Shining Scorpion - Disintigration is in the Eye of the Beholder

Good ol Kevin Coffey reminded us that we have a blog last week when he wrote up a bit of fiction about his character, Wilster. After reading it, I told Jared that we need to post pics every week from our game. And guess what... I remembered! I even added some special effects to one of the pics...

A knowledge check tells us that ropers hate fire. Wall of fire and summoned fire mephits it is!

These custom made Legend Comics and Coffee d6s are maxing out on some healing!

The irrational and impatient Tribad finds the beholder. The beholder says hello with a death ray.

Before being turned to stone, Jho Kruusha gets in a critical hit on an opportunity attack! Those custom Legend d6s max out again!

With two PCs knocked out and one turned to stone, it's up to Craig and Ehlum!

After a few barrages of arrows from Craig, Ehlum finished the beholder with another wall of fire!

Well, we'll be back next week with more pics! And maybe some other cool stuff in between. In the meantime, the Shining Scorpion crew is going to level up!

Shining Scorpion - Forge of Fury - June 18th 2014

After defeating a magically animated table, the crew stumbles across some big, undead monsters! From Jared: "Forge of Fury - Desecrated Shrine. Once dedicated to dwarven gods, now defiled by orcs. Orc war-priests bound a fierce Orc warrior to slay any who found this place. The Orc champion, now a wight, is flanked by minotaur and equiceph skeletons."

Steelheals softens them up by channeling positive energy.

Not wanting to waste the haste spell Ehlum cast, the crew sprints to the next room, kicks down the door and fights an incorporeal monster!

Time to search for loot. What do they find?

... a magically animated floor rug of death that wants to squeeze the life out of the Shining Scorpion adventuring party!

Ehlum's Beast - Evolution at Level 6

The Shining Scorpion Adventuring Crew reached level 6 in our Pathfinder game after defeating a room full of orc and dwarf skeletons last night. My summoner, Ehlum, doesn't get a lot for himself at this level, but his eidolon gets a nice boost. Also, the party came across a +1 flaming warhammer that no one can really use. Those with the proficiency already have weapons they like. So, with 9 evolution points I'm likely going to present the quadruped like this at next Wednesday's game:

Evolutions	pts
Limbs, legs (2)	-
Bite (1d8)	-
Claws (1d4 x 2)	1
Limbs, arms	2
Improved Damage (Bite)	1
Fly	2
Improved Natural Armor (+2 AC) x2	2
Pounce (full attack after charge)	1

New feat: Martial Weapon Proficiency (warhammer)

So now, his attacks will look like this:

Warhammer	+9	1d8+6, + 1d6 fire
Bite	+3	1d8+3
2 Claws	+3	1d4+3

That +6 damage added to the warhammer is dependent on the eidolon swinging with both hands. Otherwise it's +4. 

Here's a quick sketch I did of Ehlum's beast with these evolutions:

click picture to enlarge

I would like to add reach to his warhammer swing, so I may drop something like improved damage on the bite. I'm also considering giving him the mount evolution and using the enlarge person spell on the beast often.

Shining Scorpion - Swamp Surprise

After dealing with the huecuva and the ghouls, the Shining Scorpion adventuring party heads down the last hall of the dark, abandoned smuggler caves to a flooded room. The space is rectangular, with 4 columns in the center of the room that rise from the water to the ceiling. The water seems to have seeped in from a large crack in the wall, but there is no indication that the water in this area rises any further during high tide. After finding danger in every other area of the caverns, the party is hesitant to move into the room. The summoner, Ehlum Davusaam, summons a small water elemental to scout ahead. Confirming it's orders in the bubbly sounding language of the elemental water plane, the creature turns and then dives into the small pool. The hall is silent except for the light sloshing sounds coming from the pool, but then a roar erupts as water suddenly comes to life! 

The party sees the shape of the Ehlum's summoned creature ahead, seemingly wrestling with twisting vortex of water that is rising from the pool. A separate water elemental, larger than the small creature Ehlum sent forth, surprised the smaller creature and has attacked! Acting quickly, the party uses ranged attacks on the liquid beast as the smaller elemental uses it's own slam attacks. Shortly after the battle begins the fetchling ranger, Craig Shadowbane, fires the final arrow that disrupts the lurking creature's cohesion, and the water settles again into stillness. If one could understand Aquan, the language of the elemental plane of water, they would hear the small elemental yelling insults at the larger, defeated creature. The party searches the pool of water but come up with nothing. They then rest, wait for the tide to go back down, go back for the coins in the sea cave and head back to Saltmarsh. 

Over the next few days the party hires the first of their crew, Mavron the retired pirate that sits on the city council, and a few of his cronies. They take the time to remove the cursed stone from Ehlum's possession, and cure Steelheal's blight. The party discusses their options from here. Before sailing on, they decide to investigate the old, abandoned Vanderbeek mansion in hopes of finding more treasure and leaving the area a bit safer for the people of Saltmarsh. 

