Infested Basement - Novice Level

[Rhyldrin Ken'rae]

If you haven't already please be sure to review the Board Only Adventure Rules that this adventure follows before posting. Please note that this is the first Board Adventure to use the above rules so your cooperation and patience, if needed, are greatly appreciated.

Adventure Information
Name: Infested Basement
Level: Novice (Crystal, Topaz & Amber PCs Only)
DM: J - iyieldtonone
Start Date: 10/19/2015
Total # of Objectives: 7
Description: A large manor north of Navahlia as a pest problem in the form of Giant Spiders that have somehow gained entry into their basement and spun a nest for themselves. Their numbers are surprisingly numerous considering they just moved in, but you know what they say about spiders... Come on... you don't know? Darn, neither do we.

Objective Information
Objective 1: Kill the Four(4) Rank 1 Spiderlings[15DC] to clear the area
Objective 2: Kill the Three(3) Rank 2 Spiderlings[15DC] to clear the area
Objective 3: Kill the Three(3) Rank 1 Spiderlings[15DC] and One(1) Rank 2 Spider Guard[15DC] to clear the area
Objective 4: Kill the Two(2) Rank 2 Spider Guards[15DC] and One(1) Rank 3 Spider Patriarch[20DC] to clear the area
Objective 5: Destroy the Five(5) Rank 1 Spider Eggs[15DC] to clear the area
Objective 6: Kill the Three(3) Rank 2 Spider Guards[15DC] to clear the area
Objective 7: Kill the Two(2) Rank 3 Spider Sentries[15DC] and One(1) Rank 4 Spider Queen[25DC] to clear the area

All Objectives must be completed in order for the Adventure to be considered successful. While the order in which the Objectives are completed isn't set, please be considerate of the fact you won't be able to get to one area before clearing the one before it, no skipping.

[Rhyldrin Ken'rae]

Setting from DM

While the basement belong to a well off manor of an even more well off noble no extraordinary pains had been taken to make it any more than what it was; a basement. As such, even before the spiders moved in, it was damp and musty, with barrels of aging wine and other brews from around the country, crates of long forgotten heirlooms and the occasional rats nest that had since be cleaned of the vermin within by the new tenants. While not wastefully high the ceiling still offered clearance to most who had entered or would dare to enter now. Thus far hunger hasn't drive the spiders out as they have other tunnels that lead to food sources in the darkness of the earth, though they will aggressively attack any who disturb their webs. Speaking of the lovely silky strands of stickiness, there seems to be more webbing then basement these days as blankets of the stuff cover the walls, hang from the ceiling, and pad the stone floor beneath. Even with a torch or lantern one can only see so far ahead of you as the drapes of web block the spread of the light and hence one's vision. Thankfully, while the cold season is setting in, and even with the presence of so many monsters and their webs, the temperature in the basement is moderate at worse.

When the spiders moved in and made it clear they had no intentions of leaving the owner and his family quickly moved out to a more tropical locale with hopefully less insects to deal with until the infestation was exterminated. As such the house is currently empty save for the spiders, some bats that have moved into the attic now that it is nice a quiet during the day, and of course the adventurers that come to work their skills against the eight legged foes in the basement!

[Madith Blessedshot]

Now that most of his armaments had been ordered, delivered, and adjusted the dwarf known as Madith Blessedshot, follower of Helm and an answer to the darkness that plagues the lands, was able to take go forth and fight. It just so happened (the coincidence!) that a post had appeared at the Inne that stated a house north of Navahlia had a problem with giant spiders in the basement. Perhaps not the most evil of creature, giant spiders, they were certainly nasty little critters who didn't belong in the basement of a house! An old joke, something about spiders in the basement, crept about in the back of Madith's mind but didn't come to light for whatever reason. He still chuckled to himself at the thought of a possible funny joke, ah to be a dwarf!

After donning his heavy battle plate armor and securing his twin double barreled pistols to his hips by way of their reinforced holsters the now much heavier dwarf thumped his way outside to where his Dwarven Warhorse, which was currently decked out in its celestial barding and wings as a celestial steed, stood waiting by the mounting steps which were next to the stables. After situating himself and checking over not only his gear but his mount's as well he pulled on the reins, clicked his tongue against the back of his teeth a few times, and then settled into the smooth gate that his horse took as they moved away from the structures. Letting the reins hook on the pommel of his saddle Madith lifted a piece of parchment he had procured that showed information on the mission, such as a roughly drawn map and additional information on the problem. Comparing everything to the map of Navahla that fluttered about in his other hand he was able to get his bearings with a strong sense of confidence. Tucking the papers into a pouch hanging by his thigh he would click his tongue four times before giving the reins a special type of flick that signaled for his mouth to take to the air.

