PFS 03-14 - Wonders in the Weave II (Snakes in the Fold, Tier 5-9)

[Elenial Windwalker]

Seeing she can't move back Elenial drops her bow and draws her elven blade. She swings it at the creature in front of her twice.
Attack 1: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 8 + 1 = 17 Damage: 1d10 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
Attack 2: 1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 3 + 1 = 10

[Baldwyn Doucas]

Baldwyn shouts for Elenial to "Jump!" and sweeps under her feet to trip the shambling tree stump creature in a change of tactic before swinging for pain.

Trip: 1d20 + 18 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 18 + 1 = 27 It falling provokes an AoO from those threatening, so have at it (IF that succeeds)(Greater Trip)

If successful:

Attack of Opportunity: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (8) + 17 = 25 for Damage: 1d10 + 10 ⇒ (3) + 10 = 13

Iterative attack: 1d20 + 12 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 12 + 1 = 30 for Damage: 1d10 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17

[Razmand Nevantes]

Razmand grins as he realizes the creature appears to have intellect and responds to his mocking.

Attempt to use antagonize and speak Sylvan to fluster it.

Antagonize (diplomacy): 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (11) + 16 = 27 DC = 10 + HD + Wis modifier

"আপনি খাবার চাই. কেন আপনি ঐ টিকটিকি সংরক্ষণ করা হয়েছে? আমি মনে করি তারা সুস্বাদু হয় বাজি."

Sylvan:

"You want food. Why have you been saving those lizards? I bet they are tasty."

[I'm DMing In Your Closet]

The monster ignores Razmand.

Knowledge (Nature) DC 20:

Even if they are intelligent, the minds of plant creatures are too alien to be susceptible to the mind-games of animal beings (plants are immune to mind-affecting effects, which for some reason the Intimidate skill doesn't appear to have :S).

Baldwyn, however, fares much better - he sweeps under the monster at precisely the right angle, knocking it to the ground, and hacking it to pieces with two efficient chops.

The shocker lizards continue to stare balefully in the background.

Out of combat...?

[Razmand Nevantes]

Knowledge (nature): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27

"Not too smart, huh," Razmand sighs, but is visibly impressed by his teammates combat efforts, so much so he starts to clap slowly once the plant monstrosity falls and stops being a threat to the group.

"Very efficient, very thorough, bravo," he compliments, looking at the lizards curiously, "although my initial assumptions of you and that creature were false, I maintain my original principal. Those lizards, for example, seem docile and not hostile. Attacking them could have severe consequences, given their ability to deliver lethal electric shocks."

"I believe they have a nest there, so disturbing it might make them consider us a threat. Let us advance carefully."

Razmand attempts to peer deeper into the room without disturbing the shocker lizards, looking for whatever might look interesting.

Perception: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (9) + 22 = 31

Unsure whether the shocker lizards are sentient, Razmand tries to speak to them.

"உனக்கு புரிகிறதா?"

Draconic:

"Do you speak?"

[I'm DMing In Your Closet]

They continue to stare nervously at the party. The odor of ozone emanating from the room begins to overtake the odor of rot and loam.

Knowledge (Arcana) DC 12:

Intellect-wise, shocker lizards are about as smart as cats or dogs - bright, but not in the sense that they can be conversed with.

Piles of slimy refuse fill the corners of this room, with a foot of swamp muck with stagnant water in between. A once-grand frieze dominates the west wall, its vibrant colors now faded. In it, a jackal-headed man rides a dark chariot pulled by horse-sized dogs, at the head of an army of gnolls and dire hyenas. Before him, a radiant ankh is engulfed in black flames.

[Razmand Nevantes]

Knowledge (arcana): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27

"We should get there to retrieve the artifacts for further study, but I must admit I am nervous about the shocker lizards. That group could easily create an electrical storm."

Razmand takes a look at his comrades, allowing them to voice an opinion on how to deal with the situation.

[I'm DMing In Your Closet]

Uh, it'll probably help you to know that there are no artifacts. A frieze is a wall decoration.

[Baldwyn Doucas]

We can take the wall if we really wanted to!

[Razmand Nevantes]

Oh, huh, I thought the ankh was a retrievable item.

"My old eyes fool me, none of that seems to be something we can easily pick up," Razmand corrects himself, "we can leave those critters live their lives. I'll just make a note of the frieze."

