GMsui |
Gameplay thread has started. As a fair warning, I'm new to PFS GMing, so please bear with me, particularly with the accounting we'll need to do at scenario's end. Further fair warning: Boxed text inbound!
Dreng’s pinched face is hard to see from behind the stack of books that divide the front of his office from the space behind his desk. A shockingly old man with white hair and slightly milky eyes, he is surprised by the appearance of outsiders in his office, and looks up, half startled and half relieved.
“Thank you for coming on such short notice. I’d been meaning to give this assignment to you at a later date, and with less pressing time constraints, but it seems that time has conspired against us.” Dreng mumbles to himself as he passes out a stack of notes and maps from behind the wall of books.
“These notes are from a recent Chronicle—it contains some interesting finds, but one of them is now the utmost priority to the Society.”
Dreng lightly taps a bony finger on a map, on which can be seen a section of Absalom with a small corner townhouse circled in deep red.
“This townhouse is a façade for an underground vault. The vault belonged to an old noble family of Absalom that was expelled a decade ago—the Decklands. The family was forced out when their patriarch—a man known as Orias—was discovered to have written documents detailing the city’s defenses, documents he intended to hand over to hostile forces loyal to Cheliax. The Chronicle indicates that a copy of these documents exist within the vault.
“A Pathfinder looking into the Decklands and their Chronicle references in Cheliax was attacked and killed ten days ago. The thugs made off with a copy of his notes— fortunately, he’d already sent us another. We have reason to believe it was the work of the Decklands’ oldest child, a young woman named Celeena, and she’s the reason this assignment is now urgent. The fact that Celeena and her forces were willing to kill a Pathfinder for this information shows how desperate they are to retrieve the documents. If she were able to get these documents and return them to Cheliax, it would undermine the defenses of the whole city, as well as cause the Society undue headaches. Find Celeena, find the documents in her vault, and prevent this situation from turning into one big mess for the Society.”
Rathor |
Rathor crosses his arms and frowns. "So you want us to break into this house? Won't the local authorities take us for common thieves, or is the place abandoned?" Looking around at the rest of the assembled Pathfinders, he raises his bushy, half-orc eyebrows and continues, "My people do not usually have pleasant experiences being mistaken for criminals in predominately human settlements."
Hangust |
Hangust blankly stares at the notes he's been given, tracing a finger along the squiggly lines as he listens to Dreng. He should probably get around to learning how to read someday.
The Decklands were traitors, and now they're killing people. We can probably explain we're doing an investigation so you don't end up in chains.
He shrugs at Rathor Or we just make sure we don't get caught.
Flyn the purpose of Dotting is so that you get updated when new posts are made. This happened when you post anything, but people usually "Dot" when they don't have time for a full post but want to stay updated.
The "Dot" refers to the dot that shows up next to a post you've already read.
Flyn Rider |
Thank you so much for the explanation, I see what you are talking about
Flyn looks idly upon the notes that this man handed him. He stands around disinterested with his surroundings and wishing that the adventure would just start.
E'li |
The young warpriest looks at the notes that were handed around. He keeps his counsel to himself.
Flyn Rider |
Flyn looks around cautiously appraising those around him. He has no idea what to make of the half-orc and has had very few relations with his kind. Hanghust is one he knows he had to look out for, noting how familiar he is with the blades he holds. Being of small stature he knows that power can be found in small packages. E'li does not intimidate him but not does he seem him as a weakling, more like someone to watch out for.
Rathor |
Nodding at Hangust, Rathor suggests, "I suppose we should get introductions out of the way. I am Rathor, cleric of Erastil. Serve the society with honor and I will keep you alive. Behave inappropriately and you are on your own."
He looks back across the desk at Dreng and adds, "If these Decklands are a threat to the community, I will see them punished."
Flyn Rider |
Straightening himself to look taller, Flyn say's, "Names Flyn I'm a swordsman first and foremost, and would love to stay alive, the honor part is not my strong suit but i can adapt as i see fit" As he says this, he thinks to himself I have been on my own my whole life I don't need your help.
Am i being to confrontational
Hangust |
Hangust chuckles at the Half-Orcs introduction. I'll keep that in mind! Name's Hangust.
