Sour Spring Hollow

[Guang]

OOC: huh. I thought we had determined a fall would be safe. Too much minecraft surviving 100s of meters fall in 1 meter water. Sorry about that, fire.
OOC: Am I close enough to do anything about the animated debris? If Amalthea were to climb back up, can I climb to get out of her way? Or are Nan and Gran already down?

[fireinthedust]

OOC: Blurgh. I thought 4 feet would be deep enough. It's not going to land feet down like a human, but body-first like a quadroped being dropped. The water should have cushioned that (though I'm not an expert on diving). Ah well.

OOC: Um... I've got that staff-bit with me?

"Ahhh! Gran! Nan! Get in here and help me!"

Amalthia backs up so she has space between her and the stick-beast, waving the staff at the creature. She puts the body of poor, poor Sir Cudsworth between them.

"Stand back! I hold here a piece of the staff of the cleric! Get back, I command you!"

[Guang]

OOC: The goat is dead then? Too bad, it really added flavor. Think we'll find a goat-shaped cornhusk doll?
IC: Gran and Nan move to join Amalthia behind the goat. Gran will shoot if the debris moves towards us, but not until it does. Nan also readies her heaviest weapon.
OOC: I'm thinking the debris-construct might not be affected by some of our weapons - unless the holy symbol is embedded in it. Raven, pls describe the visible exits in detail - my PCs are looking around to see if there might not be a better way to handle the situation than standing and dying.
OOC: Fire, anything in the magic book seem useful?

[fireinthedust]

Sadly no time to learn anything: when I tried reading, the phantoms attacked and ate one of yours. Then giant rats. But we figured out something based on the drawings in one of the rooms. Nothing mentioned that seemed relevant, in the time we've had.

[Raven_Crowking]

The creature pulls itself together, seemingly nothing more than wooden debris and water-bleached brush taking a man-like form that looms over poor Amalthia. She backs up, away from the creature, putting Sir Cudsmore's body between them. Gran or Nan begins to climb down the rope as the creature moves forward, tossing the body of the goat into one wall with casual strength. It doesn't seem particularly afraid of the staff piece.

Roll for initiative.

Gran or Nan can climb down this round, but she can't do anything more.

[Guang]

Sigh. Probably not the best idea, but if someone is to be sacrificed, then it should be Nan. But she does get behind the goat and crouches down in the water. Initiative 10.
Gran is up top, drawing a bead on the creature with her bow and arrow. If it attacks the pair down below, and she has a clear shot, she will take it.
OOC: What about the exits? Attached rooms? Alcoves? Tunnels? Or is this just a circular room composed of the bottom of a well?

[fireinthedust]

Initiative: 12 (10+1 agility +1 Lucky house).

Amalthia is going to spend this round avoiding the stick man, trying to stay on the opposite side of the room from it. Ideally this would mean running in a circle while the creature follows her, until Nan shows up and wrestles the monster. If I need to burn luck to avoid dying, I will burn whatever I need to (do we get luck back if we level up? Seems strange to go an entire career with potentially abysmal luck).

Amalthia will also be screaming for help from the deity associated with the staff. "Whoever you are, if you want your cleric avenged, help me!"

If its back is turned, Amalthia is desperate enough to smack the creature with her staff-cudgel.

[fireinthedust]

Initiative: 12 (10+1 agility +1 Lucky house).

Amalthia is going to spend this round avoiding the stick man, trying to stay on the opposite side of the room from it. Ideally this would mean running in a circle while the creature follows her, until Nan shows up and wrestles the monster. If I need to burn luck to avoid dying, I will burn whatever I need to (do we get luck back if we level up? Seems strange to go an entire career with potentially abysmal luck).

Amalthia will also be screaming for help from the deity associated with the staff. "Whoever you are, if you want your cleric avenged, help me!"

If its back is turned, Amalthia is desperate enough to smack the creature with her staff-cudgel.

[Raven_Crowking]

There are no openings in the well large enough for a human to crawl through. It is potentially possible to shoot down the well if the creature moves through the central portion of the chamber below.

Let me make sure I know exactly what is going on here.

Amalthia is trying to avoid the creature, but will attack if the thing turns its back?

Is anyone trying to climb down?

Is anyone trying to get a clear shot?

Note that, in the event of a miss against the creature, there is a chance that the shooter instead hits any climber.

[Guang]

Edit: ok, more awake now.

OOC: so this well seems to be really just a well, right? Not access to the sewer system of the valley, or the underdark, or what have you. At least so far as our characters can see? Just a shallow well, with a little bit of water, a dead goat, and a moving pile of junk, nothing else unusual?

[Raven_Crowking]

If there is anything else unusual, it is hidden by 4' of water!

[Guang]

OOC: How far up the rope is Nan before she goes down it? Is the well cylindrical, or does it bulge out at the bottom? What diameter is the bottom, at water level?

[fireinthedust]

OOC: (rapidly biting fingernails) Ooooh, I got nothing. Maybe Nan can tackle the creature?

[Raven_Crowking]

OOC: How far up the rope is Nan before she goes down it? Is the well cylindrical, or does it bulge out at the bottom? What diameter is the bottom, at water level?

Let's say that Nan is 15' down the rope, so a max of 1d6 damage if she drops, given the water cushion. I'll even be so generous as to give her a DC 10 Reflex save to avoid damage altogether.

At the base of the well, the chamber is maybe 30' in diameter.

[Guang]

I'll even be so generous as to give her a DC 10 Reflex save to avoid damage altogether.

