MightyWok - Breaking the Siege

Campaign Background/Setup
> An evil blood alchemist has been imprisoned in a fortress which is lined with enchanted pearls recovered from a sunken city applied to every surface.
> A burgeoning cult, bent on freeing the alchemist has laid siege to the prison and are winning the conflict slowly over the course of weeks.
> The PC received a letter from a spiritual leader who is desperate to break the siege and implored the PC to assist in any way possible.
> The spiritual leader and the blood alchemist are both heads of warring religious empires.

Campaign Setting
> The setting is a homebrew world called Cromkhar, and the locale is far south of the human capital Dramis in an untamed region.
> Cromkhar is a medieval fantasy world, except elves are insectiod living underground, dwarves are gangly and hairy apelike people living in trees, orcs are the advanced and cultured people while humans are the greedy savages that are mostly just tolerated.
> A cataclysmic event has brought superpowered mutations to some individuals and the wildlife alike.
> Religion is a new concept to the world and it has had a dramatic impact, with the denizens finding the fervor irresistible.

Initial Adventure
There are multiple parallel efforts ongoing by other agents, but the main PC, Kelvern, has the specific task of secretly abducting the crown "prince" of the opposing religious empire and delivering him.

Characters
PC: Kelvern is a gnome sorcerer with eldritch obsessions. He got the letter and knows the religious leader who has asked for his assistance. However, he isn't interested in doing favors. He wants something in return. An eldritch relic: a thin obsidian crown which has the major gift of a psychic scream - it’s called The Infernal Diadem. It was found long ago, recovered and hidden away from the Heron’s Harvest by champions of Aurora’s Peace.
Sidekick: Kelvern doesn't always travel alone, either. He often has his addled warrior woman, Baslina, in tow for the right situations. He has taken her sanity apart and put it back together, leaving her questioning reality.
Patron Religious Leader: Sacha is the leader of the Aurora’s Peace religion, a subjectively good organization dedicated to enlightenment and freedom, at all costs.
Blood Alchemist: Alabis is the leader of the Heron’s Harvest religion, an objectively evil cult bent on converting all civilizations.
Crown Prince: Devalgo is the second-in-command of Heron’s Harvest and has unique knowledge and artifacts from the outer planes.

Adventure Setup
> The Carninum (aka meat kennels) is where Delvago is rumored to be. Delvago loves his stable of beasts and obsesses about keeping them well fed. The problem is that he feeds them peasants. The beasts are interdimensional wart-covered slugs with spotted patterns and they are referred to, collectively, as the bloodscourge. They are central to the Heron’s Harvest religion.
> The Carninum is a squat facility on an island far out into a mucky swamp; the only approach is a raised wooden road. It’s protected by a special barrier that the locals call "black fire". Unlike regular fire, this barrier can only be passed with a token or item made from the magic. At the foot of the entrance is a enormous skeleton guardian. It is aptly named "black bones". Along with the black fire wall they protect the only entrance to the facility. To bypass the wall, Kelvern needs to defeat the black bones and take one of its appendages to pass the black fire barrier.
> Kelvern and Baslina approach close enough to the Carninum that they can see the road which leads into the swamp, but the Carninum itself is only just visible above the bog trees. At the head of the road are two guards which need to be dealt with. They get within 50 feet and the guards look at them suspiciously.

Combat
Encounters are resolved in a single round of rolling, so action is abstracted and combat slogs are avoided.> Characters engage in one of three styles: Reckless, Tactical, Reserved. They declare their intentions and attack normally (or enemies save normally), but with two roll attempts . Encounter level will dictate bonuses or penalties to rolls. Getting at least one success per party member is good, and less is bad. Getting two successes per member is amazing.
> A good result means the nominal outcome is achieved, but Reckless and Tactical characters get injured. An amazing result produces best possible outcome, but Reckless characters still get injured. And a bad result has a non-optimal outcome, and everyone gets injured.

Entrance/Guardian
> Kelvern casts Daze on one guard while Baslina charges the other. Kelvern also shoots the other with a longbow and Baslina successfully hacks him down with two strokes of her bastard sword. The first guard was damaged and stunned briefly by Daze but managed to partially act.
> The injured guard attempts to run and blow his whistle, giving Baslina an opportunity to attack. She chops him down before he can do anything.
> Continuing quickly along the road, they stay alert for any sign of Black Bones. They had tried getting more information about the monster from the locals, but all the descriptions were contradictory and sounded made-up anyway. The only consistency was a massive skeleton of black bones.

Do they encounter anything of interest before Black Bones?

