You carefully remove the large sword that is set between the slats of the door handles to lock the room beyond.  The room beyond is dark and cold.  Something glows from the far side of the room, but you can't tell what it is.  It casts a purplish light across the room, a faint light that barely gives you enough light to see by, but here is what you see:

It is a crypt -- a place where the gnomes buried their dead before the giants took over these buildings.  The room is about 60'x60', with a 15' high ceiling.  There are four giant squarish pillars about the room, as well as a number of sarcophagi.  Inset into the walls are crevices and niches in which bones of the dead lie.  Nothing seems to be moving or alive in here.  The glow is coming from just behind the southwest pillar.

Lukas will enter the room and start checking for possible traps and could pose trouble for the other party members.

For reference, please use a charting system to state your location.  The southwest corner is A1 (with A being the horizontal and 1 being vertical).  So F6 would be the top easternmost corner, and C6 and D6 are where the doors enter into.

You can have up to 2-4 people per square (given that they are 10 foot squares), but only 2 if you are in combat.

Kahan will follow after Lukas, careful to only step where he has stepped.

Tahldar casts detect magic and begins sweeping the room for signs of trouble.

OOC:  I can detect in a 10' wide, 60' long path for a total of 16 rounds. I have an 80% chance to detect type of magic, any of which I may find.  I also believe my 6 mirror images may still be going.  It lasted for 24 rounds starting from the initial battle with the giants on the island.  I don't believe we've been on the island for very long.

edit:  Tahldar will walk a pace or two behind Borimer and Shapfren.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:36, Tue 18 Mar 2014.

Kepping up with her silent attitude from before, Didit entered the room cautiously and began looking for hidden compartments or obvious treats taking advantage of her eyes well accustomed to see in poor light conditions, like Thaldar she also began casting a spell to get a hang on possible magic at work. It had been a while since she noticed her protests would go unheard and she still feared the Drow going with them so she was mostly quiet and unparticipative, but she understood that if they were to leave the place she would have to help the others though she still was dying to escape from that place.

More or less staying by D4 and D3,

Shae will go to F4 and hide behind the sarcophogus, searching the room with her infravision for signs of movement or danger as the others make their way in.

Borimer moves into the room and takes guard as the others use their skills to examine the area.

moving to D3

Lukas will start at f3 and move to f4,f5,f6,e6,d6,c6,b6,a6

He will take his time and check along the way to troubles.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:30, Tue 18 Mar 2014.

Hatchman steps up to D3 and closes his eyes in concentration.

The paladin tries to detect evil intent from anywhere in the room.

You begin looking and inspecting the place.

The first thing noticed is that there is a giant's body in the southwest corner.  Though fairly fresh and dead, its body is shriveled as though it suffered extreme exsanguination, leaving not a drop of blood.  Around its neck hangs a key.

Nearby, as if crouching in the corner, a gnome lays dead, also looking as though its blood has been sucked dry.  Next to the two of them is an open coffin (at A2).  Scratch marks on the underside of the coffin are clearly visible, appearing to have been made by claws, not fingers.

Hatchman does indeed feel evil intent.  It is coming from the northwest corner.  He hardly has time to relate this to the party before the lurking evils of this room begin to reveal themselves.  Two strange creatures wriggle quickly out of the niches where the dead bodies lay (at B1 and C1).  From two other niches (E1 and F1), giant centipedes emerge, crawling around to flank the group.

The two strange "creatures," if that is what they can be called, are some sort of writhing puddles of black and green sludge that twist and squirm as though animated by a supernatural force.  Within the disgusting liquid are the limp body parts of dead gnomes.  Here adn there, chunks of flesh can be seen--a severed head protruding from one side, a leg extending from the top of the creature.  As the sludge slides across the ground, human faces and hands appear to be pressing outward from within.



The two megalocentipedes are each about 5 feet long and they move very, very quickly.  One scuttles quickly up the pillar to climb up on the ceiling, where it can drop.  The other crawls up along the eastern wall.

These distractions take you for a moment away from whatever evil Hatchman detected in the northwest corner, which has not yet revealed itself.

Lukas draws his bow and fires at the crawler on the ceiling and slowly starts backing towards the entrance not wanting to be cut off.

15:56, Today: Lukas Rimshank rolled 5,17,5,5,4 using d10-3,d20+3,d6,d20+3,d6. Shooting Arrows
This message was last edited by the player at 21:00, Fri 21 Mar 2014.

