Pathfinder Transcript: First Rat Quest

[One of the players in our group had been keeping brief transcripts of our sessions. He gave up on it partway into this quest so he could focus more on playing.]

This is the quest I described here, the first in our evil rat cycle.

I was wrong - the other players didn't change characters after this quest, they just made their existing character less evil. (This DM had asked us to make sure our characters weren't so evil or chaotic that he couldn't hook us into the quest by having us repay an important debt.)

• My sorcerer was lawful evil, and stayed so. 
• I think the hairless fighter is within one step of chaotic evil.
• The alchemist was going to be literal-plague-upon-the-land double evil, but he toned it down to regular evil.
• The bard might be chaotic neutral. Doesn't really matter, because he kept accidentally flirting with every single NPC he interacted with, so he decided to roll with it. He did end up changing characters.
• I don't remember the alignment of the samurai who joined us later; the player changed shifts at work and hasn't joined us again.

The DM pulled out some dungeon tileboards for the warehouse fight and followup explorations. It felt like we didn't need them, but I guess I'd have said the same about the prison fight if we'd had them for that too. They had an extra couple bits of greebly terrain (half flight of stairs, gazebo, and so on) that I don't normally think to add, which was nice.


First Transcript

Osbald (Ratfolk Fighter) [This is our transcriptor]
Skrac (Ratfolk Alchemist)
Theodore 'Teddy' Stillsword (Ratfolk Bard)
Barnabosa (Ratfolk Sorcerer) [That's me]

[GM Narration:]
Far to the west... Well, actually far to the east from the world you are accustomed to is a strange land bordered by mountains to the North, South, and West.
It is very fertile land, so much so that strange giant beings have lived here for thousands of years.
Also, fertile so much that there is a large ratfolk colony in a large hilly area.
The giants have plentiful lands, but leave traps and destroy when they catch the ratfolk.
The biggest ratfolk settlement is Rosebush. Surrounded by massive thorns.
The ruling cast lives in the largest portion of the city.
To the west of the mountains, and near the river, is a city called Nimh.
At one point this city was a typical fantasy realm city with all kinds of races, etc.
200 years ago, the paladin war king was struck dead.
An alchemic necromancer named Brimiraz took control of the city and struck all who opposed him either dead or worse.
The city is now mostly human but they live in fear of becoming part of the mad lich king's experiments.
Nimh has been sending raiders to the valley to capture ratfolk and materials.
South of Rosebush and across the river is Giantholm.
The Giants live here.
They don't like Nimh and will protect the passes leading to their area.
We all know of the council that rules the ratfolk in the area.
This is not a just or kind council. This is a survival council.
Backstabbing and squabbling is common, but a few of the council want the city to survive for their own reasons.
Nicodemus is an ancient wizard on the council. He's powerful enough to control some of the worst on the council.
He's also someone the party owes a favor.
He sends word to the party: It's time you paid your debt. Meet me at the Ragged Arch at sundown.
As we arrive at the ragged arch, the normal host doesn't seem to immediately recognize you.
[End GM Narration]