(50/50 | 1[d10]) No, and...

Entrance/Guardian (cont)
Kelvern and Baslina are fortunate enough that they don’t encounter anything else before Black Bones, and when they do spot him, he hasn’t noticed them yet, so they have a slight advantage and they get within 25 feet safely ( stealth (17 = 9[d20]+8) ). > Kelvern attempts to cast Sleep at DC 20. The skeletal giant tries to resist the spell with a Will save: (12 = 7[d20]+5) and fails. Normally it would fall unconscious, but it is immune. Kelvern curses his stupidity. Does it become aware of nearby enemies? (Somewhat Unlikely | 8[d10]) Yes
> Black Bones spins and spots the two characters and roars in fury, shaking its head to clear what little drowsiness remained.
> Kelvern Recklessly moves in and attacks repeatedly with his Gnome Flickmace (+6), while Baslina flanks the monster and Tactically attacks with the bastard sword (+12). Kelvern: (12 = 6[d20]+6), (13 = 7[d20]+6) for 1 success. Baslina: (21 = 9[d20]+12), (25 = 13[d20]+12) for 3 successes (due to the crit). This is an amazing outcome -- Kelvern does 8 damage, chipping shards of bone from the giants femur which bury in his flesh, dealing 6 damage to him. Baslina does 24 damage, shattering ribs and a skeletal arm. However this isn’t enough to take Black Bones down.
> Black Bones staggers back and makes a Broad Swipe with its glaive against both of them, hampered slightly by its missing arm: (19 = 11[d20]+8), (14 = 6[d20]+8). The glaive catches Kelvern and blasts him back forcefully and dealing 8 = 3[d8]+5 damage. Baslina’s quick reflexes and scale mail saves her.
> Baselina finishes Black Bones off and grabs a finger bone to use against the black fire barrier. She helps Kelvern up who struggles a bit. They can now hear shouts from inside the kennels as their fight was certainly noticed. They charge forward to the opening with the black bone held before them as they strike the magical barrier.

Scene 2 (Puzzle or Roleplaying Challenge)
> Kelvern and Baslina wince as they pass through the ethereal wall of black fire unscatched and enter the first expansive chamber. The opening seals shut behind them, with only one way out, a doorway almost 30 feet up the opposite wall.
> The other features in the room are a collection of pouches and charms as though a merchant haggled here. The walls are covered with leathery leaves of an unidentifiable plant.
> In the middle of the chamber is a massive bas-relief statue of a creature which animates and tells the characters he will be the judge to determine if they are worthy to advance."I am not alive, but I grow; I don’t have lungs, but I need air; I don’t have a mouth, but water kills me. What am I?"

> Kelvern and Baslina go through their inventory and consider possibilities of getting around the riddle. Between the two of them, they can’t find anything useful or relevant. Kelvern attempts to study the statue and draw on his Lore: Art +7 (16 = 9[d20]+7) successfully identifying some traits which clues him into knowing the riddle is not remotely optional.
> They put their heads together and discuss the riddle, debating possible answers. Rolling two Int checks and taking the highest: (16 = 15[d20]+1, 9 = 8[d20]+1) they come up with the correct answer of "fire".
> The statues dissipates into a black whirling cloud of illusory flame which encircles them and lifts them up to the otherwise inaccessible doorway.

Trick or Setback
> Kelvern and Baslina arrive at the doorway of a strange chamber, full of dusty tomes and small curious. They glimpse their target, Devalgo, who looks momentarily panicked. He shouts a few unintelligible syllables, reading from the open book in his hand.
> The heroes attempt to interrupt him with spells and thrown weapons. Are they successful? (Unlikely | 2[d10]) No
> He’s too quick and thunderous boom shakes the building and everything in the room is swept up in a whirling tempest, things flying at high speeds around and around. Delvago charges away from the heroes into a tunnel.
> Massive chunks of stone ceiling collapse into the room, burying parts of it. Runed stones drop into place, sealing the tunnel into which Devalgo fled.
> The chaos subsides and Kelvern makes a Arcana roll (23 = 16[d20]+7) to successfully connect the runes on the impeding stones to the open book from which Devalgo read. They deduce that they can open the passage again if they can find that book and reverse the spell.
> They use their arcana, athletics and occultism skills to attempt to locate the necessary tome. (11 = 4[d20]+7), (21 = 14[d20]+7), (13 = 6[d20]+7) They are only partially successfully.
> Instead, as they dig through the rubble, they uncover a tiny whirling cloud of black fame containing what appear to be chicken bones. Except the cloud and the bones are growing exponentially. Within seconds, the black fire whirlwind is over ten feet tall and the bones assemble into what they recognize as Black Bones.
> Baslina Recklessly uses her Brutish Shove, attempting to give Kelvern room to cast his spells without interruption. She follows up with several melee attacks and even discharges her Ray of Frost special ability.
> Kelvern Reservedly attempts to use Telekinetic Projectile, Grim Tendrils and Electric Arc spells to bring the monster down.
> Their rolls are: Baslina (29 = 17[d20]+12),(22 = 10[d20]+12) and Kelvern (23 = 18[d20]+5),(11 = 6[d20]+5) which is three successes, leading to a good result.
> The fight rages back and forth, with Kelvern escaping any meaningful harm, but Baslina does get struck by Black Bones’ glaive, taking (9 = 4[d8]+5) and (6 = 1[d8]+5) damage.
> The heroes don’t kill Black Bones outright, but they do force back through the doorway they came and he falls down into the chamber far below.
> Continuing their search, they do find the tome they need and Kelvern manages to cobble together a spell to open the seal on Devalgo’s escape tunnel. Continuing down the tunnel, they begin seeing more clear signs of why the place is called Carninum or the meat kennels…