The ebony blade appears in Borimer's hand as if of its own accord, seemingly urging the warrior forward to destroy the two undead horrors...

Tahldar begins casting anew.  Feeling small and unprotected, he casts another mirror image.  Which is quickly becoming his first choice of spells when threatened.

OOC:  Meh, rolled 3 images.

"Let's focus on our priorities!" against all logic and more as a gesture of fear than one of bravery, Didit decided to run towards the giant's body, whatever it was happening, she felt more useful this way, and she risked contact with those scary things if she was to fight anyway.

Try to move towards the fallen giant and if possible grab the key

Kahan pulls out his mace and attacks one of the sludge monsters.

Hatchman follows Shapfren to protect her, his sword ready.  "If there is evil in this place, we must defeat it," he says as he looks over in the corner where he detected evil to see if he can notice any details of anything over there.

Shae runs to the corner where Hatchman detected evil and thrusts out with her ancient family spear, praying that the magical artifact from her family will help her defeat the evil.

ROUND 1

A number of things happen as the party converges and engages in battle.

Lukas fires two arrows, hitting the ceiling crawling centiped with one as he backs up to the exit doors.

OOC: The giant centipedes count as medium sized creatures.

Borimer slashes out, hitting the undead sludge with two mighty strikes.  (40 hp dmg.)

Tahldar casts a spell, and 3 mirror images pop up around him.

Kahan strikes with his Mace of Disruption, killing the undead sludge that Borimer had been hitting.  As if in a final act of defiance, the sludge explodes outward...

Kahan is hit with acid.  (1 hp dmg.)
Borimer is hit with acid.  (5 hp dmg.)
Lukas is hit with acid. (3 hp dmg.)
The others dodge the flying acid.

However, the green acid flies everywhere, including into the niche behind the green, glowing undead sludge.

Almost immediately, you see movement from the previously immobile tenants of this crypt.  The acidic sludge is bringing them back as undead.

The other undead sludge expands and sends out a chilling spiritual energy.  Borimer, Lukas, and Hatchman are struck with fear.  This causes the three of them to drop their weapons and begin running to the exit and up the stairs.  (The fear effect only lasts for one round, and they can return in round 3.)

Shae heads to the corner, drawing out the evil being Hatchman had detected.  It steps into the light, striking out but missing Shae.  It is one of the undead of some sort, but unlike others you have encountered. The gore-splattered skeletal figure moves with great speed toward the center of the room.  Blood-soaked organs glisten and swing within its rib cage like water skins.  Its arms end in jagged, bloody claws.  Shae attacks but misses.



Shapfren is in the southwest corner attempting to get the key from around the dead giant's neck.  It is on a gold chain that requires her to lift his head to remove it.  However, she now sees what the strange glow was over here.  Not only had the giant been holding a torch made of the strange glowing crystals, but he also glows slightly from the kind of acid that the sludge monsters spew.

The giant quickly reaches one hand up, grasping Shapfren around the forearm, as he now rises up like a zombie from the grave.

Lukas and Borimer are now outside the room and must run in fear for round 2.  Hatchman doesn't quite make it outside the room but is near the doors and is running out.

The two centipedes now begin moving in (and will attack in round 2).  The one on the ceiling drops down near Tahldar, and the other climbs over near Kahan.

Kahan swings his mace at the odd skeletal creature with the organs, having an odd feeling that it is somehow connected to the slime that revitalizes the dead. If he manages to kill the skeleton, he will move to help Shapfren with the giant. "We need to get out of here as quickly as possible!" Kahan calls out, hoping that somehow Etag will be able to assist them when he sees Borimer and the others running uncontrollably.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:24, Thu 27 Mar 2014.

"Ahhhhh!"

Lukas darts out the door his bow clattering to the ground just outside the doorway.  "Nooooo.....Batachi..."

Knowing he will be in combat soon, Tahldar casts magic missile on the centipede near him.

OOC:  10 pts total on the centipede close to Tahldar.

Hatchman tries to recover as he runs, knowing it's wrong and against everything he believes in but unable to resist.

Didt was sacared, she hadn't quite expected this turn of events, yet she only had one option, fight back for survival, she unsheated the ceremonial sword from its place and made a quick slash against the zombie giant trying to set herself free.

