Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for August 29, 2013, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Trial of the Beast adventure; PCs included Gnok Thatek (dwarf monk), and Irnadette Steelsoul (elan psion), accompanied by NPC companion Heidi Loenhardt (human cleric).

The party squared off against the charge trollhounds, and Gnok discovered they were healing from their injuries quickly.  He beat them unconscious while Irnadette burned them with psionically conjured fire.  They then ignited torches and killed both beasts with a coup de grace.  They then opened the gate doors to find three goblins and two trolls trying to hold another gate closed while something pounded upon it from the other side.

The creatures spun around, and one of the trolls snatched up a goblin and hurled it at Gnok as hard as it could.  It smashed painfully into him hard enough to bruise his ribs and snap the neck of the goblin!  Another goblin charged forward and was killed by Gnok in moments.  A colossal battle ensued with psionic flames ripping through the room, tiger style kung-fu, and heavy crossbow bolts flying.  One troll and the last goblin went down as the gate burst asunder to reveal another flesh golem hound!  The troll and hound squared off, but the hound soon ripped the troll to pieces.

Irnadette slowed the hound with psionic fire and lured it out the front gate.  The team tried to slip past, and Heidi was gravely injured while dodging crossbow bolts from a troll that appeared up in a tower!  As Gnok slammed the gate closed, Heidi channeled positive energy and healed the team.  As the flesh golem hound began slamming into the gate, they could hear creatures moving around up overhead as well.

Game summary for August 22, 2013, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Trial of the Beast adventure; PCs included Gnok Thatek (dwarf monk), and Irnadette Steelsoul (elan psion), accompanied by NPC companion Heidi Loenhardt (human cleric).

Gnok led the way up the ladder and triggered a sonic trap that stunned the party.  Meanwhile, a third snapjaw homunculus attacked.  After shaking off the disorientation, Gnok surged up the ladder and smashed the homunculus.

The team then moved down the ladder and down the hallway and discovered a hideous monstrosity, a fleshless man hurling vials of exploding fire and acid!  Another violent battle erupted, and the fleshless man was pinned into a corner.  He grievously wounded Gnok, but Heidi’s channeled energy kept him upright.  Meanwhile, Irnadette fired heavy crossbow bolts into the man’s torso.  Finally, Gnok succeeded in using his Tiger Style to rip out the man’s throat.

The team discovered a locked closest with a morbid content:  a cabinet filled with suits of flesh!  They figured out the man could wear the skins of others, including a large Shambling Man with scales, feathers, and other mismatched flesh.  They found the suit had tears in the shoulder, and the fleshless man (whom they determined was Vorkstag) had scars on his shoulder matching a blood caiman bite.

The group carried Vorkstag’s body, the flesh suits, and a bound Grine boldly through Lepidstadt to the courthouse, which caused quite a ruckus among the cityfolk.  The authorities swarmed to Vorkstag and Grine’s to secure the area and collect any additional evidence.  The party retired for the evening to prepare to defend the Beast in court.

The next day, the team took the stand and gave astounding evidence to the innocence of the Beast including the confession of Grine!  After an hour of deliberation, a verdict of not guilty was delivered on all counts!  The courthouse erupted in an uproar, but the Beast was ordered to be released under the cover of darkness in an undisclosed location.  The Beast thanked the party and called them his dearest friends.  He invited them to come visit him at the home of his “father” at Schloss Caromarc.

The party then met with Judge Daramid to collect their payment.  She encouraged them to seek the Beast at Schloss Caromarc and learn more of the Beast’s creator.  They agreed and headed north to the castle.  They arrived after a few days of travel in miserable weather.  As they approached the gatehouse, two enormous hideous hounds stood up and charged forward!

Game summary for August 8, 2013, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Trial of the Beast adventure; PCs included Amras Amandill (half-elf inquisitor), Dinendal Ironbow (elf ranger), Gnok Thatek (dwarf monk), and Irnadette Steelsoul (elan psion), accompanied by NPC companion Heidi Loenhardt (human cleric).

The party engaged what turned out to be three mongrelmen on the floor of the chymickal works.  Several of the party were nauseated by the fumes, but they quickly wiped out the mongrelmen and stole their gas masks.  They then scampered up the ladder to the catwalk while the flesh golem hound burst through the lower doorway.  Unable to follow up the ladder, it just snarled and barked.

The team entered a loading bay and found some alchemical items but nothing of real interest.  They then opened another door, and Amras caught a throwing axe to the chest!  Within the small room stood the red-haired Grine!  The wicked little man’s axe was smeared with poison, and Amras immediately felt weakened.