Most of us know each other from previous engagements.
Osbald is an escaped experiment from Nimh.
We travel upstairs where we've been informed Nicodemus is waiting.
Inside we see Nicodemus and his handservant. Nicodemus looks like mostly skin and bones.
The handservant is excited that we've arrived. He asks for our help.
"Thank you Spencer," Nicodemus says. He instructs him to leave. After they argue, Spencer leaves.
Nicodemus chants. Barnabosa detects that powerful defensive magics are in the area.
Nicodemus casts Age Resistance on himself.
Nicodemus begins to tell of us his task and plight.
His mantle, emblazoned with the tree of life and which fights off decay, has been stolen.
Teddy says he can talk to plants. Everyone, including Nicodemus, is surprised.
Nicodemus offers a free pass regardless of the circumstance if we retrieve the cloak.
We travel with Spencer to the place where we believe the cloak was stolen.
Teddy: "...convince with my tongue..."
Amulets allow people to travel from the branches to the manor.
Air Elementals guard the top.
The spectral guard normally guards the manor as well.
Teddy: "Now come, take me up to the bedroom."
Nicodemus owns an EXTREME amount of scrolls. Teddy identifies them as scrolls of Detonate. Barnabosa picks one up.
Spencer shouts "Nooo!" as it explodes. (54 cold damage). Spencer is dead-like. Skrac checks him as not completely dead, and Osbald heals him with a wand.
Teddy goes upstairs and starts talking to plants in the bedroom.
The plant informs Teddy that normally there is light in the room, but that night there was not.
The second visitor that night smelled differently. The spell lingered after it had passed.
Teddy, to a plant: "Is there anything I can do for you? You've been helpful."
Plant: "Shit on me."
Teddy has noted that there was a perfume there that night.
We note that the perfume smells strongly of a particular poison. Wickerwurm
We get a couple scrolls (mass cmw, resist elements com, dispel magic, scroll of fireball)
Lord Rannic doesn't like Nicodemus. Marduk does like him, but doesn't trust Vizeem, his servant.
Teddy has flirted with Lord Rannic's feminine son.
Osbald has a contact that helped him get into the city from Nimh.
Teddy and Skrac head off to see Rannic's son.
Osbald and Teddy head off to the seedy district to find my contact.
We find Mengsk in a dive bar. He doesn't seem to be doing quite as well as he used to be. Osbald and Mengsk converse, but Mengsk doesn't have any information to offer.
Teddy and Skrac (disguised as Teddy's identical cousin), reach the academy. A model student, Teddy is allowed in easily. Stopped by a janitor, he's instructed that it may be wise to stop by the headmaster's office. They continue their hunt for Wilbur Rannic.
Wilbur is in class. Teddy interrupts, and an old teacher of his (Mistress Gwen) discusses with him.
Eventually, Wilbur is out of class and they talk. Nicodemus is the current speaker and Lord Rannic wants to replace him.


Second Transcript

The council is 50 members of elected rats.
The party reconvenes in the lower bush.
Barnabosa offers his services to Lord Rannic in exchange for a meeting.
He accepts.
Barnabosa enters the room across from an older ratfolk.
Barnabosa asks Rannic about a missing mantle.
Rannic dodges the questions skillfully. "Without telling me more, I can't help. You know humans often ransack the city."
Rannic makes mention that we should look to the shadows for our missing mantle.
Osbald goes back to see Mengsk. He gets a map and some information about the sewers (Banshees and Zombie Crocs). The map is labeled "No more favors." ~Kalen
We go see Marduk. He reminds us that he is no longer on the council. That said, he does lead us to a blonde woman well versed in poisons.
Osbald purchases
We finally make the connection: Kalen is the name of the theif.
We go see the thieves guild in Rosebush. They give us the location of some wickerworm (The Gap, trees near the river). I give him my greater invisibility potion in exchange.
Theodore scryes on the thief. He locates her near the wickerworm we were previously described.
Barnabosa teleports us on top of the thief.
He misses, and we land a short distance away.
After a short exploration, we come face to face with the thief. Or rather her shadow.
Teddy attempts to woo the shadow. It saps his strength. The thief laughs.
Kalen shares with us where the mantle is now, probably. We let her go.
Its with The Coven in Nimh.
As we continue on towards Nimh, we are tracked down by a couple of banshees.
They mess us up, and we manage to escape after killing one.


Third Transcript

Elisabeth Bookbinder (Ratfolk Lorewarden Fighter/Student of War) joins the party.