09:05, Today: Shapfren Diditlew rolled 15 using 1d20. slash.

With everyone running away, Shae steps back from the creature while casting.  A wall of amber opaque fire jumps up right over the undead monster.

Casting wall of fire on and across the undead thing when she is 10 feet or more away so that it cuts diagonally and does not hit any party members.

ROUND 2
Lukas, Borimer, and Hatchman are running in fear from something emanating from the undead green sludge, and are slowly regaining their senses to return in Round 3. They will begin Round 3 at the following locations:  Hatchman: E4; Borimer: F4; Lukas: F3.

Shae is backing up and casting.

Kahan misses the undead creature (almost a critical miss), and then moves back quickly when he recognizes the spell Shae is casting.

Tahldar casts magic missile on the nearest megalo-centipede, hitting it. (10 hp dmg.)

Shapfren attacks the zombie giant, hitting it.  (8 hp dmg.)  The giant gets to his feet and swings out but misses Shapfren.

Etag is running toward the party, spellbook in hand, but he will not arrive until Round 4.

Shae's spell goes off, creating a giant wall of flame from floor to ceiling 20 feet long and 1 foot thick.  Its heat emanates throughout the room, and it is the reason Kahan backed away so quickly.

The wall of fire cuts directly across the clawed undead thing.  (20 hp dmg.)  It shrieks and falls to the far side of the wall, retreating backwards toward the northwest corner of the room.  The heat rises such that those even in its proximity will be hurt.

The wall is indicated below in a red line.  It causes 2d4 damage to all within 10 feet of the wall of fire, as denoted by the red spots, and 1d4 to those between 10-20 feet of the fire, denoted by the purple spots.  Crossing through causes 4d4+10 damage.



Shae is burned for 3 damage.
Kahan is burned for 2 damage.
A giant centiped is burned for 4 damage.
An undead sludge is burned for 3 damage.
Hatchman is burned for 3 damage.
Tahldar is hit for 2 damage.

The centipede drops from the ceiling on Tahldar's head!  Fortunately, it has landed on a mirror image, which pops out of existence at the attack.

The other centipede attacks Kahan but misses.

One of the sludges is emanating fear again.  This time only Shae is affected, and Kahan and Tahldar push through it.

The other one's emanations seem to be animating the dead in the niches behind it. (Behind C1 and D1.) The bones and tangled flesh begin to move as two undead creatures begin to stir and pull themselves from the hollow in which they have rested for centuries.

It also strikes out but misses Kahan.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:04, Mon 31 Mar 2014.

Here's a new map with current positions.  Hopefully, this helps clear things up.  As you will note, the centipedes are basically right in the center of the party.  Didit is isolated with the giant in the southwest corner.  The powerful clawed undead thing is circling back around the pillars to the northwest, and two new zombie-like creatures are crawling out of their tombs to the south.  The sludge undead are just west and southwest of the main group.



The squares where kahan, Hatchman and Shae stand will continue to get 1d4 heat damage each round.  The sludge undead will continue to get 2d4 each round they can be kept in that position between the party and the wall of fire.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:31, Tue 01 Apr 2014.

Kahan swings his mace at the undead in front of him, raising his shield to attempt to block some of the heat coming from the fire. "Borimer, swing north around that pillar and attack the one with claws!" the priest instructs, continuing, "Hatchman, help Didit with that giant one. Shae, you and Tahldar focus on the centipedes."

Borimer attacks the centipede nearest him before rushing north to draw the clawed creature towards him.

"Let them charge through the fire to reach us!"

borimer attacks and then moves half movement to F6 where he tries to draw the clawed creature's attention to himself

Beset with enemies on all sides, Tahldar says hurriedly to Lukas "If you can, please kill this damn centipede!" as he takes the opportunity to try to burn the undead ahead of him while they still linger near the wall of flame.  Personally ignoring the foul many legged creature attacking him for the moment.

OOC:  Using the map in the Comment thread, I will cast web from H4 to H9.  This is 4 cubes, the remaining 4 cubes I will extend south in hopes of catching some of the zombies in the F/G 11/12 area.  Casting time is 2.  I am hoping it will immediately ignite and do it's 2d4.  I have 2 mirror images left and will step back one square to L6.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:58, Wed 02 Apr 2014.