The speed wasn't different, between his mount's ground and air travel, but he preferred the gate, or the non-existence of one, of flying in the air when he was in full armor and gear. His war horse had been bread for stamina and ease of riding but no matter how good the horse he still rattled something horrible as the hooves below dug into and churned the earth. Even to a dwarf, at least this one, who loved fighting as a racial occupation, the constant clanking and scrapping of metal could put his teeth on end rather quickly. Clink, clink, clink, clack, clack, clack, hissss... even the thought of it could get his nerves worked up. It only took about an hour or so to make it to the house, seeing as how following the roads or paths wasn't an issue with them being in flight. With a heavy sigh Madith slid down carefully, landing with a clatter that could wake the dead and bring a scowl to his face at the same time. Why the sigh? Well because he couldn't take his mount into combat that would happen in a basement... Well he supposed he could but it would be might difficult. Patting his mount on the rump, signaling that it could wander about, Madith looked around with his serious brown eyes while gauntlet covered fingers stroked his copper beard.

Entering the house and finding the stairs to the basement, per the notes provided, hadn't been hard and soon the soft thudding upon the grass covered land outside turned into hollowed echos as he moved inside and began to walk on the wooden floors. Looking down into the darkness he allowed his Darksight to kick in, revealing the state of the basement at the bottom of the stairs, before he began to make his way down the stairs one at a time. He would set his helmet upon his head and pull the visor down to cover his face near the middle of the stair case before both guns were drawn, one at a time, in time with the following two steps. What little light that could make it to the stairway, from upstairs, reflected off of his golden colored armor and sent rays up against the webs below. Deciding to turn left at the bottom of the stairs he heard the skittering of legs, the hissing of anger, and the scrapping of pincers before he set his gaze on the Spiderings within. With a determined face the dwarf of Helm, Madith Blessedshot, would enter combat.

The double barreled pistols were leveled and aimed at the skittering critters as he slowly marched his way into the room, a spell composed and then released by a few whispered words beneath his helmet, that would add additional divine damage to his already enhanced bullets. In what could be said was a dance he moved with measured steps, firing one pistol a barrel at a time before shifting his direction and firing the other pistol, one barrel at a time, while also reloading the first with a studied flipping and twirl of his wrist that released the spent casings and slid new ones in from his belt. Moving about the room with those near graceful steps, his plate covered body flashing into view with each gunpowder exploding pull of a trigger, he would bash back or kick away any of the spiderlings that managed to get close enough to him while he pumped them full of bullets. The sound of hissing and screeches of agony added to the chorus of gunshots as a symphony of agony rung out in the room. Soon Madith's steps came to a complete stop and he was now across the room facing the doorway he had entered through, the ground now littered with the carcasses of the spiderlings that had, until a few moments before, claimed this part of the basement as their own.

Rank, Bonus & Penalty Details
Amber Gemstone Rank vs (4) Rank 1 Monsters, 8 Intelligence with Focused Shot

+8 (Intelligence), +2 (First Mob with Two Rank Difference), -5 (For Second Mob), -5 (For Third Mob), -5 (For Fourth Mob), +20 (For 1007 Words) = 15

Basic Mob DC = 15


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[Áine Cruach]

Little Miss Steelfang was herself wishing that she had moved to warmer climes as the cold settled in. In light of her crocodilian inclinations, she felt the chill more keenly than other people and so was liable to bundle up in thick woollen garments while others were still swanning about in sleeveless attire. Fortunately, the cold did not cause her to seize up as it might have some other species, though it did make her grumpy and somewhat sluggish. The girl would rather have been stretched out in front of the crackling fire back at Dunsany Castle, but her brother had given her strict instructions to improve her lot in life, and after taunting her hunting skills she had been on the look out for various little challenges here and there. Unfortunately she had discovered that randomly slaughtering creatures of the cute and fuzzy variety was frowned on: especially in one instance where her challenge of the day had turned out to be a local druid's companion. The wolf had survived and was receiving care, with Áine having made a swift retreat lest she call down the wrath of the local commune upon her shoulders. The druids curses had been rather inventive.

How she eventually came across the Manor she had no idea. The girl had been wandering almost at random that day, thick scarf pulled up over her nose and just barely under hostile blue green eyes, gloved hands shoved deep inside the pockets of a heavy coat that obscured her figure. But despite the thick armor like garb she had both heard and felt the sound of gunpowder weapons firing: keen senses taking note of the way vibration moved through the ground that was not attributed to the people in her immediate surroundings, and so she had turned and faced the building from where she thought they came and decided to investigate. Maybe it was edible, and therefore worth her time.

Making her way into the basement had not been difficult (bar squeezing past a horse that had been blocking the path. Honestly, who just let those things blithely wander around?) considering that the building had been left open for any would be exterminators, and so she would soon clap her eyes on the dwarf as he blew the legs and bodies out of the over large spiders that were swarming the place. After a degree of consideration, she termed the dwarf inedible: as he was covered in heavy metal while expertly utilizing those guns, he would be far more effort than the eventual stomach ache was worth, and so he was removed from her menu, with Little Miss Steelfang turning away from his slaughter in order to exit the basement.

