Siege of Serpents (Inactive)

Game Master DrParty06

Gameplay thread.

Did we finally settle on the levels for the game?

I'm here! Don't start without me! ^-^

Genta holds Renyrd in her arms. She waves to Gaevus and goes back to scritching the fox.

Tier 10-11.

Fetch bounces in, eating an apple. She waves at everyone, pets Renyrd, then starts cartwheeling in circles.

"And me!"
Yitza dances around Fetch's cartwheels.

When posting there, any normal typing is considered in character actions.
Bold typing can be done with This will be bold text. notation for in character speech.
Out of character information, e.g. spell DCs, taking swift action to do X, etc. should use the Text here notation, which will grey the text.
Rolls should be made in the post as well with the notation Attack(or whatever you're doing): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20.
Information that is secret from specific people should use the

A methodical but asymmetrical tump, tump-tump gives away Ksarress' heavy tread. Wearing nice but unexceptional light brown tunic and everyday wear, he might even be overlooked in a Tien market. Well, after he sits down and stops looming the doorway anyway.

Guys! I think the last me was an imposter, so I may or may not have done him in. I fixed these weird floating stats though! Hopefully everything works properly now.

Testing (If all goes well, Max will be Cleric 9 after tonight)
How do you set the avatar image?

I added instructions to the Discussion thread. It's the tab right next to Gameplay at the top of this page, good for general OOC talk and/or banter.

After returning from Numeria, with the final component of the Sky Key, your party is told not to venture too far from Absalom as a celebration is nearing. It is nearly time for the annual Grand Convocation. Pathfinders from all over Golarion will be streaming into the city over the next few days culminating in a grand day of festivities.

When the day arrives, you find yourselves wandering the grounds of the Grand Lodge with hundreds of other Pathfinders as Master of Swords Marcos Farabellus strides up to the large crowd and claps his hands together for attention. “Welcome Pathfinders, one and all! And welcome to our traveling venture captains stationed abroad as well our honored guests! I am Marcos Farabellus, and on behalf of the Decemvirate, I welcome you to the Pathfinder Society’s annual Grand Convocation! I shall address all of the attendees later this afternoon to announce some of the Society’s greatest accomplishments over the past year and our plans for the future. In the meantime, I invite you to stroll about the campus, meet with your peers, and enjoy all the sites of the Grand Lodge. We have set up numerous challenges and contests so that you can show off your skills or sharpen them if need be. I’ll send around ushers when it’s time to assemble for the speeches on the north lawn. Enjoy!” He walks off through the crowd greeting people as he goes.

As he finishes, a small creature made of air flies up to you, lands, and transmutes into a female gnome with fire red hair wearing a neatly cleaned suit of red dragonhide full plate armor. She waves excitedly and briefly looks everyone over before saying, ”Hi there! I’m Elfira. Well, Venture Captain Elfira now, adjunct instructor of druidic fire and transmutation magic at the Academae in Korvosa. Didn’t really want that job, but they gave it to me anyway. Do love to get to talk about fire more, not as much as my friend Dorian, everybody calls him Pyro, he's around here somewhere, just look for the grubby alchemist being chased by an elf carrying around an Osiriani woman trying to clean him with prestidigitation. Oh, and there's my new protégé Palo, he's practically made of fire, claims to be related to a pair of bombastic fire lovin' brothers that hate each other." She finally takes time to breathe after spouting that off continuously and realizes all of you are completely lost, before regaining her composure and says, "I haven’t seen any of you around before, looks like you all know each other though. Welcome to the Grand Convocation! Any of you like fire as much as me?”

"I'm Genta. Nice to meet you, Venture Captain. I doubt any of us loves likes fire as much as you." Renyrd looks at Genta and makes a squalling sound. "Oh, right, thanks," she says to the fox. To Elfira and the party in general, she says, "I did just get this ring, though." She had been carrying Renyrd in her right arm, but instead she holds out her right hand to show off the new ring on her pinky finger. It's red-gold, with a flame motif. Genta bought that Ring of Minor Energy Resistance (fire).

The fox hangs in midair. Genta soon supports him with her left arm instead, but there's no doubt he was levitating for a few moments. Genta had Renyrd's coat groomed for this special occasion, and it shows in the fox's silver sheen. Genta groomed herself as well. She's wearing a fashionable green dress that matches the color of her eyes, and has her wavy red hair down.

