GM Tarondor's Kingmaker Campaign

Game Master Tarondor

What is required to break the vines binding Piotr? Would some number of attack actions do it? Ahran is trying to make a determination, to figure out whether to free Piotr or grapple the lady.

Let's start with everyone's conditions and proposed actions, then work through them.

I know the entangled condition allows you to move at half speed, but the entangle spell does not, and specific trumps general. Everyone in the entangle (Aristu, Alister, Ahran) are rooted to the spot unless they break free. Characters "can attempt to break free as a move action, making a Strength or Escape Artist check." The DC is 15.

Piotr is actually tied up and will require a DC 27 Combat Maneuver Check or Escape Artist to get free. Corb (or anyone else) may assist.

Piotr's rope vines may be cut with a slashing weapon (not piercing or bludgeoning). They have a hardness of 1 and 2 hp, so it'd be pretty easy. But you'd need to cut through all four vines to get him truly free.

Initiative Order
Mikhail (4 damage) - Grapple. Shut eyes if fail.
The Dancing Lady
Alister (entangled) - Break free and attack.
Ahran (entangled) - ?
Piotr (tied up (as pinned, but with a DC 27 difficulty))
Aristu (entangled) - Cast a spell

Alister, I know you had a great attack roll. You can keep it -if- you make the DC 15 roll to break away from the entangle.

______________________________________________________________

So what -can- we resolve at this point?

While Piotr fails to escape from his sexy time bonds and Corb fails to peck the Dancing Lady, Mikhail tries and fails to grab the lithe fey again. He shuts his eyes...

Dancing Lady Will save vs. Hideous Laughter: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13 Nope!

The GM spends his Villain point to re-roll!

Dancing Lady Will save vs. Hideous Laughter: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (7) + 9 = 16 Nope again!

The Dancing Lady begins to laugh hysterically and uncontrollably, unable to answer Aristu's question.

Alister, Ahran, go!

What in the Entangle spell means you need to save to move at all? My understanding of the spell is you stop moving if you ENTER the area and fail your save, not if you are ALREADY in it (in which case you just gain the condition). That's also how the 'quick summary' part of the webpage reads to me:

Area is Difficult Terrain (all squares count as 2 for movement).

Creatures in area make a Reflex save.

Fail = entangled
Success = may move as normal

Any who enter the area make Reflex save immediately.

Fail = entangled and movement ends.
Success = may move normally
Any who remain in the area at end of casters turn must save again.

Can attempt to break free as a move action by making Strength or Escape Artist check vs. DC of the spell.

So that to me reads like we can move at half speed without the STR or Escape Artist check, since we were already in the spell's area? The benefit of making the save is you lose the condition so e.g. can cast spells without a check.

Note that the "quick summary" is someone's opinion, not the text of the rule. Regardless of whether you move into the area or are in it when the spell is cast, if you fail your save you gain the entangled condition -and- must make either a STR or Escape Artist check.

Ok. :) I disagree with that reading of the rules because the only parts that say 'stop moving' follows 'creatures that enter the area' rather than the prior part about what happens to everyone. So my reading is the save is to free from the Entangled condition rather than to move at all. But in either case I think the spell should be reworded to remove the ambiguity and I don't want to slow things down so here is a STR check:

Ahran strains against vines.

STR check: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5 (+4 STR bonus) vs DC 15.

His straining is ineffectual.

Escape Artist (shaken, heroism): 1d20 + 3 - 2 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 3 - 2 + 2 = 9

Alister struggles against the vines. He is unable to pull free, but begins trying to rally his friends. "Come on, pull yourselves free!"

Inspire Competence. +2 to Escape Artist checks

Dancing Lady vs. hideous Laughter, yet again: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18

[Nope. She's down for the count.[/ooc]

Initiative Order
Mikhail (4 damage)
The Dancing Lady (prone)
Alister (entangled)
Ahran (entangled)
Piotr (tied up (as pinned, but with a DC 27 difficulty))
Aristu (entangled)

Anyone, go!