That was, until casual movement disturbed a thick strand of webbing and encouraged the attention of the beasts infesting this series of underground rooms.

The spiders whose homes were connected to this strand were vexed by her intrusion, the first of three skittering along the wall that divided the rooms and launching itself at her face with its mandibles separating in a rapid attempt to eat her nose. This was met by a sharp wordless yell, the girl ripping her hands from her pockets and using them to bat the beastie away, which succeeded in only pissing it off further as it bounced from a cask of wine and rolled back into the room it had originated from. A disgusted sound was made as Áine noted the webbing that marred her coat, the noise gradually transitioning into a tremoring roar as the already grumpy gator girl summarily lost her temper.

Moving with the speed of a predator, she followed the spiders exit and rounded the corner, trampling over one of its brethren in her haste to get to the original offender. Swooping down, she scooped up the spider with her hands and proceeded to swing it against the wall, one of its many legs ripping free with the force of the movement and its body bouncing away. It was not out for the count by any means, righting itself while she was busy turning her attention to a third spider, the girl lashing out with her foot and kicking it clean across the basement and nearly losing her boot in the process. The second spider, having recovered from its trampling, had latched itself onto her back and was busy attempting to slice through her thick garments with its fangs. Annoyed, Áine threw herself bodily against the wall, emitting another crocodylinae roar as she felt the impact and realised various gooey bits of arachnid were now smeared across her wonderful coat. Her skin crawling, she hurriedly sought to divest herself of the garment and toss it away as the first spider – minus one leg – decided to avenge its smushed family member and worried at her boots, earning a quick stomp that resulted in another smear of goo that was now stuck to her foot. Well and truly incensed, she succeeded in tearing the coat from her body and whipped it at the final spider: Little Miss Steelfang following suit and dropping her entire weight onto the arachnid with the resulting frog splash sending bits of spider everywhere as the impact shook her frame to its core. Rumbling, she picked herself up and looked around for another opponent .. finding none, she would proceed to tear apart whatever she could find in that basement room: barrels, shelving, loose brickwork, until she had calmed down and regained her senses.

It would be some time. That had been a nice coat.

RANK BONUS PENALTY AND DETAILS
Amber Gemstone Rank vs 3 Rank 2 Monsters, with 12 Strength
+12 (strength), +1 (first mob, 1 rank difference) -5 (second mob), -5 (third mob), +18 (929 words) = 21
Basic Mob DC = 15

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[Madith Blessedshot]

Madith sensed the presence of another but felt no ill intent, instead he felt a kinship as the other was thinking of food. It would definitely be funny to watch the young lass try to open the dwarf's armor like a sardine can, especially while the dwarf fought back! As funny as it would be though he simply moved out of the room after taking a moment to catch his breath and then stopped in his tracks as he heard the bellows of an angry croc lass. It was something to hear to be sure! Once it became apparent that she had moved on to furniture he poked his armor head out from one side of the doorway to peek within before calling out, "by the beard you're a feisty one aren't ye?" Oh it was friendly tone of course, what dwarf didn't like seeing a strong, near beserking lovely such as her? While she was certainly not dwarfkin he couldn't help but wonder, just for a second mind, how much fun she would be in bed! A good tussle was good for the blood they say!

Before he could accept a response however, a lone spiderling from the next area had heard the disturbance and crept forward to investigate. In doing so it had come upon the back of the metal covered dwarf and lunged at it without hesitation, hissing and spewing nasty green slime from its pincers. Madith had time to turn around though he wasn't, at first anyway, able to discharge his weapons right away and instead began to simply beat the hell out of the spider somewhat akin to the lass earlier. Dwarvish curses spewed from beneath the helmet as he heard metal being scratched and with an irritated grunt he was able to throw the spiderling away before his pistols were leveled and all four barrels were triggered at the same time, basically making the thing explode on impact. What was that thought earlier about where he left his horse?


Objective, Rank, Bonus & Penalty Details


Objective 3, 1 of 3 Spiderlings killed
Amber Gemstone Rank vs (1) Rank 1 Monsters, 8 Intelligence with Focused Shot
+8 (Intelligence), +2 (First Mob with Two Rank Difference), +6 (For 335 Words) = 16

Basic Mob DC = 15

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[Áine Cruach]

Eventually, Áine would settle down from her frenzy: standing in the center of that basement room with various debris and spider guts scattered around her. Glancing down at her coat, she may have whimpered a little in her throat before scuffing it with her boot .. she really had liked that coat. But in the very least, all that activity had warmed up her blood and so for the time being she could do without: though she did find herself tugging her scarf up higher, securing it better around her throat. After a time she would realise that she was being watched, that indeed she had even been spoken to, the girl turning around and spying the dwarf she had seen earlier. Tilting her head to one side, an expression of vague confusion flitted across freckled features before she finally deigned to respond.