Gaevus appears from behind Genta, shaking bread crumbs out of his ears. (Gaevus had clearly accepted Ksarress's challenge.) "Oh, hi! I'm Gaevus. A pleasure to meet such an esteemed Pathfinder!" He bows cheerily. "I don't mind fire much, as long as it's not me who's in it...." He grins sheepishly.

"Anyway, has anyone seen Yitza? I've got this new magic scroll page thingy for her." He gingerly holds up a piece of parchment with two stubby fingers. It's a Page of Spell Knowledge for the spell liberating command. "I'd really prefer not to be grabby-grabbied by any more metal pincer claws after our last adventure...."

To Genta: "Ooh, that is a nice ring. I just got a new one too." She holds out a hand with a Tien-inscribed cherrywood ring on her ring finger. "And what a beautiful fox you've got too. You look like you might enjoy taking part in the Lore Symposium that's going on over in the Quadrangle. I don't know much about what the topics are, but I'm sure you'll have something useful to add. Maybe, you could stop by the Storytelling circle by the front gates too, I had heard about some of the great tales being written by someone named Genta, but I didn't realize that was you."

To Gaevus: "I used to have that problem getting grabbed by nasty things too. Ran into a plant that wouldn't let me go, while we were trying to find a cure for a poor lycanthrope. I got this now to take care of that though." She pulls a wand out a a pouch around her neck. "You look like you might like to try the Obstacle Course over in the Training Grounds or Maybe the Sleuthing contest over in the eastern outbuildings. They have a fake crime scene setup to see who can spot the most important details."

"Are we allowed to go our separate ways at this party, or should we stay together and keep each other company? I don't mind running along ahead, but sometimes I get berated for disappearing on my own...." Gaevus eyes move shiftily.

"I'll definitely head to the Obstacle Course--that sounds like fun! Unless there is climbing or swimming." Gaevus coughs awkwardly. "I could try my hand at the fake crime scene, though I'm not always the best at this sort of thing--it's why I bought these!" Gaevus taps on his Eyes of the Eagle. "I guess I'll go though. D'you think that being good at making crime scenes makes you good at spotting their details?"

Gaevus starts walking off, before remembering that his first questions haven't been answered. As he circles back, he spots the wand again, and asks, "Wait, what's that wand? Maybe we could get one? I seem to be getting grabbed a lot more than everyone else is happy to see." Gaevus thinks for a second, then looks hopeful. "If that's something that can prevent you from being grabbed at all, rather than one of those 'fix it after it's done' sort of spells, maybe I could steal a charge off of it? Or, wait, maybe I can ask you do that for me? I'm not really any good with magic...." Gaevus gives his best sheepish grin--or so he thinks. Diplomacy: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18

"It's the Grand Convocation, you should have fun, meet other Pathfinders, ell them your tales and hear their's. I'm sure you'll be fine with the obstacle course; you look pretty limber. As for the crime scenes, I'm going to assume you mean all the demons you slew while helping the crusaders in the Worldwound."

"Oh, why freedom of movment, of course. It was rather expensive though, and it's almost out of charges, so I'm afraid I can't spare any. Besides, this is a celebration, why would you need that now? It's not like the statue of old Durvin over there is going to come to life and go on a rampage through the crowd to pick you up and grab you."

"Thank you! A pleasure to be here and to make your acquaintance. Yes, we've traveled a fair piece together but with the blessings of Cayden we've seen home and a good fire again. Love a good fire myself: a good place for cameraderie and flowing tankards." He grins and winks. "Not as good at fire-tossing as some, though I've caught some in my travels.

"Why thank you. I don't think there're any drinking contests going on now, those are being saved for later. Perhaps you too would enjoy the sleuthing contest. There's also a weight lifting contest going on, if you fancy something a bit more physical."

Max lifts his mug in a salute "Then I shall save my lifting for a bit later and see what my eyes and wits can discover, m'lady"

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16

Gaevus nods vigorously in response to Elfira. "Yes, those! Demons! Unless they were devils? No, those were the guys at Bitter End.... Sorry, usually Genta keeps track of this sort of stuff!" He trails off as he seems to count on his stubby little fingers, muttering something about "being panache-y."