Lukas is able to start shaking away his initial fear and was able to turn himself around and see if there was something that he could do to try and help the others.  He quicken his pace to return.

"Great, great, just great!" The grim prospect of being caught alone with this giant and being surrounded by a very likely incoming ugly thing and a wall of fire was disheartening at best. "We should have left when we could!!" Didit began running towards the others, trying her best to cross the wall of fire and away from this double abomination.

Run towards the east, as much as possible  e8, next to Kahan
This message was last edited by the player at 21:46, Wed 02 Apr 2014.

Let's forget the old map.  This is the new map with locations as of the end of round 2.  I wasn't thinking the battle through when I originally posted the 10x10 map.   Thanks to Va'a for the new map.  I should have done something like that at the beginning.

The monsters have two letters, characters have one.  If you attack a monster where there is more than one, say "eastern", "northern," etc. so I know which one.  There is only one giant, but I made him in a big circle because he is so large.  The ceilings are 20 feet high.

Please post your moves based on your movement score.  You can move up to half your movement and still attack, though if you have multiple attacks, it will be pro-rated down (lose 1 attack for first 1/2 of movement, 2 attacks up to 2/3 movement, etc.)


This message was last edited by the GM at 17:37, Wed 02 Apr 2014.

Shae moves through the centipedes to K8 and attacks the eastern centipede with her ancestral spear.  "I'll help get these things away from you, Tahldar!" she says as she stabs.

Borimer attacks the centipede nearest him before rushing north to draw the clawed creature towards him.

borimer moves to J2, attacks the centipede, and then moves to F6 trying to draw the clawed creature's attention to himself (Cl at E2)

Borimer (and everyone else), here is a rules clarification:  a critical hit must always be a natural 18 or higher.  The end armor class you hit is not relevant to that, except that for an 18 or 19 to be a critical hit, you must hit by a margin of 5 or more.

See here for the rule:  link to a message in this game

I always do double damage for critical hits, plus a chance for a specialized injury on the Combat and Tactics chart.

A critical fumble generally only occurs on a natural 1.

Hatchman attempts to turn the zombies that are approaching from the south.  "Be gone, you vile creatures!" he yells out as he points his holy symbol their way.

Sorry for the delays. I got busy.  Will try to post an update on Monday.  Feel free to post in the meantime.

grabbing his bow back up Lukas will send a few more arrows its way (move to L6 and start firing)


07:20, Sat 05 Apr 2014: Lukas Rimshank rolled 5,22,2,5,6 using d10-3,d20+3,d6,d20+3,d6 ((8,19,2,2,6)).

This message was last edited by the player at 12:21, Sat 05 Apr 2014.

OOC: Sorry for delays.  Life has been crazy.

ROUND 3
Shae attacks the centiped with her ancestral spear and hits.

Borimer steps south and strikes at the same centipede, killing it.  He then rushes north to F6 to draw in the other undead creature.  (Borimer takes 7 hp of heat damage.)

Kahan swings at the undead sludge creature, hitting it with his Mace of Disruption.  (Critical hit: 22 dmg.  Saving throw: made...undead not destroyed.)

Hatchman is turning the zombies (success) as he moves to B11 to assist Didit.  He takes 2 hp heat damage.

Lukas fires twice and hits the distant undead creature once.  As his arrow passes through the flames, it picks up the fire and sets the creature on fire.  (8 dmg + 3 fire damage.  The undead creature is on fire.)

Didit runs from the giant zombie to Kahan's side, ending at I8 next to the sarcophagus and just south of a slime undead and the last centipede.

Tahldar casts web, which extends across the two slime undead.  One thing Tahldar didn't count on was the extreme heat of the wall of fire dissolving the web.  It will hold the two slime creatures for maybe one round.

Borimer is now stuck at F6 on the far side of the web from the rest of the group except Hatchman, and the only one he can reasonably reach without going into the web next round (or wall of fire) is the giant zombie.

The two zombies turned by Hatchman run north as Hatchman approaches them.  They run through the wall of fire right past Borimer and collapse burning to the ground.

The undead skeletal creature moves around behind the pillars and the new web (5 heat damage) to K5 (where Borimer previously stood), right behind Tahldar.

The giant does not attack or follow Didit, but instead turns to fight Hatchman. (Since Hatchman arrives at the end of the round, that will occur in round 4.)