He nods at each of the adventurers before climbing onto Drengs desk to get a better view of the map. He crouches next to the spot with the underground vault and rubs his chin.
Any description of the assassin's that got our fellow Pathfinder, or info on Celeenas last known location?
Rathor |
"Good," Rathor replies to Flyn. Approaching the table to stand eye-to-eye with Hangust, he postulates, "I suspect if we make a move on her family's vault, aiming to recover what her family has stolen, she will find us."
GMsui |
"It's not so much that she will check out the disturbance. By our best guess, she's already there. So, to borrow your metaphor, she's the fly and you a bunch of - oh, nevermind!" The old man seems a bit flustered by the barrage of questions. He continues, addressing your questions half-absently as he puts a frantic pen to parchment.
"Regarding the authorities, I figure you lot will do what young Pathfinders are wont to do - forget that wanton killing and destruction of property are addressed by laws with pointed language on the topic, waltz through a series of enclosed spaces with the grace of a bull in an antiques shop, and somehow still manage to get the job done, earning a profit in coin and renown both for yourselves and the Society." He pauses and looks off into the distance a moment, a little misty-eyed. "Ah, youth."
He returns to his scrawling and rambling. "At any rate, if we thought the authorities could mount a timely response to anything going on in the townhouse, we might have asked for their assistance, too, instead of taking on the burden of attending to the city's security ourselves."
He turns to the halfling. "We've no description of Celeena since her family was exiled many years ago, but we know she's contracted with a group of mercenaries styling themselves as the Devil's Claw. The band is largely drawn from cast-off Hellknight prospects. We've no further reports regarding uniforms, organization, or fighting effectiveness. I look forward to your reporting on these topics if you survive."
Adriana Korinne |
Seeing everyone getting into introductions, Adriana steps lightly forward. "My name is Adriana, Oracle of light. I don't make judgements on others, so if anyone feels a little dishonorable, I'll be happy to help~"
Flyn Rider |
Nodding at Adriana's greeting, "Surrounded by spell casters, but it seems my weak magics will be our only arcane assistance"
Hey GM is there any wizards or arcane spell casters that i could get some spells from, i have some gold left that I was aiming to use on spell copying.
E'li |
My name is E'li, shepherd servant of Rowdrosh. Pleased to make your acquaintance. states the young man who is kinda of ruddy.
Puk Laughington |
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A little gnome comes barrging into the room, he pauses to catch his breath, his face red from the run. "Sorry everyone. I'm late. I hate when that happens. They say the early bird gets the worm but the second worm doesn't get eaten. I guess thats me." He says with a chuckle. "Names Puk, Bard extraordinaire! Oh and theres a good joke about an elephant and a hippo remind me to tell you later. Anyway what did i miss?"
The gnome is dressed in a motley collection of bright clothes, all very clean but an odd assortment. A lot of it is patchwork and he has a bandolier around his chest but instead of ammunition its been modified and now holds bananas. One of which the gnome flourishes into his hand and begins to eat as he catches up on what he missed.
Flyn Rider |
Flyn spins about quickly to survey the newcomer, not seeing him as a threat he quickly informs him "The short story is, some woman named Celeena has taken it upon herself to kill a fellow society member, and is attempting to undermine the security of Absalom by selling info on their defense to Cheliax. We need to get these documents out of a vault in a Townhouse that can be found in a corner of Absalom. She is likely there already doing who knows what." You bet I'll remind you I love a good joke and that one sounds particularly interesting, Names Flyn by the way, glad to have you on this quest.I think that is a good enough description
Hangust |
Hangust hops from the desk and heads towards the exit when Puk makes his entrance.
Finally, someone of respectable stature around here! He throws an arm around the gnome and smiles as Flyn describes their mission.
If you have any questions, how about we fill you in along the way? Ever heard of the Devil's Claw?
He waves a farewell to Dreng and tries to steer Puk back the way he came.