After a thoughtful pause, Gaevus stomach grumbles, and he comes to, saying, "Well, if we're to explore this party and taste its foods, then I'd better go!" Gaevus suddenly pulls out his scimitar and jokingly shouts, "Freedom of movement!" and runs off into the crowd laughing, with his sword held high.

Gaevus will run off in whatever direction Elfira pointed towards when she referred to the "obstacle course."

"It's the butler!" Genta calls after Max as he walks away. "Haven't you read any murder mysteries? Oh well." She turns back to Elfira. "I like your ring," she says, honestly. "You said there was a storytelling circle? That sounds fun. Maybe I can drive up sales for my latest books. Thanks. Come on, Renyrd." Genta lowers the fox to the ground, and the two of them walk in that direction. Just before they pass out of sight, Renyrd turns back to wink at the venture captain. Then he looks away and trots beside Genta, tail held aloft playfully.

Fetch grins at the celebration around her as she lets her starknife - exquisitely carved with butterflies - dance between her fingers. It's hard not to be caught up in her good cheer. The slight girl's small frame is overshadowed by her companion. 11 feet tall and covered in bright plumage, Ivan is hard to miss. Nominally humanoid, his feet are tipped with single, foot long claws, a heavy shield is strapped to his left arm, and a bird-like head sits upon his long, sinuous neck. As he moves in the sunlight, you can catch the occasional glint of something metallic beneath his feathers. It's hard to make out expressions in the strange features, but you get the impression of ease from his stance.

"A pleasure to meet you, Elfira. And what a lovely party this is! These competitions aren't really my style, I'm just a child, after all!" Fetch winks broadly with this remark. "Storytelling is always a blast though, I'll have to swing by later - and there must be some food around here somewhere..."

"I think I'll join Genta then. You should join us Elfira - can't go wrong with a good story!" And with that, Fetch bounces off after Genta, Ivan's long strides easily keeping pace.

I could not find a great picture, but note that Ksarress looks like he does in our regular thread, wearing a mostly black courtier's outfit.

Hmmm...SSsssooooo many thiingsss...thank you for the introduction Venture Captain Elfira, I believe I will follow Max. Even the mighty fall alone, and bessst keep an eye on at least one sssource of chaossss...and the obssstacle course ssssoundss....tediousss. Mayhapss I will trouble mysself to show these others what sssstrength really meanss afterwardsss. And of courssseee, in writing no one holds a candle to Genta, yet I might have a thing or two to sssaay as far as lore and sstories..

A scruffy looking alchemist wanders by, smelling vaguely of smoke and phosphorus.

Genta and Renyrd slow down momentarily to allow the energetic Fetch to catch up, then resume their pace. "Look at all these people. I don't think I've ever seen so many wayfinders in one place before. It makes a nice change from Numeria, doesn't it?" She stares around at all the Pathfinders, from the scruffy-looking alchemist smelling of smoke to the unkept Andoren officer conversing with a lion. "I don't think that Numeria story's right for a crowd like this, though. Maybe I'll tell the story of when I saved Gaevus from that giant undead hand, and we fought those crab people. What about you? I'm sure you had quite a few adventures before you met us..."

As the others wander away, Yitza is revealed, having been staring off in the direction of a faint tune. "I could swear I've heard that song before... Oh, hrm, what was that Gaevus?" She looks around, realizing the others have left, then addresses Elfira. "Did you say something about fire? I'm rather fond of Blistering Invective, but I don't get to cast it as often as I'd like... Too busy trying to keep that crazy halfling from getting karked. I don't suppose there's a good drum circle for dancing, or a rowdy pub-sing I could find around here?"

Feel free to read what others are doing right now, just spoiler tagging for space.

To Ksarress, (technically before the last post)"If you don't fancy any of those things, there's also some Animal Taming over by the Menagerie and a Trap Mastery contest in the Mausoleum to test your dexterity.

To Yitza, "Oooh, that sounds interesting. I don't know that one. Maybe you'll have to teach me sometime. I don't know if I could be that scary though. It is nice to see more gnomes around. I wasn't sure if any still liked me, other than Charlie, after the accident out in the Verduran forest. I didn't mean to hurt them that badly, I just wanted to stop them from attacking us and I wasn't so good at talking to people back then. Oh right, music. You'd probably like the storytelling too, I'm sure they wouldn't mind a song. Or you could join me over at the animal taming if you like, I think we gnomes have a special advantage at that."