The sludge undead are stuck in the web and unable to attack.  (North one takes 4 heat damage; southern one takes 3 damage).

The last centipede attacks but misses Kahan.

Etag the drow arrives at E6 and looks around the room to see what he can do to help as he holds his newly found black spellbook in one hand.

Borimer rushes the giant zombie and takes two hard swipes while trying his best to ignore the pain from the fire burning through the chamber.

Hatchman attacks the giant zombie with his sword, holding up his holy symbol in his free hand and condemning the undead to go back to hell.  HE keeps an eye on the key around its neck to see if he can get a chance to grab it.

Kahan swings at the nearest enemy, targeting the undead first due to the nature of his weapon.

OOC: With your next post, could you kindly update the map? Or at least put end coordinates with all the creatures that are left? That'd be great.

Tahldar whirls and casts a magic missile into the skeletal creature directly behind him.

OOC:  I still have 2 images running.  I hit the skeleton undead with magic missile for 11pts.

STill missing posts from a few players...

Need a post from Lucas, Shae, and Shapfren.  Will move forward tomorrow with best guesses if I don't get something.

Will draw the mandoline, but don't know if there is enough time to start casting a magic misile.

Yes, you can cast magic missile.

Didit took her mandoline and focussed on performing with it hoping to down the giant zombie, or zombie giant, the exact right categorization was fuzzy.

cast magic missile at the giant

Shae attacks the strange clawed undead creature with her ancestral spear.

ROUND 4
Borimer hits the giant zombie twice with his longsword, the swiping blade tearing at its stomach and bowels. (39 damage)

Hatchman also hits the giant zombie, stabbing it with a solid hit where its heart would ordinarily be at.  (Critical hit. 20 damage.)

Kahan swings at the southern sludge zombie, barely missing it.

Tahldar turns and casts magic missile directly into the clawed skeletal and half disemboweled creature behind him, hitting it.  (15 dmg.)

Shae stabs at the skeletal clawed creature with the magic spear but misses.

Shapfren casts magic missile, and the fiery darts fly across the room and hit the zombie giant. (18 dmg.)

Lukas fires his arrows at the clawed undead creature, hitting with one arrow.  (6 dmg.)

The web finally breaks off the sludge undead, which are still glowing.

The centipedea attacks but misses Kahan.

The giant zombie swings at Hatchman but misses the paladin, his fists falling against the nearby pillar with such force as to seemingly shake the whole crypt.  Splinters of stone fall to the ground.

The large clawed undead does two things simultaneously.  With one clawed hand, it tears open its own belly, making a slippery, bloody discharge spray all over the area, soaking Shae and Tahldar as well as the surrounding floor.  The fatty, greasy substance covers the area directly in front and to the sides of the creature.  (This is treated as the equivalent of a grease spell covering the area J5, J6, K5, K6, L5, and L6.  Shae makes her saving throw, but Tahldar fails his.)  Shae manages to keep her balance, but Tahldar loses his and slips on the floor, falling into the greasy slippery stuff.  (Tahldar is slipping and off balance, on his back on the floor, and cannot attack in Round 4 unless he remains on the ground and casts or does something not requiring physical movement.  5 hp damage to the creature.)

The second thing the creature does is pierce Shae with the long claws of his other hand, stabbing them directly in her gut.  Shae realizes instantly that these are not normal claws, but instead are hollow.  They begin draining the blood from her body. (5 hp damage, -1 Constitution.)  At the same time, the creature begins healing as a result of "drinking" Shae's blood. (+5 hp.) )

Northern sludge undead creature takes 4 damage from heat, and the southern one takes 1 damage.

Kahan takes 2 damage from heat.

Borimer takes 4 damage from heat.

Shae takes 3 damage from heat.

Etag is at the doorway, turning pages in his spellbook as his eyes open in horror.  "I knew it!" he says in alarm.  "I knew this would happen."


This message was last edited by the GM at 15:57, Fri 18 Apr 2014.

Covered in the reddish slime, Tahldar gasps audibly as he slips and falls.  "By the gods I'll never be clean!" he shouts in frustration.  Scrambling for a clean spot, he does his best to regain his feet and rejoin the fight.

OOC:  Tahldar will try to move out of the greased area.  He will try to crawl one square south to K7 and stand.

