Eando watches Afficus' actions in wide eyed amusement, "You don't need to show off for my benefit, you've already proven yourself where it counts. I'm disappointed that Jayorass couldn't help, but at least you were able to look where Jayorass failed. You also worked together to each of your strengths, where Jayorass believes he was strong in all areas. Strength in numbers, both in battle, and in troubleshooting."
"Although..." he turns to the gnome, "...if you're not sure who the Red Mantis are, perhaps I should be concerned." He lets out a large sigh, "The Red Mantis are a group of assassins, but more importantly, they are followers of Achaekek. They are, in fact, perhaps the most capable killers on Golarion and believe they are given divine right to do what they do. In other words, you have you work cut out for you."
Looking at Kain, "Well Mr...", Eando trails off, "I'm afraid I don't know your names. Introductions are in order."
Intros
He continues, "The Red Mantis are now in the abandoned remains of Allegro College, a cloistered bardic college hidden behind the curtain of a waterfall called Frothripper. It's in the mountains just north of the city walls. I can sketch you a map. One of my people is camped there now. He has been watching the Mantis come and go from a hidden vantage point. We estimate a dozen assassins but cannot be certain"
"So how soon can you go? Now is good, right?"
If you want to RP it out a bit, feel free, but you have the two pieces of info he can tell you.
"Beg your pardon sir. I am Kain Highwind, Captain of the Eagle Knight Dragoons, at your service." with the formal introduction, he bows, and turns to leave.
"My apologies. Gunari Maximoff, priest of the Drunken Hero, at your service. And might I tell you, sir, that I am a fan! Well, we should be off, then. " He pours a drink for everyone in the room, making Denbora's a double. "To a successful excursion! Wait, where are we going?"
Aficus struggles to avoid spraying a mouthful of ale at the mention of the Eagle Knights.
Not only did Zarta send me to adventure with an anarchist--hes an anarchist captain?! He sighs internally.
Composure...dignity..objectivity.....
Afficus draws a business card and hands it to Eando with a flourish.
"Afficus Tynch, Dark Archivist, Priest of Asmodeus, Attorney at law. Forgive the ostentatious display, Eando, my 'heritage' has left me with a predisposition for what many consider diabolism."
"You mentioned a vantage point? I've earnest hopes your agent may be able to provide us with more information."
"Denbora Azzar, cleric of Torag, crafter of clockworks. Nice to meet you. Now, 'Frothripper'? Seriously? What, was it named by a frustrated fourteen year old? What are other waterfalls named on this island? Foamy Curtain? Amber Wells?"
Denbora's head shakes back and forth while his eyes grow large and roll a bit.
"How will we recognize yer agent? This m%+%#~@@@@#& got a name? A description, perhaps?
Kline provides you directions to Frothripper and a description of a half-orc hireling named Hraiken Bloodtrail.
Buy anything you need, cast spells, etc. It's an hour trek to Frothripper
You arrive on scene to see a Half-Orc overlooking an Enormous Waterfall behind a well constructed blind. He clearly knows who you are and waves you over.
From the vantage at least a half a mile away, he points at the churning water. "Ah Pathfinders. Let's make good use of our daylight. That is Frothripper, and as you can see, the path leading to Allegro College passes behind the waterfall. Stories speak of only one entrance into the, and it is along that trail behind the waterfall." You cannot see through the wall of water, although the path's beginning and end are clearly visible. Standing roughly 100 feet below the rough rocks below, you estimate the path to be at least 15 feet across and well worn and used.
He continues, "Unfortunately, as you can see, I've not been able to get behind the falls to look for the entrance. From this position though, I've seen Red Mantis come and go from both ends of the falls. At least I assume they are Red Mantis as they are disguised in plain clothes." He points to the top of the hill where the path can be seen rising over the pile of rocks before descending sharply to run behind the falls. "There's one entrance at each end, but that's the only way in or out as far as I can see. It's a side path from the main road, you can't miss it."
He shrugs, "At least a dozen, maybe more, but they're sneaky buggers, so it's hard to tell one from other."
"Huh, of course they would be dressed in plain clothes, and stuff. Why would they always be dressed in their shiny red armor? And, of course it is the perfect thing to assume that this is them." Gunari rolls his eyes at this idea. "Just like everyone assumes we folks of Sczarni descent are criminals, out to steal your babies and such."
He pours himself a beer, offering one to everyone else. He tries to follow the path to the waterfall with his eyes, making sure that they can make it there without having to resort to climbing... or falling.