With that Razmand takes meticulous notes on his journal and points at the double doors. "Go ahead."

[Baldwyn Doucas]

Baldwyn leans on his bardiche, casually wiping off the blade. "I wonder if it'd make a good rubbin' to take back. If we can get one without distrubin' the lizard things."

Might be confusing it with a bas-relief...

[Elenial Windwalker]

Elenial approaches the double doors and puts her ear against it. She tries to listen.
Perception: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (8) + 17 = 25

[I'm DMing In Your Closet]

Okay, FLASHBACK TIIIIIME!!! *Doodly-doodly-doodly-doodly....*

I'm DMing In Your Closet wrote:

That out of the way, you enter the entry hall of the tomb. This cubic chamber is full of stagnant swamp water to a height of a foot and a half. The walls are shallowly carved with a complex Osirian motif, with hundreds of ancient pictograms overlapping in an intricate pattern, the outlines of which can barely be made out under the grime. A door in the north wall is decorated with a scene in bas-relief: a jackal-headed man holding two matching kukris, around whom a throng of bestial warriors bow. There is no obvious mechanism to open the door, but there is a gap between it and the wall as if it is being held partially open. Water sluggishly trickles through the gap, flowing deeper into the tomb. Empty doorways open into two rooms to the east and west.

I'm DMing In Your Closet wrote:

Because of your ridiculous bonus and meticulous nature, and the Scenario's unclear expectations, this happens as a freebie:

You soon notice that the front door has a very strange feature for an Osirian tomb: A doorstop. A search of the water where the door is held open reveals a small statue of a humanoid resembling the jackal-headed man on the bas-relief, in the same pose and holding two similar kukris.

[Razmand Nevantes]

Razmand looks at the door stop, then the indent on the bas-relief. "Super simple stuff," he says, and goes over to pick the "doorstop" and promptly goes and plugs it into the depression.

[I'm DMing In Your Closet]

As Razmand had surmised, the statuette fits perfectly into the bas-relief, and the doors scrape open to reveal a staircase heading twenty feet downward. Midway is a gaping ten-foot hole which, knowing the Ancient Osirians, is probably a deliberate trap that has lost its concealment rather than a failing of engineering.

The stairway descends into stagnant and murky water, too deep and dark for you to be able to see where the floor is. The north wall features two fifteen-foot-tall mosaics of the Dog Pharaoh flanking a series of smaller hieroglyphs arranged in rows and columns. The east and west walls give glimpses of the top half of faded and water-stained frescos depicting pleasure slaves and vast wealth in a desert oasis paradise.

[Elenial Windwalker]

"Do you want me to scout ahead?" Elenial asks.

[Razmand Nevantes]

"Go ahead," Razmand replies, maintaining his sight upon the wall on the far side of the room. He tries to make out the hieroglyphs and their meaning. He places his hand on Elenial's shoulder for a short moment.

"The best of luck to you."

Guidance on Elenial.

[Elenial Windwalker]

And so Elenial scouts, as silent as possible. She leaps across the pit.
Acrobatics: 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 5 + 1 = 12
Stealth: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (13) + 20 = 33
Reflex in case she drops onto the pit: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15
Perception if she reaches the room beyond: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (3) + 17 = 20

[Ramesses]

"Hmm...anything I can assist with Razmand?"

[I'm DMing In Your Closet]

Elenial actually doesn't have much trouble making it over the pit. On the other side, she notices strange eddies in the water on the far side of the room. Perhaps there are more pit traps underneath the water....

Meanwhile, sharp-eyed Razmand looks at the hieroglyphs on the far side of the room. Five of them he recognizes as standing for the basic arithmetical functions (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and equation), which might suggest that the others stand for numbers - but something's wrong, because Razmand damn knows the Ancient Osirian numeral system perfectly well, thank you, and these don't match.

Now I will need Baerlie's technical assistance again, because this is where you get a handout that I am incapable of giving - in fact, in my copy of the Scenario, the bit where the handout is supposed to be is completely blank.

[Baldwyn Doucas]

Print screen/screenshot, then paste into your favourite image editor and crop to the handout. This handout looks like it's text based rather than image based (despite the heiroglyphs), so when copying, it's just the background that's copied. If you like, I can get them in the tabletop real quick.

Went ahead and got it pasted as a new slide.

GM:

I also did the second handout, so it's saved and ready to be posted when the time comes.