Room Four: Climax, Big Battle, or Conflict
> Heading down the dark corridor leads to a large room with a massive pit, fracturing the room in half. There are three small wooden bridges covering the pit. In that pit is a massive fire made of black and white flames. A mirror image of the bas-relief in the puzzle room appears on the other end of the room.
> The heroes inspect their half of the room for anything out of the ordinary. Is there anything out of the ordinary to be found? (50/50 | 10[d10]) Yes, and… (Gemstone - Deliberately / Military)
> Perception (18 = 10[d20]+8), (20 = 12[d20]+8). They find a series of blood-red gems embedded in the walls. As they inspect, the gems begin to glow brighter and then discharge beams of light, shooting at the intruders.
> Kelvern attempts to dodge (8 = 1[d20]+7) and fails ((9 = 9[d20]) Minor Injury: Largely superficial; painful and distracting, but not life threatening); Baslina attempts to dodge (30 = 20[d20]+10) and succeeds.
> Kelvern is covered with numerous burns and blisters. He screams in agony and begins smashing the gems. Baslina follows his lead and the red glow fades.
> Seeing nothing else on this side of the room, they approach the bridges. The statues rumbles to live. It challenges them to a duel, and if they manage to send it into the fire, they are deemed worthy to continue.
> The heroes look for any obvious exit that isn’t the way back they came. (Very Unlikely | 1[d10]) No, and… (Attract / Failure)

Room Four (cont.)
> The statue begins lumbering toward the central bridge; the pit of fire begins to magnetically draw the heroes toward it. It feels almost like gravity has shifted slightly and any in direction that would bring something closer to the fire, a force pulls gently but can be resisted with effort.
> Each character needs to make a Reflex save, or have a penalty to all physical rolls. Kelvern (22 = 15[d20]+7); Baslina (18 = 8[d20]+10)
> Both heroes are using a Tactical approach to the fight, avoiding the fire pit while maximizing damage to the statue. Kelvern uses a combination of Telekinetic Projectile, Shield and his flickmace, while Baslina uses lunges and shoves to force the statue into the fire pit. The general difficulty is 21, due to the AC, Hardness, Athletics and Strength scores.
> Kelvern rolls (23 = 15[d20]+8), (13 = 5[d20]+8) and Baslina rolls (14 = 2[d20]+12), (32 = 20[d20]+12) for a "good" outcome, but with a cost.
> The statues leaps about the chamber, landing nearly on them before slamming them with its fists. (7 = 1[d8]+6), (10 = 4[d8]+6) damage to Kelvern and Baslina respectively.
> Between the Telekinetic Projectile and the Brutish Shove, they manage to push it over the edge. A tunnel reveals itself on the far side, where in a small alcove hides Delvago.

Room Five: Reward, Revelation, Plot Twist
> Does the target come quietly? (Likely | 10[d10]) Yes, and… he even escorts them out of the kennels, waving off the statues and black bones they encounter.
> The heroes bring Delvago back to their contact and turn him over as a hostage, hoping it helps in breaking the siege. Does it work? (50/50 | 9[d10]) Yes
> The end of the siege is negotiated and the enemy forces are disbanded before Delvago is returned unharmed.
> Are the heroes rewarded as promised? (Somewhat Likely | 4[d10]) No, but… they are given new titles and granted access to previously restricted ruins for exploration and looting, if they survive.