OOC: Oh, you are so evil. Of course I'm going to fail the save, it's a definite Murphy's law situation. I'm thinking that there are only 2 non-hidden places for the holy symbol to be. One is within the construct, and one is buried in the gravel at the bottom of the well beneath the water. So the thing to do would be to drop down, not die, and feel around underwater for the holy symbol. Wish me luck. Feeling the need for a chaperone for this roll, so having my kid throw a d20 across the room.

IC: Nan drops down and.......
Reflex save=3. unmodified.
.....twists her ankle as she falls, banging her head hard enough against the wall of the well to break her skull. She slides the rest of the way into the water and stops moving, except for her floating hair and a slowly-spreading cloud of blood.

Gran stifles a cry as the last of her family dies 30 ft below her, in a cursed well in a best-left-forgotten valley. She sights along her bow at the debris creature, ready to fire if and only if she can shoot it without injuring Amalthea.

OOC: You have the magic book, fire: "The book seems to contain the formulae to learn patron bond and find familiar, as well as the gramaree rites to ward against the evil eye and nail the witch's shadow, although none of these things can be learned without taking time to study them." You also have the tarot deck, and the magical broken wooden staff. Got enough XP to level yet? I lost track. Anyhow, good luck down there - looks like a death trap to me

[fireinthedust]

OOC: So far I count 5xp, and so far it seems we need 10xp to level up. I'm hopeful that being stuck down a well with swamp thing will net me 4xp for difficulty(?) but let's see if I can survive first.

On the bright side, Gran is the one who had the Tarot, not Amalthia. I don't know who the lovers were, but then the Priestess, and then Death (and we've had several examples since).

Maybe Nan's fall distracted the plant-creature?

Amalthia was trying to circle around the edge of the well, keeping as much space as possible from the creature. I'm hopeful that means it's a clear shot for Gran!

[Guang]

OOC: Nah, I checked. Gran was using the cards, but Amalthea was holding them. You still have them.
OOC: Only 5 XP? I thought for sure we would have had 7 or 8 by now!

[fireinthedust]

OOC: I know, right? I say we use hypnotism to make Raven believe he's been giving us 1xp per character death the whole time.

GM: Hey, have you noticed this pocket watch I'm holding that's swinging back and forth, and how you're getting sleepy? And susceptible to suggestions? Okay, cool, because when I snap my fingers--*

*-- to remember anything!

Tarot: Really? I thought I'd handed it to you, and you'd used them while she was upstairs reading the book.

Anyways, Amalthia is going to use that fire spell she's been saving up to roast this tree guy, while Sir Cudsworth transforms from his goat form back into a suit of mithril plate and cover her. Spell check is... 36! Nice!

[Raven_Crowking]

Current XP

1st Phantom attack - 1 XP
Cabin "mimic" - 2 XP
Creatures bursting up through floorboards - 2 XP
Phantoms again - 1 XP
Phantoms kill Luc - 1 XP
Total = 7 XP

You need 3 more.

Did Nan have enough Luck to make the save? If so, you shouldn't let her die until her last Luck is spent. In any event, I will rule that Nan's sacrifice distracts the creature enough to give Gran a shot as it passes beneath her in the well....but also that, trying to shoot down the well, Gran rolls 1d16 for the attack roll.

[Guang]

OOC: Nan originally had 10 luck, but she spend 1 or 2 somewhere along the line. Cool, Nan's still alive then? Wow......luck is a nice mechanism. Okay......

Nan spends 7 luck, and doesn't die. She ducks under the water and starts feeling along the ground at the bottom of the well for the holy symbol.

OOC: Raven: Does Gran still get a clear shot, or is that changed now? (I rolled a nat 1 for it in any case)
OOC: Fire: Tarot cards.....don't really know what to do about them. Do I have them then? At the time, I was not wanting you to think I was trying to take them from you.

[Raven_Crowking]

Sure, she can take that shot....roll her fumble. 1d4 on the table, modified by Luck (down for positive modifier, up for negative).

[Guang]

2 (modified by +1 luck) =1 My incompetent blow makes me the laughingstock of the party, but causes no other damage. I have no idea what would be funny enough to make Amalthea laugh at me while she's being cornered down in a well, but apparently it happened. Gran nocks another arrow, and will fire if she has another clear shot (or if Amalthea dies)

OOC: Fire, any idea what I could do with the tarot, besides foretelling the future?

[Raven_Crowking]

Cool. The sudden arrival of Nan seems to give the stick-thing pause. Or, maybe, it is just momentarily confused by a sudden doubling of potential targets.

Gran can try to shoot again, and the people in the well may take 1 free action.

Nan may have 1 point of Luck back for sheer awesomeness.

Fireinthedust, put away the watch. I am immune to hypnotis.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[fireinthedust]

OOC: can I burn luck to avoid being hit? I'm unsure if we made it official, but I remember discussing putting a lantern on Amalthia's belt before descending. I'll double check. Failing that, she'll take the momentary distraction to rush in and whack the stick-creature with the (magical?) cudgel. But I'm hoping for the lantern.

IC: Amalthia takes the lantern off her belt and launches it at the creature. (17!!!)

OOC: I'll edit this with a cudgel attack if I need to. Hoo boy, I hope I live through this!

[fireinthedust]

OOC: Do you have a lantern? If not, Gran helps you tie one on so both hands are free. Nan watches for phantoms. Good luck, and come back quick if you need to. We can always send Nan......

Woo hoo! Okay, this means (thanks to Guang) I had a lantern!