Adventure #4 - The Incorrigible Mr. Mittens

R&R - Round 1

Init 19
Suddenly surrounded by walking corpses, Jeremiah reacts by burying both of his axes into one enemy. The mummy barely reacts.
- Jeremiah's Save vs. Despair = 24 (Save)

Mittens darts behind the lead mummies.

Init 10
Gumphrey spins around attacks the shambling corpse closing in on him, as well.
- Gumphrey's Save vs. Despair = 22 (Save)
- Attack Roll = 27; Damage = 6 (11-5); Gumphrey suffers 4 Damage, as well.

Init 5
The mummies press the attack. Those in back, step forward. Those within striking distance lashing out at the heroes.
- Slam vs. Jeremiah = 30 (hit); Damage = 12, plus Mummy Rot; Jeremiah's Fort Save = 25 (Save)
- Slam vs. Gumphrey= 33 (hit); Damage = 14, plus Mummy Rot; Gumphrey's Fort Save = 18 (Save)
- Slam vs. Elodie= 30 (Hit); Damage = 13
- Slam vs. Elodie = 32 (Hit); Damage = 15

Init 3
Elodie steps back and calls upon the fire spirits, again. As a result, the entire alcove fills with fire, burning the mummy and the casket both. Elodie realizes that the mummy's linen wrapping have also caught fire! 
- Elodie's Save vs. Despair = 16 (Save)
- The Mummy's Reflex Save = 8 (Fail)

Elodie calls for help, realizing that she is in trouble. "Flint! Jeremiah! Gumphrey! Anyone! Help!"

If she is still able to do so, she will pull her wand out and heal herself.

Use Wand of Cure Serious Wounds, cures 24 HP.

Jeremiah will continue to attack L24.

M.H. Axe: 13 + 8 +2 = 23 | DMG: 10
M.H. Axe: 16 + 3 +2 = 21 | DMG: 9
H.Axe 16 + 7 +2 =  25  | DMG: 7
H.Axe 7 + 2 +2 = 11 | DMG: --

HP = 54 -12 = 42

"Elodie, retreat to the door and call for Flint! Gumphrey and I are right behind you."

R&R - Round 2 ...

Init 19
Chop! Chop! Chop! Jeremiah repeatedly sinks his axes into the walking cadaver, but notices that the mummies are extremely tough.
Mittens hisses at the mummies, arching his back as his hairs stand up on end.

Init 10
Performing an impromptu cartwheel, Gumphrey slips past the closest mummy and then sprints toward Elodie, running up the side of the wall next to the another mummy, and finally dropping down between the druid and her adversary. As his feet hit the sand, he sinks his dagger into the burning mummy, pushing back into the fire.
- Acrobatic Rolls = 35, 35
- Attack Roll = 24; Damage = 9 (14-5). Gumphrey also takes 1 point from the dagger.

Init 5
The mummies shamble yet closer, punching at the party with ruthless monstrosity.
- Slam vs. Jeremiah = 30 (hit); Damage = 12
- Slam vs. Gumphrey= 27 (hit); Damage = 12
- Slam vs. Gumphrey= 22 (hit); Damage = 14

Init 3
The burning mummy continues to burn while Elodie heals herself.
- Fire Damage = 13 x 2 (26)

Meanwhile, Flint charges into the hallway.

"Gumphrey! Can you get behind me? Don't die on me again...Jeremiah! Can you get back here? If I could blast this whole hallway with fire, I think I could really hurt a lot of these mummies!" Elodie jabs her wand at Gumphrey, trying to prevent him from dying...again.

Use Wand of Cure Serious Wounds, cures 21 HP.
Flaming Sphere damage: 8.

"Mittens, lets go."

Jeremiah will hold his action to wait for mittens. As soon as mittens is with Jeremiah, he will cast "entangle" in the area covering where the mummies are now and the hallway he is going to retreat down.


OOC: I hope this healing can get through the mummy rot.

GM Edit: OOC: Mummy Rot has 10 round onset time. So, even if it will affect healing, it isn't, yet.