Borimer slashes at the giant zombie two more times before rushing to help the others.

sacrificing one of my 3 attacks for 1/2 movement B8 to J5

"Focus on the Key!! we need that key and we should retreat after that!" Shapfren yelled when she felt completely drained, then unsheated the sword once again and made a quick slash against the nearest monster.

Seeing the blood sucking claws stuck inside her, Shae has to take drastic measures.  She begins casting as she reaches down and touches the hand of the undead creature.

Casting Knurl from the Druid Handbook:
Casting a knurl spell transforms a creature's arm into a tree branch of the same thickness, covered with bark and twigs. The new limb possesses neither elbow nor wrist joints not even a hand. The "arm" remains attached to the shoulder. The spell's recipient can use it as a club but not to manipulate tools, weapons, or spell components.
The caster chooses which of the recipient's arms to affect. A character could use multiple knurl spells to transform both arms of a humanoid. The arm is treated for all purposes as a tree branch: It becomes subject to fire, wood-altering spells, and tree diseases. Dispel magic ends the spell's effects.

Hatchman strikes out with his longsword at the zombie giant once more.

Kahan attempts to turn the sludge monsters in front of him, hoping they'll run straight through the fire. That or be utterly destroyed. Either works.

Lukas will continue to fire arrows as long as he has a clear line of sight

ROUND 5
Borimer and Hatchman finish off the giant zombie, and as Borimer runs back to help the others, Hatchman reaches down and plucks off the key hanging around the dead (again) giant's neck.

Borimer runs through the heat to J5.  (5 hp heat damage.)

Tahldar manages to move back out of the greasy slime that had come from the dead clawed creature's intestines.  Tahldar is on the ground at K7.

Shae is casting.

The clawed creature strikes out at Tahldar with its long, clawed hand, barely missing as Tahldar scoots away.  It's other claw continues to suck Shae's blood.  (5 hp dmg to Shae, -1 Constitution to Shae, +5 hp to the creature).

Kahan is turning, and the northernmost slime creature with the body parts inside it begins to flee, going directly through the fire.  The already injured creature falls into a puddle of green slime just on the far side of the fire.  The other creature is unaffected.

The remaining slime creature (called graveyard sludge) is emitting a negative energy of great fear.  Kahan resists it (critical hit saving throw), while Didit is powerless against it and runs in fear toward the east.  The giant centipede gets an attack of opportunity, and it hits Didit.  While running in fear, Didit is paralyzed by poison, collapsing to the ground at K8 and unable to rise to her feet.  The poison is acid in nature, and her legs go numb below her knees.  (8 hp dmg, and she is currently overcome by fear, so now she is trying to crawl west to exit the tomb.  She will overcome her fear after the end of the next round.)

The graveyard sludge then lashes out against Kahan, hitting him with its green, slimy arm.  Kahan feels the acid and the blow as it sizzles.  (Kahan takes 12 damage from the blow, plus 5 acid damage, for 17 total damage.)

Shae finishes her spell, and the arm of the clawed undead creature (called a sanguinous drinker) turns to wood.  It withdraws its claw from Shae's body.  The blood also seeps from her gut, but the sanguinous drinker is down to only one usable claw.

The megalo-centipede strikes out at the fallen Didit, hitting her again with its acid poison.  (4 hp acid damage.)

Lukas fires at the centipede from nearly a point blank range, hitting it both times.  (8 total dmg.)

Kahan takes 3 damage from heat.

Shae maintains her balance and does not slip, but takes 4 damage from heat.

Hatchman runs to H8 and begins hacking at the last of the sludge creatures.

Borimer crashes into the sanguinous drinker with the ebony artifact making two quick slashes.

Shapfren just keeps moving while screaming in fear and pain.

"Come on die already"  Lukas fires more arrows at the centipede

Shae stabs her spear at the sanguinous drinker, echoing Lucas' thoughts and saying, "Die, already.  Again."

ROUND 6
Borimer and Shae hit the clawed creature, but just as it turns to retaliate -- badly wounded and about to collapse -- Etag finishes a spell.  A rainbow colored lightning bolt flies from his hand, goes directly through Tahldar (not harming him at all), hits the sanguinous drinker and makes it explode into a million ashes, and then it bounces from wall to wall, and as Etag redirects his hand, the lightning bolt seems to curve in midair and hit the graveyard sludge, which collapses into a puddle of green slime before hitting both Kahan and Didit (but injuring neither of them).  Then the lightning bolt dissipates.