The group tried to press into the room, but the small space limited their options.  Amras fought from atop a bed while Gnok and Dinendal forced Grine to slink backward.  Having been punched and smacked in the face by Gnok, Grine sought retreat.  Grine used his poisoned handaxe to further weaken Amras before dropping a globe of magical darkness in the room while he scampered up a ladder.  Amras countered with a light orison and pursued only to take another hit from Grine’s sharp little axe!  At the top of the ladder, Amras found himself surrounded by Grine and two snapjaw homunculi!  Gnok, Dinendal, and Irnadette scampered up as well, and the seven combatants went at each other’s throats in the 15’ x 15’ room!  Both Gnok and Irnadette succumbed to sleep poison from the homunculi and Amras suffered several sneak attacks from Grine.  Just as things looked the most bleak, Dinendal knocked Grine out with a well-placed mace!  Heidi then entered the room and channeled positive energy to heal the party.  Amras cut apart one homunculus, and as Gnok came to, he destroyed the other.

The team quickly bound Grine and searched the two rooms.  They discovered a small steel box which Irnadette was able to open with her lock picks.  However, it triggered a poison gas trap, but she was able to shake off the effects.  The party debated heading back to the courthouse with Grine or staying and searching for clues.  They decided they still needed hard evidence and opted to stay.

Game summary for August 1, 2013, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Trial of the Beast adventure; PCs included Gnok Thatek (dwarf monk) and Irnadette Steelsoul (elan psion), accompanied by NPC companion Heidi Loenhardt (human cleric).

The team went to the Karb Isle Sanctuary and poked around the old ruins.  They discovered a heat-warped iron strongbox and delicately forced it open with a hammer…  Inside they discovered charred papers that they could not make any sense of, so they tucked them away for later.  Gnok then noticed a dark hole leading down into what appeared to be a cellar or sublevel, partially collapsed.  It appeared to be about fifteen feet deep with several bodies within.  An iron candelabrum adorned with severed charred heads dangled from chains.

The team secured a rope and dropped into the cellar where they “bodies” rose up to attack!  As they approached, Gnok got violently sick from their stench and spewed all over the room.  Repeatedly.  Moments later, Irnadette did the same.  A brutal fight ensued, but Irnadette’s fiery and electrical psionics proved too much for the four ghasts.  Having defeated the undead, the team searched the room and discovered a glass container labeled “Vorkstag and Grine Chymickal Bleach.”  They then examined the severed heads and found one resembled the missing and presumed late Dr. Brada.  Their new companion, Heidi, happens to be a trained medium, and she agreed to cast speak with dead.

From the whispering head (it has no lungs), they discovered it was indeed Dr. Brada, and he had been betrayed by Vorkstag and Grine over a business deal gone south.  He had demanded more money for the prisoners he had been selling the merchants, and Grine brought his “monster” to kill Brada, which is what resulted in the Karb Isle fire.  Dr. Brada described the beast as seven feet tall with a scarred shoulder and chest and patchwork flesh.

The team returned to Lepidstadt to speak with the Barrister.  He was intrigued by their findings and was able to make out the words Vorkstag and Grine in the charred ledger they had discovered.  The group went to talk with the Beast who denied ever being at Karb Isle and seemed to know nothing of Vorkstag or Grine.  The Beast did not react to seeing Dr. Brada’s head other than to remark he was ugly.

The group then went over to the Vorkstag and Grine Chymic Works, a small brick factory with a massive chimney dumping pollutants into the air.  As they got close, Gnok (a trained alchemist) recognized the smells of bleach and acid.  They rang the bell at the gate and were greeted by a gnome with orange hair and horrible scars on his face.  The little man was not friendly.  Gnok tried to intimidate him, but he called a flesh golem hound to his side!  He then slammed the door in the parties’ faces.  They rang the bell again, and he yelled at them.

Gnok did not feel good about the idea of breaking and entering, so they used the law to their advantage.  As officers of the court, the spoke with a judge and made an argument based on their evidence that they should have a warrant to search the factory.  The judge grudgingly agreed but would not commit any guardsmen to enforcing it.  He simply stated as officers of the court, they could serve the warrant themselves which suited the team just fine.

The group returned to the chymic works and were denied entry by the gnome, so Gnok smashed the gate open and was promptly savaged by the terribly dangerous flesh golem!  Fortunately, Heidi was able to cure his wounds as quickly as the hound mauled him.  Irnadette discovered she could slow the golem with fire magic, and the girls slipped around to a door and picked the lock under the cover of a silence spell while Gnok kept the hound busy.  They went in to a large room filled with choking, nauseating chemical vats, and Gnok came running in behind and slammed the door.  As the flesh golem hound clawed at the door, the party looked around and saw eight horribly scarred humanoids wearing gas masks standing in shock around the room.  A trio began advancing on the team!