R&R - Round 3

Init 19
When Jeremiah calls for Mittens to follow, the cat seems to understand him, leaping past the mummies to follow the woodsman as he beats a retreat. Relying on his force of will and his connection to nature, the woodland warrior attempts to entangle his foes with vines, briers, or tall grasses. Considering the lack of vegetation in the hallway, he's not really sure what will happen.

As Jeremiah focuses his attention toward the unseen plants beneath surface, the lead Mummy wildly swings its gnarly fists at him ... fortunately, Jeremiah ducks the punch just as brown root-like vegetation emerges from the sand and begins to wrap around the mummified legs of his foes ... as well as his own!

- OOC: Normally, entangle must be cast on existing plants ... and although you don't see any plants, I recognize that there "could be" roots or other sinuous vegetation beneath the sand and the stone-block floor (It is extremely old, after all). So, I decided there was a 50% chance that some sort of plant-life could push its way up between the stone blocks. I rolled a 16, so it works.
- OOC: Opportunity Attacks are all but unavoidable in that situation. Jeremiah will invoke an OA from the L24 Mummy, either when he moves or when he casts (not both). If he moved and then cast, he would actually suffer two OA's (one from L24 and then another from K21). He could attempt to cast defensively, but a failed roll means the spell doesn't work. So, after considering all permutations, I decided interpret his actions strictly by what was in the post: cast and then move. That keeps the number of OA's to one (the same Mummy cannot take two OA's against you in the same turn). The downsides to that are 1) the OA hit, a casting roll would be have been needed anyway; and 2) he will then need a Reflex save to move through his own spell effect.
- OA Attack = 19 (Miss)
- Jeremiah's Reflex Save = 14 (Save)
- Mummy's Reflex Saves = 20, 11, 9, 15, 2, 2, 22, 6, 14, 16 (Five Mummies failed their save, but five others made it).

Init 10
Gumphrey desperately tries to defend himself from the deadly mummies.
- Full Defense. With Acrobatics, that gives him a +6 AC bonus ... but he can't attack.

Init 5
Relentlessly, the mummies shamble onward, attempting to kill the invaders. As Jeremiah races up the hall, the rear mummy in the northern hall turns and catches the ranger with a powerful fist. The hit knocks the wind out of Jeremiah, almost dropping him to the floor ... but not quite. Then, another shambles up behind him and strikes him again. Jeremiah is severely wounded. Fortunately, however, the plants seems to have gotten a better hold of most of the mummies by now.

- J24: Move to L22 and Attack Jeremiah. Attack = 23 (Hit); Damage = 11. Reflex Save = 7 (Fail); NOW it is Entangled.
- K24: Entangled. Attempts to break free = 12 (Fail)
- L24:  Entangled. Attempts to break free = 24 (Success); Move to L23. Reflex Save = 9 (Fail); Entangled again.
- M24: Move to L24. Reflex Save = 13 (Fail); NOW it is Entangled.
- N24: Entangled. Attempts to break free = 12 (Fail)
- N23: Entangled. Attempts to break free = 15 (Success); Move to M24. Reflex Save = 18 (Success); Not Entangled.
- O23: Move to N23; Reflex Save = 21 (Success); Still Not Entangled.
- J21: Attack Gumphrey = 20 (Miss)
- K21: Turn to Attack Jeremiah = 21 (Hit); Damage = 18.
- I20: Attack Gumphrey = Natural 1; Reflex Save = 7 (Fail); NOW it is Entangled.

Init 3
Elodie taps Gumphrey with her wand, while the fire spirits finish incinerating the burning mummy ... which finally collapses to its knees and topples over into the sand.

Flint rests his trident against his shield arm and draws his only dagger, which he then throws in a desperate attempt to contribute. Sadly, his dagger ricochets off a mummy's shoulder and then sails down the hall, almost landing on Mittens at the other end.
- Attack = 10 (Miss)

OOC: Now that Jeremiah is down to 1 HP, certain NPCs are forced to tip their hats.