Lukas puts two arrows into the centipede and it collapses before it can get to Didit again.

You take a deep breath as you look around at the carnage and the heat, which doesn't make the bodies in the tomb smell much better, and you decide to head out.

You help Didit up the stairs.  Hatchman holds the key.

From the bottom of the stairs, you can hear the hushed voices of the giants as they are descending.  Despite being worse for wear, you haven't much time.

Luckily, the key fits, but it will take a minute or two to get everyone out.

Meanwhile, Etag is conjuring a spell in the western corner.  A black swirling portal opens up.  It is about 8 feet in diameter.

"We must go through here quickly," Etag says.  He stands near it to usher you all through.

So far, 4 gnomes have been released from their prison cell, but there more cells to open.

Borimer stands guard near the stairs as others free the remaining gnomes.  He absently rubs the stump of his arm while thinking of the best way to slay multiple giants when they come down the stairs.

Didit begins casting a spell to try to open at least one of the cells.

Knock I think I still have one other casting left

I don't have access to the phb atm but I believe knock may be an area of effect spell that will open every door, hatch, etc. in its area of effect.  then again, maybe ive always been too generous with the interpretation.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:01, Tue 22 Apr 2014.

Kahan moves to the staircase and begins casting.

Tahldar lends a hand in leading the weakened Gnomes to the portal.

I think you are mixing two different things.  The knock spell allows use on up to two locks per door, but the size of the door is the area affect I think you are referencing, if I have read this right.  I don't think it can apply to multiple doors.


The knock spell opens stuck, barred, locked, held, or wizard-locked doors. It opens secret doors, as well as locked or trick-opening boxes or chests. It also loosens welds, shackles, or chains. If used to open a wizard-locked door, the spell does not remove the former spell, but simply suspends its functioning for one turn. In all other cases, it permanently opens locks or welds--although the former could be closed and locked again later. It does not raise barred gates or similar impediments (such as a portcullis), nor does it affect ropes, vines, and the like. Note that the effect is limited by the area; a 3rd-level wizard can cast a knock spell on a door of 30 square feet or less (for example, a standard 4-ft. x 7-ft. door). Each spell can undo up to two means of preventing egress through a portal. Thus if a door is locked, barred, and held, or triple locked, opening it requires two knock spells. In all cases, the location of the door or item must be known--the spell cannot be used against a wall in hopes of discovering a secret door.
The reverse spell, lock, closes and locks a door or similar closure, provided there is a physical mechanism. It does not create a weld, but it locks physically operated locking mechanisms, set bars, and so on, up to two functions. It cannot affect a portcullis.

I agree with you now that I can see the description, it's explained pretty clear. related news, I seem to have temporarily lost my only copy of the phb

Aren't there copies to be found online?  I also recommend the Core Rules CD-ROM set.  It has a lot of good stuff.

You begin unlocking the cells with the key and with a knock spell.


There are ten gnomes locked in ten different cells.  Junar has been comforting them while you were in the tomb.  Now, he is panicked as the giants appear to be descending.

Kahan weaves a spell as Etag opens the portal.  The walls of the staircase seem to converge into a funnel too large for the giants to fit through.  The giants begin pounding on the now shaped and thinned stone.

One of them cries out, [Language unknown: "Fome fisan eveainthoarewas.  A addi ameverbut wiliventi oltrat.  Dayioutho ainwhehat ut ac linac we!"]

You are unlocking cells with the key while Didit opens one with a knock spell.  It seems to be taking a long time, but each of them thanks you in Gnomish before stepping through the portal, followed by Junar, and then Tahldar, and the rest of you...

The black portal swirls and emits no light.  You enter it not knowing where you will end up on the other side, but surely, you think it must be better than this.

EXPERIENCE POINTS:

The last XP handout was at the beginning of Here There Be Giants 4, so it has been awhile (at least, in real life time, only two days in game time).

Remember that in addition to traditional reasons to get Experience Points, bonus points are awarded for roleplaying, posting and keeping with the game, and unusual and skillful thinking.

If you level up, please update your character sheet and send me a message letting me know you have done it.  The XP I gave you also does not include any XP bonus you might get for wisdom.

This message was last edited by the GM at 00:11, Fri 25 Apr 2014.