[Razmand Nevantes]

"Whoever made those hieroglyphs must've been drunk," Razmand says, his brow lowered, "I don't like this place. It reeks ancient Osirion, but has so many things that are off. Still, there are four calculations; an substraction, an addition, a multiplication, and a division. And the last one is 4 / 2 = 2. Maybe there are more clues under the waterline."

[Elenial Windwalker]

Thanks, Baldwyn!

Seeing no enemies in the room Elenial shouts back to the others. "There is water on the floor and strange eddies on the other side."

She moves down the stairs into the water, but not furhter than knee deep.

[I'm DMing In Your Closet]

In less than a minute, the already unpleasant-feeling water turns to feeling like something out of your worst nightmare: you feel wriggling bits of flesh surround your legs, followed by a volley of pinpricks and the horrible shock of your strength seeming to fall to the bottom of your body, then leave you, still struggling against the wriggling mass that is ready to take more, and more....

swarm: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 1) = 6
Strength damage: 1d3 ⇒ 3
Constitution damage: 1d3 ⇒ 3

Had enough? Probably, but too bad. Make 2 Fortitude saves (but at least you get your full Constitution bonus to them for now).

swarms: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24
Baldwyn Doucas: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10
Elenial Windwalker: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
Ramesses: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23
Razmand Nevantes: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (8) + 11 = 19
Zorro: 1d20 ⇒ 17

swarms
_______________
Party

[Elenial Windwalker]

Fort 1: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22
Fort 2: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24
hopefully that's high enough to reduce the damage

Elenial jumps back, out of the water, takes a vial of liquid ice from her belt pouch and throws it at the swarm.
Ranged Touch: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (16) + 12 = 28
Cold Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 6

[I'm DMing In Your Closet]

Elenial Windwalker wrote:

[dice=Fort 1]1d20+8

[dice=Fort 2]1d20+8
hopefully that's high enough to reduce the damage

Well, no, but it saves you from the distraction and the venom.

[Elenial Windwalker]

"Hello? Are you still here?"

[I'm DMing In Your Closet]

It's the party's turn - now everyone else needs to go.

[Razmand Nevantes]

Whoops.

Razmand tries to recall everything he knows about these abominations.

Knowledge (dungeoneering): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

"Retreat! We could try to lure the shocker lizards against those monstrosities!" Razmand advises, pulling out two alchemist's fires from his pouch and presents them to others. "Pick them and throw them at the enemy!"

Move action x2: Draw alchemist's fire. Hand out for others to pick.

[Baldwyn Doucas]

Balcwyn moves up to the door and gauges the distance to prepare for a jump. He takes a moment to check his gear. "Gorram swarms... I still need to get one of those ruttin' scarabs to hurt these things!"

[I'm DMing In Your Closet]

Vermin are covered by Knowledge (Nature). However, I'll take that roll as an excuse to give you this...

It crosses Razmand's mind that those eddies in the water Elenial mentioned, possibly the same eddies that betrayed the pit trap in the foyer, might conceivably indicate a more efficient way to eliminate this aquatic menace....

[Razmand Nevantes]

The description left the nature of the swarm ambiguous; I thought they were some aberrations. Razmand does have knowledge (nature) too, with a higher bonus as well (+9).

"Better yet! Elenial, lure those creatures into the eddies! Baldwyn, Ramesses, Zorro, all of us if we have to!"

[I'm DMing In Your Closet]

Feel free to make a roll, then.

[Ramesses]

Ramesses will try and cover their retreat and lob an alchemist bomb. Attack vs. Touch: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 171d6 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

[Zorro the Swashbuckler]

Zorro takes a running jump over the pit, and lunges at the creatures in front of him The running jump starts from in front of Razmand and ending up next to Elenial, if that makes any difference, then attack with his standard action.
Acrobatics: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14
Attack&Damage: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (18) + 13 = 311d6 + 2 + 16 ⇒ (2) + 2 + 16 = 20

[The-Silence]

Since my rapier has a 15-20 Crit range, i will roll to confirm.
Confirmation: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (1) + 13 = 142d6 + 4 + 16 ⇒ (2, 6) + 4 + 16 = 28

[Razmand Nevantes]

Figured I could have used the previous roll, oh well.
Knowledge (nature): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (2) + 9 = 11

So they are insects, but are the scarabs or spiders or what? And I think Zorro just jumped to his doom, since I'm quite confident they are immune to weapon damage.

