip is for glaucoma I had no problem laughing through out. The only weak link for me was Salma Hayek as Kitty Softpaws. She wasn't a strong enough character to the uber-charismatic Puss and at times it felt that they could have cast anyone in that role instead of Salma. And its a shame as she and Banderas have worked together so often and have good chemistry. Its a small nitpick to an otherwise excellent time at the theater.

And it really helped. I feel that if we didn't go to the movies and have some fun there would have been stress induced fighting all the way up until power was restored. Essentially Puss in Boots may have saved my life. Cause it was only a matter of time that I would say/do/think something stupid and my wife would have obliterated me. And then I wouldn't be here to share this with you. And you would be sad.

All two of you who actually read this.



Hi mom.

Carrion Crown or The Newest Adventures of Scooby Dooby Doo!

 And since I'm still wide flipping awake now I'll go ahead and introduce the party to the sunday PFRPG game. Also as the title suggests that this game plays more like Scooby Doo than a horror game that it was designed to be....and we wouldn't have it any other way. Too much fun to be had here.

The Players

Matt - Thredorik Trapspringer (male dwarven rogue 6 / uncouth / carries the party's goods a-la Nodwick)
Jess  -  Nisha  (female tiefling fighter(weapon master kit) 6 / combat monster....literally / gruff / kicks alot of ass with her great axe)
Charles - Zuri (male aasimar wizard 6 / varisian wanderer/ harrow reader / captain charisma & diplomacy)
Charles - Dragos ( Zuri's raven familiar / smart ass / likes shiny things and pastries)
Me - Julian Du Marc ( male human cleric of Pharasma 6 / NPC/PC / stoic / diplomatic / slayer of the undead and defender of the living / VERY droll sense of humor)
Me again - DM (DM / rules dude / story mover-along-er / still bribed by pie or hot cocoa)

Now look at our classes. Now our races. We are the most unorthodox basic party set up I've seen in quite some time. And its awesome. Our relatively unique natures, either by race or character backgrounds, has made this batch of heroes outsiders just because we're weirder than what we've so far faced off against. And that has just drove the party together tighter and we have gone from strangers who met at a funeral to a common friend to friends ourselves standing up to the darkness. And boy do we bump back.

Now we're not as far along as the Runelords group but we're cooking along at a nice pace. The Carrion Crown Adventure Path is a horror adventure set in the haunted countryside of Ustalav. Its supposed to be scary and tense, which it has been at times, but with the first book of the AP the game mutated into a dynamic of Scooby Doo and with regards to the first book.....Ghostbusters. The first book had us exorcising a haunted prison while fulfilling a last request we received from a friends last will & testament.

 More recently in book 2 we found evidence that the Beast of Lepistad (a Frankenstein like golem) was actually innocent of the crimes it was accused of during a 3 day trial. Lots of role play there kids. And it was good too. Law & Order eat your hearts out. Now we're en route to visit the creator of The Beast to see why he was loose and to get there before the angry mob of townies burns down his abode. They didn't like the fact we proved their scape goat for all their problems was innocent and actually a kind soul. Almost childlike in nature. Nope, those tea baggers.....er..... townies don't like logic and facts and still want to get their pitchforks and torches on.

Jerks.

And I seriously can't wait to see which sunday we're all available again so the adventure continues on. Unlike the Runelords game where I'm the constant DM, in Carrion Crown I also play. Something I miss doing alot. And while I do play Shadowrun monthly ( and love it) I miss the fantasy setting. I have alot of characters just waiting for me to put onto paper and for me to play. Julian was one of them & I'm happy to get to play him.
Kirris Xar'cha (drow cleric of Arawai from my Eberron game which this blog is named after) was another. Bart Fatima (cleric of Isis in Mike's home brew Morituria campaign) was and is my favorite PC of all time.
(Sorry Rolf...but you're a very close second place).

I can't wait until I finally get a bit of rest behind the screen again and get to be on the players side. And this time I'm NOT playing any more clerics.....for now.

Adventure Path-ing on the weekends.

In addition to the Shadowrun game I play in once a month, I run two separate monthly games with two very different groups. Both games use the Pathfinder RPG rules (boo all you want grognards) and both games I'm using the Adventure Paths just because its simpler and faster than me trying to write up a whole world from scratch again like I did when I ran my 2nd Ed D&D game back in the mid-90's.

Group 1 is currently deep into book 4 or 6 in the Rise of the Runelords AP. I have 6 players and its going along swimmingly from what I can tell and people are having fun.

Group 2 is at the last act of book 2 of 6 of The Carrion Crown AP. There are 3 players and myself running the NPC/PC cleric. Group 2 meets on sunday and this past sunday was alot of fun (more on that in another post).

As games happen I'll start blathering on a bit about the sessions and whatnot mostly just to share the stupidity that I enjoy with the rest of the interweb. I'll post up the adventuring party rosters and give an overview of what they did from the DM's perspective. In the event that a TPK occurred you'll probably won't hear from me again as one of the players may try to kill me for letting their beloved PC bite the big one. Of course I let the dice fall where they may and *never* fudge rolls.......

Stop laughing.

So prepare yourselves. I'm going even further full-on geek when I decide to update this blog again and its not 1235am and I have to get some sleep before work in the morning.