Mikhail draws his blade and tries to smack her with the flat of the blade.

Cutlass Subdual Attack: 1d20 + 10 - 4 ⇒ (6) + 10 - 4 = 12

Subdual Cutlass Damage: 1d8 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9

Lets try and subdue while we can and see from there where we go. Except I am apparently allergic to numbers greater then 7.

Ahran strains against vines.

STR check: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8 vs DC 15.

His straining is, again, ineffectual.

Since its a move action you can in theory try twice a round to break free.

Escape Artist (IC): 1d20 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 3 + 2 = 18

Alister finally slips from the vines, moving around the Dancing Lady. "She's little danger now. We should try to tie her up!"

Spurred on by his brother, Aristu attempts to slip free of the writhing vines.

Escape artist + Inspire Competence: 1d20 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 1 + 2 = 20

Succeeding, he moves to the side of the fey woman. He can't quite bring himself to look at her. "Alister, I need answers here, but if she is actually an emissary of a fey queen, then we need to proceed very carefully. That's not the type of enemy we want. And...and she needs to put something on." He reaches for his pack to get a shirt to cover her nakedness.

Escape artist attempt; Move:SW,S,S

If Ahran can make a second attempt to break from the vines this round, he does so.

STR check: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10 (+4 STR) vs DC15.

Failed again!

Waiting for Piotr.

"Someone get me out of this ... this, whatever it is!," yells Piotr. "Get over here, Corb, and try to get me out!"

Piotr continues trying to squirm out of the vinces.

Escape Artist: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

Corb flaps across the room and lands on the bed. The raven familiar pecks at the vines in an effort to release his master.

Escape Artist (Aid Another)[/dice: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

Mikhail tries unsuccessfully to whack the lascivious fey with the flat of his cutlass, while Aristu hastens to cover her nakedness. Piotr and Ahran struggle with their bonds.

Initiative Order
Mikhail (4 damage)
The Dancing Lady (prone, laughing ('dazed'))
Alister
Ahran (entangled)
Piotr (tied up (as pinned, but with a DC 27 difficulty))
Aristu

Anyone, go!

Alister hacks at the vines to free Piotr. "Piotr, what happened? Who is she? Did she hurt you?"

"Mikhail, try to tie her up!"

"We must subdue her before we can tie her up. Get out a rope or manacles while I grapple her.

[ooc] Put the sword away and grapple her again.

Grapple Check against a prone opponent: 1d20 + 8 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 8 + 4 = 26

Ahran struggles with his bonds.

STR check: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18 (+4 STR vs. DC15)

Breaking free, he moves to Piotr's side.

Maps don't appear to be on the top of the screen for me any more? So have not moved on map. Since it looks like we're not in immediate combat now, Ahran is in any square adjacent to the bed and not adjacent to the naked lady.

"She came while I was on watch and must have ensprcelled me ... I can't explain it. She brought me here and we ... well, you see," the wizard trails off.

"I don't know who or what she is. Can one of you get me untied?," asks the wizard.

Escape Artist: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

The map link is right where it should be, Andrew. Here it is again, for your convenience: MAP OF THE RUINED TOWER

Aristu, go!

Weird, none of the maps links were there for me. They are all back again now. Must have been a browser glitch. I see Ahran's in the right position now!

After quickly shuffling through his pack's contents, Aristu withdraws a shirt. He carefully covers the Dancing Lady's naked form, then breathes an audible sigh of relief.

He closes his eyes for a moment, "The spell is holding for now, but it will wear off in less than half a minute. I have no rope to bind her. Alister, you usually carry some, right?"

Hideous Laughter - 4 rds remaining

If you use the 'preview' option, the normal page order and headers (including the links) won't show. That could be why.

