{Modern Setting} Beneath the Green Lantern

[patransom]

Marcus and Eric make their way toward the passage to the east. On the way there they spot a wall to the north where Eric suspected there might be another passage. Of course there could be a passage behind that wall, if the wall is narrow and the room is set up in a parallel arrangement... Could be worth investigating later.

Looking down the east passage, Marcus finds that it leads to a smaller room, also completely filled with water. There are two large benches in here and a number of cubbyholes in the walls, suggesting a locker room or dressing room. At least one of the cubbyholes seems to have something in it...

Of more pressing concern, however, is the creature that stands in the middle of the locker room. It appears to have once been human, but no more. It has mottled, decaying flesh that is drawn tight over clearly visible bones. It is mostly hairless and has a mouthful of sharp teeth. It wears only the tattered rags of what might have once been clothes.

ROUND 1

Before Marcus can react, the hideous creature swims toward him, moving through the water with surprising grace. Without a sound (not that you could hear it underwater, anyway), it bares its teeth and takes a big bite out of Marcus' flesh! [3 hp damage, and Marcus needs a Fortitude save DC12 to avoid being paralyzed!]

OUT-OF-CHARACTER:    INITIATIVE ORDER: ROUND 1 CONTINUES Marcus Tilsworth - 5 hp damage, 2 rounds underwater, possibly paralyzed Eric Lightner - 3 hp damage, 2 rounds underwater Sahid Khan - 7 hp damage, unaware anything's happening Brad "Tex" Laskin - 1 hp damage, unaware anything's happening Tividius Alexander - unaware anything's happening ROUND 2 BEGINS Ulhe ---> Next Validation

[Duniagdra]

Fort Save vs Paralysis (1d20+4=13)

Marcus jerks violently on his rope and signals Eric of danger.

[CGM3]

Eric will grab the rope tied to Marcus and move to 0919 (dragging Marcus to 0920), then go to 0818 (dragging Marcus to 0819, thereby keeping the animated corpse from getting an attack of opportunity at Marcus) and proceed south and then southwest to the stairs.

THINKING: "I don't know nothin' 'bout fightin' no zombies!"

[tdsprouse]

Feeling the tug on Marcus' rope, Tex begins pulling him in.


“I think they're in trouble!”

[patransom]

ROUND 1 CONTINUES

Shaking off the paralytic effect of the creature's bite, Marcus gives a firm tug on his rope, hoping to alert Tex of the danger. He also waves to Eric, making sure he's aware of the monstrosity.

Having seen the nasty, bitey "zombie," Eric grabs Marcus' rope and drags him out of harm's way. He gets successfully about halfway to the stairs.

Tex reacts to the sudden tug on the rope by alerting Sahid, then beginning to haul Marcus in. Unfortunately, Tex's dragging yanks Marcus off his feet and the poor fish bangs helplessly into a few walls as Tex, with great effort, brings him up the stairs and out of the water. [I handled this by giving Marcus a reflex save vs Tex's strength check to maintain some control while he was being dragged. Marcus failed, so he takes 4 hp nonlethal damage and ends up prone. But he is now out of the water.]

Sahid, reacting to the information from Tex, does likewise for Eric, with similar results. [Eric also failed his reflex, so he takes 3 nonlethal and also is prone]

Dr. Alexander waits to see if medical assistance will be needed.

ROUND 2

The creature (who you might suspect was once the explorer Uhle that you read about) is unhappy about having his meal yanked out of his grasp. Thus, he pursues the bait. He now stands only half submerged on the stairs just below the two teammates who were unceremoniously hauled out of the water. [Since he's only waist deep, there are no underwater combat penalties in effect, should you decide to attack the critter]

OUT-OF-CHARACTER:    INITIATIVE ORDER: ROUND 2 CONTINUES Marcus Tilsworth - 9 hp damage (including 4 nonlethal), prone Eric Lightner - 6 hp damage (including 3 nonlethal), prone Sahid Khan - 7 hp damage Brad "Tex" Laskin - 1 hp damage Tividius Alexander ROUND 3 BEGINS Ulhe ---> Next Validation Interestingly, this is pretty much the same thing that happened in this encounter when I ran it for my D&D group: fish the creature out of its element using live bait.

[tdsprouse]

“Holy Crap! What is that !!”

5th shot from this clip, Atk, Dam (1d20+4=23, 2d6=2)

[Duniagdra]

Marcus remains prone, on his back, while he draws his gun and fires a round at the thing. Ranged Attack/Damage vs Drowned One (1d20+1=11, 2d6=6) Seems he may have rushed it some.