First thing in the morning the crew leaves and trudges through the swamplands to the ruined Vanderbeek mansion, but they have a hard time keeping track of and staying on the path. They see remnants of abandoned buildings that used to be part of Saltmarsh. The crew notices that there is an odd absence of large animals in the swamp during their 2nd hour of travel, and a complete absence of all animals during the 3rd hour. Ehlum's eidolon senses that there is something ahead off to the side of the trail, some type of large creature in the water. Craig the ranger decides to use stealth to flank the mysterious, submerged lump. He climbs a tree, but can't see much more. He sends the pseudodragon Felaket to inspect it. The tiny dragon says that it's Swamp Chomps, and it's dead, having been ripped in half. Craig decides to investigate closer, and sees that it is the corpse of a saltwater crocodile. It's been dead for a while. 

As the party concludes the investigation, the eidolon sees the destination ahead in the distance. The Vanderbeek "mansion" is just a collection of broken walls with no roof whatsoever. The crew spreads out with the stealthy ones taking the lead. As they enter the grounds of the estate, Craig notices tracks from a huge creature. They don't seem to lead anywhere in particular, but rather they move back and forth throughout the area. Felaket and the eidolon investigate the ruined mansion. The tiny dragon finds a stairwell that leads underground, but as the party moves towards it they are attacked by a marsh giant! The creature is grotesque, with slimy grey skin and an oval shaped maw full of pointed teeth. It's black eyeballs add to its unnatural and horrific appearance.  

 

Ehlum starts it off by casting haste on Steelheals the paladin, Craig the ranger, Tribad the ninja, and himself. A couple of missed ranged attacks from the party are followed by the marsh giant attempting to curse the paladin, but her willpower is enough to overcome it. The beast moves forward, and Ehlum casts mage armor on it. The beast then runs up and bites the giant with a reach attack. The ranger hits it with an arrow, as does the ninja. The creature roars in anger and swings its gaff twice at the paladin and hits with the second attack, dealing a lot of damage and bloodying her. The rogue runs up and stabs the giant with his dagger. Ehlum uses his haste and runs around to flank, activates his elemental strike and strikes the monster. The party misses a number of attacks, and the ugly beast swings even more wildly, doing major damage once again, this time to the summoner Ehlum. 

And that's where we had to end it. We play again tomorrow night. Will the marsh giant prove to be too much for our strange collection of adventurers to handle? Will they all survive?!?!

Shining Scorpion - Turn Rocks Caves

Last time, the Shining Scorpion adventuring party continued exploring the hidden caves under the turn rocks just offshore of the town of Saltmarsh. After fighting some ghouls, the group decided to open a stuck door that opened to a cavern that looked as if it would fill with water come high tide. Ehlum the summoner had sent his eidolon to swim ahead of the group and scout. The creature ventured forth, followed by Craig's psuedodragon companion, and swam nearly 100' through a tunnel of waist deep seawater before finding a large cave of deeper water.

Ehlum's eidolon, an intelligent, extra-planar creature that shares a close bond with the summoner and is currently in the form of a two-headed dog-like beast, swims into the open cave. Its darkvision allows it to see a door on the other side of the pool of water. This impressive ability fails the creature, however, as it doesn't see the ripples in the water heading for it. A large shark splashes out of the water and attempts to take a large bite out of the hide of the eidolon. The beast just dodges the creature's attack. 

Back at the entrance to the area, Ehlum hears the beast tell him of the sea creature thanks to an active message cantrip. The summoner relays the information to the rest of the party, activates his bond senses ability to see through the eidolon's eyes, and starts towards the cave. Meanwhile the beast successfully bites the shark with both of its heads, doing a good amount of damage. The shark is powerful though, and it lunges through the water, brutally clamping its jaws down upon the eidolon's shoulder. The two creatures continue to trade blows, gnawing on each other as the rest of the party tries to join the fight.

As they move through the sea tunnel towards the fight in the cave, the party has trouble staying on their feet in the waist-high waters. Tribad the ninja is the first to make it to the cave, but isn't quick enough to save the beast from being torn apart and banished back to its home plane of existence. Unable to gain purchase on the cave walls to better use his bow, Tribad instead drops below the surface of the water delivers an arrow directly into the shark's gaping maw, finishing the sea-creature off instantly.

As the rest of the party catches up, they find that the door on the other side of the pool is barred from the other side. Wilster the magus begins hacking at the door, and Ehlum summons a small elemental to follow another tunnel under the water, leading out of the cave. The party finds a small 10' x 10' room on the other side of the door. On the floor is a skeletal corpse wearing armor and clutching a scroll in one hand. Upon inspecting the scroll, Wilster finds that it is a map of a jungle further up the coast, showing the way to the lost city of Tamoachan. Ehlum detects magic on the other side of the back wall, and upon searching Tribad finds a hidden door that opens to a room that is slightly bigger than the previous room. Inside are 3 chests filled with a lot of coin, gems, and valuable potions. Not able to swim out with the chests easily, the party collects the gems and potions, leaving the coin behind for now. When they are ready to head back out of the area, the summoned elemental returns to Ehlum and informs him that the underwater tunnel leads to the bay, indicating that this is how the shark entered the cave.
The party leaves the sea cave and heads for the unexplored tunnel. Craig, still suffering from a bunch of DEX damage, moves in first only to find another group of four ghouls occupying a side room. One of them is actually a former human cleric, Veldemar Krund, who is now a powerful, un-dead huecuva. Craig begins firing arrows and Wilster slashes with his scimitar, and together they quickly dispatch the first monster. 