Afficus jumps on the judgment train, "The vast majority of my criminal clients are Varisian. I've even considered learning the language to save on interpreter fees."
And by how much they charge, I'd venture a guess that the interpreters are criminals too...
All my purchases are accounted for. I have a +20 UMD, so if anyone has any scrolls they'd like to lend I can probably use them. For now, I have a scroll of fly and a scroll of glitterdust in my wrist sheaths.
Raven will pull out a wand and fiddle with it a bit until it lights up.
UMD:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (11) + 10 = 21 Mage Armor
He puts the wand away and pulls out a small vial, popping it open and quickly snorting the contents into his nose, causing him to twitch and wiggle for a few seconds before his eyes go wide.
"Sowejust... kinda... flowin there? Take 'em out?"
The half-orc speaks passively, "Agreed, you should get away from this, ignorant savage before he gives you bad advice." He again speaks quietly under his breath, "I'll just watch you get murdered from here."
While the route to take is a well worn road, it is uphill for a vast majority of the distance and the road doubles back on itself as it climbs up the mountain. It takes you roughly 15 minutes to get to the side path to head down to the College which is well labeled with a worn sign that has seen better days. It is labeled, 'Closed'.
You believe it to be somewhere between five and ten minutes to get down to Frothripper from here on the poorly maintained path.
Marching order would be nice. Go ahead and put yourself on the very top edge of the map no further than 3 squares out (slide 1).
Gunari takes the vial, but thinks about it before he consumes it. "Can't concentrate? That mean I cannot call the power of the Drunken Hero to me and use his divine blessings to enhance my fighting prowess. That is a true dilemma it is."
He hands the vial back, thanking the half-elf.
Right before the party enters the waterfall, Gunari will cast an extended shield of faith using his lesser metamagic rod of extend spell.
"Can never be too safe, right?" asks the full plate and shield clad warpriest.
You can see ahead the path turns into a dark, damp cavern (on the map is on the cavern, if you want to scout, pull yourself off the map). The roar of the waterfall is omipresent here. The cascading flow forms a dangerous, fast-moving wall of water which acts as one of the walls of the cave.
Gunari nods at Raven, and then follows his example, sniffing the vial of the powdery stuff. He gets it all in, then sneezes violently. His limbs appear to twitch, as he seems overly ready to move onward. "GREATBARLEYWINETHISISSOFREAKINGAMAZING!" he bellows! "LETSGETGOINGNOW!!!!!IAMINVINCIBLE!"
An invisible Afficus notes the numerous hazards and opts to stand as far from the rushing water/cliff's edge as possible when traveling underneath the waterfall.
20 minute duration on the extended invisibility--when do you want me to have activated it, GM? Bottom of the waterfall? Immediately after we left the half-orc? Your call.
Casting invisibility at the top of the path seems very appropriate. Let's assume 7 minutes of the duration is gone when you get to the bottom.
You all watch Raven sneak forward and peer down into the cave. The entire space is filled with dim light, allowing him some ability to maintain concealment. The noise; however, is deafening (-10 on all non-sight based perception checks).
You look down the the cave and see nine figures. A line of six of them stand in position for ambush, heavy steel shields and short swords at the ready. Behind then stands a line of two...no wait, three (one just barely failed his stealth) humanoids dressed in red and black outfits wearing an unusual mask. Each carries a vicious saber in each hand.
You lock what you can only assume are eyes with two figures dressed in the red attire of a Mantis assassin. They seem to make hand signals to the others.
You may take ONE surprise round standard action. You can see your friends behind you, and you can see the enemies in front of you.
Eando's half-orc scout waves at you distantly from his vantage point. You can almost see him smile at the thought of watching Gunari fall.
Please allow Raven time to respond before taking any further actions. Please avoid reviewing the map until I've said something more. We are allowing Raven to scout.
Okay - some liberties taken with the map due to Raven sneaking forward from the team and not having huge quantities of spaces going back up the hill. No, it's not perfect and doesn't exactly reflect you all hanging around a corner back a good 40-50 feet, but it's going to have to do. The colored line now represents the edge of the cave.
Imagine the following. The path runs along the side of the valley. At the yellow line there is roughly a 90 degree angle (probably not quite 90 degrees) where there is a cave entrance. The wall of water forms an opaque barrier that prevents seeing around the corner without moving to it; you cannot see around said corner from your vantage point.
Raven leaps back from the waterfall, his spear at the ready. He mutters a prayer to raise his defenses even further and calls out to those in the cave, hoping his voice will reach his companions as well, as he intends to stand his ground.