Alister draws out a rope and hands it to his brother. He tries to help Mikhail hold the naked fey down. "Ahran, cut Piotr loose. We'll try to tie her up."

Grapple, aid (flank): 1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 7 + 2 = 24

Mihail, don't forget the flanking bonus.

Okay. She's grappled and then tied up. Piotr's cut loose and retrieves his pants from where they were dropped on the floor.

COMBAT OVER

Hello? Operator!

Is she still laughing or normal?

Depends on how long you wait! But the spell will wear off in seconds and then she's merely tied up and angry.

Piotr hurriedly dons his pants, wanting at least something ... even cloth .. between himself and the fey.

"Maybe she will talk now that she is bound. We should be prepared to silence her, though. I can't remember how she enspelled me ... but we shouldn't take any chances," says Piotr.

Mikhail picks her up and lays her on the bed and wraps a blanket around her leaving her hands and arms exposed so they can watch her. "It looks like the dance was all so if we keep her still we should be fine. Does anyone know what she is?

The GM casts a glance at Aristu.

Now that her otherworldly body is covered, Aristu finds it hard to take his eyes off her face. "In one of his visions, Faisul saw Hargulka talking to Caractacus about sending envoys to speak with the Dancing Lady. I assume this is her. Clearly, she is fey. And for some reason, she has chosen to appear to us with my mother's face."

With his eyes locked on the lady's laughing face, Aristu waits for the spell to wear off.

Alister jerks his head back at his brother. "Wait, what?" He looks closer at the woman. I'm assuming this is true and not just for Aristu

Maybe it was her naked form earlier, but Alister hadn't really looked at the woman's face. Now that he was, he saw it. "Why would a fey take your mother's face? Does she have her captive somewhere?"

The normally gregarious man, seemed to harden with the prospects of their next actions. "Sounds like we need some answers from her. Gag her and blindfold her. Fey can be dangerous with just a word."

Yep, it's Aristu's mother, albeit with upwards-arching eyebrows and faintly pointed ears and looking no older than she had when she left many years ago.

How're you going to get any answers from her if she's gagged?

"I think her powers lie in her movements as her name and tonight strongly attest. I think we should be able to speak to her with out issue. If she could have controlled me with her speech then I doubt she would have bothered clawing me when I was not swayed by the dance."

"I only wanted to gag her until we were ready to speak to her. Many fey can entrance people simply with their voices. But you're right, she could have used such a power before." He smiles at the woman and unties her gag.

He speaks to her. "Now, perhaps we can have a conversation. My name is Alister. What's your name?"

Diplomacy, take 10): 10 + 14 = 24

She smiles. It is a cruel and beautiful expression, full of something old and very different. "You know who I am, Alister. What you want to know is what I am."

Her gaze shifts to Aristu. "Nothing to say, Aristu? I may not be as you remember me, but I bore you within me for nine long Brevic winter months. Will you not greet me?"

"Taunts and lies will do you little good now. What is your purpose in this tower? What do you know of anyone who may have recently passed through?

Behind the others, Piotr leans over to whisper to Ahran, "That is their mother? I mean ... uhhh ... oh, what do they think of me?"

Ahran is listening to the exchange, without saying anything.

He claps a hand on Piotr's shoulder, in what is meant to be a reassuring manner.

Aristu listens to the Lady's words, and feels his heart start to race. He forces himself to run through the calming excersises taught to him when he was a child learning to harness his arcane gifts. After a moment, he gives a proper bow and replies, "Dancing Lady, I greet thee. But I know enough to doubt my senses when dealing with the feyfolk. I grant that you have my mother's face, but she was human where you clearly are not. And though she was considered beautiful, i saw her dance at many a ball, and she did not have the otherworldly, captivating grace that you displayed. So you will understand if i am not so easily convinced by your claim."