''….svabol?''

Couldn't understand a lick of common this one.

Still, she watched the dwarf get jumped by a new contender, the girl watching him as he threw it about and beat it senseless, before tossing it away like he was participating in a clay shoot and blowing it to smithereens. Not that she knew what a clay shoot was .. but anyway.

It would seem that his actions on the curious spiderling had drawn the attention of its buddies, and Áine would soon spy two others that had come to call. She found that she did not mind this detail in the least, as although she had decimated the spiderlings that had wrecked her coat (which could technically still be fixed, if you were willing to deal with the goo), she still had some rage to burn off, and there was something about those arachnids that really made her want to smash them.

And so she would do just that.

Moving past the dwarf, she released a low rumble in her throat and flexed her arms, the skin distorting as a series of silver scales erupted from beneath the surface all across the limbs, bones cracking and twisting as they adopted a more reptilian shape. Claws burst from the tips of strengthened fingers that were then sent into the nearest spiderling body, Little Miss Steelfang skewering the arachnid as it skittered along the wall towards them and then using it to beat a second contender bloody. Or .. gooey. Whatever it was they had in their wretched shapes. Either way, her arm rose and fell until the makeshift weapon fell from her claws, and she stomped on both it and its friend for good measure, smearing it across the basement. She was beginning to enjoy herself .. though somewhere in the back of her head she certainly hoped that she would not be required to clean up this mess afterwards!


RANK BONUS PENALTY AND DETAILS
Objective 3: Amber Gemstone Rank vs 2 Rank 1 Monsters, with 12 Strength
+12 (strength), +2 (first mob, 2 rank difference) -5 (second mob), +9 (459 words) = 18
Basic Mob DC = 15

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[Rhyldrin Ken'rae]

Responses from DM

Objective One
Damn the two-leggers! Damn them! Momma told us they were evil! She told us they would harm us! She was right! Momma is always right! Kill! Kill! Kill! Such were the thoughts of the spiderlings found in the first Objective area right as Madith began to fill them with holes and send their legs flying off into the web filled darkness. They hissed and screeched in pain, their bulbous and quick bodies gradually becoming slower and slower until they were nothing more than piles of twitching insect bits. The crunching of legs and pincers under the armored feet of the dwarf filled the immediate area as he moved about after the battle, just as the smell of burnt gunpowder hung with the accompanying smoke collecting near the ceiling above.

Objective Two
Where the battle in the first Objective had been precise and calculated the fallout in Objective two was nothing more than a carnage filled mauling. Instead of heated balls of death slicing through bodies blunt blows of pure strength sent impacting ripples. Instead of guns, as weapons, the walls were used to batter and pummel the arachnids as the she-croc expelled her anger on those within. It would seem that the feral combat of the female lent itself to her understanding of words, her primal nature sufficient up to this point in her life. That is one croc no one will be making a purse or shoes from! 

[Áine Cruach]

It would be just as well that no one intended to rip the silver scales from her body and turn them into some lady's decorative item .. should her brother ever find out, it could be the end of Arith as we know it! Don't want the world to end? Don't get in Aine's way. Simple.

It would seem that she had phased out for a spell as she stared at the smushed spider carcasses by her feet, as she had no recollection of the passage of time until a third spiderling decided that eating her was the correct thing to do. It would soon discover that perhaps showing Little Miss Steelfang some deference would have been the way to go, for as soon as she felt the sting against pliant skin she was swinging the opposing clawed hand around to swipe at the beast, scaled fingers closing around its fuzzy body and squeezing with all of her might. Muscles bunched with the display, and the girl was momentarily sickened as her rather short sighted decision was rewarded with a mashed up insect spurting all manner of liquids through her fingers. Normally, she had a strong stomach .. but in this instance she was allowed to gag once the veil of rage was pulled away and she began hunting in earnest for something to wipe her hand on. Eyes settled on the dwarf and a smile was offered, the girl beginning something of a run towards him with the full intent of perhaps using his beard as a washcloth ..

But a spiderguard, affronted by the casual slaughter of the spiderlings stepped in her way.

And it was mowed down with a well placed boot, not even given the chance to utter its threats in whatever tongue it was that spiders did speak. So tragic.


RANK BONUS PENALTY AND DETAILS
Objective 3: Amber Gemstone Rank vs 1 Rank 1 Spiderling, 1 Rank 2 Spiderguard, with 12 Strength
+12 (strength), +2 (first mob, 2 rank difference) -5 (second mob), +6 (302 words) = 15
Basic Mob DC = 15

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