"Comeon out! Let's PLAY!"
5ft, Move action draw spear, swift for Shield of Faith.
You watch as the green enforcer places his shield in the way of the blue enforcer. This doesn't appear to be as effective as he would hope so instead you watching him fling his own body in the way of the blue enforcer, taking the blow.
As the purple enforcer exits the cave, you watch in stunned silence as the blue enforcer throws out his shield as the attack comes at his ally, this time deflecting the blow.
After watching the three shielded men exit the cave, you see a set of three more men, clad in red and black attire, wearing unusual bug shaped masks exit and take position.
I've been asked so I'll just clarify - the surprise round was when Raven was spotted by the crew that heard you coming down the path. We are done with the surprise round, but Raven has his action first. We'll get to everybody eventually. No worries, we have plenty of time!
Some map clarifications (as I've been asked) since I know it's hard to understand.
The yellow dotted line is the entrance to the "cave" that fills the space behind the waterfall. This "cave" has a floor, a ceiling (we will say 15' tall), and a wall on the right side of the map. The left side of the "cave" is a massive wall of flowing water.
The sheet of falling water ranges in thickness, but we'll call it 5' thick. It is now marked on the map as a thick light blue segment. Don't look at how far down it goes though, as it's all the way to the bottom of the page, I just couldn't draw all of that in.
Gunari draws Cayden's Churchkey and then calls on the favor of the Lucky Drunk. (swift: fervor for divine favor, w/ Fate's Favored) He then attempts to drive the rapier through the heart of the blue guy next to him.
keen rapier, DF, Vital Strike, PA:1d20 + 15 ⇒ (14) + 15 = 29piercing, adamantine:2d8 + 15 ⇒ (4, 6) + 15 = 25 "IMACOMINGFORYOURAVENJUSTHOLDONEWHILEISKEWERTHESEA*@%%@*S!"
The yellow assassin moves in looking determined. He begins an assault, swinging once, twice, three, four times against Raven. Raven feels definitively trapped, like he's being ganged up on and may be in a very precarious position. As the orange and yellow enforcers begin assisting him, Raven feels the first two blows strike deep. The orange enforcer makes a move, but doesn't attack, creating an opening for the saber of the assassin's sawtooth saber to dig deeply into Raven. The well placed sneak attack causing massive wounds.
Kain gives a kick to Choco, Flying off away from the cliff, before banking sharply back towards his trapped ally.
Fly dc 15 for right turn:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (13) + 12 = 25
The bird goes head on at the enemies as Kain's Lance reaches for the yellow assassin
+2 Holy Impervious Adamantine Lance, PA, Charge:1d20 + 24 ⇒ (8) + 24 = 32 damage, belt, lance, spirited charge, PA:6d6 + 78 ⇒ (2, 5, 2, 3, 2, 5) + 78 = 97 holy damage if evil:2d6 ⇒ (3, 2) = 5
Gunari calls upon Cayden Cailean once more to protect him, and enhance his weapon. (swift: Sacred Armor +1, fervor for sacred weapon +2, making it +3 Keen, Vicious
He then steps up 5' (token not moved) and attacks purple twice. If the first attack drops purple, he will move to green) PA vicious rapier:1d20 + 16 ⇒ (14) + 16 = 30damage:1d8 + 16 + 2d6 ⇒ (2) + 16 + (4, 2) = 24 PA vicious rapier:1d20 + 11 ⇒ (20) + 11 = 31damage:1d8 + 16 + 2d6 ⇒ (2) + 16 + (6, 3) = 27 PA rapier confirm:1d20 + 11 ⇒ (12) + 11 = 23additional damage:1d8 + 16 ⇒ (1) + 16 = 17(Total of 44 on the crit) Gunari self-infliction:2d6 ⇒ (2, 5) = 7
Two hellhounds pop up behind the red mantis cornering Raven. Afficus commands them in infernal to use their breath weapons (10 ft cone).
HH1 should be able to get the red, yellow, and orange enforcers along with the right-most mantis and HH2's breath should catch the red and yellow enforcers as well as the right most mantis.
HH1 breath:2d6 ⇒ (5, 2) = 7recharge:2d4 ⇒ (4, 1) = 5 HH2 breath:2d6 ⇒ (1, 5) = 6recharge:2d4 ⇒ (3, 4) = 7 DC 16 reflexes on the lot of em, DC is higher than normal due to increased con score from augment summoning
Afficus will then shift 5 feet forward and begin another casting of summon monster III.