Ehlum invokes the power of his suli-jann heritage and lightning begins to dance in his eyes, along the length of his arms, and to his morningstar. He recklessly charges one of the enemies, but his gambit pays off as he crushes the ghoul with three hits from his electrified weapon while the creature's own attacks are met with a shocking feedback. Steelheals the paladin, Zav Zod Zoz the rogue and Aichio the tengu witch stream in to attack the third ghoul, while Tribad and Wilster charge the huecuva.

The crew dispatches the final ghoul henchman, and everyone then joins Wilster and Tribad in fighting the huecuva. Wilster finishes off the huecuva using scorching ray. The Shining Scorpion party heals up and continues down the tunnel, which seems to end with another pool of water.

And that's it! Also, it's time to level up to 4. We'll be back next week, probably finishing off these secret sea caves and then heading back to Saltmarsh to divide the treasure.

Misfits Origins: Ehlum (Sanna) Davusaam - Suli Summoner / Part 1

Part 1 - Peril Reveals a Blacker Purpose

Sanna Davusaam lived in Katheer, the capital city of Qadira, for most of his life. He grew up as a relatively poor citizen, but other than the occasional fight with other kids, he never faced much hardship. He was well liked by nearly everyone that knew him and his family, and they rarely went without food or friends. When he reached adulthood he worked a number of odd jobs, including many which benefited from his charisma and strength.

One of those jobs had Sanna acting as a courier, which often sent him to the homes of Katheer's nobility. While delivering a merchant's catalog of newly acquired goods to one of these noble's households, Sanna caught the attention of the beautiful, wealthy and powerful Baroness Lissi Besthana. The Baroness already had 6 husbands, but she was enamored by Sanna and pursued him for the following year. Sanna himself was beguiled by Lissi, and at the end of the year he agreed to marry her.

The next few years saw Sanna living a carefree life, and he enjoyed luxuries he never dreamed of. He quickly grew accustomed to fine wines and culinary delicacies, lavish wardrobes, and exotic pets. When he wasn't spending time with his bride, he would often hang around with the magic users in the Baroness's employ, learning simple tricks and bits of arcana. While they and most of the others in the Baroness's estate enjoyed Sanna's company, her other husbands did not. The favoritism and extra affection that she showed Sanna went on far longer than was typical following the acquisition of a new husband, and this made them jealous. The Baroness also refused to give Sanna any responsibilities, so the other husbands felt that he wasn't pulling his own weight.

The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh - Part One

Last night, we played the 3rd night of our new Wednesday night campaign. We're playing The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh using 3.5/Pathfinder rules, which none of the players have used before. Our DM, Jared, is doing a great job with it. He has a long campaign in mind that will weave together a number of entries taken from a list of the best 30 D&D adventures of all time. We'll post summaries of our adventures here on this blog as we go. Here is part 1:

The Shining Scorpion, an adventuring party made up of Ehlum, the suli summoner, Wilster, the elf magus, ZZZ, the drow rogue (yes, we have an elf and a drow in the same party and they don't try to kill each other... it's a long story) and new recruit Tribad, the vishkanya ninja, were passing through Saltmarsh as they searched the land for adventure. Ehlum, Wilster and Tribad find a local tavern, and find plenty of scurvy locals. The first that the run into is Koell Fenthran, an elven settler and the oldest person in town. He's a member of the town council. From him the group learned of the haunted house, owned by a sinister alchemist who disappeared 20 years earlier. The house still stands because the people of the town are too scared to go there. He tells the three adventurers about an old poacher who knows stories of the haunted house and might be able to help them.

Meanwhile, Zav Zod Zoz is on the outskirts of town burying the body of a man who apparently wronged him, an old poacher from Saltmarsh...

The Cast

Here's a rundown of our large and rather weird adventuring party:

Ehlum (that's a fake name) - Suli Summoner (N) - Played by John.
Wilster - Elf Magus (N) - Played by Kevin C.
Aichio - Tengu Witch (N) - Played by Elliot.
SteelHeals - Aasimar Paladin (LG) - Played by Richelle.
Tribad - Vishkanya Ninja (N) - Played by Kevin G.
Zav Zod Zoz - Drow Rogue (CN) - Played by Henry.
Craig - Fetchling Ranger (NG) - Played by Corey

We'll post individual spotlights of each adventurer in the days to come.

Hello!

Sooner or later, we'll start posting details from our games here, and descriptions of our characters. For now we'll just post some pics.

Here is one from last night's game in the Salt Marsh. The paladin and the magus find a bunch of centipedes while the rest of the party is still hanging out by the well outside:

The summoner finishes off the big snake in the well with an eagle.