[I'm DMing In Your Closet]

Insects? Not really - they're leeches.

Baldwyn, it's your action.

[Razmand Nevantes]

Baldwyn Doucas wrote:

Balcwyn moves up to the door and gauges the distance to prepare for a jump. He takes a moment to check his gear. "Gorram swarms... I still need to get one of those ruttin' scarabs to hurt these things!"

There's Baldwyn's action.

[Elenial Windwalker]

Are they able to leave the water? Elenial could also use a second vial of alchemist's ice to freeze the water, maybe we can cross the room on the ice with the leeches trapped in the ice?

[I'm DMing In Your Closet]

@Razmand: If so, I want Baldwyn himself to verify that, since it's not much of an action.

@Elenial: Resourceful, but I honestly don't think a flask's worth of cryonic material would be anywhere near enough - the most you'd get is some ice chunks in the water. For that, what I will do is rule that the area you threw it in has become difficult terrain for 1 round (meaning they'll have a slight disadvantage in chasing you, for what that's worth).

You can always make your own Knowledge (Nature) check.

@Ramesses: If you're going to toss a bomb, shouldn't you move way the hells closer to where the action is?

[Baldwyn Doucas]

From where Baldwyn was, he does not have enough movement speed to make it across the gap. So he gets into position to jump across next round, hoping his teammates still stand.

-Posted with Wayfinder

[I'm DMing In Your Closet]

Elenial tosses a vial of liquid ice into the thick of the leech legion, and the air noticeably cools as it splashes, leaving behind numerous chunks of filthy ice.

Ramesses comes running and tosses a simple incendiary, although it doesn't do much more than generate a large puff of hot smoke, and lands a bit short, catching Elenial and Zorro (If this detail alone makes you want to switch to a different action, you may).

Zorro valiantly stabs the water, creating a spectacular splash. An errant leech goes flying and sticks to the wall with an adorable *pbtht* sound - given that there must be thousands of those little fiends in the water, however, it doesn't do a damn bit of good.

The leeches retreat from the point of impact, but continue to churn the water, having already tasted fresh blood.

Reflex save: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

Elenial and Zorro need to make a DC 12 (I believe, it doesn't show up on Ramesses's character sheet) Reflex save taking 3 fire damage if they fail or 1 if they succeed

Swarm #1 (-13)
Swarm #2 (-2)
Swarm #3 (-1)
Swarm #4 (-1)
__________
Party

[Ramesses]

[ooc I would like to but I can't ever get the whole map to appear, so if I'm no where close then I won't lob a bomb I'll just stand there and yell at the others to run[/ooc] Ramesses will cast expeditious retreat on himself.

[I'm DMing In Your Closet]

Don't worry; you would've made it, so I moved you.

For what it's worth, it seems like you can actually skirt that pit on the stairs without needing to make any kind of check.

Also, it might help for me to clarify that when you see eddies in the water suggestive of more pit traps, it looks like the water over the previous pit trap did before it was disarmed.

[Ramesses]

Sorry guys the game ate my previous post I retconed my action, so I'll just roll with this. I'm having issues with the maps downloading to my phone, hopefully it will get better soon.

[Razmand Nevantes]

Razmand's position and lack of abilities against swarms makes him nigh useless.

Razmand sees the situation grim, and resorts to something he rarely relies to; luck. He kisses one of the alchemist's fire's and lobs it towards the swarm (#1).

Razmand uses inexplicable luck to gain +8 to the roll. He also activates his judgment to gain +1 bonus to attacks.

Alchemist's fire - melee - range increment + inexplicable luck + judgment: 1d20 + 8 - 4 - 2 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 8 - 4 - 2 + 8 + 1 = 16 vs. cover
Damage (fire): 1d6 ⇒ 1 +50% against swarms

[Zorro the Swashbuckler]

Reflex: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23
Zorro dodges out of the way of the splash
[/ooc]Is the swarm made of tiny creatures or are they smaller?[ooc]

-Posted with Wayfinder

[I'm DMing In Your Closet]

Razmand has gone, what about everyone else?

[Elenial Windwalker]

Elenial throws another vial of liquid ice at the disguisting leeches.
RTA: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (15) + 12 = 27
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 4

"Any idea how I can lead these swarms into the eddies? I'm not up to step into the water myself."

Reflex: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (11) + 11 = 22