[CGM3]

Lying supine on his back (prone or prostrate is lying on your stomach), Eric follows suit by yanking out his Glock and potting the drowned man who hasn't the courtesy to stay dead.

Eric's Shot at the Drowned Man: 1d20+5 = 14+5 = 19, 2d6 = 5+3 = 8 damage.

[patransom]

OUT-OF-CHARACTER:    Prone may be incorrect descriptively, but it is correct in terms of game rule effects. Indeed, the MSRD even indicates that prone means "lying on the ground" and makes no distinction about face up or face down. So there, Mr. English Language tutor

ROUND 2 CONTINUES

Marcus remains on his back while he draws his gun and fires a round at the thing. He did indeed rush the shot a bit. He misses and receives a vicious bite from the creature in return [6 hp damage from the AoO and Marcus needs another DC12 will save to avoid being paralyzed]

Lying supine on his back, Eric follows suit by yanking out his Glock and potting the drowned man who hasn't the courtesy to stay dead. He takes a big hunk of decaying flesh out of the horrible creature.

“Holy Crap! What is that !!” asks Tex, as he fires a shot from his clip. He hits, but only wings the thing.

Sahid and Dr. Alexander both miss.

ROUND 3

The creature, undeterred by the confusing bang-sticks, lays into Eric. It is unable to sink its teeth into him, but does successfully claw him twice. [4 hp total and Eric needs TWO DC12 Fort saves to avoid being paralyzed]

OUT-OF-CHARACTER:    INITIATIVE ORDER: ROUND 3 CONTINUES Marcus Tilsworth - 15 hp damage (including 4 nonlethal), prone Eric Lightner - 10 hp damage (including 3 nonlethal), prone Sahid Khan - 7 hp damage Brad "Tex" Laskin - 1 hp damage Tividius Alexander ROUND 4 BEGINS Ulhe ---> Next Validation

[Duniagdra]

Fort vs Paralysis (1d20+4=5)
Marcus' body goes limp from the infection of the bite.

[CGM3]

Valiantly overcoming the deleterious effects of his wounds, Eric gives his abhorrent adversary some nine-millimeter payback.

Eric's Saves and Retaliatory Fire

1st save: 1d20+4 = 13+4 = 17
2nd save: 1d20+4 = 10+4 = 14
(Pilot error, I entered 1d20+5 for the saves at Invisible Castle, but even corrected I made both.)
Attack w/ Glock: 1d20+5 = 16+5 = 21
Damage w/ Glock: 2d6 = 2+5 = 7

OUT-OF-CHARACTER:    I'm not ordinarily a grammar nazi, but there are some misuses of the King's English that I find exceptionally annoying, and that happens to be one of them. Not as upsetting as having your pocket picked by a rouge (an outlaw lipstick?), but still irksome. And I accept that "prone", in gaming terms, means down on the ground, regardless of orientation... Mongo straight!

[tdsprouse]

Tex fires yet another round into the wall, soon perhaps the wall will simple fall on the waterlogged creature.


Atk, Dam (1d20+4=6, 2d6=4)

[patransom]

ROUND 3 CONTINUES

Marcus seizes up, paralyzed by Uhle's bite.

Still lying supine on his back, Eric levels his weapon to fire again. This leaves him open for a bite from the creature which nearly rips his throat out [AoO is a crit for 9 hp damage; I rolled Eric's fort save for him, since it determined what happened next, and he also got a 20, so...]. As a matter of revenge, Eric pulls the trigger and blows the top of the monster's skull off. It crumples in a splash into the shallow water.

OUT-OF-CHARACTER:    Combat over

Dr. Alexander rushes to Marcus' side to examine the seriousness of the paralysis. “It does not appear to be permanent. He seems to be recovering already.” Indeed, within a few seconds Marcus is able to move again. In the meantime, the Doctor applies some first aid using his treat injury skill [Marcus healed 4 hp]. “Does anyone else need medical attention?” asks the Doc, looking with concern at Eric.

OUT-OF-CHARACTER:    STATUS REPORT: Marcus Tilsworth - 12 hp damage (including 4 nonlethal) Eric Lightner - 19 hp damage (including 3 nonlethal) Sahid Khan - 7 hp damage Brad "Tex" Laskin - 1 hp damage Map shows the flooded shower as far as you have explored it.

[Duniagdra]

“We do have them healing vials with us, right? I'd like to have one please.”