R&R - Round 3 (Continued)

Init 2
At the back of the hall, Mittens suddenly transforms into an old man ... an old man with extremely big hands! "I didn't want to have to do this!" He grumbles. "T'naet Phaalli!!" And suddenly, the  Mummies all go rigid, held in place and unable to move ... at all. "Jeremiah, you must get to safety! Elodie, get those fire spirits ready!"

Not giving it much thought because he expected as much from mittens...

"I'm on it Mittens, you don't have to tell me twice!"

Jeremiah will retreat, pushing through the mummies.

Elodie laughs gleefully as Mittens transforms. "I knew it! Quick, Flint, Gumphrey, back up into the hallway behind me!"

Once everyone is behind her and she has retreated a few steps, Elodie raises her finger and summons a small ball of flame to the center of the hallway. It explodes outward, filling the hallway with fire.

Cast Fireball at L21.
Damage (7d6): 29

R&R - Round 4

Init 19 and 10
- OOC: Reflex Saves = 19 and 14 (Successes)
Jeremiah, Gumphrey, and Mittens exit the area.

Init 5
The mummies remain held in place.

Init 3
Flint exits the room. Elodie slides back.

Then, calling upon the most destructive spirits of fire, Elodie creates a ball of fire that flies from her finger tips and sails down the hall. When it reaches it destination, it explodes, filling the narrows halls with bright, burning flame! The force of the blast tears into the mummies as the hungry fire strips them of flesh and linen! A few of the mummies crumble immediately; the rest are so badly burned that it's difficult to believe their blackened, charred remains are still standing.

Yet, they remain held in place by the magic of Mittens.

"I'm on it." After the huge burst of flame clears, Elodie concentrates on moving her flaming sphere down the hallway. It comes to the first mummy, and stops.

Flaming Sphere Damage, Round 5: 7
If this doesn't kill it, she will leave it there. If it dies, she will roll the sphere on to the next mummy...and on again, after that.
Flaming Sphere Damage, Round 6: 15
Flaming Sphere Damage, Round 7: 8
After 7 rounds, the Flaming Sphere will be extinguished.

OOC: I want to see how many this takes care of before I post any more attacks...

GM Edit: OOC: Sorry, I misread this post. I thought she meant seven more rounds, but she meant seven since she cast it. That means she'll would've had to finish off the last four some other way (like with her spear). They were down to 2 HP each, so it doesn't really matter how, I guess. I'll stick with the description below (where the sphere lasts long enough to finish them off), mainly because it seems more dramatic.

Walking along behind the flaming sphere, the party moves from standing corpse to stand corpse, watching them burn to ash, one after the other. The flaming sphere blinks out just as it finishes off the last of the mummies.

"Okay, Jeremiah." Mittens says, at last. "Now, I will answer you ... um ...What was the question, again?"

"Yes, indeed, I did," Mittens answers. "There was a powerful evil here, but I have vanquished him. Yet, there remains a lesser evil --an orb of some power -- that I wish to study. If it's alright with all of you, I would like to remain here to study it. In fact, I think Talmut should remain here as well. He could assist me and (in exchange) I will help him study these ancient ruins."

"Then, I will stay as, as well," Flint insists.

"Very well."

Around this time, Elodie begins to feel extremely ill. She looks extremely pale and her eyes look dark, like somebody punched her in the face. When she talks, she finds she has trouble getting her words out.

Suffer 1 Point of Con damage and 4 Points of Chr damage. Also, she cannot heal naturally and magical healing will require a Casting Roll.

"Are you feeling alright, Miss Elodie?" Mittens asks.

Elodie slumps against the wall. "Now that you mention it..." she stammers, "I'm not feeling so well..." She continues to slide down the wall, until she has completely collapsed on the floor.

"Hmm," the once-cat ponders. "Mummy Rot, I bet." He waves his hand, removing all of Elodie's afflictions and restoring her to full health.

Elodie jumps to her feet at once. "Thanks. That's helpful. So, you and Talmut don't need us to help you make sure the rest of the ruins are safe?" As she says this, she feels a little sheepish...Mittens did, after all, single-handedly save the entire party from almost-certain death. Before he responds, Elodie remembers something that she has been curious about. "Did you kill that giant on the main road, on the way back to Umbrafall?"