Aristu hears the pitch of his voice rising as his calm begins to crumble, so he pauses to run through the exercise one more time before continuing. "If you were my mother, i suspect that my fey heritaage would be reflected much more significantly in my features, and in the features of my elder siblings. But if you aren't my mother, then why do you disguise yourself with her face?"

The Dancing Lady looks at Aristu in a way that is both tender and remote, as though describing something she once read of in a very old book.

"I'd forgotten how tedious the Second World can be. Aristu, listen to me carefully because I won't be repeating myself. I was your mother. I was mostly human. Now I am not. It is all perfectly clear."

She smiles at Piotr with a languid and somewhat predatory grin. "I chose not to hurt your friend here because he is your friend. And because I rather liked his enthusiasm. You might have done us both the courtesy of waiting a few more minutes."

She sighs. "Does everything need to be explained? How boring! My dear, your big friend there has hurt me. Are you going to help me or not?"

Aristu looks over the lady, looking for wounds. "Are you wounded? I honestly didn't think he was able to do more than grab onto you for a few seconds. And my spell shouldn't have done any lasting harm."

Heal: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 19

He checks her wrists to make sure the bonds aren't to tight, and continues, "Of course everything does not need to be explained - who doesn't like a little mystery?", he gives a little half smile, "But there are some explanations that I do need if I am to accept this. Understand that until very recently I thought my mother died ten years ago. So how, or why, did my 'mostly human' mother become a full blooded fey? Does it have something to do with Yulia? With Armagh the Twice Slain? The Fellnight Realm?" Aristu's voice catches and he realizes he is getting a bit frantic. He takes a deep breath before saying, more calmly, "I would like to help you...but I need your help, too."

Diplomacy + Medvyed bonus: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 4 + 2 = 17

"Daria?" Alister looks at the fey warily. Even if she was telling the truth, this was the woman who practically disowned his existence. He looks at Aristu checking her over. Of course, she was also his half-brother's missing mother....

"What happened? Where did you go?"

Diplomacy, take 10: 10 + 14 = 24

My mistake. She's unharmed. Never mind that.

You may have noticed the delay, whereas I was posting in other games. This isn't an eventuality I'd planned for and my version of the Dancing Lady (Kingmaker is a sandbox for the GM as well as the players) is in a position to derail the game. So I spent some time thinking this through.

The beautiful fey with the eerily-familiar visage smiles as Aristu speaks. "Not Yulia. I never found your grandmother, or even any word of her. It is as though she disappeared from the River Kingdoms altogether."

More to come. Gotta go do dinner.

"There are powers in the world beyond those you have dreamed of, child. And worlds beyond those you know. I left Golarion long ago. A decade here, but centuries there. Can you imagine centuries without aging? Well... You think you can. Mortals are like that."

Suddenly she turns those jade-green eyes on Piotr. "By the way, I didn't get your name. I don't normally care, but as it seems like you're one of my son's friends, I ought to know."

"A century in the Fellknight Realm? Why? Were you seeking something, or trapped there? Were you serving someone, or simply wanting immortality? You were turned into fey. But why return now?" Alister tries to gauge the fey's mood, whether she was amused by this questioning, if she felt any ties at all to her son or stepson, or felt fear at her capture.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (14) + 14 = 28

-Posted with Wayfinder

"She is wearing a ring. I suggest someone check it for enhancements that might be on it and potentially remove it. She may also have other magic cast at the moment that it would be wise to be aware of." Mikhail looks around at the others and then coughs and says, "I also...question....the mere probability that this is truly your mother. And even if at one time she was, several centuries can change a creature if the right situations present itself. Caution is most certainly in order. Even if only her dance can entrance us we still run the risk of her simply lying to us by stating what she thinks we want to hear."

Piotr composes his features before speaking. This situation is not among those covered in his long ago (and far too brief) etiquette classes.

"Ma'am. I am Piotr Denisov, orignally from Restov. Lately from Stagfell where I aid in the ruling of the new land alongside ... err ... Aristu."

"How should we address you?