[tdsprouse]

“Damn Eric, that was a helluva chunk he took out of you. you got 'im though, nearly took his head clean off.”


“So, uh, you sure you wanna go back in there? Maybe i should take your spot?”

OUT-OF-CHARACTER:    do we have any clean-ish, empty buckets or water skins? we could use one to hold some air. might give an extra minute or two down there, assuming there are no more critters.

[patransom]

“We do have them healing vials with us, right? I'd like to have one please.”

OUT-OF-CHARACTER:    The bottles of Dr. Peter's Amazing Healthful Elixir were divided up and Marcus has 3 of them on his person, so he's welcome to drink one of his.

[Duniagdra]

“We do have them healing vials with us, right? I'd like to have one please.”

OUT-OF-CHARACTER:    The bottles of Dr. Peter's Amazing Healthful Elixir were divided up and Marcus has 3 of them on his person, so he's welcome to drink one of his.

OUT-OF-CHARACTER:    Ah! That's right.

Marcus retrieves one of the elixirs, remembering that he took three. He pops the stopper and quaffs it's contents.

[patransom]

After a sold belch, Marcus finds he is healed 9 hp. Now down only 3 hp.

[CGM3]

Repressing the sarcastic reply that comes to mind, Eric answers, “Why, yes, I do believe I could use some medical attention, thank you very much,” while trying to stanch the flow of blood from his neck wound.

OUT-OF-CHARACTER:    If Eric's carrying some of those vuials, he'll swig one or two after the doctor has administered first aid.

[patransom]

From the Doc, Eric is healed 2 hp. From one beverage, 6 hp.

At Sahid's request, the doctor also provides him some first aid.

Updated Status:

Marcus - 3 hp damage, 2 elixirs remaining
Eric - 11 hp damage, 3 elixirs remaining
Sahid - 5 hp damage, 4 elixirs remaining
Tex - 1 hp damage, 4 elixirs remaining, has not received treat injured today
Doc - 0 damage, 4 elixirs remaining, has not used treat injury on himself today

[Duniagdra]

“I'm okay right now, but depending on how the healing goes, I'm certainly up for another swim. I didn't see any other creatures where this one was, but I did see some things in a cubbyhole down there I'd like a look at, unless you guys feel we should try and find the drains and clear this water out. I think that might be best, as the water level seems to be consistent throughout.”

[tdsprouse]

“If there are drains, then yeah, we should see if there is something blocking them”

[Duniagdra]

“Agreed, Then once everyone is healthy enough, we should proceed.”

[CGM3]

Eric wil chug another healing elixir.

OUT-OF-CHARACTER:    I believe any sort of healing 'cures' all non-lethal damage.

[patransom]

OUT-OF-CHARACTER:    I believe any sort of healing 'cures' all non-lethal damage.

OUT-OF-CHARACTER:    I can't find that in the MSRD (or anything about healing nonlethal damage), but the d20 SRD says: "You heal nonlethal damage at the rate of 1 hit point per hour per character level. When a spell or a magical power cures hit point damage, it also removes an equal amount of nonlethal damage." So I'll go with that for now. Retroactively revising the damage totals below.

Eric quaffs another elixir for 7 hp of healing.

Revised and updated status (after correcting the nonlethal):
Marcus - uninjured
Eric - 1 hp damage
Sahid - 5 hp damage
Tex - 1 hp damage
Doc - uninjured

[patransom]

OUT-OF-CHARACTER:    I have posted a poll regarding the future of this game. Please go there and vote, but also post here, since whatever we decide about the game, I want to at least finish the current scenario.

Attempts to unclog the drains meet with abject failure. Apparently, there's debris lodged in whatever piping exists underneath the shower. You'd have to call in a team of scuba-diving roto-rooter men, and that seems unnecessary, given that the remainder of the area can be explored without danger by holding your breath. There's another "locker room" to the west and a bathroom to the north. Both are empty of anything interesting. However, in the cubbies of the east "locker room," the swimmers find two very interesting things:

1. A civil war era cavalry sword that appears completely untarnished by being submerged underwater.
2. The missing Red Lantern you were looking for all along!

Now you have all of the lanterns. One wonders if you can figure out what to do with them, given how long its been since you visited the big room where they all belong...

[Duniagdra]

With the lantern and sword, Marcus suggests, “Return to the first chamber and try again to see what happens?”

[tdsprouse]

“That sounds like a plan!”

[CGM3]

“Seems to be the only option left,” Eric opines, “unless we want t' start tunneling through the walls.”