We return to the city to find healing and recovery for Teddy.
Skrac tries to sell Barnabosa a simulacarm.
Elisabeth, Nicodemus' niece and a librarian, hears of our adventures and wants to help. She joins us.
Osbald tries to remember a name and face to help Teddy scry. All he can remember is a half orc.
Nimh is about 90 miles away from Rosebush.
After a short wait, Osbald tries again.
He remembers a female named Kaldus. This was the person that experimented on Osbald. She was a very old human as last he remembered.
Teddy and Elisabeth tag-team to use Osbald as an assistance for Teddy's scry spell.
Teddy succeeds and sees Kaldus in the middle of a cloitus experiment. Barnabosa prepares to teleport us.
We teleport in. Osbald massacres her.
After tearing Kaldus' throat out, Osbald severs her fingers for crossbow bolt materials (10x Bone Bane(Humanoid/Human))
Skrac uses a potion to turn into Kaldus. He convinces a wandering guard to go away.
Osbald grabs a "skeleton key" to all of the cells.
Skrac tells us there were 5 guards at the end of the hall.
We examine the room. A large portcullis leads to a sewer chute.
We try to plot a way to escape.
The other captured rats are shouting for Gilwin.
They calm down. We eventually decide that we're going to ambush the guards. Teddy and Barnabosa invisible themselves while the other two prepare to attack.
As they round the corner and try and get a handle on the situation, Osbald lays into one of the guards.
They panic, and slam the door. Skrac, still disguised as Kaldus, is on one side while the others are locked in.
Elisabeth smashes into the door with her greatsword.
The guards instruct Skrac to go find help. He moves around the corner.
Barnabosa Dimension Doors us into the hallway.
The guards decide they need to get away, and move through us. We tear through them like rabid... well, rats, Osbald especially so.
As the guard captain falls, Skrac hears a small cracking sound, and the splash of water. A potion has been smashed.
We all hear the sounds of water trickling... Except Barnabosa.
Teddy is trying to investigate the cracked potion.
Osbald helps release the captured rats.
After several seconds, a part of the wall bursts open and water beings to flood in.

[The water didn't actually burst in through the wall. The DM's description was a little confusing.]

Barnabosa attempts to dimension door out of the hallway and fails.
The only way out appears to be through a locked trapped door at the top of the stairs.
Or the sewer grate we saw earlier.
Barnabosa puts a GIANT PIT in the floor, diverting some of the water. He also webs up some of the freed rats.
Osbald is pretty useless.
Skrac burrows through the stone.
As the rest of us attempt to escape, Skrac enters another cellar above the cells.
As the rats panic and attempt to escape, everyone eventually ends up traveling through Skrac's tunnel in to the cellar.


Fourth Transcript Summary

[This is where our transcriptor stopped transcribing.]

At the end of the previous session, my pits expired and the lab/prison level burst from overpressure. Most of the rats we had freed ended up crushed, drowned, or swept into the sewers. Water geysered up out of our tunnel and flooded the warehouse above, KO'ing a number of guards. We swiftly killed the rest.

The alchemist uses illusory magic to disguise as human street urchins, and we make our way to the castle wall, searching for a weakness. We eventually Dimension Door into sewers underneath the castle. There's only a few inches of air. At the first cross section we're attacked by a sewage elemental (set their to guard against infiltration) so my Sorceror Dimension Doors the party upwards.

The DM wants to wrap up so he has the spell exit us into the Lich King's dining room. At one side of the room is an exit, then in the middle is a table with the Lich King, three witches and some nobles, then on the other side is us covered in sewage, and another exit. I smoke bomb the far exit and as much of the table as I can and put an acid pit in front of the door. All the diners flee and fall in except the Lich King, who charges atop the table at us, and two of the witches, who replenish his hit points as we injure him.

The Lich King is a Frankensteinian thing and keeps reviving after we kill him. I think lightning hurt the witches but healed teh lich.

Tough fight.

We finally kill him and the witches (I think with AOE fire damage). Since I (as a player) don't know how Pathfinder regeneration, resurrecting and undeading works, my sorcerer takes the precaution of scooping the Lich's brains out and chucks pieces in different directions out different windows.

I also steal his crown, which I'm told is slightly cursed, but I've worn it without consequence so far.