Flyn Rider |
I wanted to get this out of the way before we began combat. Sui I am perfectly ok if you want to roll dice for me if I'm holding back the game. Feel free to make decisions for me if I am away and keeping the party from progressing
GMsui |
We're full at six now, so no more players. I am NEVER going to make decisions for you beyond your character delaying or just tagging along. If you want people to take actions in your absence, and I mean multi-day absences, then delegate to a willing party member. Also, Flyn/Alaric, there's no separation between GM and sui because it's a play on my standard moniker of Jamesui. If you sound out GMsui like jee-em-swee, it sounds not so different from how Jamesui is supposed to be pronounced.
The party sets forth to the location Venture-Captain Drandle Dreng had pointed out in Absalom's Eastgate district. At Flyn's request, they took a winding route to pass through a commercial district first. (If you're going to make purchases, please note them in your next post)
They arrive at the townhouse as the sun starts setting. Sitting on the corner of a quiet street, the red brick Deckland townhouse melds in with the middle class buildings in this portion of Absalom. A small, flickering candle can be seen through a barred window on the building’s west side and a single door can be seen on the building’s south face.
Flyn Rider |
Flyn keeps his eye's in front of him, always watching for potential threats while taking quick glances at the wares being sold."Hey I wish to stop and make some purchases, It will only be a second."
I bought a weapon cord, a bandolier for storage, and if weapon blanches are allowed, then One for cold iron, silver, and ghost. They are in Ultimate Equipment. If they are not allowed than that would stop my spending.
Flyn Rider |
"Ah, so this is the town house where the vault is hidden. So, how would you folks like to approach this, I personally don't think barging in would be the wisest course of action, but for now I will do as the party wishes."
Hangust |
I'm going to see if I can try and find who is using that candle in that room
He cautiously approaches the west side of the house and attempts to climb up and see through the window without being detected.
stealth: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17
climb: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26
I'm assuming the windows is too high for a halfling to just peak into, if I don't need the climb check we can just ignore it.
Rathor |
"This house should be abandoned, right?" Rathor says as he approaches the door. "After all, the Deckland family was expelled from Absalom, so anyone still here, whether squatter or relative, is here illegally."
Leaning in and putting his ear to the door, Rathor tries to listen for movement or voices inside.
Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (2) + 9 = 11
Puk Laughington |
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Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7
"Great guy that halfling. Sneaky too. I wonder where he gets the forsight for that.. Barbarians arent know for there smarts." Puk says with a chuckle, maybe a little too loudly.
Rathor |
Grinning at the bard, Rathor says, "I'm glad you like him so much, Puk. I hope your tongue is silver enough to do the talking if he goes berserk and starts smashing everything." Meeting the gazes of everyone else, he goes on to explain, "At least that's how the barbarians behave where I'm from."
Puk Laughington |
Puk nods gravely, "It wouldnt be the first time I've had to cover for someone. But if he starts smashing things I just hope he breaks things that are ok to break. Otherwise we'll be broke! So shall we go in?"
Flyn Rider |
Flyn's bored expression changes instantly at the mention of action."I think it is time to enter, these documents will not find themselves"Flyn strides towards the door and attempts to open it.
Hangust |
Forgot my perception check so I can actually find out what I see through the window.
Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7
Rathor |
Shrugging, Rathor follows closely behind Flyn. Whispering so only his nearby companions can hear, he says, "Alright, nice and slow. No need to make a scene someone might see from the street." He pulls his longbow out into his left hand and nocks an arrow.
Flyn Rider |
Seeing Rathor nock his arrow reminds Flyn of his own weapon hanging at his hip. He quickly loops his weapon cord around his rapier and draws it. Is everybody ready he whispers as his hand stretches out to grasp the doorknob.
GMsui |
Hangust, peering through the bars on the window, sees that it opens into a kitchen, but no one is inside. He sees that the candle light he'd spotted earlier is coming from the room opposite a narrow hallway from the kitchen. Suddenly all hear a jingling as Flyn throw opens the front door and a small brass bell falls from a snapped length of twine to the floor.
"Company!" you hear in a booming voice from the far room. "We've got company!"
Flyn Initiative: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17
Puk Initiative: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17
Mercs Initiative: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11
Rathor Initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7
Adriana Initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8
Hangust Initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15
Eli Initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9
Puk, Flyn, and Hangust are up
Hangust |
Before I take my move, am I small enough to slip through the bars?