Gaevus bounces up and down impatiently (out of excitement, not out of pride) as he watches Aericus finish. Assuming Gaevus is allowed to go next, he will barrel through recklessly, but still with surprising deftness. He hasn't trained much in Acrobatics--much of it is innate for him--but he still tries his best!

Near the end of the course, he spots the final obstacles: a set of bars to swing across, followed by a net to run through, which he saw the agile Aericus get briefly tangled in. Not being a particular fan of nets himself given his height, Gaevus decides to take the more efficient route for a light little halfling. Using the last bar, he swings back and forth a few times to gain momentum, before throwing himself over and forward, to try to clear the entirety of the net. He adds a 180 degree twist at the end--for a little flair, and to make sure he makes it over the net--and lands on his feet facing the waiting crowd, before holding his arms out with a cheery, "Ta-daaa!" Gaevus will use a panache point to use the Derring-Do deed to add 1d6 to his Acrobatics result.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 11 + 1d6 ⇒ (14) + 11 + (2) = 27

Gaevus looks over to the Pathfinder keeping the time. "How'd I do?" he asks eagerly.

Little do they know, that Ksarress recently purchased Eyes of the Eagle, to better spot the forces of chaos and disorder. Standing amongst the scene, he takes the maximum time allowed by the rules, even searching for magic auras and traces of Chaos just in case, sure that for some reason he is missing something...

Perception: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (2) + 18 = 20

"Oooooh, I don't think I've heard that one, Genta! I do have a few stories from before we met... though I prefer telling other peoples' stories - getting caught up in your own feelings doesn't make for the best story. Why don't you go next, while I think of a good one! It's a pity Bungo isn't around, no one tells stories like he does..."

Encouraged by Fetch, and by Renyrd barking softly at her, Genta steps forward. She decides to tell instead a different tale. "Speaking of business, there was that whole business with the Hao Jin Tapestry my friends and I got involved with. Aram Zey sent us into a vault built by Hao Jin herself to perform a special ritual." Renyrd nudges Genta's ankles, and she makes a gesture. Renyrd seemingly floats up to her arms. Genta holds her fox, and strokes him as she continues the tale. "Anyway, we get inside the shrine all right, but who do we see when we get there? None other than an Aspis Consortium gold agent and her army of bugbears! And these were trained bugbears - four rows of eight, all half-mad from their confinement in the vault and eager to get some serious disemboweling done. They got their wish. One little confusion spell from me had the entire troop tearing each other apart, spilling blood and guts all over the place. The gold agent, though. She just strode through the chaos like it was nothing. One of my friends charged at her, but she just cast a spell and he fell over in a helpless fit of laughter. Another one of my friends tried to sneak up on her, but the gold agent saw him too. Another laughter spell and he was down. So half my allies were rolling on the floor, laughing, while the bugbear army consumes itself in an orgy of violence. My other friends go at her together, slowly. Minds focused, blades drawn. I empowered them with a bit of my own magic. So Ms. Aspis turned her attention on me, hoping to take me out of the picture so his remaining bugbears could slice and dice the rest of my party. I started to back up, but she advanced. I was backed up against the wall, while my friends were curled up, guffawing. Just as she's about to get within range, she stumbles over a bugbear lung. And that gave me the idea I needed. I started to laugh too. The Aspis agent cast her hideous laughter spell at me, but I was already giggling, and so, it had no effect! She tried again, and still, I just kept the protective spell around my friends, standing still, and laughing at her failure to stop me. The Aspis agent tried to cast her spell a third time. But she'd taken her eyes off of my gnomish friend, and got a crossbow bolt through the mouth for her trouble. Down goes the gold agent, to our raucous laughter."

Genta finishes her story, and looks around at the crowd for reactions. Bluff: 1d20 + 27 ⇒ (3) + 27 = 30 The uncharismatic half-elf feels a bit awkward, speaking her tale rather than writing it down, but she does know a thing or two about how to weave a story. "You can read all the details in my book, Good Laughs and Bad Luck: The Adventure of the Tapestry."

Ksarress keeps a cold demeanor but is frustrated and embarrassed to have come in below expectations. In no mood for storytelling now, he proceeds to the weightlifting contest, again checking the rules carefully for loopholes.
After considering his vast scroll library and settling on heroism, and assuming a straight strength check is called for:
After patiently waiting his turn, Ksarress channels his frustration into an unnerving show of force as flame and shadow flicker along his arms while he gives a deep bellow and lifts.
Strength: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (13) + 12 = 25
Stats now reflect heroism for 50 minutes in game

The rules are constructed to allow lifting of weights by whatever means necessary. You do quite admirably at this, lifting one of the highest totals.

You gain a +2 competence bonus on one Strength-based skill check, attack roll, or combat maneuver check attempted during the adventure.

You overhear a short muscular human talking to some of the other competetors, "Me glad Zey not talking later. Marcos better. Knows how to real fight. Not one of those snobby wizards. Zey thought this party waste. You ever been to party that was waste?"

Max gives Ksarress a supportive look before spying Gaevus away over at the obstacle course and nods and his pretty impressive performance. Such flair

can I hit another contest or is it one per customer?

You can participate in more than one.

After he's done high-fiving members of the crowd, Gaevus tilts his head as he walks by and catches Aericus's comments. As he walks (for once!) towards the crime scene event, he tries to think. Does he know who Aericus is talking about? Does he know where Jalmeray is? He scratches his hairless chin--this is why he hangs around Yitza and Genta!
Knowledge (local): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15
Knowledge (geography): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
Is a different Knowledge check preferable? Gaevus has a +4 to everything but arcana, history, and nobility, of which he has none.
Gaevus licks his lips--clearly, Jalmeray is where all those tasty jams come from. He'll have to ask Yitza for her suggestion of which jams are best when he sees her next....

Gaevus wanders his way over to the crime scene. His eyes light up--this looks like what he's seen in his Pathfinder trips! The others are usually better at spotting all those obvious things like books and paperwork that tend to be above halfling-height--Gaevus has seen some blood spatters in his time, though! (Many of which are caused by him.) Adjusting his Eyes of the Eagle, he looks around the crime scene. Hm, what does he see?
Perception: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (3) + 15 = 18
After a pause, he makes a proud declaration--clearly, based on the length of the blood spatter, there was a scimitar involved! Everyone else seems to blink confusedly. Gaevus looks disappointed, and taking off his Eyes of the Eagle, looks up to see a blood spear lodged in a tall table. Surprised, he looks at his Eyes of the Eagle--whoops! Apparently he didn't clean them off after his last adventure....

Genta sticks around to listen to Fetch's tale, then goes looking for the lore symposium. They pass the crime scene challenge on the way. Renyrd lets out a quiet, shrill cry. "Because I don't have enough time to do everything. Anyway, real mysteries are about witnesses, motives, human connections. I was just reading a book about a werewolf detective who doesn't even go to the crime scene himself. He just stays at home and has his assistant bring him the facts." Renyrd makes a high-pitched bark. Genta laughs. "Yes, I'm sure you'd be a great investigator. We don't have time, though. I think that's the lore symposium over there."

Gaevus, does in fact think that Jalmeray is where jam comes from. It sounds like a delicious place, which makes him realize that the accommodations for the Grand Convocation are especially nice this year, the Decemverate and organizing venture-captains seem to have gone all out.

At the crime scene, Gaevus, indeed, couldn't see the spear for the scimitar.

Walking over to the obstacle course, Max applauds the next several contestants. He watches carefully what the various components are, sees how people deal with them and deicdes in the spirit of "What the heck? What would Cayden do?" steps into line to try his luck at it...

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22
my speed atm is 60, so at least I'll do it quickly

@Max: "Oh man! Why didn't I think about using my Boots of Speed? Hrm. You better not out-class me, Max! (Though I'll buy you a free tankard of ale later if you do!)"

If there are tasty jams and breads, Gaevus will take a short break for second breakfast, and will relay any curious information he's heard to anyone else in the part he might run into. If not, he'll mention this Jamlandray to the others later, as well as pointing out the the surprisingly high quality of food for this Pathfinder event. (They usually don't feed people about to go into mortal danger this well!)

While at the buffet table, Gaevus will do some chit-chat, looking for other fun events to try out, hoping to redeem himself for his smudged lenses. Are there any events that involve Perform (dance), Intimidate, or any other Dex-based skills?

I doubt it matters for the obstacle course, but in hindsight, I should also mention that I have a 30 foot base move speed as a Fleet of Foot halfling.